Category Archives: Fashion
London, And Other Things Of Interest
I have been really taking advantage of my days off and packing in all kinds of fun activities….not. Mostly I’m keeping my hands busy folding laundry or cutting paper and letting my mind wander. Here’s a few things that I’m currently thinking about!
Mostly I am daydreaming about seeing the world through the lens of a tourist again...
Book I’m reading: Messenger of Truth, book #4 in the Maisie Dobbs series. I am totally in a Brit-centric funk right now! You can blame the olympics, or Downton Abbey, or episodes of various BBC comedies, or you can blame it on this post-WWI historical fiction series that is set in London.
Thing I’m Eating: Sesame seed bagels. After a decade or so on the “you are the devil” list of foods, I have decided to let bagels back into my life. They are just too good not to eat! And there are not one but TWO local bagel shops in my neighborhood…how lucky am I?
Object I’m Loving: my new bag! I decided I wanted a bigger bag because stuff was bursting out of my Kate Spade bag. I apparently have discerning tastes though, because I couldn’t find anything under $500 that I truly liked (I’m trying this new thing called “living within my pay grade” because like it or not I am not going to be Mrs. Moneybags anytime soon), so I turned to Etsy and managed to find a neutral bag that I liked for less than $75!!
"Ringo" translates to "apple" so really this etsy shop's name means "Apple Pie"...how cute! ringopie.etsy.com
What’s even better is that is canvas (animal-friendly) and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it is REALLY lightweight, yet durable! All of those pioneers and gold rush miners might have been onto something when they were using canvas for everything back in the day.
Food I’m Craving: Cheddar and pickle sandwiches. I told you I’m having a british moment…
Me, London, 2008. You can't tell but I had a terrible case of bronchitis at the time.
July in Instagrams
JULY! It’s over already…funny how it takes a turn of the calendar to get you to realize that time marches on, and things move fast. I went to two very enjoyable barbeques, went to my cousin’s wedding (and saw my parents! yay!), hit up Renegade Craft Fair, worked a ton, and even managed to fit in a trip to ikea. Of course, I didn’t instagram any of that…
- I bought these shoes in Italy when I lived there. I finally decided to get rid of them – I never wear them any more, but was holding onto them because of the sentimental value. Of course, I have a ton of other things from that time that I am holding onto as well, so the shoes were not really necessary. I can say that these shoes were one of the catalysts that really got me interested in sneakers though.
- Showing my pride for my favorite country…USA! USA! USA!
- My room got a major deep cleaning…more on that later. Let’s just be impressed with how tidy everything is!
- Someone snagged me some flowers from a work event and left them on my desk. So pretty!
- The view of Oakland from BART. People complain about public transit all the time (myself included), but I still love a good long train ride. It gives you time to think and reflect, it gives you plenty of people to observe, and it gives you plenty of landscapes to inspire you. Not too shabby for a $5 bill.
- Cod and fagioli! I fashioned my own little recipe and it was delish. Sometimes I wish I had more people to cook for – making things like this take a good amount of time and when I’m only cooking for myself it doesn’t seem worth the effort on a regular basis.
- Apparently my penchant for sneakers has come full circle…snagged myself a pair of the new Nike Flyknit shoes!
- My neighborhood has FINALLY gotten a frozen yogurt shop! And they have the cutest branding!
What I Wore: Color Pop
Happy Monday! San Francisco is having a “heat wave” meaning it’s like 75 degrees and there’s no fog. Ahaha.
The other day I finally got around to seeing The Avengers. It was pretty entertaining – although I didn’t really get the character back stories because the only movie I’d previously seen was Ironman. Oops.
At any rate, I thought I’d share what I wore out that day — it’s kind of becoming my favorite thing and I wear it all the time.
Okay maybe I'm not IN LOVE with my porcelean skin tone, but I'm trying to embrace it.
Cobalt lace crop top: Express | Tank: F21 | Jeans: AE | Flats: Old Navy
Hey I'm almost getting this bun thing down.
I love bold colors and I’ve been wanting to find a way to jump on this crop top bandwagon for a while – without baring my tummy, of course, because I’m not 16 and a size 2. My natural waistline is kind of high so finding a top that doesn’t make me look like I’m wearing a short tent is difficult. Thanks to the lace-like pattern of this top I was able to pull off a crop-length but you can still see my waist behind it.
Another thing I’m digging: updating my wardrobe in a smart(er) way. This top is not gonna be on-trend next year, so I snagged it for 30% off…and paired it with basics that I already dad. Ka-boom. Wardrobe updated. Affordably. Normally I buy one piece, bring it home, and decide that I need a whole new outfit to go with it…or a whole new set of accessories. Not this time!
I love refreshing my wardrobe a little bit – I’m constantly surrounded by apparel and fashion trends at work that change every 6 weeks – but I really just can’t afford to completely rehaul my closet every season. Luckily, adding color and texture to my basics makes me happy enough!
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On another note, I’m really trying to get my act together with Paper Gatti x Etsy again — my day job is still keeping me crazy busy, but I’m also not happy letting the other important things slide for too long. I’m getting close to getting all my legal ducks in order. I’m trying to figure out how to apply for a California Seller’s Permit (required for collecting sales tax) and the forms are clearly meant for brick-and-mortar businesses. It’s super confusing — does anyone know of any resources for this sort of thing? I’ve been trying to use internet resources as best I can, but to be honest all of the Etsy-specific things I have found have been incredibly vague. “Consult your local laws”, etc….not all that helpful!
Maybe I should just move on over to Oregon; they don’t have sales tax!
What I Ate: Dosa on Valencia
If you follow me on twitter, then you already know that I celebrated an anniversary on Monday. I know I don’t talk about him much, but the Dude as I call him and I have been dating for three years!
It’s kind of crazy to think about where we were three years ago and where we are now. I’m so grateful for all of his love and support, especially in the past few months as I’ve taken on more with work, with my community life, and with this blog and my dreams. As much as I like to cook, he always makes sure that I’ve got something to eat if I’m too tired/stressed/broke/busy to fix dinner. It might not always be what I want to eat, but hey, I appreciate the fact that he won’t let me starve!
Speaking of food, we decided to celebrate by doing something a little different and eating at a new restaurant. I usually have a difficult time getting the Dude to try new things (still can’t get him to enter a strictly vegetarian establishment) but we both had a really fun time eating new food!
We went to Dosa in the Mission district. Dosa specializes in Southern Indian cuisine, including the dosa which is essentially a savory lentil crepe. I’ve been to Dosa on Fillmore before – my uncle introduced me to it when he came to San Francisco. His family is from the southern part of India and according to him, most of the Indian restaurants you see in California are North Indian and/or Pakistani — which not only has different flavors, but also totally different dishes. At any rate, the last time I had a dosa was almost two years ago (I remember because the World Cup was going on…my how time flies!) so I was totally ready to try them again!
We started out with some celebratory drinks and some chip-like crackers.
I was starving so we tried out a chaat (small plate) of pani puri. It’s an Indian street food snack and you have to carve a hole out of the puff balls and stuff it yourself — playing with your food brings out the kid in all of us! I was surprised at how much the Dude liked assembling his food.
We got the masala dosa……this thing was HUGE! Twice as big as your average french crepe. The Dude loves crepes so I knew this wouldn’t be a hard sell once I actually got one to the table. We ate this thing up and it was soooooooooo good. The masala inside had so many layers of flavor and the sauces that came with it just really brought it over the top.
This is the poppyseed prawn curry. One of the main differences in South Indian curries, I found out, is the use of coconut milk. It gives them a much lighter flavor and, in my opinion, is a cross between the Thai curry and Indian curry that one typically finds in California. It was a little bit spicy, which went well with the coconut rice.
One of the great things about Indian fare is that it is practically vegan by default. A lot of dishes are made without meat, and the ones that are never feature the meat as the main ingredient. I went ahead and ate the prawns in our curry because I haven’t had them in ages, but it would have tasted just as good without them!
It looked like the sun is blazing into the restaurant, but truth be told…the fog has finally come back (my flat hair is a major indicator). I’m hoping that it will make my allergies calm down a little bit, because my sinuses are KILLING me!
Monday: Cool / Not So Cool
Hey there Party People (Mondays are totally days you celebrate…right?)
Today I found out some cool stuff and some not so cool stuff.
NOT SO COOL
The city of San Francisco has processed my application to run a business….maybe. I looked through my bank statements and my check was cashed LAST MONTH. And yet I have no proof that it’s been processed, so I can’t go get the next permit that I need. I can’t find an name/email contact so I’m not really sure where to go from here. I’m sure I’ll figure it out, but it is decidedly not cool.
Even less cool than that is the news I have heard from a high school friend. Yesterday Erica gave birth to two twins, Mia Fumiko and Kai Michael. (YAY!) The not so cool part is that Kai has a tear in his lung from having too much air forced into his lungs by some sort of medical professional shortly after his birth. Kai is now intubated and being sedated….but I can tell that he is a fighter (he is a little bit heavier and taller than his twinsie!) and I am hoping for the best.
Needless to say, Erica and her husband are having a tough time….I don’t even know how I would deal with something like that, giving birth (to twins!!!!) in and of itself is a lot to handle. I’m sending all my good juju out to the universe for Kai and his lovely family. You can follow her family over at her blog.
COOL
Remember that treasury that I talked about a couple of days ago? More specifically, remember that Twillypop aqua/red bracelet that was in the treasury?? Well Sara, who runs Twillypop, is giving away $65 worth of Twillypop swag to one lucky reader over on her blog! You should head on over and enter (hurry, it closes on Wednesday).
Some of Twillypop's swag
Another cool thing that I found out today…one of the burger places over by where I work also makes a portabello mushroom burger. On a whole wheat bun. With giant grilled bell peppers and tomatoes and lettuce. It’s not quite vegan cause that secret sauce probably has some mayo but it’s definitely meat-less. The upside to consuming that for lunch today: I didn’t get that “oh em gee what did I eat and why did I eat it” feeling in my stomach that I tend to get after indulging in a cheeseburger! Big fat mushrooms are obviously going to go on my next grocery list!
Cherries Pies and Blue Skies
Happy Friday, friends!
I don’t know about you, but I am READY for summer to be here. I’m not really a fan of this week’s rain. Life’s ALWAYS better with sun, and besides I need my vitamin D. I guess I’ll have to settle for a weekend instead…after working 7 days in a row (4 of which were night shifts), I’ve got three days off of work! Yay!
Now I’ve finally got some time to spend my hard-earned money…so of course I put together a little Etsy treasury. Red and aqua blue are one of my all-time favorite color combinations! I can still remember this one time when my mom took me to Mervyn’s to pick out some gym shoes for school, and I went home with these Addias shoes that were baby blue and red. (Obviously this was before I was so brand-selective.) I loved wearing them during gym class, even if I hated gym…
I know that sunshine is YELLOW, not red (and I do love me some yellow) but I looked at some cards that I was making in red and blue and couldn’t help but feel like they screamed “summer time”. Maybe not “summer time in San Francisco”…maybe summer at my grandma’s house. She lives in the desert, where the sky is always a piercing shade of blue and some cherry pie is always welcomed.
I’ll be headed to the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival to volunteer tomorrow, so I’m bound to have a good time this weekend. I can’t wait for a teri-burger and shaved ice!
‘Life is Better at the Beach’ by Katherine Toyoko
Blue skies and cheery pops of red…who’s ready for summer?
 Red Cupcake Liners (45) $3.25
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 Screen Printed Eco Friendly … $5.00
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 Life is better at the beach … $28.00
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 Washi Tape Set – 15mm – Comb… $14.20
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 crushing on you poppy garlan… $13.00
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 Twillypop Darcie Ribbon Brac… $18.50
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 Ring Dish, Wedding Ring Hold… $12.00
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 Camera Plush / Pillow in Blu… $24.50
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 vintage victorian figurines … $27.00
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 Vintage Aqua Blue Moonstone … $26.00
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 25 Aqua Striped Straws and P… $4.00
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 Set of 4 Blendo tall glasses… $22.00
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 Heart of Hearts Valentine Or… $8.00
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 Coral Necklaces. Peach Neckl… $117.00
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 Aqua Notebook/Sketchbook/Jou… $8.00
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 Red and Aqua Polka Dot Scarf… $22.00
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Treasury tool supported by three quick questions
What I Wore / What I Ate: Fish House Edition
I’ve taken a little break from being online this weekend because my parents came to visit me! It’s been a fun weekend with them and I still have one more day left. I’ve got a LOT of things to share with you this month, but I won’t be writing about it until after family fun times are over. In the mean time, I will share some fashion and food with you! This is from Saturday, the first day of my family visit.
WHAT I WORE
Jacket: UO | Tank: Nike 6.0 | Jeans: Old Navy | Shoes: Wanted via DSW | Bracelets: H&M | Opal ring: graduation gift from grandma.
(For the record, this is what my hair does when I style it, and then I go outside and it is windy.)
I was really feeling the neutral stripes when I got dressed — both my tank top and my shoes are white with a khaki stripe pattern on them. I wanted to jazz them up a little bit, so I added a 3/4 sleeve jacket that my sister gave me. Being the extremely casual person that I am, I just went with some basic skinny jeans.
The platform wedges that I am wearing are my newest shoe acquisition (purchased before my “too many shoes” lamentation) and they are soooo comfortable! You don’t hear me saying that very often about shoes that are not sneakers. It is a good thing that they are comfortable, because we ended up walking around the Fillmore district for a long time while waiting for our table…which brings me to the FOOD portion of this whole thing.
WHAT I ATE
There was no parking anywhere near our first dining choice, so I ended up at this place with my parents. (Note to self: don’t bring a full-size truck into San Francisco. Just don’t.) Even then, we had to wait over half an hour for our table…but it was totally worth it!
We chose this place after reviewing our nearby options on Yelp! via my phone. It came down to this place or my favorite sushi place in Japantown. I’m not a huuuuge seafood gal, but I’m glad this place won out. I’m also glad that we were seated right before it started raining, because there is no place inside the joint to wait for your table!! We meandered around in the neighborhood, lusting over Marc by Marc Jacobs bags looking around at the shops and local flora and fauna.
Stuffed artichoke at Woodhouse Fish Co.
I ordered the stuffed artichoke after seeing it pop up on Yelp! like fifty times. It was definitely worth the $18. I love artichokes and I love shrimp and I love crab when you don’t have to work for it! The artichoke was huge and they slathered a bunch of garlic butter on it before they grilled it. Hard to go wrong with that. Plus the cheese bread was yummy and the salad underneath the whole thing was great too…a complete meal on one plate.
My parents ordered some other fish (halibut maybe?) and I can’t remember what it was because I only saw it for two seconds. After that my dad had scarfed the whole thing up! And mama bear had crispy calamari (good, not greatest ever) and veggies (good, except it was mostly beans and mama is allergic to beans). Overall, no complaints.
If you are planning to eat here, be advised that there are no reservations taken, your whole party has to be present when they are ready to seat, and I think I overheard that the largest party size they take is 8. So don’t invite more than 6 friends, because you need to save a seat for me at the table as well!
A Confession
I spent forever putting together a post about a craft project that I recently completed…only to have the draft go missing on WordPress! Boo! I promise that I will re-write it very soon…instead I am going to confess something to you.
I kind of have a little problem. A lot of women have it….a lot of the men that I know have it as well. I don’t know how it got so out of control, but every once in a while when I take a step back and look at my life…I realize that reality is not matching up with what I think.
I wish I could say this is all of them, but this doesn't capture the two pairs of work shoes I currently have in rotation, about four pairs of boots, another pair of sneakers, a pair of heels from Cole Haan and several pairs that are "on loan" to my mom...
As you can see, my problem is about shoes. And having too many of them!! I have tons of friends who consider themselves “collectors” and I don’t think I am a part of that group. So I don’t even have a reason for owning this many pairs of shoes, other than that I am wayyyyy too much of a consumer and mildly materialistic. Sometimes I think about all the other things I could have done with the money I spend on shoes…but it usually doesn’t stop me from buying a new pair.
Sometimes I am embarrassed to realize that I am probably not all that good at living frugally. I mean really, who needs all these shoes? You can only wear one pair at a time!! Once upon a time in Italy, I managed to live with just a couple of pairs of shoes. I may have lusted over shoes in the window of Bata every.single.day that I was there, but I was able to live a full and happy existence nonetheless.
I have had a few crazy foot injuries (nothing serious per se, just very chronic problems) and when it comes to cushy shoes, I tricked myself into believing that a new pair of shoes with springy cushioning is a lot less expensive than a visit to a podiatrist and then an orthopedic surgeon (oh wait…that is a fact that I experienced firsthand) and that the “right” shoes will save a lot of pain and injury. But knowing the practical side to buying practical shoes doesn’t negate the part of me that likes pretty things…in my head it does, but in practice it (obviously) doesn’t.
And I don’t even wear heels (well 99% of the time). Imagine how many closet doors I would need to store them if I did!
Okay well now you know about my not-so-secret shoe problem. I think I need to talk myself into getting rid of a lot of my shoes (hello why do I need old worn-out runners? I DON’T.) and instituting a one-for-one rule: if i buy a new pair of shoes I get rid of an old pair. This seems fairly impossible though so I may need to re-think this.
On another note, can you believe that it is already THE END OF MARCH!!?! I have some BIG things planned for April, so have a great weekend and rest up for an epic month!
What I Wore: Casual Dinner
Jacket: f21 | Scarf: Zara | Crewneck top: Nike | Jeans: AE | Shoes: Nike SB | Purse: Kate Spade | Silver Bracelet: Wyoming Creative | Beaded Bracelet: Gifted from a friend.
I went to dinner with a friend, and I decided to “dress up” and “not wear sweatpants”. Go me! The secret to dressing up? SCARVES. I have so many scarves and I have to stop myself from buying more on the daily. I picked this one up at Zara for half off a few months ago. I love that the stripes are a dark blue-y grey, but the center is a cream color. I can wear it with greys or with browns or with yellow-y neutrals and pull either look off! (I should use better words to describe colors…forrealios. I still want to know how one gets a gig naming paint colors, because that seems AWESOME.)
But no seriously.
I was wearing sweatpants before I went to dinner last night, and I was sooooo tempted to just stay in them. I finally decided that I should have some standards and threw on the jeans, ha ha.
I had a fantastic time at dinner catching up with a friend from college. She gave me some great advice on how to deal with some of the obstacles that I am facing in my life, and I’m told that this little venture of mine inspires her as well. Insane. We finished off the evening with some boba, which I had been craving for a week now. Yays all around!
What I Wore / What I Ate
I’ve decided to start sharing some things I’m interested in…fashion and eating (haha!). I haven’t always been a fashionista but I have to wear a uniform to work so I only have two days a week where I can wear what I want. I pretty much only wear what I like instead of blah basics like I used to. Of course, what I like changes every day. The eating part is pretty self explanatory. The Bay Area is full of amazing restaurants!
WHAT I WORE
I’ve come to the conclusion that I need a tripod for my Sony point and shoot camera so that I can do the occasional fashion post. I actually decided that I wanted to take some photos of myself (not a mood that strikes often) and was kind of disappointed with the results. But I’m gonna share it anyways!
I think the real problem is I don't have enough space in my apartment to take a full-body shot.
[Striped cardigan: Target. Floral print dress: Gifted from sister. Skinny jeans (not pictured): AE. Shoes (not pictured): Anne Klein.] I could use some accessories, no? I was having a pretty rad hair day with my bun and all, but you can’t really tell.
I went to lunch with a friend and decided to mix it up…prints WITH stripes. In San Francisco, anything goes on a Sunday. Or any other day, for that matter. I thought the yellow reflected my good spirits and the dress gave me lots of room to get down to business and grub. Teehee.
WHAT I ATE
We ended up at Blue (in the Castro) because we wanted some macaroni and cheese, and we didn’t want to go very far for it. I don’t have much to say about food, I don’t think my palate is all that refined but both dishes were definitely a winner for the both of us. The calamari was an appetizer…way too much for just two people if we planning to eat our own entrees as well. And the mac n cheese was smaller than I remember it, but DELICIOUS. Small portions are good since I am not supposed to be eating cheese in the first place!
Calamari with a sweet chili sauce and a shoyu pepper sauce.
Macaroni and cheese with bacon (of course)!
