Minx in Mint

Oh boy, I'm sorry that this one turned out so blurry. There's a really funny story about taking this picture. My best friend Michelle was helping me, so we were on a nice little walk, and found this perfect nook. However as we started taking photos (I took pics of her in the clothing I'm selling on Etsy), we noticed this man had just stopped and was watching us a little ways away. Hoping he would move, we just kind of stood there and stared him down... but he didn't. So I started yelling at him- because when I get nervous I start to yell... like when a cougar approaches! But he still didn't budge, or say anything.

So finally after a few more moments, he walked away. But it wasn't long, before I saw his creepy little face poking over a nearby hillock, trying to catch a glimpse. We started getting a little freaked out by him, so Michelle took these photos a little hurriedly and we packed up and went straight for my car. We had to hike adjacent to the creeper's hill, and he was still there, watching us the entire way. Yep... trust my neighborhood to be full of perverts.

Anyways, that story aside, this outfit is one of my new favorites. The shirt, which is my favorite minty color, I actually thrifted from this amazing store called Plato's Closet. It's just a tiny hole in the wall shop, that specializes in selling only designer second hand clothing, and it's all a fraction of a price. This mint shirt was an awesome find for me.

I paired it with a skirt I bought for a whole fifteen dollars at Forever 21, and the rest is history.

So because I love you guys, I really urge you to not wait as long as Michelle and I did to leave, when the man was stalking us. In the words of Zooey Deschanel, "Stranger Danger is Real!"

Play it safe!

SF Chinese New Years Parade

I wanted to begin this year with a brand new tradition. For my Mythological Literature class I've been reading 'Good Luck Life: The Essential Guide to Chinese American Celebrations and Culture' by Rosemary Gong. It's this really great, informative novel- and it opened with a chapter about Chinese New Years! I learned all sorts of interesting tidbits of information, and it made me want to explore Chinese culture even more, by venturing to the China Town New Years Parade in San Francisco!

So very spur-the-moment like, my friend Tori and I hopped on Bart and made our way to the tail end of the parade route, just passed Union Square. The entire street was so crowded, that it was nearly impossible to move even a few feet. I, however, am a pushy little bugger when it comes to crowds- so with a little patience and persistence I was able to get us right onto the street!

The parade itself was breath taking. I've never seen so many colors on one street, even throughout the years, and parades I've taken part in myself. There's something that's just magical about the Chinese New Year Parade.

Something that I found interesting from my book, is that colors are very important. Red especially means good luck, and it was everywhere, giving the street this super firey element. Red is considered a masculine color, along with all warm tones, so of course, to balance it out there were feminine colors there too. This blue dragon would be considered feminine.

And really, what parade would be complete without Ronald McDonald taking part? I'm just surprised that there weren't any giant dancing chicken nuggets on this float. It was a pretty one though.

I've always wondered... what's Ronald's salary for appearances like this?

By far however, my favorite part of the parade were the lions and dragons. It's considered really good luck if you pet one, and I got to! These Lions were very friendly and charged right up to the crowd. It was actually really exciting to see these ferocious looking guys coming at you, with their blinking eyes and fluttering mouths.

It was exciting for adults too. The adorable woman sitting next to me got up every time one came by and ran to go pet it.

It was a really good girl's night. Tori and I had a lot of fun. And of course, no night would be complete without one juicy boy story.

Before we left to go home, I stopped at a vegan place to get some food for the trip. While I was standing there waiting for my food, out of the corner of my eye I saw this really handsome man. I just figured he was cute and would walk right by, so I turned away when I saw him looking. Then two seconds later, I felt a hand on my hand. The boy had come up to me!

I awkwardly said, "Hi." Not really knowing what to say, immediately worried he was a creeper.

He said hi back, but when I began to fidget and he still hadn't lifted his hand, he said, "You don't remember me do you? Well, I think you deserve to know that I've thought you were gorgeous ever since middle school, and I just thought you should know how beautiful you are."

I stammered a quick thank you, still super shocked and trying to place his face- when suddenly I remembered him. He smiled and said, "I was a year younger than you in school, and you gave me a patch. It's good to see you're doing well. Have a great rest of the night."

And he left.

I was really flattered. 

It was just an absolutely sweet ending to an already sweet night.

Woodland Trek

 

I know the idea of wearing a jumper in the winter is a bit taboo, but I just love the idea of breaking that. Not to mention that it's just as toasty as a pair of jeans, as long as you've got stockings to go with it. I actually found this jumper last summer at forever 21 for really really cheap... and I've loved it ever since. The back is completely open, making it more modern. Plus I love the south western pattern.

I've been a sucker for patterns for the past couple of years. I've been through a vintage floral phase, and now I'm slowly beginning to transition between florals and more Native American looking patterns. I just love anything that has that folky feeling to it. 

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Potter Party

This Tuesday I hosted a Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Viewing Party. I know it's a little bit late, but I grew up in a very strict Christian home, and my parents were against me reading anything to do with witch craft and wizardry, until I was old enough to discern right from wrong. By the time I reached the appropriate age, I no longer had any real interest in the series.

I got into the books finally this year (My second year of college), because I was looking for something fun to read in spare moments. Needless to say I fell in love instantly, like so many others before me.

So I figured, why not host a party. It was a great excuse to get together with friends and put my baking skills to the test. Above you can see some of the treats that me and my girlfriend Angela made. We have golden snitch cupcakes, cauldron cakes, Bert's Every Flavored beans, Blast ended Skrewt Dirt Pudding, and Peanut butter chocolate wands. If you look to the right, you can even see a mug of Butter Beer that I made- which was super tasty. I'm going to make more tonight just for a toasty evening drink.

I went a little crazy decorating the living room for the party. Ange and I set up these big black starry curtains to separate the room from the rest of the house, put out the Harry Potter Books, and made sure that everything was lit up by candles instead of artificial light. We wanted it to look like a big old Hogwarts tent. We even hung streamers from the ceiling that represented all of the house colors. The house looked really really cool in the end.

Of course everyone had to dress up! It was absolutely mandatory! So everyone came themed. My beautiful best friend Becky was Bellatrix Lestrange, and I rocked my random wardrobe pieces as a random Hogwarts student.

It was fun just getting to dress up for a change. I didn't really go all out this Halloween, so having two costumes sort of made up for everything!

The movies were really really great too. It was just a super night!

Little Nicks and Little Nacks

A couple of weekends ago I got to spend a lovely day on Treasure Island at a Vintage/Indies show. It was so nice to get out of the house and stretch my legs, and go sniffing around for pretty little treasures. I'm a sucker for vintage clothing, and I'm always looking for trinkets to inspire my steam punk jewelry.

I think it was a pretty successful outing. All of the booth owners were so sweet, and a few very graciously offered me invites to their vintage fashion shows. So I may be going to a Vintage clothing runway show coming up in March. Fingers crossed!

Thrifting for me, is one of life's greatest pleasures. There's nothing more fun then finding treasure in another man's trash. However, when you go to big shows, it doesn't really make sense to go all gussied up, or at least not to me. I have a tendency to dig deep into things, and get my clothes all dirty, so I try to stay low key on these particular days. I didn't have time to make an outfit post, but this was my thrifting ensemble.

In retrospect I wish I had worn black skinnies and boots, but I was in a rush to get out of the house before all the good stuff was gone. I feel like bell bottoms are my lazy day pants- only good really for school days. But anyways, I've got on a neck tied sheer blouse, with a vintage 60's child's lace dress (that I wore as a shirt) over it.

This was a really great show and I found a lot of cool things, and got a lot of neat ideas out of different people's projects. My favorites were these old game pieces that had pretty pictures painted on with ice resin. I'll for sure be doing a little DIY project, so ya'll will know how to make these. Super quick and easy.

Also I found this cool booth that had necklaces that were little pieces of maps. I couldn't find any labeled with my favorite places... No Holland.... Hmmm.

All in all I'd say it was a very successful day. I left with a really awesome Steam Punk ring, a steam punk necklace made of a vintage domino with a deer head, and a leopard print skirt from my favorite dealer. I'm at her little area below. I always find things from her. A few years back, I bought this really awesome purple hat with huge looping feathers on it. I can't for the life of me remember her name, but I always find her by her tags. She tags all of her clothing with trading cards.

I can't wait to come back to this show again. There's a lot of history on Treasure Island and it's great that there's still shows going in the old trade building!

Fall in Winter

My favorite time of a year is fall, but it goes by so quickly. So quickly that I hardly have time to wear all of my cute autumn clothes. Luckily though, in nature, winter tends to boast the same pretty colors, so I figured I ought to take advantage of them before spring takes over.

It's been really rainy in California the past couple of days, making it hard to wear much of anything cute. I'll be honest, I've been a baggy sweater and yoga pants girl every day in school, so breaking away from that norm is a nice change.

Dress/ Forever 21

Belt and Necklace/ Forever 21

Loafers/ Hand Me Downs

My cold weather staple has to be my black tights. They go with everything, instantly make an outfit look chic, and I've yet to find a pair of shoes that don't match them perfectly. 

And now I will introduce you to my Loafers. My Mom was going through her closet and had this awful pair and threw them in my room, and for who knows what reason, I salvaged them. Now... I'm shocked to say this myself, but they are my absolute favorite shoes. They're just really cute- ugly cute, but cute. And durable, which is something that I need in shoes, trecking through the rain and muck.

Sure, winter's gorgeous and has it's own designer colors for the season, but as long as nature matches, I'm perfectly happy to wear my muted autumn florals.