March 27, 2013

Another day, another pair of pants...can't wait for the weather to turn sunny so I can start wearing skirts again! Of course then I will also have to start shaving my legs :)

Accessories Close-up

Favorite leopard print fabric sling-backs from Zara
Gold bling bracelet from Palm Springs
Gold hoops gift from girlies
Triple circle necklace gift from girlies

March 26, 2013

Back to work after being immersed in fashion and art made me feel a little funky. I've decided to stop worrying about being trendy and just be myself. Listening to that inner voice that makes you unique is obvious in the works of successful artists and designers.

Accessories Close-up

Cheapo shoes that I love from H&M with new green laces from Cole Haan
Cool scarf gift from my girlies for Christmas ( along with my green skinny corduroy pants )
Weird orange cameo pin from resale store
Gold hoops gift from my girlies
Green stone bezel set ring made by me
New goldish metal bracelet from Whistles boutique, London

First Stop: NYC

HELLO BIG APPLE!

After plotting and planning for months my awesome, amazing escape from Orange County finally began...

Although I only had 48 hours in New York City I enjoyed every minute.

First stop was at the Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The show was pretty good but, the museum is HUGE and amazing!!

Couldn't resist making Picasso face at a random Picasso painting from 1967

Next stop was the NYC Millinery Guild " Night and Day " exhibit at the National Arts Club.

The milliner Jasmin Zorlu relocated to NYC from San Francisco and has two hats in this exhibit.

She once taught me in San Francisco how to block a felt hat. 

I love all hats big and small, sane and crazy, safe and flamboyant so I throughly enjoyed the exhibit.

The remaining hours were full of window shopping, food, laughter, and real shopping.

I love New York!

Souvenir Close-up

Great super light gray hooded vest from Nordstrom Rack in NYC ( wore it constantly rest of trip )
Tourist t-shirt, umbrella and dumb 44 ways to tie a scarf book from Metropolitan Musuem
Great aviator sunglasses from Banana Republic
Complimentary Millinery Guild pins

Second Stop: PARIS

BONJOUR PARIS!

What I wore in the most fashionable city in the world...

Sharing ONE evening with both my girlies after my 4 hour flight delay leaving NYC

Rodin Sculpture Garden

Thinking about the Thinker...

On St Patricks day when a funny little Scot snuck into my my epic Louvre photo. LOL

Cutest Francophile ever!

On my way to the Salvador Dali exhibit at Centre Pompidou ( plus zillions more amazing artworks )

INSIDE a Dali artwork !

A freezing, rainy night cruise along the Seine River :(

Attempting to be fashionable while shopping for fashionable items.

The famous clocks at the railway station that has been converted into the PHENOMENAL 

Musee d'orsay

AU REVOIR PARIS,

taking the chunnel train to London and leaving with a million memories of my happy girlie, epic artworks, amazing architecture, culture,  fine food, great wine, inspiring fashions, and so much more!

 Souvenir Close-up

Lace top and red flats with tassels (!) from  random Paris boutiques

Postcards and bookmark from Musee d'orsay

Candies, mustards, mini eiffel tower, Christmas ornament and pins from Galeries Lafayette

Kenzo knock-off scarf from Zara

Tourist t-shirts from random souvenir shop

Paris mug from Starbucks ( I can't help it! They make me happy when I'm home )

Misc pamphlets from museums

Beautiful red stick found in Rodins Sculpture Garden

Third Stop: LONDON

CHEERS!

More highlights of what to wear for random activities when traveling abroad...

Lamb and Flag Pub in London 

what to wear when having your first pint of Guinness, 

what to wear when guarding Buckingham Palace,

what to wear when you're watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace

what to wear when you are lucky enough to stumble upon an AMAZING Dior exhibit on the top floor of the equally amazing Harrods 

The Wallace Collection

what to wear when observing what armor knights wore into battle

what to wear when no one is guarding the armor collection! LOL

what to wear when it's raining on Portobello Road

Okay, then it was SNOWING on Portobello Road!

Souvenir  Close-up

Lace top, blue knit cap and Stumper fabric tote bag from Portobello Road

Pretty skirt from United Colors of Benneton

Ombre shirt from Topshop

Celia Birtwell designed textile scarf from Uniglo

Melting Dali clock( LOVE! ) from random souvenier store

Liberty of London fabric from Shaukat Fabric store

London Jack zipper pouch, umbrella, luggage tag, mini double decker buss, I heart London pin, and Queen postcard from Oxford Road souvenir shop

London mug from Starbucks ( I couldn't help myself! ) 

Beautiful metal bracelet from super cool boutique Whistles
Heart shape Union Jack box filled with truffles from Heathrow duty free store

March 12, 2013

This will be my last post for 2 weeks. But stay tuned to find out what I'll be up to...

 I was so ready for a sunny day that I had on sandals and a frilly skirt...

 walked outside and it was COLD! 

Outfit number two was much more wintery :)

Accessory Close-up

Leather boots with laces are old favorites purchased at Loehmans in San Francisco
Leather reversible belt from Target (?)
Silver bangles from Noredstrom
Steel hoops from Mall silver store
Butterfly brooch is ancient but, I still love it
Multi-medium beaded necklace from Aldos. Always get lots of compliments on it.

March 8, 9, & 10

48 HOURS

 Got the call that our nephew was finally going to marry his long-time girlfriend...

in three days and under the Las Vegas Welcome sign.

Road trip!

Left our house at 1:30pm on Friday, March 8 and 5 hours later pulled into a rainy, cold Las Vegas...

Luckily the next day was a beautiful day for a wedding and no, that's not our happy couple...

This is our very, very, very happy hip couple finally hitched and officially Mr. and Mrs.

They're so cute!

Sunday,  March 10th we left Las Vegas and headed home through some unbelievably beautiful scenery.

After 5 hours driving we arrived home at 1:30pm...

EXACTLY 48 hours after we had left.

What a trip!

March 7, 2013

Today was a little bit of work and a lot of fun.

Accessory Close-up

Brown leather loafers by Bass
Gold little ball earrings from forever
Vintage yellow plastic brooch gift from 6 year old daughter of a former student
New leather floral with a ladybug ring form Crafted in San Pedro
New leather floral bracelet from Crafted in San Pedro

Work ended and the fun began by hanging with my best bud TD for the last 32 years.

And the day ended with fond farewells to our dear friend, maid of honor, and kindest person we know.  

TD is moving many states away and sadly it will probably be a long while before we meet again.

March 5, 2013

DAY FOUR OF MY EXCELLENT ( I'm still on this? ) ROAD TRIP

Woke up in Central California and drove and drove and drove south :), stopped at beaches and piers...

drove and drove and drove and drove and stopped for banana cream pie....

and drove and drove and drove and drove until we reached home and

the end of this excellent road trip. 

March 4, 2013

DAY THREE OF MY EXCELLENT ROAD TRIP

Hubster decided we better get out of San Francisco before I did any more shopping...

Exiting San Francisco through China Town is always a feast for the senses.

Hubster headed North over the Golden Gate up the wild coast...

past lots and lots and lots of cows on picturesque grassy hills...

then a glimpse of the wild coast again slowly winding up the wiggly Highway 1.

Stopped at Bodega Bay where we had an Alfred Hitchcock sighting but, no mishaps with any birds 

( Bodega Bay is the setting for Hitchcock's famous movie The Birds, which scared my to death as a child ).

And finally Hubster  had seen enough coastline and we began a VERY leisurely long, long drive south.

End of day three.