Wedding Vows in Music City

Last weekend I hopped a plane, and headed off to Nashville, Tennessee for my cousin's wedding! While in town I went on an epic bar crawl in the 12 South neighborhood, had the best latte in my LIFE at Frothy Monkey, and went to brunch not once but twice at The Southern. Whenever I go on a trip, my best packing strategy is really just to shop for all new outfits. I get so excited to wear my new outfits, that I end up packing less, because I need fewer options. Brilliant, right? Well for the wedding itself, I did choose to recycle a dress from a previous wedding over the summer. To dress up the black eyelet frock I chose these sparkly earrings from Banana Republic. I thought they were classy, and I loved the unique fall colors used. Now I keep finding many more outfits to wear them with!

Like We Never Loved at All

I've been in love with music videos even before the days of TRL. The earliest videos I remember are from the mid 90's on days I stayed home from school sick, laying on the couch and watching artists like Tom Petty and Sting. So it went from Rock and Roll, to my days as a Backstreet Boy fan, and into my Country music years; I have experienced a lot of music. This one music video, by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw from 2005 always stood out to me. Faith is undoubtedly a beautiful woman, and in this video, she is especially striking. The combination of her hair style, makeup, and that killer yellow dress made the overall story unforgettable.

I always remembered this look.

Faith is beautiful no matter which decade she is in!

I have long since wanted to create a look similar to hers, and this weekend I attempted just that. A friend had passed down this cream and navy Trina Turk dress, and I had never come across the right occasion to wear it. On Saturday night I attended a graduation party for my friend Bobbi and decided it was an appropriate setting. Since the dress felt a little 70's to me, I tried to pull off a similar  hair style as Faith. One way or another it was fun to play dress up!

Feeling a little retro!

Congratulations on graduation Bobbi!

Down the Rabbit Hole

 

This past weekend some friends and I decided to lay-low for a night and instead of hitting the bars, we sought out a hookah bar. Every time I smoke hookah, so all about three times, I can't help but picture the Caterpillar character from the 1952 version of Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Unlike some others, including the Caterpillar, I am completely incapable of making rings or any other cool formations with the smoke. We had a great time talking, laughing, smoking our Apricot hookah, sipping tea, and eating hummus and an interesting goat cheese dessert!

 Catching a ride on the bus

(Kind of feel like an ice cream sundae with a cherry on top!)

Coat: Tulle

Hat: Old Navy

Jeans: Gap

Boots: Nicole

Great place on Fillmore St. 

Hummus and Pita, delish!

Our Hookah

Trying to look cool, but yeah, I can't make any letters, haha

Really interesting goat cheese desert! 

Hot & Cold

Monday morning I read a Women's Wear Daily article about warm and cool color trends for sportswear in 2011. Inspired by the idea, D and I got out of the city for a few hours, and dressed for the trend; myself in cool colors, D in warm ones. I had originally intended on titling this post Beaches, Burritos, and Beers, because that is what we set out to do. As the pictures below illustrate, our mission was accomplished!

Sunnies, Vest, Jeans and Scarf all from Old Navy!

Boots: Ugg Australia

Bag: Big Buddah

Sunnies: Banana Republic

Vest: Gap

Sweatshirt: American Apparel

Bag: Marc Jacobs (so hot right now!)

Being a Butterfly at the Pacifica Pier

Ahoy!

D's got a little Captain in her...

View from the coolest Taco Bell EVER!

The Salsa Verde packets say "Kiss Me I'm Irish" 

Confusing, but still really cool

Sampler at Half Moon Bay Brewing Company

I am Goose to D's Maverick

Sitting On the Dock of the Bay... Half Moon Bay that is...

Best Friends: Perfect Day!

Adventure Day, a success!

All That Glitters

This New Year's Eve, I'm sporting my grey Aerotek sweatpants and Denver Bronco's thermal , both made pour les hommes. Yup, thats right, I have chosen to sit this year out; mostly for financial reasons. So while I wait for my baked potato to cook in the oven, I thought I would showcase a sparkly outfit that I did wear this holiday season. Inspired by menswear, and passionate about ruffles and sparkles, I changed this simple button up shirt, to something a little more festive!

Basic black button up with white buttons

+

Sparkly new crystal buttons

=

Unique new festive holiday shirt! 

This is me rockin my new shirt at a company holiday party!

Location: Olive, a cool martini bar on Larkin & O'Farrell 

And here I am sporting my sparkles at dinner with a friend!

Location: Zushi Puzzle on Lombard St. (best sushi in the Marina!)

Happy 2011 Everyone... I'm excited 

Twain Was Right

Mark Twain once wrote that the coldest winter he ever endured was a summer in San Francisco. Everyone who lives in this city knows this quote, and often feel the need to share it with the freezing tourists who only brought shorts and tank tops to come to sunny California. Being new to the city myself, I guess I didn't really ever think it would be THAT cold, but it is. This past weekend D and I were excited to hit the bars, just two single ladies out to meet some cool guys. Of course we had planned our outfits in advance and couldn't wait to wear our sundresses and sandals. Wrong! Saturday night was so chilly that we actually dove back into our winter closets, and we each wore boots... and it's almost July!

 

Well Twain, you were right. Here's hoping for warmer days ahead, because I have an Ella Moss floral sundress, still with the tags on it from last summer, that is just dying to come off the hanger!

Day N Night

It's sometimes hard to find outfits that you can wear to work, and then to the closest happy hour afterwards. I work in a very casual retail environment where I am on my feet and moving around all day long, so I need to be comfortable and still cute. In Denver I could get away going out in super casual looks, but SF is another story. In the neighborhoods I mostly hang out, the pressure is on to look your best. Last weekend this was my ensemble of choice, a cute simple brown dress from Old Navy, colorful silk belt from Anthropologie, jean jacket from J Crew (did you know that my J doesn't mean anything in J Crew... random factoid) and my die hard Jack Rogers sandals. D and I bounced around meeting up with friends in Union Square, the Mission, and Marina, and I'd say this outfit was an acceptable choice for all three.

Just a walk in the Park

... Golden Gate park that is! With a thirst for adventure, and lattes from Starbucks, D and I explored the park today... well at least 1/5 of it. It's a pretty big park. With the occasional re-directional assistance from D's i phone, we spent hours wandering and taking in the sights. We saw cute couples picnicking, turtles, lots of different trees and plants, statues, and a super sweet gathering of talented roller-skaters. Seriously you have to give props to the people of the city who take the time to practice and share their passion for roller skating. I admit I wish it had been a bit sunnier, but it was nice to stretch the legs and breath in some (sort of) fresh air! 

Pretty view looking back at the Botanical Gardens

Me trying to imitate this funky tree. The name: Monkey Puzzle... awesome!

D looking pretty, rockin her new sunnies from Old Navy!

Me, my new sunnies from Old Navy, and the fake waterfall. 

The Little Mermaid... but where's flounder?

My new boyfriend Rob. He's an Irish Patriot.

Roller-skaters zipping around to some fly tunes. Oh yeah, I said fly.

 

DNL, over and out... for now anyways. 

California Casual Chic

So before our day of errand running (including the DMV, yuck!) D asked the question, how should we dress? I said, how about California casual chic; whatever that means to you. We dug through our closets, combined new and old garments and pulled out the H&M sunnies we bought a few months ago.

 

PS: Did I mention we are really goofy and LOVE food? Ok, well we do, and I will be sure to let you know where we go and what we think, that is if you are interested. 

 

Dino's Pizza on Filmore St is pretty delish. The outdoor seating option drew us in to look at the menu, and the smell of the pizza forced us to sit down. Their crust is crispy like a cracker (pardon my alliteration) which allows toppings to be piled sky high, but doesn't really add to the flavor. Overall we gave it a 7.5 rating.

Phase Two

I would like to introduce you to a new phase in my life in San Francisco... and trust me, things are about to get a lot more interesting. Meet one of my very best friends, D. We get dressed up, we drink, we dance... and we have a hell of a great time! Pictured above is our most recent "girls nights out" to SATC2, naturally. We're just two "new to the city" girls who go with the flow. When Nick's Crispy Taco's on Polk Street said "cash only" we said we'd go to the cool Thai place across the street. We have many challenges and adventures planned for this summer... details to follow, stay tuned!

Suit Up!

So, I don't know whether any of you have seen this show, but if you haven't I highly recommend you check it out! The roles these characters play, at times, seem quite in line with what myself, and my closest friends are up to in San Francisco. There's the fun-loving, sincere, and genuinely happy couple; the wild and crazy, willing to make a party if he can't find one cool enough guy; and the quirky but suave guy who's a good friend, with a good head on his shoulders. The character I would play is a hard-working chick, who can kick it with the guys, but also likes her time out with the girls, and still hasn't quite figured out what she wants in life. Yup, that sounds about right.

Anyways, it seems that in almost every episode, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris's character) is trying to get his other friends to "Suit-Up" with him. To honor that aspect of the show, we ourselves like to "Suit-Up" from time to time, and hit the SF bars in search of a good time. While I didn't get a stellar picture of my outfit from last friday night's adventure, he is a pic of me and the boys, enjoying a nice dirty martini, before a night of debauchery. Thank God blazers are still an "in-look" for women this season so that I can play along! I'm sure I will have many more, How I Met Your Mother inspired outfits to come!