Sunshine Yellow, Starfruit and Newspapers

I think this is going to become one of my favorite new tops. The color and lace are both so stunning, I can leave the accessories to a minimum and still look pretty put-together. I have to admit though that a couple years ago I would not have picked anything in this hue since I thought it washed me out. But..... I am trying to embrace color in order to temper my already pretty dark/gloomy closet. I'm sure everyone is tired of seeing the same ol' necklace from Anthropologie but it seems to be the perfect complement to everything lately. Might be time to start crafting some new accories with a "ocean" theme perhaps? We'll see. I wore this to work this week but with a light gray cardigan to cover up for the office.

 A closer shot of the detail in the lace. I love the hem of the shirt with the two different shapes.

 My snack once I got home. I thought it was a funny coincidence that I chose to eat bright star-shaped fruit whilst wearing a bright yellow shirt. Silly me.

A very happy maltipoo playing with a new toy. (Dog Gone Times Newspaper Toy with headlines about wrecked hydrants. The wordplay on the newspaper is hilarious. Yes, I read the Dog Gone Times.)

Lace Shirt: F21
Tank: F21
Pants: BDG via Urban Outfitters
Flats: Nordstrom Rack (AGL)
Necklace: Anthropologie
Earrings: Francesca's Collection
Dog Toy: Ross stores

Family from Texas

This past weekend, I had some relatives come to visit from Texas. The highlight was not just being able to see both my aunt and cousin but also to partake in the monstrous dinner that inevitably comes whenever it concerns a family get-together. We ate at Hop Li Restaurant in Chinatown which never fails with the monstrous proportions and delicious foods. Our small group of ten (small for us), ordered 13 dishes including some peking duck, crab, noodles, rice, beef, squab, and fish to name a few. Easy to say, that everyone was extremely full and got to take home some leftovers.

 Halfway into the meal I finally remembered to take a picture. Whoops.

 My favorite dish... NOODLES!!

These weird puffed up chips came in a variety of pastel colors. They don't really have any flavor but they somehow go well with the squab.

Overtime

Quick weekend outfit update. I wore this new lavendar shirt and realized that it kept in heat like sealing something shut with saran wrap. I'm so glad the air conditioning at work was functioning right. I wore this to work some overtime on a Saturday and can say that once I got home, I took out a minute to photograph this outfit before changing into something more sensible. I also may have stood in front of the fridge for a couple seconds before I changed...

 I love these new earrings. Inexpensive and cute. F21 certainly makes it hard to leave their store empty handed.

Top: Foreign Exchange (On clearance right now! Got this and a bright green clutch for $20)
Tank: F21
Pants: H & M
Flats: Nordstrom Rack (AGL)
Earrings: F21
Necklace: Anthropologie

Comfy Casual Fridays

I've been a bad blogger but I promise I've been taking outfit photos! I forgot I took these photos of an outfit from LAST friday. Yup. Running a bit behind. I was definitely going for something comfy and casual and still put together enough for work.

 Sorry the shirts a lil wrinkly. I had been sitting in the office for almost ten hours at this point.

Top: H & M (only ten bucks!)
Cardigan: F21
Jeans: BDG via Urban Outfitters
Flats: Nordstrom Rack (AGL)
Necklace: Anthropologie (Can't seem to stop wearing this!)

Jewelry Lust

Anyone who ever meets me or even takes a peek at my blog will know. I LIKE JEWELRY. A lot. Like a lot a lot. It should come as no suprise that my parents run a little boutique selling jewelry. I wasn't the most careful and graceful child (I have a stack of broken watches to prove this) so jewelry was not necessarily a part of my life. Fast forward 20 years and KAPOW! Jewelry love/lust hits hard. I actually bought my first diamond ring about six years ago. It's my beloved leaf ring that I feel naked without. I am always lusting after things in my mom's shop and so I thought I would share a few drool-worthy items. :)

The FLOWER ring. I love. I want. 14K white gold setting with diamonds, pink sapphires and more diamonds set in the center with yellow gold.

14k yellow gold setting with an amethyst stone. The deep purple is stunning.

 

Does this look familiar? It's one of the rings I love wearing. The green tourmaline stone is what originally caught my eye. 14K yellow gold setting with small white diamonds and a sea-green center stone.

 

My mother's newest leaf ring addition. The prettiest one I've seen since the one I picked up for myself. This one is a daintier version of mine and I think a little more "organic" in feel. 18k yellow gold set with small white diamonds. I WANT!!

 

This ring is definitely one I would feel nekkid without. This is the first diamond ring I ever bought for myself and I did so once I finished with university. 14k white gold with pave set white diamonds. I adore this ring.

 

A beautiful setting that has a more modern take on the three stone ring. 14k white gold set with diamonds in a cluster form in the center and around the cluster. This ring looks simple and elegant and definitely looks lovely once worn. The diamonds catch every possible ray of light and shines like crazy.

 

What a beauty! Yellow sapphire ring set in 14k yellow gold with small white diamonds set around the center stone as well as pave set diamonds on the band. The center stone is almost 3 carats! The basket setting also has an art-deco inspired carving throughout but I forgot to get a pic of it... D'oh!

 

Multi-colored pearl necklace with pinks, peach, and white pearls. It also has one very beautiful tahitian black pearl hanging on the end of the strand. This necklace is interesting because the snap is adjustable so you can adjust how long or short you want the center piece to be. So unique and beautiful!

 

My mother's shop always has at least one simple, statment diamond bracelet/bangle. This is one of them and is a timeless design. This design is nothing new but used frequently since it showcases the diamonds and their quality so well.

 

Last but certainly not least.... Jade earrings. These babies are a bit big for my taste but they are stunning because of the quality of jade. They are such a vibrant green and the pieces are large but not paper thin. The diamonds set on the sides in 18k yellow gold help accent it with the antique design. The setting of the earrings are reminiscent of a lot of older chinese jewelry and is often re-used since it showcases the jade so well.

Phew! Thanks for letting me share a bit of my obsession with jewelry and that you enjoyed the little peek into the treasures at my mom's boutique. :)

Neon Coral Leaves

     My title is a little simple. Just basically the key elements of an outfit. It was gloomy and supposed to rain but I was tired of wearing my dreary grays and blues. Plus I never like to wear all black so I thought... Pile on the color! Everything I have on has been featured on the blog before except for the boots and white leaf necklace. I love remixing, its so much easier on my wallet. I did recall that when I wore this sweater last time, I wanted to belt it and I have to admit that it looks way better belted. Yay. Comfy, cozy, warm, DRY. I think dressing in brights is like having an all day boost of caffeine! Sometimes I thought the spring in my step was eeking people out around me... oh well.

 I definitely like belting the sweater but I think a wider belt would have been more flattering. Must find a wider gold belt... Suggestions?

 Not one... but TWO leaf necklaces. :)

These boots were made for walking in the rain! They're comfy and water proof. Plus they fit over my calves. Yay!

Button Up Shirt: F21
Sweater: F21
Pants: H & M
Boots: Irene's Story
Belt: F21
Necklaces: Rosebowl Flea Market, F21

Toteworthy

Hi all! I completely forgot to share the pictures of the foldable-reusable-adorable tote I take with me while thrifting or grocery shopping. I love it so much simply because it has large comfortable straps, folds into the tiniest size, has a snap to keep the opening from fanning out like a gaping hole and is super lightweight. Everytime I use it I wish I had bought a couple more. boo. Does anyone happen to know where I might be able to snag a couple more? I've been using one as a gym bag and the other two I use for the grocery store. I know thats already three but I would like to give some to my friends and have one extra that I can have around the house for the odd job since my 'grocery" totes go in the car. Suggestions would be much appreciated! :)

 A water and bottle and maltipoo for a size comparison...

 All folded up and tucked into the mini-version. Looks like a bag made for my dog! lol

It also comes with a small metal key-link loop to attach to your purse :)



Tree-like

     Looking back at these photos I definitely think I resemble the trees that line my street. Lots of deep greens and browns. I love the street I live on. Every house has a tree or two out front and usually a few out back so there's plenty of green and lovely plants everywhere. If my dad could open an arboretum/zoo... he would. He has tortoises, turtles, koi fish, canaries, parrots, dogs, lizards, over 50 bonsais, 40+ orchids, banana tree, pumpkin plant, tomatoes, lemons, oranges, and 50+ cactus plants. Throughout our time at this particular house we have also had rabbits, chickens, snakes, hamsters and lots of uninvited guests including deer, raccoons, squirrels, hawks, rattle snakes, coyotes, opossums and skunks. We once discovered that a skunk family was living in the crawl space under our house. Weird.
     I think most people will read this and think that this isn't that significant at all but when you live in a bustling city, it's often a surprise to discover so many animals roaming near your house and that with a two minute drive you are back in the city where twigs trees are planted in 3' by 3' dirt plots, have yet to sprout more than ten leaves, reach a height of 4' and whenever you look around it looks like a concrete jungle. My point is that it's convenient to be able to go home to such peaceful surroundings yet not have to travel far for all my city needs. I am so very fortunate. Done rambling. Onto outfit pics. :)

 The whole outfit is inspired by colors found in trees except for the gold in the necklace. I think that it actually reminds me of the rings of the tree trunk though, no?

 The belt came with the dress and is super stretchy. Bonus points for being able to eat lunch comfortably without having to loosen my belt. :)

I don't really like this last picture of my outfit from the side but I had to include one with my maltipoo. Besides outfits and food, my maltipoo has taken over my camera phone albums.

Dress & belt: Ross Stores
Necklace: Foreign Exchange
Shoes: Kenneth Cole from Ross Stores

Mint and Coral

     One of my all time favorite dresses is one I picked up about a year ago from Anthropologie. The color, pattern and exposed back with a bow accent was just too cute to resist. They didnt have my size in the store but they did ship the right size straight to my house for FREE. Anthropologie clearly knows the way to my heart (via amazing dresses and top-notch service). It was a day where the big boss at work was retiring and everyone was asked to wear a hawaiian shirt or floral print to wish him a warm "aloha". (He's from Hawaii, hence the floral connection) This was the closest thing I had in my closet to a Hawaiian themed outfit and so I paired it with a necklace- also from Anthro-, wood heels, a white blazer, yellow flower hair clip and a painted wood bangle. This is as tropical/professional as I can get.

Blazer: F21
Dress, Necklace: Anthropologie
Shoes: Banana Republic
Flower Hair Clip: F21
Bangle: Trip to Hong Kong
Belt: F21

Ketchup

Okay. Playing catch-up with just about everything in life right now so brief and to the point it will be. Here's a work outfit I wore and some cupcake goodness I made from the other day. Enjoy! Have a happy weekend all! :)

Button up Top, Lace Top, Pants: F21
Cardigan: H & M
Shoes: Nordstrom Rack
Necklace: Anthropologie
Bracelet: Lucky Brand
Rings: Mom's Shop

Fancy Schmancy

     Hello There! So very very sorry for my unplanned bloggie hiatus. I definitely did not plan to take such a long break but I also definitely needed it. Truth be told, I was feeling a little uninspired and so to save you from the horror of lack-luster outfits, I'll just leave you with a snippet of my daily uniform: black skinnies and a clean top. Yup. simple and boring. I have no idea what got into me but I can tell you that food is responsible for rekindling my interest in putting outfits together again! As if there would be anything else as inspiring... oh well except maybe art? photography? books? Nah. Just food. More specifically, dessert. I'll be sharing these outfits soon hopefully unless I take on another self-imposed blogging vacation. There was one outfit that I managed to snap a few pics of that I can share today and mind you it is nothing of special note, it is a dress that I love because of the fit. I was planning on wearing it to a mad men premier party at a friend's house but alas, party was cancelled. This is my fancy schmancy work outfit... :)

Dress: Ross Stores
Necklace: Anthropologie
Shoes: Payless
Rings: Mom's shop