Saturday, September 26, 2015

Outfit of the Day: Warm Tone Weekend

Hello Kittens!


As I mentioned in my last post, last weekend was a fun filled weekend for me. Because my post about the Vintage Fashion Expo and Impromptu tea from last Saturday was so long I decided to keep the Outfit of the Day pics separate from the post and just combine all my Outfit of the Days from last weekend into this one post.

And so, here we go!


Outfit of the Day:
Friday:
After work last Friday my husband and I went out to dinner with my husband's mom. Since it was a Friday and we were going out to eat I really didn't need any more excuse than that to get out one of my pretty dresses to wear. We went out to Olive Garden and I knew that there is a gelato place just across the parking lot ;) so I thought this would be the perfect going out for dinner and gelato dress.

I was super lucky and randomly found this Stop Staring dress on ebay several months back for a really great price. I've been pining for this one since I saw it years ago on Gossip Girl and by that time it was already long gone from Stop Staring's stock. I paired this with some basic black flats and a black mohair cardigan for when the evening turned a bit chilly as it always does in Northern California.


Stop Staring Lura dress- Front View

Stop Staring Lura dress- Side View

Stop Staring Lura dress- Front View

Stop Staring Lura dress- Side View


Saturday:
On Saturday because my friend and I were planning on going to the Vintage Fashion Expo I knew a vintage dress was in order! I found this true vintage dress on Etsy a few years back. I love all the pintuck pleats in this dress and the adorable crochet lace on it. I paired this dress with peach Gabriella Rocha flats, cream ankle socks, and a vintage cream beaded cardigan.

Vintage 1940's 1950's Peach Crochet Lace dress- Front View

Vintage 1940's 1950's Peach Crochet Lace dress- Front View

Vintage 1940's 1950's Peach Crochet Lace dress- Side View

Vintage 1940's 1950's Peach Crochet Lace dress- Front View

Vintage 1940's 1950's Peach Crochet Lace dress- Front View

Vintage 1940's 1950's Peach Crochet Lace dress- Side View

Vintage 1940's 1950's Peach Crochet Lace dress- Close Up


Sunday:
On Sunday not only was it the last day of the last weekend of summer but it was also the hottest day of the weekend; some would even say, one of the hottest days of the summer! My friends and I spent the afternoon at the Eat Real food truck festival at Jack London Square in Oakland. Even though Jack London Square is right on the water it did little to give relief from the heat! Eat Real has been one of our summer traditions, along with the Fremont Festival of the Arts and Hayward's Walk of Wine. Unfortunately though, all three of us have noticed that each year the Eat Real festival has become less and less exciting. This year, even though the crowd was bigger than we've ever seen it, there just wasn't really anything all that exciting going on by way of food trucks. We had a hard time finding anything that really peaked our interest. We were thinking this might be the last year for us for checking out Eat Real but perhaps we will give one last try next year.

Anyhow, for this day's activities, I really felt like I picked the perfect dress to wear out-- my new Trashy Diva L'amour dress in Red Waterlilies which I paired with mustard peep toes I got from Target a few years backs. This is such a perfect summery dress and was so comfortable to wear despite the hot temperatures that day. I'm glad I was able to wear this dress on the day my friends and I bid adieu to summer.


Trashy Diva L'amour dress in Red Waterlilies- Front View

Trashy Diva L'amour dress in Red Waterlilies- Front View

Trashy Diva L'amour dress in Red Waterlilies- Side View





Friday, September 25, 2015

A Day For Vintage Fashion and Impromptu Tea!

I am so happy to see the start of the Fall season.


While I love summer and all the fun the sun and warm weather brings, there is something so wonderful about the fall season with its cooling days, the appearance of pumpkin spice everything in grocery stores and coffee shops, and of course the anticipation of Halloween!

But before we get too ahead of ourselves.... I was lucky enough to enjoy one last perfect summer day last weekend out and about with a good friend.

It's been almost a year since I last got to see my friend so this in itself made it quiet the occasion. We decided to meet up in San Francisco for the annual Vintage Fashion Expo in Golden Gate Park. It was such a treat to wonder through the two big halls full of different vintage vendors. While the large array of vendors overall spanned from the 1800's all the way through the 1980's I was happy to see that most of the items seemed to be focused around the 1950's and 1960's (my personal favorite fashion eras.) :)

There was so much to be seen. So many dresses, sweaters, jewelry... there was even a vendor there that specialized in Bakelite jewelry and another who specialized in vintage eyewear.

It was a wonderful place to wander through for the day, ogling at all the goodies. I was able to pick up a light blue beaded cardigan for a decent price, which is something I have long been looking for, and my friend was able to pick something up for herself as well, a gorgeous vintage hat!


Just a tiny fraction of the offerings at the Vintage Fashion Expo in San Francisco

Another hall, another tiny fraction of what was offered at the Vintage Fashion Expo in San Francisco


And, as if the Vintage Fashion Expo wasn't resplendent enough of a thing to do that day, after the expo we did something that was such an amazing treat... we randomly went out for afternoon tea!

Just that morning, my friend happened to notice there was a tea place right in the neighborhood we were going to be in and so we decided to check it out.


The Secret Garden Tea House, San Francisco, CA


Being in San Francisco, and just across the street from Golden Gate Park, I was amazed The Secret Garden Tea House was able to accommodate us as walk ins. It was even during peak hours on a Saturday! Ordinarily, this might be reason to have concern at the quality of their tea but everything was just perfect!

The one room tea house was decorated in the usual sweet girly decor for a tearoom. There was lots of pink, lots of sparkly chandeliers, and lots of pretty floral teaware.

The menu was wonderfully varied. Rather than just have to get a full tea service, guests are able to choose from a full tea spread, cream teas, savory teas, or even full sandwiches with their teas. Checking out their online menu after I even noticed that they offered such things as samosas and veggie and hummus platters! Since it was my first time coming here though I chose to have the full tea service to best gauge my first time experience here.

Their tea selection, while not super expansive, consisted of a good selection. There was the usual black teas, green teas, and even some dessert teas. I chose to get the Snow Bird tea, a delicious vanilla, cinnamon, floral black tea. My friend had the black vanilla tea which was also very good.

Tea was served on a three tiered plate. For the first course there was a warm, perfectly flaky and soft cranberry scone. We didn't get any lemon curd but we did get strawberry jam and two servings of clotted cream.

For the tea sandwich selection there was five different selections, each delicious and each with its own unique twist from the usual tea sandwich fare. My favorites were the smoked turkey with baby dill and lemon capers cream and the pesto tomato sandwiches.

For the sweets, there was three different desserts offered: a chocolate chip blondie bar, a walnut brownie with whipped cream and caramel, and a cream filled angel food cake. One the dessert plate there was also lots of fruit and a couple of mini cookies.

The service was excellent and they were very attentive and courteous to us. This place is definitely one I will come back to again.

It was such a wonderful day out in the city. Catching up with a good friend, looking through a huge collection of vintage fashion, and gong out for impromptu tea on a rare warm and wonderfully relaxing day in San Francisco... What more could a person ask for?

Inside the Secret Garden Tea House, San Francisco, CA












Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Matching Your Dress To Your Teaware Part 19: Apple Harvest!

Fall: The season for pumpkin bread, pumpkin spice lattes, warm apple cider, and apple harvests.


With this in mind, I figured this first day of Fall would be the perfect time for this apple themed Perfect Pairing.

I found this vintage apple shaped teapot at the Etsy shop, Snapshots Through Time. I was immediately drawn to the gorgeous red hue of the teapot. The color in conjunction with the high gloss glaze gives this teapot the sense of a perfectly ripe apple. To help give this teapot even more visual interest, the handles and spout of the teapot are formed in the shape and texture of branches from which the apple has come from.

Apple Shaped Teapot, image: Snapshots Through Time, https://www.etsy.com/listing/221387806/apple-shaped-teapot-red-fruit-shape?ref=shop_home_active_1&ga_search_query=apple

Apple Shaped Teapot, image: Snapshots Through Time, https://www.etsy.com/listing/221387806/apple-shaped-teapot-red-fruit-shape?ref=shop_home_active_1&ga_search_query=apple


I can just imagine the scene... sitting inside in a cozy warm corner, taking refuge from the chill of the outdoor Autumn air while pouring warm apple spice flavored tea from this pot!

Of course, no pairing would be complete without a proper and perfectly paired dress to wear. The Sheila dress by Hell Bunny is just the dress with its all over apple print against its mild green background. It's no surprise to see how this dress is the perfect pair for this apple teapot. The light weight fabric and modest cut of this dress with its high neckline and gathered short sleeves makes it perfect for the changing season where there is a crispness to the air yet where it's not quite cool enough to warrent the heavier fabrics or warmer coats of winter just yet.

Hell Bunny Sheila dress- Front View

Hell Bunny Sheila dress- Side View


Fall is one of the most perfect seasons in my opinion. Put on a pot of tea and watch the leaves fall one by one to the ground.




Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Outfit of the Day: Under the Sea

This past Saturday Tim and I spend the day out and about at different festivals around our area.


Our first stop was the Hayward Vintage Alley Car Show. This was the first time I was able to attend this second annual car show put on by our local retro reproduction shop, Vintage Alley. It was quite big and definitely exceeded my expectations. I was thinking it would just be a small strip of cars along a small section of B st, but really, they basically took over the entire downtown area with classic cars, classic and custom bicycles, several retail and food vendors, and even a large stage with a live band. We had a lot of fun looking at all the sights, as well as taking a stop at Vintage Alley and at the new ice cream shop next door.







After the car show we headed down to the annual Pittsburg Seafood Festival. There was so much seafood to be had there! I had a delicious crab sandwich, then shrimp and grits. I wanted to go back for a fried shrimp po boy but was too full by then. But I did get a bite or two of Tim's friend alligator before we left. There was jet ski races there as well as live bands. They advertised kite surfing demos but we didn't see them there. Either we missed it or it just wasn't happening on the day we went. I wish they would have had some kind of schedule of events listed for this festival. It seems like there was a lot of stuff going on including bath tub races and paddle board lessons, but for the life of me I couldn't find a list anywhere saying when what was going to be taking place. At least the seafood was always there :)


Outfit of the Day:

For this day's activities I had to wear my new Trashy Diva Trixie dress in Deep Sea Coral! The seafood festival seemed the perfect occasion to get out my new deep sea coral dress! ;) I paired this with a rose pink cropped cardigan by MAK also from Trashy Diva and a pair of navy flats for all the walking we were going to be doing.

Trashy Diva Trixie dress in Deep Sea Coral- Front View

Trashy Diva Trixie dress in Deep Sea Coral- Front View

Trashy Diva Trixie dress in Deep Sea Coral- Side View


Trashy Diva Trixie dress in Deep Sea Coral- Front View


Trashy Diva Trixie dress in Deep Sea Coral- Front View


Trashy Diva Trixie dress in Deep Sea Coral- Side View

Starfish Earrings- Close Up








Monday, September 14, 2015

First Dress of the Year Made By Me: Bikini Blast

I finally got around to making another dress!


This is the first dress I've made this year despite that this year is nearly 3/4ths of the way over. It's been a rough year and rather than staying home to work on projects I've kind of just been keeping myself busy being out and about. I still miss my Merk dearly. She was my constant companion at home and especially while at home working on projects just as this one. I happened on some old blog photos of crafting projects and realized she would be by my side and in nearly all the pics I would take while crafting. I will miss her forever until hopefully one day when I see her again.

Anyhow, this is my first dress of the year made by me. I made this over the long labor day weekend between going to the cat cafe and hanging out with my mom on Labor day. I actually had the fabric prewashed and the pieces cut out by the end of year last year, it has just taken me this long to finally get around to sewing everything together.

For this dress I used Butterick pattern 5209 and chose a fun rayon novelty bikini print fabric I found on the fashion fabrics club website. I do believe this is the best dress I've made since starting this blog :) I am quite happy with the way it's turned out.


Butterick 5209- Front View

Butterick 5209- Front View

Butterick 5209- Side View

Butterick 5209- Back View

Butterick 5209 and Close Up of fabric



Saturday, September 12, 2015

Outfit of the Day: Think Pink

Bonjour Mes Petits Chaton!


Last weekend Tim I were able to check out the cat cafe, the Dancing Cat in San Jose! You can read all about it in my previous post here. But that wasn't the only thing we did that weekend. After the cat cafe we went to the retro shop 23 Skidoo in Campbell, a shop I have long wanted to check out, and then rounded out the day by going to the nickle arcade, Nickle City, afterward that.

On Sunday I got to spend a fun day out, spur of the moment, with my mom getting pedicures and manicures, and then going out for lunch and a little shopping.

It was a fun-filled weekend for sure and of course I had to dress the part while being out and about!


Outfit of the Day:
Saturday:
On Saturday I knew I had to wear another one of my cat dresses when going out to see the cats at the Dancing Cat! I chose to wear my Ruby dress in Kitties by Heart of Haute. I paired it with a peachy pink cardigan from Target (though it didn't stay on long in the heat), and a pair of black flats by Mia which I think I got from Nordstrom Rack.

Heart of Haute Ruby dress in Kitties- Front View

Heart of Haute Ruby dress in Kitties- Front View

Heart of Haute Ruby dress in Kitties- Side View

Heart of Haute Ruby dress in Kitties- Front View

Heart of Haute Ruby dress in Kitties- Front View

Heart of Haute Ruby dress in Kitties- Side View


Sunday: 
It was completely unintentional that I also wore pink on Sunday! On Sunday, without thinking too hard about it, I chose to wear my Trashy Diva Aloha dress in Tropical Sangria. I paired this with the same peachy pink cardigan as the previous day, and a pair of nude flats by Easy Spirit from Nordstrom Rack. On my cardigan I pinned a cute flamingo brooch which Tim bought me a few months back at the retro shop Cognito in Santa Cruz, but I didn't end up actually wearing the cardigan hardly at all that day. It was so hot!


Trashy Diva Aloha dress in Tropical Sangria- Front View

Trashy Diva Aloha dress in Tropical Sangria- Front View

Trashy Diva Aloha dress in Tropical Sangria- Side View

Flamingo Brooch- Close Up

Trashy Diva Aloha dress in Tropical Sangria- Front View

Trashy Diva Aloha dress in Tropical Sangria- Front View

Trashy Diva Aloha dress in Tropical Sangria- Side View