manatee friend

I know I've been on Madewell overload lately but you guys are just going to have to deal with me! :) It'll be over after September once I go to the Alexa Chung Madewell event and get it all out of my system by emptying my bank account there. Not to worry, too, I'm in the midst of some good things to post about soon like a DIY, a guest blog, and some more insight into me (like my obsession with books--I AM a fiction writer after all-- postcards, etc.)

Anyway, the very first ever Madewell catalog came for me in my mailbox today. It's beautiful! I love how oversized it is. When you have it opened in front of you it's almost like a newspaper. :) If you guys want, I can do some scans? In the meantime, here are some pictures of me sitting by the pool tonight at J's mom's house, while J did some jumps and kick-flips with his water-skateboard (no, not a surfboard).

I came from work so I'm still wearing head-to-toe American Apparel. I didn't do an outfit shot cause it was getting dark, but you can see I'm wearing the Round Collar Lawn Button Up. Forgive the poor picture quality, I snapped these on my Macbook Pro Photo Booth.





What you can't see is that I'm also wearing the Knit Pencil Skirt. And on the table are the shoes I wore, my faithful fringe loafers. They're on the table because a mischievous frenchie loves chewing on 'em. As a conciliatory gesture for not doing an outfit picture, I present to you my manatee friend, who loves Madewell just as much as I do. :)

shop update

Short post today! Just letting you know I added some new inventory to HoneyBee Vintage this morning. :) All of them are perfect perfect skirts for fall and back-to-school. Knee length, midi, maxi. I gots it all! Check 'em out, please!




Also, for those who haven't already seen it, this is the behind-the-scenes video of the end-of-summer lookbook for my Etsy shop, HoneyBee Vintage. If you haven't already, you can see more of the pictures on a previous post, here. HoneyBee Vintage Summer Lookbook!

lover of loving love

I love Alexa Chung! And Madewell. So this collaboration is a dream for me. As I said in an earlier post, I went to the event in LA for her debut collection last year and got a few choice pieces. This year is an even more lethal collection and I already have my eyes set on a couple pieces: The rust colored long sleeve dress (click the link below to see Alexa frolicking around in it!), the polka dot peter pan collar button up, the green plaid coat, and the navy chunky ribbed knit sweater! Not to mention the pouch (I have last year's as well).

Can't wait! I'm going to the event this year, too! Will I see you there?

Watch "Alexa Chung in 2011 Madewell Campaign" at New York Magazine




Also, I pretty recently got a tumblr going, though I don't go on as much as most. It's just for pretty little things I find, books I like, literary quotes, funny gifs... Friend me if you have one too! Denouement.

day off

T-shirt + skirt combo, yeah!

Hey, y'all! I hope your week is going well. :) Yesterday, I met up with my friend and photographer Emma, and Alisa, to go to Rowland Heights and get some dim sum, which turned into getting boba and other tasty treats in the form of pastries!

After dim sum, which was quick, and good, and cheap just like dim sum should be, we drove a few blocks over to Half and Half, this super cute boba joint. Their cups are chubby little things, as you can see from the pictures below. Also, the inside is nicely decorated, with lampposts and flower boxes.

Then we stopped by this place that just opened up (there's a location in Irvine, too). It's this amazing bakery/cafe called 85C (or 85 degrees Celsius). The breads and pastries are perfect; delicious and flavorful and soft. Some reminded me of Filipino pastries I'd had before. So tasty! I got a cheese danish, an almond sponge cake, taro bread, and a chocolate chip bowl, which was my favorite for sure. There's apparently always a huge line that forms, but it moves quickly. You get a tray and fill it up with pastries and then they bag them for you and put 'em in a box. It's like a little cafeteria line. I'm not a coffee drinker but I hear that the Sea Salt Iced Coffee is super. If you live in the area or are visiting, I'd say you should scope it out! It's not badly priced either! Mmm, carbs. :)

New Yorker vintage cover t-shirt: Zara
light blue chambray button down skirt: Salvation Army
belt: American Apparel freebie!
shoes: thrifted
satchel: Urban Outfitters years and years ago

you and me and five bucks

tri-blend racerback tank: American Apparel

There were a ton that I took and so you can see a bigger version with more poses here.
And here's the post where I put up the picture that inspired this :).

And a treat from one of my top ten favorite movies. Top fives are so limiting.


AND one last edit because I just stumbled upon this kick-ass jam session.

havin' a ball

I thought I'd let you all see what I have in my makeup bag, which isn't much in the way of makeup, since I suck at applying it and don't know what I'm doing. Mostly it's tinted lip balms and matches because you never know when you might need a match, right? And pain reliever because I get headaches a lot. The main feature is my Moleskine that I use for everything from short story ideas, shopping lists, doodles, notes, driving directions, etc. It's probably my tenth one and I just recently decided to keep it in my makeup bag because they always get messed up when they're just rolling around free in my satchel.

In my makeup bag:
pocket unlined leather Moleskine, Vanille eu de toilette (J's nieces say I smell like cotton candy/M&Ms), Bare Minerals lipstick in Sweet Apricot, MAC matte lipstick in Chili, Esse polish in Mambo, generic aspirin, Neutrogena tinted moisturizer with SPF 30 in light to medium (I don't use powder or foundation so this balances me out a bit), Carmex, eos lip balm in summer fruit (smells like apricot and is in a cute egg shape!), matches from a cute cafe in New York (the one that was in You've Got Mail!, Cafe Lalo), a Goody Ouchless hair tie, Neutrogena Rapid Clear blemish treater, Revlon Colorstay eyeliner in black brown (when I have work or somewhere fancy to go), honey lemon Ricola (I have a pesky cough right now), Neutrogena revitalizing lip balm in fresh plum, e.l.f. brow kit in medium (to fill in my gap in my brows; looks natural still though which I like)



Also, the makeup bag is the other standout feature because it was part of my free gift for going to the Alexa Chung for Madewell debut collection last fall at Century City Westfield Mall in LA. I'm planning on going to the next one this coming September, and I'm on the list for the event at the South Coast Plaza shopping center (if I don't win the contest for the event in LA, that is!)






Sally Jane Vintage

Here are the dresses I got last year! The Tennessee Velvet Dress and the Betty Tea Dress, and then a dress I didn't end up getting but wish I did. :) I love Madewell! And Alexa Chung.



Yesterday, I went to Fullerton to hang out with J's family, but before that we met up with my sisters to walk around downtown Fullerton and check out the home decor in the vintage shops down there. THEN, we went to Porto's in Downey to get some delicious baked treats, potato balls and cheese rolls! Both are amazing and tasty and pretty cheap too. My sisters got sandwiches as well, which were equally good.





Afterward, J and I were supposed to go to the beach with his nieces but just ended up going to the pool and swimming until it got dark, which I think is better than the beach anyway. The water was perfect and I played Marco Polo and Colors with the girls, and Parker, the youngest, gave me half of a best friends necklace, which fits me like a choker but I'm going to put it on a chain that's not meant for a 6 year old girl. :) She likes to call me Mimi, which J doesn't really like but I love it. She is such a doll. I love all of them.

closet sale items

Hey all! I still have some goods left up for grabs on my closet sale from a couple weeks ago. I had some requests to model a couple of the pieces, so here they are. Check out the rest of the items as well, here: FIRST EVER CLOSET SALE.

UO Starry Night print dress


Urban Renewal Dot Blouse


Swedish Hasbeens: Bold Endeavors Heel in Gain, ModCloth (not for sale!)

i love you to pieces, distraction, etc.

Picture post!

So I've been in Arizona for the weekend visiting my parents and celebrating my auntie's 60th birthday. I live in Redlands and grew up with my family in San Bernardino, but my parents moved to Arizona while I was living out in Orange County for seven years, before I moved back to the Inland Empire. The drive to Arizona is interesting, with a lot of weird stuff like little tractor scooter things, and HOV instead carpool, and "speed hump" instead of "speed bump".

Anyway, this is sort of just a road journal in picture form, on the way to Arizona, along with some pictures from my auntie's party and from our chicken and waffle consumption at Lolo's Chicken and Waffles (It's pretty comparable to Roscoe's).

Also, it was super stinkin' hot there. So glad to be back in California!