ahh, it feels good to be almost back to my normal routine. this weekend, i stayed close to home for some much-needed house cleaning and spent a good several hours clearing out the closet and sweeping up the dust that had been collecting in all the little corners of my apartment. and on sunday, i even made the trip over to berkeley bowl, a very fancy natural foods store nearby, to stock-up the cupboards. i usually avoid going there because it’s always so crowded and you have to defensively navigate the aisles avoiding shopping cart collisions, or waiting impatiently for traffic jams to clear. but the summer is coming to an end, and i’m finding myself on a bit of a health kick after feasting for months on too much bbq and boozy drinks.

i also decided to clear out my color palette a bit for my last guest post over at the dahlia uk blog. this is my third look for them, styled around this darling green pinafore. i usually wear a lot of navy blue, so i decided to challenge myself a little and  try something new. to me, these muted tones represent these early fall months that feel a bit more like summer here in the bay area, but still hint at the shorter days and soft light that fills the sky in the evenings.

wearing: maisy pinafore dress courtesy of dahlia uk, j.crew silk blouse, vintage t-straps from pretty penny vintage, dooney & bourke medium flower bucket bag on sale at marshalls, ysl fard a levres rouge pur in rosy coral

all last week was busy and exhausting. there are two ways that you can respond to such a situation: 1) you can go home, feel sorry for yourself, and eat a tub of ice cream in front of the tube, or 2) fuck it! throw all common sense out the window, forget your routine, and just do something different. i opted for the latter. on one such weeknight, i threw on my fancy new party dress, and went out on the town. since the sun was just setting, i took the opportunity to show off said fancy dress with a little photo shoot on the secret stairway near my house, then headed off on my evening adventure. the week was long and busy, but sometimes you just gotta live it up and let off some steam.

these photos were taken for part two of my guest post series over at dahlia uk. you can see my first post here.

wearing: stephanie lace organza dress courtesy of dahlia | thrifted vintage kitten heels