wow, i just realized something about my outfit for today: it would be completely contemporary if not for that little bow in my hair! (which happens to be a little vintage bow tie that i decided to fasten on top of my head.) thing is, i have plenty of luck when it comes to dresses, but i hardly ever find vintage coats that i like. they never seem to fit quite right and they often come in strange, unflattering silhouettes, when all i really want is a nice, slim fit. enter h&m. not only did i find a trench coat that fits, but it came in navy blue. heaven on earth! i am one of the few people in the world who cannot wear khaki, and i’m sick of black coats, so yes, i am happy as a clam.

it’s like with shoes. i just prefer more modern, or dare i say, trendy styles. i love all of the cute, “vintage inspired” styles that come out, but i appreciate that i can get them with platform toes and more substantial heels. and so i have a closet full of new shoes in classic styles, and i’m slowly collecting more modern coats as well. one thing i find interested about shopping for coats is that all of the magazines will advise us ladies to “invest” in a classic coat, but i really don’t see why! the other day, i did some mall shopping and was completely pleased with the selections at places like h&m, gap, and even old navy. for reals.

and now i have no excuse but to go do laundry. yesterday it rained and so i reasoned that i would have to stay inside and watch hours of tv and drink lots of hot tea. today? no such luck!

well now, first things first: new haircut, hooray!!! and i must give credit where credit is due: after meeting the lovely jennie of going west, she introduced me to her boyfriend, shannon dean, who just happens to be a freelance hairdresser. he saw the photo i posted of my haircut inspiration and a few days later, i got my cut! it was an especially nice experience because he cuts hair in their berkeley apartment, so you can relax and enjoy a glass of wine (or several) and listen to good music without having to pay and arm and a leg just to deal with rude people in some fancy salon. so if any of you live in the bay area and want a snazzy new cut, you should definitely hit him up. i highly recommend it.

now onto this outfit. you can file this under: what not to wear on a rainy day. which is exactly what i learned after getting soaked this morning on the way to the grocery store. this is what spoiled-california-girl denial looks like. it’s kinda like how they say you shouldn’t dress for the job you have, you should dress for the job you want. only in this case, i thought i could dress for the weather i wanted and… hm, don’t think it works quite like that. though this will work if i hem the dress a tad shorter, and add wool tights and rain boots perhaps. the nice thing is that it isn’t cold at all. just wet. really wet.

i hate the rain. waaaaah. i’m a baby.

so if you follow late afternoon, you might have already been privy to the little bay area blogger meetup we had on sunday in san francisco. it was really nice to get together to meet some lovely ladies and talk shop. i was a little nervous because i didn’t know who would be there, but i was delighted to discover that none other than helen, the founder of chictopia, was sitting there in the cafe donning a wide brimmed hat! she’s so adorable! i also got to meet nobody knows you and going west.

i feel a little bad that i didn’t get better photos, but i felt a little rude snapping away while simultaneously trying to chat, so i caught the girls in silly candid moments. it was completely accidental, but that’s ok. bloggers are real people, too, right? it’s like those sections in tabloids. bloggers talk and eat and move. did you know that? haha.

which reminds me, i totally got a flip cam yesterday and i’m beyond excited to put up videos on my blog. thanks flip cam people!

anyway, i didn’t even do an outfit photo at the meet-up, so today i recreated my look to show you what i wore to meet the ladies. i’m in love with this little sailor collar dress! i just ordered a really cute pair of platform ankle booties that i think will go perfectly with it, but for now i’ll pair it with little red flats.

you might recognize this dress from the weardrobe nyc blogger conference. i wore it for the photoshoot with craig arend of altamira nyc. but in all of the commotion, i never really got a proper outfit post in, so today i decided to slip it on and snap a few pictures to show you. anyway, i’m so in love with this dress right now that i don’t need half a reason to put it on!

i got it at mercy vintage in oakland on piedmont avenue. the shop just opened up in it’s new locations a few months ago and it’s literally only a handful of blocks away from where i live, in a neighborhood that’s quickly becoming a favorite! it’s home to issues, a little magazine shop where i’m patiently awaiting a phone call to let me know that the new issue of lula has arrived! and there’s a rad little antique shop nearby where i found an amazing 1950’s sailor dress, and a cute little independent movie theater. pretty sweet.

but onto the dress. it’s a vintage 1940’s rayon dress, and when i bought it the hem fell mid-shin in a most matronly fashion and there were little holes and discolorations all over. so what did i do? i chopped it all off and transformed it into a mini dress. voila! a go-to item for my fall wardrobe. for some reason, i can just see this mixed in with the fall collection from rachel antonoff. the black and orange bring it dangerously close to costume territory, but in a way that’s fun and playful and perfectly whimsical for fall.

another lovely sunday to spend on the roof. just when i thought i was getting ready for the changing of the seasons, there’s a heat wave in northern california. it’s actually quite nice since i’ve been filling my head with inspiration from the new spring/summer 2010 collections that have been coming out. today i finally got to wear this lovely blue floral dress that i got from pearl snap vintage on etsy. she has such a lovely shop and most of her items are just my size! that’s one thing that i find really cool about buying vintage on etsy. do you ever find yourself going back to the shops who have models about your size? it takes some of the work out of it!

anyway, i am in love with this dress right now. it’s white and blue, just like fine china and i didn’t have to alter it one bit because it’s a junior’s dress! seriously, vintage junior’s dresses are the best because they already come in that perfect mini length and they often have the cute, girly details that i love, like peter pan collars. speaking of peter pan collars, i’m pretty sure i sported one almost every day of this week!

speaking of juniors, i just watched the made-for-tv movie, death of a cheerleader starring tori spelling and kellie martin. fun fact: the actor who plays the principal is also the same guy who plays john locke in lost! and now i just have a really strong urge to sit down with one of the best teen movies of all time: heathers! also starring one of the members of the cast of 90210. oh nostalgia!

oh i need a life!

so i had my saturday planned out: i knew that i was going to have a grand ol’ time at the vintage expo in san francisco.

but things change. i’m broke and spending money just isn’t an option right now, so instead i settled for an old dress which i’ve worn a million times before, and a nice drive through sunol with a stop in a local antique shop, and a leisurely drive up mt. diablo to enjoy the warm northern california weather with my true love, mr. garbee. it was quite a nice afternoon, i have to say.

we drove up to the tippy top of the mountain and had a look around. it was a little hazy in most directions, so we didn’t get a very good view of san francisco, but apparently, on a clear day you can see all the way to the farallon islands or the sierra nevada mountain range. we didn’t see that far on this particular day.

brendan rode his bike to the summit on his birthday a couple weeks ago. it’s 3,864 feet up in the sky. i think i’d like to try it myself once the weather cools off a little. i don’t see how all those cyclists were riding up in the heat of the day.

and then we rode back on down the other side of the mountain where we spotted a giant tarantula in the middle of the road, so we had to snap a few shots before we ran away, convinced that it would suck our blood!

brendan was too afraid to get his finger any closer in the shot. it actually started doing a scary dance when stuck his finger out like that.

la la la. i almost thought i wouldn’t get an outfit post in today because i don’t have a tripod anymore (i was borrowing one from a friend for a while) and i was waiting for my boyfriend to come home to snap a few pictures before it got dark (i hate flash). this is why i don’t have daily outfit posts and why i should buy my own tripod. silly me!

anyway, i just threw on something simple today, and i was struck by how plain i looked. i got really simple over the summer, and i think it’s high time i get a little bit more interesting now that the weather is changing! i’ve decided that what this outfit needs is a pair of tights! and i’m pretty sure this is the influence of the clothes horse. i’ve been really into reading rebecca’s blog lately and that girl is the queen of tights. she’s really gotten me thinking about all of the cool pairs i’m going to pick up for the fall now that the weather is back to chilly in the bay area.

let’s look at my wish list, shall we?

1. little heart tights. since those coveted betsey johnson’s aren’t around anymore, i went on a search and came across a comparable pair thanks to ringo, have a banana! though i suppose i may have been the last person in the world who hadn’t heard of tabio.

2. cream lace tights. i’ve wanted a pair ever since i saw this post on the sartorialist over a year ago. stuck with me.

3. my all-time favorite wolford merino wool tights. they’re expensive, but they’re virtually indestructible. i had my last pair for an entire year and they just barely got the tiniest little hole near the foot.

this weekend was poorly planned. for some reason, despite my expectations, the entire northern california coast was booked for camping reservations. out the window(!) to our spontaneous ideas.

instead, we opted for a lazy afternoon at the nicasio reservoir. incredibly, we managed to find a completely deserted lakeside coast, just off the side of the road in marin county. it’s amazing how little you have to drive to find the most beatiful views out there! we bought ourselves some delicious deli sammiches, chips, and beer, and that was our afternoon.

since we expected to find ourselves stopping in bass lake on the way to our anticipated campsite, i was equipped with my new bikini, purchased from a lovely woman off ebay who said she bought it in 1946! as you can see, i was less than excited to get my photo taken in it. haha!

oh, and there are more photos on my flickr. actually, there are almost always more photos up on there!

on a recent trip spent visiting estate sales and antique shops, my boyfriend (mr. garbee), found a silly little paperback book called “mysterious california” which outlines all of the mysterious and spooky locations of california. he became obsessed with it one afternoon, and after reading it cover to cover, decided that we should visit our first location: the rose hill cemetery, located about 40 minutes east of oakland.

so yesterday morning, we set out bright and early with coffee and muffins, and made our way out to the spot, filled with the anticipation of sighting the legendary “white witch,” the ghost of sarah norton, which is said to haunt the cemetary…

we got there and discovered that it was a part of a much larger regional preserve in the area, the black diamond mines regional preserve. the rose hill cemetery is all that’s left of the old mining town that used to be there. so we set off on a little uphill trek to visit the grounds. there were no ghosts and the little place has seen some tough times. apparently there was a lot of vandalism in the 70s and many of the headstones have been destroyed or stolen.