Posts Tagged ‘california’


california dreaming: coping methods for winter weather

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

As much as I love living in Seattle, our winters tend to be gloomy, soggy, and drag on for-ev-er.   Today?  It hailed AND snowed. My preferred remedy during the slow season is to escape to a sunny locale. Unfortunately, this year I’ve got so many bags in the works, I can’t pry myself away from my sewing machine anytime soon.

So, I thought I’d share two favorite new methods to cope:

  1. Rock this NPR playlist “ Beyond California Dreaming”
  2. Design a virtual sunny-weather outfit on Polyvore, using their huge library of all sorts of fashionable awesomeness.

    3. However, if you’re one of the lucky bastards people to be in southern California right now – go check out Mixture in North Little Italy in San Diego.  You’ll be immediately smitten by open loft-like space, adorned with modern furniture and accessories.. .and some great handbags.

p.s. What are your winter-weather coping methods? Please share them in the comments section below. (And if you’ve created some outfits with a Crystalyn Kae bag on Polyvore, please post a link!)

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in fashion, seattle, stores, travel |
6 Comments »

i want to move to Santa Cruz

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

I say this every time I come here, and this time is no exception. It also amazes me, that although I swear I would drop everything and move here – that I can never seem to find my way around when I get here. Call it stimulation overload: sunshine, shopping and the laid-back vibe. It’s too much for this Seattle girl to handle! This is the last day of our California adventure (and A’s birthday!) and we are going to squeeze in every minute of natural goodness that we can manage before our flight.

After my appointment to show off  bags at a boutique, we were free to roam. First stop was the Lighthouse beach, where we gawked at the surfers and admired the flocks of pelicans overhead.  We continued on to the Natural bridges and marveled at the sea-salt corroded handrails, nearly as much as the succulents that covered the cliffside.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in travel |
Add a Comment »

La Cuesta Encantada – Hearst Castle

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

hearst_castle

After visiting the Elephant Seals, we made our way to Hearst Castle visitors center in time to take a 2 hour tour of the  hilltop estate.  I had no idea that it was such a big deal.  There were buses awaiting to take a load of tourists up the winding 5 mile road to the top.  We first stop on the guided tour was the esplanade and gardens – filled with exotic plants, citrus trees and ancient Greek and Egyptian statues that Hearst had collected.  The Neptune pool was immense and sprawling, and was festooned with large columns and archways that incorporated actual Roman ruins.  The 18 room, 18 bathroom (yes!) guesthouse, Casa del Sol, was spectacularly furnished and had the most amazing carved wooden ceilings. This was nothing compared to the extravagance of Hearst Castle itself. Incorporating a mix of priceless art, Spanish antiques and Flemish tapestries  - the Casa Grande was truly a fascinating pastiche of eclectic styles.  

Hearst built the estate on the 250,000 acre land he inherited from his father. Designed by the patient and ingenious architect, Julia Morgan, was able to interpret Hearst’s ever-changing vision, often tearing down and re-creating structures as his ideas grew more illustrious.  The ever-evolving building project began in 1919 and continued until 1947. During these years, Hearst entertained celebrities, aviators and politicians with his sprawling grounds, tennis courts, billiard room, 2 pools, movie theater, and world’s largest private zoo.  After Hearsts’s death, it was donated to the state of California and is a National Historic Monument.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in travel |
Add a Comment »

my furry friends in San Simeon

Monday, March 16th, 2009

san_simeon

We continued north towards San Simeon, hoping to see the Elephant Seals we had accidentally discovered a few years back. This time we were lucky to find over 50 young pups basking in the sun, with 8 HUGE males keeping watch. There were so many – they almost looked like drift wood! The rugged coastline was truly breathtaking. . . surpassed only by the glowing orange sunset that evening.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in travel |
1 Comment »

Montana de Oro beach. . .shhhh!

Monday, March 16th, 2009

montana_deoro_beach2

After saying goodbye to our friends, Aaron and I embarked on a mini-road trip north up the California coast on Highway 1. Our first stop was Montana de Oro Beach, near Morrow Bay – which was rumored to have great tide pools. We drove through an immense grove of Eucalyptus trees lining the winding road. The road ended at a pebble-covered beach, scattered with seashells and deep pink seaweed.

Although the tide was high, we were able to walk out onto huge pillars of rock to explore the sea life below. From there, we noticed that the tilted layers of sea wall had been carved by the waves – creating an arch!

Truly, this beach was so amazing – I almost kept it a secret!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in travel |
Add a Comment »

a trip to Joshua Tree National Park

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

joshua_tree

We kicked off our week-long getaway to the California sunshine, by meeting up with with our BFFs Michael and Heather in Palm Desert. Our first full day was spent relaxing by the pool and reacquainting ourselves with the huge yellow orb in the sky. The next morning, we grabbed sandwiches and made the trek to Joshua Tree National Park. It was perfect weather to explore the trails along the 20 mile stretch through the park. We scaled huge granite boulders, explored a jumping cholla cactus patch, and spotted lots of amazing wildlife: including jackrabbits, hawks and lizards. I was most in awe of the unique color palette of the desert – especially the contrast of the morphed granite rocks against the brilliant blue sky.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in travel |
Add a Comment »

a lovely adventure in LA

Monday, October 20th, 2008

This past weekend, Aaron and I did a whirlwind trip to LA to scope out a trade show and visit with our cousins who had recently moved to the Pasadena area.
We had an obscenely early flight to arrive bright and early at the Designers & Agents show in downtown LA. We were surprised to see that the show wasn’t nearly as manic as the shows we’ve seen elsewhere, but the layout was cool and I met a few really talented designers. Since the show was smaller than we’d thought, we were done in record time and beat the traffic to enjoy sunshine and 80 degree weather.

We enjoyed a leisurely evening BBQ with Michael and Heather. The next morning we wandered the Pasadena Farmers Market and then hit the Santa Monica beach, followed by a bit of shopping and gelato.

On our way to the airport on Sunday, we met for a quick bite with Christina, my friend and genius photographer. We couldn’t believe the size of their desserts! My favorite was this HUGE apple pie.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in travel |
Add a Comment »

San Francisco: Outside Lands music festival

Saturday, August 30th, 2008

1. the walkmen, 2. Bon Iver @ Outside Lands, 08/24/2008, 3. IMG_2189, 4. Radiohead @ Outside Lands, 08/22/2008, 5. Fin and I at Regina Spektor, 6. regina spektor, 7. Devandra Banhart @ Outside Lands, 08/23/2008, 8. Radiohead – Pyramid Song (Outside Lands 2008), 9. the crowd at Wilco, 10. Wilco at Outside Lands – 8, 11. Stars @ Outside Lands, 08/24/2008, 12. San Francisco Outside Lands: M. Ward // 10, 13. Yellow balloon in the Wilco Sunset

This weekend, we  took our very first overnight train trip – a full 24 hour ride to San Francisco for the Inaugural Outside Lands music festival, which was a 3-day event.  We manage to score the last teeny room in a hotel on the Haight, and each morning we’d grab breakfast & coffee and walk through Golden Gate park to the 6 -stage festival.

For me, the biggest highlight of the weekend was seeing Radiohead – who headlined Friday night. It was a difficult decision to choose them over  Beck (schedule overlap), but Thom & Co.  did not disappoint.  They began playing at twilight, and the stage was illuminated with long shards of purple glass and video screens. After patiently surviving sound snafus (it was the first concert ever played in the park: the speakers cut out for nearly half a song!) they really got the show going.  My favorite surprise of their set was hearing ” Talk Show Host”  live (from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack) which I absolutely looooove.

On Saturday I met up with one of my best girlfriends, who lives in SF now.  After witnessing the crowd-crushing madness of navigating the festival the day before, we chose to camp out early to have a good view of  Devendra Banhart, M. Ward and Regina Spektor. Then we were off to enjoy a glowing sunset with the live sountrack of Wilco.

Sunday, we took a more relaxed pace with brunch at Cha Cha Cha before making the trek into the festival.  My first pick was to see Stars, who put on a surprisingly energy-fulled set.  It also made for excellent people-watching of the bleary-eyed concert goers staggering onto the festival grounds.   Then we checked out Sharon Jones: this crowd was WAY more bumpin than the mellow crowd at the zoo earlier this month. Followed by Bon Iver and Jack Johnson.

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in music, travel |
Add a Comment »