Style Diaries

Some time ago I was contacted to contribute to a book that would be featuring fashion bloggers from all over the world. I of course was flattered and very excited to be featured in such a book! I just got my copy of the book Style Diaries: World Fashion from Berlin to Tokyo, and I am so thrilled! The book definitely exceeded my expectations. There are 40 bloggers from all over the world featured, and the book is really wonderfully put together. I thought it might be kind of like a coffee table book- big and hard covered, but it turns out it's a really thick book with 400 pages of amazing photos from all of these international fashion bloggers and a little blurb about each one before their section. Even if I wasn't in the book, I would still go buy it! It's really fun to see a lot of bloggers I love being featured in this book. Most of the bloggers I've at least seen in passing and there are a few more familiar faces in there, like Keiko Lynn, Sally Jane Vintage, and Strawberry Koi.

I highly suggest checking it out. It's only $16.47 on Amazon right now and it features hundreds of pages full of fashion blogger goodness! I think it's pretty amazing that fashion bloggers are being recognized as changing the face of the fashion industry, and stuff like this just proves that we really are a legitimate part of the fashion world.

Rose of Cimarron

I mentioned Gretchen Jones' velvet dress last week, and after a bit of sleuthing I found the F/W 2010 collection of her line Mothlove which had that very dress in it! I was always a fan of Gretchen on Project Runway, even though she became the villain of the show. While the overall verdict by the judges seemed to be that her clothes weren't "high fashion" but more of a ready-to-wear variety, I always enjoyed the bohemian, chill vibe to her work. She seemed like a genuine person, with a streak of control-freak-perfectionist, and generally a lovely human being. You guys probably know that I'm not into "high fashion," if you will, so her work really resonated with me. Even though I wouldn't wear everything she sent down the runway, I loved her perspective and I usually found myself thinking "I would totally wear that" more often with her than most other designers. Anyway, here are some of my favorites from her F/W 2010 collection, Rose of Cimarron. As I head towards the southwest on my travels, I'll be drawing inspiration from this collection...

all photos via MothLove

Family Ties

While I was at my aunt's house in Alameda, I found a bunch of old pictures of my grampa as a younger man and my aunt, uncle, & Dad as kids. I adore old family photos. I have a whole set on my flickr of vintage family photos. I hadn't seen a lot of these pictures, and I'd never seen my grampa looking so handsome and young! The top photo is more like how I've always known him. He's looked the same for like 30 years! In the picture where he's holding a photograph, it's my grandma in the picture. Isn't that so sweet? It's hard to imagine my grandparents my age, but look at how young he is in the last photo!

It's also funny how kids totally resemble their parents as children. I looked just like my Dad in the picture below when I was younger (he's the one to the far left), and my cousins look exactly like my uncle in that picture. Of course my younger brother looks even more like my Dad!

The Morose Bee Giveaway!

My awesome sponsor, The Morose Bee, makes adorable ceramic jewelry. She hand crafts funky little hair clips, rings, and necklaces, like my yellow bicycle necklace! For the giveaway she's offering the winner anything from the shop for $15 or less (which means you too could have a bicycle necklace like mine!).

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post letting me know which one of her great pieces you'd get if you won! Make sure to leave an email address so I'll have a way to get ahold of you if you are the winner. The giveaway will be open for entries until Tuesday, Nov 2 at 9 pm PST.

Open to international entrants. One entry per person.

And we have a couple giveaway winners to announce!

The winner of the Archives Chicago vintage giveaway is...

Bethanne!

And the winner of the Funky Fondled & Fresh giveaway is...

Jannine!

The winners were chosen using the random number generator at Random.org.

two decades

I spent the last few days hanging out with my aunt in Alameda, which was such a great time. We ate some delicious food, went shopping at TJ Maxx and Target, watched TV and chilled out. Unfortunately I was having such a good time just hanging out that I took zero pictures!

On the way from Alameda to Sacramento, I stopped at The Nut Tree. When I was a very little girl we used to come to The Nut Tree. I'd rock on the rocking horses, eat these enormous frosted sugar cookies that were frosted with elaborate decoration, and ride the little Nut Tree Railroad through orange orchards. Now... all that's left of The Nut Tree is this tiny area that has the railroad, some rocking horses, and a carousel. Everything else is gone and it's become a huge shopping center. It broke my heart. The Nut Tree was one of my favorite places as a kid. The simple pleasures of The Nut Tree are pretty much gone. I hate that something almost ... sacred has been turned into this huge retail center. I remember riding the tiny train through orange trees, reaching out and trying to grab the oranges off the nearby branches. It was definitely one of the most iconic places of my early childhood.

I watched these two families get on the carousel, both of them had little girls who were around two or three. I just imagined that those little girls were like me 20 years ago. 20 years. In 20 years those little girls could be just like me. Returning to a magical place from their childhood, watching little girls 20 years younger than them ride the carousel. I'm sure somewhere back home there are pictures of tiny me at the nut tree. It's mind blowing to think that it was 20 years ago that I was that little girl. I've been thinking a lot lately about how bizarre it is to become an adult from being a little kid. You don't realize that the process is happening while it's happening. Then all of a sudden you're 23 years old standing in front of a carousel watching little girls clutching onto the prancing horses wondering how it all happened.

Last night I met up for coffee with Liz from SrslyLiz, which was really fun! She's the first blog friend I've been able to meet up with. I tried to meet up with a few other people but I just didn't end up being able to connect with them, so it was nice to finally be able to have a coffee date with a blog pal!

So, a long time ago, as in before I left on the trip, I said I was going to do another tour of the Brave with all my stuff packed in and everything up and running, and I finally got off my butt and did it! So here is a short little video of me showing you guys around my humble mobile abode!

Valley of the Moon

Yesterday was a great day! The sun came out and California finally felt like California. I went over to Sonoma in the morning and (at the suggestion of a wonderful reader) found Benziger Family Winery, where I went on a tour of the winery, learned a lot about wine and winemaking, and got to taste some incredible wine! I came to the realization that I'm a red wine kind of girl. Well, first and foremost I'm a beer kind of girl, but when it comes to wine, I like the reds. One of the wines I tasted was the 2006 "Oonapais" Sonoma Mountain Red. Stunning. It's composed of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, and 11% Petit Verdot. I ended up buying 2 bottles of it, definitely the most I've ever spent on wine (and probably any alcohol ever!), but I'm planning on saving it and letting it age for a while. Well, I got two bottles, so in case I end up drinking one in the near future, I'll still have one saved up for a special occasion in the future!

dress/modcloth :: top/thrifted :: tights/target :: shoes/kensiegirl :: necklace/the morose bee

Learning about how to actually make wine and all the work that goes into it, the nuances and the minute details that affect a wine- totally fascinating. It almost blew my mind how you can even perfect that art. I have immense respect for people who work hard to perfect their craft, and wine is one of those things that really takes an amazing amount of hard work, skill, and a lifetime of knowledge to do well. It makes me want to dedicate my life to doing something excellently. I guess I just need to find that thing that I want to do!

This was our tour guide. He was so good. I learned so much and he was incredibly friendly. They have these huge caves where they keep the wine in barrels. I love how winemaking is such an ancient art. I mean wine goes back to biblical times! It's amazing how long human beings have been making wine out of grapes. It's cool how much tradition is present in winemaking. It reminds me of the oral tradition of native american cultures, that knowledge and wisdom being passed down through the ages.

Avenue of the Giants

I've been driving every day since leaving Vancouver. It's been great, but pretty soon I want to find a campground that I like enough to stay at for a few days. The drive to Mendocino from the north was quite challenging, as was the drive out, back to 101. Probably the most challenging driving yet, and I suspect it'll have been some of the most challenging driving this whole trip. Lots and lots of switchbacks and sub-30 mph driving. Yesterday was terribly rainy, too, which added to the challenge. The Brave was all fogged up, so I had to drive with the window open to try and get the windows to defog. All in all it was a somewhat exhausting day of driving and I didn't stop at any of the wineries in Napa valley because the thought of getting out in the rain was just completely unappealing. I think today I'm going to stop at a winery in Sonoma so I can check "go to a winery" off my list. I mean, I have to go to one, right? I'm here in wine country, USA, aren't I?

People have started gawking at my Alaska license plates. I had a guy at a gas station ask me if I drove all the way from Alaska, and the lady at the campground office last night was taken aback as well. It's kind of funny. To me California isn't really that far away from Alaska. I remember when we were camped over in Cape Cod in 2007 people were really amazed. We had probably driven the furthest of almost any traveler! The different reactions from people are interesting. Some people are amazed, others are concerned, and most people ask me why I'm traveling. I guess most people under the age of 55 have some sort of reason for traveling.

dress/thrifted :: shoes/market publique

The last few days I've looked in my closet and wanted to put on absolutely none of my clothes. Nothing in my closet looks like how I feel. I really just want to pack it all up, send it home and start over. Of course, that's not going to happen because then I really will have nothing to wear. I think it's just that everything I have is so colorful, and I'm really just in a dark, muted colors type of mood these days. It's probably just autumn finally taking hold. It's rained the past few days and the dull colors and cozy vibes of my environment are seeping into my aesthetic. I just want all the stuff I have in my brain to suddenly exist and be in my closet.

I decided to take the Avenue of the Giants instead of 101 on my way from Arcata to Mendocino. It runs parallel to 101, but is like 1,000 times more amazing. I love driving through the enormous trees, you feel like this tiny mouse scurrying through the forest. I could seriously walk through the woods for days. Everything is soft and mossy, and all the fallen trees are a natural playground. Someday I'm just going to walk into the woods and never come back.

Going to California with an achin' in my heart

I was thinking the other day, and I realized that I've almost always had a blog. Which cracks me up because I never considered myself a "blogger" until I started Delightfully Tacky. Back in Jr. High I had a "blog" (which was really just a word document because I wasn't really allowed on the internet back then. Oh yeah, and back then the internet had to make weird Matrix-esque noises to work, hahah). It was mostly just an electronic journal and I would sign all my entries with the nom de plume, "appleliz" (because I wrote it on an ancient little apple laptop). I don't think I'll ever be able to save those entries simply because I don't even know if that little computer even works anymore, but that would certainly be an interesting read! It was mostly filled with the tedium that is a 7th grade girl's life= boys, other less interesting stuff, and boys. Actually, I'm not sure what is in there, except I'm pretty sure a lot of it centered around my unrequited crush on this boy in 7th grade.

I started a Xanga in my later high school years as a private diary and I actually still have that one, and I do still write in it a couple times a month. It's always just been a totally private diary type of blog though. I found a ton of my actual journals while I was in Sequim a couple weeks ago. I was blown away at the sheer volume of my writings. I have book after book full of my thoughts, it's crazy. I had forgotten that I wrote so much during my senior year of high school and the first couple years of college.

dress/courtesy of tigercult vintage :: top/vintage :: boots/target :: shades/thrifted

I guess it shouldn't surprise me that I'm a "blogger"! I actually can't picture myself not blogging now! It's just such an amazing way to document your life. And even though a lot of my posts center around my outfits, I still can go back to my early posts and know what was going on in my life, just because I remember the outfit and what I was doing that day when I was wearing it. I'm excited that my life has been chronicled, in a way. It's sort of like a living scrapbook. It's cool seeing how other people's blogs are documenting their wedding, first baby, etc. Hopefully I'll have this blog to look back on in the years to come and see what I was up to!

Even though I've been in California for two days already, these pictures are from the Oregon coast- near South Beach, I believe. One of these days I'll get caught up.

As I was driving down the coast I was occasionally stopping to take pictures. At one of the pull offs I stopped at there was a cool looking old hot rod pulling a trailer. This oldish dude got out of the car as I was taking pictures, he was maybe in his late 50's, and he started walking towards me. I kept taking pictures and then he came up to me, asked me if I drove all the way from Alaska, and then offered me pot. It cracked me up for some reason. He was just this totally gnarly dude in a hot rod cruising down the road like me, headed for Arizona, tokin' it up. We chatted for a bit, all the while he packed his pipe. His name was George...

Archives Chicago Giveaway!

Can you guys believe we're already reaching the end of October? Where does the time go? I swear it was just January, but anyway... I get to bring you guys another giveaway! This giveaway is brought to you by Archives Chicago vintage! They are offering one of my lovely readers a $30 store credit! They've got all sorts of wonderful vintage finds, from dresses, to shoes, so don't miss out! Go check out the shop and then come back here and enter to win!

To enter: leave a comment on this post with a link to your favorite item in the Archives shop. Make sure to leave an email address in your comment so I can get ahold of you if you win! The giveaway will be open for entries from now until Thurs, Oct 28 at 9pm PST. Open to international entrants. One entry per person.

All in the family

After watching part 1 of the Project Runway finale last night, my love for burnt sienna velvet dresses was solidified. I really adored the dress that Gretchen was wearing and it reminded me very much of one of my favorite dresses from the Family Affairs fall/winter collection. Rebecca wore it a few weeks ago and I absolutely fell in love with the dress and the whole collection. I don't know what it is about this season, but I really just want to dress in velvet and sheer all the time lately! It just feels so luxurious and refined yet a little bit kitschy, and I love me some kitsch. Luxury kitsch... I think that's my new favorite description of something. Why yes, I do live in a luxury-kitsch mobile home!

This collection makes me want to have a whole new wardrobe full of sheer blouses, velvet, lace up booties, and tights. Winter wardrobe anyone? I have this vision of a chic little house on the prairie, but with a touch of British pomp & circumstance. I'm not sure if that girl and I will ever be the same person (probably unlikely) but I can always close my eyes and pretend to be her once in a while. And maybe I'll have an outfit or two hiding in my closet that I can pull out to imitate her for a day.

photos via Family Affairs