The foothills and mountains outside the city of Fresno have been ablaze over the past week, and I decided to get out and go for a (brief) walk to see what it looked like out there on the horizon. The wildfires are about 30 miles away and it looks really bad here, so I can’t imagine what it must look like in the actual hot zone.
On a light-hearted note, my sister and I went to check out Spirit Halloween earlier in the day, which was fun! We always walk through this place when it opens each year in September. For me, it’s that first sign of the approaching fall season. Afterwards, we went for some Starbucks and sat on the patio. ☕️
I brought my mini-tripod with me and took some outfit photos while I was out here. This is my favorite spot at the park to hang out, as it overlooks the valley. The dress belonged to my mom and it’s from the 1980’s! It used to be floor-length, but I cut and hemmed it myself. ❤️❤️ The cameo necklace I’m wearing incidentally went perfectly with the dress!
It was nice walking around, even amidst the eerie quietness and smoky landscape.
September is the month that makes me begin to think about pumpkins, whether actual pumpkins or pumpkin-flavored things. I modified this lovely dress a few weeks ago, but wanted to wait for the right time to wear it. Why not the first day of September? Perfect!
I’ve become a champ at sewing lace trim sleeves now. A champ, I tell you!!! I love how this dress now has a 1960’s-nod-to-the-Victorian-era look, especially with the cameo brooch. 💜✨
So yes, I looooooooooooooooooove how this dress turned out. Very, very happy with it! Fittingly, I went to have my first Pumpkin Spice Frappucino and Pumpkin Scone while wearing this dress:
As you can see, Gene was salivating blood over my food and drink. But too bad bud, these are for me!!! I wish my bag was musical and you could press a button, in which he serenades me with a little Christine Sixteen or Goin’ Blind.
As you can also see from the sun rays in the above photo, the smoky skies have returned. Everything looks orange! 😜
See ya next time!! Wishing you a happy start of the new month. 💜✨
Well I knew it would happen once I learned some sewing basics; this week, I’ve gotten much better at hand-sewing, and I had the epiphany: “Bleep it…let’s modify any dormant clothing item in my closest and make it look totally different!!!”
And that’s what I did this past week (aside from working and binge-reading my two favorite books about The Berlin Wall). It was record-breaking hot (more on that later) so I hardly went on any walks, which left me with an infinite amount of time to sew lace trim to some dresses and blouses (this is just one outfit, I did way more but I’ll feature ’em in future posts!)
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we’ve had record-breaking heat here in California. In Central California where I live, we hit 112 degrees one day!!! And even worse, there are many wildfires going on throughout the state (the closest one being 60 miles away) and the smoke has made the air quality pretty awful.
But to beat the heat, I’ve become quite the barista. 😎 I’ve been making these mocha frappucinos that are super easy to make and they are amaazing. This is Gevalia Mocha Frappe Mix (it runs out of stock frequently since many people are making their own coffee drinks at home with the pandemic). Highly recommend it for all of you coffee lovers out there! 💕
I captured the very essence of how it looks outside this past week. The sun has been a blazing red with the landscape a glowing orange. Also, how’s that for a weather report on your phone?!?!? I just had to screenshot it!
I guess I am more of a go-getter than I thought? In my last post, I threw around the idea of learning how to sew. I circled around the idea with uncertainty, as I have for a long time now. That was, until, I decided to just dive right into it!
My mom owns a sewing machine and I was a very attentive student, learning how it all worked, and decided to sew pockets onto a dress I already owned as my first project. The result: AN AWESOME DRESS RE-DESIGN!
I chose the checkered fabric because I had a shirt that matched it. And guess what? I didn’t have as much trouble with sewing as I thought I would. Who would’ve thought?!!!
When I went for an evening walk the next day after sewing these bad boys onto my dress, I walked through the park like John Travolta walking down the streets of New York City in the beginning of Saturday Night Fever – Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees playing in my head. It gave me that little boost of confidence: “…why yes, I made and sewed these pockets myself! Check out these seams…”
I really liked this dress before, but now I’m in love with it!!! ❤️
Once I realized I could sew pockets, the dormant sewing beast within broke out of its cage. I decided to take the leap and order a fabric for my first skirt! I should be getting the fabric in the mail in a few weeks.
And that’s my sewing progress so far!! See ya next time!
I’ve recently started going back to my old stomping grounds once a week now, enjoying a Saturday chill session on the patio of my favorite Starbucks. It’s pretty empty these days with the pandemic, so I feel safe to do so. Along with my laptop, I brought my mom’s sewing book from 1969, which was such a gem to flip through.
Now, I always have this GRAND IDEA that I will make my own A-line skirts. The way I visualize it in my head looks fantastic. However, when I read/watch actual instructions, I’m left totally confused at everything I was just told.
Then I got online to look for retro fabrics and nearly spit out my iced mocha across my laptop screen seeing how expensive the fabric alone was. What the heck!!!!
This has happened countless times. I get the idea that I’ll try sewing a skirt, I get frustrated, and then that’s where Etsy conveniently walks through the door to save the day. Which leads me to this lovely handmade skirt I purchased recently on Etsy!
I stop to admire my beautiful new skirt and realize, hey…the seller was able to sew it herself! I can too…right? A question which feels like I’m standing near a canyon shouting it, only hearing a rolling echo which fades with no response.
I still won’t write off the idea of trying to make a skirt. Anytime someone asks me if I make my own clothes (which is a lot), I smile and inwardly recoil into a shame spiral, while painfully forming the words, “I don’t, actually.” I’ve only done minor, sew-free modifications. And then I daydream of a kitschy 70’s fabric being sewn together into the perfect A-line skirt, looking fashionably out-of-date and fabulous, like a Brady Bunch set relic, specially made by moi.
The girl on the cover of Simplicity smiles, taunting me while speaking with her eyes, “Sewing is so easy and fun!” Anyone can do it, right?! Right? Right!
I gaze into the horizon, my eyes squinting and staring at nothing in particular. Truth is, it’s a match. Me vs. a sewing machine. Could I manage such a match? Will I get knocked down by the sewing machine, slump into the ropes, wipe the sweat from my brow and then determinedly get back on my feet, already swinging?
Who knows. Maybe eventually I’ll give it a try. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed how dramatic I made this post intentionally for laughs! 😃
The tie has RETURNED. I just love the dichotomy between a tie and a dress, two things coming from seemingly separate worlds, brought together into an unexpected co-existence. Yet, it WORKS! 😃 (What can I say, I am fashionably optimistic!)
Add hot pink daisies to the mix, and you have an eye-catching blend of masculine and feminine pieces. 🌸 I love to incorporate patterns, styles and accessories into my outfits that are slightly confusing and even odd. ❤️
Recently, I was very pleased to have finally bought a copy of Local H’s 1996 album, As Good As Dead. Now, this album and I go waaaaay back, long before I listened to it (I’d only heard the hit “Bound for the Floor”, a.k.a “the copacetic song”). How did the album and I go so far back, you ask??
I was nine years old when the album hit the store shelves, and I distinctly remember seeing it when I took trips to The Wherehouse with my sister and brother as a kid. The cover gave me the creeps, yet I was intrigued. Why did the boy have quarters for eyes, I wondered?!? It always made me give it a second or third glance when perusing the aisles as a kid. The album cover always stuck with me.
After listening to it in its entirety, I was really surprised by this album in a good way! I didn’t have any expectations of it since I’d never listened to their music before, aside from one song. I just took it as it was, in a “finally, twenty-four years later, let’s see what this album’s all about” kind of way.
I loved the gritty grunge sound, and also that the album kept me on my toes. The songs vary from mellow to hard-rocking, so I never felt like I could get comfortable, which is a good thing in my opinion (it challenged me as a listener). It captured the true feel of 90’s grunge: some songs were bitterly anger-driven and loud, while others were more quietly introspective and withdrawn.
My favorites were: “Bound For the Floor”, “Eddie Vedder”, “O.K.”, and “Manifest Destiny Pt. 2” ✨💜 Special shoutout to the killer guitar riff in “I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are”. Overall, I really love this album! Definitely a 90’s gem I’m happy to own. I’m so thankful that I can revisit these albums from my childhood and experience them as an adult.
How about you? Do you have an album you’ve been playing lately? I’ve been listening to this and also, some Smashing Pumpkins. 💖
I know I know, Hello Kitty (Halloween edition) is on my shoulder, but I’m actually going to bring up Barbie later in this post! 💕 So stay TUNED!
I just couldn’t pass up the photo op, since the stuffed toy and I match.
It’s only July, but once I came upon this stuffed toy, it gave me a little itch for Halloween and thinking of what I’ll wear this year for the holiday! Halloween Hello Kitty has been in my life since many years ago when I used to work at a law firm, and during Halloween month, I’d place her next to the candy bowl I used to put on my receptionist’s desk.
I’m loving my new, ruffly scarf (well, it’s new to me, but it actually belonged to my mom and she gave me a lot of stuff she used to wear. Bring mE ALL THE OLD STUFF PLEEEEEASE). I figure, it’s never too soon to bring out the scarves, no? So long as it’s a thin scarf, since it’s summer and all. It certainly jazzed up my outfit in a visually intriguing way!
Now, onto Barbie!!! 💖
Not sure who remembers, but Barbie had her own comic book back in the day. They ran from (I believe) 1990 – 1996, give or take. I have around 8 comic books from when I was a kid, and now I added a few more to my collection, thanks to eBay! Being in my thirties, I’ve noticed I’ve become more appreciative of the things I enjoyed during my childhood years. In fact, it’s my own little secret to happiness: what did I love doing as a kid? What did I love to wear? No reason I can’t still enjoy it! Reading Barbie comics was one of those things I loved to do.
These are from 1990 and 1991. I can’t get over how cute these comic books are! The colors, the innocent dialogue, the FASHION, and even better, the BIG HAIR. Aaaahhh! 😍 Barbie will forever be one of my favorite fashion icons. 💕
Cheers to childhood treasures! See ya next time!! 💜 ✨
I’ll just start off by saying this is one of my FAVORITE OUTFITS I’ve EVER put together (accessories included)!!! ❤️
Why? Because it’s SO RANDOM. Let’s take a closer look:
I have a My Little Pony necklace on and I’m sporting my new, custom-made Gene Simmons purse. I’m living it, breathing it, and loving it right now.
My Little Pony and Gene Simmons. ❤️ It’s such a random pairing, and I love bringing together things from opposite ends of the spectrum that seem to not make sense as a pair, tying it all together with a bow like a happy little outfit family. And it goes to show, that opposites can indeed work well together.
After taking these photos, a little while later I went to get my drive-thru Starbucks iced mocha and go for a walk. On these solo walks I’ve had plenty of time to think about life, and my mind wandered back to what my ultimate “favorite outfit ever AND best day ever” has been and the good memories attached to it.
It’d be this little red number (I call it theKiss the Go-GoatDress ), which I wore on September 13th, 2019 (Friday the 13th in fact, forever immortalized into a “Best Day Ever” for me:
The day I saw Ghost play live in concert in Bakersfield. ❤️ Seeing that I won’t be attending any concerts this year (due to COVID-19), I’ve been daydreaming about this last concert I went to.
I’ll always smile back on that concert and it still gives me the warm, fuzzy feelings. It was the first concert I ever went to by myself, so it was truly special and felt magical, along with the red dress I modified myself to get those groovy bell sleeves. I wrote this in my journal at the time:
✨ “There’s something magical about the moment the curtains part, you see your favorite band onstage and the lights and music take over your senses, surrounded by a sea of people who feel the same exhilaration you’re feeling. I sat there in my red dress, my eyes locked on the stage, completely enamored. I’ve seen them perform three times now, but there was something extra magical about that concert. Maybe because I was 100 miles away from home by myself seeing them play live, or that they were performing their two new songs for the first time live, or that it was the first concert kicking off the start of their tour. I think it was all of it combined that made it so magical.” ✨
These are the things I thought of as I took my walk, sipping my iced mocha with My Little Pony around my neck and Gene Simmons hanging off my shoulder. I looked around at the empty, silent street in both directions. The beginning of a new summer shimmered in the early evening air. I nonchalantly kicked a pebble on the sidewalk with a dopey grin on my face, remembering that epic September evening, Friday the 13th, 2019.
Perhaps it’s the sudden spike of COVID-19 cases skyrocketing in Fresno, or realizing it’s almost half way through the year already that’s making me reflect on happier things, like my best day ever, and the joys of a favorite outfit.
My Little Pony and Gene make any day better, too. ❤️
Not to be confused with dessert time, but it also applies to this post just the same because of my delicious FRAPPUCINO. ☕️💕
I googled whether or not the area of California I live in is considered somewhat of a desert and I learned: “The Central Valley has a hot Mediterranean climate in the north; the southerly parts of the region are dry and categorized as desert.” Well, I live in the CENTRAL Central Valley, so we get the best of both worlds: lush vegetation AND desert-like regions, depending on the time of year! 🌴🌺
Right now it’s very dry, and I love that. I’m drawn to the desert look, and I had the pleasure of walking around this beautiful new housing development called Tesoro Viejo on the outskirts of Fresno, equipped with a super cool coffee shop I’ve been to before and was excited to go back to with my friend!! This is my first time going to sit on a patio somewhere since the quarantine began, so I was quite happy. ☕️
I definitely frolicked around and I looked just like this happy puppy
This coffee shop, called Axis, is amazing with a beautiful patio area. I loved the see-through banners placed on the fence (my view from the table).
I definitely felt like I was in a desert, when I happened upon these little green bushes spaced out between each other on the ground. Something about the warm, dirt tones of a desert landscape ignites the imagination for me!
This fun skirt is actually my mom’s, handed down to me. I had it cut (it used to be ankle length) and hemmed. Yeah! 💜💕 I’m glad I wore this bright skirt, as it stood out against the scenery today.
I brought my new-and-improved tripod with me to the park. Boooooooooooooooooom…
It was such a lovely day! I decided, let me pack up my purse with my new mini-tripod, get something to drink to bring along, and gooooooo…
I’ve been wanting new backdrops for my outfit photos, so I was hopeful I’d find somewhere at the park to set the tripod on and snap away. It was a little tricky at first; any time I thought I found the right cement table for it, there would be a couple nearby romantically gazing at each other and deep in their own private conversation, in which I didn’t want to disturb the lovey-dovey ambiance with my posing in front of a timed-camera nearby. So on I went, in search of the right spot.
And I found it!
Off ahead, I spotted a patch of trees, like a little tree island. All the tables nearby were empty, so I could easily set up my little tripod and get some outfit photos.
I wore my Ghost, Opus Eponymous album shirt with a bright, fun skirt. Definitely comfortable for wandering on a long walk!
Not a bad photo after getting chased by a bee (I think it thought my hair clips were real).
I love, love, love this skirt so much; I’d provide a link to where you could buy it, but it’s currently unavailable on Amazon now. Boo!
After my time at the park, I took yet another short drive out of the city and into the flat lands. Winds were coming in strong by that time and it turned the landscape dusty, which made for some great snapshots. I pulled off to the side of the road and got out!
This was definitely the best trip out here because two really interesting things happened: 1) I mentioned in my last post that I saw a raven perched on a fence, and I saw yet again a raven perched on a fence in the same area as I did last time!!! Maybe it hangs out there a lot? It seemed to be enjoying the sunset.
Annnnnnd… 2) I saw a COYOTE, literally two seconds after seeing the raven! It was wandering alongside a vineyard as I drove past it. It was really cute; I live in the city, so seeing a coyote is pretty dang exciting for me.
I started thinking: what do us three have in common? The raven, the coyote, and little ol’ me?
Technically, we were all doing the same thing in a way. I’d previously been wandering around a big park. The coyote was wandering around a vineyard. The raven was admiring the sunset – something I was doing when I pulled off to take pictures.
So what did I learn from this?
Yeah, you thought I was going to drop something all heavy and philosophical didn’t you. Truth is, I can’t really come up with a profound meaning behind it, but somehow I FELT like there was some kind of profound meaning behind it. I can only describe it as, a strong sense of connectedness… 💜
Here’s to raven and coyote sightings – preferably coyote sightings from a distance, as I don’t want to become a coyote’s new chew toy.
