Photo Pass Weekend

I got a special pass to take pix and borrowed a friend's professional camera go to the Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate Park this weekend. The music was great, the weather was surprisingly good, and people were wearing the most amazing things. I have a billion more pictures you can see here. My favorites are below. Oh, and special thanks to Rebecca for scooting me all over the city and park and to Adam, for letting me use the super sweetest camera.

In my neighborhood

Gotta love it when you're driving home and at an intersection this person asks you for directions.

In the mail

I love getting mail. Such a fun and happy surprise. Alice sent me approximately a bazillion postcards the last few weeks she was in Switzerland. Love.

Shoe Gazing: 2

Waiting for the bus spotted this nerdy/stylish Asian school girl. Dig the short socks and pink chucks.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Recipe for a great day:
Eat garlic chicken here: Then roll out with these two:And ride this over and over:
magic.

How do you call a girl like Mary?

My sister turns 3^3 today-- one of the coolest ages ever. Which is fitting because she's the coolest. Ever. Mary is a rock star literally-- she'll probably be touring this fall, so if you want her to come play in your town, give her a woot woot. She's been recording all kinds of great tunes in London this last year. Oh, and don't be fooled by the rocker exterior.. she's a closet brainiac finishing her master's thesis right now. So muchos lovings to my sister!
p.s. I love this picture of mary and her musical collaborator john at a new year's eve wedding. Mary has the prettiest eyes, eh?

New from eVlove labs:

Its electric, boogy woogy. I am fending off certain aspects of the '80s revival.. ahem MOM jeans! However, I like the super duper neon colors. Which these all are, though they are looking a little less bright on my monitor. Rest assured they are practically day glow.

R&D on the open road..

Spotted, bought and tasted in the central valley of CA.
Exhibit A: Banana flavored Twinkies.
Verdict: Gross
Exhibit B: Mint Musketeers
Verdict: genius

Tattoo you

d.i.y. temporary tattoos you make on your printer. genius. I've got a billion ideas for these.

The Fruits of my Labors

I will watch your gardens whenever you are out of town if you pay me with these:

Light, the House

After years of dreaming and schemeing, we finally made it happen: group sleepover at the Pigeon Point Light House Hostel. Some of the best things were not documented: hot tub on a cliff overlooking the ocean, stoner/surfer caretaker, etc. Things I did manage to immortalize include:

The lighthouse in all its glory.
The awesome garbage can graphics.
Haters: not welcomeThis hostel is not for wimps.We went to the baby goat cheese farm and gorged ourselves. I learned some new and confusing info at the Pescadero Art and Fun Fair

Banana Rama

Best idea for Sunday dinner in recent memory: Bananas Foster French Toast. 1 course meal with dessert included. So tasty.

Shoe Gazing

Neon Pink! Inspired by Tiffany M. Makes me happy every time I look down.

More of a Prada girl myself

Robert Cavalli for Coca-Cola light (which tastes much better than diet coke). Pretty swank. The NY Times write up is pretty funny. If any of you want to bring one of these back from your travels, I'd owe you.

Joy to you and me.

Not to brag (again), but my friends are rad. My friend Jeanne hand makes and sells these amazing leather toys. They're beautiful. You can even buy animal pairs sans ark and the rest of creation. Pair of alligators anyone? Way better than that plastic baby gift you were thinking of.You can make them yours (or some lucky kid's) by emailing her at regina.moominbaby@ gmail.com.

Devil in the details.

I almost bought everything in Richard Chai's line. But then remembered I'm shopping less and have no moola (which is probably why this is turning into a fantasy shopping blog). I love the scrunchy collars.

This Jacket:

This Shirt:

Some say 'Tak',

others 'merci'. I prefer a down home 'gracias' with two thumbs up. Available here at my favorite new store.

Contender Cycles

My friend Alison and her husband Ryan own the best bike shop in America (this isn't me boasting, this is true-- they've won awards). I liked this news article on their efforts to help outfit an olympic athlete for his races. If you ever need a bike, give them a call. I'll just say that getting a bike in the mail is one of the best surprises you can find on your front porch.

I vote

That we all dye our hair some gorgeous shade of red, and buy this dress. The world would be more beautiful for our efforts, no? The pin tucks are such a homey detail, but somehow they make it seem dressy. Genius.

In the whole wide world

There is only one like this for sale. I love the idea of being the only one to have something. If you buy this sweater I will be envious and proud. Ohio Knitting Mills is one of those companies/stories you just love the idea of, no?

Why you like me

I thought it was something meaningful, but nope. It always comes down to the hair. Turns out white people (of which many of you are) like girls with bangs. My bangs convert (they're not always down), so I'm like sneaky popular, right?

My Ride Pimpeth Over

As I was driving along El Camino Real the other day this amazing vehicular conveyance appeared on the side of the road. "Wow" is all I can really say. You can buy it here. When you do, please give me a ride.
Best Feature:
• Lighted Disco Floor

Babies having Babies

Growing up my sister Hillary was the baby of the family*. She was always well heeled, coordinated, organized and cute. Her baby, Nora Jane (age 8 days) will doubtlessly be the same way. Love this picture of Nora Jane taken by Kristine McNairy. I think the idea of a birth announcement with the baby on a vintage scale** is genius. You could also do cute ones with measuring tapes or rulers.
*Hillary was brutally replaced as baby of the family at the age of 10. This lead to many painful conversations with our parents, about why they would "do IT again after 10 years", not name the baby "Linguine Alfredo", and why telling everyone it was my baby was not a good strategy.
**Yes, that scale is accurate. At birth NJ was a very healthy 8lbs 9 ozs.

Upon adding my 400th "friend"

A friend of mine sings one of the greatest love songs of all time in this movie. Lyrics: "I love technology, but not as much as I love you". That sums up my love/hate relationship with Facebook and the way it connects me to people.

I hate knowing the publicized, synthetic minutiae of other people's lives. Being "friended" by old boyfriends is always weird. Voyeurism. Wasting time. Having people post pictures on the world wide web of me in my bathing suit-- sans permission or payment.

At other times facebook straight up melts my heart. Learning about people's babies. Wasting time, happily seeing all the things my friends are accomplishing. Having a friend from elementary school post this picture of my 3rd grade self. I love it-- not much has changed-- I still have darker skin than all the other white kids, I still hang with the boys, and oddly, still pose like that for pictures.
What do you love and hate about facebook?