Santa Barbara :. Weekend Packing & Fun Times

Tags

packing, Santa Barbara

So my general blog slacking for the last few days had an excuse behind it – I went on a mini road trip with a couple of friends to Santa Barbara. It was lovely having the chance to hang out as now we’re done with our Masters programme, one is moving back to Amsterdam and the other is going back to Vancouver. Sad times! So as all good girly trips should, ours entailed lots of laughter and lots of sparkling wine, which in combination with a jacuzzi was pretty much perfection. Lots of good food was eaten, sunbathing was done and we also hit up the shops. The others had much more success in that department than I did though, I have to say.

Before I left I managed to remember to take a few pictures of what I took with me for the 3 days…

I’ve spoken before about my love for all things Liz Earle, and one of the other great things about the range is that you can buy everything in helpful mini sizes. I stocked up before I came to the US and again when I was at home at Christmas, so these accompanied me to Santa Barbara.

My trusty black clutch, which is sadly on the way out. The clasp is pulling away from the suede but it’s handily large, I can fit a surprising amount of cr&p in it! Plus my Kate Spade card holder and sunscreen.

Two bikinis (one from Victoria’s Secret and one that I bought in Gap when I lived in Paris), a sarong/scarf (that I wear as a dress over my bikini), denim shorts from Abercrombie and black J Brand jeans.

Tops – Abercrombie lace one, grey Gap shirt, silk Reiss top. Black tank top and stripy shrug.

And lastly the jewellery I took – Bauble Bar necklace, Michael Kors watch and some of my decent stuff – gold bangles I bought in Charleston, horse necklace that was a graduation present and my 21st birthday ring.

And best of all, this all fit in my teeny suitcase!

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New Blog Find :. Could I Have That?

Tags

Could I Have That?, road trip, Santa Barbara

Yesterday I stumbled upon a fab new-to-me blog, Could I Have That? There’s all sorts of lovely fashion eye candy over there and it seemed especially fitting given that the blogger, Samantha, lives in Santa Barbara, where I am currently headed for a short, girly road trip.  As we know, I love a good road trip!

Not only does she have a rockin’ dress sense, they also featured her cute house over at Apartment Therapy. Makes me want to live somewhere with beachy weather (as opposed to foggy weather!).

Here are some of my favourite outfits that have been posted recently…

I love this sparkly skirt!

Cute combination of an Elizabeth & James romper and a panama hat.

And this cosy-looking outfit would be perfect for SF’s changeable weather…

Designer Crush :. Alice + Olivia

Tags

Alice + Olivia, dress, LA, Shopbop

So if I had pots of cash to spare, I’d probably buy 90% of my going-out clothes from Alice + Olivia. They make the cutest party dresses! When we were in LA, we stopped by the Alice + Olivia store, where they had a pretty awesome sale going on. Unfortunately for me all the little sizes were gone (damn LA girls!) which was a shame as some of the discounts were fab!

I went for a quick scout of their current lines and found all these lovely bits & pieces over at Shopbop. Would very much like to add any of these to my wardrobe!

This leather skirt would look fab with tights and ballet flats or heels for night. I think I saw a cheaper version somewhere online from River Island, might have to get someone back home to check it out for me!

This lace top would look equally lovely with a skirt or jeans and heels…

And all of these party dresses are absolutely gorgeous and very wearable  (so you could wear them to a bar or a fancier event).

 

 

 

Long Sleeve Goddess Dress.

Draped One Shoulder Dress.

Sadie Beaded One Shoulder Dress.

Any other Alice + Olivia fans out there?

Telling Time :. Michael Kors Watch

Tags

Essie, Michael Kors, watch, Wicked

So lately goings on have been quiet; lots of applying for jobs which equals lots of writing cover letters, which I hate with a passion. Ugh. Oh well, you have to do these things!

I’ve also been productive and listing a load of textbooks on Amazon to sell… I don’t fancy lugging various weighty accounting tomes back to the UK with me whenever I move home. I have enough crap already! I also sold a couple back to Amazon directly which leads me to my next point… They gave me Amazon credit which in my abstinence from my typical book-buying-fiend ways I decided to put it towards a new watch, this Michael Kors one. I have a really lovely Gucci one that was my 21st present from my family (actually my dad bought it for my mum when I was born so it’s my age), and that’s very tasteful, so I thought I’d get something a bit more ‘loud’ and less classic.

I love it (well it’s cream, I would!) and have been wearing it constantly since I got it. Kind of blingier than my usual style but it’s fun to break with that from time to time!

I also had a nice girly day in the Marina, we went and got mani-pedis and wandered around the shops. The poor girl who was doing mine was horrified by my mangled toenail (someone stepped on my big toe during a netball match) and ended up gluing it back together for me… Being sporty is soooo attractive. I got ‘Wicked’ by Essie on both my hands and my feet, got bored of my summer tradition of nude fingernails and bright toenails. Here’s a shot of it on my hands, will spare you the poorly toenail!

Now I’m off to do some more job applications and book a rental car for a trip to Santa Barbara later this week 🙂

Shopping Quest :. White Blazer

Tags

Reiss, white blazer

So every now and again I get it into my head that some item or other will be the perfect addition to my wardrobe and embark upon some long and usually tedious quest for the exact *right* version… Yes I’m picky! Currently I have the idea that a white blazer would be a great complement to all my denim etc… and I’m obsessed with white or cream clothes/furnishings/anything else, as my best friend constantly nags me about. I know over here everyone has that thing of ‘no white after Labor Day’ but as a European I feel I can skip that if I choose 😉 Basically I have a black blazer from Zara that I bought 3 years ago and wear all the time and it would be nice to have some variety!

Last time I was at home I looked in the world’s best shop, aka Reiss, which normally does tailoring really well, but sadly they didn’t have the perfect white blazer.

This one, the Angelo, didn’t fit quite right…

This one, the Josie, was a bit too boxy for my liking…

In other Reiss talk I got an email from one of my friends in the UK (possibly the only other person with as much as a Reiss problem as me), and she said that she’d coincidentally bought the Shola dress that Kate Middleton started a frenzy for a couple of days before the Duchess wore it. It’s the one she wore to meet Michelle Obama (pic from the Huffington Post)…

Anyway, my friend said she paid £189 (around $300) for it and decided that she didn’t want to be looked at as one of the girls who only bought it because Kate wore it… So she put it on eBay and made £450 off of it! Kate Middleton insanity!

So back to the white blazer mission, my Pinterest seems to be clogging up with cute outfits centering around white jackets!

Here’s the link to the Pinterest page for this, for some reason I couldn’t click through to the original source…

This one from Cupcakes and Cashmere…

And this one from The Daybook. So cute!

So now all I need to do is find the perfect white blazer that doesn’t cost $400, doesn’t have cheap fabric and fits perfectly… Piece of cake 😉

Online Find :. Bauble Bar

Tags

Bauble Bar, jewellery, What's App

Yesterday I skipped town for the sunny climes of the East Bay – I had an interview in Walnut Creek. Left SF in thick fog and enjoyed an afternoon pottering around in the sunshine after my interview. 🙂 I found a cute consignment shop and tried on some bargainous items – sadly none of which were quite right. I tried on a loose Elizabeth & James blouse that was only $43 but wasn’t quite sure. A photo text to my bestie in the UK confirmed that it wasn’t for me – how I love technology (and my bestie!). For anyone that wants to message people internationally, I use What’s App, a cheap app that iPhones and Blackberries (and I assume Android too but I don’t know for sure) can send messages to one another using the 3G instead of the phone network. Score.

Then in the evening I trained with my netball team for two hours and received a very exciting gift from a friend! She got me this lovely necklace from the Bauble Bar, a cute new site that has lots of lovely jewellery. I’d been scoping it out for earrings to go with my grad party outfit but hadn’t ordered any in time, but they have so many beautiful pairs to choose from!

This is the necklace she bought me which I LOVE. You can wear it looped twice and the little crystals look so pretty!

So pretty. It also came in this little box with a handwritten note in it, isn’t that a cute touch? There’s a blog too which is also worth checking out. Full marks Bauble Bar!

Saturday Night / Sunday Morning

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J Brand, Marks & Spencer, Old Navy, Reiss

A couple of outfits from the weekend; the first was worn on Saturday night bar-hopping in the Marina. I did have plans for a nicer outfit involving a cute skirt but the dratted fog descended again and I didn’t fancy freezing…

Top: borrowed but Forever 21 I think

Jeans: J Brand Maria, seen here

Belt & bag: Reiss

Shoes: Marks & Spencer

Then the morning after the night before I headed downtown to pick up an iPad 🙂 (more to come on that later!) so wore this…

Shrug: Marks & Spencer

Top: American Eagle

Jeans: J Brand flares, bought on sale for £42 🙂

Bag: Gerard Darel

Sandals: My Old Navy bargains

Marks & Spencer is this very uncool chain in the UK who lately seem to keep doing the odd nice item… They’re more aimed at my parent’s generation and every now and again my mum will pick me up something cute, like this shrug or the heels I wore on Saturday (immensely comfy for heels!). I have heels I like better but they’re all sooo high and SF does not make life easy for stiletto-wearers, plus I’m already 5’8” so I don’t really care about extra inches. More the comfort of my feet!

And the last thing I wore on Sunday was this beautiful little necklace, which was a graduation gift from a family friend. He is from South Carolina and this is their state emblem, isn’t it cute?

Graduation Outfits!

Tags

BCBG, clutch, graduation, Reiss

So as I mentioned, it was my graduation this Sunday (hence the slacking off on the posting front!). There were two parts to my grad, a daytime event where we got all done up in our robes and caps – a first for me as my undergraduate university, the University of Edinburgh taps you on the head with a cushion for some weird reason when you graduate, so no caps! Afterwards I went out for dinner with family and some friends, to the ever-delicious Spruce – totally recommend it for fancy occasions! – before getting ready for an evening gala. Thought I’d do a little fashion post of what I wore!

My daytime/dinner dress was from Reiss (aka my favourite shop ever)…. We found one of these when we were in LA but the prices were super jacked up and I’d already seen all the clothes they had in when I was back in the UK in May.

Then at night I wore a BCBG dress – this was a bit of a mission finding a long dress that I liked as there’s not that many out there to choose from! This one was actually really comfy though, I love it 🙂

PS I know I kind of blew out the shot of this dress but it was easier to see the details on it when it was totally overexposed!

With my day dress I wore this navy snakeskin clutch that I purloined from my mum (an ’80’s gem!), then at night I took this Reiss clutch and wore some gold earrings I picked up in a panic at Nordstrom’s the other day. They were only around $30 – sweet!

The Quest for Shoes…

Tags

Ivanka Trump

So I graduate from my Master’s programme on Sunday – we’re having a daytime reception for which I’m wearing a knee-length printed Reiss dress, and an evening gala for which we have to wear formal gowns. I have most of the stuff I need (will post the full outfits later!) but I’ve been on a bit of a quest to find some gold shoes to go with my evening dress. The dress is dark blue and I have a clutch with gold hardwear so gold shoes were the way to go – but so many of them are SUPER tacky…

Then I found a pair on Piperlime, only to discover that they didn’t like the British credit card I wanted to use… I googled them and to my amazement, Amazon had the same shoes, with free 2 day shipping thanks to my Prime account, and 20% off – woo hoo! They arrived this morning…

They’re by Ivanka Trump and the style is called Frenchy.

Holiday Update :. Palm Desert

Tags

Ace Hotel, Kate Spade, Palm Springs, The King's Highway

So we got the show on the road from LA and arrived in Palm Desert, where we have been doing very little (blissful!) for the last couple of days. As we arrived on Friday we thought we would just hang out at the pool Saturday and Sunday then start exploring today. It’s been SO hot – 42C and 116F were the readings I saw today! Fortunately our pool is surrounded with cabanas and misters that help keep you cool a bit, but I’m basically in the pool every 20 minutes when I can’t take it anymore!

We first enjoyed some of this… Bought during my trip to Carneros the other weekend.

Today started as all good days do with a delicious breakfast – we headed over to The King’s Highway. It’s the restaurant attached to the Ace Hotel, a super retro motel. It’s literally like going back in time, just with delicious food… I had the ricotta hotcakes which were lush!

Then we headed over to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets in nearby Cabazon. Whilst I didn’t have the best luck during our shopping expedition today, I can say that these outlets were some of the best I’ve been to! Along with all the usual favourites (J. Crew in my case!) there were a ton of designer shops – Diane von Furstenberg, Jimmy Choo, Gucci, Seven for All Mankind, Splendid, Prada, Bottega Veneta… It seemed like a lot of the smaller sizes were sold out which was a shame, but I did find something at Kate Spade!

I’ve been looking for a little card wallet for a while to take out with me that would fit in my clutch bags – have had too many things fall out of my bag on various nights out (lipgloss, eyeliner, and most annoyingly, keys!) that I was concerned it was just a matter of time before either my card or my ID fell out. And going to the DMV any more than is absolutely necessary = a bad idea in my book. I found this bright yellow card holder today and I love it!