Ice Machine
I finally got my Val Tex ankle boots by Miista. Free People had them on super sale, so I just had to grab them. They named it the “Glacier Ankle Boot”, probably because the pattern looks like it could be from the aurora borealis. I fell in love with them when Miista introduced their Electromancer line, and I used it in a Polyvore collage (post here). I kept my outfit very simple, allowing these lovelies to steal the show. These booties are even prettier up-close and personal, and many co-workers stopped me to ask me where I got them. This is my fourth pair of Miistas, and I can safely say that I’m hooked.
Outfit – H&M cardigan; Old Navy shirt and jeans; Val Tex ankle boots by Miista in topaz/mauve ($69.95 on Free People); Rebecca Minkoff MAC; Michael Kors watch; Wendy Brandes and Suki Bijoux rings; Honeybadger glasses by Bon Look; bracelet, necklace and earrings were birthday gifts from my niece and sister
(‘Ice Machine’ is a song by Depeche Mode, the B-side to ‘Dreaming of Me’)
(Check out the cute bonus pictures of my beautiful niece wearing my Miistas. She loves all of my shoes, purses and clothes, so I thought it would be fitting to get her in this outfit post. I’m telling you, she’s a natural, no?)
(Photos by Rholnna Jiao)
Weekend in Pictures: Mother’s Day 2013
As I mentioned in my last post, we had a very easy weekend for Mother’s Day. On Friday we celebrated my birthday as a family, and my sister bought me that delicious cake above. It’s a Tiramsu cake from Goldilocks, which is a bakery/restaurant specializing in Filipino cuisine. This cake is divine and my mom and I get it each year for our birthdays. Saturday was celebrated at Scott and Erika’s place (our good friends), for the first birthday of their adorable son, Jett. Sunday, my husband, son and I went shopping before meeting my sister and her family for dinner at Italian Cucina at Barona Casino (we dropped my mother off at the casino early so that she could get in some slot games before dinner). I used to take my mom to Barona during the weekends before I got married, and we always would partake in their fantastic buffet. My sister and her family ate at Italian Cucina for the first time a week ago and loved it, so they thought it would be a great place to spend Mother’s Day. After our delicious dinner, my sister, mom and I were each given a beautiful tulip as a Mother’s Day gift, which was a nice surprise. I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day!
Birthday Goodness
I spent my birthday a bit differently than usual. It started off with a call from my husband, who was out of town with family in Las Vegas. Then it continued with a birthday potluck and cake from my wonderful team at work, lots of Facebook birthday wishes, presents from my sister and niece, and ended with the Poshmark party at The W Hotel, where I met so many wonderful people (lots of San Diego Style Bloggers were present). Not only did I see Paulina of the blog Lil Bits of Chic and Pat and her daughter of the blog PatFlor, but I got to hang out with the beautiful Alessandra of My Fatshion Diary again (I last saw her at the Shimmer event). I also met new blogger friends: Bianca of The In Between Girls, Laura of Laura Neuzeth, and Eunice of E Glam Style. I also got to meet Heidi and Maria of Poshmark, and Poshmark user Jillian Alyson…who we’re trying to encourage to start her own blog!
I took the following day off so that I could pick up my husband from the airport and we spent a relaxing day with our son. All in all, a very easy-going birthday. The next few days will bring light festivities with my husband, son, mom and my sister’s family, ending with a dinner on Mother’s Day. In the meantime, I thought I’d post a few pictures of my day, and I want to thank Poshmark for the invite to their lovely party. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Pretty birthday flowers and colorful balloons at my desk at work
Pressies from my niece and sister
At The W Hotel for the San Diego Poshmark Party
Posh party people
My birthday drink (specially made by the bartender)
With Jillian Alyson, new friend and Poshmark user
With Laura of the blog Laura Neuzeth and Alessandra of the blog My Fatshion Diary. I love this picture (look, we’re all wearing blazers)!
(The last photo is courtesy of Poshmark, and more photos of the fun San Diego event can be found on their Facebook page)
Not only is it my birthday today, but I’ll be celebrating in style at a Posh Party with Poshmark! One of my favorite local bloggers, Paulina of Lil’ Bits of Chic and San Diego Style Bloggers will be co-hosting the Sunshine Style Posh Party with three other lovely ladies (Jocelyn of Bossy Jocey, Vanessa of Vanessa Balli, and Kelly of Messy Dirty Hair) for a night of fashion and fun. I just joined Poshmark recently, so I’ll be sure to create my closet and then check out other fab fashionistas and their closets. You can join the party in person, or virtually on their app or online. Hope to see you there!
Sustainable Style: Modavanti.com
I was recently invited to review a great online stop that completely supports environmental and social responsibility in fashion called Modavanti. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because I carried that beautiful GUNAS purse pictured above in my most recent outfit post (here and pictured below). Up close, I would never have believed the Sweetheart purse was anything but leather. But as the description states, it’s completely vegan, and 100% cruelty-free and sweat-shop free. Like all of the items on Modavanti, everything is beautifully made, stylish and sustainable. Other than all of the fashionably fabulous items, two things stand out for me: the sustainability badges (“how and why the item they are buying is eco-friendly and ethically sourced”) and the causes they support. Modavanti donates 2% of their revenue to charity, which is quite a substantial contribution. The donation from my purchase went to Charity:Water, an organization that brings safe drinking water to developing countries (Depeche Mode are proud supporters of this charity as well).
Adam Clancy, the Director of Operations at Modavanti, took some time out to answer some questions about their site, sustainability and social responsibility, and how they are able to do what they do with style.
Flower Power
Floral prints always look and feel fresh. It’s been awhile since I’ve worn this much pink in one outfit. But because it’s so wonderfully bright and sunny these days, I felt like I wanted to infuse a little of that into my work outfit. I paired my floral pants and bubblegum pink blouse with some floral pieces: a necklace with a vintage pin as the pendant, and my favorite Spanish gold earrings that I bought back in the 80′s in Old Town San Diego.
Outfit – MNG blazer from JC Penney; Unknown brand blouse and floral pants from M’s Clothing ($9.99 each piece); GUNAS Camel Sweetheart purse from Modavanti (on sale for $70); Prabal Gurung for Target shoes; necklace, vintage typewriter & Recoil rings by Suki Bijoux; Wendy Brandes @ ring; Spot On glasses by Nicole Miller from GlassesUSA (on sale for $52); vintage Spanish gold earrings
Weekend in Pictures: Record Store Day Food!
Who knew that our food adventures would be just as eventful as our fabulous finds during Record Store Day? It’s not so hard to imagine when the adventures happen with a friend who is a food blogger! As mentioned in last Monday’s post, here is part two of my Record Store Day adventure with CC of the blog Pink Candles at Ridgemont High (who provided photos for the mini-collage of moi above). We started off the day very early by standing in line at Donut Bar in Downtown San Diego. I can safely say that this is the first time that I have ever stood in line early just to get into a food establishment. We left my house at 7:15 am and there were still people in front of us! The picture below was taken after we had already been inside and then sat down across the street to enjoy one of our donuts (you can see a picture of our day in line on their Tumblr page here).
I’m glad that the menu was posted because we got the chance to think about what we wanted prior to going in (they also post their menu daily on their official Facebook page). Even then, walking past all of the donut goodness had me changing my mind several times before I made my final decision: German chocolate cake donuts for my husband and mum; a blood orange, a blueberry with meyer lemon glaze, a creme brulee and maple bacon bar all for myself. CC selected the same ones, sans the maple bacon bar. Needless to say, I ate the maple bacon bar straight away, but my runaway favorites were the blood orange and creme brulee. The blood orange donut had a wonderful citrus glaze and the donut was so soft and fluffy. The combination melted in my mouth. The creme brulee one was a filled donut, and had the same crunchy candied sugar topping as a true creme brulee dessert, so it was like eating a handheld version. Overall, quite a delicious start to our day! We saved the rest of our donuts for later and at that point headed to the San Diego Record Show and then Groovy Records. After our first two record stops, we headed to Pacific Beach (the M-Theory line was a bit too long). I took the picture a row of bikes after we parked the car (below). I just adore that mint and pink one.
Before we ventured into Thrift Trader and Cow Records, we had lunch at Papa Luna’s Empanadas, an establishment specializing in empanadas. Being Filipina, both CC and I are very familiar with empanadas, but I’ve never had them like this. CC had two empanadas: a shrimp filled one (I don’t think it was on the menu pictured above) and one filled with butternut squash. I had the special of the month, the Moussaka (lamb, eggplant, garlic and parmesan). CC explained that you can have them either baked or fried, and she suggested fried, and I couldn’t have imagined having them any other way. Because I usually have ones filled with beef and potato, the empanadas at Papa Luna’s were so flavorful and unexpected. I will have to go back and bring my family and try the dessert empanadas. That dulce de leche and apple one has my name written all over it!
CC suggested that we have dessert at Sugar & Scribe, an Irish bakery next door to Cow Records, which was our last food stop of the day. Everything that I had at Sugar & Scribe was fabulous and oh-so-delicious. CC bought a few desserts to take home and also had a quiche in the store. Here were my goodies: the orange creamsicle and Grandpa Soapy’s lemon curd mini-cupcakes, a spicy ginger chew, a couple of mini sugar cookies and a bag of shortbread cookies. The mini-cupcakes were light and so very fresh. I love desserts with citrus in them (such as the blood orange donut at Donut Bar), and both the orange creamsicle and lemon curd cupcakes satisfied that craving. The mini sugar cookies were as pretty as they were yummy and the ginger chew reminded me of Christmas. I’m savoring the shortbread cookies, and I still have two more to have with tea. Not only did I love the baked goods, but I adored the quaint decor, personal pictures on the wall, the stories behind each recipe printed and displayed, and the lovely conversation we had with the owner and her family members. I had such a great time on Record Store Day because it was an all around spectacular sensory experience for the mind, stomach, ears and soul. I want to thank CC for a great outing, and here’s to more to come!
