Back on May 5, 2013, my mother-in-law came into town to pay a visit to her grandson, and also because she had an Origami Owl booth at The Carlsbad Village Faire.  The Faire is the nation’s largest one-day street faire.  I know it’s in the name, but I was completely unprepared for just how many streets this faire would cover!  Although the weather left much to be desired (it rained at the very end), I had a great time getting to know Carlsbad.  I fully intend to come back to Carlsbad and explore more of this beautiful beach side northern San Diego city.  In the meantime, I’ve included a photo diary of our day at The Faire.  Enjoy!

My mother-in-law’s Origami Owl display

My boys with my hubby’s first purchase of the day…a Steelers rolling cooler (that can be used as a seat)!

Kettle corn is always a crowd pleaser.

I bought a cute little handmade Geisha girl backpack from the booth on the left, and failed to get that cute purse on the right.  It was only $10!

A whole lotta art everywhere!

Music was also all around in the form of live bands, wares, and…hares!  Added another record store to my list to go back and visit: Spin Records. 

While I add record stores to my list of places to visit, my hubby adds golf courses.

Our food adventures:  kangaroo skewers and blueberry lemonade.  Deon enjoyed the skewers, but I loved the lemonade much more.

You bet I’m coming back to visit Carlsbad and shop…they have a Bit O’ Britain there!

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)

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!

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!

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.

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

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!

I’m still putting together my post about my food adventures during Record Store Day.  As a teaser, I thought I’d do a post about a place I went to a few weekends ago.  My son and I helped celebrate my brother-in-law’s birthday up in Vista, which is north of where I live in San Diego.  We first had lunch at Famous Dave’s BBQ, then we decided to have dessert at a place called Little Cakes Cupcake Kitchen.  If the name sounds familiar to you, it’s because they appeared on the “Funny or Die” episode of Cupcake Wars, and won!

It’s a quaint little bakery, and I’m not sure what they made of our large group because we basically took over the store.  I didn’t really linger at the specialty cupcakes because I heard that there were cupcakes made with bacon, so I made a beeline for those immediately.  I decided on three cupcakes:  the Vanilla Milkshake, Pancakes and Bacon, and Strawberry Champagne.  The Pancakes and Bacon was my runaway favorite because it had bacon bits all the way through the cupcake.  The maple flavor makes it taste more like syrup rather than pancakes, but that bacon just makes up for everything.  My second favorite was the Strawberry Champagne because it was like a very light version of a red velvet cake.  The Vanilla Milkshake cupcake was also good, but looking back at the pictures, I want to go back and try the specialty ones because these all have specialty fillngs, toppings and ingredients.  The Pearl is actually one that was on the episode of Cupcake Wars, and the Chocolate Cannoli looks and sounds absolutely delicious.

Although Vista is quite a way north, I know that I’ll have to make another trip back because they have a variety of seasonal and specialty cupcakes available (full flavor menu here).  Plus, their Facebook page lists the flavors that are on their daily menu.  What a fantastic find we stumbled upon.  This was my first specialty cupcake shop, and believe me, it won’t be my last!