Summer Days

Some new developments have taken place in my neck of the woods (ahem, concrete):  It appears as though  a civilized person has moved into the neighborhood.  A piano player with legitimate skills.  Can you imagine??  Just last night I turned down the volume on the television to take in a half hour of wonderful music.  My mother was right:  I do regret quitting after all those years of lessons.  Sigh.

Let me tell ya:  summer is in full swing over here.  Last year was such a letdown in the warm weather department it's tough not to want to be outside all day every day.  I don't know about you, but the days seem to be going by so fast I wish I could put it on pause.  Bright sunny mornings, light streaming in the windows in late afternoon, the sound of the ice cream truck, an endless supply of fruit--it's the simple things keeping me happy these days--including a relatively light workload that I'm pretty sure I should be freaking out about.  But then I smell someone bbq'ing...

With the Chef's change in schedule it appears as though 2013 will be the first time an evening date may re-occur.  Instead we're making time in the mornings once or twice a week to spend a few hours together.  One thing's certain--there's something delicious about being footloose and fancy free while everyone else is at work.  The other day we just grabbed tea and sat on the beach digging our toes in the warm sand.  It was wonderful.  More summer please.

This has pretty much become my uniform of choice this summer.  

3x this week so far and don't even care.

Fringe + leather + lace + weathered shorts + piled jewelry and a cup of tea 

Minimal makeup? Yep, sounds good to me.

~Outfit details:  H&M vest, James Perse tank, Current/Elliott Shorts, Thrifted Belt, 

Brandy&Melville Bag, Rainbow flip flops, Anthro sunnies~

For the record that's not my piece of trash at the bottom of the stairs. 

The earth is not a garbage can for pete's sake!  Off to read a book and delete all fall fashion emails.  Have a great Wednesday!

Guilty: Of Wearing Comfortable Clothing

Yesterday after the collective gasp and guttural screams commenced upon a 'not guilty' (still can't believe it) verdict being read in the Casey Anthony trial I curled up in the fetal and screamed, "Damn you OJ Simpson NOT AGAIN!!".

That's all I'm gonna say about that for 5 minutes.

Instinctively I wanted to get as far away from the television as possible.  What if Nancy Grace had a stroke and was no longer able to entertain me every day??  Strolling racing into my room I tossed on clothes that gave me comfort (like comfort food only in clothing form) and took to the beach to block it all out.  Fortunately I had spun by Brandy & Melville last week and hit the jackpot in the cotton department.  Seeing as we have been given an Ashley Bachelorette bye this week I took it upon myself to wear something reminiscent of her not wearing pants--although let the record show I had a one piece romper on beneath.  *oh no the google searches that are gonna come in off this one*  I have to say the grey maxi alone is likely to become a new go-to piece.  

~Brandy and Melville-Top, Maxi and Fringe Bag, Free People Romper, Matt Bernson-Gladiators~

Doesn't count as a butt shot if you have a seamless romper on beneath.

Close-up on the accessories: Flea Market Turquoise (jackpot) cuff, Marc x Marc coil ring, and

the usual Bhati Beads, PANYC and Motif 56 bracelets.

Close-up on the shirt:  no-brainer with the fringe and Navajo-esque + Flashdance vibe.

I opted for overkill with the Dean Davidson turquoise and Melinda Maria link oxidized in gold.

silver + gold = a good thing in my opinion

Proof that you can't always see through the skirt, but even if you can there's a one piece romper

saving me from ho-ville.  The maxi would also be a fab beach cover-up.

As I'm glancing through the pictures I realize I've committed the cardinal sin of fashion:  I've worn an outfit of almost entirely one brand--except the romper and the shoes.  Oh well, I guess I'll live.  It all worked together and if the fashion police try to haul me over I'll just avoid them for 31 days and then make up piles and piles and piles of lies to get off scott free.  Seemed to work just marvelously yesterday.   *slap, slap, slap infinity* 

Pink Pants and My Wrist Fell Off

I've been quiet on the blogger front this week for a couple reasons:  the Chef opened his restaurant and it's been a bit of a crazy (yet exciting) time, and I have the worst case of carpal tunnel ever.  That bachelorette recap took so much wind out of the ol' wrist I was actually feeling a little sick after typing it up--and not from the show itself.  Or wait a second...

Anyway, thanks for bearing with me.  As coincidence would have it I've got an outfit post at the end of the week for the first time in a long time.  Big shout out to my friend Kelly for pitching in with these pictures late Sunday afternoon before we indulged in copious amounts of Mexican food at our fave place!  Interesting note: we took these things in no time flat leading me to believe maybe it's easier to take outfit pics with girls?  Thoughts?  I guess we shall see going forward.  Prepare to see Kelly and Carrie passed out laughing somewhere near you.

Before we get to the dish let me say I am seeing so much 80's resurgence it's left me winded at times.  I lived through that time period and definitely embraced fashion to the fullest.  When I saw these pink chambray pants in Madewell I tried them on a whim, took them off, had the sales associate beg me to put them back on, did so, came out and was hit by a wave of "you have to get those!!" by customers and employees alike.  Um, okay?  Peer pressure made me do it.  There's a new one.  These days I spend an incredible amount of time thinking about Pretty in Pink for some reason.  It's on my list for this weekend.  I wonder if these are a rendition of something I saw on there?

~Madewell-City Slouch Trousers & Tank, J.Crew-Denim Jacket, Cynthia Vincent-Wedges, 

Foley+Corinna-Mid-City Tote, Tom Ford-Sunnies, Bhati Beads~

These are so against the grain of anything I would normally wear, but somehow when I put

them on I could just see them with Converse running shoes and a simple tank, right?
They're lady man pants!  I even love the bit of wrinkle from the chambray.  
New fave pants.  Confession:  Wore them 3x this week.

Tried them with these for a night out (seen here and here); classic summer faves.  

Even though summer seems to have forgotten us again this year...*cough* 60 degree days *cough*.

Most accurate display of their true color...they're kinda like chameleon pants!

And finally...I need a haircut.  Which is akin to saying tomorrow will be 98 degrees 

- Southern California is not the home of the good haircut. Easier said than done.

On that lovely note me and my lady man pants are off.  My wrist is whistling dixie (not even sure what that means, but just love the way it sounds) and I've got a heap of laundry calling my name.  Thrilling

In a Pinch

It's official I did miss my calling:  throwing outfits together in a minute or less has been confirmed as one of my gifts. Who knew? Suffice it to say, as I'm pretty sure I say every weekend, the weekend went by far too quickly.  It's as though the clock speeds up as soon as Friday afternoon hits.  Apparently peoples' brains fall out of their heads at record speed on Sunday nights as well.  The ding-a-ling neighbors took it upon themselves to get in a screaming match with another neighbor who kindly asked them to move their hanging-in-the-alley-inconsiderately-and-horribly-parallel-parked-vehicles so that the other person could get out of their garage.

Response:  We pay for this space so it's not our problem.  

Are you for real?  

Honestly my heart (and ears) just bled.  How on earth can you be so nasty to someone you have clearly wronged and are completely inconveniencing?  Truth be told I'm still baffled sitting here thinking about it.  I don't know how it all played out in the end, but I don't think it was pleasant.  This is not Beverly Hills so they had seriously better wise up.  People don't play down here.  You might get away with a little childish writing on someone's car in West LA, but not in my neighborhood. Word

Anyway.  There's a little neighbor update for ya. It's been quiet on that front because a. I'm trying to avoid them and b. My activities have ranged from exhausted and hanging off the couch to exhausted and racing out the door.  Carrie needs a break (preferably not a breakdown thank you very much).

Back to the outfit.  I guess we're going to start calling the outfit portion of this blog "Beat the Clock" or "How Many Different Ways Can You Try Not to Kill Yourself While Trying to Pull Yourself Together In Under 5 Minutes In Order to Get a Quick Picture".  Queen of the run on sentences in the house! On Saturday afternoon I had 752 errands to run when the Chef dropped the bomb that he had a limited window to take the picture.  Welp, here's to killing 752 birds with one big a** stone -- Carrie live and comin' at you from outside the water brewery.  Exciting times here at the bird. yawwwwn

 This thing is gold.  No planning, no nothing. Pure gold.

So many of my favorite things all in one--the makings of the best outfits, right?

Zara-Blazer, James Perse-Tanks, Belt-Flea Market Find, Shorts-Current/Elliott, 

Foley+Corinna-Mid-City Tote (four years old and still an all time fave), 

Motif 56, PANYC & Bhati Beads-Bracelets, Melinda Maria and MarcxMarc-Rings

Uh-oh stray hair at one o'clock (I'm really loving this o'clock thing of late--as I'm sure you've noticed).

Unbeknownst to me I walked around with that hair sticking out for 12 hours.

No worries though--the shoes stole the show. Show stoppers is more like it.

These Sophie Theallet for Nine West's continue to get mad play.   

I think I sent a stampede over there on Saturday.

Woman ponders deep hidden mystery:  

"Where did all my wonderful neighbors go and how can I find a way to lure them back?"

And now I bid you a good Monday.  Tomorrow I will dish on how the downstairs neighbors came home at 3am on Sunday and were so thoughtful to give me an early wake up call by running up and down the wood floors so hard I could hear them upstairs. Ahhhhhh.  The good life.  Is it too early to ask for a cocktail?

Do You Believe in Magic?

There I was:  all dressed up and nowhere to go aka on my way to get more Ben & Jerry's Boston Cream Pie ice cream groceries when I found myself in the most random of random neighborhoods.  You know, the one 10 blocks from my house that I've never ventured into because I work from home and barely leave the house except on weekends? Anyway suddenly I could barely contain the 70's fever of it all.  Shaun Cassidy and K.C. and the Sunshine Band came out on blast through the speakers as I drove up and down the block super slow to see if anything, anything was for sale.  In my mind I packed my stuff, grabbed a disco ball and went back in time.  Long wavy hair, high-waisted wide leg denim for days, big ol' platform shoes, billowy maxi skirts, culottes with blouses tied at the waist, arms piled high with bangles, a patchwork suede handbag, dreams of the huge afro I'll never have -- and neighbors that are actually neighborly.

When I think summer in the 70's my mind floods with images of a home with a big cream colored stone fireplace and a rainbow VW bus parked in the driveway, block parties, kids on skateboards playing in the streets while sprinklers wave in the breeze, parents on front lawns drinking Pilsener from cans while charcoal bbq's send smoke plumes into the warm air.  Hot damn if I haven't found my ideal block and house.  I wonder if the neighbors are included in this transaction? A girl can dream...

Complete with Corvette

Note:  Tabletop BBQ next to crazy plastic lawn chair in back.

FP bag (seen here) + H&M Caftan + Wide Leg Denim + Infamous Danys

Quite possibly my fave pic of all time.  Looks like it came straight out of the 

parents' old photo albums.

See what I mean?  Uncanny -- from my mind to my neighborhood. 

Look for me driving by 3x/week to see if they're moving out yet.