Holiday gifts for under 25.00

Hello readers! I apologize for my absence - the Thanksgiving holiday and the weekend surrounding it was full of family, friends, lots of food (3 thanksgiving dinners!) and multiple trips across the bridge. With the official count to Christmas being only 26(!!!) days away and the first night of Hanukkah tomorrow night I thought I'd do a spotlight on some of my favorite little things for under 25.00.

For the person who loves doing manicures but hates to spend the money I found this while looking around at nordstrom. The Essie nail corrector pen would be a fantastic gift - and priced at 14.00 it would make an excellent stocking stuffer! (I should probably take my own advice and pick this up, lord knows my nails would thank me).

Over to etsy I've found an abundance of gorgeous, handmade goodies to get for friends. Some of my favorites happen to include the sapphire blue swarovski drop necklace from shingingstones. Priced at 16.00 it's an adorable piece that is sure to draw attention!

For the earring lover I also found the Aventurine ear studs by LoveErica which I think would stand out fantastically against darker hair. Another awesome jewelry piece that won't break the bank these earrings are only 14.00.

If you have a drink mixer in your life, Crate and Barrel's "500 Cocktails" book would be a great gift (along with some mixers, perhaps?) to enable anyone to create awesome cocktails without ever having to leave their apartment. At 16.95, this book would leave you with some extra cash to perhaps purchase 1 or 2 of the Dizzy cocktail glasses to complete the whole gift.


And for the person who just needs to relax (hey, I think I qualify for that) I spotted the Virtuoso candle at Anthropologie last night and stopped hard in my tracks. Not only does it smell good, the tin is adorable - and I'd probably use it for something to store little trinkets in when I'm finished burning the candle. Now, my only issue is which scent to get, they all smelled really good..

So let me know what you guys pick up and who on your naughty and nice list will be getting what this year.

Hope you have a fantastic Tuesday!

On growing.

As of late I've felt that I'm in fact changing. I don't know if you would call it a growth spurt, but its something. I've been re-evaluating some things in my life and contemplating what to do next with them.

1) Work. I can tell you right now that I'm not happy with what I'm doing. What would I rather be doing? Obviously not what I'm doing now. But my real question is what would I do that makes me happy. I quite frankly have no idea. Obviously something more in the creative field. I would love to eventually make photography or writing into a career but I'm way too amateur for that. But regardless - the point that I'm trying to make is that I'm incredibly unhappy job-wise at the moment and I'm doing everything in my power to try and change it (come on google, you know you want to hire me.)

2) Relationship-wise. Something big is coming. I can tell you for sure that 2012 will have wedding bells. I'm excited, nervous, a little scared, and incredibly happy. I'm thrilled beyond belief to know that we are moving toward getting engaged and anytime it happens I'll probably burst into tears and then jump up and down.

3) My self image. Okay laura, lets face it. Your metabolism is not the same as it was back in college. You've sadly inherited hips and a stomach from mom's side of the family. So, I have to go back to exercising. Maybe zumba, or a bootcamp - something. Because I really don't want to look like a whale as I enter 2011.

4) Do something good for someone else. I have so much stuff laying around the place that's unused - body care stuff up the wazoo. So instead of hoarding it for when kingdom comes, I think I'd like to put together baskets for the less fortunate. I have a ton of brand new Hello Kitty stuff (um mom, I'm 26 now) that I think some little girl may love. So I need to get going on that. Just need to find a place in the city that would take all of it.

So, that's kinda where I'm at right now. I have been doing better and my shopping ban has helped. I've been working on the Christmas presents for my cousins, and the only people left are Dave and my sister.

Other than that... I'm just waiting, waiting, waiting for the clock to strike 6 so I can go home.

And some pretty tulips that I spotted earlier this year - just because.

Gearing up for the holidays

With the now drastic turn in weather (goodbye high 70's) and gloomy wet forecast for the weekend its starting to finally feel like November. Hurrah! So I thought I'd compile a little list of things that's making me excited for the holidays and finally feeling like this time of year should be.

The great tree in Union Square is on its way up - towering over the annual ice skating rink that takes over a large part of Union Square. And the Macy's windows are already lit up with their wreaths, too!

Another great addition to Macy's (jeez I sound like a Macy's ad!) are the SFSPCA Holiday windows. In need of a new furry companion? Look no further - from November 19 (that's today!) through January 2nd walk yourself down and check out the cute puppies and kittens available for adoption through a partnership with the San Francisco SPCA and Macy's. Not in the mood for a friend but would like to help out anyway? Volunteers are still being accepted. And who wouldn't want to play with a new furry friend for a few hours while helping to raise money for them?

Also, if you haven't seen anyone walking around lately, the holiday cups are back at Starbucks. Even your overpriced mocha latte espresso is dressed up in holiday spirit! And.. just these upcoming few days - Nov 18-21 from 2-5PM all Starbucks holiday drinks are buy one get one free. Just in case you needed a little extra push for your favorite drink you can feel good by getting one for a friend... (or keeping it for yourself for later, hah).


Chunky sweaters. Finally - weather to support layers! I'm actually really digging this one from the Gap. I love the cowl neck and the zipper detail. Want it? Get it at the Gap for 54.50. And with 5 colors to choose from, I really have no idea which one I would get (I'm pretty indesisive most of the time...).

And you can't have a rainy season without rainboots! I'm beyond thrilled that with the storm slated to slam into San Francisco later this evening that I'll finally get a chance to pull out my adorable new pair of red rainboots with beige socks. SO.EXCITED. I don't think I could possibly put it into words. But now - my feet will stay dry, warm, and look (hopefully) good while I get to frolic in the rain.

And you thought that was just for kids, didn't you.

Have a fantastic Friday!

A confession.

30 for 30 is not so simple as it seems.

Especially when you have record breaking temps in the middle of November that sends you running for sunscreen and anything with ice in it.


Hey San Francisco - didn't you get the memo?

So, I'm not going to lie. I had to break the 30 for 30. Long sleeves, sweaters, and wool skirts just didn't cut it over the past few days, and instead it felt like the summer we never had.

I'm still going to stick to my shopping ban *ahem*. I am wearing an outfit comprised of pieces from my original 30 today (blue shirtdress, jeans, and tory burch plum revas).

I guess my main question is - for this challenge, what happens when the weather throws a kink your way? Just like if you had planned on skirts and suddenly you were stuck in a snow storm - what would you do?

3 & 4 and a fortune to boot

Hello there! Lets have a outfit roundup for days 3 and 4, shall we?

Lets start with 3. A really chilly day in the bay area so I chose to go with the longsleeved tuxedo shirt with a wraparound hoodie striped sweater. Paired it with a pair of jeans and the jcrew black booties (which i LOVE but they hurt my feet... ouch! may have to do something about that...). Since we had a dinner to attend last night the outfit took me from work to a casual dinner setting with friends. I got complimented on my outfit, too!
Total pieces used = 4

Today has been equally chilly as well, so much so that I've started carrying my leather gloves around in my bag with me. I have to be able to grip those cable car bars while hanging on for a ride home! So for day 4 I am pairing my black jeans with black tory burch shoes, the blue striped gap top, and wine colored sweater. Can I just say how much I love this sweater? I eventually want to get daring enough to pair it with a belt around the middle... but I may have to work up to that!
Total pieces used = 4

Last night at the aforementioned dinner gathering I picked out a fortune cookie from the pile and cracked it open and pulled out my fortune to reveal something that made me grin from ear to ear. "Good things come in small packages. One is coming to you". Oh i really hope that this hindsight is 20/20!

Still contemplating on opening up about some non-fashion related stuff going on, but I don't think I want to bog anyone down with it.

Anyway - at least today is Thursday so here's hoping today and tomorrow pass quickly to get us to Friday!

Outfits 1&2

Day 1: Woke up cold. So I grabbed what seemed to be most warm on my list: The ugg broome boots. Paired that with the gap striped buttondown and one of the pairs of jeans and bam - instant outfit. Grabbed a leopard print scarf from my scarf rack to give it a bit of flair and also my leather jacket. I was thinking its a little rough biker chick for the office, but two coworkers complimented me on my outfit so I'm glad it worked out! Pardon this picture, we had just gotten back from dinner and drinks, hah.

Total pieces used= 4.





And Tuesday. This morning when I got up the low was in the 40's. Wanting to be cozy at work I grabbed one of my tissue turtlenecks, my sweater poncho and black jeans. I used my plum tory burch shoes to take away from the blahs and a bright blue scarf to add some color. The belt is (i think) a nice touch to break up an overly powerful sweater. Also in my hair is a peacock feather headband that my sister made. I love it!

Total pieces used = 4.

So far, so good. The beginning has been easy - and I'm really glad that I can acessorize freely with this. I'll probably have BF mess around with the camera and hopefully if the rain holds out we can get some rooftop shots in here sometime soon :)

Good luck to all the other remixers, hope you all are having fun!

30 for 30 pieces

So here we go. Lets start easy - shoes!

Ugg broome boots, J Crew booties, Sperry top siders, Tory burch revas in plum and black (ooh, those have seen better days...).
Tally = 5

Next up - sweaters/blazers/misc tops.
L-right:Nordstrom plum sweater, Gap Blazer, Gap argyle sweater, H&M blue shirt dress, H&M sweater poncho, nordstrom striped hoodie sweater.
Tally = 6 + 5 = 11



Tops L-R: Target tissue turtleneck, Banana republic vneck, Gap tissue tuxedo top, nordstrom rack tank top with flowers, H&M white button down, Gap striped button down, Gap striped tshirt.
Tally = 7 + 11 = 18





Bottoms/dresses:
2 pair Banana republic jeans, J Crew party dress, BDG black cigarette jeans, Banana wool pencil skirt.
Tally = 5 + 18 = 23.

You're probably thinking.. 23 - where's the other 7? *snort* laundry. Not pictured: ruffle tank top, black stretchy ankle zipper pants, black tissue turtleneck, black Michael Kors leather jacket, nordstrom sweater vest, anthropologie sweeping lines cardi, and red striped shirt.

I'm realizing i have a lot of muted colors in my wardrobe... hopefully this will encourage me to accessorize better.

Off we go!

The Challenge.

While stumbling around various blogs that I read and following links to others I found the blog of Kendi Lea. I was immediately drawn to her awesome outfits, whimsy accessories and loved her commentary. And then I spotted her challenge - 30 for 30. You take 30 items from your closet (coats and accessories excluded) and remix them into 30 outfits for 30 different days. Oh, and no clothes shopping.

Holy cow - no shopping? How will you ever survive! you are probably asking. But... for some reason... I think I'll be okay. My closet has grown to a beastly proportion and I think by shopping it more often and remixing items that I'll not only curb my shopping hunger but learn to appreciate what I have.

So - here's my question to you. Are you in?

Kendi Everyday: Announcing...

And so this post kinda stays on track with my photo theme - I saw this while walking around potrero hill the other day. I thought it was pretty so I snapped a photo. It kinda made my day. Also - for anyone in the bay area - Arch drafting on Missouri and 17th is one of the coolest stores I've ever been in. I'll have to go back when I have more time and just wander. And when I have money, too.

Anyway. Still thinking long and hard about a few things... hopefully more on that later.

Have a great Thursday!

weekend in pictures + wardrobe musings

I thought this might be a nice thing to start doing on a weekly basis. Now featuring - laura's weekend in pictures wrap up!

On Saturday morning we had quite a bit of rain here in the city. That didn't stop Dave and I from being able to get out of the apartment for a bit. We went down to the farmer's market on embarcadero had picked up some yummy jam, tried artisan cheeses, and were able to try our hand at pressing fresh apples to make apple cider.

After we dried off a bit from the rain we headed south to half moon bay for the wedding of a childhood friend. The wedding was gorgeous and the clouds gave way to some sunshine for the bride and groom. We had a great time (even a little too much champagne) but that can never be a bad thing when you are happy! I had a great time celebrating with Dave, my sister, my dad, and my sister's boyfriend Ray. It was probably a good thing that we had our own table to ourselves since we were pretty entertained by the seashells, cake, and anything else that we seemed to get our hands on at that point in time.

After the wedding Dave and I headed back up to the city for Halloween Eve with some friends at a club. We got home really late but had a great night dancing and admiring other people's costumes.

Sunday was a lazy day - we had brunch at once of our favorite restaurants in Nob Hill, took naps, did some housework, and had a great dinner with his mom and sister in Jack London Square. The sunset was fantastic!

Because of a gift exchange I did on one of my forums I finally got my paws on one of the chinchilla bath houses (as shown above). Frankie loves it so much he really doesn't want to share with Ollie and I might have to get him his own.

The weather is definitely changing here - I'm not complaining. As long as the skies are clear, the air is crisp and there's no rain I'm a happy camper.

Anthropologie and J Crew have definitely been my source of fashion as of late. H&M has actually had some pretty good sales too (I think I saw a sign up today - buy 1 sweater, get 1 free - oh noes!). Quite frankly if I had the cash I'd redo my entire wardrobe - but until I win the lottery I don't see that happening any time soon.

Anyway - today is Tuesday (and it's after 12 already, yay!) so get out and VOTE if you haven't already done so and have a great day! (And be safe if you partake in any post-giants winning the world series celebrations).