Style

Shopping, Style, Travel

Luggage Lust Part II
Luggage Lust Part II

Yeah, I’m still daydreaming about luggage. We all have to have hobbies. Clockwise, from the top.

  1. This Po Campo bag is a really great copycat version of the Kate Spade Saturday  Weekender that I wanted. The leather is unfortunately “vegan” (PFTT BULLSHIT ITS PVC JUST CALL IT THAT) but it’s only 95 bucks and looks like it would double quite nicely as a gym bag since it has elastic straps for a yoga mat. Here’s a lovely review of the bag from a cute blogger with 180 style from me :).
  2. Here’s the Kate Spade version for comparison. Love that green. 150$
  3. More Kate Spade. Vintage inspired trunk wheeled luggage. Since we’re dreaming here. In real life that is 700 bucks and that makes me sad. The little pink Ni Hao luggage tag is cheerful at only 6 bucks. Sold.
  4. A simple and sturdy duffle from LL Bean Signature. 60$
  5. So of course I’m not a convert for duffles, but the other day I saw my boss’s Filson bag.  I guess duffle bags aren’t so bad if they look like that. Unfortunately Filson bags, like most beautiful things are PRICEY- 250+++. That’s not right!

If I get the Kate Spade Weekender, which I might, I’m going to write a review because there are basically no non-sponsored reviews/photos of the bag online. Did anybody anywhere ever buy this bag? What the heck. It’s infuriating.

Shopping, Style, Travel

Luggage Lust

Some may spend their lives dreaming of their wedding day. I dream of the day when I step off the plane with my perfectly quirky, perfectly lightweight and perfectly badass carry-on approved bag. My soulmate, hahaha. I normally travel with a big ass backpack, but it would be nice to have some proper grown up luggage.

Luggage shopping is intimidating. There’s just so damn much to learn and so many choices. What size? What material? Soft sided, hard shell or mixed? Duffel bag? Suitcase? Wheels? Spinners? WTH. That’s not even getting into style options.

I have a few mini trips in the hopper for the upcoming months, and while I don’t absolutely need it, I’ve been having fun checking out luggage options. Here’s a few pieces that I’ve been eyeballing and dreaming of…

Lugguge Lust

From the top, clockwise:

  1. Everlane Weekender– At only 95$, I can’t believe that I’ve wanted one for so long without getting one. I worry that the straps might be a little long on me. Also, it’s kind of duffle baggy, and I don’t do duffles. Decisions, decisions.
  2. The Small Weekender from Kate Spade Saturday- It has a separate compartment for shoes! How cool is that? This could make a great gym bag.
  3. Lipault Plume 22″ 4 wheeled carry on- When I first saw this in a travel shop I thought that no way it would be able to take a beating. However the Amazon reviews for it are A+++, and in person the bags are gorgeous. I wish I had a real reason to buy this luggage.
  4. Tumi Vapor International Carryon– I love Tumi bags, and occassionally see them in Marshalls stores at like 75% off. Fingers crossed this one shows up.
  5. Eagle Creek DS3 hardshell– I’m a fan of Eagle Creek’s packing systems. I imagine their suitcases are quality too.
  6. Samsonite Cityscapes 20″ hardshell- I know this bag is cheesy, but I don’t care. When I saw it at the mall it just made me smile.
San Francisco, Shopping, Style

Where I Shop For Clothes (Hint: The Gutter)

When I was younger I shopped all the time. Seriously I spent so many hours dedicated to digging through thrift store crap  looking for the right clothes to change my life. These days, not so much. I still shop all over, but it’s more strategic. I’ll pay a little more to get something decent.

Of course the concept of paying nothing didn’t click for me until college. In college when I started working for the recycling department at Yale, one of the biggest donation events of the year was the end of the year moveout. We’d have these great big blue plastic barrels set out near the dorms and people would donate everything and anything as they left campus for their summer adventures. As a recycling worker I received first dibs on all the donated goods. Some great finds I’ve gotten from the blue barrels include:

  • A very fine oboe which I had fixed for $300 and sold for $2000.
  • Lots of Kate Spade purses. What’s up with that?
  • Furniture
  • Great books
  • Food!
  • Expensive makeup and perfume
  • Booze (rare)

Last but not least, there were so many free clothes. Great clothes, fancy clothes, normal people clothes, workout clothes, everything. God, it was fantastic.

These days I have limited time, but I shop for clothes all over:

  • Thrift shops, consignment shops (Salvation Army, Goodwill)
  • Resale shops (Buffalo Exchange, Crossroads)
  • Random “boutiques”
  • Big ole mainstream chains (Gap, H&M, Zara, etc.)
  • Big box (Target)
  • Discount dept (TJ Maxx, Marshall’s)
  • Online shops (6pm, Zappos)

But my favorite by far is still:

THE PILE OF DONATED CLOTHES LEFT ON THE SIDE OF THE STREET.Nothing beats free.

Oh yeah, I have no shame. I’m the person digging thru trash for goodies. It’s one of my favorite things about San Francisco. Look at this fantastic-ness! This person could not sell all her clothes @ Crossroads so she left them outside for free. THANK YOU!  Can we make this a regular thing? Just leave it outside for the fashion vultures to scoop up.

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I dug through the pile and came out with some cute stuff.20130522-202239.jpg

  • A 100% silk J Crew Top with a nice sweetheart neckline
  • A pair of J Crew matchstick jeans cut into jean shorts. Thankfully not too revealing.
  • And a Velvet drapey jersey dress.

I know that in smaller cities this would not work, but I do love this about San Francisco. The street giveth, the street taketh away.

Style

STOP… Selfie Time!

Orange

Time to go home and do sudoku! YEAHHHHH

 

I don’t normally take 6pm office bathroom selfies or share outfit photos ever because  I pretty much wear the same thing every day. Also, my mom reads my blog so I’d either hear “Did you lose weight?” or “You look fat.” Seriously, on Sunday  she asked if I lost weight based on just a face post! But today I tried a few new things and was able to finally wear a pair of shoes I’ve owned for almost 3 years. So, thought I’d share this time. What the hell.

1. The Bling’s the Thing

First off, I finally tried the jewelry website BaubleBar. I guess it wants to be the Warby Parker of accessories, but it’s really more like the Forever21.com of jewelry stores. There is just so much bounty, with some gems here and there, but a lot of crap too. 99% of their wares are not my style at all, but for some reason I enjoy looking at the site and daydreaming about their customers.

Who are they? Where do they live? Is their purchase for a special occasion? Big job interview? Hot date? What will Jared the ex-that-got-away think of that crazy Medusa thang  necklace staring back at him over holiday catch up cocktails? DEEP QUESTIONS.

I ordered the Mosaic Triad Bib necklace when it was marked down as part of a promotion. The quality was lacking as a couple of the orange triangle pieces were not properly glued down into their setting, but live and learn and lose 20 dollars. I still really like the graphic effect on my boring clothes and you can’t see the imperfection unless you’re… me.

2. Too Trendy

I was running late today and going through my usual stressed out throwing together of clothes. Every day I try on at least 3 outfits before I head to work. Today for fun I threw together a bunch of clothing trends that have jumped the shark.

The gang’s all here! Skinny colored jeans! Bib necklaces! Blazers! Red lipstick! A clutch/wallet thing with some trendy studs! Summer wedges! Then I looked in the mirror and thought it didn’t look half bad. So I resisted the urge to take it all off and start over, and went to work. It was also like 8:50 by that point. That helped. I got lots of compliments at work. That felt good, but then I realized that I need to up my game. Crap.

3. Bringing a Pair of Squeaky Shoes Back from the Donate Pile

I have had these black braided leather wedges since Summer 2010 and I have NEVER WORN THEM before today. Before you go shaking your heads at my wastefulness let me tell you that once I got home I realized they were SQUEAKY SHOES. I spent days trying to break them in, rubbed lotion on them, conditioned them with special balm, massaged them with my hands while I watched TV. I did so much to these shoes I started to feel like a shoe fetishist. Nothing worked.

Every now and then throughout the years I would take them out of my closet, try them on, and then take them off within minutes because I sounded like a dog toy. Today on a whim I tried something new- baby powder. It works! Basically just work it into the friction points, let it settle, then wipe away the excess with a damp cloth. Who knew? So happy.

Spring is upon us, it’s 84 degrees tomorrow and sunny. Are you mixing it up for the nice weather? Wearing different crap? Or the same crap, different way?  Tell me, I need inspiration…