Outfit of the Day: A Special Birthday Outing

This past weekend my husband took me out to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco for my birthday!

I've been wanting to go check out this museum for ages now and a birthday seemed the perfect occasion to make an excuse to go. While it isn't far from us, about 40 min on a light traffic day, we do tend to avoid driving to the city like the plague, so it's not really all that surprising that it's taken us years to finally check this place out!

The California Academy of Sciences has been newly renovated and moved from it's old location to its new location in Golden Gate Park. Of course when I say newly I mean like within the last 7 years. I totally don't keep up with these things!

While I knew about the museum from a field trip I took to it and also knew about it being moved to its new location in Golden Gate Park, I didn't really hear much about it until I read about in Hemispheres magazine on a United flight while on the way to vacation one year. The article really blew my mind! This museum showcases a living roof and an indoor rainforest! I read about how in the rainforest you travel up five stories until you are up in the tree tops. Once at the top you then get to walk across a suspension bridge through the trees! Now, when I got there while there was a living roof and an indoor rainforest, the rainforest was not 5 stories high, only 3, and there was no suspension bridge. How my mind remembered things so wrong! But there were tons of butterflies fluttering about all over and even some birds though they were much harder to spot. Overall the rainforest room was a lot smaller than I pictured in my mind though it was still cool to see. Also, with museums I always forget that it's usually all about seeing not touching so there was no tramping about the living roof. Though, at the same time it was pretty cool that there was even access to go up and out to see the roof up close.

Despite my many disillusions with what my mind made up after hearing about the newly renovated California Academy of Sciences there was still tons about the Cal Academy that I was not expecting such as the in house aquarium which was much larger than I would have ever expected it to be as well as the planetarium, all which were included in the normal price of admission!

While that was basically all we had time for since we made it to the museum a bit late, there was still tons left to be seen at the museum including all of the non permanent exhibits, as well as just about everything in the natural history part of the museum (African hall, the pendulum, the geophysical exhibits, an exhibit on human genes, and so much more!)

It would have been great to have more time to see everything but at the same time I'm so overwhelmed that we even got to see as much as we did! It was a great day outing and so much fun to finally get to check this place out!

Inside the Rainforest Room, California Academy of Science, San Francisco, CA

Birds inside the Rainforest Room, California Academy of Science, San Francisco, CA

Frogs inside the Rainforest Room, California Academy of Science, San Francisco, CA

And Butterflies! Inside the Rainforest Room, California Academy of Science, San Francisco, CA

More Butterflies, Inside the Rainforest Room, California Academy of Science, San Francisco, CA

The Living Roof, California Academy of Science, San Francisco, CA

Baby, It's cold outside! California Academy of Science, San Francisco, CA

Outfit of the Day:
Knowing there was going to be a rainforest room with real butterflies flying all about, I coudn't resist wearing the Butterfly dress I'm borrowing from a friend. In fact, as soon as I found out that it was going to be possible to borrow this dress I knew I would have to wear it for my birthday, and because I love dressing in themes so much this dress was actually the reason I decided on finally going to the museum to check this place out for my birthday outing! I paired this with my most comfortable flats, a pair of black ankle straps by Blowfish, and a cropped mohair black cardigan because I knew it was going to be cold in the city! Also, because this was my first time wearing the butterfly dress out and about I made it extra fancy and special by topping the look off with a brown and black feathered fascinator.

Butterfly print dress- Front View

Butterfly print dress- Front View

Butterfly print dress- Side View

Butterfly print dress- Front View

Butterfly print dress- Front View

Butterfly print dress- Side View

Outfit of the Day: Walk of WineO's Crossing again

Last Saturday was Hayward's annual Walk Of Wine

This is an event not to be missed. You buy a ticket, grab a wine glass, then walk around downtown Hayward visiting different shops and restaurants getting pours and getting sloshed. It's always great fun walking around outside from pour station to pour station a little tipsy enjoying good company and the good sunshine.

Taking a breather along the sidewalk

At the Hayward Fire Station!

Having fun getting suited up!

Having fun at the fire station

Outfit of the Day:

For the Walk of Wine this year I opted to wear my Trashy Diva Maria dress in Turquoise Floral. When walking with wine in hand it's always a good idea to wear something with lots of colors and lots of pattern going on in case of accidental spills! Luckily, there was no spills going on this day! I wore this dress with a wicker sunhat by Magid which I got from Trashy Diva, a wicker cat purse I got from ebay, and a comfy pair of ankle strap black flats by Blowfish. 

Trashy Diva Maria dress in Turquoise Floral- Front View

Trashy Diva Maria dress in Turquoise Floral- Front View

Trashy Diva Maria dress in Turquoise Floral- Side View

Matching Your Dress To Your Teaware Part 18: Butterflies Aplenty!

It's that time again Kittens for another Perfect Pairing!

I'm in LOVE with pairing! Butterflies are aplenty!

Whenever I see butterflies anything I always think of my mom. She is the biggest fan of butterflies that I know. I remember as a little kid growing up she would have butterfly pictures all over the house and I remember her always getting so excited and pointing out whenever there were butterflies outside in our path. It seems that we were always running into butterflies.

I'm not sure if there just aren't as many butterflies out and about as there were in the world or if being in northern California now rather than where we lived before in south Florida when I was younger the butterfly population is just not as big. But whenever I see a butterfly it always reminds me of all those good memories growing up and reminds me of my childhood.

As much as I love this pairing I am even more in love with this dress! It's a crazy hard dress to find but I was fortunate enough to be loaned it for a bit from the most amazing women ever! This dress features huge Monarch butterflies in brown, orange, and yellow throughout the dress. It's like if someone released the floodgates and all the butterflies came spilling out!

When I saw that one of my favorite novelty teapot makers, Cardew Designs, makes a teapot that features all over butterflies on it I knew I had to make a pairing of these two!

The Butterflies teapot features butterflies of all kinds of species in an all over pattern throughout the pot. And because they are of all kinds of species, there are lots of colors throughout the pot! A solo sculptured monarch butterfly sits at the lid of the pot, wings spread, ready to take flight! The edging of the lid, top of the teapot, and handle all have a detailed and brilliantly saturated monarch pattern embellishing the pot.

Both pieces, the dress and the teapot, are such amazing things but together it's like a little bit of magic! Thank you so much to my incredible, wonderful friend for letting me borrow this dress! I can't wait to wear it out on my birthday coming up in a few weeks! <3 Reader friends, you will be seeing more of this dress in the upcoming weeks

Cardew Designs Butterflies Teapot

Cardew Designs Butterflies Teapot

Cardew Designs Butterflies Teapot- Lid Detail

Outfit of the Day: A Very Special Meetup and a Dressy Sunday Movie Day Date

This past weekend was a very fun and eventful one! 

On Saturday I partook in a Trashy Diva dress club meetup. It was the first club meetup for our area. While it was a relatively small group of ten women, myself included, it was the first time I had never seen so many women in one place so gorgeously dressed up and everyone in my favorite brand, Trashy Diva! We went out to Trader Vic's, a tiki themed restaurant in Emeryville, and had a great time gabbing about dresses and eating good food! I'm so looking forward to the next meetup already!

Tiki Time at Trader Vic's!

On Sunday, Tim and I decided to go out and see the new Terminator movie (Terminator 5), Terminator Genisys. It was a lot better than I expected. To put all the Terminator movies in order of those I liked the most, I would say first, Terminator 2, then Terminator 1, then Terminator 5, then Terminator 6, Then Terminator 3. That's a whole lot of terminators! They brought something new to the table with this one though and were very heavy on the time travel. I liked it a lot! After the movies we went out to dinner. I wanted to go to the Macaroni Grill but as it turns out it was gone so we went out for Mexican instead.



Outfit of the Day:
Saturday:
For Saturday's super festive activity I decided to go with a Hawaiian themed dress to go with the Tiki theme of Trader Vic's. I wore my Trashy Diva Alison dress in Hawaiian Charm. I paired this with some mustard peep toe flats from Target and a cropped mustard cardigan by MAK which I got from Trashy Diva.

Trashy Diva Alison dress in Hawaiian Charm- Front View

Trashy Diva Alison dress in Hawaiian Charm- Front View

Trashy Diva Alison dress in Hawaiian Charm- Side View

Trashy Diva Alison dress in Hawaiian Charm- Front View

Trashy Diva Alison dress in Hawaiian Charm- Front View

Trashy Diva Alison dress in Hawaiian Charm- Side View

Sunday:
On Sunday I didn't go in theme but instead chose a dress I adore, my Trashy Diva 40's dress in Olivine Floral. This dress is special to me because it was one that came to me as a gift from a super wonderful and special lady. I paired this dress with nude flats by Easy Spirit which I got from Nordstrom Rack and a cropped green cardigan by MAK which I got from Modcloth. To be extra fancy this day I changed out my purse for a super cute vintage wicker purse I recently bought from Etsy. I thought it was fun to also change things up a bit and wore this dress with my Invader Zim earrings which surprisingly were a perfect match with the dress!

Trashy Diva 40's dress in Olivine Floral- Front View

Trashy Diva 40's dress in Olivine Floral- Front View

Trashy Diva 40's dress in Olivine Floral- Side View

Trashy Diva 40's dress in Olivine Floral- Front View

Trashy Diva 40's dress in Olivine Floral- Front View

Trashy Diva 40's dress in Olivine Floral- Side View

Trashy Diva 40's dress in Olivine Floral With Invader Zim Earrings- Close Up

Lumpy Friends: Adding Fun Finishing Touches to Some Looks!

While I don't often add too much embellishments to my outfits, I do love the extra finishing touches a cute brooch or sweater clip can make to a look!

So when one of my all time favorite shops, Cats Like Us, asked me if I would be interested in checking out their newest addition to their accessories, super cute felt brooches by Lumpy Buttons, I jumped at the chance! All it took was a quick browse through Lumpy Buttons designs to know these cute little brooches were right up my alley! These super cute brooches are all made in the US, are thick and sturdy, and are not only beautifully embellished with embroidery but many also feature beading!

One of the brooches I picked out was this Cute Pineapple Pin Brooch! I love the Hawaiian and tiki allusion a pop of pineapple conjures in my mind! But I also love pineapples because they always remind me of the song "It Couldn't Please Me More (A Pineapple)" from the musical Cabaret where the guy gives his lady love a pineapple as a token of his love and admiration.

For a matchy matchy look I paired my pineapple with my Collectif Tullulah Tropical Toucan print dress. This sarong style dress is such a perfect match with the pineapple brooch not only because of the tropical theme evident throughout the print and sarong style of the dress, but also because there are pineapples in the print of the dress! So much fun to do it up super matchy matchy!

Cute Pineapple Pin Brooch by Lumpy Buttons from Cats Like Us

For another look I paired the pineapple brooch with my Trashy Diva Zebra Bows Varga dress. What I love about pairing it with this dress is that the pineapple really becomes front and center being the pop of color in the dress! It gives the dress a completely tropical look that's super summery and fun!

When I saw that Cats Like Us were carrying Lumpy Button cat brooches I couldn't resist picking one of these kitties up! Though honestly, I wouldn't have expected anything less of my cat loving friends at Cats Like Us than to ensure there would be some kitties in the mix! <3

While it was a no brainer for me to pick up a kitty brooch, just which one to pick out was a harder decision. These kitties came in lots of color combos and to make it even harder, some had closed eyes with embroidered flowers and some where open eyed with beaded eyes. I ultimately picked the black and red combo (my husband's choice actually ;)) and got the kitty with the closed eyes and embroidered flowers, the Kitty Pin in Girly Red.

In another matchy matchy pairing I paired my kitty brooch with my black and red Retro Dita Dress by Folter. While the colors were a spot on match with this dress, I love that the brooch gives this dress a whimsical kitty element. As the saying goes, put a cat on it! And I don't mind if I do, thank you! <3

Kitty Pin in Girly Red by Lumpy Button from Cats Like Us

Because I was having so much fun playing around with all the pairing options with these brooches, I made up another look, a two in one if you will, with my Trashy Diva Smoked Leopard Cage dress. The smoked leopard dress already has the definite kitty theme going on with the leopard print so I thought it was an obviously adorable pairing to pair the kitty brooch with this dress!

In one look I wore the brooch and dress together with a red vintage bolero. I love how the black and grey of the dress and red of the bolero are glued together by the black and red in the cat brooch. I feel this look has a well-balanced appearance with the grey and black in the dress tied well together with the big pop of red of the red bolero by the addition of this brooch.

 

In another look I wore the brooch with dress alone without the bolero. When worn together, just the dress and brooch, this brooch adds a perfect pop of color to the dress! Subtle, yet sweet, and all kitty!