on sunday, i got together with a big crew of friends for a day at the races. we all met up and rode our bikes to golden gate fields for dollar days: $1 hot dogs, $1 soda, and $1 beer. good times. also, a great excuse to wear a cute hat and to place a few small bets on horses to keep things interesting. after a while, diane of darling darling joined us in our antics and we ended the afternoon at a cute little pub with leanne of paws on my face. it is so much fun to meet up with other bloggers!

also, pictured below are some photos of a few of my friends. that goofy looking fellow with the big beard is not my boyfriend, but he is my boyfriend’s best friend in the world and he also loves to make silly faces for the camera. and he is also a musician. you can listen to some of his music here. brendan is a little camera shy, so he has yet to make a proper appearance on the blog. but he is a writer and artist, and you can visit his blog here.

anyway, it was quite a fun day altogether. what did you do over your weekend?

saturday night, i met up with some of the bay area style bloggers for a little hair party at revamp salon in san francisco. my favoritest hairstylist in the world, shannon dean, just started working at the salon, and thought it would be nice to pamper us with shampoos, hair styling, and plenty of champagne. i know i’ve said it before, but he is a wonderfully talented hairstylist and i just don’t know what i would do without him. if you live in san francisco, you should definitely check out his salon.

while he worked on my hair, we discussed some of my options for a new style. i love the iconic bob that he’s given me, but we’ve been chatting about bowl cuts and pixie cuts as we transition into the warmer months. i’m especially excited after seeing the adorable cut he gave diane below. doesn’t she look like the most adorable little spock you’ve ever seen?

we love our hairs.

images 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 by jennie lodge.

on friday night, i attended a little girl’s night out celebration hosted by jessica of what i wore, courtesy of dove. she invited a small group of bloggers out for an evening of drinks followed by a limo ride around manhattan! i had already spent some time with jessica the night before catching up on life and blogging, and spent my day with rebecca during her photo shoot with market publique. while i was there, they caught wind that i didn’t actually have a party dress for our girl’s night out, so pamela of market publique offered to let me browse around her inventory to borrow a dress for the occasion. everyone in the office agreed that i had to wear this awesome vintage neiman marcus dress for the occasion. it was a bit out of my comfort zone, but i’m glad i ended up wearing it. those puff sleeves really did make quite the statement. haha! and as you can see from the photos, despite my daily outfit posts, i’m actually quite camera shy.

i spent the evening with: what i wore, the clothes horse, orchid grey, jen loves kev, selective potential, delightfully tacky, blonde bedhead, and crowded closet.

food and drinks, limo service, and dove visibly smooth samples were generously provided by dove.

on the last day of my new york trip, i was fortunate enough to be able to attend the first two discussions of the independent fashion bloggers conference. the event was incredibly well organized and the panels were very thought-provoking. i also got the chance to meet jennine of the coveted and founder of ifb. she was so sweet and darling in person! i commend her for putting together such a great event.

i wish i could have stayed longer, but my flight was scheduled for that evening, so i only had enough time to snap a couple of pictures before running to the airport! luckily, there were photographers and video interviews, so i should have tons more to show you in the coming week.

after the lovely girl’s night out on friday night, i spent saturday attending the chictopia10 conference and after party, and sunday doing a photo shoot and enjoying a pleasant lunch with chictopia and modcloth followed by a little soho shopping trip. we even spotted scott schuman and garance dore casually leaning against a brick building in a romantic little moment that would have been picture perfect if we weren’t driving past in a taxi. how very new york.

i have a lot to share, but my trip isn’t over quite yet. i’ll be attending the ifb conference tomorrow before heading back home and finally getting some much needed sleep! at which point, i promise to share my outfits from the trip and to tell you all about my new york adventures.

me and rebecca of the clothes horse.

so i’m kinda sorta IN NEW YORK FOR FASHION WEEK. it’s been quite a whirlwind of a trip so far and it’s only just begun. it’s been a bit of a challenge to remember to take photos while running around manhattan and brooklyn wearing heels and trying desperately not to slip in the several inches of snow on the ground, but i’m doing my best to document the trip so i can tell you all about it when i get back. but just for fun, i thought i would take a moment to show you a few shots from our blogger girl’s night out courtesy of dove vip hosted by jessica of what i wore.

and now i’m off to the chictopia10 conference for the remainder of the day. i’ll be “tweeting” from my phone so be sure to follow me on twitter for all the latest updates.

weeee! nothing like being perfectly self-indulgent and writing a blog post for the sole purpose of announcing my birthday! i kinda can’t believe that i turn 27 today. anyway, here is a nice picture for you. it makes me super duper extra-specially happy, so i thought i might share. now i am off to enjoy chocolate cake and pink champagne.

it’s sunday, folks. and i’ve decided to do something a little different and write a post about something that isn’t fashion/style-related. i don’t know why i hesitate to post this kind of content so much, but i’m going to try to come out of my shell just a tad and show you some of the other things in my life. but just a little. i’m still wary about posting anything too personal in public.

so behold: a close-up of yours truly wearing no makeup in millions of layers of practical clothes. i went on a little hike in mt. tamalpais yesterday. we had actually originally intended to do a much more vigorous trek, but i accidentally slept for twelve hours and didn’t wake up early enough to leave us with a sufficient amount of daylight for anything very strenuous. oh well! i felt kinda gross and awkward with so many layers of clothes on, and i spent a lot of time trying to think up the ideal outfits to wear whilst hiking. i have come up with some very good ideas, so expect more on that later!

anyway, while on our little hike, we came upon a fun little place called the nature friends tourist club. unfortunately, it was closed yesterday, so we’ll have to go back soon. in fact, we’ve decided to go back out there in a couple of weeks with a crew of friends. we’re going to bike up from san francisco and then do a little 45 minute hike up to the tourist club for a few beers before making the trek back out, and riding our bikes to tiburon to catch a ferry back to oakland. these are the absolute perfect day trips. a few months back, we did a similar ride with a group of friends and ended up at a bar in port costa. we actually took photos and recorded quite a bit of video from the trip. perhaps i’ll have to post that up on my blog, too.

if there’s one day that i have a valid excuse to stay in my pajamas all day, this is it. happy new year!

today i’ve decided to tell you a little bit about my tattoos. i’ve gotten questions about them and requests for better photos, and while this is the best photo i have at the moment, i thought i would show you where the original art came from.

the tattoos across the backs of both arms are a series of illustrations that i found in a book titled i saw esau, edited by iona & peter opie and illustrated by none other than maurice sendak. you would most notably recognize his work as the author and illustrator of where the wild things are, which is soon to be released as a motion picture directed by spike jonze. yes, i’m excited. sendak is my hero, and i pretty much decided to get the tattoo the moment i saw the image. if you’re in the bay area and you’re interested in the artist, i got the tattoo at everlasting tattoo by mike davis. he did a really good job of diluting the ink so it looks like watercolors.

some people ask me to tell them the meaning of the tattoo. all i can really tell you is that it is an illustration for the classic childhood poem/song:

TO THE RAIN

Rain, rain go away,
Come another summer’s day;
Rain, Rain, pour down,
And come no more to our town.

my other tattoo is a drawing of a bear hugging the state of california. apparently i have a strong hugging theme when it comes to my tattoos. i found this image in a book titled bear in mind: the california grizzly. it’s the image found on the songbook for the state song, i love you california. as you can probably already tell, i have a deep love for my home state of california.

and that is the story of my tattoos. i do have a few more, including a little stick-and-poke quail given to me by my boyfriend, but maybe that will be another post!