oh hello there! it’s just little ol’ me on my rooftop again, insisting that i wear a mini skirt every single day even though it’s high time that i admit that i need to pull on some wool stockings underneath and throw on some cashmere. in fact, that’s just what i’ll have to do because i was finally just too cold to wear this today. have i ever told you how much i love cashmere? if j.crew comes out with them again this year, i am buying a cashmere union suit and wearing it every day at home. seriously.

so this is a variation on my last outfit. blouse, mini skirt, patterned tights. this is the way my outfits transition. tomorrow i really want to wear a romantic blouse with high rise skinnies, but i don’t yet have the perfect pair. except i have to let you in on this: i ordered a custom pair from indidenim and i’m going to go visit their offices to pick them up some time this week! there will be a blog post about it.

anyway, i’m finding that my style is slowly floating over to the 60’s. i think it has everything to do with this haircut. i sometimes fancy myself as a minor character in one of my favorite godard films, brushing past anna karina or jean paul belmondo or jean seberg as they traipse around france. so i pulled out this silly old pair of flats that i think i bought two years ago from juicy couture of all places. random, yes, but 60’s inspired they are. though i would much prefer a pair of vintage salvatore ferragamos with the little bows. i have a pair in nude, but have yet to snag a pair in black. wish me luck; maybe i’ll get lucky and find some at a thrift store!

i have to admit something. if i could, i might wear this plaid top with this cashmere cardigan and a pair of skinny jeans every day. something about the colder weather and the end of the semester has got me a little down, and it just makes me feel like being lazy and wearing some glorified version of pajamas all the time. since that isn’t quite acceptable, i can always fall back on this simple combination. then if i have to go out, i can swap out the jeans for a little skirt, some patterned tights and heels, and i’m ready to go!

yesterday was just one of those occasions. i got an incredibly late start after an evening of talking with friends and inadvertently drinking almost an entire bottle of wine, and i kinda just rolled out of bed and threw on the ol’ uniform to go out to breakfast. then i remembered that i had plans to go shopping in san francisco with the lovely jennie of going west. fortunately, i managed to pull myself together in time to hit a few shops with her and to do a little impromptu photo shoot on the roof before the sun set entirely. jennie took my photos for this post, and isn’t it silly how nervous i look? i’m so accustomed to getting photographed by my boyfriend that i get camera shy around almost everyone else.

anyway, it was good times! we went to the vintage shops on haight st. and i found an adorable cream blouse with lace details and a peter pan collar (which i am wearing today) while jennie found the most amazing lace blazer ever. then we went to the north beach/china town area where jennie took me to a cute little vegan restaurant before meeting up with shannon at indie industries, where i got a cool pair of patterned tights, which i am also wearing today. not bad.

all photos by jennie of going west.

one of the things about blogging is that we do it from the comfort of our own homes, quietly typing away at our computers and merrily clicking away. it’s easy to imagine that all of us bloggers just sit indoors all day sans interaction with another soul, lest we happen to awkwardly pause as strangers pass by while we’re snapping self-portraits in front of a tripod. alright, maybe that’s just me i’m talking about, i don’t know. but what i can say is that we don’t get to interact with other bloggers all that often, so you can imagine how happy i am to have had the opportunity to meet mickey of darling darling!they actually came over last week and we enjoyed a nice afternoon talking shop and drinking a few pumpkin beers in a rose garden by my house, and we kinda sorta didn’t take any pictures. but i was lucky enough to get another visit from them today while they got their hair cut by mr. shannon dean, who is also my very own hair stylist. he worked his magic on their asymmetrical cut and they look just as cute as can be.

afterward, we decided that we wouldn’t be good bloggers unless we did a little photo shoot, so shannon took us to a silly spot to see the “cool bus” which has also been featured in this post by his equally awesome girlfriend, jennie of going west. and then i almost had a heart attack after we left and i realized that i had left my camera hanging on a chain link fence near said bus. don’t worry, it was still there when we ran back. phew!

so here we are trying to look cool, sharing stories about trains, and nervously laughing in front of the camera.

more pictures from the shoot are at my flickr. all photographs by shannon dean who also furnished us with the bad, bad cigarettes. they’re bad.

…smell my feet! just wanted to pop in quickly to share a few shots of my halloween costume. i’m not one to post party pictures, so i promised myself to actually get some shots of my outfit before i leave. and anyway, this dress is quite old and tattered, so i don’t know how it will survive the evening. based on my research, i’m pretty sure this is a 1950’s official girl scouts brownie uniform complete with the little felt hat.

ok! well happy halloween, folks! have fun and don’t eat too much candy!

boo! are you scared? i definitely feel just a little spooky tonight creeping around on the rooftop in this vintage orange and black 1940’s dress with these silly vintage cat glasses i found on ebay recently. honestly, the first thing i thought when i found this dress on the racks at mercy vintage, i knew i would be wearing it around halloween time. and while i do have a costume, i thought i would wear a festive little outfit tonight and save the actual costume for tomorrow.

so i am off to a little halloween party in san francisco tonight. i’m pretty disappointed that the bay bridge is still closed! i know this might not be relevant to most of you, but it’s been closed for three days since a cable snapped and hit 3 cars! that’s actually pretty spooky. a little bit more frightening than my cat glasses… i hope you can make out the details ok: each eye is a scary cat face with it’s mouth opened wide so i can see through them.

and hey! check it out. i am not a fan of the flash on my camera, but we went out to do a little photo shoot on the roof right at sundown and we had so much fun with it that we took tons of silly pictures. enjoy and have a happy halloween!

phew! for a minute there, i kinda sorta thought i would never do an outfit post ever again! i just got into this funk where i couldn’t think of a new outfit for what seemed like forever. this is pretty ridiculous if you can think of it. imagine me in my underwears, sitting in a giant pile of clothes, lamenting, “oh i have nothing to wear!” my boyfriend thinks this is pretty funny. i told him i used to do the same thing when i was a little kid. my mom sometimes reminds me that most of my childhood involved several wardrobe changes in one day, much to her consternation.

so i’ve basically been like a record on repeat for the past week. i had an outfit the other day and i did a little photo shoot, but i let my perfectionism get in the way and i scrapped the whole set because the photos were too grainy. forgot to change the camera settings… and then suddenly blogging became really daunting when i realized how far behind i am in reading all of my favorite blogs, and it always seems so much nicer to just drink a few glasses of wine and catch up on old episodes of big love. that show is genius. and i’m in love with chloÁ« sevigny.

but that is beside the point, and the point is that i think i got motivated to try something new because i got a little trim for my hairs yesterday. it’s shorter and more severe now, but i really enjoy the change. i almost feel like i might be so bold as to go above the eyebrows on my next cut, now that i’ve got mr. shannon dean as my new stylist. nothing better than a hairstylist who serves you rye whiskey and listens to 90’s gangsta rap and heavy metal.

and i bought this white eyelet dress because what i really want is a certain lace dress from wren. but i have a feeling that my wallet would not approve, and i haven’t seen it for sale anywhere either. not that i’m actively looking. i don’t want to tempt myself, you see. and anyway, i like this dress because it has floral eyelet details which i think go quite well with the pattern on these sheer flower tights. ok, now back to those episodes of big love…

wow, i just realized something about my outfit for today: it would be completely contemporary if not for that little bow in my hair! (which happens to be a little vintage bow tie that i decided to fasten on top of my head.) thing is, i have plenty of luck when it comes to dresses, but i hardly ever find vintage coats that i like. they never seem to fit quite right and they often come in strange, unflattering silhouettes, when all i really want is a nice, slim fit. enter h&m. not only did i find a trench coat that fits, but it came in navy blue. heaven on earth! i am one of the few people in the world who cannot wear khaki, and i’m sick of black coats, so yes, i am happy as a clam.

it’s like with shoes. i just prefer more modern, or dare i say, trendy styles. i love all of the cute, “vintage inspired” styles that come out, but i appreciate that i can get them with platform toes and more substantial heels. and so i have a closet full of new shoes in classic styles, and i’m slowly collecting more modern coats as well. one thing i find interested about shopping for coats is that all of the magazines will advise us ladies to “invest” in a classic coat, but i really don’t see why! the other day, i did some mall shopping and was completely pleased with the selections at places like h&m, gap, and even old navy. for reals.

and now i have no excuse but to go do laundry. yesterday it rained and so i reasoned that i would have to stay inside and watch hours of tv and drink lots of hot tea. today? no such luck!

well now, first things first: new haircut, hooray!!! and i must give credit where credit is due: after meeting the lovely jennie of going west, she introduced me to her boyfriend, shannon dean, who just happens to be a freelance hairdresser. he saw the photo i posted of my haircut inspiration and a few days later, i got my cut! it was an especially nice experience because he cuts hair in their berkeley apartment, so you can relax and enjoy a glass of wine (or several) and listen to good music without having to pay and arm and a leg just to deal with rude people in some fancy salon. so if any of you live in the bay area and want a snazzy new cut, you should definitely hit him up. i highly recommend it.

now onto this outfit. you can file this under: what not to wear on a rainy day. which is exactly what i learned after getting soaked this morning on the way to the grocery store. this is what spoiled-california-girl denial looks like. it’s kinda like how they say you shouldn’t dress for the job you have, you should dress for the job you want. only in this case, i thought i could dress for the weather i wanted and… hm, don’t think it works quite like that. though this will work if i hem the dress a tad shorter, and add wool tights and rain boots perhaps. the nice thing is that it isn’t cold at all. just wet. really wet.

i hate the rain. waaaaah. i’m a baby.

so if you follow late afternoon, you might have already been privy to the little bay area blogger meetup we had on sunday in san francisco. it was really nice to get together to meet some lovely ladies and talk shop. i was a little nervous because i didn’t know who would be there, but i was delighted to discover that none other than helen, the founder of chictopia, was sitting there in the cafe donning a wide brimmed hat! she’s so adorable! i also got to meet nobody knows you and going west.

i feel a little bad that i didn’t get better photos, but i felt a little rude snapping away while simultaneously trying to chat, so i caught the girls in silly candid moments. it was completely accidental, but that’s ok. bloggers are real people, too, right? it’s like those sections in tabloids. bloggers talk and eat and move. did you know that? haha.

which reminds me, i totally got a flip cam yesterday and i’m beyond excited to put up videos on my blog. thanks flip cam people!

anyway, i didn’t even do an outfit photo at the meet-up, so today i recreated my look to show you what i wore to meet the ladies. i’m in love with this little sailor collar dress! i just ordered a really cute pair of platform ankle booties that i think will go perfectly with it, but for now i’ll pair it with little red flats.

you might recognize this dress from the weardrobe nyc blogger conference. i wore it for the photoshoot with craig arend of altamira nyc. but in all of the commotion, i never really got a proper outfit post in, so today i decided to slip it on and snap a few pictures to show you. anyway, i’m so in love with this dress right now that i don’t need half a reason to put it on!

i got it at mercy vintage in oakland on piedmont avenue. the shop just opened up in it’s new locations a few months ago and it’s literally only a handful of blocks away from where i live, in a neighborhood that’s quickly becoming a favorite! it’s home to issues, a little magazine shop where i’m patiently awaiting a phone call to let me know that the new issue of lula has arrived! and there’s a rad little antique shop nearby where i found an amazing 1950’s sailor dress, and a cute little independent movie theater. pretty sweet.

but onto the dress. it’s a vintage 1940’s rayon dress, and when i bought it the hem fell mid-shin in a most matronly fashion and there were little holes and discolorations all over. so what did i do? i chopped it all off and transformed it into a mini dress. voila! a go-to item for my fall wardrobe. for some reason, i can just see this mixed in with the fall collection from rachel antonoff. the black and orange bring it dangerously close to costume territory, but in a way that’s fun and playful and perfectly whimsical for fall.