Ripe

( Apple picking // Jones Creek Farms )

Sedro Woolley, WA // Fall is quickly becoming my favorite season. Maybe because I now live in a region that actually has a fall, and it’s been nothing short of pleasant lately. We drove north to Jones Creek Farms for their Annual Harvest Festival for some apple and pumpkin picking. It’s an adorable, family-owned establishment with hay rides, chickens, a pumpkin patch, and orchards growing a wide variety of apples. Not too many apples left on the vines, but we found a couple of good pumpkins to take home.

( Pumpkin patch // Jones Creek Farms )

( Chickens // Jones Creek Farms )

( So many different kinds of apples // Jones Creek Farms )

( Found one! // Jones Creek Farms )

( Rain boots. Good idea. // Jones Creek Farms )

( Rolling with the homies // Jones Creek Farms )

( Our take home pumpkins and caramel apple // Jones Creek Farms )

( Jack o' lantern ready // Jones Creek Farms )

Closer

( Matching and relaxing at the original Starbucks // Pike Place Market )

Seattle, WA // One of my nearest and dearest from back home visited me for the weekend, and brought sunshine to our rainy city even! It was a weekend full of good food, lots of running around in the rain, shopping, coffee chats, and even some s’mores toasting at the fireplace (yes, it really has been cold enough for that). Everything that I enjoy doing with my closest friends.

( Two girls, one hallway? // Seattle Public Library )

( Brie and fig // Belle Epicurean )

( Belle Epicurean // Madison Park )

( That Alexander Wang bag... // University of Washington )

Warmer

( Fall 2011 // Forever 21 orange cropped sweater, Madewell forest green cardigan, Forever 21 burgundy leather shorts, Forever 21 cropped trench coat, Frye Engineer boots )

Fall 2011 // I’m pretty sure it was this lookbook from Shopbop that spurred on a desire for a warmer color palette for fall – burnt reds and oranges, deep oxbloods and chocolate browns, and rich rusts. After years of inky blues and blacks, I recently treated myself to a tiny shopping trip and came back with burgundy leather shorts, a cropped trench, and a striped sweater. But really, any color with an earthy richness will suit me just fine.

Indulge

Autumn seemed to just fall out of the sky this week, literally. While I am looking forward to cooler weather, a couple of rainy days let me know kindly that I, and my wardrobe, are clearly not ready for the cold. (more…)

Vancouver

Vancouver is a 3-4 hour train ride away from Seattle – enough to make an afternoon out of it. I was there for a second time when my family was visiting me a couple of weeks ago. It was cold and rainy, but the city is colorful, cosmopolitan, and culturally diverse. One of the most painfully glaring differences about Seattle is the lack of diversity in comparison to Los Angeles. But it’s nice to know that I can drive two hours north, cross the border, and be in a city that makes up for this. We toured the city by trolley and ate waffle sandwiches at Miura Waffle Milk Bar before heading back to the US late that evening.

Found

( Fremont Market // Seattle, WA )

Fremont Sunday Market // I was getting worried that a good flea market was nowhere to be found in the rainy northwest, but leave it to the Fremont neighborhood to meet my criteria – good selection of vintage clothing, fairly priced antique furniture, THE JEWELRY!, and lots of stylish shoppers to people watch. Now if I can just find a legitimate Mexican restaurant here, I’ll be set… or is that too much to ask?

Locks

If you weren’t in Seattle for August, you missed out on the loveliest weather this city has to offer. I’ve never enjoyed basking in the sunlight so much, what with the abundance of green space at every turn. Here are some snapshots from our visit to the Ballard Locks last month. I’ve had a busy September, but I’m back and armed with a new camera, new projects, and a renewed focus.

Discovery

( Les Amis boutique, Fremont // Seattle, WA )

Seattle, WA // The temperature stands at 60 degrees as I type this, but it has been weeks of 80 degree weather, clear skies, and very little rain. Perfect summer weather. A little too perfect for me, but that just means that I’m still checking out the remaining summer selection on sale at Les Amis in Fremont for still-loved light neutrals and airy knits. Pretty sure I still spotted that lovely Isabel Marant Etoile eyelet blouse there, marked down a bit.

I love the cozy, hide-and-seek layouts of the boutiques here. Unlike the bleached white, lofty open spaces in Los Angeles, there’s a sense of discovery with every corner turn in Seattle’s smaller setups.

( Les Amis boutique, Fremont // Seattle, WA )

Viva

Las Vegas, Family Style // August 2011

It was quite the whirlwind trip back to California, with plenty of pool time and 110 degrees in Las Vegas, family-style, dotted with seeing more of my loved ones in the less than 24 hours I was back in SGV and downtown. Being away from family and friends was the hardest part about moving, but when rare time together is spent in ways pictured above, I can’t complain.

Painterly

( Sampling // Rodarte for Opening Ceremony, Fall 2011 )

Fall 2011 // Rodarte for Opening Ceremony‘s latest collection. The work of the Mulleavy sisters always elicits much-deserved praise from the fashion and design community. I myself am captivated by this very autumnal color palette, straight out of a Realist artist’s brush.