Red stripe?

I was returning some stuff at Anthro last night and there is a lady came in asking for suggestion because she is attending a 4th of July parade.

This is what I immediately thought of.

And guess what did the SA pull out?  The same shirt, haha, except they only have the navy blue left, but then you can just reverse it by wearing a red cardigan over it.

In fact I like the simple stripe red stripe the other stores carried more.  This anthro shirt is a bit over the top for me. Somehow when I think of 4th of July, I felt more casual.

 Here are some choice:

JCREW version:  Whisper linen stripe tank.  Honestly, although it is made of linen, I don't see how it justify the $41 price tag

From nordstrom: Splendid Rugby Stripe Slub Knit Tank on sale for $34.90

Old navy: Women's Diagonal-Stripe Jersey Tanks

Even gap kids have one and it is $4.99 right now.  who knows, the XXL plus might work out fine.  The red is the most crisp.

Now here is the disadvantage of on line shopping. You can not feel the fabric, try out the fit.  It is pretty much a wild guess.

What would you pick?

 I ordered the gap one.  I know, it is shameless, but the price is too good to pass.  Here is another shameless outfit featuring the anthro cat dress, and a Crewcut cardigan.  I love this cardigan, it is very light weight and the color calls for a sunny day. I love it so much that bought both my daughter and myself one.

Destination: Big Island

Yes, you all have guessed it.  Big Island is where we went.  Somehow I am so in the island mood that even after coming back for a week, I still felt too lazy to do anything.  There is so much do in the island so I felt I was squeeze out of my relaxing beach time.  

Lisa had said it all in the comment.  The most interesting thing about big island comparing to the rest of the Hawaii island I had been to is to drive through the vegetation and weather changes when you went around the island.  It went from lava field to sandy beach to meadows to tropical forest to desert and some even resembles what I see at the forest of Oregon and farms and ranches of Midwest.   You know how in movies when they try to demonstrate time passing by, you see that fast forward scenery and weather pattern changes, you get that same feeling driving around the islands.




Here are some favorite experiences:

• Hiking through the lava field.  The hike started green like a rain forest, then it descends to the bottom of the lava crater.

Think it is flat? It could be strenuous for the little one.  My daughter didn't whine much like she normally does in a hike.  She somehow took the word "sleeping volcano" literally and thought her cries might wake the volcano up.  It wouldn't be good if the volcano start erupting during our hike, would it?  We just took advantage of that and didn't correct her.  Bad parents, I know.

• Viewing turtles at the shore.  I don't know what is it.  You see turtle at the aquarium and somehow it doesn't give the same excitement.

• Waiting for sunset at the beach

• Walking in the rain forest

• Chasing the waterfall

• Watching the moon through a telescope at Mauna Kea visitor center.   I put my camera lens over the telescope lens and got this photo.  A bit blurry but I still think it is pretty cool.

•  Feeling the wind at south point.  The wind is so strong that all the trees grew sideways.

• Looking at exotic tropical flowers. 

• Waipo valley look out. I wish I have a 4 wheel drive to go down there.

• Eating locally made ice-cream. We accidentally discover this little ice cream parlor because we just wanted a place to sit during the parade and it was hot that day. Once I try it, I was so hooked. I had to go back to the same ice-cream shop for the same flavor of "volcano" and "dark chocolate macadamia nuts".  First one is a banana flavor with chocolate chip. Second one was so chucky you get the nuts in every bite. Yum.... 

• Looking at fishes and sea urchins and little crabs early in the morning without a snorkel.  Too bad I didn't have a camera with me.

• And last, but not least: Taking outfit pictures, pretending you are in a Anthropologie catelog, haha :-)

Quickie: Vacation spot

Can you guess where I am?

No?

How about this obvious clue?

I'm quite proud of the undo I made for my daughter. I never thought I can tight up something with a stick considering I didn't have my first pony tail till last year in high school.

I will be back later with more pictures.

the "short" story

Bay area really isn't a good area for shorts.  It hardly ever get warm enough and those days do get hot usually falls in a working day.  Notherless, some of those shorts roll out for summer are so cute.

 J Crew is currently having 20% off all shorts. Those three are my favorites. Somehow I am always drawn to clothing that has appliqué  on it.

More J.Crew...

However, my favorite short for the season would be this one.  How cute are those sail boats. The price is pretty reasonable too.

Land's End Canvas
Women's Sailboat Mini Shorts $39.50

Are you a shorts person?