Stay on the Sunny Side

It seems that my craving for color always follows the sunny warm weather.  I noticed that people San Francisco wears a lot of black.  The place is foggy and cold even in the summer.  So maybe I am not the only one.

I got this little top last year from anthro and it turns out to be my favorite during the trip.  I had packed more neutrals, thinking it would be easier to mix and match.    Then I was in such mood for colorful display.  So I washed this shirt in the mid vacation so that I can wear it again.  

I had promised my mom sea turtles before the trip.  The Big Island surely did not disappoint.  When we were at the beach, one was in the water swimming with us.  My mom couldn't see it clearly because she didn't want to get wet.  Then again during evening stroll, it was right there, resting like a rock.  

Turtles are known for their longevity.  I wonder if it is because they are so happily doing nothing in life.  In any case,  having naps on the beach must be one of the life's greatest pleasure.  Somehow I could never get to do that.  Always too busy chasing the kids around I guess.

Hawaii really has the most gorgeous sunset.  My husband said he is done with sunset photos for now after clicking around a few pictures.   I continued on with clicking, even though all the photos come out pretty much the same one way or another.  It is  as if taking more photos would prolong the experience somehow.

The rental place is equipped with some surfer board. I tried just lay on top and let the wave take me to shore.  Somehow it was harder than it seems. The first few times I couldn't even balance on top.  I plunged into the water as soon as I laid on the board and we all had a pretty good laugh.  My husband was too heavy and the wave were too small to carry him at the calm Hapana beach.   My daughter is really the one gets most mile out of it. 

Too bad spring break is over.  It is going to be hard to go back to normal life, especially work.  Hope you all had a restful weekend!

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.

Reinventing from the past?

It is funny how the week back from the vacation is always the busiest.  It is almost like you need another vacation for it.   Here are some pictures from the vacation so I can  take a mental vacation from time to time.

This is my daughter trying to stuff herself with the Chicago style stuff pizza. Somehow watching her eat makes me smile.

This is not the first time, but Millennium park is always fun.

Let's match up our outfit with the color of this tricolor set of sculptures.

On our way, we saw this weird sculptures that look like legs and my daughter insist checking it out. I really don't get the modern sculptures, they are not visually appealing to me at all, but they are pretty fun :-)

OK, Back to today's topic, if I haven't strayed from that far enough.  Has anyone notice that in  LOFT's latest arrival, some of them look really familiar?

First is this dress, does this remind you Anthropologie's  Time gone by dress?

Here is another one, looks familiar? I don't remember the Anthro skirt's name, but I see it in a lot of Anthro's blog. Anyone knew which skirt I am talking about?

LOFT often has things similar to anthro but at a much lower price point.  I am curious enough to take the bait  with this weekends additional 40% off everything promotion. Let's see.

Packing list

Spring break is here and we are visiting grandparents.   Other than the busy security line at the airport, one thing I hated most is packing.  With two kids and one elopes whenever you are not watching, I need things light.  On the other hands, with kids, you end up always want to be prepared.  That means you have to shrink what your belongings to make rooms for what the kids might need. In a vacation, there will always be picture opportunity so I don't want to look too sloppy. According to the weather forecast, it is going to be raining on and off.  Not the nicest weather I would have hoped for.

Here is the list of things I am bringing.  I think I can interchange most items for an different outfit.  Not in the Polyvore is a graphic tee shirt.  Most likely I won't be wearing the skirt even though I wanted to.  The two key items are the overside tote where I can fit as much junk as possible.  The Trench is a bit of a splurge but with a hood and the inner warm liners, it can be quite versatile for the harsh weather.

I originally wanted  to bring the boots, but decided not to as it is not as easy to slip on as the booties and I don't have the room in my luggage.  With any travel, you always want to have the right shoes to walk on.

Packing list by inkmark featuring vintage tanks

With the large tote, I was able to fit the following in:

wallet and keys,
iphone,
Sunglasses
ER-6 headphone
Tea water bottle with Organic Chamomile tea and gochi berry
My daughter's security blanket... (She is 5 and still quite attach to it)
A bunch of chargers.
ipad



So what is/are the item/items you always bring a trip?

If you do a lot of business travel, there is an interesting tip at nordstrom.  I think it is fairly useful even for casual travel like mine. 

Ski break - OOTD

Happy post Presidence day!  This week is the ski break for our school district.  Funny, right?  We get a christmas break and a ski break then a spring break, and then summer break, you wonder if the kids ever are in school.  So this weekend we took the kids to Tahoe to see snow.

We got a free deal at the Grand Sierra Hotel and I got some discounted lift tickets at Mt Rose Ski area for the kids for $5 each.   Both kids are super exited to see snow.  My son was so exited that he woke up at 4 in the morning and woke everyone else up.  It is interesting that in my daughter's mind that season is a place rather than time.  She suggested we "go to the spring place, pick up a branch so we can use the branch to hang the glove on snowman we make at the winter place".  I guess that time can be shrink with the traveling ability

I am really not a cold place person even though I am born and grew up in a cold place.  I bundle up layers and layers of sweater and fleece with thick down coat. It is almost ridiculous, I know.  I don't know how I had survived the winter in Chicago land for 5 years, but I do know that is the reason I moved to California. 

Mt Rose Ski area has a magic carpet, escalator type of lift.  It is great for beginners to try out the bunny slope.  My son is very natural in terms of skiing. I think it came from walking on the back edge of the couches and jumping between.   He won't fall normally and can naturally shift the weight on his body to avoid people,  but he gets scared when because after he gain some speed.  During that time he want us to hold his hand. Otherwise he did great.

My daughter on the other hand, pretty much turn into a wood block once she had her ski on.  She goes "Mommy, mommy, mommy, no, don't stay too far away from me, no, I am going to fall, no." and she hasn't even move an inch. At first we don't know how to help her, because she would put weight on us if we hold her hands and not using any of her core strength to stay up.  Consequently she will fall backwards on her butt once  the center of her weight is ahead of our hands.  Finally my husband figure out a way.  We would stand in front of her in a short distance and let her push us if she feel it is getting too fast.  With us in front of her, she felt much more secure.  After that she was able to let go of our hands and ski a short distance.

You can probably tell, it was a very tiring trip.  I was exhausted running backwards in front of both kids. Kids tired out too.  Both fall asleep right shortly after they get on the car on our way back to the hotel. Still, it is fun to see the snow once a year so I can appreciate the California weather.

As for the remaining the week,  our child care arrangement didn't fall through so hubby and I had to each work from home for two days for the remaining of the week so we can keep an eye on our son who will be in therapy for a good part of the day.  Today is my turn.  If you know autistic kid, you know they had the ability to escapes like Houdini.  You'll never know what kind of stunt they'd pull on you.  So if I am alone with him, no skirts.

Top: Anthropologie Two-story Cowlneck tee
Cardigan: LOFT Vneck Cardigan
Jeans: Lucky Brand Bootcut Jeans

San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers -- OOTD

Well, this post is more for outing of the day, rather than outfit of the day :-)

All these years living in the bay area, I had never been to the inside of Conservatory of Flowers.  It is either close for renovation, or it happens to be the day it is closed when I visited San Francisco.  This holiday, I made sure that we are there in a day that it is opened.

There was a long line outside.  Kids under 5 does not need a ticket, so we kept teasing my daughter about she can't get in because she doesn't have a ticket.

Inside is really warm.  Most plant in display are the tropical flowers such as orchid.  However the variety is not exotic enough so it felt like a nursery houseplant section.

Is this the insect eating plant? We suggest my daughter put her little finger in it to test it out, but she refused.

This one reminds me Halloween candy.

How about some sur realism?

Here is a spot where you can be framed for a picture.  Hubby and I were taking picture of each other from the opposite ends. Kind of fun.

(I guess this would be my OOTD picture?  Lots of Layers...Top: Ann Taylor Cowl Neck Woll Sweater in gray, North Face  'Animagi' Jacket (Similar here). JCREW crewneck cashmere in deep coral. Gap scopeneck vintage longsleeve T(Love those, so soft)  Vest: North Face "Carmel" Down Vest (45% off right now).   Pants: JCREW Chord,   Boots: UGG,  Bag: Orla Kiely Crossbody)

To be honest, the flower collection is not very impressive, much less varieties than the one we went in Chicago this summer. It also needs more labeling and description for educational purpose.  But the special Edition was quite interesting and make the whole trip worthwhile. You can find detail description here.  The little railway sets in the minatures of plants with architecture landmark models made out of recycled and repurposed materials.

Hubby didn't even realize they are made out of recycled materials.  Kind of missing the point, eh? Can you tell what they are made of?

Being a techie and Chinese, this one has to be my favorite. It is made out of old computer cards and Majong.

And of course no kids can resist Thomas.