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?  

Summer stripes

Hope you all had a good memorial day weekend!

Hubby started the Memorial day weekend by renting the "Green Zone", claiming it is a "chick" movie because it's got Matt Daemon in it.  I told him he should know that I don't even think Matt Daemon is very handsome.  Did I mention Hubby is a fan of war movie and had watched "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List" multiple times?  I on the other hand, cannot stand any movie base on reality, especially of wars or disasters or suffering that is cause by human stupidity and greed. It stresses me out big time! Needlessly to say I bail out of the movie half way.

I guess by tradition, this weekend is the official start of the summer.  It doesn't feel summer though. Highest in 70 and that is not till the mid day.  This is a half day outfit over the weekend because the other half I changed to Pajamas tot take a nap mid day. Yay! Then I change to  jeans and oversize sweat shirt to work in the garden.  My husband actually felt it very refreshing to see me in those old jeans and sweat shirts because I don't wear that kind of cloth very often any more and it kind of remind him college years when we first met.

Thanks to Jen who eased my embarrassment wearing Junior items.  So here is the debut for the Trixxi Eyelet stripe dress.   I would probably only wear it on the weekend even though my company don't really have a dress code.  My current manager already teased me about needing a curfew last time I got purple highlight, which I return the favor by asking when will he get his social security benefits.  I wasn't his direct report back then.  Things have changed,  I felt I lost a friend when I was told I would report to him because my previous manager wants to be an engineer again.

(Dress: Trixxi Eyelet stripe dress at Nordstrom, Sweater: Anthro 2010, Legging: Zala Denim legging, Belt: Gap)

As for the gardening story, let me tell you, California soil is no joke.  The clay soil dry up like cement and the raining season is barely over.  I dig and dig and dig and couldn't even make much of a dent.  I finally have to call hubby to rescue and he told me not to buy anything over 1 gallon next time :-(

Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale

Nordstrom is having a half yearly sale for women and kids right now and you get double the reward points if you have a nordstrom card.  Here are some of my picks.


Willow & Clay Short Sleeve Print Dress  I like the shape of this dress. It reminds be the Betty dress sold out at Madewell at one point. Carol from In pursuit of the pretty things did a review on this a while back.  I'm not sure how I would feel about the polyester material because I order it on line, but with it on sale, I am going to give it a try.

Trixxi Eylet Trim Dress The dress doesn't look good on the picture and it is not on sale,  but it is super cute in real life.  Our local Nordstrom put it on the manikin and it was sold out within 2 days.  We walked by when we were doing a fitting for my daughter's shoes.  The one on the manikin was the only one left.  I must admit I felt embarrassed buying junior dress. But the fabric is heavy enough and hey, it is got a Bow and stripe and Eyelet, How can I resist? It is a bit on the short side since it is a junior sizing so I will wear legging with it. I took a 5 but I could zip up to 3.

For those of you have little ones who outgrown their shoes in lighting speed, I highly recommend Tsukioshi kids  shoes, especially if they have somewhat of a wide feet.  Those shoes are super light weight and super comfortable.  They are even machine washable!  No break in needed.  My daughter wears them 80% of the time comparing to other shoes she had.  They are a bit pricy and doesn't go on sale very often, but really worth it.  Keep in mind they do run half size bigger than other brand.  Apparently the 40% off Mary Jane for toddler is already gone.  I felt lucky to got 2, my daughter's current size and the next size up, but hey, there are always chance for pop backs.

Anthro Review: Goldfish Bowl Skirt

I tried a few items when I visited Chicago.   It has been oh, a month? Unfortunately my phone is often at a out of battery state, so those are the two items I manage to snap a picture with before the battery ran out.  The timing of my visit is also a bit off too.   Anthro is full of boring stuff at the time, not many exiting item in the store anyway.


Goldfish Bowl Skirt

This little skirt attracted my eyes with the little fish print.  I thought that was pretty cute and fun.  The color is beautiful.  The golden color seem to be what I am drawn to these days.  It reminds me of a chinese fairy tale.  In the story,  a magic baby jumping out of a  fish bowl and fishes out whatever treasure he wish for. Of course there is always evil greedy landlord try to take away the fishbowl and was punished at the end.

First thing about the fit, size up.  I have to go up to a size 6 although I could possibly squeeze into a 4, but I don't like wear anything high waist.  Length wise, it hits on my knee. Fabric is silk outside with lightweight cotton lining.   I somehow like a bit of weight on a skirt, but that is just personal preference, so this skirt is too lightweight for me.  It would make a good summer skirt however.    Judging from the material, it might wrinkle quite a bit at the end of the day.   There are two pockets, but I don't see myself putting anything in there with such light weight fabric. Here is another shot with the cardigan. Love this cardigan, was going to review it but then it is completely sold out so there is not much point reviewing it any more.

Sunrise Shirt Dress-$168
This dress looks very beautiful and delicate on hanger.  It also came with the attached slip which is a nice detail to have.  However I felt like a  Little Bo Peep in it.  I even try a belt with it, and still no good. The fitting is fine.  A size 2 fits snuggly but not too tight.  However, it makes me look at least 10lb more.  It is another one of those beautiful as it is, but not flattering item anthro often has.   For someone needed that extra 10lb, it might work out well.

So here you have it, two not so exiting review.



Here is an past outfit.  With the weather warming up, I was really in a mood for yellow for some reason.

Top: Katie eyelet cam in white (buy it here)
Sweater: Anthropologie Sparrow cardigan
Jeans: J Crew Bootcut
Shoes:  Classiques Entier® 'Tamara' Pump (buy it here. These are great, perfect heel height for me and super comfortable)