Is it possible that my hair could look remotely similar to Karla’s here if I were to cut it short? Dangerous. Maybe I’ll just obsess over the adorable vintage-inspired frocks on her blog — like this to-die-for number from my favorite, Shareen Vintage — before I get ahead of myself.
{Photo via Karla’s Closet}
I was starting to think I might give in to this whole, “it’s technically fall now” idea, but it seems at least in Southern California, Mother Nature isn’t quite ready to accept that idea either. Summer is still here, my friends – and so is my Summer Bucket List.
My latest adventure (Summer Bucket List item No. 2) took me for the first time to the shores of Catalina Island. While I’ve spent many a lazy beach day staring at the island from afar and even taken several SCUBA diving trips to waters just off of its coastline, in my 10 years as a SoCal resident, I’d never actually set foot on shore.
Being that it was the boy’s and my anniversary, we opted for the quieter Two Harbors side of the island and spent the day kayaking (which I’m happy to report went swimmingly despite my tendency to be overbearing in kayaks), checking out the scenery and eating at the only restaurant in the town.
At dusk, we hiked up to a viewpoint above the back side of Two Harbors’ two harbors. The sun began setting over the mountains and I whipped out every camera in my possession while the boy tried to usher me up another hill to a second lookout area. After two dozen photos and many more urgings from the boy that we climb to the higher lookout, I relented. We climbed to the top – me singing “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria” the whole way (this isn’t as weird as it sounds if you consider that the epic scenery pretty much forces you to go straight to “Sound of Music” references) — and then this happened :)
I said yes.
Last weekend, for one of the first times in my life, I threw myself a proper birthday party. Generally, I have some grand idea for a party that after a couple failed attempts at organizing turns into a quiet dinner with the boy or something similar. Last year, I pawned off the planning on the boy and I must say he did a bang-up job – with a Twitter account and everything! But this year, given the theme I had in mind, I knew I had to make things happen for myself.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved the beach. And I’ve loved vintage clothing for just about as long as that. I can still remember pining for one of those silly retro swim caps adorned with brightly colored daisies throughout most of my childhood. So when I started to see retro swimwear popping up, even at pretty mainstream stores, I knew it was time. I had to throw a retro beach party.
As usual, I had grander plans in mind that what panned out (i.e., renting a beach house in Malibu with a semi-private beach), but plan B just out front of Crystal Cove’s Beachcomber Café turned out to be a good one. Equipped with some games, towels, umbrellas and, of course, vintage swimsuits, the boy, me, and some amazing friends – including our very own Celeste — frolicked on the sand all day long. We got lots of compliments on our suits and the party theme. But the best part was all the great photos we got to take (highlights above).
So that does it for Summer Bucket List item No. 5 – but not for retro beach parties altogether. I’ve still got my eye on one of those Malibu beach rentals for next summer ;)
A new fashion blog about friends mixing up similar clothing pieces in different, awesome ways? We love it! And we love it even more because the adorable Eyvette, one of the co-founders of One Thing Two Ways, is a dear friend of mine and Kim’s. She always looks chic and cute when we see her, so it’s only fitting the rest of the world gets to see her outfits, too! Yay.
I just discovered Lisa’s blog and her wonderful penchant for hand-lettering quotes, and I just love all the ones she’s created so far. Beautiful words, beautiful artwork.
If you don’t get the reference in the title, it might be because – as many early twentysomethings have inferred to me as of late – my age, 27, is “older.” (It also might be because you’re male or just unfortunately missed out on an amazing book/tv series.) Either way, it means I can be super stoked about things like this.
So it can’t be all that bad, right?
(Also, if you’re curious, watch, this)
{Photo via Some Kind of Nostalgia}
My goal was to post this on Wednesday, the official first day of summer, but that didn’t quite pan out. (Not a good start to my jam-packed, goal-filled summer.) I have an excuse, though: I wanted to find the perfect background picture with which to create an awesome graphic that would surely inspire me to zoom right through my 30 summer bucket list items. I’m still working on that part, so in the meantime, I’m making this official …
I’m doing a summer bucket list!!!
Summer has a way of biting me in the butt and making me want to go on a thousand adventures. I think it’s the extra sunshine. I pretty much run on solar power. So I decided to create a list of all the fun things I have in store for myself this summer. The best part is I’m planning to blog about all of it, so you’ll have a front-row seat to my adventures and, I’m sure, misadventures. And maybe you’ll even create a bucket list of your own and post it in our comments. Wouldn’t that be just delightful?! Before I use any more exciting punctuation, let’s get to this list:
Sounds pretty cool, right? I think so. Let the summer officially begin!
You guys know how I’m obsessed with goofy animal art – and, let’s face it, goofy art in general. Just the other day, I was this close [ ] to buying a gigantic blue oil painting of two bunnies in a field.
I can’t even describe the level of joy I found from these masterpieces by Chris McMahon, who, as I’m told by the ladies at Hello Giggles, paints these funny monsters into landscape art he finds at thrift stores.
I’ve already purchased the narwhal and the mountain monster pictured above. Only $10 including shipping! I couldn’t resist.
And while I’m on the topic, Hello Giggles is the best! How did I just now discover it? I especially loved this post by 13-year-old Mikaela Foster, who is already a much better writer than me and describes my junior high/high school sentiments to a “T”.
I’ve decided. The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. It’s like the confluence of all the things I love in life: being outdoors, good food, good company, fireworks, magical sights … independence. Ever since I moved to Southern California from Arizona – and gotten closer and closer to the beach – my love for July 4 has grown even more. (For me, add the beach to anything and you pretty much have it made.)
Up until last year, our July 4 activities were a no-brainer. The boy, whose birthday is on that very day, lived in Redondo Beach so we’d invite a bunch of friends over, have some food and drinks and then walk to the beach to see fireworks go off all along the coast. Now that the boy lives downtown, we’ve been thrown off our game a bit. We’ve adapted to life in the city and grown to enjoy it immensely, but on July 4, the city doesn’t quite cut it for me.
But what to do? Drive to the beach and try and wade through the crowds for hours to find parking? No thanks. Stay in the city and try a find a cool rooftop somewhere? Maybe. What I’m getting to here, is that I want to hear your ideas, readers! Do you have special lookouts or activities you do for July 4? Where are the best places to go? I implore you, help us find a new July 4 tradition. I know you’ll make at least one birthday boy (and me) very happy :)
{Photo by me}
Do you guys ever get anxiety about growing older/aging? Since college, I feel like time has just been slipping by and even I can’t believe I’m already 27 years old now! It feels like yesterday I was just 22 and starting my first full-time job, and it seriously feels like yesterday I was just 23 and moving away for grad school….
I’ve always been aware of aging since I was very young. When I was 8 or 9, my fourth grade teacher had a minor heart attack that left us with a substitute teacher for almost two months. After he returned, he gave a passionate speech about how precious the time in your life is and how the hours and minutes and seconds that go by will never be yours again. Even then it felt like a heavy talk for us kids to grasp, but it stayed with me. However, it made me very sensitive about time and very anxious about how little control I had over it…when I turned 10, I knew that I would never be a single-digit age again, and when I first started high school, I distinctly remember thinking to myself that I would come to this place at 14 and I would leave it at 18, and that was a fact. In college, I was genuinely sad on my 20th birthday because I would never, ever be a teen again and it was so bewildering to know that these phases of my life could just move on without me, whether or not I was ready to move on as well…
But then, a couple of years ago, I came to the realization that aging is the best proof that we are indeed alive. Once that clicked for me, I felt such a great sense of freedom from worrying about the passage of time; instead, I started to see aging as a gift and I understood that my fourth grade teacher’s lesson to us was gratitude for time. When I came across the quote above today, it once again struck me how lucky each of us are to be able to get older every day, and what a privilege that truly is. On a related note, I also remember having a talk with a friend long ago that we wouldn’t plan for milestones in our lives, such as the age we’ll get married or the age we’ll have kids; instead, we would just always be the perfect age for wherever we were in life. (And really, what’s the fun in having everything planned out?)
How do you guys feel about getting older? Do you worry, do you not care? What matters most to you at this point in your life? I’d love to hear your thoughts. :)
{photos of Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward via}
Celeste
Kim
