Winchester Mystery House

After taking care of Finnegan while Z and I were away visiting his family on the East coast, my sister drove up to San Francisco for a visit and to drop off my beloved pig pug. During her short visit, we decided to venture out to San Jose and check out the Winchester Mystery House. Growing up on the Central coast, we had always seen huge billboards advertising this spooky house and we finally decided to see what all the hype was about. We arrived at a lot surrounded by suburban malls, fast food chains, and parking lots to find this little Victorian house nestled in between. The place was definitely a tourist trap, but my sister and I made the best of things by enjoying some wine spritzers before going on the tour. I enjoyed learning the history of the house, the Winchester rifle, viewing the vintage decor and beautiful design of this famous ghost trap. We were only allowed to photograph the outside of the house, which is really such a shame since some of the work and detail that went into the inside of the house was amazing.

Outfit Details:

Mod Chambray Shift Dress // Vintage

Market Bag // Vintage

Sunglasses // H&M

Blue Sandals // Vintage

Here's a photo that my sister and I took before entering the house. We felt pretty awkward holding the imitation rifles. What were we supposed to do with them? Pretend to shoot each other? Use the rifles to make lewd gestures?  We decided to keep things G-rated since this was, after all, a family establishment.

Remember September

 
Happy Birthday to Z and I! We were both born on the same day! WEIRD! It makes bouncers at bars think that I have a fake ID since the odds of two people dating having the same exact birthday are pretty slim! Cheers!  I wish I could celebrate tonight, but I must get back to studying for my exam tomorrow. I want to make this exam my bitch, then I will party party like an underage gal getting free shots at the bar for her birthday. BROOO! I can't wait until this weekend, when the real celebration begins. Wish me luck!

Bang Bang

Still going through the ever-painful process of growing out my bangs. They don't seem to be growing out at all to me since they are barely pass my eye level right now.  I probably need to work on my patience. This transition is more difficult because as far as I've remembered, I have always had bangs and were able to  hide behind them. Bangs bring to mind memories of my mom. It used to be a ritual where my mom would sit in front of me and trim my bangs every other week or so. I was her little Asian doll.  However, if I happened to wiggle around too much, my bangs would end up a bit crooked and my mom would laugh.    
One evening when I was younger, I begged my mom to trim my bangs for me since I couldn't see anymore and I wanted to look my best for school pictures the next day. My mom was busy cleaning up after dinner and said that she would get to it later, but me being the impatient little girl decided to take the matters / scissors into my own hands. I trimmed away and noticed that one side was shorter than the other, so I tried to compensate for that and ended up trimming the opposite even shorter! I kept trying to even-out my bangs out and the next thing I knew, my bangs were barely even left. Of course, my mom happened to walk in at this very moment and said ,"Good! Now you go to school like that!" I begged and pleaded for her to fix them, but alas there was not much to do about it. I had to take my school photos with my crooked sad bangs that made me look similar to a poodle that had stuck its paw in an electrical socket, teased its fur, and then sprayed extra-hold hairspray on it. These bangs were so short that it was hardly considered a fringe to cover my forehead. (As seen here which I will probably take down the link to because my hair makes my head look alien huge) In the future, whenever I tried to disobey her, she would just have to show me my school picture to shut me up. NEVER FORGET.

Contrary to belief, I am not holding up peace signs.  These two fingers are actually scissors. AH! Thanks Mom!

Outfit Details:  Stripped Shirt // Vintage
Green Corduroy Pinafore // Vintage
NARS lipstick // Shanghai Express
I leave you all with Nancy crooning about a different type of Bang. Enjoy!

Santa Cruzin'

It may seem really unusual, but Z and I share the same birthday. Seriously? What are the odds? When we initially started dating, I thought he was using some ploy to hit on me when birthdays came up. I immediately sought out his driver's license and saw that he was indeed not kidding around. Sharing a birthday with your boyfriend has certainly had its benefits: one year we were able to go to Disneyland for free and the other year we planned a nice trip to Seattle. This particular year, we went to the Santa Cruz Board walk and pier since I had never been before. The weather on the day that we went could not make up its mind: it would be sunny one moment and then foggy and over-cast the next. We spent the day  partaking any tourist activity we could think of: playing boardwalk games, exploring the fun house, and eating in yummy garlic fries. 

After exploring what we could, we joined Z's family on the beach for a lobster cook-out. I was in absolute heaven, but I guess it's just because I am a huge fan of anything that has been dipped in garlic and butter. Above is a wonderful photo that Z took of me where the camera's strap decided it wanted to make an appearance. Camera Strap Photo bomb! Oh well. I can't wait to go on this year's birthday excursion and hopefully take more photos (no more camera straps, please!) and eat more delicious food. Perfect way to spend your birthday!

Outfit Details:
Shawl Sweater // Vintage
Chambray Tank // Mom's old shirt
Black Jeans // Urban Outfitters
Tan Clogs // Dansko Clogs
Straw Hat // Borrowed from Z's dad
Brown Belt // Vintage

The Great Outdoors

According to the email from Starbucks that I received regarding their release of the pumpkin spice latte, it is officially fall! Fall! My birthday takes place during my favorite season: fall. If you ask me, everything is better; the food, the weather, the clothes, the music (there's just a certain type of music that is fall music, just like there's summertime music). Even when I was younger, fall was this sort of transitional time, like a new beginning with the start of the next grade in school (I loved school so this was actually something I looked forward to). Plus my birthday is in September! If only the weather would catch up with me. San Francisco heats up around this time for its Indian Summer, but I just want to layer cozy fisherman sweaters over polka dot button ups, bake pumpkin cookies, watch Hocus Pocus, and drink salted caramel hot chocolate. Pumpkin-flavored everything is my favorite. Also, I'm looking forward to the rain. I'm a big fan of it all in fall because that means we're just one step closer to winter and the holidays.

For birthday celebrations this year, Z and I will be spending time with some family and friends since my cousin also is a September baby. We're going to camp up in Mendocino and you have no idea how excited I am!

Below are some photos of when we went up to Northern Tahoe for the weekend:

Can't wait to take photos of the next outdoors adventure!