fuckyeahchicago

It's been a productive week. I spent the last 4 days in Chicago visiting a college friend who just had an "oops!" baby. Mistake or not, he's adorable, and totally chill enough to let my untrained, non-maternal self hold him without wailing. What a trouper.

Aside from New Orleans, Chicago is one of my favorite cities to visit. God knows I'd live there if the weather weren't so atrocious 8 to 9 months out of the year. Among the highlights this trip: vintage shopping in Bucktown, dinner at Frontera Grill, and a fantastical Mexican Cowboy store with everything from leather chaps for infants to sterling silver boot tips to roadkill fashioned into hats. I just about died. Total kid in a candystore moment.



I did come home with a couple of goodies (including the most honest-to-God awful polyester knit grandma couch-print bellbottoms ever created by the hands of man) and a much more tasteful dress by local Chicago label Eskell. But of course I can't stop thinking of the one that got away: a gorgeous purple fringed suede skirt that despite the jaws of life, a can of Crisco, and 10 hail Marys would not fasten over my hips. SAD.



Already missing my friend Hannah and little Monty and not being at work. Oh well, it's another 3-for-3 week. Three days of work followed by a 3-day weekend! As it should be.

technicolor dreamscape

"Deliverance from Envy" by Jackson Zhao via Ben Trovato

Love everything about this: the nails (of course), the makeup, the light, the hair, the pained expression on the model's face...it's all pretty much perfect.

alamo square

wearing vintage skirt, thrifted jacket, Gap t-shirt, necklace from consignment store, thrifted bag, Swedish Hasbeens for H&M

Enduring blustery winds in Alamo Square for the annual Alamo Square Flea Market. Missed out on an overpriced pair of woven leather loafers when someone swept them up before me but came home with a sweet 70's tie-neck dress and Alpaca sweater along with a couple of super old framed photographs to add to my bathroom collection. I think I could shop at flea markets for the rest of my life and never miss the mall again.

sissies

wearing vintage shirt and jacket, fucking awesome necklace borrowed from my best friend, UO jeans, vintage Frye boots, Banana Republic bag, Christian Dior sunglasses. Rachel wears Zara dress, UO belt, vintage bag

My sister just came to visit from New Orleans for Outside Lands. As you can see, we actually kind of look alike, a fact which isn't so surprising unless you saw what we looked like growing up: basically she was blonde haired and blue-eyed and I looked like a Sephardic Jew. Now she looks like a Sephardic Jew too so no one would be surprised that we're related.

Whenever she comes to visit, it seems like we go on a mad shopping binge with my mom. This time was no exception, but unfortunately it was my mom and sister who had the most luck at the consignment store. My mom came home with vintage Gucci heels and a pair of quilted Chanel-esque ballet flats by Stuart Weitzman, and my sister found an absolutely adorable cross-body bag for $12. I too didn't leave empty-handed, coming home with this gigantic lucite bead necklace to wear with clashing prints. The best purchases (or at least the most exciting) are ones that look perfect with the outfit you have on when you buy them. Instant satisfaction.

Ughhhh, I would so wear the shit out of those Gucci sandals if my mom and I wore the same size!

guy bourdin | in between

One of my favorite coffee table books of all time. Guy Bourdin's work straddles a fine line between art and exploitation (especially his cringe-worthy photos of young girls wearing makeup), and often his images force us to confront our feelings about violence, nudity, isolation, and death. But some of them are also just really beautiful. Most of his photos from fashion magazines (spanning the mid-50s through the late 70s) still look completely fresh and modern. I would DIE for those blue chiffon and gold polka-dot dresses.

milkmaid

Stella & Dot earrings

Sometimes you just want to throw your greasy ass hair in a couple of braids and pin them to the top of your head. I may or may not have needed to watch three hours of Youtube tutorials just to make this happen. I'll never tell.

dammit, jim

Things I wish I could wear to Outside Lands tomorrow:




images via Mr. Newton, unkown

However, there is one complicating factor:





My freedom of sartorial choice has been cock-blocked by the weather AGAIN. Shitty wok.

reliquary sf

wearing vintage jacket from Reliquary, J. Crew top, UO jeans, vintage Frye boots, Stella & Dot earrings

Best. Print. Ever. Reliquary is a magical little shop in Hayes Valley where they "remodel" vintage pieces and sell some new labels as well. I pretty much want them to come and decorate my entire apartment. For now, this jacket will do. Check out their beautiful space below:

images via Reliquary's Tumblr

i like stuff

Finally popped my Alameda Flea Market cherry on Sunday AND IT WAS AWESOME. I seriously can't describe how much I loved it. Pretty much ran around with dilated pupils and sweaty palms the whole time. I was so excited that I forgot to buy something. Oops.

The best way I can describe it is like Ebay in real life. Everything you can think of exists here in multitudes of at least 300: telephones, vintage zippo lighters, baby doll legs, belt buckles, vintage signs, cowboy boots, etc, etc. A collector's paradise. A hoarder's wet dream...

And an opthalmologist's playground! One booth had hundreds of pairs of vintage eyeglasses. I totally should have bought this Buddy Holly pair that made me look like a nerdy high school kid's yearbook picture from 1967:





Oh well there's always next month.