you've got to climb mt. everest to reach the valley of the dolls

Spent Halloween in a slowly increasing state of dishevelment as Anne Welles from Valley of the Dolls (which was a terrible book before it was a terrible movie...I highly recommend reading it). For work I played the more put-together polished version, and by nightfall I was a smeared mess, 'dolls' in hand.

The day before Halloween we had the world-famous pumpkin carver Shawn Feeney in our office to work his magic on a pumpkin, which we streamed live. This guy is seriously talented. Check out more of his work here.

More hot mess action. It rained really hard on my way to the party, which added to the overall affect:

The party was a 'Hotel California' theme, complete with a creepy butler (hired on Craigslist), a reception desk, and room keys as souvenirs:

The bathroom was delightfully reminiscent of a murder scene:

And finally, we all know it's not a real holiday without pictures of dogs looking distressed in adorable costumes. L to R: Quasi as the horse + headless horseman, Kobe as a mod, and Gus as a dinosaur (begging for cheese cubes):

Hope you all had a fun and fantastic Hallow's Eve!

my mother, the style icon

my mom is on the far right in every picture, except the bottom one of course

Yes, I know these pictures look like they were taken last week with the "Hefe" filter on Instagram, but they were actually all legitimately taken in the 70's. First when my mom was a Kappa at LSU, and later on when she moved to Paris to be an Au Pair for a year. She looks so young (probably about 21-24) but I remember seeing them as a child and thinking she looked like a grownup. It's funny how your perception of your parents changes as you slowly morph into versions of them at different ages. If you compared my college pictures to my mom's, you'd probably be struck by how similar they are--except my outfits were definitely not this cool. Also, I did more drugs.

Anyhoo, the point of this post (besides lamenting the fact that my mom doesn't have that camel peacoat anymore) is that my mom is still beautiful, still has an enviable closet, and still inspires me every day. Basically, she's the best mom ever.

my weekend, instagrammed (predictably)

I've decided I'm going to devote myself full-time to becoming a flamboyant sculptural hat-wearing person. The hat I'm wearing above was originally created in Warner Brothers' costume department, and I like to think it may once have graced the famous noggin of Joan Crawford or some other silver screen legend. It comes from my absolute favorite vintage/consignment store in the world, What Poppy Wants in Larkspur, CA. I've written about the place before and have gotten more amazing pieces there than I can count. The owner, Valerie, didn't even want to sell this hat, so she'd set a price of $425...which she quickly reduced (drastically) because she knew I'd make it a good home. I heart her long time.

Nails are actually from a couple of weeks ago (but I never got around to posting them) and the candy is just one of the delightful offerings on display at Miette in Hayes Valley.

The magical forest-scape is from a hike I went on with my mom on Saturday in my nascent quest for a healthy lifestyle. Because let's be honest, I'm not going on another cleanse anytime soon.

And finally, I just had to show some of the beautiful little tchotchkes at Reliquary, which is a store whose aesthetic I'm absolutely obsessed with. They're all pocket knives, handmade in New Mexico.

So tell me lovelies, what pretty (or not-so-pretty) things did you do this weekend?