a fun place to eat!

shorts: thrift -- blazer: thrift -- shoes: thrift -- belt: thrift -- top: stolen from my mom five years ago

Hey guys, do you see what's happening in that photo? Do you see what I'm doing? I'M SMILING! Ce n'est pas possible! Laughing, even :)

After seeing all of Kristen Wiig's adorable boyfriend blazers in Bridesmaids (which was fantastic), I was eager to bust mine out for a day of adventures with my friend Bobby. We ate brunch at this diner near my parents' house that I've always secretly longed to try and he just randomly took me to. Nice. The diner advertises itself as being "A Fun Place to Eat!" and the whole thing is covered in these absurd signs with gruesome usage errors and gag-worthy jokes. It's awesome.


My new Taylor & Ng Catbear trivet/wall hanging. $1 at this little thrift store in Felton.


Most adorbs church ever, right? And these last two photos are from my brand new smartphone!

I managed to drop my old phone in the toilet on Tuesday night (damn back pockets...), and it seemed like as good an excuse as any to finally cross over. Of course, my phone still worked once I let it dry, but after such trials as falling 30 feet off a roof, spending a night in the bushes (there was a slug on it in the morning), and a previous aqueous adventure, I figured it probably didn't need any more of my abuse.

I'd been apprehensive about getting a smartphone because I'm already in front of a computer so often that taking a break seemed like a pretty good idea. But I found myself constantly wishing I could have access to the Internet and my email when I'm on-the-go, so I just went for it. I opted for the Droid X2 because it has a giant beautiful screen perfect for perusing blogs and ModCloth and reading Wikipedia and, once I figure out how, watching movies and shows.

The last week of my life has been positively absurd--two final essays, a final exam, moving out of my dorm, shifts at my job in the photo lab, seeing friends before they leave for the summer, and going to ModCloth all day. What I'm lacking in sleep I'm making up for in fun though! Life is awesome :)

I'm working on a serious-ish post I'm really excited to share with all of you! I think you'll love it. I'm aiming for Tuesday.

Palm Springs with Sam!

Back from my haitus! I hope that you enjoyed the guest posts as much as I did :)

Sam and I left on Friday morning for Palm Springs to spend the weekend with my aunt and uncle in their new studio condo unit. We spent 10 hours in the car driving down, which might sound awful to some of you, but I actually really like long drives. Besides, nothing makes a long drive go by faster than being with a dear friend!

When we finally made it through the LA traffic and got into Palm Springs, my aunt took us out to a lovely dinner and she and Sam had a great conversation about feminist theory. (I love my family!) We spent the rest of the weekend by the pool, traipsing around town, and eating some awesome food. Lots of cheese and carbs.


Sam and I posing poolside with the mountains in the background


The really lovely water feature running through the complex


Sam in his hilarious, campy, and ridiculous shirt that he bought at "GayMart." Gotta love Palm Springs.


Basking! Blinding people with my paleness! I bought that funky swimsuit at Goodwill the day before we left, and it worked out great. I could actually swim in it, unlike most bikinis.


What a lovely pool it was. It had this funny fountain-pedestal thing in the middle of it, which was really good for pretending to be a statue.


This is how we spent most of the time that we weren't eating.


This is what we look like when we're hungry and overheated.


Don't cross me when I'm hungry and overheated.


Note my wonderful aunt and uncle exiting their unit. They were pretty much the best hosts ever, and not only put up (and put up with) me and Sam but also treated us to 3 delicious meals and delighted us with their entertaining, intelligent company.


Palm Desert Goodwill organized as a spectrum. Very cool! I bought an awesome 80s cardigan (to add to my collection).


Palm Springs has a lot of empty lots like this. It creates a strange, desolate feel. That's the desert for you, I guess!


OMG my own souvenir shop! Okay, my name isn't Sophia, but it's close. My name is unusual enough that I get excited whenever I see something close to it.

On Sunday, after 9 hours on the road with Sam full of late-night driving punchiness, disgusting and absurd "would you rather..." questions, and the entire Chicago soundtrack, we made it back to school at 1:30 AM.

It was all cloudy and rainy on Monday, so I took the opportunity to wear my new cardigan. When I got back from class in the afternoon, the light looked so gorgeous that I just had to take some self-indulgent self-portraits (are there any other kind of self-portraits?).



I took some photos with the 4x5 camera I'm using while we were in Palm Springs, and I can't wait to post them when I'm done printing them!

dressed like that, you must be living in a different world

shirt: thrift -- cardigan: thrift -- shorts: thrift -- shoes: thrift -- sunnies: small town county fair -- earrings: random vendor outside my school's bookstore (her business model is everything is $2. Geeeeenius.)


I spent the afternoon with Alex today, which was lovely! We went for a drive around San Jose, and he pulled over at this great sixties-built church for some photo-taking. It reminded me a lot of the pictures I've seen of Palm Springs architecture, and it seemed like the perfect SoCal-esque backdrop for our SoCal-esque weather.



Everything I'm wearing in this outfit was all purchased from different 50% off thrift store sales. I think that makes the grand total $9, $15 with the sunglasses and earrings. Take that, Urban Outfitters! (Or, as Alex calls it, "the store for people who haven't discovered thrift stores." That said, he buys his Levi's there and I sometimes buy stuff on sale. Ok, and I bought some Levi's there recently, too. Hypocrisy!)


My legs are SO pale. It's like I have on white tights.


Alex descends into the picnic gazebo thing in one of our favorite city parks.


We don't kid around. Wait, all we do is kid around...



One of the best things about this park is that it's adjacent to this teeny random thrift store that's part of a Catholic school/church. It's open for about four hours a day, so actually making it inside is always an event. They were having an "everything's a dollar" sale, so I picked up a really cool sixties beach cover up/dress thing and a really cool sixties blouse/tunic/thing.


My haircut is in exactly a week, and I can't wait. It's way, way too long/fluffy right now. Gonna get a Jean Seberg pixie!


It will be the baldest I have ever been since I was a baby!

A couple of you asked about photo-taking in my last post. Well, the answer to that is somewhat complex. Since starting this blog in late August, I've posted outfit photos from at least six different cameras. I have a little point-and-shoot, which is what I usually use. If I have a DSLR checked out from my school, I like to use that. If I mention that Alex took the photos, he took them on his DSLR, usually.  Alex can't take my photos most of the time since we live about 30 minutes away from each other and really only hang out on weekends. Most of the time, I just use self-timer and a tripod, no remote.

Today's title comes from The Undertones -- Get Over You, a super fun punk/new wave gem.

i don't mind dressing in green if i thought that you'd understand what i mean

Spent a beautiful afternoon taking photos with Alex in the park. It was CRAZY warm today. 65 degrees warm. What a treat! One more reason to love the South Bay.










I love when everything is green! The hills all turn brown in the sun by May, normally, so there's a very brief window where things are all bucolic and verdant like this.




On me: skirt: thrift -- top: thrift -- jacket: thrift -- shoes: Jeffrey Campbell / On Alex: cords: Levi's -- sweater: thrift -- shoes: thrift -- hat: Scala -- jacket: Vintage Members Only, thrifted







Today's title comes from The Soft Boys -- There's Nobody Like You. The Soft Boys are a really amazing, influential, and sadly under-appreciated group from the seventies. I strongly recommend their album Underwater Moonlight to any fans of post-punk and 80s alternative!

postcards from pigeon point

Here are the promised photos from Alex and my trip to Pescadero and Pigeon Point! It was a really relaxing, easygoing little getaway :) I wore my kneesocks+shorts look again since I figure that it's only getting colder at this point, and I might as well take advantage of the weather while I can.


The Pigeon Point Lighthouse to the left and the hostel to the right! It was quite a gloomy-looking afternoon, as you can see... Definitely that moody, cloudy coastal thing.


When we first got to Pescadero, Alex and I practiced our intense faces...


...and poked around the little thrift shop


They had a lot of Christmas stuff. The store was quite small, but I found a folding table that's just the right size for me to use in front of my couch in my room at school (I don't have a desk there).


Everywhere we went had lots of quaint, coastal charm. Peeling paint, rust...


Alex looking out at the moody ocean in the late afternoon.


This was the view off of the cliff the hostel and Lighthouse are on. At night, Alex and I partook in the hostel's hot tub (pretty cool hostel, eh?), which is on the edge of the cliff and looks out onto this very view. Sooo pretty.


At the beach! It was really dark so it was hard to take good photos :\


Alex was quite pleased with this photo that he took, so I thought I'd post it on here :) There was a pay phone because cell phones don't work out there. The parking lot is currently under construction, hence the caution tape and the orange mesh.


This was the view out of our room's window. Even though it's a hostel, we were able to book a private room, which was quite nice. Pescadero is definitely a small town. There were literally two places we could have dinner, and one of them had closed early. That was okay though because we ended up eating awesome food at the taqueria/convenience store/gas station.

Yesterday evening, we headed over to Ashley of Fancy Fine's holiday pop-up vintage store party! I got to meet all kinds of stylish bloggers and their friends and partners. It was such a wonderful time! I really enjoyed myself. I took some photos there on my film camera, but I haven't finished the roll yet. I'll be sure to post 'em up here when I have them processed. Ashely put some photos up on her blog today, if you want to take a look.

Don't forget to enter the sweater and purse giveaway!