Memo: memory boards

Right now I'm living between places. I had been in a shared apartment for my undergrad career but after a recent string of unfortunate luck with potential new places, I am in limbo (aka my family home). Don't get me wrong, there are upsides. For one, I've missed having a dog around every day. However it is rather disheartening on a day to day basis.

To keep up my positivity while I'm here, I spend a lot of my time picking out pieces for the first home that will be just mine. My main inspiration is a ribbon board I've had on my bedroom wall for a few years. As it is Parisian themed, I filled it with postcards and momentos from my trip to Paris. The colours for my future home are pulled right off this board - my favourite pinks, subtle blues, whites, and black for that Parisian accent. My other inspiration from this item is the fact that as a board, it's overall look is customizable based on the placement of my personal trinkets. I was really drawn to the idea that the look of my walls could change with just small touches. I thought to continue that theme through other boards.

To find things to fit my girly colour palette and French inspiration, I looked to Etsy. There are so many talented craftspeople on Etsy, I knew I'd find exactly what I wanted there. I found a few very cute white boards, but I was really wowed when I found two sellers with magnet and chalkboards.

Seller ShugabeeLane is a husband and wife team who make adorable magnet boards for children's rooms or just to cute up your own walls.

Pink and black damask magnet board

Black and white damask magnet board

White and blue floral magnet board

The board I bought from this store is probably the most delicate and girly one she had up for sale, so I will probably buy a black framed board from her as well to balance the colours.

My other favourite seller is Revived Vintage. She paints vintage frames to make what have to be the most beautiful chalkboards I have ever seen.

Oval Regency style chalkboard

Ornate Regency style chalkboard

Louis XIV style chalkboard

I already bought one board from her store, but I am definitely coming back for more. What really appealed to me was the over-sized nature and oval and other shaped frames her shop offers. I really envision my living room centering around a few of her large chalkboards. My hope is that people visiting my home creates the opportunity for a new piece of art for my wall. All her boards are compatible with chalk ink pens, so the possibilities are endless. I can't wait until I can make this a reality!

Pretty Things

After four days of camping in Big Sur, it's hard to get back to civilization. I can't even think about going back to work on Monday. But, to help me get back into swing of things, here's my outfit from last Monday.

My boyfriend and I went to go see Rufus Wainwright at a beautiful winery in the local hills. I've loved Rufus' music for years but never had the opportunity to see him live. I wanted to dress fancy so luckily for me, I finally get to show off a more typical "Alissa" outfit to this blog. Fancy and pink are the name of my usual game, and this dress couldn't be any girlier.

Pretty Things;
Dress: Anthropologie The Road Ahead dress
Hair: Green floral hairband from SF boutique (right)
Bag: Coach Madison / Sabrina in pink
Shoes: Madden Girl patent heels in blush
Necklace: Miss Selfridge Paris necklace (right)

I really love my Coach bag. To be honest, I normally am not a huge handbag girl. I prefer bags I pay about $20-30 for so then I can beat them up on the subway everyday, lug my books around in them, and so on. However, a few years ago I was going through a pretty tough time with my family and adjusting back to the US after spending time in England, and I saw this bag and fell in love. Pink is my weakness and I'd never seen a fancy "brand name" handbag actually look -cute- before I saw this one. I thought they were all always shouting their logo and basically only came in black or other jewel tones. Pastels always seemed few and far between, and for me, if I was going to throw down that crazy amount of cash, it had to be pastels or nothing. I spent about 4 or 5 months saving up from my paycheck and finally decided to plunk down the cash for this beauty. I had to track down the very last one left in the Bay Area but it was completely worth all the trouble. I always get compliments on this bag and rarely see any other handbags in a classic style come in pastel pink.

Primrose

I kept admiring Anthropologie's Primula Dress throughout summer. In one major way this dress wasn't a normal selection for me. Basically it was black, and a black summer dress no less! Still, I kept thinking about how much I loved the print. I've had some comments it looks Middle Eastern, some comments that it looks Asian, and personally I think it looks Germanic. The lovely thing about it is that the lavender, purple, and blue tempers the otherwise too harsh black and keeps it a seasonally appropriate sundress. As a (super flattering) halter, it is a perfect wear-and-go piece that requires little styling for those days that creep into the 90s. I am glad though that I waited for it to go on sale. I was worried I missed it, but luckily a kind reader at the amazing Effortless Anthropologie alerted me to a pop-back in my size.


Today's outfit (above);
Dress: Anthropologie Primula Dress
Hair: Urban Outfitters metal flower hairband (right)
Necklace: Betsey Johnson Turtle & Calm Shell necklace (below)
Shoes: Desire + Triton by melissa kitten heel sandals
Eyewear: Cheap sunglasses from an H&M in Copenhagen

Most of my necklaces seem to be gifts and so I have a lot of attachment to them. The necklace in this outfit was a recent birthday gift from my boyfriend. I really adore all things Betsey Johnson. She speaks to all the girliest, over the top parts of my personality and style. Boyfriend made a point to tell me all his reasoning behind selecting this necklace. He knows I'm obsessed with the ocean and water, so he thought of my star sign to find something ocean themed with pearls. He also remembered my fawning over baby sea turtles during a recent trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. He did very well.

Marine Mural

I suppose a quick introduction is in order given that this is my first post. My name is Alissa. I'm a San Francisco Bay Area native and am quite twee. I love all things pink, frilly, covered in lace, adorned with birds, that sort of thing. In the last few years, developing my personal style has become my obsession. I landed my first grown-up job and have been indulging myself ever since with every beautiful Anthropologie offering that has caught my eye. I've been hoping for a while I could keep a blog for an archive of my styling and outfit choices so I am very excited to begin that process.

On to my first "Outfit of the Day!"

To start off with a bang, this outfit is a two-in-one situation. I am taking my first vacation from work in 13 months, and in that time, I decided to fill it with small trips to my favourite parts of Northern California. One of the trips was to Monterey Bay to get a glimpse of the huge population of Blue and Humpback Whales currently migrating through the area. Since we had to go on a boat at 9 am going 10 miles off-shore, I decided to add some layers that I could peel off later for a nice meal back on land.

Boating look (above)
Hairband: Drugstore hairband ($2 but the best finishing piece!)
Dress: Anthropologie Marine Mural Dress
Coat: Anthropologie First Frost Coat
Top: JCrew turtleneck tee
Necklace: Handmade from a boutique in Cannes
Legwear: Target leggings
Shoes: Seychelles Four Leaf Clover boots

Swapped for land (right)
Cardigan: Pink ruffled cardigan from Marshall's
Bag: Pink lace bag from Etsy (a recent birthday gift!)
Legwear: Ruffian for Anthropologie Luxe Dotted Tights in wine
Shoes: Seychelles Kiss At Midnight or Anthropologie Hidden Sun mary-janes in sand

I don't normally keep my hair in braids (it makes me look like such a milk-maid) but I knew the windy weather would whip it in my face and drive me nuts. Even though Nathalie Lete's beautifully painted marine mural is the focal point of my outfit, my favourite part is the necklace. My mum gave this necklace to me for my 21st birthday after she'd returned from the Cannes Film Festival. She bought it from a woman who handmade each piece she sold. Mum selected this piece for the colour, and because the charms like the seashells, the bird, the heart and the Buddha all reminding her of me.


I have to end this post with a thank you to the lovely Anjali of goldenmeans. She made a post in July alerting me to an endless.com and Bing cash-back deal which is how I ended up with the Seychelles Kiss At Midnight pumps in my second outfit.