Tailored to Perfection

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Blazer and Tank: Forever 21, Trousers: Dolce & Gabbana, Booties: Bally, Belt: Vintage

I'm wearing my best pair of trousers by Dolce & Gabbana. The slim fit keeps it young while the material feels luxurious. Anything with a tag "Made in Italy" never lets me down! And I cannot believe I scored this blazer at Forever 21. I knew that one day they would come out with the perfect blazer on the cheap! It had the word "Amazing" written all over it so I grabbed the last one in my size. Tailored to perfection indeed!!

And I'm so excited to say that the lovely blogger of The Fashion Smoothie , Mimi from Germany, asked to have an interview with me! Her blog is fantastic and full of inspiration. Take a look, and read my interview HERE!!

By the way, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I'm still not quite sure what my plans are for the night! I'm thinking of staying in to watch scary movies. But as for more exciting news, next week is my BIRTHDAY, and I got the best present, tickets to Cirque Du Solei Kooza! Will keep you posted! :)

As for now, collage time!

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xoxo, Natalie
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Leather in a Field of Daisies

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Leather Jacket: Alberto Makali, Dress: Vintage Limited, Tights: DKNY, Booties: Bally, Bracelets: Sogoli and Vintage

Wearing my new favorite leather jacket, it has a perfect slim fit with nice structured shoulders. I'm seriously wearing this with everything nowadays. Nothing is better than a timeless leather jacket that's worth the splurge. And I recently found this Limited dress at the new Goodwill on Beverly Boulevard and I love it! The green and brown colors are a fresh approach to the floral print. Neutrals are beginning to dominate my wardrobe this Fall. Speaking of Fall, it's really beginning to feel like it. Chilly air, but with a little ray of sunshine. Perfection.

It's almost the weekend and I am so excited! Hope everyone has a great Halloween night! Trick or Treat?

xoxo, Natalie
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fall fell fallen

10-27-0910-27-09
thrifted floral dress, vintage booties, forever 21 cardigan

Oh, did I speak too soon a couple posts ago? IT'S FINALLY REALLY FALL! Excluding the scattered rainy days, today was the first one that actually felt like an autumn day. What better way to greet fall than with a celebratory outfit? I was saving the floral dress for a day like this. The sky was completely clear with just the right amount of warmth from the sun and the cool breeze served as a pleasant sample of the weather to come.

I was also reminded that I need to find tall boots for fall and winter as opposed to the booties I wear on a daily basis. I have the pair of tan ones that I wore all spring and summer although I would like a pair in darker leather, preferably black. I'm leaning towards vintage, of course, but I'm considering splurging on a bigger buy. If they last me a couple years, why not? In any case, that's on the top of my list of purchases at the moment.

legs
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we never even bought it a planter

orchid

orchid

We bought this orchid a couple weeks ago thinking it would be a breeze to take care of it but it's proving to be a harder task than anticipated. One of the flowers has already shriveled and I don't doubt that the rest of them will follow. I don't think either of us has really tried to look up proper care since we're so caught up in our daily routines. It's just sitting in his apartment on the mantle, partially obstructed by the door when we open it to go into the common room. We never even bought it a planter.

I want to try and find a way to revive it but why bother trying any harder when it's reached this point? Should we give it more light or water it more? Maybe less light and less water? Or perhaps a mixture of both? What do you do when you feel you've tried everything and nothing seems to work? I'd like to convince myself that it's best to not get too attached and just treat it as another scrapped project among a list of countless other failures. The more time I invest, the more terrible I'll feel when things don't work out as planned. I hate leaving things in the air like that.

I honestly did care about the orchid. The day we bought it was a particularly windy one and I was surprised to see that the delicate plant managed to not break in half during the ten minute walk home. Every petal was intact and nothing was out of place: it seemed almost unreal. But now, now everything is falling apart and we have no one to blame but ourselves. Perhaps if we just took the time to identify and get to know the problem our little "love orchid" may still survive. At the moment, however, we don't seem to be getting anywhere and it's really not helping the situation.

(I'm not just getting melodramatic over a flower, in case you haven't realized it.)
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pizzeria delfina

pizzeria delfina

Stopped by Pizzeria Delfina in the Mission the other day with Brenty for lunch. The wait was a little annoying but totally worth it. We started with these cute little arancini balls that we saw on other peoples' plates while waiting and knew we had to get. I also discovered a new favorite apple juice (although Purity apple juice still reigns supreme). We shared a Salsiccia pizza with fennel sausage, tomato, bell peppers, onions, and mozzarella.

brenty

arancini

bates & schmitt organic apple juice

salsiccia pizza

Pardon my brief comments during this post, my brain is a little dead after my exam on Friday and I'm still recovering this weekend. I also just found out that I'm getting a Nikon D60, huzzah!
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Lend a Second Hand

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Top: Vintage, Shorts: Lux, Belt: Gap, Boots: Cole Haan, Bracelets/Rings: Vintage and Random

This is my most recent vintage/second hand find, a lovely light weight top. I've been finding a lot of "ethnic" vintage pieces like this recently that I cannot wait to wear. I was trying to find something to wear with these high waisted shorts, and this top went perfectly. I added on my GAP belt I bought when I was like 10 years old or something, when I was in my tomboy stage. It used to go around my hips back then, now I wear it on my waist haha! I liked leather and studs back then too ya know?! hahaha

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

xoxo, Natalie
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Freewheelin'

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Shirt: Vintage, Jacket: Forever 21, Jeans: Mar & Cooperative, Hat: H&M, Belt: Vintage, Booties: Stefane Kelian

I just recently bought this awesome motorcycle styled jacket from Forever 21. I try not to shop there too much, but ever since I found those awesome jeans, I was sure they did have some cool stuff on the cheap, so I went back, and sure enough, found this! It's just one of those things that make you feel really cool... and bad. haha.

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Ever since I have discovered how easy it was to make collages on my laptop, I couldn't stop. Here are some editorial pics, street style, ad campaigns, and red carpet looks. Soak it all in baby!

And thanks for those who have featured me on their sites, including the sweet fashionofteens.blogspot.com, as well as others! I love how people really do enjoy visiting my blog :)

xoxo, Natalie
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autumn? what autumn?

10-22-0910-22-09
vintage skirt worn as dress, thrifted loafers, bdg cardigan

Holy crap, I just put myself on the degree list for graduation in Spring 2010. It felt a little surreal to enter my home address as the destination to which my diploma will be mailed but hey, I made it. Consequently, I also came to the conclusion that four years was not enough to get used to this unpredictable Bay Area weather. I mean, really, what kind of place has a huge storm on one day and is cloudless and sunny the next? In the middle of October?! Are you serious?!

I found these unworn loafers in my closet post cleaning spree a couple weeks and have been wearing them consistently on weekdays since. I swear they weren't this loose on my feet when I first started wearing them, I guess I just overdid it and stretched them out. I must have a weird walk or something because most of my shoes are "loved" to the point where they're beyond any sort of repair and should go straight to the trash bin. Remember my lace-up cutout oxfords? Yeah, I shouldn't be wearing them anymore (but I still do anyway...)

PS: Did anyone notice that I moved my belt in the first picture? I had originally cinched it at my hips which gave it a bubble-like effect but it was too short to be decent so I moved it back to the waist. I love the floral print and wish I had found it a couple months ago for spring/summer but this weather is crazy enough to allow a chance to wear it.

details
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this is our town

dodger stadium

dodgers

To be completely honest, I never took the LA Dodgers seriously until after I moved six hours away from the area and craved a connection to my hometown of seventeen years. Growing up, Dodger games were family affairs and I played the typical role of disaffected child among fanatical adults. I was never into sports (both watching and playing) and chose to work on developing other interests that required less effort. By the time I reached my teens, Dodger games were a complete bore to me and I'd swiftly refuse any offer to go upon being asked since I felt I had better things to do. It just wasn't my thing, you know? I was into music and fashion and felt I had no time or desire to get into sports, much less baseball.

I can't deny that I felt somewhat homesick when I left Southern California. I mean, I can't imagine moving back down there since I love the Bay Area so much, but there's just something that I can't help but miss about being an Angeleno, including the inevitable attachment and pride you feel when you collectively root for your home team. At some point I actually started looking for Dodger games to watch, but without Southern Californian TV programming the only games I could watch were against the Oakland A's or SF Giants. At first I only watched casually; losses were no big deal and I was too busy with other things to keep up with the season. I was slowly warming up to the idea, though, when I realized that, hey, baseball is actually really entertaining. When you truly get into it, you're sucked in: nothing else but the game matters during those nine innings.

So I became a Dodger fan for real this time, sans family and regional pressure. I watched as many games as I could on TV and reviewed the highlights online whenever I couldn't. I put my faith in the team I was raised to love and learned how to truly care for them on my own without any outside pressure. I began to understand the fanaticism behind baseball. It's not just a blind attachment to a sport; it's a genuine relationship with a team in whom you invest an unconditional love and feeling of trust that's second to none.

Why am I blogging about this right now? I never actually realized any of the above until this week when I asked myself why I was putting myself through so much stress worrying about the Dodgers advancing to the World Series after last year's crushing defeat. Why force myself into terrible moods when things don't go the right way? Because I love having something to believe in; a team I can invest my hopes and dreams into and wish for the best. When times are tough, trust me, they're tough. I'm seriously crying right now after this loss because there were so many mistakes that could have easily been avoided, like Game 4's Dodger lead turned walk off hit for the Phillies.

Likewise, the highs are amazing to experience, i.e. Game 2 of the NLDS when the Dodgers won in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and I found myself jumping around like an idiot screaming in delight. I just can't explain this sense of euphoria in words... but it's so extraordinary that I just keep coming back. The lows are nothing compared to this: if we have to wait another year for a World Series, well then bring it on. Loney, Kemp, and Ethier: this team is YOURS now. Your timelines with the Dodgers have paralleled my own: you debuted and blossomed when I started to learn what it meant to rally behind a team. I am proud to call myself a Dodger fan despite the wins and losses and will always be supporting you through thick and thin, so let's start looking at next year, yeah? These past two years have taught us so much and even though we still have some growing up to do, we'll do it together. I'll never stop believin'! Love, Annabel.

Sorry, comments disabled for this one, since this is mainly for me.
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Let's Go Surfin Now, Everbody's Learnin How


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Here are a few pics of me in the Re COLLECTION catalog. We shot it in Malibu. Photos in front of the ocean are my absolute favorite. The Spring collection is very bohemian and beachy and of course inspired by vintage. Their pieces are wearable and unique and i can go on and on. Basically, i want it all. There are a lot more awesome looks that I'll post when they are online.

And what I wore today:

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Jacket: Vintage, Tee: Alchemic, Jeans: Forever 21, Booties: Aldo

These are my new favorite jeans, studded boyfriends from Forever 21. Found them in clearance for 10 bucks so I just had to buy them. And I fell in love with this faux leopard fur jacket when I bought it last year. A vintage favorite in my wardrobe that I'll probably keep wearing for the rest of my life hehe :)

Btw: Having Curry tonight!! Fact: I loovvee Indian Food

Have a great week everybody! Thanks for the nice comments and for following! :)

xoxo, Natalie
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how to use a point-and-shoot camera

jasmine tea leaves

Latin dictionary

I'm getting more and more frustrated with the condition of my point-and-shoot camera every day. The lens only pops out correctly 30% of the time now and doesn't focus as well as it used to. I've always thought about getting a DSLR but I was so attached to and content with the little bugger that I always dismissed it. I mean, why bother when most people are surprised to find out that I don't already own a DSLR? But now... well, now that it isn't working it seems necessary. Since it's so close to my birthday (November 29th) I'm just going to ask my dad for one but I'm starting to get a little impatient and I'm tempted to ask for it a month early.

The secret behind making a point-and-shoot camera work well is simple: take advantage of every setting possible and know how to manipulate the light around you. Ideally you want to aim for taking photos in really good lighting; the more lighting you have, the less you have to adjust the shutter speed and end up with blurry pictures. Tripods are also useful since they help produce clearer photos and are more reliable than a hand attempting to be steady. The above photos were taken in a well lit place using the macro setting (usually indicated by a flower) and a tripod. The more familiar you are with your camera, the more reliable your photos will be so play around with the settings and find out what works best for you. DSLRS don't automatically produce spectacular photos and it's up to the user's ability to use it to its fullest extent and the same applies to point-and-shoot cameras.

vintage oversized mohair cardigan

SHOP BLUSHING AMBITION UPDATED

Taking these photos took two or three times longer than usual because of my broken camera but I managed to pull it off somehow. I just put up a ton of items for sale on my blog so go check them out! Somehow this batch seemed to take the most effort out of me because they're things I'd love to keep but just can't because of the space in my closet. It's already taken a lot to stop myself from taking down at least two of the posts! I listed mostly fall items which are perfect for the weather right now including a couple sweaters, jackets, and tops.
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Simple Saturday

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Blazer: Vintage, Tank: Forever 21, Jeans: Joe's Jeans, Combats: Vintage, Bag: Delvaux

Spent my afternoon at the movies. I absolutely LOVED Whip It and The Stepfather. Soo good! Definitely are must see movies out right now. I kept things super simple with this pin striped blazer and little bag by Delvaux, a German designer label. Next movie I can't wait to see: THIS IS IT! :)
You guys have requested to see some of my work, so I will be posting some pics soon. I just received the RE COLLECTION clothing catalog I am in and it is soo fantastic! It's not online yet, but maybe I can give you guys a little sneak peak soon. Very inspirational styling and incredibly cute clothes!

Have a great rest of you weekend!

xoxo, Natalie
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Rainy Day Schedule

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Shirt: GAP, Blazer: Vintage, Shorts: Earnest Sewn, Tights: DKNY, Booties: Stefane Kelian, Bag: Vintage

I have been rained in all week! But this morning, there was just a little drizzle, so I ran outside with my favorite umbrella by Lancome and snapped a few pics. The weather has been so chilly lately that I get to wear this amazing wool blazer which has been hanging in my closet all summer just waiting to complete any outfit with it's striking red color.

Thanks for all the sweet comments and for following my blog! Don't forget to follow on bloglovin too! :) Have a great week! Mine will be filled with working, sitting in traffic, and crouching underneath my umbrella trying to stay dry haha

xoxo, Natalie
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Weekend Outing

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Jacket: Crispin & Basilio, Jumper Dress: H&M, Tank: Forever 21, Cardigan: BDG, Tights: unknown, Booties: Aldo, Necklace: Forever 21 Bag: Vintage

I layered a bunch of black pieces under this jacket to keep warm. Was out and about all day so the layers helped me keep warm in the morning fog. I managed to squeeze in a few pictures outside in the restaurant's parking lot after lunch.
I've had this H&M jumper dress for so long now without wearing it so I just had to pull it out. And after a few hours out, my hair usually becomes a tangly mess like you see here! haha. I really need to start carrying a brush with me!
Anyways, I will be spending the rest of my night eating spicy Curry tofu soup and watching a bunch of rented movies curled up on the couch! Cant wait!
I also made another inspirational collage today of some of my favorite pics, ENJOY!

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I hope everyone's weekend was great and relaxing! :)

xoxo, Natalie
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Ocean Avenue

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Sweater: Ecote, Leggings: Forever 21, Hat: H&M, Boots: Cole Haan, Bag: Vintage

I just bought this huge, cuddly sweater today and decided to throw it on over my top. I was looking for one like this forever. It's perfect for a chilly night out on the town. The weather was absolutely perfect, started to get nice and overcast at night, perfect for a stroll down Ocean Avenue. Spent my afternoon shopping and grabbing a sweet treat at Diddy Reese (ice cream cookie sandwich, best thing ever!)

Oh and a friend of mine was driving down Beverly Boulevard, by the Beverly Center, and saw me on this huge Billboard for Joe's Jeans!! So I had to drive by and stop to take a quick snapshot of it. How cool is this? I absolutely love how they made it into a polaroid collage! There I am in the black floppy hat! :)

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A perfect way to end my week. Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for all the sweet comments, I do read them all and try to respond when I can! :)

xoxo, Natalie
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