I’m a sucker for fun fairs so I was excited when we arrived at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz and discovered the whole thing was covered in thrill rides, side-stall games and food booths offering the usual hots dogs and cotton candy, and the unusual (at least for me) deep fried twinkies and funnel cake. I was particularly excited because we went to Coney Island while in I was in New York but my NY film came out blank, so it was another opportunity to shoot carnival photos.

That night we stayed at the Point Montara light house hostel, which is about 30 minutes south of San Francisco. We got there early so we’d have enough time to check in, head to San Fran for dinner and be back in time for the 10pm curfew, but we got so distracted taking photos of the incredible setting and buildings that we ended up eating at a local dinner instead.

Did I mention the hostel had a private beach where we watched the most beautiful sun set?

I’ve been back for over a week and my last three rolls of film haven’t been developed yet. I drop them off at the developers on tuesday, he told me it would be ready thursday, I went to collect it but it wasn’t ready. “Tomorrow”, he said. I went back and it still wasn’t ready. “I’m sick, it should be ready on monday”. But of course it’s a holiday today, so hopefully tomorrow I’ll get my San Francisco and Red Wood photos. But, until then i’ll leave you with the only photo that turned out from my Golden Gate Bridge photos.

That’s right, I now have mens wear available in my vintage shop! I’ve always enjoyed dressing men and I’m very excited that in the last few years men have been putting more thought and effort into the way they present themselves. I’m starting off with some casual fall pieces but, if sales go well, I hope to add some sharp suits and coats.

I was lucky enough to get Alex to model for me, he can make an 88 cent t-shirt look like a million bucks. Check out his incredible music on myspace.

The second part of the trip was probably my favourite; Big Sur. We drove along the 1, hugging the cliff side roads. It was pretty spectacular. The views were incredible.

Luckily, Jasmine’s friend had told her about Pfeiffer Beach, a remote beach 3 miles down a dirt road, through a forest. There’s no way we would have found it by ourselves, even though we knew where it was, we drove by the discrete turn off twice. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever been to and we only shared it with about 8 other people. Check out Jasmine’sFlickr for a beautiful photo of the forest surrounding the beach.

Tomorrow: Part III: Santa Cruz, Light House Hostel and San Francisco!

As you may know, I just got back from a whirl wind road trip up the coast of California. We crammed so much into 10 days, I don’t even know where to start! I guess it makes the most sense to start at the beginning! After spending a lovely weekend in New York with my friends Sarah and Tessa I flew to San Diego, where my dear friend Jasmine and her new hubby Scott now live.

Jasmine and Scott outside their adorable bungalow in the Normal Heights neighbourhood of San Diego

Jasmine was my first ever room mate and although we haven’t lived in the same city for five years now, it felt like no time had passed and we were still 19 and living in our very colourful apartment together again.
Our birthdays are 2 days apart, August 19th and 21st, so it was lovely to be together for both our birthdays. We spent Jasmines birthday at La Jolla beach watching seals and wading in the Ocean. In the evening we went to The Pearl retro hotel and restaurant for dinner, drinks and board games! I was a super fun night, I met Jasmine’s San Diego friends and we all got totally sloshed! Jasmine posted a wonderful triptych of the night on her flickr.
We set off on our road trip on my birthday. We stopped in Orange, which has a wonderful square in it’s old town with tons of thrift shops, antique malls and cute cafes. And in the evening we drove up to L.A. for dinner and cake!

I’m realizing this post is going to be crazy long if I try to summarize my whole trip, so this post will cover only the Southern California portion which was spent mostly beach hopping. After LA, we drove up to Ventura, Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo. Here are all the Beach Bum photos of us in So Cal!

Holy moly! I just got back from my California holiday yesterday! It was probably the most fun holiday I’ve ever been on! I took lots of photos with my new Holga and I’ll do several posts to chronicle my trip this week. I’ll also keep you posted on the vintage sale I’m doing that starts next thursday! But right now all I really want to talk about is the wonderful post Anja from Clevernettle just did on Lalouka!

This summer I decided that I needed to start advertising my shop a little to help get my name out there. I didn’t really know where to start until Anja posted on her blog that she was going to start hosting Ads. I knew right away that it would be a perfect fit, Clevernettle is one of my favourite blogs and I really admire Anja’s style and aesthetic. I sent her a couple of pieces from my summer collection to give her a taste of my line and with hopes that she might incorporate them into her wardrobe but to my extreme delight she made a whole photo shoot around them! She and Rachel look like a dream surrounded by tall grass and wild flowers and my floral print attire. Thanks for making my clothes look so good ladies!