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!

There’s something really special about post 1950 colour photographs. I always imagine the 30s and 40s in black and white because the majority of photographs and images of that time aren’t in colour.

These images, by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, are some of the only color photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations. The photographs are the property of the Library of Congress and were included in a 2006 exhibit Bound for Glory: America in Color.

Man, I could have reblogged all 70 of these photographed, they’re all so great! Check them out here!

I’ve started to design my fall collection and being an internet addict i’m constantly overwhelmed by the amount of inspiring images and videos I see online everyday. I really have to police myself when viewing other label’s collections, it’s a fine line between being inspired be something and copying it. That’s what I like so much about Canadian label, Dace‘s video for their fall 2010 collection, the clothes are amazing but it’s the mood of the video that I find so inspiring. I’d really like to be able to catch this wistful, melancholy feeling in my new collection as well.

DACE Fall 2010 from Dace on Vimeo.

found via miss moss

I think I’m addicted to shoe shopping on etsy. I have bought nine pairs on shoes on etsy in the last year. Plus the several pairs I’ve thrifted, oh and my Top Shop clogs. Help. I have shoes coming out of my ears!

…but they’re all so pretty…