Gamble House Picnic

Pictures from a picnic I hosted with my friend Leon at the Gamble House at the end of July. A farewell party of sorts to the house since he's moving out this month. We always talked about doing this since the moment the weather turned warm, so before I packed up and went to Hong Kong, I sent out invitations, scrambled to cobble together some supplies, and we had our picnic! We spread out in the dappled shade of the backyard and it was perfect: not too hot or chilly, with plenty of nature and lots of good company. 

A few days ago I came back from Hong Kong where I stayed for a week and a half. Going to get photos developed from the trip soon! Of course I barely slept that night and the next night was 2true so I didn't get much sleep then either. Jet lag hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday afternoon even after drowning myself in cup after cup of green tea at work. Finally I gave up and just walked down the block for a large iced coffee. It was nice to spend a quiet evening relaxing with Max and working on a puzzle with Ken. I get so focused and obsessed with puzzles when I really get into them. Yikes, one day I'm totally going to be an old lady who spends all day bent over puzzles with her bosom buddies and forming puzzling teams to compete at regional senior matches!

albuquerque, nm

Summer is slowing down and I finally had some time to upload these pictures. Seems hard to believe that the trip was a month ago. I woke up every morning to the sound of wind ruffling through the trees and voices echoing through the house. I helped irrigate the tomatoes in the morning and relaxed until noon on the porch with the dogs and cats. There was so much to enjoy just by sitting back. Afternoons were spent exploring Albuquerque but my favorite place remained Moraga Farm, a little slice of paradise run by a sweet and affectionate shelter kitten named Twinkie.

Til next time!

heellooo

So it's obvious I haven't updated this lately... I've mostly been working a lot, had my parents visit, and went to New Mexico for a few days for my boyfriend's dad's birthday. Albuquerque was a dream and driving there and back wasn't half bad if you accepted it was going to be a 13 hour drive and just enjoyed it. I have a lot of pictures from the trip that I'll upload soon!

I've been cleaning out the sim card in my camera and dug up some pics from SF with my friend Ali pre-haircut. I kinda miss the no-bangs thing! Hmm! Not bored of my bangs yet though. But jeez my hair was long.

This is weird, but lately I've been missing Shanghai and the Expo. I have no idea why I would miss a city with terrible humidity, heat, and sudden illness packed with the nouveau riche, snobbery, and rampant rudeness, with an insulated expat crowd and suspicious food, but I just do. I miss the fried goat cheese at Southern Barbarian and sweating out the nights with a beer in that slightly creepy ghost complex called Expo Village.  Not to mention the diversity and meeting people. But LA's still the best!

Snapped this at my friend Carly's in SF. I wore this a lot when spring was still cold in LA: Rachel Comey pants, Carolina Glaser sweater from Japan, shoes from Toga XTC in Harajuku.

leather tote bag by SYC

from ikoikospace

Pretty excited about this: IKO IKO, one of my favorite stores in LA, just received my bags in store! I took the above image from Kristin's blog. The bag is my design and produced with my dad's amazing help. I called the label SYC... mine and my sister's initials... I wanted something vague but "me" at the same time. 

For anyone who also follows my twin online, she's been developing her own bag line too! It's way more fleshed out, super fun, creative, and with more details. I'm really excited for her to get a website up (and get me a backpack? hah!). She debuted some pieces in Paris recently and I think she'll go far with it... My IKO IKO stint came about more as a well-timed coincidence and an accident but I'm pretty happy that a store I respect so much likes my bag enough to buy some! I think the leather is beautiful and it feels soooo good to touch. If you're in LA drop by the store in Angelino Heights! It's at the edge of Echo Park and Chinatown!

hello haircut

Hiiiiii. I totally forgot to update about my haircut. Last week I chopped off a few inches and got bangs. Had been thinking about it for a while but when I finally went in to get it done I just dropped in spontaneously and surprised my boyfriend that evening. Sarah (my twin) sniffled when she saw it and said something like, "We're not twins anymore..." LOL. I think we still look alike. My mom told me I look more Japanese now and she doesn't recognize me.

Anyway, here I am dog-sitting for a friend who's out of town for the next two days. He's an artist and he and his girlfriend have the most awesome home ever! Beautiful furniture, two separate workspaces in the backyard, great windows and lighting, and a cute kitchen. The dogs are wonderful but one of them got too excited when I came in and tried to hug me but clawed me instead. Ow. I thought I was genius to come bare-legged (no dog fur on my clothes!) but maybe it wasn't a great idea after all.

These last two are for Carly!!

HAHA. Ok. Last thing--I'm wearing a Rowena Sartin top from IKO IKO that I highly recommend for anyone else who deals with super hot summers... each Rowena Sartin piece is hand-made by the designer herself and this material is a beautiful Belgian linen (in a very subtle pink/creme hue) with just the right amount of structure and drape. I love it; super easy and comfortable.

P.S. After 3 years of being on Tumblr I finally got obsessed with it so if you wanna take a peek!