Believe in Love, Asparagus and Stockton

It's official, I have a new favorite outfit. Of course I stole the idea from someone else, but I love it all the same. Comfortable, adorable, a tad whimsical and WAY out of my normal fashion zone. I'm obsessed. 

The best thing about it - besides the mushy message, of course - is that the shoes can be swapped out with virtually anything. I had booties on before the light bulb went off that these mint babies would be perfect. I also thought about bright yellow wedges, nude cage heels, cobalt flats and even my cute new gray converse that my sister made me buy. The possibilities are endless depending on the mood you're in and the look you're going for. Such a fab outfit I might even have to rock it tonight at a country bar. Why not?

Sweatshirt: Old Navy (Shop)

Jeans: BR Outlet (Similar, Cute)

Shoes: Sole Society (Similar, Similar)

Watch: MK (Shop)

Sunglasses: Ray Ban (Shop)

Bangles: Forever 21

Oh, I almost forgot. This weekend is the Stockton Asparagus Festival. For those of you not in the know, this event is Stockton's one redeeming quality. The ONE THING that makes Stockton shine a little brighter and stand a little taller, if only for a weekend. Come on out. It's going to be warm and sunny and there's a wine tent. What more could you ask for?

I'll be volunteering for the first time in my 32 years, so look for me doling out asparagus ice cream tomorrow in the glorious heat.

Have a great weekend!

Current Craves

I've been lucky lately and have been able to knock a lot of items off my "Must Have" list and onto my "Got Em!" list. However, as a girl without unlimited shopping funds, that list of elusive treasures will always be there. Like a northern star it guides me, reminding me why I work my ass off and why I love my oh-so-patient husband whose side of closet gets pathetically smaller by the day.

Here are my current favs - some which are in my very near future and some that seem as far away as that aforementioned star.

1. Silver Metallic Pumps: If you read my previous post, you'll understand why in January I scoffed at metallic heels (hello, 2002!) and why they are now #1 on my Craves list. I can't explain it; I just know I need them.

2. Studded Pumps: I've had these on my list for a while but haven't had the courage to pull the trigger. I'm getting closer though...

3. Black and White Striped Skirt: This freaking skirt is haunting me. First I see it on Pinterst months ago, then I see it styled on another blog only to find it's sold out, then my friend goes and finds it The Limited (on sale!) and now I feel like I'm SOL. It's no secret I have a stripes obsession, but I'm almost at the point of giving up on this one. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Or maybe I'll just steal my friend's when she's not looking....Shhh!

4. Mixed Metal MK Watch: Sure, I have way too many MK watches, but I don't have a silver one. Everyone needs a silver watch, right? I do have this one in gold/tortoise but gold/silver is soooo different. I swear, this will be my last watch. Ever.  This year. For a while.

5. Large, Bright-Colored Clutch: For a girl who's scared of color, I find a pop of citrus like this surprisingly adorable for summer. I've been on the prowl but haven't managed to find the perfect one.  J. Crew and Kate Spade have some good ones, but I'm betting I can find a perfectly acceptable one at Targ-ey or H&M.

6. Louis Vuitton Neverfull: I love LV and I love totes. What more is there to say? It's a given. And if you're wondering how I justify the price, here's my spiel: A Louis will never go out of style and will last forever if you take care of it. Let's be pessemistic and say it lasts 10 years. Do the math: $1000/10 years = $100/year. I know people who spend WAY more than that each year at the buying multiple crappy bags that will look like they came from Ross come next year. It's all about quality, not quantity, for me and I can rest easy at night with that magic little equation in my head.

7. Ok, One More Watch: I thought I was done until I saw this beauty. A silver AND navy MK watch?? Where do I sign up?

Well, I hope this gets everyone thinking about what YOU are craving and that it inspires you to go find them (preferably for a very reasonable price!).

Happy Shopping!



 ~ Sara

This One's for the Winos...and the Hippies

In honor of World Malbec Day (which was actually April 17th but I just I found about it today, sue me), I am inspired to share not only a great Malbec, but also a really cool wine concept that helped me find this gem of a wine.

The backstory is a little unclear (which, now that I think about it, might have something to do with the wine). All I know is that my husband came home a few months ago with vouchers to something called Naked Wines. Imagine my intrigue. Next thing I knew, a little present popped up at my door a week later filled with really neat-looking bottles of wine from names I had never heard of. A tad skeptical, I stocked the wine away into one of our wine shelves/devices/closets and didn't think much about it. 

Fast forward a few months when I discovered what this seemingly ordinary box was and what it represented. 

Naked Wines is an organization that uses capital provided by adventurous wine drinkers to fund small, independent wine makers making wines exclusively for Naked Wine members. Confused? It's actually a brilliant idea in that grassroots, hippie kind-of-way that I relate to in the tiniest iota of liberalism (cringe) I must have lurking somewhere in the depths of my soul. 

Here's how it works: You sign up as an "Angel" and Naked Wines asks for $40 per month which goes into your account - and get this - you then use to buy wine! Told you it was brilliant. 

See, this money is invested into these small label ventures mainly so that they can produce truly great wine without having to spend most of their capital on advertising, sales and overhead like the big boys. In turn, the exclusive wines are sold to Naked Wines customers for wholesale prices, which are 40-60%  less than retail prices!  

There are so many things to love about this. For anyone truly into wine, I highly suggest you check it out.

We recently used up our banked "Angel" funds and now have more wine than we can possibly fit in our house.  I dove right in the new shipment and came across this Malbec. We bought 3 bottles of it and it didn't last many more days than that.

Mauricio Lorca

Angel's Reserve

2012 Malbec

Smooth, full bodied with an inky color and jammy finish. It's more mellow than a cab or a zin, but has cocoa or smoke notes that make it very interesting to drink. Love it!

So do this: head on over the Naked Wines, check it out, and if you like what you see, throw this $9.99 bottle in your cart and let me know what you think. 

~ Sara

April Sample Society Box O' Pretty

It's that time again! Another pretty little box filled with little treasures to hopefully make me pretty. Let's get right to it, shall we?

Borghese Gel Delicato Makeup Remover

Generally I trust my face wash to do the job of a makeup remover (save for my favorite Almay eye makeup remover pads), but judging by the reviews of this product I might have to give it a real shot. Just what I need, another step in the makeup/makedown process, right? We'll see how it goes....

Caudalie Premier Cru, The Ultimate Anti-Ageing Cream

I'll be honest, fancy product names like this annoy the hell out of me. I much prefer the straighforward "Hope in a Jar" over a vaguely french moniker that sounds more like an appetizer than a face product. I'll still try it, but unless it makes me look like Halle Berry, I won't be forking over $150 for it.

CoTZ Face Natural Skin SPF 40 

Sunscreen is as essential as water, in my book, so I always get jazzed when I get a product with SPF in it. This sunscreen is tinted and has the consistency of a primer. I'm pretty in love with it already, especially with the matte finish it gives you.

Hanskin Hydro Sheet Mask

This definitely wins the award for the oddest sample I've received. It looks like a horror movie hockey mask and claims to moisturize and refresh skin like a mofo. No mention of the nightmares it's sure to inflict, however.

 

Jane Tran Hair Accessory Assortment 

I am not, nor have I ever been, a hair accessories type of gal. Call me boring, but it's just too much work. I can handle a sock bun if I'm having an especially coordinated day, but barretts and bobby pins are pain in the butt. I'm sure these are fab, but I won't be using them. Maybe this is a perfect thing to use for a giveaway!

 

Stila Cosmetics Eye Primer

I love the pot format and the texture of this eye primer but I have yet to compare it to Benefit's Stay Don't Stray as far as actual performance. That will be my homework this week.

Short and sweet today. Have a good one!

~ Sara

A Happy Bday "Third Thursday" at Thir13en

Leave it to real life to rear its ugly head and inconveniently interfere with blogging life. I'm currently running about 2 weeks behind schedule and if you know me you can only imagine the level of my blood pressure. I'm that girl that sets her watch 10 minutes ahead and actually believes it. If I'm not early, I'm late, and here I am tardy to my own blog. Although, if you've read this for any length of time you've become used to it, so let's accept it and move on. 

You might be thinking that my life has must have been SO lackluster lately that I simply had nothing to write about and have been holed up with only Gilmore Girls reruns and leftover Easter candy for company (actually, that doesn't sound like a bad time at all...). But no, sir, not me. Not this time, at least. Things have been chipote-cray lately! 

In the last month I've been to Miami, Carmel, San Francisco and will be heading off to Palm Springs this afternoon. I've dined at awesome restaurants, discovered new wines, and have worn stripes more often than not. I've been to plays and concerts, survived a mud run from hell and climbed the corporate ladder. So much to tell you about, where do I start? 

From the end, of course. 

Last night I had one of the most enjoyable dining experiences I've had in a while. An epic feast of small portions, you might say. 

Restaurant Thir13en in downtown Sacramento kicked off their "Third Thursday" dinner series with a tapas-themed spread paired with endless Spanish wines and a ton of fun.  Turns out it was my sister's bday so the timing of it was impeccable. (Happy birthday, Megan!)

Located at the Sterling Hotel, Thir13en is known for its adventurous and well-executed food (not to mention the traditional - the burger is to DIE for!) as well as the classy, laid back ambiance. Their idea of hosting a themed prix fixe dinner each month is not unique, per se, but it sure is a good one.

The very first dinner featured nine (yes, nine!) courses of traditional Spanish tapas paired with 2 different wines and their house-made Sangria. Even the menu was so traditional I literally had to plug it into the Google translator to get an idea of what we would be eating! Beyond the menu I had no idea what we were going to encounter at the dinner. I was a little apprehensive because it was, after all, their first shot at pulling this off, but I was super impressed with every aspect of the entire thing. From the details of the decor to the attentive service to the amazing food, everything was executed perfectly.

Menu Highlights:

 - House made Chorizo with manchego cheese and olives: The Italian version of this is my go-to appetizer but this version may have just converted to me to the Spanish side of things.

  - Croquettes filled with what the chef called "Spanish Nacho Cheese"

 - Empanadas: Light, flaky dough filled with a meat-and-heaven mix. 

 - Marinated Pork Skewers: Whatever that pork was marinated in, I'll take a vat of it. 

 - Strawberries Topped with Basil and Chocolate Mousse: Little shots of dark chocolate mousse topped with a spicy-cinnamon dusting. 

 - Scribner Bend Tempranillo:  Dark and smooth. Just how I like my men. :)

Other highlights: 

 - Excellent Service: Servers walked around filling wine glasses constantly and even made special trips to the bar to get beer for the non-winos.

 - Chef  Adam Pechal: The chef himself was present for the dinner and walked around greeting and talking to everyone throughout the night. He's a boisterous, friendly guy and made us all feel like we were at a dinner he was personally hosting for his close friends. He talked about each dish and encouraged us to keep eating and drinking to our hearts content. 

All in all this was a great experience and I can't wait to see what they come up with for the next Third Thursday dinner.

I hope to see some of you there!Off to Palm Springs!

Have a great weekend everybody!

  ~ Sara

Time Flies, N'est-ce Pas?

Today marks the 5th (!) anniversary of my last first date.

April 4th was the day I met Dave and the day that we started this crazy life that we find ourselves living. The first 4+ years of dating were a blast and the last almost-year of marriage has been even better. Turns out they weren't kidding when they said marriage was hard work, but at least we can say it's been interesting!

Cheers to looking back at 5 years of memories and forward to many more years of making new ones.

 Love ya, babe.

~ Sara

Deep Thoughts and J. Crew Love

Wow. The last half of March just flew by, didn't it? Here we are in April and I suddenly realized that the blog's been dark for weeks! It's a wonder the world kept turning.

I'm going to be honest, I wasn't really sure that I was going to come back and continue this little blog of mine. After countless hours of stalking better blogs and thousands of crappy photos snapped and deleted, I thought I had come to a realization: There is a reason that models are 5'8" and enviably thin. Fashion does NOT look fabulous on a 5'4" woman in desperate need of a tan and a good workout. In my head I'll  look like a million dollars, only to be contradicted by my evil mirror, mirror on the wall. Who wants to follow that blog?

I was about ready to give up and go back to strictly wine-ing and dine-ing when it hit me:  No one reading this (apart from my little sister and a few ridiculously gorgeous friends, of course) looks or dresses like a supermodel and that's exactly the point! My idea of fashion is real-life fashion, the kind that regular people who live outside of New York City and shop at outlet stores can relate to. Sure, it's easy to pick up an issue of Vogue or InStyle to get the pulse of so-called "real" fashion, but wear some of that stuff on the streets of Sacramento and people would look at you like you were from another planet. Let's face it, if you're reading this you're probably not wearing Louboutins to the office and carrying a Celine purse to the grocery store. And there's nothing wrong with that.

So what if I look like a munchkin in some of my photos? So what if I wear a bubble necklace long after the trend is dead? As long as I still feel fabulous and can show even one woman out there that style isn't scary and expensive then I figure I have a place here. And if that one woman happens to like wine and pictures of adorable dogs then who am I to deprive her of that? Top all that off with a nice note I received from a friend today telling me that she enjoys my blog and you can consider me officially inspired anew.

So onward I go.

 Speaking of outlet stores, I found my new fave. Don't get me wrong, Banana will always have a special place in my heart, but I recently discovered the preppy heaven that is the J. Crew Factory store and I'm officially smitten. While I do think that J. Crew is slightly overpriced ($300 for ballet flats?!), I have always admired their classic, fun style. Now I can shop with reckless abandon and not feel (too) guilty. The best part? It's online, too!

This past weekend the entire store was 50% off so of course we stopped off at the Gilroy outlets on the way to Carmel and had a field day. This was the highlight of my haul:

Buy Me

  Buy Me

Buy Me

I'm Not Available Online :(

But I am! :)

Thank you, you loyal and not-so-loyal readers. It means a lot.

Ciao!

~ Sara