Winter Wonderland @ Mammoth Lakes, CA

We took a spontaneous trip to Mammoth Lakes this past weekend and when I found out a few feet of fluffy snow was awaiting us, I knew I had to pack my Bernie winter dress. I was a little hesitant at first since I wasn’t sure if the weather would be too cold for a dress (even for a few minutes to snap some pics), but I packed it anyway knowing it may be my only chance for beautiful scenery that matched my dress. Thankfully, the weather ended up being sunny and perfect! It wasn’t cold at all, but my feet did get a little cold since I almost fell a few times trying to balance in the snow. Packing this outfit (dress, petticoat, shoes) took up almost half of my luggage space, but it was so worth it. The backdrop was just beautiful! I wore the dress with my Sammy Snow Dog Erstwilder brooch and cream heels from Modcloth.

Outfit Details:

Dress: Bernie Dexter
Brooch: Erstwilder

Cardigan: Sidecca

Petticoat: Leg Avenue
Tights: Unique Vintage
Shoes: Modcloth

I’m officially in week 5 of Semester 1 of my occupational therapy master's program. It’s going great so far; I'm enjoying all my classes. Going back to school after working for 3 years has definitely been a huge adjustment, but I’m happy to be transitioning from a research-oriented job to a more clinical one. The program is about 2.5 years and, God willing, I'll be graduating in May 2018. I’m excited to see what God has in store for me as I start this new chapter :).

Valentine's Day is coming up! Does anyone have plans? My boyfriend and I just celebrated our 6 year dating anniversary and because it always falls so close to V-day, we don’t usually do anything big. But it’s a great excuse to dress up of course! I'm not sure what I'll be wearing yet, but I'm certain there will be lots of red and hearts involved :).

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

Cherry Sundae

I'm just realizing how quickly this year went by. It's hard to believe Christmas is only a month away! The warm weather makes it feel like it's still summer. We had 90 degree days here well into October, but it's cooled down these past few weeks. The drop in temperatures can only mean one thing... the coats, boots and colorful tights can finally come out! In the meantime, I'm still enjoying the last bits of the warm weather with this beautiful sundae print Bernie Dexter dress :). I thought my cherries necklace and strawberry red heels were the perfect additions! Pictures below...

Outfit Details:

Dress: Bernie Dexter

Shoes: Ruby Shoo

Petticoat: Leg Avenue

Necklace: Modcloth

Hair Flowers: Sidecca

Close up of the cherries and sundae print!

I'm so excited for the holiday season and transitioning into fall/winter outfits! I'm planning on being a little creative and mixing/matching pieces from last winter to make new outfits. Is anyone doing anything special for the holidays?

Dog Days of Summer

As a dog lover, this Bernie Dexter Dog Print dress had long been on my wish-list. I was super lucky to finally get my hands on it a few weeks ago. I pulled it out yesterday and wore it with my black cropped cardi and patent black Mary-Jane heels. My Henry's Delightful Duo brooch from Erstwilder was the most perfect finishing touch. I can't imagine wearing a more appropriate brooch with this dress!

Outfit Details:

Dress: Bernie Dexter Dog Print dress

Cardigan: Sidecca

Brooch: Erstwilder

Headscarf: Vintage

Petticoat: Leg Avenue

Heels: Chinese Laundry

I love all the different dog breeds included in this print!

I've had my hands full with a million different things lately; standardized tests, pre-req classes, volunteering, grad school applications, and working part-time. That's no excuse for my lack of blog posts, I'll admit I do get lazy when it comes to taking pictures of my weekend outfits. This 100 degrees SoCal weather has not been helping my motivation either!

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

An Apple A Day...

It's good to be back! After my last post, I went on an un-announced haitus from posting on here (I HAVE been posting somewhat regularly on my Instagram and Style Gallery accounts, though!). So, what have I been up to these past few months? Well, in a nutshell, work and classes. We've had some major holidays like Valentine's Day and Easter in the past few months so there's been family gatherings, church events, and friends/boyfriend outings mixed in there. For the most part I've been balancing two classes, two part-time jobs, and volunteering once a week. It's been pretty manageable actually; I think what drains me the most is the commute! I live about 20 miles from West Los Angeles, where I work. It not so bad distance-wise, it's the frequent stop-and-go traffic that makes it a little daunting sometimes. So a lot of my day is spent driving. Thankfully my playlist of Christian music makes the drive more enjoyable :).

I have a back-log of photos that I'll be sharing over the next few weeks! I want to start with an outfit I wore back in February for Valentine's Day and also a few days ago on Monday. I didn't have my usual Monday class since it was spring break this week (and Edwin took the day off from work) so we spent it together with lunch and a relaxing visit to a local park. It was a much needed break! 

Below is the outfit from Valentine's Day:

This dress was my third Bernie Dexter purchase in the Veronique cut. I've mentioned before how much I love this cut, and the print on this one was way too lovely to pass up (which BD print isn't lovely?!). It features a valley/forest scene with a running stream and cute details like a boat, bridge, and even a tiny squirrel! And, how cute is this apple bag by Nila Anthony? I'd been looking for a new red purse for a while now, and when I came across this one I knew I had to have it. It's red, so it goes with so many outfits! And I always get compliments on it :).

These last two pictures were taken this past Monday. My outfit is generally the same as above, except I wore a woven sunhat and my blue BAIT Ida heels instead of hair flowers and red pumps.

 Outfit Details:

Dress: Bernie Dexter (different cut)

Cardigan: ModCloth

Purse: Nila Anthony via Unique Vintage (on sale!)

Red pumps: Aldo // Blue Spectators: BAIT Footwear (similar)

Hair flowers: Hand-made // Sunhat: ModCloth

I hope everyone has been doing well! I can't wait to catch up on my reading list this weekend and see what you've been up to :).

Winter Wonderland

It's been a crazy two weeks! Edwin came back from San Diego for holiday vacation about two weeks ago and we've been trying to take advantage of every day together planning activities and outings with friends. I've also taken a few days off from work for the holidays. I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family and New Year's with Edwin and a few friends. It all passed so fast! We have one more event coming up before the holidays are officially over: "Armenian Christmas" on January 6th. On the evening of January 5th, we will be going to a family friend's home for Christmas Eve dinner. There is historical background as to why Christmas Day is celebrated on January 6th in Armenia (though in America, Armenian-Americans get together for Christmas Eve dinner on both December 24th and January 5th). If you're interested, you can read more about its history and the types of dishes prepared for dinner here and here.

As mentioned in my last post, Edwin got me this b-e-a-utiful Bernie Dexter dress in the Winter Wonderland print as my Christmas gift this year. I wore it both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I love it so much and because it's a seasonal dress, I am trying to wear it on as many occasions as possible while I can :). I'm sharing a few photos of my outfit from Christmas Day. I switched out the white belt the dress came with for a gold bow-belt to match my gold headband and shoes.

Outfit Details:

Dress: Bernie Dexter

Petticoat: Leg Avenue

Belt: Sidecca

Shoes: Qupid

Necklace: Forever 21

Cardigan (shown in some photos): Unique Vintage

It doesn't look like it, but it was SO cold the day we were taking these pictures that we would run back to the car every few minutes to warm up and come back out to take more pictures! For us Southern Californians, 35 degrees Fahrenheit is freezing... 

What did you wear on Christmas this year? I'd love to know! I hope everyone has a blessed Sunday :).

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means "God with us"). 

Matthew 1:23

Poppies at the Getty

It's been a while since I last posted; things have been so crazy lately with school, work, and errands that never seem to end! This past weekend however was really nice because I got to spend some time with my boyfriend, Edwin. He lives and works in San Diego so I don't see him during the week, but he usually drives up to Los Angeles every other weekend (or he tries to) and those are always my favorite weekends. Sometimes I'll drive down there myself for the weekend. And so with all these backs and forths in the past year, we have managed to avoid missing each other too terribly :).

On Saturday we visited the Getty Center which is a museum in west LA that showcases art, architecture, and a beautiful outdoors area/garden. And the best part is that it's free (with the exception of parking). We spent most of our time outdoors relaxing in the grass with some snacks and champagne. It was perfect weather and we really enjoyed our time there! I wore a beautiful poppy print dress from Bernie Dexter, a dress I'd been looking ages for until I finally found one in my size from a Swap & Trade group on Pin Up Girl's website called Pin Up Girl Style. I was planning on wearing gold glitter pumps to match my gold belt but it wasn't practical since we were going to be walking around a lot. So I wore my green BAIT Ida's instead :). I hope you enjoy the photos!

Outfit Details:

Dress: Bernie Dexter (same print, different cut)

Belt & Headband: Sidecca

Petticoat: Knee Length, Leg Avenue

Shoes: BAIT Footwear (similar here)

Bernie Dexter: Cafés & Boutiques!

For the past few months I’ve had my eyes on Bernie Dexter dresses. I adore the pinup/retro look of her clothing line and find her dresses to be so fun, feminine, and flattering at the same time. I’d seen other girls styling her dresses, and having heard amazing things about the quality and fit, I felt like I was long overdue for owning a Bernie myself.

With the price tag being on the higher end of my usual limit, I was hoping for a sale opportunity to come by so I could finally make my purchase. Last week, thanks to a clothing swap group that I’m a part of on Facebook, I was finally able to score the lovely dress I’m featuring today (thanks Katie!). I never felt more excited waiting for a dress to come in the mail than I did for this one! It fits me like an absolute dream. The cut of the dress is super flattering, and I love the shoulders and the neckline. The details of the print are simply to die for. A child can probably play “house” on the fabric of this dress for hours. There is a boutique, a florist, a chocolate shop, a bakery, and a café. It makes me wish I was in Paris!

I had the perfect occasion to wear it this past weekend too. On Sunday, my boyfriend’s family had me over for BBQ at their house, and knowing their backyard is a perfect place for pictures, I was super excited to put an outfit together. Taking pictures there only meant one thing for my boyfriend, that he would have the pleasure of being the photographer! He doesn’t necessarily mind, and he’s been so supportive of my evolving style and my utter need to have pictures taken of every outfit. He and my sister are usually the ones subjected to taking pictures, and even though they're good sports about it, I should really look into investing in a tripod and a wireless remote!

I decided to style my Veronique Dress in High Street Print with coral accessories. I wore a handmade orange flower in my hair and my coral BAITs (same style in red here). I added my own black belt from Sidecca and decided on my new favorite Sourpuss Floozy purse in black and white. I'm also wearing a black knee-length petticoat from Leg Avenue under my dress for fullness. I hope you enjoy the pictures! :)

P.S. This definitely isn't my last Bernie purchase!