Last Saturday morning, my man and I left our Washington State hotel and headed South on the I-5, towards the warm breezes and sunshine. I had a wonderful notion of having a picnic in some sunny, scenic spot with wine, cheeses, bread, greek salad and olives. But the scenic spot came before I had a proper chance to stock up and the wonderful aforementioned menu was replaced with: bag of Tostitos, salsa and a giant can of Bud Light from a nearby Chevron station.
Our spot however, was more scenic that I imagined. We stopped at the Mount Saint Helen's Vistor's Centre.
Mount St. Helens used to be a perfectly cone shaped volcano until May 18th, 1980 when the pretty volcano literally blew its top off, leaving a scooped-out side and blanketing the surrounding region with catastrophic ash and lava flows, wiping out areas in a 230 sq.mile radius. Ash plumes rose 16 miles above sea level for 9 hours and was found as far north as Edmonton, Alberta. Indeed my parents remember waking up to a blanket of ash in Vancouver, BC when this happened.
This was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed.
But as you can see now, Mount St. Helens has fully recovered. Yes, it has been ancy lately - as we sat by quaint a pond, the volcano watching over us, I knew that it could easily errupt again as last year steam was seen escaping from a fracture in the dome.
That threat aside, I felt perfectly at home in the wetlands and surrounding forests. I felt a bit "fairy ballerina-esque" all day. In fact, the minute I bought this dress I knew I had to wear it with ballet shoes. And, voila!
Dress: Chili Pepper; Jean Jacket: Express; Shoes: ASOS; Bag: Mango; Peacock earrings: ASOS
Before I forget, I want to thank MizzJ for this awesomely thoughtful award :) 
AND give you guys a heads up to a most awesome giveaway going on at Style Symmetry's blog - three chances to win some great swag!! To enter, please visit her blog here. Both Style Symmetry (Eyeliah) and MizzJ are the coolest - helps that they both live in Vancouver like I do. Go local fashionistas!
What can I say about The Beach Boys that hasn't been said before? This dynamic American band has been around since 1961, capturing all that is California with its beachy, surfy tunes focused on cars, girls and freewheeling lifestyle. I love the BB's thanks to their wonderful harmonizing abilities - aside from The Beatles, this type of group harmonizing and the sharing of singing roles is hard to come by. Of course, I also love The Beach Boys because they epitomize summer fun fun fun to me and who doesn't love that?
That's not to say The Beach Boys was all lighthearted fluff - Brian Wilson, who formed the band along with his brothers and his cousin, battled with drugs and mental illness on a daily basis. In fact, if you've seen Walk Hard, you'll recognize that Brian Wilson is parodied a lot in that move, most notably in the scenes where Dewey Cox went batshit crazy and wanting more and more sounds in his recordings (like a dijirido). Wilson went through a similar phase, branching out and becoming very expiremental...and just plain mental. It's actually very interesting, so I recommend you learn more about the story of The Beach Boys if you want to find more about their turbulent journey.
That aside, whenever you listen to The Beach Boys you can't help but pretend youre soaking up the sun, sea salt and waves on an endless vacation.
Wouldn't it be nice....
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Dress: Rachel Pally; Bangles and earrings: Forever 21; Agate necklace: Cupcakes and Cashmere (via Etsy); Sandals: Chinese Laundry
This is a pre-scheduled post because as of right now, I am cruising down the I-5, probably just pulling into Portland, Oregon (or cruising past that and straight to the mall to raid Sephora and Twelve by Twelve...no sales tax, baby).
Last weekened was our annual sailpast. It's a longstanding tradition at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club where we take our boats out and one by one sail (or motor, for you non-purists) past the commodore where he salutes us. You can't salute him though, for some reason. I learned that the hard way, but when you are all standing in a line like that - you have to line up tallest man to shortest woman alongside your boat - it's really hard not to!
Anyway, as per usual I got stinking drunk, spilled a whole whack of red wine down my Suzy Shier sailor pants and had to change into my Forever 21 dress. Woot for blue!
Good timez all around.
Run! We are late!!
You can see my apartment...try and guess which one?
My father, Captain Sven and Lt. Nerd Face
A great excuse to buy ASOS deck shoes
A wonder that no boats ever collide
Once a year, we are the preppy couple
An ad for beer or for Tommy Hilfiger?
Totally thought this was a great idea at the time
Hmmm don't really remember this part but I know that's tequila!
Somehow can take good photos when wasted...must be the camera!
Anyhoo, thought I would leave you all with some food for thought - it's question time!
Question A) What designer do you find overrated? Please feel free to express yourself and don't worry what people think. I for one just don't "get" Alexander Wang. Like, I don't really feel for his stuff and why so pricey, yo?
I also don't get why Marc Jacobs (I do love MJ though) can sell this dress for $1,500:
It's hideous!!!
Question B) which "fashionista" do you think is the most overrated? You know, say people are always praising Peaches Geldof's style and you have no idea why...
Happy Weekend, see you all Tuesday with a Inspired By post on The Beach Boys, yay!
