Little rocks stumble

I realized I've been buying too many vintage dresses when, yesterday, my aunt showed me a pile of the ones she'd been altering - the pile was tall - there were actually multiple piles and I sort of didn't remember half of the stuff on there. I just can't pass up a $6 dress!!! Specially because all the tailoring is done by her, the sweetest woman on the planet, and it's free!

This dress I bought in Toronto a couple weeks ago, it had these horrid wide sleeves and it was almost floor-length, but I loved the vintage print and knew exactly what I wanted to do to it. I wore it with a bright green belt to contrast the floral design and my Marni wedges that I can't stop wearing. The light fabric worked wonders in keeping me cool at the Crafty Bastards Fair. Oh, the wedges..... they didn't work so well in the gravel... oops

pretty things

Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair

June 28th 2008 10am-5pm
8230 Georgia Ave
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Remember my jewelry obsession I told you about a few posts ago? No better place to satisfy it than a crafts fair don't you think? If you missed it, don't be upset, there will be another one in DC on September 28th. It was scorching hot, and I erroneously thought the fair was going to be inside, not on a gravel surface so I wore platform shoes!! How do I keep doing this?! Despite my wardrobe unsuitability I was able to see all the vendors, making sure I stayed in the shade as much as possible, trust me when I say it was hot, I'm South American, I don't get hot, and I was HOT. Never stopped me from shopping though :)

These were some of my favorite shops + the items I bought.

Loyalty & Blood - Jewelry and Tees from Brooklyn, NY



Their brass charm necklace assortments


My ice cream cone purchase

The Broken Plate Pendant Company

One-of-a-kind rings and pendants


My plate ring

Figs & Finger - Adorable tiny pendants and earrings from recycled silver

My little stud (I also got the version with bunnies)


Mean Cards for Many Occasions



My V-day card :)

Underneath my Tree - Drawings by Jason Sposa
My favorite shop at the fair. The sweetest, most tender moments and feelings captured in a drawing, I felt teary-eyed just reading them. They remind me of the happy moments in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I didn't actually buy any of his drawings, because I genuinely couldn't just pick one, or two or three, I wanted every single one... So I'll make up my mind on his website.

Richard Chai Target First Look

When I saw and fell in love with Richard Chai's Resort 2009 Collection, I wondered if we would get to see some of those looks for his Go International collection for Target. And after looking through Nylon Magazine's sneak peak I think I definitely see a little Resort 2009, sooo exciting, actually there is a coat that looks very reminiscent of Fall 2009- an extra treat.

Richard Chai Resort 2009


Resort-reminiscent looks - Richard Chai for Target


Two other looks I also really like


Love the cardigan sweaters and the pops of color throughout, Chai loves great fabrics, so maybe we can expect silks and soft cotton blends :)

Little birds and locks

I go through these jewelry stages every year where I obsess over certain items, last year it was bracelets, I wore dozens of then at the time, and nothing else. This year it's necklaces, hand-made quirky ones- These are some of my current favorites:




















OK, maybe this is technically not a necklace but very close. I love key necklaces and I couldn't resist these gorgeous porcelain ones, I put them on a brass chain and layered them with other keys. From the Curiosity Shoppe $40
















Yes, that's a vertebrae, it's from a tiny snake - she didn't kill it though so don't worry. From one of my favorite jewelry designers Erica Weiner, who makes pretty jewelry out of vintage finds and strange items. I have another one of her necklaces as well, that has this perfect mix of different metals and rings and keys. This one is $45


























Isn't this the cutest thing ever? a little quail egg, lined with gold leaf and coated in plastic for strength on a 14K gold chain. Pendant by Stephanie Simek $125

Walk Alive

26-year old, Argentinian born Aitor Throup creates garments that are alive - three dimensional fictional characters - sculpting them and then making a garment pattern based on the pose of the character’s form in motion, a process he calls "branding through construction." His passion for the visual and multidimensional aspects of his art have elevated a childhood love of drawing the human body in motion. His construction process consists of first designing a character in a specific pose; then, creating a miniature sculpture of it and draping it in fabric with darts and seams dictated by the pose of the structure itself. Despite having won innumerable fashion prizes, he does not consider himself a fashion designer, describing it as merely an element of his art. Nevertheless, he has been compared to Martin Margiela, Hussein Chalayan and Hedi Slimane and stood out last year as one of the most promising young menswear designers to come out of the U.K.

His childlike passion to explore his creative dreams and taking them to fruition are incredibly inspiring. And his drawings scare me. Which is a good thing, cos, like I said before, I like being scared.

From his first collection "When Football Hooligans Become Hindu Gods"




"Manchester" Drawings




From the UMBRO Fashion.kit.lifestyle Competition

Belgium Delights

Locolat

1781 Florida Ave NW Ste A
(between N 18th St & N U St)
Washington, DC 20009

(202) 518-2570

www.belgiumlocolat.com

Pastry Chef Niel Piferoen (Citronelle, Restaurant Eve) greeted me with a warm smile as I walked in the door of Locolat and patiently waited for me as I stared amorously at the rows of tiny truffles on the shelves. I was happy to be there, I knew the shop had opened a few weeks earlier and couldn't wait to try it.



He excitedly described to me all the chocolate mousse tortes available, and I tried two, dark chocolate mousse with strawberries and white chocolate mousse with raspberries. I also had a raspberry cupcake and cup of hot dark chocolate.



The hot chocolate was delicious, so rich and flavorful. Both of the tortes were also excellent, my favorite one was the dark chocolate mousse with strawberries. I love dark chocolate, specially when it's not too sweet, and this mousse was exactly what I like. I unfortunately didn't love the cupcake, the frosting was perfect, but the cake was a little dry for me, more like a biscuit than a cupcake.


Raspberry White Chocolate Mousse Torte


Dark Hot Chocolate (milk and white chocolate also available)

I went back a couple days later early in the morning (they open at 7AM) and had one of their Belgium Wafles (that's how they spell it) with strawberry compote. The batter of the waffle was so yummy, rich and flavorful on its own, not as fluffy as you might be used to, but sooo much better. And the strawberry compote tasted as if he had just made it, specially for me from fresh berries. Oh and I had a cup of tea, I am a snob when it comes to tea, and he would've won my heart over if he had loose tea served in a JENAER GLAS teapot, but he had the second best thing, Mightly Leaf Tea in my favorite flavor, Mountain Spring Jasmine, the exact thing I wanted with a wafle. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the wafle, but don't worry, I'll be back for more.

That morning I also bought a whole triple mousse torte for a friend's birthday, and it was devoured within minutes of the candle being blown out. Everyone loved the crusty hazelnuty bottom, although for a second we stared at it thinking that it might be too pretty to cut into. In this case, we were right to judge the book by the cover.

Water Birds

I came across Yellena James through one of my favorite blogs. Her gorgeous dream-like shapes remind me of a colorful version of the beautiful aquatic aliens in James Cameron's The Abyss. And don't you think they would look absolutely perfect as a the print on a floor length Summer dress?? Yeah, sorry, that's not an available item in her store, but you can buy prints of her work on Etsy

If you are lucky enough to be in the San Francisco area until July 16th you can go see her art in person at her show Periphery. These are some detail shots of the work on display she sent over to SOH.

Storms and Stripes

Unbelievable night skies last night during the storm in Washington DC. Murky cerulean blue to the east, while the setting sun illuminated the western clouds with a pink-purple dreamlike hue :) Gorgeous. I think skies like that are always born from hot sunny days like yesterday, this is what I wore for shopping and brunches and fashion events (more about that later). My mom said the pants remind her of her teenage years in the 70s, except that hers were much tighter HA!





Pants: Karen Walker (from Circle Boutique)
Top: American Apparel

All-American

Enology Wine Bar

(between N Lowell St & N Macomb St)
Washington, DC 20016

3238 Wisconsin Ave NW
(202) 362-0362

www.enologydc.com

Mon-Thu, Sun 4:00 p.m.-12:30 a.m.
Fri-Sat 4:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m



Does anyone not love wine? Quite possible, but I haven't met the person, actually I knew one girl in college who didn't like wine, but she also didn't like shopping so we won't count her as a human. It's really surprising to me that until recently DC didn't have many wine bars, so I was very excited to try the newest one. Unfortunately I was misled by the address and thought it was in Georgetown, so I was completely overdressed, like, there-were- girls- there- in-flip-flops-and-cargo-shorts-and-I'm-wearing-a-Donna-Karan-Collection-dress type of overdressed, but that's my own fault, and my dress was awesome, and so were my shoes (they have little fish on them) I DIGRESSSSSS!!!

Enology serves only domestic wines, beers and spirits, which is interesting, I won't criticize it, I might have chosen to include a couple countries who invented the main beverage I am serving, but I didn't let it bias me. Despite their continentally confined wine list the choices were extensive including a few great Reserve wines. I chose to try a couple flights of white wines, the ones which my server indicated might be closest to a Pinot Grigio. These were the wines:



"Truly Eclectic" Flight of White Wine
Arneis Seghesio Russian River Valley, California
Rkatsiteli, dr. konstantin frank, Finger Lakes, New York, 2006
Albarino Verdad, Santa Inez Valley, California

"White Bordeaux" Flight of White Wine
Sauvignon blanc, groth, Napa Valley, California, 2007
Sémillon, l’ecole no 41, Columbia Valley, Washington, 2006
St. supéry “virtú,” Napa Valley, California, 2006


I had three cheeses, my favorite was the tarentaise, and my only complaint was that the bread slices they served it with could have been fresher and crispier and I would've loved some nuts.
Cato corner “hooligan” Colchester, Connecticut
Thistle hill “tarentaise” North Pomfret, Vermont
Typress grove “purple haze” Arcata, California



I also had a flatbread, the Puget Sound: creme fraiche, oak smoked atlantic samon, sliced red onion, snipped chive. It was tasty, but I wish again that the bread had been crispier and that the red onion be a fresh slice, not sauteed, nor pickled.

The interior of Enology is better than most other DC wine bars, neutral colors throughout, dark wood accents and an under-light marble top bar, they could've done the typical DC anxious interior, with 100 different materials and colors and woods, so I it was nice to see something somewhat composed. It definitely lent a much more relaxed, cooler ambiance.

Phillip's Nautical Springs

You probably don't need to hear again how much I love Phillip Lim. This is the 3.1 Resort 2009 Collection and I want pretty much everything. Specially the green and yellow dresses. I'll let you know when they arrive at Muleh so you can see them in person.

Technicolor

I was driving back from the gym yesterday, after my trainer kicked the sh*t out of me, in the rain on S St, I haggardly look up and see the most unbelievable rainbow, and I honestly had not a milliliter of energy left in me to do anything, but I was so excited to photograph it, so I pulled over, jumped out of my car, opened the trunk to grab my camera and took pictures of it.... in the rain.... there actually were two rainbows, one on top of the other, but you can only see one in my pictures.

The bottom rainbow was so bright, almost neon colors, reminded me of two things:
-Karl Lagerfeld Spring 2008 rainbow runway
-Brandistrickland's delicate pencil drawing (available on Etsy)

Karl Lagerlfeld Spring 2008


Brandistrickland's Drawing - I love the fluidity she imparts with all the colors and lines

Salads and Smiles

Chop't Creative Salad

Washington, DC 20050

730 Seventh St NW

choptsalad.com

I thought it was time for me to review a salad - Chop't Creative Salad Company to be exact. A few things should bring your attention to this place:

1. 6'5" muscular guys at my gym who do crazy work-outs which involve climbing ropes and balancing on gymnastics rings eat there.
2. A very picky eater whom I have never seen eat a salad for a meal eats there.
3. There is a line out the door, down the block at 3 PM, of people waiting to eat there.















Just the third point itself should stir a desire inside you to belong to a popular community of eaters and propel you to go. Oh, sorry, that's what propelled ME to go. That and the fact that you can add fried chicken as a topping!!!! I was sold... ok, maybe fried chicken is not as healthy an alternative, but my trainer told me to eat more calories so I don't care.

This was my choice for $7.79
Chop't Po'boy - Romaine lettuce, home fried chicken,tomato,red onions and white cheddar with tex-mex dressing and pita bread.

The salad was HUGE for me, I could only eat half, and all the ingredients worked extremely well together, I was full and satisfied and for $7.79 (which could potentially feed you twice) I don't think you can beat it.














(Salad in the picture is the Palm Beach Shrimp••• Romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, avocado, hearts of palm and grilled shrimp)

You can also create your own salad for $5.99 or salad sandwich for $5.79 with lettuce, 4 ingredients and dressing. Some of the ingredients and all the meats cost extra, but I think if you chose wisely you can still end up with a great salad for what I think is (in DC) a great price.

And with stimulating ingredients to choose from like grapes, grilled portabello and edamame plus exotic dressings like general tso’s chipotle dressing, spanish cucumber vinaigrette and rocket fuel dressing :) [it's fat free], you can always try making your salads exciting.


















A couple tips:
-If you don't want them to chop your salad too much, just... yeah, exactly, tell them to stop.
-If you don't want too much dressing, just.... yup, you guessed again, tell them you don't want too much.
-Try the iced tea or lemonade, they're delicious

And don't complain about the price... please.... we live in Washington DC, you can't get a salad for $4.

Combat Boots and Cotton

I am really loving this spread on Jalouse Magazine from last month - The styling really captures the G.I. Jane essence and I love all the heavenly jersey cotton fabrics from American Vintage and Isabel Marant paired with those "rangers" and other cool military accessories (from Surplus Doursoux) - makes for a real badass.















Images scanned from Jalouse Magazine

Iconic Design

Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future

at the National Building Museum

May 3, 2008 - August 23, 2008

Last time I drove into Dulles airport I moved extra extra slow, I wanted to make sure I looked at it for as long as I could. It was really early in the morning, the skies were coquettishly grey, the sun behind them almost rising, and then it appeared on the hill, alone, in the vastness of the airfield - Saarinen's terminal - in its sensational white glow - immortally progressive and modern.

Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future is the first full retrospective of Saarinen's career. The exhibition showcases never-before-seen drawings and documents, large-scale models, photographs, a full-scale façade mock-up, original furniture samples, and a short film featuring interviews with some of Saarinen's prominent colleagues and collaborators.

National Building Museum
401 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
202.272.2448

More Back

90 degree temperatures, sun, beautiful skies, big city life = Backless wardrobes.

For me at least



Images:
Diario de Fiestas
Cecilia de Bucourt
Instyle

Graffiti

Banksy is Britain's most wanted and well known pseudo-anonymous artist -- his art has sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he continues to use public spaces as his main canvas.

Despite the huge popularity and exposure of his work, Banksy's identity remains a mystery. What is known about him: he's originally from Bristol, he's around 30 years old and is called Robert or Robin Banks.

Here are some of my favorite images of his work:

Indelicacies

Voyeurism is inspiring

But the following post may or may not be NSFW

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Image credits clockwise:
MJC
Your Eyes Lie
Diario de Fiestas
Ricardo Cerqueda
ILMGILV
Eugenio Recuenco
Eugenio Recuenco
MJC
BellesLettres
L'Officiel Mag

Relish and gasp

Komi

1509 17th Street NW

Washington, DC 20050

(202) 332-9200

www.komirestaurant.com

I have finally put together the pictures I took at Komi a couple weeks ago. This is a condensed recapitulation of the dishes. Their menu consists of two choices, for the first dinner you decide on your pasta and main dish and the chef picks your starters (Mezzethakia) or you can chose the Degustazione where the chef selects everything for you. We chose the latter with wine pairings and the meal was unbelievable, we had at least 15 different items. The young chef behind these delicate compositions, Johnny Monis, managed to surprise me throughout the entire meal, and his impeccable seasoning of the dishes (always the most perfect amount of sea-salt) won my heart over for good.

The ones below were my favorite:

Flute fish and amberjack sashimi with sea salt and chives in olive oil.

Chopped Maine diver scallop with heart of palm and horseradish.

My favorite mezze - Egg yolk with creme fraiche (and maybe honey and something else I couldn't identify) topped with lobster and caviar.

Foie gras puffs with shallot confit, red pepper pate de fruits, and goat cheese "smores"


Handmade spaghetti with sea urchin, crab and habanero cream sauce


Passion fruit drink with creme fraiche and cayenne pepper


Pit-roasted baby goat shoulder with pita bread plus condiments

Greek doughnuts with chocolate and mascarpone cannoli

Pistachio and chocolate dessert with saffron yogurt
(the saffron in this dessert was genius, and absolutely elevated the flavor profile)

Blue Bird

All my life I thought I hated cats, and then a couple years ago my little brother found this little kitty, brought it to my mom's house and I have been completely in love with him ever since. His name is Blue, he's everything you ever wanted in a pet- smart, gorgeous, mischievous, sweet, adorable and every other positive adjective you can think of. Along with hating cats, I also used to make fun of people who had pictures of their cats printed on household items.... well..... I've turned into one of them ... I haven't actually done it yet, but I have a very concrete plan to do so.

Here is the inspiration

From Styleclicker and Diario de Fiestas










































As you can imagine, like a true cat lover I have dozens of pictures of Blue. I think I'm going to use this one, and print it on an XL deep V-neck tshirt in black&white but keep his eyes blue :) I'm so excited





















Blue

The Eye of Frosker

One of my favorite inspiration blogs Brocade Design helped me discover one of my new favorite photographers, Eugenio Recuento. His images provide logs and logs of fire to my dark side - they have this incredibly haunting Neo-Noir visuality that invokes all these strange feelings in me - like fear - but we like to be scared, yes? That must be why I can't stop staring at them.

One of my favorite sets is this one of Fairy Tales, portrayed, of course, with a very dark presence.

If you'd like to see more of his work and also the following images full-size go here

Can you tell which Fairy Tales he's portraying?

Komen Foundation

Susan G. Komen National Race for the Cure
Newseum
Friday June 6th, 2008


Newseum in Pink

One of my good friends and lab-mates was invited to the Susan G. Komen National Race for the Cure Eve of Race Event which took place last evening, and he brought me as his guest. Last year the foundation invested $3.3 million into breast cancer and health programs in the D.C. area and since our lab's primary search focus is breast cancer we were very delighted to be a part of this great and very energizing event.


The pink carpet

The event took place at the Newseum, my favorite museum in the city (more about it on a separate post). Among the breast cancer advocates/celebrities present were "Sex and the City"'s Cynthia Nixon (who is gorgeous and very slim in person), "Desperate Housewives"' Ricardo Chavira (I very shyly took a picture with him) and movie star Gabrielle Union (my friend not shyly at all took a picture with her).


Ricardo Chavira, Nancy G. Brinker, Cynthia Nixon


Food and Flowers

The Newseum was “passionately pink” for the evening - pink cocktails, pink tables, pink desserts, pink carpets - and the party was catered by Wolfgang Puck's restaurant (the food was gorgeous and delicious).


Desserts


More Desserts


Even more Desserts


Second Floor of Newseum


The event was wonderful and every detail was perfectly executed - Cynthia Nixon and Nancy G. Brinker (the founder of the organization) gave very inspiring and moving speeches about their experience with breast cancer and about the future of treatments and prevention for the disease. Next year we are planning to put a team together to participate in the race and volunteer at the different events- wanna join us?




Cynthia Nixon in a gorgeous pink dress


Gabrielle Union and my candid escort

Images 1 and 2 by Ben Murray
Image 3 by Carrie Devorah / WENN
All other images by me

Chanel Flowers

Last Winter upon seeing the gorgeous Spring 2008 Collections I obsessively started searching for a floral skirt- yes it was 20 degrees - and too early to buy the ones I actually wanted because they weren't available yet. I have no idea why I felt in such a hurry to buy one, I do this every season, right now actually I'm searching for Winter boots and coats (it's 90 degrees outside). But, despite the irrational behavior my quest paid off BIG. I found on ebay this Chanel skirt from the 60s, and in the one blurry picture the seller posted the colors looked kinna ugly and bland, but I had a good feeling so I bought it --for less than $100!! probably cos it was Winter and it has a 24" waist. As you can see in the pictures below, it's the most beautiful thing in the world. It photographs so well, I had a hard time narrowing the 30 pics down to 5 (the rest are in the album if you want to see them). Below I am wearing it with a La Perla corset-like bra that is kinna too short. I'm still playing with other combinations, mixing with other florals maybe, or with a more destructed top. I'm also going to pin the skirt under to make it shorter, for a cupcake effect :)











Skirt:Vintage Chanel
Top: La Perla
Shoes: Michael Kors

118 years old

1714 Massachusetts Ave NW

Washington DC 20036

Our in-house Architectural expert who always seems to find the rarest homes and buildings just found this home in Dupont Circle. Proof that although DC is still very much lacking in Architecturally worthy homes, there are still some that have spectacular rooms.

For $17,500,000 it better be spectacular.

HomesDatabase description: Total renovation of town home perfect for embassy, cultural institution, foundation or private residence. Large scale formal rooms include double parlors with fireplaces and baronial dining room with fireplace. Separate family living quarters and family gourmet kitchen on 2nd level. Catering Kitchen, custom wine cellar. Elevator. Parking for 6-10 cars. 10 fireplaces.

What he likes about it: The drama (which he says is very hard to find inside DC homes), the woodwork. He tells me he doesn't like the whole house or the location, and that only the dining room and the doorways are noteworthy and that the ceilings should be higher (he's very picky).

To see the virtual tour and larger images go here

Queen West West

The West side of Queen Street W in Toronto is abounding with energy, fashion and culture. The East side of Queen W not so much, so if you go to T.O. stay away from it, it will depress you, it rains on that side and it's dirty. In W Queen W you will find art galleries, girls in high-waisted skinny jeans, edgy boutiques (jacflash is my favorite), lots of good food, and lots of little dogs.


In front of jacflash, the girl in the jean jacket had the coolest hair, and everything in her outfit was silver.


Inside jacflash, I bought the coolest cashmere/silk cardigan


Outside a gallery/boutique


The street where I stayed


The CN tower