denim grunge.

oh, monday. we meet again so soon?

the weekend was jam-packed with activities...mini-she's school fun fair followed by her freshman all-nighter, then a birthday party at a trampoline place for mini-he's friend. the latter part of the weekend was spent literally "hanging" out at the beach house (see picture below), eating, and having rubik's cube races. i talked about the cube before when i was teaching mini-she and my nephew. now, the cube has hit my niece's school, so she's learning how to do it. poor thing was learning on a tiny key-chain sized cube; i ended up buying a bunch of cubes so we could all have our own.

how did you spend your weekend?

(house of harlow ring (gold); capwell & co necklace (buy))

apparently this is called a brazilian hammock. i thought it was the funniest thing because it looks like a cocoon. definitely not what i envisioned for relaxing at the beach house, but my mom didn't know when she bought it. we joked about hanging four of these across the balcony for the kids to take their naps in!

rubik's cube racing marathon...

can you guess who's the fastest??

lips: mac up the amp + anastasia beverly hills gloss in jolene

(victoria's secret shirt; pacsun denim (coupon); converse shoes;

aviators via amazon; patty's closet flannel (808-625-6441))

the d'orsay.

i'm baaack!

my computer is finally up and running, but my problems are far from over. i've just discovered a new issue...this time with my camera. seems overnight, my auto focus stopped working. this certainly poses a problem for a self-photographing blogger!

after three years, maybe it's time for a camera upgrade.

these are the shoes from my latest haul video paired with a chambray and black coated denims. i went hands free by adding the shoulder strap to my JustFab mini icon bag for a casual day of running around at work. after several hours on my feet, these shoes proved to be quite comfortable.

i was tempted to grab a bag of chocolate chip cookies, but opted for a bag of snap peas. i may or may not have regretted this.

(persun shoes (buy); JustFab bag c/o; pacsun denim,

ON chambray; ray-ban sunglasses)

chambray + summer fruits.

today is summer solstice here in honolulu, and we'll be experiencing the longest days of the year with the sun rising at around 5:50 am (although, i can't confirm this as i'm still sleeping) and setting around 7:18 pm. i'm not sure how this will actually affect our routine, but it just excites me. alaska will have sunrises at 4:20 am and sunsets at 11:42 pm...nineteen hours. can you imagine?! for all of us who complain about not having enough hours in the day...we need to get there.

what i do know is that i love lazy summer days and all the fruits that are available at this time. scroll down to see what we've been enjoying. and speaking of fruits, you might be surprised to find that some of your favorites are the most harmful in terms of chemicals and pesticides. you can see a list of the "dirty dozen" at my other blog, mobile morsels. one of our favorites was at the top of the list.

what are you enjoying this summer?

(and summer kick-off giveaway winner announced. did you win?)

a lightweight chambray is a summer essential.

i love wearing it with white denim and a hint of leopard. 

 fruits are always readily available at home for the minis,

but they will go untouched in the refrigerator drawers.

plate it and they will come!

can't tell you how many times this plate was

replenished last weekend.

lemons and orange slices for a refreshing citrus-flavored water.

fresh mango isn't my favorite...but pickled? i love!

thanks to my neighbor, S, for this yummy batch.

a cherries-pineapple-lychee fruit platter for the office. 

(ON chambray; express shorts; ray-ban arista in green)

shop the look:

east vs west [coast] style. nautical stripes.

welcome to the second installment of east vs. west style. this week we are sharing our takes on one of my favorite trends, nautical stripes. stripes make up a good part of my wardrobe (i did a week of stripes to prove it!), but when it comes to nautical, i automatically think of navy, red, and white. while i didn't have navy and white (my shirt is b/w), i did have red...and i couldn't resist adding a dash of leopard.

don't forget to visit these awesome ladies. here's the crew:

east

Jackie / Living After Midnite / New York

Jessica / My Style Vita / Georgia

Tracy / TheRightShoes / New York

west

Ashley / Golden Divine / Arizona

Ashley / Pursuit of Shoes / California

Becks / oomph. / Hawaii

(french connection tee; f21 denim; ray-ban sunglasses; old navy sweater)

in case you missed it:

east vs west style . denim shorts

*     *     *

enter the coach bag giveaway here

enter the persun jewelry giveaway here

experimenting with extremes. blues.

i recently had my first jello shot. i mean, how could i resist when my neighbor served them like cute lemon wedges. after we devoured them, she proceeded to make beverages with the fruit she scooped out by throwing them into vodka + lemonade.

talk about not letting anything go to waste.

i wanted to see how many blue things i could throw into

this outfit. pretty much everything except the shoes. wait...darn...come to think of it, i do have

a pair of blue heels...haha.

looking forward to hanging out at my

friend's beach house this weekend.

what are you guys up to?

vodka-infused gummy bears and jello wedges.

here's a recipe i want to try:

pink lemonade jello shots

12 lemons

1 cup pink lemonade

2 packages plain gelatin

1 cup vodka

cupcake pan

- cut lemons in half, scoop out insides

- add lemonade to saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over juice,

let sit for 2 minutes

- heat lemonade over low heat, stir until gelatin dissolves, about 5 minutes

- stir in vodka, pour into lemons

- refrigerate, about 4 hours

- slice and enjoy

(source: tablespoon.com)

in case you missed it:

experimenting with extremes . florals

experimenting with extremes . animal prints

experimenting with extremes . stripes deux

try these:

drop it like it's hot.

yes, it's the shorts again.

i seriously love them.

pro'lly cause they're more dressy than denim.

and they're not that hot because:

1) they're shorts

2) they're pretty thin

what is hot is this shirt.

eh. win some, you lose some.

headed to the beach after work for some stand up paddling.

gotta love summer.

(top, victoria's secret; shorts, local boutique; shoes, delia's (buy))

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