Impulse Control

I have none. It's no secret.

I happened to be in Union Square the other day and since it had been a while since I'd been down there all by myself I decided to do a little exploring. Well, I ended up in the new Tory Burch store and lost all control.

I ended up leaving with this:


It looks like it's woven straw, but it's actually woven leather so it's incredibly soft. It's fun to wear with an all black outfit and it looks nautical when I wear navy and carry it to cocktail parties at the yacht club.

I also picked up this scarf which can double as a wrap poolside:


The reason I stopped in was to find a pair of Romy flats:

My sister and I had wanted to get the Romy flats when they were on sale during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, but they sold out during the pre-sale. While at Tory Burch I learned that Tory changes some of her shoes so the version you buy at Nordstrom is slightly different than the pair you can find in her store. For instance, the Romy flat at Nordstrom has a lizard print covering the toe and silver hardware. The version at Tory Burch has a croc print covering the toe and gold hardware. Here is the Nordstrom version:


It's probably a good thing that I no longer work around the corner from where the store is. I have a feeling that each of my paychecks would end up here and London Sole across the street!

J CRACK

J Crew, or J Crack in my house, came out with their new fall merchandise this week. As most of my friends, family and husband can attest to, I am a sweater addict so I get a little excited when the catalogs and stores hint at the cooler weather around the corner.

I picked up the pointelle twilight-stripe V-neck cardigan in shadow black in the store when my mom was in town:


I ordered the Anton sweater online last night in black:


I picked up the endless summer cardigan today in the store in 3 different colors:


I purchased one more sweater today that is not online. It's a black cardigan that is open in the front with pockets. Very comfy!

Now if only the weather would start to cooperate so I can wear my sweaters!

Family Visit = FUN!

Last week my family (minus my brother, Grant) came up from Southern California for a visit. Now that we live in the 'burbs and have 3 extra bedrooms it's great that they come up more often. I love love love it when they visit! What made this visit so much fun was that my sister and her husband decided to get away to Carmel for the weekend which meant they were leaving Chase, our 2 year-old nephew, with us!

Chase and Aunt Whitney

My mom, sister and Chase all arrived on Wednesday morning. Chris, my sister's husband, arrived on Thursday night. Just as they were getting into the car to head to Carmel on Friday morning, Chase fell in front of our house and hit his head on a fire hydrant! This delayed their departure by a few minutes. Needless to say I was happy the head injury happened while they were still here & not while Chase was on our watch!

The head injury later Friday evening

We had a great time playing mom & dad while they were away. Thankfully my mom, a.k.a. Gigi, was here to help us out! I don't think I could have done it on my own! Keeping up with a 2 year-old is hard work! I know I left the house multiple times with stains on my clothes and once without brushing my teeth!

First we went to the park then after his nap we got ready for Friday Nights on Main. It was definitely fun to go to Friday Nights on Main with a kid! Chase loved getting his face painted like a lion. Rawr!

Grrrr! Our little lion.

He had a great time. Chase had fun running around growling like a lion and climbing on the fire truck when the firemen came to visit. Saturday was filled with more trips to the park, checking out the Tiburon fire boat, a trip to the toy store and reading lots of books - one of Chase's favorite things. Another highlight of the weekend was the San Rafael farmer's market - especially the pony rides and all the good food samples!

Chase enjoying eating peas straight from the pod

After his nap then it was off to the Belvedere Concerts in the Park! There we listened to music and danced. We had a blast, but I think the highlight was when mom & dad met us there after their drive back from Carmel! Chase was so excited to see them.

Chase enjoying the music at the Belvedere Concerts in the Park

We can't forget the whole reason my family came up to visit...Gigi's birthday! We had a great dinner grilled by Joey followed by some yummy strawberry shortcake. It was a great week and I can't wait for their next visit! I can't believe that when they visit next Paige and Chris will have TWO boys in tow! How fun!!!

Happy Birthday Gigi!!!

Trader Joe's Opens Tomorrow in Larkspur!

Tomorrow is an exciting day in Southern Marin. A new Trader Joe's will be opening in Larkspur! This means that I will no longer have to drive the 7.5 miles to the San Rafael Trader Joe's. Yay! When I lived in San Francisco I was so spoiled by having 2 Trader Joe's within a short distance of our apartment. I have missed it so much since moving to the 'burbs. Now I can get my quick fixes for dinner and great priced wines again!

Tiburon to Install License Plate Cameras

The Town of Tiburon has been talking for a while about installing license plate cameras in 2 locations - Tiburon Blvd. and Paradise Dr. - to help the police catch thieves by identifying out of town vehicles.

On Friday an article ran in the SF Chronicle and it was interesting to read the comments left by various readers. Personally I support the installation of the cameras. I have nothing to hide and I figure that my license plate is already being photographed each time I cross a bridge in the Bay Area. So if it will help the police catch criminals, then go for it!

Smith & Hawken Closing

Smith and Hawken has bit the dust. The website is no longer operating. I'm sure there are some good deals in the store. I'll have to check it out. Their flagship store is right down the street from me so I'll be sad to see it go.

Tango is back at Z Gallerie!

The Z Gallerie Tango pillow is back! It was carried in the stores before, however it vanished and there were rumors in the blog world that it was pulled because the pattern was too close to Kelly Wearstler's Imperial Trellis. I missed getting my hands on a pair of pillows the first time they were in the stores, so I have been stalking Z Gallerie since then hoping they would carry them again.


The Z Gallerie closest to me has both the 24" pillows ($39.95) and curtain panels available. When I saw the pillows, I immediately bought 4 because I had been dreaming about getting the real Imperial Trellis pillows, but couldn't stomach the $225 price tag - that's per pillow!

When I was in San Francisco the other day I came to a complete stop and reversed back up the street to look at the curtains in someone's apartment - I thought they were the real thing, but when I saw the panels in Z Gallerie later that day, I knew that she had purchased them there.

The bad news is that the fabric is 100% polyester so it has a sheen to it and you can tell it's not the real thing. So I just returned them. I also didn't like the colors against my white couch. The background is chocolate brown and the pattern is a light coffee color. Here's a photo of them on my couch:


A girl can keep dreaming of owning the real pillow someday. (Christmas present idea for the husband!)