Taking a Bad Group Selfie, Take Two

Yes, it takes at least two to make a bad group selfie, and Silvana and I have been practicing.

The Poppy Reserve debacle you've seen.

Here are our other outings around LA's west side from the past week.
At the Getty:

[photo by Silvana]

Things got a bit blurry at McCabes, where we saw Thee Holy Brothers and Evie Sands:

Here we are yesterday, eating our very unfancy Easter lunch at Zankou:

Then we went to the Fowler Museum at UCLA, to see the exhibition of African Textiles.

Perhaps we became drunk on pattern joy...

The Fowler has an inner courtyard with a fountain. We cavorted.

Posing is hard, people!

Better, but terrible quality photo from the point and shoot. Its day of retirement looms.

Silvana wanted us with the fountain.

Lovely. But no fountain. [photo by Silvana]

There it is! [photo by Silvana]

I saved you the best/worst for last:

I call it "Fountain and Foreheads" [photo by Silvana]

I had so much fun with Silvana. She leaves returns home to Australia later this week.

I hope to see her again (IRL) soon!

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday
Catherine's #saturdaysharelinkup

Summer Travel -- Packing Light

Last week I bombarded my Instagram with my week-long whirlwind adventure on the East Coast.

Fun times! 

I did not want to pay for inflight checked luggage, was traveling by various modes of transportation (plane, ferry, bus, subway, train), and needed to keep my load streamlined. I required a range of garments to take me from the city (Providence and Manhattan) to casual 4th of July activities (and inactivity) at my Mom's. Not to mention a Smithereens concert in the Hamptons. 

All packed and ready to go, with a Züca roll-aboard and Fabletics tote.
This is before I realized that I could use the tote's yoga mat straps to anchor my pillow.

For packing, I've been using an ever-changing Excel doc for years.

Both a hand-written list and my Excel chart. 

The Monday before I left, I came up with a perfect travel outfit:

I added black modal lounge pants and clogs and wore this on three (maybe four) days of my trip, including my day in Manhattan with Ally (see Ally's writeup here). Perfect fabrications for summer in the East (cotton, rayon modal) and the knits gave comfortable stretch.

The Züca roll-aboard comes with a set of six zippered pouches, which helps compartmentalize one's packing.
Here are the socks that I packed:

I only wore the two pairs in the foreground. The weather was too hot.

Another item that I didn't wear was what I call my "Paris" tunic,
so called because the print reminds me of a 50's French illustration style:

I just wasn't feeling it.

To be more efficient, I now save my packing charts and notate which garments did not get worn. This can save me from packing them again. With the above tunic, I remember thinking "If only this were 4" longer." I have more of the fabric, so it has been sent to the Sewing Mountain for rehab.

Linking up with My Refined Style
and
Patti's Visible Monday

Do you ever pack the same thing over and over and never wear it?

52 Pick-me-up: Get Layered

CREATED/ PURCHASED/ PURLOINED/ LINKS/ 

This week for 52 Pick-me-up, see how many layers you can pile on.
Northern hemisphere, layers to keep to warm. Southern, floaty light layers.
Here's my version:

scarf -- piece of Italian rayon yardage, Warren Z, 1983
knit shawl -- Tibetan, Brooklyn
tunic -- my design, vintage rayon from Pilgrim Mills [closed], Providence
dress -- Old Navy, deep sale ($7.99)
leggings-- work sample
socks -- Happy Socks
creepers -- Fluevog, SF

I felt an 80's vibe wearing this. Maybe because I got both the printed rayons in that decade.
The black and white squiggle is sample yardage that I picked up when I worked as a sample cutter.
It was my first "fashion" job when I was at Otis.
I've made a couple of tunics out of the other fabric. On the selvedge, it says "'Parchment' a fabric styled by John Launay".
It reminds me of Parisian illustrations from the 50s.

And here's a rare closeup:

I wrapped the "scarf" on my head so that I could join in Judith's December Hat Attack.
Her linkup party is still open for a few more days, if you care to join in.

I'd love to see your layered look. Share below!