There’s this weird fad going on.
Moustaches.
Fake ones, that is, in all kinds of photos online and in places you wouldn’t normally see them.
Even Paper Source has a campy set of fake moustaches that they sell in their store:
I’m SO excited. Our faithful Canon Powershot broke on Halloween, which finally gave me an excuse to retire it and purchase a new camera. Since I’ve been coveting an SLR after seeing too many amazing photos from other bloggers, I promptly started my research on different cameras. With so many choices out on the market, I quickly became a bit overwhelmed. For an indecisive person, too many options can actually be a bad thing. I rethought my strategy and began going through a more systematic process:
1. Entry level, prosumer, or professional? Immediately ruled out the professional models, which had a ton of features that I probably wouldn’t use. Plus they’re super expensive!
2. Price point? Somewhere in the under $1000 range.
3. Brand? Based on tons of reviews and my own experience with point-and-shoot digital cameras, I knew I wanted either a Nikon or Canon. I’ve owned many Canon cameras (both film and digital) so my initial loyalty leaned that way, but Nikon SLRs have an esteemed reputation. I was torn until…
4. Lenses? I had no clue as to how to choose these. However, I learned that a good lens can be even more important than the camera body. A good lens consistently delivers quality photos and can be used for many years, even as you upgrade or change the camera body (assuming you stay with the same brand, I think). Nikon lenses have an awesome reputation for sharpness, color, clarity, and all-around reliability. Ok, now I’m sold.
5. Where to buy? Fortunately, my brother-in-law happened to purchase a dSLR a few months back. He sent me a great spreadsheet organized with information on cameras and accessories with their prices broken down by online stores. I initially planned to purchase everything from Amazon, but ended up with a better deal at Buydig.
After this exhausting but fruitful search, I chose (drumroll)….
I’m on the final leg of my fall recruiting trips, back in the bay area until Friday. Luckily, my hotel is right next to Union Square so the first thing I did upon checking in was change and hit the shops.
Since this is the last time this year I’ll be up in the bay area, I figured I might as well make the most of the shopping opportunities here. At Anthropologie, I watched the employees in the middle of creating their winter store displays – using plastic cups, straws, chicken wire, cotton balls, cash register tape…how the heck do they come up with such whimiscal displays using the most random items??
I also bought a pair of grey boots, which I’ve been searching forever for, and long-sleeved shirts (which I have plans to embellish with some flower pins that I’ll make in the future).
My last trip of the year! Bay area, I love you, but after 5 trips in 2 months, I’m ready for a break.
The house, inspired by a french chateau, has many beautiful areas for pictures. What sold me when I first saw the venue was the beautiful wrought-iron staircase in the middle of the house.
Reception was held in the backyard, facing the back of the house.
It was a fun-filled, stress-free day (surprisingly!), and our awesome photographer, Paul Lee, did a fantastic job capturing so many wonderful memories for us. It’s hard to believe almost 6 months have passed since then!
I’m finally back from my extended trip along the west coast! Compared to others I’ve done in the past, this one was a piece of cake, especially since I only had to go to airports 6 times (compared to 12+ on other trips). What’s all the travel for, you ask? Well, I work in graduate admissions for a large research institution, and every fall the admissions team travels throughout country and around the world to recruit high-caliber applicants to our program.
Yawn…so enough about work. The nice perk to the job is the opportunity to visit lots of different cities and countries, though after several weeks on the road, going home and sleeping in your own bed is something I look forward to more than anything. In the past, I’ve had opportunities to travel to parts of Europe and South America. This year, as luck would have it, I’ve done only domestic events. But that’s totally fine by me…it’s nice to give my passport a break once in a while!
Okay, so when I first started this blog (just a month ago), I initially wanted to focus on baby products and gear. However, I’m finding a greater desire to expand the scope of my thoughts (for now at least) beyond baby stuff to more general vintage-inspired finds that matches my personal aesthetic. So for the time being, I wont solely focus on products for babies. I’m sure when it’s time for kids, the focus of the blog will change yet again. In the meantime, please bear with this newbie to the blogging community as I continue to refine the purpose of this site and make it relevant to other readers out there.
Jessica
My work entails a lot of travel, as I mentioned before. I was in SF last Saturday, then spent 5 days in Seattle and came back to the bay area last night. I’ll be here until Tuesday, then heading to Berkeley for an event and finally going back home on Wednesday.
Sleeping in your own bed is something that I haven’t looked forward to since, well, last fall during my travel season.
When I get home, I promised myself to get started on writing thank-you notes from our wedding in May. It’s something I’ve put off but I know that I should do them soon.
I am now going to head out to take advantage of my strategic location in the heart of Union Square to do some shopping. There’s a Goyard store right next to my hotel and they have some super nice (but expensive) diaper bags! Doesn’t quite fit with my usual affordable and vintage-inspired aesthetic, but a girl can at least look, right?
Because Anthropologie is, hands down, my favorite store in the world.
And what at Anthropologie is my favorite part of the store? The sale section!
Now if I won the lotto, I’d probably buy out the entire LA store, but until my winning numbers pop up, I don’t think I can afford to blow my entire paycheck every month there, no matter how tempted I am to do so. Their sales are actually pretty good, and if you’re like me and lurk around this section on a weekly basis, there’s a good chance you’ll find some great items for 20-50% off.
Too bad Antro doesn’t sell baby/kids clothes or products, because I would so be there. Their current home decor stuff though, would actually be really cute in a baby room. In fact, all their store decor would be cute in a baby room. I hope they don’t mind if I borrow some of their ideas in my own home…
My job entails a lot of travel, so I’m currently in SF, fortunately within walking distance of the store near Union Square. I was pleasantly surprised to find a VERY robust selection of discounted items. Since I was on a time crunch (unfortunately having to work duing a prime shopping Sunday afternoon), I was only able peruse the racks for a few minutes. But rest assured, I will be back soon.
So I mentioned that I’ve recently gotten married. Wedding planning was acutally a really fun process for me. Sure, it had its moments of stress and a few (dozen) tears were shed here and there throughout it all, but overall the time I spent researching, negotiating, meeting, and budgeting were happy months. About a year of my life outside of work was devoted to this huge project, and after it was over, I found myself 1) relieved to have everything done but 2) somewhat bored with a lot of free time on my hands. I tried oocupying my time in a variety of ways, from crafting to classes to cooking, but I finally realized that I needed to find another big, long-term project, something I could work on intermittently throughout the day on a consistent basis that might actually be useful to myself and others around me. Naturally, after love and marriage is the baby in the baby carriage…and given my love for all things in miniature form (from food to clothing), I thought, hey why not blog about baby products, especially seeing that a significant number of my friends have babies or are pregnant (some with their 2nd and 3rd on the way!).
So to make a long story short, I guess I do have babies on my mind, and though I’m not knocked up yet, it will most likely happen in the semi-near future, and so I hope this blog will be a great resource for me once my time comes.
You can probably tell I’m a little anal about planning ahead.
In the meantime, I hope to share my findings and thoughts with others who can find this information fun and useful!
Hello world.
I’m combining my love for vintage inspired design and goodies geared towards moms and babies in a blog that hopefully reflects my taste and interests.
After a year spent happily planning a wedding (will post some pics soon), I found myself going through a period of post-wedding-planning blues with an abundant amount of free time on my hands. As I sat in my new home thinking about the meaning of life and what to cook for dinner, I came across the idea to start documenting some neat baby gear inspired by stuff I love. More on why baby stuff to come soon.
So here’s to yet another blog on the internet…hopefully you’ll find my ramblings interesting and continue to visit regularly. I’ll do my best updating and posting on a regular basis!
JC
p.s. – came across some cute vintage bird prints at twostraightlines…would make really cute wall decor!
Hip Pea 
