V-day blog <3

Well well well… what can I say I’m a total romantic and I love an excuse to celebrate love and sweetness and The Invention of Chocolate™️ !!! (that’s really what this day is all about) So let me share my cutie special day with pookie….. Cringe Warriors™️ now is your time to exit…..

We got a pretty late start to the day so I walked the dog half-asleep (I am a serial dog sitter , that is how I live… more on that later maybe?) and came back to a surprise bouquet of roses and lillies (my fav.... i wish i could glue them to my nostrils forever) and a chocolate almond croissant. Yaaaaahhh. Blood sugar spike aura level 200!!!!!!

My man made our usual abundant luscious aF rainbow breakfast of scrambled eggs with Kerry Gold Dubliner cheese (iykyk), homemade kimchi, arugula, watermelon radish, and hot sauce. He is the breakfast king, he knows all the tricks to make the fluffiest scramble, omelette, hashbrowns, you name it. I'm the dinner queen, so it works out perfectly. He makes bfast and i make dinner.

# Ease # Flow

Anyways back to our day.... We went to our favorite cafe/ second home in OB and got a couple rose cardamom cacao's. And synchronistically saw all our favorite people, as we always do there, and shared a bunch of laughs. It's actually where we met.

Then we went to North Park and ended up at a vintage shop called Day to Day for like 3 hours (that is inevitably what will happen if you take me to a vintage store). I found a bunch of sick things but ended up with my dream ripped up faded sweatshirt (that I want to embroider/ patch/ visible mend), an aqua crochet cardigan and a cute polka dot slip.

I’ve been in polka dot era for like a year now. It manifests in front of me like meatballs falling from the sky and I have no choice but to swoon and take it home. My boyfriend found some awesome gingham Wrangler flares that he wore to perform with his band the next day. He is 60s rockstar.

Wait i forgot to talk about my outfit!!! Which was one of my fav parts of the day lol!!!! I recently thrifted some bombbbb finds, which was this black and red embroidered mexicali top with scalloped trim and rose buttons, in the cutest silhouette. Definitely going to be a staple in my closet. And then the cherry on top... the perfect sheer mesh crinoline-vibe petticoat skirt with tiered ruffles. The quintessential Pinterest girl skirt if you know what I mean. Really excited to style this in the spring and summer. The layering potentials !!!! It was a little chilly so i wore my favorite knee high faire isle wool socks. And some 70s hiking boots I found awhile ago at an estate sale. The red laces pulled it all together I'd say. Oh and my vintage pins, one says “kiss me i’m danish” (I’m not danish) and “I love you” in Swedish. (or Swiss? I cannot remember the difference for the life of me sorry)

We headed back to OB for our dinner plans - ramen at The Bowl. I had the classic bowl with pork belly and obviously added pickled ginger and truffle oil. The broth was fullllll of flavor which is very important to me so I was pleased. The broth soaked egg was my favorite part.

I think i am still a pho girl at heart, though, simply because i am a lemongrass girl forever and ever. If there was a lemongrass ginger ramen i'd be all over it. Anyways we hit the co-op after to pick up some ($10 organic local) strawberries and chocolate chips to make chocolate covered strawberries. I totally burned the chocolate the first time, even though i am Double Boiler Queen™️... i should have known! But I tried again and they turned out really yummy.

Buying berries in winter feels like such a luxury. I don’t think I’ll ever get over all the local produce I can get year round here in SoCal. I can have fresh leafy lettuce in january??? cherry tomatoes???? guava??? Don't get me started on the citrus trees. Changes my brain chemistry.

Speaking of citrus, i've slowly been collecting tons of limes from my neighbor's free lime basket that magically appears every few days on my dog walks... to make none other than... key lime pie!!!!! Yeah i know what you're thinking... no I don't know if they're actually key limes, i suspect not, but they arrrrre very sweet so I am determined to try it nevertheless. I'll let you know how it goes.

Back to our day.... I knit my boyfriend a wizard hat that he's been talking about forever.. to look like Gandalf from LOTR (which I've still never seen) ... and i'm real happy with how it turned out. The chunky merino wool was a good call as it kept the structure without the tip flopping down. I used the Malabrigo Rasta merino, a classic. Super quick to knit up too. I mostly freehanded it with the help of a free pattern to math out the decreases at the top.

I also gave him this vintage Swiss hat that he really liked from my collection. It has cute cows and edelweiss embroidery on it and a red corduroy brim. He hasn't taken it off. I threw in some Justin's peanut butter cups too, his fave. He sentimentally gave me his grandmother's sapphire ring and got it sized for my index finger which has been bare for months... :,) so sweet and special. thanks grandma!!! All in all, a really lovely special day that i will cherish. Hope you all had a day full of love of all kinds (and lots of chocolate). Now go tell someone you love them!!!!

Xoxoxxxxx,

Claire