15 July 2009 – Travel Style

Posted on | July 15, 2009 | 7 Comments

15 July 2009 – Travel Style, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

All remixed except pashmina:

Blue pashmina – TJMaxx
Black dress – ON
White eyelet top – TJMaxx
Brown tote – REI
Black sandals – Target

Endnotes:

This morning I flew back to academichic central, where I got off my plane and was shortly picked up by A. for a much needed coffee and catch-up session at our favorite coffee shop. You may remember this black dress from last week, when I wore it for my flight to my parents’ house and from my discussion on travel comfortable clothing. I wore the same jersey dress to fly back in for all the reasons I mentioned then, and once more, finished off the look with a cozy pashmina (read: pashmina on the ground, plane blanket in the air). This time, I zipped through security even quicker with these easy to slip on and off sandals, leaving me plenty of time to peruse the magazine selection before taking off.

This outfit worked great for a day of travel and flying for several reasons: it’s comfortable, it’s black and thus pretty stain resistant, I didn’t need to remove any hardware to get through the metal detector, and it looked chic enough to walk off the plane and head out in public for a day of plans. And last but not least, it conforms perfectly to our week’s review session of neutrals with a pop. Now that’s what I call multi-function! S.

5 June 2009 – San Francisco Day Four

Posted on | June 5, 2009 | 10 Comments

5 June 2009, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

All remixed but scarf, which I thrifted on Monday here in San Francisco:

Silk scarf – part of my thrifted loot from San Fran
Jacket - Gap, thrifted
Jeans – DKNY, thrifted
Green tote - Kenneth Cole Reaction
Yellow shoes – Gianni Bini

Scarf detail, originally uploaded by academichic.

Endnotes:

By far, my favorite thing yesterday was my visit to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. And this is saying a lot, since the museum is nestled among the beautiful Botanical Garden and Japanese Tea Garden in the park. But here’s why I was simply blown away by this space.

The De Young Museum was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & De Meuron, who created a space that is filled with light and unexpected turns, angles, openings, and oversized windows…

The building itself was as much of an experience as the viewing of the art objects within it, but despite its beauty, it still manages to not compete or distract from the art works on display.

Its collection is simply amazing and I can’t even begin to list all the works I enjoyed seeing (the list would go on and on), so I will instead just mention an artist I just discovered yesterday and whose work left a strong impression.

The above is called “Model for Total Reflective Abstraction” and was created by Josiah McElheny in 2003. I won’t tell you why I loved it, but will just offer you this image of it to let you decide what you think. Although to fully appreciate the piece, you have to stand in the room with it, since its mirroring quality is lost when just looking at an image of it. See, I became part of the art work…

Can you spot me? Actually, the two of me?

So thank you, Mamichan, for recommending I visit this wonderful museum and to all of you who seconded that, which convinced me that it’s worth figuring out the bus system to get to Golden Gate Park to check it out. And not to mention the amazing view from the museum’s observation tower, which allows for a 360 degree view of the San Francisco Bay area – it was simply breathtaking!

I also just want to add that this trip has been fun and unique in a way that my previous travels lacked. I love traveling and usually will grab a guide book or a map and spend the entire day exploring, in a self-propelling sort of way. To have reader input shape and influence my explorations has been a new and surprisingly fun experience. Especially since you have given me what a map or guidebook lacks – real life, up-to-date input on where to go and what to see! It’s been tremendously helpful and I’ve really enjoyed all your suggestions! It’s difficult to find the best Goodwill in town when you’re reading Fodor’s or know which coffee shop, museum, or bookstore to prioritize when your map just shows them as undiscriminating little red dots, free of any distinguishing marks or characteristics. And hopefully, I in turn provided any of you interested in visiting this area in the near future some ideas on what to do and see.

Tonight T. and I are off to see Puccini’s Tosca at the San Francisco Opera house. This was my birthday gift to him a couple of weeks ago, and I’m really looking forward to it. Then we’re going to spend the remaining day of our trip – Saturday – in Berkeley with a friend who will show us around. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will post my opera outfit the first chance I get. S.