skating into Spring

Magical pastel Sundays are best spent roller skating (and skateboarding) with friends. Contrary to their skate names, Judy Gloom and Jihad were perfect Spring time pals. I was so happy to experience Spring & Long Beach with my dear friends, and former team mates. Lavender cones (Echium Candicans) stood upright saluting denim skies, and kitties roamed freely in hillside flower beds. Even the angry rollerblader who yelled at us for taking up an "entire lane" could not damper our spirits. We talked about old times,bragged about old injuries, and made memories cheerful enough to carry me through any stinkin Winter.



Thank you beach volleyball team coordinator dude for taking our picture. just look at how menacing we are.













Outfit: lavender open weave vintage top, ruffle jean shorts (thrifted). These are my favorite shorts & I swear I've had them since I was 15 years old. My clothes are so loyal to me.

Photo credits: Ji(had) & her camera phone, my Minolta Freedom Zoom P&S.

Love yourselves,

Crystal Lee

La Croix, sweetie, La Croix

Just bought the complete box set of Absolutely Fabulous! Now I really wanna have a dress up and method acting party. Let’s get zonked, sweeties.

three generations

My mother always watched me from a distance or just out of her peripheral. I was pretty much free to do my thing. Every endeavor, she encouraged, no matter how wacky. I used to contort my body like a pretzel on our front porch while my mom watched from behind the screen door, smiling, and cooing like a proud bird. During her last days, her body swollen from kidney failure and barely able to walk, she came to my roller derby games and watched me get knocked violently to the infield, get up and race around the track. My dad couldn’t bear to watch, but my mom remarked afterwards “My, you’re so fast.” She was an eccentric, and she didn’t care what others thought. The best piece of advice she ever gave me was “What do you care what others think of you?” She watches over me, and I will continue to do just as I please, and I feel so fortunate for the freedom I have.

My great Aunt Anna is watching over both of us in this photo. Everyone in my immediate family is named after Aunt Anna because my mom was so fond of her. She used to travel all over the world with my mother. When my mother was in an abusive relationship, before I was born, my Aunt Anna got her out of the situation. She is fearless, patient, and stubborn. I’m going to visit her this Summer. If I try to help her too much, or even vaguely suggest that her age is slowing her down, she will snap and me and say “ I can do it myself.”

Friendship Park

I found a new park this Saturday. Friendship Park is on the top of a hill in Palos Verdes and overlooks the ocean and the city of San Pedro, but on this clear sunny day, I could see Mount Baldy & downtown Los Angeles. I walked up the windy hill, which switches from pavement to dirt, and felt so happy to be alive, and so happy to live next to the Ocean. I took photos of myself with my tripod, and there was hardly anyone around, so I didn't feel like a boner this time. I'm wearing an outfit almost identical to one my mom wore often on a summer's day in the early 80s when I was a child, except she wore red shorts. I didn't realize it until I had it on. Like my mom, I am a child of nature.



Catalina Island


I must have got some smudge or dust on my lens cause there's a dirty bubble following me around in my photos.
Outfit: silk embroidered top, red keds (thrifted), purple shorts (Etsy), butterfly scarf

art school dropout, I like your swagger.

I love categorizing my outfits into obscure, made-up, genres. I hereby christen this outfit “art school dropout,” especially my long tweed coat, which I thrifted yesterday in Compton. There’s a lot of special details that go into making this coat a gem, including the HUGE pockets (the perfect home for a whiskey half pint, a camera, a notebook, and a pen) and over-sized lapel, as well as the unique tailoring.

Today, I wore two dresses because the top woven dress, which is really the anchor to my outfit, is too short for work. I’m always amazed at how many endless styling options exist in my wardrobe. The versatility of my top dress allowed me the chance to wear my 60s chartreuse-green kitten heels, though you can hardly see them given that I cut off my feet in nearly all my photos. I'm such a dweeb.




Not only did I come home with an new vintage coat yesterday, but I learned a new slang word – swagger. At check out, the thrift store clerk remarked that he liked my swagger. “Thanks, I said, What does that mean?” "Swagger means style," he explained. I thanked him for the new word, and put it in my HUGE pockets to be used for my blog entry.

Thank you & goodnight.

Outfit: everything thrifted, baby baby.

aqua fresh

Hi guys,
I rarely wear pants & I even more rarely wear jeans, unless, of course, they're some funky minty aqua color. Pete & I took a walk along a nature preserve in Bolsa Chica on Sunday. It was a sunny crisp day, and I actually enjoyed wearing something casual. I wore this shirt two days in a row!





I'm not sure how it happened, but these photos are saturated with turquoise. I kind of like it.

Outfit: minty jeans, 80s knit sweater (thrifted), pink knit cardigan (Wendy Hil), sandals (Nine West), bullet & cross necklace (Long Beach Flea Market)

I've got a sweeth tooth for the cotton candy colors of the 1930s

I dig this gal's beanie and corn cob pipe too.

love these colors together.

her gown is made from grapefruit peels, in celebration of the beginning of harvest in the fertile Rio Grand Delta.


these colorful beach robes were made in Anniston, Alabama, from the state's wealth of raw cotton.

teal and pink is another sweet color combo I'm gonna have to try out more often.

I adore the patterns on these 1930s dresses, worn by students of Ashley Hall girls' school in Charleston, SC. I own two 1930's dresses, one I've yet to show you. My wardrobe is calling out for more, but they're pretty hard to find, especially in my size, and within my budget.


now, doesn't this post make you wanna stuff your faces with strawberry short cake and mint and chip ice-cream?

all images scanned from "In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits"