The Immortality of Flowers

Spent another afternoon running around with the fab Gillian Lee of TrixieLand Photography and her lovely friend Tracy. We hit up a very cool spot in San Francisco's Bayview/Hunters Point area, which is typically a vet industrial part of the city. Yet somehow, amidst low-slung grey buildings and streets busy with delivery trucks and construction companies, there exists an extraordinary oasis that one could spend a lifetime in this city and never know about.

Flora Grubb Gardens is a beautiful, full service garden store and florist that also houses a Ritual Coffee outpost. They have beautifully landscaped grounds and some amazing furniture for your garden on offer. They also offer custom landscaping services, a florist for weddings and occasions, and a selection of beautiful gardening tools and accessories. The gardens are expansive, and full of beautiful and odd things to look at, like this decaying car, overgrown with plants and being reclaimed by the wilderness in a sunlight-dappled back corner.

Once again, Gillian styled us both up in a couple of outfits from her own closet and set us loose on the unsuspecting patrons of Flora Grubb. These shorts were by far my favorite item from the shoot. High-wasted, floral-print hot pants? Yes please! Gillian is so crafty, apparently she made these. I'm putting in an order for my own pair.

making the sexy eyes at the cute boy at the register

More to come from this fun shoot...stay tuned or check the full set out at TrixieLand Photography! In the meantime, if your in the Bay Area, swing by Flora Grubb for a coffee and some garden wandering. Pick up a cute terrarium inside and fill it with a dainty air-plant garden to take home with you. And tell the cute guy with the gauges at the counter that I say "heeeeyyyyy."

Flora Grubb Gardens

Monday - Saturday 9:00 - 5:00 • Sunday 10:00 - 5:00

1634 Jerrold Ave, San Francisco, CA • 415.626.7256

like noises in the night, she is often not what she seems

a few more from my shoot with the talented Gillian. I love these shots so much, the contrast of the vines against the structured lines of the shirt and the craziness of the brocade pants is awesome. I came out of this with a great deal of foliage in my hair, but so worth it.

{denim jacket | wasteland} {brocade jeans/bodice/jewelry | Gillian's}

After the shoot I went and met up with one of my best friends from high school, who was in town for the weekend from Santa Barbra. My roommate's BFF was in town too, so we all decided to go out and get a little crazy over the weekend...and then this happened.

To summarize: love fests, giggle fits, tribal dancing, dashing bald men, hitch hiking, private cars, crowded clubs, chain smoking, extreme car-dancing, too much Mexican food, shopping sprees and fits of wild abandon.

All in all, a grand weekend.

Treasure Hunting

A few weekends ago, my man and I made the short trek across the bridge to Treasure Island for the massive Flea Market that is held there. It was a gorgeous San Francisco fall day and I can't imagine any better way to have enjoyed it than strolling through a sea of treasures and oddities beneath the brilliant blue sky.

M and I have a serious thing for sausages, and this little food cart never fails to dazzle us with its unique meat selections and tasty toppings. I think we scored an elk and a boar sausage each and devoured them while lounging in the grass and gazing out over the beautiful San Francisco Bay to where our city glittered on the water.

After much oohing and ahhing, and perhaps a little bit of budget breaking, we made our way back to my place to congratulate ourselves on our purchases and enjoy the rest of the warm day cruising around SF. As we approached my corner we discovered this little troupe of musicians making people's ears happy with some tuneage. Leftover Cuties is a fun little indie-folk band that my man had actually seen at SXSW this year and mentioned to me that I might enjoy their sound. What a coincidence that they should end up on my corner, making music for the masses of tourists on Haight Street.

After hanging out for a bit and dropping a couple of bucks into their jar, we adjourned to the roof of my building, to enjoy the sun and their music. All in all, quite the idyllic day.

SF Conservatory of Flowers

 So...it was my birthday the other day. To be honest, I kind of hate my birthday. It makes me anxious and weird. I'm not sure why, something about all those people focusing their attention on me. I get birthday stage-fright. 

In liu of a crazy party, I decided to take a day trip to Golden Gate Parks' own Conservatory of flowers and enjoyed a lovely mellow afternoon and evening hanging out with my main squeeze.

Prior to heading to the Conservatory, we stopped in at Park Chow out in the Inner Sunset District for some lunch. I, of course, started with a prerequisite birthday mimosa and then we moved on to some delicious baked goat cheese caprese with almond bread. Holy shit. That's some good stuff. I was spooning cheese out of the dish and straight into my mouth by the time we ran out of bread to spread it on. We also got the mussels and some other stuff, but trust me, it was all about the cheese.

After lunch we took a leisurely stroll through the park on our way too the Conservatory, stopping to enjoy the scenery and for a couple of pictures here and there. I was wearing one of my favorite vintage dresses and some simple UO flats, paired with a vintage leather belt and purse. As usual, I was completely inappropriately dressed for the weather.

The Conservatory of Flowers is a beautiful Victorian greenhouse that was originally purchased for the estate of eccentric San Jose millionaire, James Lick. When Lick died in 1876 the unassembled green house was sold to a group of prominent San Franciscans, who donated it to the City of San Francisco and had it erected by the park commission in 1878. It is the oldest building in Golden Gate Park and the oldest municipal wooden conservatory remaining in the US.

Today the conservatory houses over 1,700 plants and, at only $7 a head for adults ($5 if your local, or  a mini person) it's something I can see myself doing again on a lazy afternoon.

 -Image Via: Wikipedia

-Image Via: Wikipedia

Outside, the facade of the rambling, Victorian-era greenhouse is almost blindingly white in the sun. Surrounded by gently sloping lawns and vibrant flower beds, it's beautifully picturesque nestled amongst the sweeping greenery of Golden Gate Park. Once inside you are enveloped in the lush warmth and the soft green light of a thousand plants coexisting a million miles from their natural habitats.

 There are four rooms, each designed specifically for certain plants based on their environments. High- and Low-Land Tropical Plants, Potted Plants, and Aquatic Plants. The Highland Tropics section is particularly notable for its renowned collection of high altitude orchids, which is one of the largest existing collections in the world.

The Special Exhibit while we were there was the Prehistoric Plants exhibit, hence the mighty T-Rex bursting through the roof in one of the exterior shots and the warning to not feed the dinosaurs. Always a temptation.

I loved spending time in the quiet of the Conservatory. It contrasted so sharply with the hustle and bustle of San Francisco that it seems like another world entirely. I plan on going back soon, because I am completely dissatisfied with this series of photos and want to try again at capturing the tranquility and vibrancy of that place.

A Blog Is Born

The Conservatory of Flowers is a beautiful Victorian greenhouse that was originally purchased for the estate of eccentric San Jose resident, James Lick. When Lick died in 1876 the unassembled green house was sold to a group of prominent San Franciscans who donated it too the City of San Francisco and erected by the park commission in 1878. It is the oldest building in Golden Gate Park and the oldest municiple wooden conservatory remaining in the US.

Today the conservatory houses over 1,700 plants and, at only $7 a head for adults ($5 if your local or a mini person) it's something I can see myself doing again on a lazy afternoon.

-image via Wikipedia

-Image Via: Wikipedia

Outside, the facade of the white Victorian-era greenhouse is almost blinding in the sun and is surrounded by gently sloping lawns and vibrant flower beds. Once inside you are enveloped in the lush warmth and the soft green light of a thousand plants coexisting a million miles from their natural habitats.

There are four rooms, each designed specifically for certain plants based on their environments. High and Low Land Tropics, Potted Plants, and Aquatic Plants. The Highland Tropics section is particularly notable for its renowned collection of high altitude orchids and the smell when standing in a room filled with delicate, vibrant orchids is something close to heaven.

Well, Happy Birthday, blog. I'm so looking forward to the year ahead.

-L.