When the November issue of Teen Vogue arrived in my mailbox I was immediately obsessed. (SIDENOTE - I still have many teen tendencies even though I'm currently in my 30s...for example, #1 - I watch Degrassi by choice.)
I love Alexa Chung, but I really loved her outfit!! It was a Stella McCartney dress and I thought that this was something I wanted to make. I was going to head out on a thrifting adventure to find a white sweater or shift dress like hers, until I got to unpacking some more boxes in my yet-to-be-fully-moved-in apartment and I found this old, grey, crewneck, GAP sweater that I've held onto for a few years. I'll take that creative freedom and sub grey for white and go even further subbing gold bows for black...
I came across little pouches of gold bows (10 in each bag) at my local craft store and they were a buck a pop!! When I saw them, the whole outfit quickly came together.
I headed to San Francisco over the weekend to visit some of my favorite people and planned to sew once I arrived, however my Virgin America flight was delayed six hours (half in the terminal/half in the plane) so I got out my thread and needles and began sewing from my seat, 15D. Luckily the tray table helped and acted as a makeshift desk as I was sorting out my bow placement.
I began with a bow at each shoulder, then a row of three below that. I continued the two/three/two pattern down the front of the piece.
I got into a groove, had the East Coast feed of Letterman on, and finished my piece just as we prepared to land.
I got picked up by my lovely (and super-patient) friend REF, and passed out once we got back to her casa. We had a day of wine tasting on the agenda to get zzz's for!!
Woke up early, got the gang together, and headed into the vineyards!
My, my, my, my, my Sonoma!!
We started off at Domaine Carneros and even got to go behind the scenes to check out their barrels. I thought it was my charming, blushed-from-wine sipping cheeks, that coerced the staff to let us behind these closed doors, but I was wrong. It was the friend with the wine club membership that really held the keys to this one.
We continued on our way and hopped over to Chateau St. Jean. It was like a little secret garden...
...full of fountains...
...and wine. No wine fountains, however :)
We grabbed spots and began to sip - Julie, our hostess with the mostess was right on top of it.
She kept em coming and had the breadstick glass replenished which was key.
We grabbed seats outside after we finished and snacked on some goodies in the sun!!
The weather was perfect - I got a little taste of fall which I haven't seen in a very long time.
There's nothing like being in the country.
We got back to the city and it was time to explore!!
Unfortch, no Michael Douglas sighting on these 'streets' today...
We went and got our nails did at Lavande Salon...
...before taking a pic next to the inspiration for today's piece.
It felt like a photo shoot in the back of Walgreens with the amount of pics we were taking!
This piece is easy for any level - a few stitches for each bow was all that was needed!!
REF's hubby extraordinaire crafted some apple cake that was waiting for us girls after a bit of pampering. Nothing like homemade sweets to close out an awesome weekend!!
After 48 hours, it's back to the grind!! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!
