Gorgeous, dreamy prints, 

super rare one-of-a-kind jackets, 

and lots of sparkles just hit the shop. 

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LONGLIVESTARMAN
at checkout for 20% off your entire purchase! 

   *coupon expires 03/01/16*

"Genius is finding the invisible link between things." -Vladimir Nabokov

There's nothing quite like taking the train to get from place to place. I've been doing this more so than usual lately due to a temporarily broken down vehicle and I've come to realize that although I used to put the European rail system on a pedestal looking down on that of the States', 
there's some magic to be experienced in riding the train through southern California. In a car, we must focus on the road while experiencing only through our periphery the happenings around us. On a train, we have the unique opportunity to take it all in as it seems to rush by. Seeing what we know as home in such a different way offers a brand new perspective on the every day, and I have come to find so much value in that reality.

Flash forward to a time when I'm not on the road. Long Beach, California. I've come full circle and I've finally settled. Well... settled in a place that allows itself to be temporary, thanks to a month to month lease. It's a step toward roots, right? 

Vintage "seashell" reading chair. My favorite piece of 

furniture has been stored for far too long, until now!

Roots are something I want and don't want so badly at the same time. It's a weird feeling. I'm afraid to establish them. I guess it's true that birds fly on until they find their perfect climate. For me, southern California has the right climate, but it's still missing something. Then again, perhaps I'm just missing something that I'll be missing everywhere I go, until I find it: 

my perfect climate.

Braids, Embroidery, and Savings!

 It's always the right time of year to wear sequins, beads, and gold!

Laurence Kazar Cocktail Jacket

Get it here. 

Flashback to the 1970s with this Caro of Honolulu Embroidered Blouse

Click here for details.

...and for everything else I've found lately on the road, click HERE! 

And don't forget: as a "thank you" for keeping gas in my car and food in my tummy while on the road these past four months, enter coupon code YOUROCK at checkout for 20% off your purchase!

Hurricane Mills and a Day at Loretta Lynn's

As I drove across the country, I passed countless signs advertising roadside attractions. I was tempted to stop and check out "The Thing" in between El Paso and Tucson (which according to Wikipedia is a tableau of a mummified mother and child encased in a glass coffin... uhhh...), but I resisted. I did however stop for one of my favorite ladies, Loretta Lynn. Her ranch was about 10 miles off the interstate on the way to Memphis. 

And what's a random afternoon in a new place without a new friend to share it all with?

Vintage and Nashville

Flash forward for a moment to my time back home in southern California with my family and friends. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. My journey across the country was full of so much discovery and so many unbelievable, special, totally unexpected moments that I didn't want to step out of living all of it in the real world to log into the virtual world. Here are some new vintage pieces I found on the road that I just listed in the shop. The photos are taken in my parents' courtyard on the coast of southern California.

I last left you in Chicago, which means the next stop on my very long road home is Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville wasn't initially somewhere I had on my agenda, but I felt a weird obligation to stop by for a night because I knew I wanted to stop in Memphis and Nashville required merely a minor detour. What's a couple hundred miles when you're driving thousands? I can't even express how important Nashville proved to be on my journey. For a few hours of the evening, I completely forgot why I spontaneously fled Denver and then New York City to aimlessly drive around the country. 

The mainstream scene in Nashville is predictably disappointing, but the city does an incredible job at keeping the historical honky tonks booked with new, up-and-coming artists who are influenced by the original greats. I walked into a bar called Layla's Bluegrass Inn and immediately noticed the lead singer of the band. Apparently, he noticed me as well because he had one of the other guys in his band ask me for him, on the microphone, in front of the packed bar, not to leave because he thinks I'm "kinda cute"...

Of course I stayed! Getting to know the locals was a top priority for me everywhere I stopped, and it didn't hurt that this local was also quite aesthetically appealing. I learned that Nick has also been in blues and punk bands, idolizes Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, and drinks whiskey like water (but somehow puts on a great show). He has tattoos and wears cowboy boots, and talks in a southern accent so definitive of Tennessee that you'd think it was part of his act... or a prop to pick up California girls looking to spend a night with a typical yet alternative and very rough around the edges yet gentlemanly country music star.

I can't say this cowboy captured my heart, but he managed to hold my interest for a few hours and offered a mirage of light in a very dark place. He also gave me a CD with his phone number in it and extended the invitation to stay with him whenever I'm in Nashville... 

Does anyone know what Nashville is like in the spring?

Chicago, Illinois

I spent some time in Chicago, Illinois which was the birthplace of both of my parents. As it often goes in the midwest, many of my relatives are still living within 50 miles of where they grew up. Not to say I blame them, Chicago is one of the best cities in the country as far as I'm concerned. It makes sense though, I think, that I'm the first child of two people who migrated out cross-country to California before the age of 20 years old. 

Photos of my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and to-this-day family friends after they moved out to southern California. These could easily be photos of me and some of my friends today! By the way, my dad is the one who looks like Robert Plant.







I always enjoy catching up with my family in the midwest. Somehow a group of people who were raised together have branched out into their own lives, all so utterly unique and different from the others. And while I'm in town, I get to hear the stories of their lives that explain why they've become who they are. Some of them are deeply religious and on a singular track headed in a very specific, predetermined (so they say) direction. I won't pretend to understand it, but it's interesting to see what keeps their spirits alive. Then there's my side of the family with the Arts running through their veins. My uncle has the best collection of music of anyone I've ever known in my life, and when I housesat for him and my aunt for two weeks I spent hours filling the living room with some of the best music in the world. There's a certain peace found in their home, and it was quiet. It was also large and empty and it reminded me that I am alone. Alone in general feels okay these days, but still there's something missing... 

The night before my aunt and uncle came home, I remembered that my aunt had set aside some old family photos and letters that my grandmother had kept for all of the years until her passing 12 months ago.  I put on one of my uncle's playlists (this one entitled "Sunday Morning", which seemed perfectly fitting since it was Thursday night), poured a glass of spicy Malbec, and began to dig through the pile of some of my grandmother's most valuable possessions. Grandma had kept every single letter and card I had ever sent her, and as I read through them I realized on every single one of them I had written that I missed her and wished she wasn't so far away. There's such an important, such a blatantly obvious lesson to be found in this. Be close, both literally and figuratively, to the ones we love. I'm lucky enough that I maintained a close friendship with my grandmother, but I wish I had more time with her. I wish I would have asked her the stories behind her jewelry that I now own, or to tell me about the day in the park during which she and my grandfather took some of the most adorable couple's photos that I've ever seen. 

I've always known the importance of family and of love, but now that I understand too well the burden of regret, I wonder even more pressingly so where to be and who to be with.