Ellie-Style, Rooftop Drinks in San Francisco

Andy's cousin came to town on a business trip a few weeks ago, so we arranged to meet him one night. He was staying at a swanky hotel on top of Nob Hill in San Francisco, so that's where met him. When we got there, he told us he had heard mention of a rooftop bar with views of the city, so we jumped on the idea. We took the elevator as far UP as it would go. At the top, we were greeted by a live pianist playing on a baby grand. He was surrounded by numerous little tables with candles, and then magnificent floor to ceiling windows. We chose a table next to a window and admired the city views while we waited for our martinis to arrive. It was truly like something out of the movies. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like lugging my camera along (big mistake), so I don't have any photos of the night. The memory will have to suffice.

New hairstyle! I don't know if I like it, but it was fun to try.

Vintage jacket (from here), New York & Company top, CAbi skirt, TJ Max purse, Target tights, Korean boots

Ellie-Style, Brunch

Andy and I recently went for brunch in Emeryville, Oakland and this is what I wore. (I'll write a brunch review of the place we went in a future post.) Our Oakland weekends lately have been sunny and warm, around 60 degrees. The flowers and blossoms are also starting to come out, which is fun. Having just moved here from Virginia, a March spring is very exciting! I am not used to this warm of weather or seeing signs of spring this early. It has definitely made my heart lighter and puts a spring in my step. I will be excited to start brunching outside more as the weeks progress. Yay for spring! And speaking of spring, this light blue sweater with rolled up jeans was a perfect color and style for the day.

TJ Max sunglasses, old Target sweater, TJ Max purse, Gap jeans, h&m flats

Ellie-Style, biking Sonoma

Yikes, is it the last day of February already, how did that happen?? Time really flies, speaking of, this Ellie-Style is from a few weeks ago when Andy and I biked around Sonoma tasting wine. It was a wonderful day spent in wine country, so I wanted to be sure to look the part. Knowing we would be biking, I had to dress practical (ie: no mini skirts), but I also wanted to look nice enough to be in a variety of tasting rooms acting like I know the ins and outs of wine, ha! I knew that the day would start and end with fairly cool weather, but mid-day would be quite warm. I chose this combination of rolled up jeans and a cotton knit sweater with a scarf, and was happy I did so. I could take the scarf off when I was warm, the sweater allowed the breeze through, and the rolled up jeans kept me warm and cool at the same time. Presto, perfect! I would also highly recommend the bike ride through Sonoma that we did. It was easy and beautiful, oh and the wine was amazing.

Trek bike, Korean scarf, street fair sunglasses, Tommy Hilfiger (similar) sweater, Gap jeans, 

Lands End Canvas (similar) loafers, Target camera bag

Ellie-Style Backpacking

This Ellie-Style post is a little different from most. Here in California (Bay Area to be exact) there are tons of outdoor things to do. It is impossible not to spend most of your free time out in nature. Between the beaches and the mountains, the outdoor possibilities are endless. It is good to have some staple clothing items for these adventures. While I love to look pretty, I also enjoy functionality. Being outside hiking most of the day requires more functionality than pretty...but it is possible to have both! At least in my opinion. I chose a girlie pink wicking top, so that not only would I look cute, but I would have the functionality of my top wicking away the sweat and keeping me dry as I hike. My pants are light and quick dry so if I hike through a stream and get wet, they will dry quickly. They also roll up and button, so if I decide to wade into the ocean they won't get in my way. Everything else is pretty basic for hiking. Despite how far out in the wilderness I may be though, I always try to keep a feminine touch, in this case my pink top, and my pearl earrings.

What are your go-to hiking pieces? Do you try to keep femininity while playing outside, or do you let it all go out the window for the sake of necessity?

Ellie-Style Rooftop

Like I always say, I don't claim to know anything about fashion, but I do like to feel good in my clothes while trying to look good. So here's a little piece of my style. Andy and I went to dinner with some friends a few nights ago and decided to snap some pictures before heading out. (We discovered our roof!!) I am so excited that it is already getting dark later. If Andy gets home at a decent time we still have a bit of light left. I am excited for lighter evenings and long strolls around Lake Merritt in the coming months.

  Jacket-Etsy vintage, Blouse(similar)-Forever 21, Jeans-Gap, Clutch-Etsy vintage, Shoes-Steve Madden

Ellie-Style, Restaurant Week SF

It has been quite a while since I've done an Ellie-Style post. Last weekend Andy and I headed into San Francisco for Restaurant Week, so I took the opportunity to snap some outfit pictures. Restaurant Week is a tradition of ours. It goes back to the years we lived in Washington DC. We had a wonderful, knowledgeable friend who always picked the restaurant for us. Twice a year when Restaurant Week was held we would all dress up and enjoy a wonderful 3-4 course meal together at a restaurant that we wouldn't normally go to. It was something I always looked forward to.

Now that we are living in the Bay Area we have decided to continue the tradition. Restaurant Week popped up on my radar so I started researching restaurants. Let me tell you, it was a chore! A fun chore, but a chore none the less. With so many restaurants to choose from in an area that I hard know, I had no direction. I decided to start with the neighborhood that we have visited a few times- The Mission. From there, Andy and I narrowed it down to the kind of food we wanted. We decided on California Fusion...whatever that is. When in California, eat the Californian food, right?

blazer (similar)-JCrew, dress-Target, tights-ModCloth, shoes-Target, belt-clothing swap, purse-Etsy Vintage

So we made reservations at Luna Park. The food was great, like melt in your mouth amazing! Unfortunately it was too dark in the restaurant to take pictures, so I didn't get to document the experience very well...next time. It was a fun first time doing restaurant week in San Francisco. I eagerly await the next time it happens.

 The only picture I have of dinner. We started with goat cheese fondue- amazing!

Ellie Style - Engagement Party

A little Ellie-Style engagement party post. (Not my engagement, I've been married for 3 whole years believe it or not.) These pictures are from over Christmas, but I got too busy to post them. Anyway, a good friend of ours just got engaged so we celebrated in a classy way. He's a Virginia winemaker, so we were sure to drink some good wine. Everyone was dressed in their fancies while we sipped wine, congratulated the couple, and socialized the night away. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the actual engaged couple themselves.

 Scarf - Korea, blouse - TJ Max, clutch - Etsy vintage, jeans - Gap, shoes - Nine West 

...facial expression in the first picture - oh, don't mind me looking stoned. I need to learn to "smize" like Tyra.

I love gold right now! Just can't get enough. Nail polish, polka dots, spray paint...love it all!

 The venue for the party was beautiful! It was at our friend's parents house, who live on the vineyard where he makes wine. The house sits atop a hill, while the vineyard flows out from the house. During the day it is a beautiful Virginia country vineyard view. At night though, this was the best I could do picture wise. Still a beautiful place.

Ellie Style - Apartment Hunting

Oh, just a little Ellie-Style... I don't claim to know fashion or even dress well, but I do love clothes, I like trying to look good while being comfortable, and I enjoy being photographed. So here's some of my style.

Sweater is from a clothing swap, scarf is from Korea, blouse is from TJ Max, jeans are from Gap, shoes are from Target, and my metallic shoulder bag is from TJ Max.

Andy snapped these pictures for me in between apartment hunting in California. The weather was sunny, 60 degrees, and perfect. I can't wait to ditch the East Coast winter coat and bask in the California weather after we move in a few weeks. On a side note...I love wearing color, but most young people I saw in Oakland were dressed in dark colors. I don't know if it's a local style thing, a winter thing, a Cali thing, or what. Either way, I don't plan on ditching color for local style anytime soon.

*An update on finding an apartment in CA. Last week I had written about the competitive apartment market in Oakland. We thought we had found something that we felt good about. Well...since then, we heard that we did not get the apartment. Meaning we would have NO apartment upon moving our life in a truck out to Cali. Then, just yesterday, the rental company told us the apartment was still open after all. Saying we could have it if we wanted it. So now we are in the process of trying to finalize that before we start driving our moving truck on Saturday. Life is crazy!

A Christmas Party

I love a good Christmas party! It is fun to have an excuse to look nice and gorge myself on finger food. There's also usually champagne drinking and good conversations late into the night. I did just those things at our good friend Rachael's Christmas Party last weekend. She was a lovely host and cooked up some amazing little dishes for us to nibble on. I am basking in these last few weeks of being in DC, VA, and MD enjoying friends and holidays before we move to CA.

Getting ready before the party. The obligatory outfit pose. Some Ellie-style. I am happy to say that both the dress and the belt were thrifted. Scarf was a gift from Spain. Shoes are Nine West, tights and sweater are both from Target.

 The lovely host. She was just finishing up some of the cooking when we arrived. We were the first one's there so we popped open some champagne!

 We made the huge mistake of not eating dinner before we arrived. (For Andy, being prompt is more important than dinner!) So obviously he was quite hungry. Luckily we were the first one's there so he had dibs on the food before anyone else.

 Wow, just wow! These were almonds and dates (I think) wrapped in bacon with a sweet soy sauce for dipping.

 This was some kind of chocolate pretzel fudge. Sweet and salty for the win!

It was a fantastic night of Christmas partying in DC!