road trip in autumn

saturday was spent on a mini road trip to occidental/sebastopol area. the goal was to enjoy the scenery, take some snapshots, and burrow through some amazing vintage clothes. all three were accomplished, with two of the loveliest people i could go with, megan & anna.... there is so much to write about this may end up being a manifesto of sorts. i also wanted to, but couldn't cram all of my photos on here, hence my flickr link...

our first stop was in occidental, about an hour and a half north of san francisco. we took an early lunch at howard's cafe which was charming, the food very tasty. i had fresh fruit with yogurt, granola, and raisins. after, we strolled through the neighborhood, stopping in shops and taking photos. there was a garage sale in a place called the altamont, which took us a while to find (it was an old bar & grill) but was well worth it. anna found a cool vintage levi's shirt for her husband, megan found some carved wooden frames, and i found some snowflake garland for christmas.

one of the shops, renga, had lots of little handmade items, mostly found objects reworked into magnificent new pieces,like these postcards made from old record albums records were reborn as sun flowers and bowls, jewelry was made form old watch chains, buttons and charms. anna tried on this gorgeous rhinestone bracelet, not sure what its former life was...cupcake pin cushionsnormally i'm a jewelry girl, but my favorite were these birdhouses...

we hopped in the car and drove through green fields and forests dotted with red foliage until we arrived at aubergine vintage emporium & cafe in sebasopol. this vintage clothing mecca was not only ginormous, it also had a bar/cafe area complete with stage and coin-operated pony. any game plan (xmas gifts?) i had was thrown to the wind, scouring rack upon rack for things i could justify buying. we all seemed interested in dresses, and must have tried on 10 a piece. i left with one dress (pat one the back Me, for showing a little self control), a blouse, a shirt for paul, and a bob dylan album.

the dressing rooms were amazing: wild rod iron and dyed lace sculpture with a skylight right above

megan modeling a gunne sax dress; debating purchases megan is wild about this dress. i think the tag is pretty neat too.hundreds of vintage purses; a rainbow of belts; anna finding bobthe mens section was a fifth of the womens ;)
paul's shirt fit, and more importantly he liked it! it reminded me of a vision street wear pattern