THIS WEEKEND I was fortunate to have a little time off from the hustle and bustle to visit my family in South Orange County, but before that I stopped in Costa Mesa to meet up with my best friend, Abby, who I went to UCI with years and year ago. We met at the OC Mart Mix in the SOCO District, and it was my first time there. I guess I came on a good day, because there was a farmer's market with food trucks out in the parking lot, and inside the OC Mart Mix. there was an event going on with little booths from local businesses, so all the pop up shops had food and treats out for shoppers.

We walked around for a couple of hours, had some delicious mango iced tea (on tap!!) and macarons from the tea bar, Seventh Tea Bar which I'm told is a new addition to Portola Coffee Lab, which is perfect because I don't drink coffee. Salted Caramel is my favorite macaron flavor but I was more impressed with the chai one here. My favorite salted caramel is still the one at Merely Sweets in Brea, hands down. (It has actual chewy caramel in it along with the salty caramel filling!)

There were so many little shops that I loved, especially the antique/vintage home shop, Heirlooms and Hardware, that had a cubby filled with bags and purses. There was the most perfect small leather backpack that I really wanted but it was over fifty dollars and I couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a used bag. My favorite was probably the cheese shop. It had so many beautiful stinky cheeses, and starter kits and sandwiches. I want to work there! My second favorite place was called Rolling Greens, a home and garden store.

Abby and I also shared some blueberry cheesecake gelato from N'ice Cream. Amazing. Too much goodness. If you haven't been out there and you live in the area or are headed out that way, definitely check it out! I need to go back because I feel like I didn't have enough time to see everything, and there are plenty more food and drink I need to same there, from the oyster bar and the panini place and the cheese shop... They even had a spice shop! 

Then I went out to Rancho Santa Margarita to visit my 7 week old niece Quinn and my sister and mom. We went to sushi and shared some sushi and bibimbap in Irvine and then went back to my sister's home and snuggled up with Quinn and ate my mom's Kare Kare and banana cake. Lots of eating in one day. I also gave my mom the orchid I got at the farmer's market earlier in the day, as a Valentine's Day present. It was nice to spend time with everyone because it's rare for me to find the time and money to drive down and visit these days.

Outfit details:
coat- c/o Nectar Clothing
beanie- c/o Nectar Clothing
polka dot blouse- Urban Outfitters
high waist side zip jeans- American Apparel
boots- thrifted

So as promised, here's the photo shoot I styled and shot with Emma from Honey Honey Photography. First night shoot I've ever done, and I think it came out great! Models aside from myself were my friends RaeAn and Karlee. (You can click on the smaller pictures to see larger versions!) Also, you can see a few more here. Make sure to check out LuLus.com -- where my dress is from-- and use the special storewide 15% off discount code SOMETIMES at checkout until 1/11/13!

IT'S BEEN ONE week into 2013, and like most people who want to be better versions of themselves, I'm in a state of self-improvement rather than setting specific resolutions. Instead we're making lists of things we want to do. In the spirit of that, J and I have been trying to think of ways to do so, including doing things we haven't done or have been meaning to do. One of the things that falls in the former category is wearing sequins. I don't think I've ever work something with sequins outside of a Halloween flapper costume and some plays/ballet costumes perhaps. Anyway, this is a dress courtesy of LuLus.com, and when I saw it, I thought it would be the perfect New Year's Eve outfit! I like all the little details like the deep cut in the back and the pale silver, pink, and gold tones. Very dainty and not as garish as I think sequins usually are. I also used the dress in the latest photo shoot that I styled and had my friend Emma of Honey Honey Photography shoot. It was the very first night shoot I've done and it turned out wonderfully if I do say so myself. So there's another first, and it's only been one week into the year.

Progress! 

Outfit details:
sequin dress c/o LuLu's, similar one here
suede cat smoking flats c/o LuLu's
Swedish Hasbeens from Modcloth

What are some of your resolutions? On my list of things to do:

Read much much more than I already do, starting with George Saunders' new collection of short stories, which comes out today!!
Apply to some writing fellowships
Run a 5k with Johnny (and train for it)
Submit to lit mags
Get a teaching position at a community college
Use my new sewing machine to make pretty dresses for my brand new very first niece!
Play music (w/Kaitlynn!)
Writewritewrite

Second to lastly, here is a discount code to LuLus.com, for you dear Sometimes Almost Always readers! The code is "SOMETIMES" and gets you 15% the entire site at checkout until midnight on 1/11/2013, so hop to it. Get yourself some duds to start the new year off right! The lovely gals at LuLu's also gave me the best cat smoking slippers, and I wear them all the time. I love that the cat detail is a little subdued so I can wear them every day, but it's still got cat ears!

And, here's a sneak peek of the photo shoot! More to come soon. Probably tomorrow.

ON WEDNESDAY I went to Pasadena with my friends. We worked at American Apparel together and we still hang out a lot, which I love. I miss working with them. We walked around Urban Outfitters and Paper Source and the Container Store trying to get our holiday gifts and trimming, and then I took 'em to The Loved One where we looked through all the pretty vintage finds, and I actually came across a version of my wedding dress by Josie of Frances Baker, along with some pieces from her most recent line. Her clothes are all so lovely! Check out her blog here. You can see a little bit of my wedding dress poking out in front of the brown and gold dress in the photo below. I really love Pasadena. It's definitely on my list of places I'd like to live in southern California.

Afterward, we went to a restaurant called Abricott. It's this super cute little asian-french fusion restaurant with really great quirky decor like framed pictures and a private dining room that was set up like a perfect little home library. My friends Cindy and Karlee had been planning to take me there for my 30th birthday back in October but it didn't work out. I got a pork belly banh mi that was amazing, although a bit expensive compared to Lee's. Johnny didn't like the leftover half I brought home to him, and I think it was because of the added ingredient of kimchi, which I surprisingly liked as an unconventional addition. Add some fries with sriracha and I'm set.

I'm almost done with all my holiday shopping. Now I just have to worry about wrapping. I've got all the trimmings and wrapping papers, but I just need to sit down and do it. I do love wrapping gifts, but I've just been so busy with work and writing lately-- mostly work; I wish it was mostly writing and/or reading. I think I'll try and get it all done tomorrow. 

What about you all? Any fun plans for the days before/during/after Christmas?

What I'm wearing:
wool trench - ASOS
floral dress and black suede booties - c/o Nectar Clothing
opaque tights - American Apparel
red beanie - Krochet Kids

These next photos are from an Instagram installation at the UO in Pasadena. It wasn't finished yet but Karlee and I commandeered it anyway.

Lastly, I've told you about a photo shoot I was a part of, right? Well here's the behind the scenes video for the Fall 2012 shoot I did for Nectar Clothing! You can see more at their website, but I'll post more photos up later!

HEY ALL! It's been over a month since my last post and I can blame that on a lot of things, but mostly it was laziness. There has been a lot going on with work, and trying to write, and  the holidays and in between all that I can't seem to bring myself to do much else. Thanksgiving came and went, I've had a couple of small dinner party get-togethers at my house with my old American Apparel friends who I miss tons (we had an early Christmas shindig), and I'm in the process of submitting some short stories and entering writing contests, so we'll see where that takes me. (Speaking of which, one of my American Apparel friends is the lovely and talented Kaity, who took the photo of me you see above. She's taking a photography class and she won an award with this photo! You can check out her amazing blog here. She's got great taste in books and music and photography. Worth checking out.) The big thing is that my sister is getting married tomorrow at the Laguna Beach courthouse, so Johnny and I are headed there in the morning to witness. And THEN. my niece-to-be, little baby Quinn, will be entering the world in January.

2012 has been a whirlwind year. When Johnny and I talked about it last year, in anticipation of us getting married-- and getting his teaching credential and my master's in creative writing-- we called 2012 our year, like the Zombies song obviously:

Last night I met up with some friends from my M.F.A. program for drinks and caught up, went through the obligatory "What have you got going on in your life?" conversation and drank a couple of beers. I'm always wary of those kinds of conversations because it's kind of uncomfortable to talk about unless you're actually doing something with your life. But these guys are great and we're all kind of in the same boat, floating around trying to make ends meet until we can actually catch that big break, with our writing and our careers and lives in general. I miss that sense of camaraderie for sure. I also miss workshops. 

Anyway, the point is that I'm not quite where I thought I'd be at the end of 2012, but Johnny and I decided we're starting the year mark at March 17th, the day we got married. So we still have a few more months to get our lives on track. Either way, I'm still happy! 

Also! I finally got an iPhone which means I've now got an instagram. Follow me @melissasonico .

One last thing! In honor of the holidays, and to make your season a little brighter, I've got a little something to make shopping a little less stressful (at least when it comes to money). Head on over to my shop, HoneyBee Vintage and enter the code GIFTING2012 to receive 20% off on anything in the store for the entire month! But, to ensure delivery in time for Christmas, make your purchases by Monday 12/17 (especially for international orders!).