Werk From Home: Zoom Outfits 1.29.21

Another week of work, another week of werk from home outfits.  I won't lie, I'm starting to think about this post the night before every work day, which is actually a good thing. Putting in effort into my appearance even for a silly screenshot for a blog that no one reads yet feels silly, but it actually feels good. One of my resolutions is to be camera ready at all times, and this is helping significantly with keeping to that.  I'm also trying to avoid outfit repeating! It's getting a bit tough with how cold it is, and that I'm typically actually wearing my new black and white leopard barefoot dreams blanket over whatever it is I'm wearing. 

MONDAY.

Turtleneck: J. Crew (similar)

It's FREEZING in the City today! It's supposed to rain, but hasn't yet. I'm tired, and wanted to only wear cozy clothes.  This J. Crew turtleneck is one of my favorite and most-worn items of clothing ever, just because it's so comfortable. It's actually an XL so it is huge, but that's what makes it so comfortable.  It's the perfect thing to wear with leggings but to look relatively put together because it's not tight. I got it several years ago and wear it every winter, and I still love it! Black and white stripes are my go-to look in an effort to look pulled together and chic.

January 2021 Favorites

I love monthly favorites because I love consuming! I also love to see what other people have been loving, so then I can get ideas about what else I need in my life. Isn't that what favorites are about? These are the random things that I have been using or consuming during January 2021: 

 

Moleskine Dotted Notebook 

When we were moving out of our Rockridge apartment, I found my old bullet journal that I started using in law school. While I threw that one away, I decided I should implement this system again. I'm now using it as a habit tracker, to take notes about this blog and my actual job, and a to-do list for work and personal things. I take it with me everywhere! Another favorite are these Staedtler pens that I got from Target and use to color in bullet journal pages and the boxes in my habit tracker. 

Meghan Rienks Presets

Okay, I don't know why it took me this long to jump on the presets train, but I think it's because I felt confident in my ability to edit a photo.  What I haven't been able to master, it seems, is the white-washed aesthetic theme for a cohesive instagram feed. This is where Meghan Rienks comes in.  She posted a full instagram story series and a youtube video about how she edits her photos, and I completely bought in.  My instagram feed isn't currently ~aesthetic~ yet because it's a slow process to bury the rest of my non-aesthetic photos, but it's getting there! Definitely worth the $25 to get everything on theme. 

Home Styling Flashback: Westwood, Los Angeles Apartment Tour

My first Los Angeles apartment tour! Welcome to a blast from the past, one of the original posts from another iteration of my blogging self, "Best, Isabella."  I lived in Westwood, Los Angeles, CA when I was in law school at UCLA a few years ago.  It was a great time and I miss LA dearly.  Below, please find my first foray into home decor blogging, a post originally published on November 28, 2017.  This was the first apartment I was really proud of and the first apartment I ever paid for on my own, while living on my own, and I will always be proud of it and look upon it fondly.  Please bear in mind I was still in my Disney phase and working on a tight budget. Enjoy!

Surprise, I'm leaving LA. I got a new job in San Francisco at the beginning of December, so I'm moving out of my apartment and into my parents' house for a bit. I was in such a rush to leave my current job and move home that I hadn't really thought about how much I loved my rickety old apartment (my cousin Emily calls it "vintage"). I've lived in several apartments before and I've never been so sad to leave one-- probably because this is the longest I've lived in my own apartment (over 2 years) and also probably a little because I'm not moving into another apartment, but I'm moving home. This apartment had really become my own, and despite the gross carpet and minuscule "junior bedroom," I will really miss it. Before I started packing everything up, I tried to capture my favorite parts of the apartment to share and also to look back fondly on.

A LOT of the pieces I've had since I started college. A LOT are also from Ikea.  Some things aren't shown because they just aren't in a cute state, or just aren't cute, generally.  One thing I've noticed about house/apartment tours is that the photos are always curated to show the best parts of a home, not all parts. You never really see someone's hamper or dish rack, and for some reason you can always find some staged freshly sliced bread. 

I'm really obsessed with looking at how other people decorate their living spaces. Notably, I always seem to be looking for inspiration on The Everygirl, ManRepeller's Real Cool People, Real Cool Apartments, and the home tours on Cup of Jo.  I hope eventually someone can find this post and get some cool inspo from it too!

Werk From Home: Zoom Outfits 1.22.21

Anyone still wondering what to wear as a lawyer, working and appearing remotely via zoom or other videoconferencing apps? I am on a journey to document my outfits every (work) day, so that people can see how to meet the expectations placed on female lawyers in terms of workwear, even in a remote environment. 

MONDAY.

 

Dress: Who What Wear for Target

Not an official work day, but here I am catching up on all my work.  I was wearing a Hillhouse nap dress but it is too see-through to wear outside, so I opted for this next best thing, a Who What Wear flowy tie-dye dress from Target.  It's a beautiful day in the city and I need an excuse to go outside. No Zoom meetings scheduled today, but I still wanted to look nice, in keeping with my new outlook on life: Life's No Dress Rehearsal.  I'm also honestly very into my hair here, where I actually brushed it up into a top knot but brushed down some strands of long fake bands to make it look ~intentional~ and for the most part I think it's actually working.  I've also noticed that I wish I was wearing earrings in every photo I take, so I am reconsidering storing my earrings somewhere in this office to put on for zoom (and for these posts). 

Inauguration Day! What to do With Campaign Merch

Happy inauguration day all! To celebrate, I am wearing some campaign merch for potentially the last time.  I am a Kamala head for life, as a fellow Bay Area female attorney, and I sure did invest in her merch, especially when she was running for President on her own. 

My inauguration day LEWK, featuring "That little girl was me,"
purchased immediately after the second Democratic Presidential primary debate

I am an avid collector of merch, and have been since I was a child.  Take me to a concert or even a musical? I need to check out the merch tent.  $100 for a Britney Spears sweater that I could buy at target for under $20? Gimme, gimme more.  If someone creates a design that I like, for something I like, then I MUST have it on a t-shirt or sweatshirt. 

San Francisco Apartment Update: One Month's Progress

We've been in our San Francisco apartment for a little over a month now, and I think it's safe to say that I have gotten a lot done in this short amount of time.  It's amazing what some existing furniture and will to decorate will do!  While I'm feeling comfortable and at home in our new space, there is still a lot to be done, and I think the rest will come slowly but surely.  For now, I wanted to share what we have managed to put together in the space to date.  

Our couple decor vibe is urban modern with hints of humor.  I typically run everything by Andrew but I try to manage to add the tiniest little bit of glam eclectic since I buy everything anyway.  This new San Francisco apartment is approximately double the size of our Rockridge apartment, so we needed to buy new furniture to fill the space. It helps that I have been dreaming about accent chairs and dining tables since we were in our little 400 sq. ft. apartment so I was able to pull the trigger relatively quickly, especially when I found things on sale during Black Friday. 

LIVING ROOM.

Chairs: CB2 | Couch: Wayfair | Rug: Overstock | Coffee Table: West Elm | Marble Placemats: CB2
Arched Mirror: Homegoods (similar) | Nesting tables: Pier 1 | Three-bulb lamp: Ikea
Needlepoint Pillows: Jonathan Adler, Catstudio | Blue abstract pillows: Dusen Dusen | Love YSL print: Etsy
Candleholders: Amazon | Hobnail Planter: Amazon

This is one of my favorite vignettes (if it can even be called that, being so large) in the apartment, because it is the most done ... other than the candlesticks without any tapered candles in them. I've been meaning to buy pink or red tapered candles to put up in celebration of Valentine's day, but alas, here we are with a singular forest green candle in one of three holders. 

These Goop x CB2 chairs have been on my lust list for a while now. They are so large and comfy and I would sit in them every time I went into a CB2.  We had already signed our lease by Black Friday but we wouldn't be moving in until mid-December.  I went ahead and ordered the chairs and our new dining table because CB2's buy more save more sale was too good of a deal to pass up.  I ended up saving around $550 on the two chairs and the dining table! That's almost the price of one of the items!  While I will admit this is more than I've ever spent on furniture before, it is furniture that I have been thinking about for months if not years and they bring me joy to look at, sit on, and use. If anyone else is considering buying furniture from CB2, I would also advise waiting until one of these sales. I shall report back if they happen on any other occasion other than Black Friday. 

I'm also still looking for the perfect pedestal table to replace that Pier 1 table between the CB2 chairs, which is just sort of a placeholder for now.  I currently have my eye on this one from DWR. 

Werk From Home: Zoom Outfits 1.15.21

Since I'm really not wearing outfits these days, but I am pretty regularly appearing on Zoom, I thought it might be helpful to show what I have been wearing for my lawyerly zoom meetings on a daily basis.  There's a reason I've kept all these work clothes right? While I don't usually meet with clients every day, I want to start trying a little bit harder every day to look nice on zoom and this series will hopefully motivate me to do so instead of looking like a slob every day.  The next step is going to be to stop wearing soft elastic pants with these tops. 

A screenshot from last week, since I just started taking these Zoom photos on Wednesday of this week: 

Top: Sandy Liang via Poshmark (similar)

I took this screenshot last week when I was testing out how my new Zoom background looked with this new print up. I did not have any client meetings, but I was taking other photos of myself and I also wanted to start dressing up.  However, this is the only day I dressed up last week.  I love this Sandy Liang top because it looks professional, but has an elastic bottom which makes it feel appropriate to wear with non-black leggings and also has  a kangaroo pocket which I keep my phone in all day. 

Hindsight is 2020: Best and Worst Purchases

Shopping is my easy button in life (per Glennon Doyle, who I imagine I will quote in every other post going forward).  An "easy button" is what you choose to do that you think will take you out of pain and stress, but really just help you abandon yourself (thanks Glennon).  Reading this last night was a huge realization for me and my shopping addiction.  Anyone who knows me knows I have a problem with shopping, and until last night I've basically accepted it as *cute* and *quirky* personality trait.  I'm also usually pretty proud of the *good* buys that I've made and how all of my possessions display my elevated taste and prowess for finding bargains.  The problem is all the actually bad buys that I've made that I don't share with anyone. 

This purpose of this post is to highlight good buys that I've made, or the purchases that I used the most last year.  It should also remind me of everything I have that's good and that I don't need even more things. 

Similarly, I want to highlight things that I bought and did not work for me but may have bought in an "easy button" fashion and I now regret. 

But for now, let's start with best purchases: 

1. Dyson V8 Animal Cordless Vacuum

Full disclosure, this was actually gifted ... by my PARENTS! Ha. I wish I got gifted items.  If you actually follow bloggers, this should be no surprise, and you can just read their very well-thought-out reviews and sponsored links. I'm just linking to an eBay find because that's what came up on google when I searched it.  Anyway, I'm not exaggerating when I say this vacuum changed my life. It is cordless, so you don't have to worry about the added extra "stress" of plugging in a vacuum and only vacuuming to places that it extends to.  The attachment shown in the photo is also my favorite for what is essentially spot treatment for vacuuming. It makes me want to vacuum anything and everything! And I do.  We still kept our regular plug-in shark vacuum for when we need to do heavy-duty vacuuming of our rugs (which I admit, is not happening as frequently as it should due to our spot-treatment habits) but this makes cleaning up crumbs and other messes so easy. I LOVE IT!

Andrew's Office Makeover: Concept

While we initially moved into the City because Andrew thought he would be reporting to work in-person, COVID and the City had other ideas this January 2021.  Now that he will be working remotely TOO, we needed to give him a nice office space to work out of so that he could feel comfortable and efficient for his new job. 

Office inspo from Emily Henderson

The main decor items that we already have to work around include: 

This pillow: 

Ralph Lauren

and this chair mat:

Amazon

Here is the room we initially envisioned would house our peloton but will now be housing a working Andrew: 

Unfortunately for me, the room does not give enough clearance at the top for any sort of arm movement while on a peloton, so now it lives in what would have been my cloffice (closet/office) and made it a goffice (gym/office).  Fortunately for Andrew, now he gets to share the triangle room with our vacuums as his very own office. 

As you can see, it needs some help.  I, of course, spent lots of time thinking about how the space could work better and what could be added, sourcing some items/options for him (below) and even including my own rendering of my vision for the space.

Our New San Francisco Apartment!

Renting an apartment during COVID has been an experience for sure, but we're City folk now and I'm ready to let my inner interior decorator shine.  Over the next few posts of this blog, you will get to see a before and after of my new San Francisco apartment!  I've been so excited to decorate that it has consumed all of my waking moments for the past 3 weeks.  It's starting to get to the point where I feel like taking photos of it and sharing with the world, which I think is a pretty good sign.

Full disclosure: This is NOT what our apartment currently looks like, although it is a nice colorfully decorated apartment belonging to the previous tenants. I didn't get very many photos of our current apartment while empty, and this photo was taken when we were still touring the apartment and deciding whether we wanted to rent it or not.  As you'll see from the pictures below, this is a much more palatable photo. While this decor is definitely a lewk for some, it's not necessarily our vibe. I'm excited to show everyone what we have turned it into! 

This new apartment checked many of the boxes as to what I was looking for: 

• Great natural light
• Extra bedroom for office space
• Room for a dining table and additional living room seating
• Dishwasher 
• Walking distance to Pac Heights shops and restaurants

One thing it didn't have: an in-unit washer and dryer. But hey, a girl can dream.

2021, will you think about me?

With the start of the new year, I am constantly prompting myself, what am I even doing in this life? What are my goals?  Untamed by Glennon Doyle is my first book of the month, and it is constantly inspiring me to change the way I live my life: outside of the cages of the expectations that others are placing on me!   

2021 marks the birth of what I have always wanted this blog to be.  A place to share how I style my outfits and rooms, and describe how much effort I actually put in to what (I hope) appears to be effortless.  My main goal for 2021 is: DON'T BE LAZY! 

Blazer and Pants: Chelsea28 for Nordstrom

Goals for 2021: DON'T BE LAZY, broken down into 5 tangible resolutions.

1. Keep my apartment and myself photo ready at all times.  

This may sound extremely superficial, and I guess it is.  It is really shorthand for "keep your apartment (and yourself) clean and tidy and composed so you can take photos of it at any time and you also won't be embarrassed about it on the off-chance you see people you know." It is also a reminder for me to take care of my things, live in a house and wear outfits that I can be proud of on a daily basis.  Because if not now, when? Why should I wait for another life to wear and display nice things?

HALIKA DITO!

Welcome to Halika Dito! In Tagalog, "halika dito" means "come here."  I'm branding my new internet presence in this way because I don't want it to be all about me, I want it to serve as a place for people to come when they are looking for inspiration or tips on home decor and general lifestyle that is actually attainable.  Especially when they need a break from their day jobs.  From time to time, I'll also be featuring items that I found or are for sale in my Poshmark closet.  So please, come here, if you are looking for tips on home, personal, and life style.

Bedding: Dusen Dusen | Nightstands: West Elm | Lamps: Ralph Lauren via HomeGoods 
Pajamas: Victoria's Secret | Scarf: Acne Studios

My mission: Creating a space to inspire you to dress yourselves (personally and professionally) and your home with humor, personality, and without effort.  

My personal style: classic feminine and bold with a hint of eclecticism. 

My home style: urban modern with a sense of humor

What you'll find on this blog: home decor and shopping tips, rankings of shops in the Bay Area, reviews,  outfit planning, and more!

As you will see on my About Me page, this is about the third iteration of a blog that I've tried to consistently maintain.  Something about this time feels different (probably because I'm currently reading Untamed by Glennon Doyle and my Knowing is telling me this is true), and I'm excited for what's to come. 

So please, continue to come here, and follow along on this journey. 

Best,

Isabella