{San Francisco Shenanigans}

This weekend was D's birthday. We both took the day off on Friday and drove to San Francisco. We stopped over at Livermore Paragon outlets and did a little shopping. That place is massive and would take all day to navigate! We only had a few hours so we only went to a few stores.

From Livermore, we went straight to an early dinner. If you've ever been to San Francisco, you'll know that the city is very eclectic and is host to many yummy places to eat! For this trip, we went to Park Chow. A charming little restaurant that serves comfort food!

{The food was delicious!}

{The ambiance was perfect for the chilly, cloudy San Francisco day}

After dinner, we went to a San Francisco Giant's baseball game! D and I try to go to a couple or more each season. We scored great seats and the best part is, they won!!!

It was a fantastic start to a fun-filled birthday weekend for D! If you've never visited San Francisco, I definitely recommend! This post doesn't even scratch the surface of all the fun to be had in the city!

xx, Shiela

{Party Decor How To: Wrapping Paper Tissue Poms}

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It's been a weird couple of weeks for me. And by weird, I mean rough! I won't go into details but, let's just say I couldn't for the life of me complete a post on anything! No matter what I started to write about, I ended up deleting the entire post. Anyway, it's Monday and a brand new week! The weird/off/bad last two weeks is now in the past and o.v.e.r. Thank goodness!

I decided to start with a fun, lighthearted post. Last Saturday, I went to a baby shower. I was in charge of making tissue paper poms. I've made these before for D's birthday party (in brown to fit in with the BBQ theme) and another time for my niece's birthday tea party. Needless to say, I'm the go-to gal for making these party poms in our family. Luckily, they're easy to make and reusable. Which is great since buying packs of tissue wrapping paper over and over can get pretty expensive.

Step-by-Step Instructions:
1: Tools - scissors, stapler and string | 2: Stack at least 8 sheets of wrapping tissue paper neatly and position with the shorter end nearest you.  Begin folding approximately 1 1/2 inch sections | 3: Keep folding back and forth until the entire stack of tissue paper looks like an accordion| 4: Staple the middle of the stacked tissue paper to secure | 5: Optional - cut a half circle on both ends | 6: Tie a string around the middle and staple string to secure | 7: Gently pull apart each individual sheet and fluff towards the middle | 8: Repeat on the opposite side | 9: Fluff, adjust and repeat.

Repeat using different colors and sizes. To make different pom sizes, cut the tissue papers in half. 

xx, Shiela

{Louis Vuitton Base Shaper: UPDATE!!!}

In my last Louis Vuitton base shaper update blog post, I reviewed the base shaper I purchase (and later returned) from an Etsy shop. During my initial search, I came across The Base Shaper Store but opted to try the Etsy shaper first. I'm obviously regretting that decision...but, you live and learn!

Anyway, back to The Base Shaper Store shaper. It is made simple and very effective. I'm a huge fan of the fact that it's clear, lightweight and has smooth edges. It doesn't have fancy pockets which I'm fine with since I typically keep my makeup, receipts and other loose items in separate pouches anyway.

{The base shaper is made of acrylic}

{The corners are smooth to avoid damaging the interior of the bag}

{No worrying about matching the interior with the clear acrylic!}

The most important thing is that it does its job! As you can see in these pictures, visually, the difference is very subtle. But, the fact that this simple technology preserves the overall shape and integrity of my bags, makes me an instant fan!

{Before LV Speedy 30}

{After LV Speedy 30}

I also purchased one for my LV Neverfull GM. I hesitated for a second because for this bag, I thought having interior pockets was important. This bag is HUGE and from other reviews, it's easy to  "lose" items in it. Ultimately, I decided to purchase one for this one too...and, I'm VERY glad I did!

{Same clear acrylic, only a bit larger to fit in this beast of a bag}

{The base shaper isn't skimpy. It fits very snug against the corners of the interior}

{Before LV Neverfull GM}

{After LV Neverfull GM}

Another plus is that I'm still able to take advantage of the extra feature of cinching the sides of my LV Nevefull GM to change it's shape when I need to. 

I highly recommend this base shaper. I've already told a good friend who has a huge Louis Vuitton collection and she's ordered a couple and loves them! I hope this helps some of you out there!

xx, Shiela

| Note: Item(s) mentioned above were purchased with my own money. I was not paid to review |