Crazy 4 my collectables

The Perfect Wrap Dress from eShakti

August 16, 2019 By: Fan

Recently eShakti reached out for a collaboration and I was excited, as they are not typically known for their vintage or retro clothing styles I tend to wear and thought it was a great opportunity to try a new brand. Sizes range from 0 XS – 6X 36!!

I was pleasantly surprised at the vast collection of clothing the website had; everything from dresses, skirts, tops, pants, and they came in such a variety of prints, solids, florals, stripes, checks and more to styles of fit-and-flare, sheath, maxi, wrap, LBD, rompers, jumpsuits, and so much more. Not being familiar with eShakti and how items fit, I choose my go-to style the wrap dress because I knew a wrap dress usually fits my curves pretty well. I selected the fun Owl Print Georgette Midi Wrap Dress and was amazed by the many ways I could add customization! I could select from 8 different hem lengths, 6 different sleeve styles, and 2 different necklines. I read through the online size guide and chose my usual 2X. I actually really liked the dress straight from the pictures and didn’t make any customization. Ordering was super easy and within a week my dress arrived. Here are some pictures of the unboxing. I was surprised that there were no coupons or promotional materials included within the box. But, the dress was well packaged and arrived safely.

The dress looked exactly as pictured on the website and the colorful owls were so cute!! I thought it would be a fun dress to accessorize with cardigans, shoes and accessories because of all the colors. For this shoot I wanted the dress to standout and only added some red accents in my necklace and shoes and my vintage Enid Collins owl purse.

eShakti pleasantly surprised me with the amount of attention to detail on this dress!! The dress fabric is very fine sheer polyester so it hardly wrinkles, something I appreciate. The dress is also lined, has pockets, ties at the waist, has bodice darts and is incredibly lightweight. A true warm weather dress. The dress can take you from work to dinner to weekend in complete style. Because it is a wrap, you decide how much décolletage to show. The dress was so comfortable; I could have worn it all day. It fit me perfectly. Now I am looking forward to ordering more items and trying out the customization tools to have a more custom fitting dress. I like that eShakti has such a vast selection of styles and items so there truly is something for everyone. Hurry on over to eShakti and give them a try, you’ll find pricing is very affordable and there are all kinds of deals to be had, at the time of writing this blog post there is a $35 coupon for new customers!! Try eShakti and let me know what you got and what you think? eShakti is #realfashionforrealpeaople

All pictures by my sweet hubby Gary Greco

Napa Valley Day Trip – Highlights of St. Helena

August 7, 2019 By: Fan

St. Helena California — St. Helena, California

Living in gorgeous wine country California we have so many opportunities to explore new cities located right in Napa Valley. Hubby and I picked St. Helena for a day trip as the city is known for its vineyards, wineries, restaurants, spas, shopping and art galleries so there would be plenty to experience on our trip.

St. Helena is such a cute town with so much charm. We wandered the lovely down town, stopped into shops that had some incredibly unique and one-of-a-kind items like Erin Martin where there is incredible home decor, design services and giftware selection and upon entering you are greeted by a giant dinosaur!!

Erin Martin Dinosaur Napa Valley California

There are trendy women’s boutiques like Amelia Claire where there are beautiful shoes and an amazing selection of collectible Mary Frances novelty handbags… still wish I had gotten the Cinderella Carriage purse. Love this quote and it is so accurate “I should have bought it when I saw it”

We saw some amazing art in the galleries of Caldwell Snyder and I really liked the vintage pop paintings by James Wolanin whose use of color and surfboard resin make the retro mid-century modern subjects pop. You can practically feel the cool pool water!!

James Wolanin Vintage Pop Caldwell Snyder St. Helena — James Wolanin Vintage Pop

There are many restaurants and opportunities for wine tasting of course and on this trip we did indulge with some super yummy espresso gelato and peanut butter chocolate chip gelato over at Caffe della valle as it was a very warm day and we needed to cool off a bit.

Gelato Caffe della valle St. Helena California

Yasmina Greco St. Helena California Napa Valley

We spent a lovely day in a gorgeous Napa Valley city exploring, wondering into shops, and taking some pictures. On our next visit I’ll share our experience at some restaurants (they have a lot of pizza and wine bar places) and I want to explore Calistoga, which is a little town a few miles down the road. Hope you all are having a great summer!!

Collectif Clothing Dolores Doll Dress Review

August 2, 2019 By: Fan

Collectif Dolores Doll Dress Yasmina Greco

“Life isn’t always perfect but your outfit can be”

Having an hourglass figure is not always easy to dress because finding clothing that nips in your waist and compliments your curves is not usually something you can find at the local shopping mall. When I discovered The Dolores Doll dress from Collectif Clothing it immediately became one of my go-to styles.

Many of you who have been following me for a while know about my love of vintage style clothing and styles especially from the 1950s known today as Pinup. I find these 50s styles really fit my shape and I feel really good wearing them. The best part is many of the manufactures are size inclusive and go up to 4X and 5X so almost everyone can look fabulous no matter their size.

The Collectif Dolores Doll dress is a full 50s style swing dress with sweetheart neckline, pleated bust detail and fitted waist. I am wearing the Dolores in dark navy blue polka dots in my standard UK size 18, it has a bit of stretch and comes in many other colors and prints. The dress is so comfortable, zips up the back and has such a lovely fabric. You can create so many different looks with this dress by adding different color cardigans and shoes. For these photos I added a pink cardigan, hair bow, and necklace. I am wearing a pink petticoat underneath. But adding red shoes/cardigan or yellow would really pop and look amazing as well.

The Dolores dress is made from nice weight cotton so it breathes and is perfect for summer. You will definitely be a standout in this gorgeous dress and every season there are new prints too. So hurry on over to Collectif and snap yours up as they do tend to sell out!!

All pics by my sweet hubby Gary

Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Moon Landing – Far Out Exhibit at SFMOMA

July 21, 2019 By: Fan

SFMOMA Far Out Apoll 11 — SFMOMA Far Out Exhibit – Astronaut Space Suits Apollo 11

It was on July 20, 1969 when the first moon landing happened with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins on the Apollo 11 and it was the most thrilling time for space exploration in our nations history and the world. I wasn’t born yet, but outer space travel, discovering new planets and galaxies, and that question of are there aliens or Martians and just the fascination of what would it be like one day for humans to live in space have always fascinated me.

NASA Space Shuttle Extravehicular Mobility Unit Suite

Yasmina Greco SFMOMA Far Out Exhibit 50th Anniversary Apollo 11

San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art (SF MOMA) is holding the Far Out – Suits, Habs, and Labs for Outer Space exhibit July 20, 2019 – January 2020 showcasing artists, architectures, and designers who dared to imagine life far out among the stars. Exhibit includes works by Rick Guidice, Raymond Loewy, NASA, Neri Oxman, Tom Sachs, and others.

Yasmina Greco Coffee at Carlos's Country Kitchen Santa Rosa — Yasmina Greco having Coffee at Carlos’s Country Kitchen

Our day started with breakfast and coffee then a drive into San Francisco. Hubby and I attended the Far Out exhibits opening on July 20, 2019 the very day 50 years ago when Apollo landed on the moon. The exhibit was thrilling!! Set in a darker room with a circular theme (galactic theme) you can see immediately all the space suits designed through the years by various nations.

Clavius Base Space Suite from 2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey - IBM — Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey – IBM

On display is the space suite from the Stanley Kubrick movie 2001 Space Odyssey and we spotted the rumored IMB theory related to the movie and Hal when we looked at the right arm of the space suite and there it is IBM (pictured) Videos play of the moon landing, inside the Apollo 11 with the astronauts and you can see a video of the process of how the space suits were actually made. There are also lots of diagrams and blueprints of space stations and futuristic pods of artist paintings and diagrams of what housing humans might look like one day. We enjoyed the Far Out exhibit at SFMOMA very much and highly recommend it to any space enthusiasts or folks interested in space exploration.

We ended our fun day with a visit to Fisherman’s Wharf. Had some yummy lunch and the seagulls were very aggressive as one swooped down and stole my hubby’s fish-n-chips!! I wore my new Old Navy gingham wrap dress and I was so happy as it barely wrinkled and was so comfortable. The dress is very light and breezy and perfect for a day at the museum and having fun in San Francisco. I am wearing my standard 2X size and Old Navy is very size inclusive so the fit was very comfortable. It is the perfect dress for summer. The dress is currently on sale so hurry on over to Old Navy and snap it up before it sells out.

All pics by my sweet hubby Gary

A Taste of Italy at Ferrari Carano Winery

July 18, 2019 By: Fan

Living in gorgeous wine country California we are fortunate to have world-class wineries so close by and today we visited the exquisite Ferrari Carano winery. The drive was beautiful; it was sunny and warm with a breeze. We past so many lush vineyards and stopped to take pictures along the way. Harvest season has started in Sonoma County but there are still full grape clusters hanging on the vines and they are a wonderful sight to see.

Ferrari Carano Winery is about 30 miles from our home and is located in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley in Healdsburg, CA. The winery is known for their Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blancs as well as reds and desert wines. Let me just say we were in complete delight when we pulled onto the property. The winery looks just like an Italian villa with grand arches, lots of architectural and ornamental details, beautiful windows and is surrounded by stunning ornamental gardens. There are several types of tastings offered, one of which can be experienced in the underground Enoteca Reserve Tasting Bar and you can see a remarkable barrel room on your way down and then there is the II Terrazzo terrace that overlooks the stunning formal gardens and vineyard offering tastings as well.

We spent time exploring the immaculate grounds and gardens. There are over 200 species of trees, shrubs, and florals so there is color year-round. Stunning bronze sculptures, bridges, streams, waterfalls, paths and fishponds are located throughout. It was such a stunning afternoon spent with my hubby in this truly magical location.

I wore one of my favorite Pinup Girl Clothing dresses, as it is such a lovely sundress and I accessorized it simply with a colorful cardigan and my vintage 1950s pink poodle purse. I received so many compliments on my outfit and visitors stopped to take photos with me. It is always so much fun getting to meet new people and it is so sweet when they request photos with me. We will definitely be back to visit Ferrari Carano and will be bringing all of our out-of-town visitors to experience the treasure they have created along with their exquisite wines!!

All pics by my sweet hubby Gary Greco

Curvy Patriotic Styles You Can Rock all Year

July 2, 2019 By: Fan

Curvy Nautical Patriotic Style - Yasmina Greco — Curvy Nautical Patriotic Style – Yasmina Greco

Hello my friends, summer is in full swing and the 4^th of July is in a couple of days. Many of you will be enjoying BBQs, spending time at the beach or enjoying your summer vacations. These patriotic looks I have put together come in a variety of sizes and many in up to size 4X so us curvy girls can definitely wear them all year as the key is in the mixing and the matching of prints and the quintessential red, white, and blue colors we love. You can easily take your outfits to the next level with accessories like cute novelty bags, shoes, and cardigans to rock your 4^th of July style all year long.

I love nautical style and really anything nautical themed because it is so classic. These four outfits I have in my opening photo are very patriotic with a nautical twist and they are so easy to wear. Nautical print dresses are so fun during the summer months and just image wearing one of these in The Hamptons, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, wow, you will stand out with so much style!! You can take elements from each look and wear them all year.

Curvy Patriotic Style Caridgans Sweaters with Yamina Greco — Curvy Patriotic Style Cardigans Sweaters with Yamina Greco

Cardigans and sweaters can indeed work for patriotic outfits by adding the red, white, and blue colors to any outfit. All you need is classic styling and well-fitting dresses or skirts as your base. For these outfits I am wearing what I love and it is novelty prints and polka dots but, I turned them into patriotic styles by adding the red and blue cardigans. My retro Rocket sweater is one of my favorites and it screams patriotic with its red, white and blue colors.

I am obsessed with novelty prints as you know and I love a good novelty print skirt. Yes, a USA themed red, white and blue flag print doesn’t get any better for the 4^th of July but many of these skirts are classic styles with a retro twist that pair so well with red, white, and blue that mixing and matching is effortless.

Hope these outfits inspired some patriotic styles you can rock all year and being a curvy girl it is not always easy to find outfits that fit let alone enhance my curves but all of these outfits are by brands that carry a range of sizes and many up to size 4X and these are incredibly well-made and high quality so they will last many years and become wardrobe staples. Below is a list of all the brands featured in my post.

A big thank you to my sweet hubby Gary for all these fabulous photos.

Happy 4th of July everyone!!

Opening photo:

Crazy4Me Style Nautical T-shirt

Lady V London Nautical Swing Dress

Voodoo Vixen Nautical Dress

Retrospec’d Nautical Skirt

Middle photo:

Polkadot Swing Dress by Co llectif Clothing

Blue Cardigan by Heart of H aute

Rocket Sweater by Miss Fortune UK

Blue Polkadot Dress by Hell Bunny