Big Sur

It has taken me a little while to get through all the photos from our August California Trip and even longer to get final post put together. Today I wanted to share some of my favorite snaps from our time in Big Sur. We rented a convertible towards the start of our trip and drove to Napa & Sonoma from San Francisco (as you saw in my posts here, here and here). Afterwards we headed off to Big Sur and Lake Almanor to finish our trip.

Napa Day 2

Our second day in Napa we were up bright and early for our hot air balloon ride. Afterwards we went back to our hotel so that we could shower and get ready for a day of winery visits. We started at Nickel and Nickel, which was delightful. We were in a small group for our tour that brought us around the beautiful property and into their cellars and also taught us quite a lot about wine-growing. The tasting was great, in a beautiful sit-down setting. We couldn't resist picking up a bottle of our favorite wine to bring home.

Napa Day 1

Outfit 1 - Shirt : Urban Outfitters / Jeans : Rag & Bone / Shoes : Sam Edelman / Hat : NYC street purchase (similar) / Sunglasses : Urban Outfitters / Bag : Forever 21 (similar)

Outfit 2 - Romper : Loft (similar) / Jacket : Forever 21 (similar) / Shoes : Loeffler Randall / Sunglasses : Urban Outfitters

Napa has been on my list of places to visit for awhile now. When we first started planning this trip to Northern California there was no way we weren't going to make a Napa detour. I asked tons of friends for recommendations on where to eat, where to stay and most importantly which vineyards to visit before our visit. On the Monday morning of our trip we picked up our rented convertible and headed out of San Francisco to wine country.

Hot Air Ballooning in Napa

Going up in a hot air balloon has been on my bucket list for awhile. The idea of riding in a basket that is being carried by a big balloon is literally straight out of a children's book. When planning our Napa trip we learned that there are a number of ballooning companies that do sunrise trips over the vineyards, which sounded like an amazing experience. Never ones to shy away from a unique opportunity, we booked a flight for our second day in Napa.

San Francisco

We decided to take advantage of Labor Day Weekend this summer and plan a trip to the West Coast. We used San Francisco as our base - a few days in the city, then head to Napa & Big Sur and end with a weekend at a friend’s lake house. It was so nice to get away from the hot, humid weather in New York and explore some new cities and see some amazing natural landscapes. We started our trip with a weekend in San Francisco where we have many college friends currently residing.

Packing For : San Francisco

We are heading out to California on Friday for a multi-city trip and I could not be more excited to get out West. We will be visiting San Francisco, Napa, Big Sur and Lake Almanor. I was in Los Angeles for the Create+ Cultivate conference in May but I have not been to San Francisco since I was about 14 years old and the other places on our itinerary I have not been to ever!

Create & Cultivate Conference : Entry 1

In May I attended the Create + Cultivate Conference in Los Angeles. I assume many of you haven't heard about Create + Cultivate and are not sure what it is. Rather than paraphrase, I will give you their own words to sum it -

Create + Cultivate is an offline conference and online platform for female entrepreneurs in the digital space. We create inspiring environments that seek to enlighten, entertain and inform.
source

I had heard about C+C for the first time last fall, right before their Chicago conference was taking place. There were a ton of bloggers, entrepreneurs and influencers that I follow who were speaking and attending the event. At that time all the event tickets were sold out, but I immediately marked my calendar for when tickets would go on sale for their next event. The spring conference in LA worked out with my schedule and I signed up right!

I took a ton of photos during the conference and have pulled together my favorites to share with you guys. I decided to break this up into two posts rather than one lengthy one. Below you'll find my first entry and my second entry will be a fast follower! I hope you enjoy!

Venice Beach

We spent two nights in Venice to start off our long weekend in California. I had only been to Venice once before and it was just for the day, so I was excited to spend a little more time in the neighborhood. It also is close enough to Santa Monica that we could spend some time there as well.

Being in California, the first thing I noticed that was different than New York City were all the blooming flowers around. Since the warm weather has not been around too long in NYC we haven't had too much green pop up yet. But Venice was full of color and amazing floral smells wafting through the air just walking down the street. I especially loved how the bright red flowers in the image above popped against the white wall and wooden door. 

Let’s Getaway To : LA

I’m traveling to L.A. next week with my sister and have begun thinking about what I want to pack along. Since we will only be there a handful of days, I want my clothing options to be versatile and simple so that they can be paired together in multiple ways. A tip for packing no matter where you are going - stick to a cohesive color palette, that way you can easily mix and match what you brought without having to worry about items clashing. A few staples are on my list (denim shorts, leather tote bag, grey tank), as well as some warm-weather basics (panama hat, sunglasses, white eyelet). But I also had to throw in a few Cali-inspired items (palm tree clutch, placed floral blouse). 

When planning your wardrobe for any trip,considering the temperature and weather where you will be visiting is a must. But another thing you might want to consider is the personality of the city you will be in. When in Paris, for example, skinny cropped black pants and a striped shirt would suit you well or while in Miami you’ll probably want a handful of bright colors and whites in your suitcase. The same could be said of L.A. and it’s various neighborhoods, all with a California vibe yet still different personalities. I thought these unique California attitudes were a great starting point for my packing list. As you can see above I separated my clothing and accessories into possible outfits. Given the way all the items work together however, there are tons of outfit options just from this small set of pieces. Which means you can have a few outfit ideas planned ahead of time yet still see how you feel that day and go from there. *I have included a cleaner view of my list items at the end of the post for easy packing reference as well!

We will be spending a few days at the beach in Santa Monica and Venice, then heading to West Hollywood for the rest of trip. Visiting Rodeo Drive and checking out the Downtown scene are two plans on my trip itinerary. But the event I am most excited for is the reason I am going in the first place to L.A. - The Create and Cultivate conference! I am looking forward to learning a lot about being a creative individual in the digital world and how to improve Fizz and Fade for all of you! Plus speakers include the likes of Chelsea Handler, Rachel Zoe and Jessica Alba, so of course I am excited about that as well!

Follow me on Instagram (emilykfarina) to follow along with my trip and conference.

Have any tips on where we should go, what we should see or where to eat? I’d love to hear them in the comments below!

Venice

Rag & bone Panama Hat 

Current/Elliot Slouchy Shorts

Splendid Chambray Shirt

Sole Society Crossbody Bag

T by Alexander Wang Grey Tank

Madewell Kana Gladiator

Quay Sunglasses 

Downtown

Aurelie Biderman Takayama Bracelet

Ella Moss Ailani Dress

Rebecca Minkoff Suki Bag

Dolce Vita Lyndon Gladiator

Halogen Cropped Leather Jacket

Illesteva Leonard Sunglasses

Beverly Hills

Madewell Tote

Uniqlo Eyelet Blouse

Haute Hippie Shorts

Dorothy Perkins Blush Blouse

Star Mela Tiki Clutch

Tory Burch Espadrille

After a long hiatus during 2014…

It's been a long time since I posted on my blog here, and now I'm back! I've spent the past 17 months in business school classes, making new friends and exploring life in a new city, Washington, D.C. 

I've realized I missed the creative outlet my blog provided and have decided to return to posting. While business school has been busy the past year, it has also allowed me more free time to travel. Here is a visual diary of some of my travels from the past year.