Shop Small Lil Gifties

This year I've decided that I'm going to shop small as much as possible, but I always seem to have trouble deciding on little gifts for friends. So I created this little list of gifties that are all under 20$!!
 Socking Stuffer? Boom. Secret Santa? Pow. Friends gifts with low prices limits? Kablow!
There are heaps more small brands out there, but I chose companies that I have a little connection to so I know you'll be getting good stuff! So inject a little local love into your holiday cheer and check out this gems!

Lil' Gifties

1. Balm Bay: Awesome sugar scrubs and bath bombs! (Use code BECKA15 for 15% off your order!)
2. Richer Poorer: I love socks, so you know I've got a discerning sock palate. I especially love their active wear socks, but check them out and I bet you'll find a perfect pair for everyone on your list! (50% Off with the code "VMFF50" on full-priced goods)
3. Pricklie Pear: I was fortunate enough to win a necklace from this designer, and I love it! She stamps her own metal shapes down in SLO!
4. Meraki: These gorgeous earrings are from the east coast, but I love them dearly! They're made by a college friend of my sister. They're better than most similar earrings I've seen, and they're less expensive!
5. Onyx Exchange: I am not a perfume girl, but I'm madly in love with Onyx's solid perfumes. They're so natural and subtle, so you won't get an Axe style cloud. 
6. Whole Apothecary: My favorite item is their roll-on slumber stick! It's like falling asleep in a lavender meadow.
7. Narts and Crafts : We all have that friend that "just wants a card" or a nephew that wants a gift card, but you wanna wrap it in something special. Natalie makes incredible handmade cards for any occasion, or any food pun. (spoiler alert, yes she's my sister, and her cards are great!)
8.  Often Wander : I am super picky on candles, most are too fake smelling or burn out too quick. These are (dare I say it) perfect. Sarah uses essential oils so all the scents are real and fresh. The soy candle burns slow so you get max amount of hours with your yummy candle. Extra bonus? They're made right here in San Diego!
9. Rebecca Eichten : I love these prints! They're a perfect blend of old school botanical prints with a little whimsy. No matter what type of quintessential plant you want in your life, Rebecca has a gorgeous watercolor of it: cactus, fern, staghorn, they're all gorgeous!

In addition to ordering on their websites, there are heaps of holiday markets happening where these vendors will be out and about! Check out their social media pages for updates on where they'll be and where you can meet a real life artisan!

Amour Propre Collaboration

     

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Amour Propre. Never heard of them? Well they're a great company that aims to decrease bullying by using student advocates and adults that have come out the other side. And also they have cool t-shirts, which is always fun.

     Calvin, the creator of the company, asked me to think a bit about my story before we met up to shoot so that I could have something genuine and unique to say. So I began to think back to high school and middle school, not exactly the best of times. And it really made me realize that as women, we never truly stop being bullies.  Girls make snide comments behind their friend's back, and continue to do so when they're grown women. 

     So even if I aimed my comments at a teenage version of myself, they could easily be applicable to someone my age. As adults we still need to find the courage to stand up for ourselves, to stand up for others. Every time someone makes a "go eat a hamburger" joke the 13 year old in me cringes and tries to hide in the shadows, but the 24 year old puffs her chest out and looks them in the eye. Insulting my body won't make you love yours more, Insulting my style won't make you trendier, Pointing out my dorkiness won't make you any cooler. 

     Instead, work on loving yourself and loving the people around you, every dorky bit of them. I stand by my senior year motto: You do You.

"Be yourself, everyone else is already taken." -Oscar Wilde

Fall Forward for Fun

 

      So I've reached that off point in the year where I gear back up to apply for grad schools and I may have only a year left of school free time here in San Diego. So here's my list for fall!

     -Julian is a great little town in east county, and somehow I've never been. So what better time than apple picking season-aka apple pie season!

     -Even with all this fun, I need to make sure I've got my list ready to go when apps get released on October 1.

     -With everyone going back to school the beaches finally won't be as crowded but it's still plenty warm to frolic around!

    - I've gotten pretty comfortable in my breakfast, brunch, brinner routine. But that's no way to live, time to get a bit more adventurous in my food realm!

     -Any article of about moving to a new place will tell you that the hardest thing is that you're on your own when it comes to exploring. So I want to push myself to do one new fun thing each week so that I can finally start crossing stuff off my SD bucket list!

     -Between working 3 jobs, modeling and going on weekend trips, my room is a mess.  It'll be nice to start with a clean surface before heading into application time.

    -Last week I was able to walk for a San Diego designer in LA Fashion week. It was kind of incredible to walk for a packed house at a big event. Hopefully the open calls are on days I can actually make this time!

     -San Diego has heaps of Dia de los Muertos celebrations, so I'm hopign to make it to at least one this year!

     -I'm chronically late with deciding my Halloween costume. This year I'm aiming to decide a month before to allow the max amount of thrifting and creativity!

So that's my list for Autumn! If you want to join me on any of these activities, or think that there are major SoCal activities that I'm missing, let me know!

Keep Adventuring!

California Scrub Company

 Skin: We've all got it, so let's treat it right! I got an offer from California Scrub Company to try out their product, and since I like it so much, I'm gonna tell you about it!
So here's little Q&A with myself for you.

What's with all the hype about coffee scrubs?
     We all love to exfoliate, it makes our skin soft and gets rid of black heads. But until recently the main exfoliating agents were salt, ground nuts and evil microbeads. Salt is not great if you have a grey water system because it may kill your plants. Ground nuts are often too rough and large and can actually leave small cuts on your skin and cause further damage (warning to St. Ives Almond and Apricot scrub users: STOP NOW). And lastly micro beads...They are covering our oceans soil, filling up the gills and bellys of creatures and take a whole lotta time to break down. So this leaves coffee grounds: You'd already put them in compost, so we know they break down fast, the pieces are small and soft so no damage to your skin, and they're basically considered trash, so you're not creating a new product. So all around, pretty great!
     The caffeine also does other things like tighten your skin and reduce stretch marks, but that's all individual preference.

 What's so special about Cali Scrub Co?
 1. Upcycled coffee grounds. They get the already used grounds from Rawvelution in Santa Monica (down the road from them) and make this "garbage" into an awesome product for us to use.
2. Zero Plastic. I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but their packaging is a mason jar. Recycle it, reuse it, whatever, it probably won't go in a landfill for a billion years.
3. Ingredients you can understand. I've baked with vanilla, cinnamon AND cloves! I've gotten that on my skin and know it causes no damage or extra sensitivity to sunlight (I'm looking at you Salicylic Acid).
4. It makes your skin feel and smell great, and who doesn't love that!?

Ok, you've convinced me, now what?
Go check out their awesome website, learn more and maybe even buy one of their 3 awesome scents!

If you want to live somewhere where things are made, you need to buy things that are made in that country. Shop Small. Shop Local.

Summer time Sweetness

     Summer fruit is so delicious! But so many of them are full of the sugars that don't make our tummies as happy as possible. And that's the last thing you want as you're flying down and slip-and-slide!  So here's a little info on the summer fruits that will keep your tummy happy (in moderation) and still let you enjoy all the sweetness of summer!! Along with a fun easy treat to make!

     As a general rule, stay away from stone fruits, or fruits with a pit in the center (peach, plum, cherry, nectarine). This is the hardest thing for me personally, because these fruits are really only good during the summer.  Berries are easy, because you only have to steer clear of blackberries and boysenberries. So feel free to do all the blueberry, strawberry, raspberry picking you like! Although you should avoid watermelon, but you can embrace cantaloupe and honeydew! If you live in an area where you can get tropical fruits, get excited! Pineapple, starfruit and passionfruit are all fair game! So although you may have to miss out on a few summer fruits, you may get an excuse to try some new ones.
     Just something to keep in mind, all fruits are full of fiber and sugar, which isn't a bad thing. But if you shock your system with more than you typically have there could be... adverse events... Everything in moderation!
    Now on to a sweet treat!

1 Melon
Some yogurt (I like plain)
Drizzle of Maple Syrup
A few Berries
Granola

1. Cut and scoop the melon

2. Fill it with yogurt

3. Tops with granola, berries and syrup
4. Enjoy the delicious!

Cat Cafe. Cosplay. Comicon.

     I got the opportunity to work downtown during ComiCon at San Diego's Cat Cafe (cosplaying as Catwoman)! So here's a run down on my first experience with both cosplay and cafes with kitties!

     The Cat Cafe in San Diego was one of the first in the United States and since January (when they opened) there have been 54 adoptions! All cat cafes work differently, but this one works with the local humane society and functions as basically a foster. The only prerequisite for a cat going to the cafe is that they get along with lots of other cats.

Campbell loves any lap!

    There are currently 12 kitties at the cafe and they are all up for adoption.  After 90 days at the cafe they go back to the Humane Society. This has only happened twice and both of those kitties immediately adopted as soon as they went back.  It's a great place to interact with cats in a semi normal environment, but they do go through the same cycles of activity and cat naps as kitties in a house do. So there is a chance that you could get there when all the little babes are sleeping. I recommend going between 8 and 10 when they're most active.

Pocahontas loves a good nap after sprinting around the room.

     Over the 4 days of ComiCon we probably had about 400 people come through to see the kitties along with all the people that just bought coffee or grabbed a flyer. I hope that this idea continues to grow because it seems to be a great way to give these kitties more exposure to different people and to spread the message that adoption is the best option!

On to Comicon!

     Basically Comicon is a mix of Halloween and Disneyland,  except there's more free stuff and less crying children.  The streets of Downtown are full of people dressed from every fandom imaginable.  From Marvel and DC comics to Disney to obscure anime shows, you will see someone in a costume you recognize and you will get extremely excited. For me it was a girl dresses as "Fantasy Tina" from "Bob's Burgers".

I also got super excited about this guy, I bet you can guess why.

     These 4 days of events bring 135 millions dollars of revenue into San Diego County.  This year, 130,000 tickets were sold each day, but with so many fun things to do outside the convention center, you don't need a ticket to get in on the fun.  From what I saw, a large amount of "being at the Con" consists of waiting in lines, usually 4 to 8 hours, to go into a panel or exhibit.  I don't think I'm a big enough fan to put up with all that, but I certainly enjoyed people watching.

My advice for next year:

     You can try to get tickets, but they sell out super fast.  They're relatively inexpensive compared to other large multi day extravaganzas. If you don't get tickets, don't worry!! Take the bus or the trolly to explore around the outside.  There is stuff going on in the streets from Petco park to the Embarcadero.  You can play games in the adult swim complex, take a walk through the America Horror Story Haunted Hotel, or just grab a free ice cream from one of the carts doing a promo for and MTV show.  

    Overall Comicon was a crazy, overwhelming, awesome experience and I'm so happy that I got to be part of it.

Kepp your claws out,

 <3 Catwoman