Shrimp n' surf......

Today we woke up early to head out to beautiful Turtle Bay located in the upper North Shore of Oahu... There we had a great opportunity to check out more of Area Surf's products at the local shops. "The North Shore Barrel Tees, in particular, have been selling real well out in this area," says founder of AREA Surf Denis Scott. "We're in the works of coming out with several new designs in the near future."

Denis brought along three of his surfboards and gave Mike and I the chance to surf in some gnarly waters.....well... more like baby 2 footer waves...but they were tremendous waves in my mind nevertheless..... Notice with great detail in the following picture how fierce and dangerous the currents were....

 The day couldn't have been more perfect as we stopped off at Giovanni's, the original shrimp truck of Kahuku. Famous for its delicious lemon butter shrimp scampi and garlic rice, Giovanni's is one of North Shore's traditions and is easily one of the most popular eateries in the area....not to mention most delicious...

I couldn't pass up this photo op. While ordering our lunch, I happened to look underneath Giovanni's truck and saw one of most hilarious things... a cat sitting upright with his front paws balancing his body....I mean.. what else can you do in that position but lick yourself and fall asleep... Hawaii must be proud with their mascot....

a bit of aloha....

We finished up day 2 in Honolulu with some shopping on the Waikiki shopping strip   ....my sister and Mike decided to support the cause and pick up a few of AREA surf's new line of shirts exclusively made by Fantasy and for the islands.

 

Mike is at a small shop in Waikiki called Coco Cove checking out Area Surf's Heading Out tee.

We finished up the day with an authentic Hawaiian luau at Paradise Cove. I have to say..... the food was amazing. The Kalua pork with rice was juicy and full of flavor. I went up for seconds and found myself heading back to the line later for thirds. The fresh salmon poke' was delicious with a little bit of zest and definitely complimented the rest of the meal....not to mention my mai tais....

....but what is a Luau without any hula dancers... We couldn't have asked for a better performance as the hula girls for the evening danced away with the beautiful sun setting perfectly behind them......

Tomorrow? .......surf lesson @ Turtle Bay in the Northeast side of Oahu with the man himself, Denis Scott. Catch you in a few!

Day 1 on the island......

Definitely by far one of the most relaxing "first days on a trip" I've had in a while. Not more than an hour after we touchdown into Honolulu International Airport, we find ourselves posting up at a beach to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. We settle down quite nicely at a beautiful location called Kahala Beach where we enjoyed 83 degree weather and crystal clear blue skies. The water was no colder than 70 on the button. Couldn't get any better.....

A custom made sand cooler was created by yours truly and stocked to the brim with local brews from Kona Brewing Company. Quarter fades on the The Big Wave and Fire Rocks.......

Denis and Wendy treated us to something special at the end of the day....they took us to East Honolulu at the Eastermost end of Maunalua Bay to a place called the China Walls. A favorite among locals to catch a late evening wave, China Walls was the perfect spot to mingle with others and to gaze upon the sun as it sets for the night.

free berkeley presents...

(original designs: je t'aime/eiffel tower shirt - pink vinyl on an american apparel loose crop tee; stayfreeinberkeley shirt - white vinyl on an american apparel oversized viscose tank; photographed by derrick jang)

how much do you LOVE these shirts from our first ever freeberkeley photo shoot? here's the scoop on these beauties: we dreamt these designs up to add some spice to a couple of the new pieces from the ever popular and always on point american apparel line. don't you want one...like now? we almost had to pry the shirts off our adorable models as they had already fallen head over heels for the designs...but who could blame them?

stay tuned for more looks and ideas on how to style and wear all of these pieces! j'adore!

xoxo,

courtney

hello summer!

some people don't associate sun and fun with the bay area, but little do they know that outdoor summertime activities here are abundant...you just have to know where to look for them. one of my favorite things to do when the fog has disappeared is to hunt for treasures outdoors - at street festivals, estate/garage sales, flea markets, and random city corners. with an iced ecstatic coffee from philz in one hand, a camera in the other and a loved one at your side, life couldn't be any sweeter.

(my pics from some of my favorite outdoor shopping haunts:

sf indie mart - next one is on july 18th,

the alameda flea market, & pac heights estate sale:

yes i'm that girl that balances bags of clothes in one hand while

still trying to snap pictures in the other...

all while trying to shop even more!)

xoxo,

courtney

Streets of Berkeley

On the streets of Berkeley capturing shots for the website.