sovereign strong

I'm all sorts of proud today.  My sister launched her website for her new clothing line!  She is crazy talented when it comes to fashion (and all kinds of other things too!).  What I love most about this new venture of hers is the heart of it.

It's her heart after all.  

She is vigilant about not only the clothes being made ethically, but she is also giving some of her proceeds to Freedom House in San Francisco (a therapeutic safe house for victims of sex trafficking).  The mission of the company (as taken from the website) is this:

We are a women’s wholesale apparel brand that is passionate about empowering women to embrace their confidence, femininity, and future. Our vision is to free people from the bondage of modern-day slavery by providing them with a second chance and new opportunities. Ethical and local production are important to us, which is why we promote a lifestyle of living for the eternity and not for the temporary. We are called to be dispensers of hope and fashion is our platform.

My sis and her business partners are currently raising funds to launch the first line.  If you are passionate about seeing the heart of the fashion industry changed, or just about great fashion in general, and would like to contribute, click on the link below.

Take a minute to stop by her site and say hello (she's the beautiful blonde)!  Read the story, look at the clothes (hover your mouse over the last image to get the arrow to pop up), watch the video!

I have my eye set on the Farmer's Market dress!

Which is your favorite design?

sister {with benefits}

Sister and me in Napa last fall.  She has bangs now.  Which is rad because I can quote Napolean Dynamite when I talk to her, "I like her bangs"- spoken as Pedro of course.

Have I mentioned that my sister has landed a super cool new job working for Modcloth corporate?  So while she's up there in San Francisco working hard and whipping fannies into shape, I get to sit back and reap the benefits.

Mwa ha ha ha.

Yes please!

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edit:
The Bad-
I am not allowed to ask for my sister's discount.  She just informed me of that.  What is the point of having a sister working all the way out in California if I can't even get a discount on awesome dresses?!?

The Good-
She always gives me her hand-me-downs.  So next year I should be looking pretty awesome.  Until then, I'll just be sporting my mom jeans.  Fantastic.

sister by the bay

Last week (wed.- sat.) I got to go visit my sister in San Francisco. All by my lonesome! Can you imagine? It was so weird not having to pre-think about ANYTHING! It didn't matter when we ate, where we went or when we got home. It was fun and weird and hard and great all at the same time.

This is my sister. Isn't she so beautiful!?! She has lived in SF for a really long time now. Long enough that I have done all the touristy stuff at least twice by this point. So this trip was different. I had no plans or hopes while there. Honestly, I wasn't there to see the city. I was just missing my sister. So anything we did was great! She wanted to show me the side of SF that she experiences. We ate at amazing restaurants, like this one for her birthday! Oh my! They prepare food with local, seasonal ingredients- all from scratch! We had a little bit of everything- including the lavender creme brule. Holy smokes, that was good. I mean, just thinking about it right now...mmm...

And, well, ok, I lied. One thing I really wanted to do was go to Bi-Rite ice cream. Again, all organic, mostly local ingredients. My favorite there is the honey lavender, but this time around I got the salted caramel and toasted coconut. So delicious. It was 9:00 pm and there was a line out the door. Yeah, it's that good!

For two of the days we left the city and visited Napa Valley (my first time):

my sister kept insisting that I take a picture with just me in it. So here is my floating head.

I don't think I mentioned that mom came too! This is my mom- the lovely lady in blue! we are standing in a vineyard! Don't tell anyone but my mom stole a grape. Ssh!!!

this is a winery that was designed to look like an authentic Italian castle. It was really amazing!

sheep on the grounds

a building that I showed to John as an inspiration for our dream home! minus the handi-cap accessible bathroom sign, that is.

We visited Palo Alto to see where my sister works. While there we went to the Stanford Shopping Center. I went into my first Bloomingdales. And, being the non-shopper that I am, I thought that it looked an awful lot like any other giant store I've ever been in. But here, the ladies come with their tiny dogs.

dahlias as big as my sister's face!

We also went out to Half Moon Bay. A dreamy little beach town that was wrapped in fog. It was full of craggy rocks and surfers. As we pulled away from the town and went over one large hill, the fog was gone and we were driving in sunshine. That Bay Area fog is baffling!

We had a great time. I loved the farming towns we drove through, the hugeness of the Golden Gate Bridge, being able to walk to really great restaurants and stores. I love the people of San Francisco. Such a mish- mash of nationalities and people that were born elsewhere. I was intrigued by families with multiple small children making city life work- knowing what rent costs and the size of the homes. I loved spending so much time with my mom and sister. Getting to see the side of the city that is more adult oriented (like the ice cream shop **wink**). I loved meeting my sister's friends. Her family away from family. I loved getting to see her work, her commute, her daily walks, her favorite restaurants...and her.

I loved getting to see her.