family

Filoli Historic Gardens with the family

 in General Fashion / Travel  tagged family / filoli / staycation / woodside by

Filoli Historic House and Gardens are located in Woodside; right next to Redwood City on the Peninsula. It is a beautiful mansion which was once a private home, and was eventually donated to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

This beautiful home and grounds offer not only a piece of Bay Area history, the property offers hiking trails and natural beauty; which is great for the whole family to enjoy. It also happens to be a fabulous way to get a bit of outdoor exercise too! Love that!

Filoli offers seasonal events which coincide with holiday seasons. One of the events they hold is for the holiday season. Normally they offer indoor events and activities for the whole family, but this year, due to our shelter-in-place, the holiday event is entirely outdoors.

The gardens at Filoli have been decorated in beautiful, colorful lights for the holiday season. The lights are pretty and downright magical! It feels like you are touring a magical place. The natural beauty combined with the artistic light placement makes for a beautiful walking tour and experience during the holiday season. We loved it!

We spent roughly an hour and a half walking the grounds, and enjoying the beautiful lights. In addition to a magical experience, we got some exercise! Love!

If you are local to the Bay Area, I highly recommend visiting Filoli.org and learning more about the Filoli Historic House and Gardens. I also recommend paying it a visit in person! You can attend a special event, which requires advance reservations and tickets, or you can visit during the day and enjoy one of the scenic and easy and hiking trails. Either way, it’s a location not to be missed!

If you attend in the evening, be sure to bundle up since it gets quite cold. I wore this coat from a couple years ago when I attended New York Fashion Week, and my cozy, go-to, grey scarf. Of course, this time of year calls for a Santa hat; even if it doesn’t quite match the outfit! haha

Get the look:

We are looking forward to visiting Filoli again next year, in order to enjoy their seasonal events, as well as for hiking. Be sure to pay them a visit!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO
Cathy

San Jose Art Walk Tour

 in General Fashion / Travel  tagged art / family / outfits / san jose / staycation by
Standing in front of the “Veteran’s Memorial of San Jose” and next to “Untitled” by Kenneth Matsumoto.

wearing: hoop earrings / grey scarf / charcoal cardigan (super soft!) / black long sleeve tee / black belt with snake buckle / holiday nail polish / black handbag / destroyed jeans (under $40) / Gucci platform sneakers /

I love finding local, cultural activities to explore and show my kids. When I heard about the San Jose Art Walk in downtown San Jose, I was excited to learn it was both an opportunity to walk around and get fresh air, as well as explore outdoor art.

The San Jose Art Walk is a public art tour of over forty different art pieces. There is a combination of murals, statues, and more! When I first looked at the map, I thought it would be a one day activity. I was wrong! There is a lot to explore; making this is a great multi-day activity.

There are a few installations which are best seen after dark. We all hopped into the car one evening and following the map, we explored LED light art installations around downtown San Jose. It was really interesting! I don’t have photos to share because we were in the car and I was driving. You will just have to explore the light installations yourself!

The second time we went downtown to explore the art walk, we parked near the Discovery Museum and walked throughout that portion of downtown, up to Cesar Chavez Plaza. This took roughly an hour and a half. We were able to see roughly 25% of the tour. We will definitely have to head back down to see the other portions of the art walk we missed!

From top left: Momotaro / Horizon / Space Dance for Peace 1 / Plumed Serpent /

Each art installation has a placard which describes the piece in more detail than you find on the map. It’s fun to follow the map, and look for each piece. In some cases, it feels like a scavenger hunt as you try to find an installation hidden in a courtyard, or behind a building. It’s a fun activity with the kids!

If you are local to the Bay Area, or you are visiting, this is a fun and free activity you can do! You can be ambitious, and try to see the entire art walk in one day, or you can break it up into different days like we are doing. Either way, it’s a great way to enjoy outdoor art while getting some exercise.

Here is a link to the San Jose Art Walk map-if you can print it out before you go, I highly recommend doing so! SanJoseca.gov.

Shop my casual fall outfit online:

Have you gone on the San Jose Art Walk in downtown San Jose? What did you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy

Thomas Fallon Statue 1989

Natural Bridges State Beach sea arch

 in General Fashion  tagged beach / family / santa cruz / staycation by

Natural Bridges State Beach is a small park in Santa Cruz; just north of the famous boardwalk area. This beach area is a jem if you love both the beach and easy hiking trails. In addition to a clean, sandy beach which is mostly flat and easy to enjoy, there are short trails behind the beach where you can hike before relaxing by the ocean.

In addition to a beautiful beach for relaxing, and hiking trails for a little exercise, there is a very fabulous sea arch! This sea arch is one of three natural bridges left at the beach. Around 1900, there were three arches, the farthest arch collapsed in the early part of the 1900’s. Until 1980, the first arch, which connected the middle arch to the mainland, collapsed in a storm. If you are local, and old enough to remember, you may have seen it! Perhaps it’s in the background of one of your family photos!

Alas, there is only one arch left; so if you are local, or plan to travel to the Santa Cruz area, definitely visit the beach so you can see the beautiful arch in person; before it’s gone too! Unfortunately due to erosion, these sea arches don’t last forever.

So of course, I had to take a touristy photo in front it; just for memories of course 🙂

Our family visited Natural Bridges State Beach over the weekend, and enjoyed a relaxing day by the ocean. We wore sweats, and brought blankets, to stay cozy in the cool, 50 to 60 degree weather. It was a nice day of book reading, and picnicking by the sea.

Sometimes the beach is nice when it’s a cold day; it does not always need to be a sunbathing and swimming type of occasion. Relaxing with the sound of the ocean is a great way to enjoy the coast during the spring and fall months. I love it!

Shop my fall beach day outfit (pants are sold out, linked to similar styles)

Do you enjoy the beach in cooler weather? What are favorite cool weather, beach activities?

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO
Cathy