staycation

Night out at the Tonga Room

 in General Fashion  tagged outfits / restaurants / spring 2025 / staycation by

wearing: statement earrings / black sweater / suede bucket bag / black skirt / gemstone bracelet / spring nail polish / boots /

If you are local to the San Francisco Bay Area, chances are, you have been to, or at least heard of, the Tonga Room in San Francisco. Located inside the Fairmont Hotel, the Tonga Room is part of San Francisco history. It has been there since 1945 and has attracted celebrities, politicians, dignitaries and more. The Tonga Room is more than a fun place for dinner, it is an iconic experience.

The Tonga Room offers both dinner and a lounge/bar experience. Since I still have one child still living at home, we went for the dinner experience. Built over a 1920’s era swimming pool, the floating stage offers lounge music, and the decor surrounding the pool and throughout the venue is tiki themed. The restaurant has tables set up around the floating stage with the bar area on one side of the pool. Our table was opposite the bar which gave us a quiet location and a decent view of the live music on the floating stage.

It was really fun to enjoy good food, live music, tiki decor, and fancy drinks-mine is a non-alcoholic citrus soda, isn’t it fun! If you plan to go, I recommend making reservations. The Tonga Room is very popular, and the tables fill up ahead of time, so making reservations is the way to go. You can make them through OpenTable.

What I wore to the Tonga Room:

Have you been to the Tonga Room? If not, what are you waiting for? This is a bucket list item for San Francisco!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy

Rosie the Riveter National Historic State Park

 in General Fashion / Travel  tagged lifestyle / outfits / staycation by

Rosie the Riveter is an important part of our national history. Women came out of the homes during World War II to help build much-needed supplies for the war effort. This gave both women and minorities the opportunity to hold important jobs normally not open to them during peace-time.

There were a few different locations throughout the United States where Rosie the Riveter worked. One of those locations is right here in the San Francisco Bay Area in Berkeley. The Ford plant was turned into a factory for the war, and local women were able to obtain jobs there in order to help the war effort. It was an amazing operation which built important equipment for the war while giving people jobs normally not available to them. It’s incredible how efficient they were. The whole story makes me wish we still had the Ford factory in Berkeley!

The museum is extremely well done with excellent exhibits and informative movies. In addition, you can visit the various locations where everything was built and assembled throughout the area. Not only is it interesting and informative, it is in a beautiful location with views of San Francisco. Love that!

Whether you are local to the Bay Area or visiting, I highly recommend checking out our Rosie the Riveter museum. You can learn more at RosieTheRiveter.org.

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO
Cathy

Computer History Museum in Mountain View

 in General Fashion  tagged casual style / outfits / staycation by

pictured: 1st photo: computer advertised in the 1969 Neiman Marcus Christmas Wish Book. It was touted as a way to store recipes. 2nd photo: earrings / pink scarf / black long sleeve tee / nail polish / bucket bag / wide leg jeans / sneakers /

Have you visited the Computer History Museum in Mountain View? I can’t believe this was my first time going! It has been there for years!

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View is much larger than I pictured it to be. It houses the history of technology going back to counting systems. It was fascinating! I enjoyed seeing ancient technology as well as modern day tech, and of course, anything related to the fashion industry! Love that!

As you can see in the first photo, computers were marketed to housewives as far back as 1969. Who knew? Of course, Neiman Marcus would be ahead of the curve, offering the ideal personal home computer for storing recipes! Apparently, it even had a cutting board! Amazing!

Below is a photo of how punch cards were used in textiles to make perfect patterns on a loom. Who knew punch cards were used in the fashion industry? Love that!

Of course, sneakers are always using technology to help athletes perform better. I even wrote a term paper in college about sneaker technology, of course, that had more to do with air, gel and pumps than actually connecting to a computer or device. Apparently, they tried out a version using a chip which connected to your iPod. Is there still a version still around? This was fascinating.

In addition to fashion, there were examples of tech throughout history, as well as gaming. I was a bit wistful when I saw the Atari and Pac Man displays. Those were the days! haha

There is even a section about the dot boom and dot bust at the end of the museum. I was a bit conflicted seeing something I lived through in a museum. Trying to tell myself I am not old, I am not old, I am not old. Yikes!

So, if you are local, or visiting Silicon Valley, this is a must-see! Be sure to head over to Mountain View and visit the Computer History Museum. Loved it!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy