About Stylenik

After my husband and I moved to Pacifica, Dylan, a friend from New York, came to visit. Gazing out at our ocean view framed by Monterey Cypress trees he observed: “You live in f*cking California now!” We had moved just 12 miles down the road from San Fransisco (which is also very much located in CA, obvs.), but with that declaration he crystalized something I’d been feeling in our new, straight outta 1973 pad. A view of trees and the ocean and the huge sky above the California coast is a constant reminder that we live in The Golden State. The place where people have historically come to live the good life.

Our house is no million dollar mansion (I mean, we have wall-to-wall shag carpet), but we do have a million dollar view when the fog isn’t in the way. We don’t have all the latest European appliances or Eames seating everywhere, but we have a conversation pit in our living room! The house’s vibe is good, and amazingly the stuff the husband and I have accumulated over our nine years of marriage fits perfectly inside it.

The more I thought about Dylan’s exclamation, the more I thought: that’s what I want Stylenik to be about. The California good life. Not the kind that maxes out your credit card and fills your closet with garments you might wear once (not that I would, like, know anything about that), but one where you’re super psyched about a few splurges that you can’t wait to rock next time you go out–whether it’s to the grocery store or a gala. Where you eat at amazingly tasty restaurants that are totally not expensive. Where you go outside and do majorly fun things with your friends and family. Sometimes technology helps! Sometimes the perfect bootie does the trick.

Life is never perfect, but sometimes it’s pretty wonderful. The fact that simply looking out the window can lift my mood makes me so thankful that I live in California. And it gets even better when you venture outside: there’s so much happening from fashion to art to music. Join me in the quest for the good life, won’t you? I promise it will be fun.

That’s me Kristen Philipkoski wearing a Shourouk headpiece I borrowed to wear to a gala because when else are you going to wear something that awesome? I was raised in rural Pennsylvania. I worked for many years as a science editor and writer at Wired.com and I’ve contributed to Gizmodo, BoingBoing.net, Refinery29.com, San Francisco magazine and TheBoldItalic.com and lots more.

That’s my hubby Kourosh Karimkhany who lucky for me is an online media guru, photographer and Handsome Man.

Robyn Ross is our photo editor. She’s a Miami native, world traveler, future social worker and hippie at heart.

Elizabeth Bevil was raised in a family that encouraged any and all forms of artistic expression, and she found her love and eye for photography at a very young age. From family get-togethers to chill time with friends, she was always the one with a lens in hand. But she didn’t persue photography seriously until her 30th birthday when she had an ah-ha moment and came to terms with her fear of failure. She moved to SF, picked up her camera and took a chance. Now she’s working with Stylenik as a photo intern, shooting fashion events around the Bay and working as a freelance photographer.