Goodies for Me, Goodies for You: A Giveaway!

First, a big heart-felt thanks for all the sweet kitty condolences on my previous post. They really have been a comfort to read, and so appreciated :)


Now on to the happy news: It's my turn to host a fun little giveaway! It all began here with the original giveaway hosted by Leah and now, after winning Andrea's, I am third in a growing line of lucky winners set to pay it forward with a giveaway of my own :)


I was thrilled to receive the above parcel from Andrea last weekend. Full of lovely vintage, thrifted, and handmade goodies, it definitely brought with it some much needed cheer, thanks Andrea!

Now it's my turn to assemble an awesome little package of my own for the lucky winner of this giveaway. To enter, just leave a comment on this post by Feb 6th and I will randomly choose a winner in one week :)

By entering, you are taking the following pledge:

i __________, promise in good faith, to pass on some love of my own. i will get a small flat rate box from the post office and fill it with my own goodies and pass it along to someone in my own giveaway/contest/whathaveyou. and i will ask them to pass their love on as well, and so on and so on. i will also come back to this post and let leah know when i am doing this so she can follow along.

Alrighty friends, I promise to thrift up a fabulous little package for whoever wins, so good luck!

Sad Weekend

Guinness was, in short, the best cat I’ve ever known. After 15 years with us, our kitty and our friend is gone. We will miss him so very much.

Under the Oaks

For the past week we’ve had nothing but rain rain and more rain around here. Not that I’m complaining, this is just what our drought-depleted reservoirs have been needing desperately. Actually, I've been enjoying the rain, mostly. However, our backyard currently looks like a swamp and we’ve been spending a lot of time indoors, which made going through these photos from a couple weekends ago a nice reminder of sunnier days and walks in the park.

We met up with Lucas’ family for a leisurely two mile hike along a lovely oak woodland trail in Sonoma Valley Regional Park. I’ve always had a thing for big gnarled oak trees (I was married under one, after all) and they’re especially pretty when sprinkled across rolling hills and covered in green moss and gray lichen.

With everyone gathered together against such a beautiful backdrop, it turned out to be the perfect setting for Lucas’ mom and her boyfriend to announce their engagement to the family, and we were all thrilled to hear the happy news. Congratulations Oosa and Geoff!

We topped the afternoon off by heading into the quaint little wine country town of Glen Ellen, famous for having been the home of Jack London, and enjoying the world’s most delicious grilled paninis on picnic tables outside the market deli.

As for my ensemble, it was very thrift gift-y with a prairie dress I received recently from Angelina and a hat from Milla. I adore them both, the girls and their gifts! I’m also very proud of myself for finally getting some overdue packages sent off to both of them this week. Thrift giving is so much fun!

P.S. I should probably mention that the red wool coat was not thrifted. I got it years ago at Old Navy and it’s the warmest coat I own :)

(edit: Turns out we're going to get some sun today before the rains start up again tomorrow, yay, time to get out for a walk!)

Winter Florals

Yesterday, being sunny and relatively warm, seemed as fine a day as any for a good ol’ fashioned 100% thrifty floral mish-mash of an outfit. A series of storms are reportedly headed our way and beginning this weekend there is rain forcasted for about the next 10 days straight. So why not pretend it's spring before there's no denying that winter isn't going anywhere anytime soon!

Clover and I went for a lovely walk downtown stopping off at the bookstore. I flipped through the latest issue of Selvedge (silently oohing and ahhing over the photos in the article about this beautiful Swedish clothing line) while we hung out in the children’s section.

Clover got together a collection of stuffed animals, or “animal friends” as she calls them to gather around her while playing with the noisy books, the ones with buttons that result in obnoxious noises and/or songs, the ones that mysteriously disappear a week or so after your child receives one as a gift, kidding. Or am I?

Also, stopped off at the library to pick up this book. It's my next book club read. It's a new book club and unfortunately we all found our first book disappointing to say the least. Breath, Eyes, Memory looks promising though, not to mention timely with the heartbreaking reality that the people of Haiti are facing right now.

Oh my, my, oh hell yes...

Um, is that an 80’s satiny party dress?... and heels?… why, yes it is! I know, first the wacky/wonderful New Year’s jacket (thanks for all your encouraging comments on that btw, you guys are the best) and now THIS?

Alright, for those of you who know that my most traveled style route normally runs like a bridge between the 70’s and the 90’s, and who may understandably be wondering: “what the what??”… the answer is no, I didn‘t jump off the bridge and land in flashy 80's land never to return ;)

The occasion was a Salsa Dance Party for our friend Julianne’s birthday. The invitation (jokingly?) instructed the ladies to “dress like Gloria Estephan.” However, with every intention of taking this suggestion absolutely seriously, I trotted off to the Salvation Army to search out the perfect dress.

It was the first dress to catch my eye, and although my initial reaction upon seeing it hanging limp from its halter strings was an emphatic “ew,” I did see promise in the fact that it was satin, greener than green, and ruched to high heaven. So, when I put the thing on, I was pleasantly surprised in a wow-this-is-actually-kinda-cute sort of way, forked over the $3.50 for it (yay, half off day!) and the rest is history.

The only problem was that nothing but a pair of strappy heels was gonna do for this get-up and strappy heels are not something commonly found in my closet. So off I trotted once again, this time to the Goodwill, on the day of the party and as luck would have it, they did have exactly one pair of strappy black leather heels in my size, simple with nice knotted and woven details that I liked. Five bucks, aaaand done.

Well, almost, I found two clear Lucite bangles set with tiny ball studs and painted on the inside (one black and one pearly white, $1 each) at a local antique market. The perfect finishing touch!

Oh c’mon, how could I not try to pull off a sexy washin’-my-hair pose in this dress?! Haha!

They rented out a hall for the party, it was lots of fun, and there was even a taco truck parked outside to feed us. There was also a professional salsa instructor to give us lessons! Almost nobody at the party had any prior salsa dancing experience, so that made things pretty entertaining/hilarious.

I wish I had more pictures but we only took a few while messing around in the dance hall before the party actually got started.

Don’t worry, I didn’t lose my left leg in a freak salsa dancing accident. How weird is that picture though?

See, both feet, still there, in their heels… take a good look cause chances are you’ll never see those heels again, haha. Seriously though, an evening of salsa dancing in them was enough to remind me why I love my boots and flats so much!

My Heart

I’m posting this photo for Anna’s Much Love Monday Project. The heart-shaped platter and its accompanying tea-set were my first ever thrift finds photographed for internet display. They were the first two photos uploaded to my brand new flickr account on Valentines Day 2008 (I started this little blog just days later!).

My first stones cast, so to speak, into this virtual pond where almost two years later I‘ve had the great pleasure of meeting more amazing like-minded ladies than I ever knew existed, while becoming part of a community centered around a love of thrifting in all its forms. It’s a community I have grown to truly love being a part of.

Speaking of things I love! I shot this video on New Year's day as the three of us lazed about, enjoying a rainy day at home. Clover was wearing the most adorable vintage Jessica McClintock prairie skirt thrifted by our friend Laura Jane and given to her the night before at the party. The dress underneath, also a wonderful thrifted hand-me-down (one of many!) from my sister-in-law Isolde.

I love her sweet little voice. I love the way her whole being lights up when she gets excited about things, even little things like taking small slippered steps onto a rainy back porch : )

[Heart photo processed for this post using Rollip]

New Year's Eve 2009

Sadly, the best outfit pic I’ve got is this classy bathroom shot taken at the party. I just wanted to show you the wacky/wonderful jacket, which in retrospect may have tipped the scales a touch more toward the wacky side.

My attempts to style it in a way that I was happy with, ended finally with me just layering it over this vintage black sweater that I thrifted on the same day, rolling up the sleeves, knotting it at the waist (making it more blousey than blazery), throwing on my tried-and-true skinny jeans/black lace-up boots combo, and calling it an outfit. Not very dressy, but plenty flashy enough for a casual New Year’s Eve party with close friends and family.

Oh, and look... there’s my new camera, and here are some of the images the little fella captured throughout the night:




I have to say that 2009 was not all that bad for me personally, but the party did have a theme. It was Goodbye To The Year From Hell. Horns were a popular accessory.

Ah, Karaoke… always entertaining, always hilarious.

Wain, mastering the art of the bacon-wrapped hot dog:

I know this looks disgusting… and in theory it is, but in reality… a tastier treat than you might think.

Laura Jane found these awesome vintage peep-show shot glasses at a nearby estate sale. The ladies are magnified when the beverage of choice is poured into the glass, so you only get a good look when it contains liquid... genius, no? I angled the camera to keep things PG (haha) this being a family blog and all ;)

Suspect kitchen loitering and remnants of the great cake-in-the-face-incident of New Year’s Eve 2008 on the door in the background.

My nephew Ryland, the fifth Beatle.

This little trooper actually stuck it out to ring in the new year…

… and then thankfully she was out.

Happy New Year everyone, hope you all had a fun night!