Beach Day

We spent the day with friends at Doran Beach in Bodega Bay on President’s Day. The guys surfed, the gals hung out on the beach with the kidlets, we roasted hot dogs over the campfire for lunch, and a good time was had by all :)

I wore the blue and white gingham print jumper that arrived in my birthday package from Milla (perfect for sandy beach adventures!) and Clover wore a sweet vintage dress thrifted by her aunt.



Despite some fog, it was a beautiful day and fun to frolic through the dunes and play barefoot in the sand for the first time in months.

That afternoon, as the fog burned off, a friend of a friend happened by and decided to join us. He went off in search of some large driftwood logs and then proceeded to erect a super cool beach hut using an actual parachute that he had in his truck. It was like a cross between a tee-pee and a circus tent.

The kids were in awesome-beach-fort-heaven!

This dedication plaque was on the wind barricade at our hang-out spot:

WORD, indeed.

:D

V-Day

Better late than never right?.. and now that the weather’s gone all gray and dreary again (boo!), it’s the perfect time to re-visit the beautiful spring-like day that was Valentine’s Day. We didn’t really do anything very Valentine’s-y, but Clover running around with her heart-shaped pail made for some good picture taking.

She's been LIVING in that dress for over a week now. My sister found it at a rummage sale for 25 cents. It’s already plain as day, my daughter is a girly girl. She loves her dresses. Lately she’s all about the “fairy dresses,” “princess dresses” and “party dresses,” the fancier the better. She tends to pick one and then want to wear it all the time, for weeks on end. Right now it happens to be this one and I had to laugh when she walked up to me holding it as I was typing this paragraph earlier… “Will you put this on me?”


We started the day off with friends, filling our bellies with these. Then spent the afternoon out in the yard enjoying the sunshine. Lucas went and got a truckload of fresh soil, which Clover very sweetly “helped” him unload. When it rains a lot our backyard holds water and turns into swampland, so with all the rain this winter, it felt like it had been ages since we were able to go hang out back there.


I enjoyed wandering around checking out all the signs that spring really is just around the corner. Things are starting to bloom! Our plum tree is now full of blossoms. I also found this weird shroomy patch under our Bay tree (Milla, I’m hoping Charlie can ID it for me ;).



Lucas planted me a dwarf Peach tree. I’ve been wanting one ever since we moved (2.5 years ago) from our old house where we had one that produced tons of yummy peaches all through the summer. I’m not big on fruit in general but peaches, oh my, now that's a whole different story.

While Clover took her nap, Lucas busted out a bunch of packets of wildflower seeds and we sprinkled them around the yard together. I guess that is pretty romantic now that I think about it.

A Little Bit Country

We had such a great 3-day weekend filled with gorgeous spring-like weather, meals shared with friends and family, and even a day at the beach (but more on that later).

Our weekend fun began Friday night when Clover stayed with family and Lucas took me out to see a local production of the play Hank Williams: Lost Highway.

It had been so long since I’d been to a play, I had forgotten how much fun they are, and this one was especially well done, telling the story of the rise and fall of this early icon of country music through performances of his best known songs.

The actors/musicians were all so good and it was exciting to see our brother-in-law Tim, who has been playing bass in bands for many years, make his acting debut as Hank’s life-long friend and the stand-up bass player in his band.

The time period of the play spanned Hank’s childhood in the 30’s up through his rise to fame in the late 40’s and then his tragic downward spiral leading to his early death at the age of 29 in 1953.

My recently acquired vintage pin-tuck blouse was perfect for the occasion, along with the also thrifted floral prairie skirt/petticoat and boots, to country things up a bit. I’m such a sucker for any excuse to dress according to a theme.

A few romantic accessories, including my beautiful vintage tapestry purse, a gift from Milla, and floral pendant from Skye, finished off the outfit.

While the country music of today sits pretty darn low on my list of musical genres-of-choice, there’s something about the old-timey sound of the early stuff that can really bring out my inner country girl.

The deep-southern roots in folk, hillbilly, gospel, and blues are all readily heard in Hank Williams’ songs and singing style. Long Gone Lonesome Blues is a personal favorite… I tell ya, that voice is enough to give you chills at times.

This duet with a bashful Anita Carter is so sweet. Apparently, she had a real crush on him, and didn’t know he was coming out to sing the song with her (at least that‘s what I gathered from the intro by her sister June on the poorer quality version of this clip). Aw, the look on her face…

Oh Clover… this is what half my pics end up looking like. This one cracks me up though, gotta love the Dora nightgown/stripy tights combo.

It was soooo good to get a night out ;)

"I became aware that in Hank's recorded songs were the archetype rules of poetic songwriting. The architectural forms are like marble pillars and they had to be there. Even his words - all of the syllables are divided up so they make perfect mathematical sense. You can learn a lot about the structure of songwriting by listening to his records." - Bob Dylan

Happy 101 Tag: Birthday Edition!

I was tagged AGES ago by three lovely ladies Shellbell, Nicky, and Teenysparkles with the Happy 101 blog award. Thanks girls! With this award comes the responsibility of listing 10 things that make me happy…

… and what could be happier than one’s birthday! Mine was on Monday and while there were no raging parties, just a nice mellow day, it was a happy one, so without further ado, here are some random pics and sources of happiness from my birthday:

1. Going out to breakfast: Lucas and I walked down to a favorite breakfast café for a nice hot cup of coffee accompanied by yummy biscuits and gravy w/ eggs and hash browns.

2. Hanging out with my sweetie, just the two of us: He took the day off work and Clover spent the first half of the day at The Farm, so we got some rare alone time.

3. Sneaking into café bathrooms to take pictures of myself… just kidding... it’s the dress, the dress!

How could one not be happy in this dress?!

4. Strolling through the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens: It may not be the prettiest time of year, but there were still delights to be found. Like this amazing mustard bed.

Check out those gorgeous leaves!

And the fact that nothing else was in bloom made this blossom-packed plum tree stand out all the more.

The story of how Martin Luther got his nickname, The Plant Wizard : )

5. Arriving home from our morning stroll to find a big birthday package from Milla-the-magnificent waiting at the doorstep, talk about perfect timing! I’ve mentioned before how happy the gift of thrift makes me and this package was especially awesome. I love a good theme, and just look at all that blue thrifty goodness: plaid, polka dots, floral, denim, stripes, gingham, yay!

It also contained this large magazine-sized photo print-out that will be going up on my wall for sure. Seriously, is there anything happier than a field full of smiling hippies? I say no way.

But wait there’s more in the thrift gift department, because over the weekend I received a package from the lovely Amber (we share a birthday!) and, along with a gorgeous sun-dress that has me itching for warm spring days, was this adorable dress for Clover and lil’ rainboots too, so cute!

6. Thrifting (of course!): Lucas stayed home with Clover and I spent the afternoon blissfully thrifting away. Most of my finds ended up being for other people, including a bunch of fun little goodies for my giveaway package, but I did find this awesome 70’s thread rack for $2 which I’ve turned into a holder for my necklaces and I love it. It makes me very happy :D

7. Returning home to one of Lucas’ home cooked meals: He’s a great cook and he whipped up some roasted chicken with vegetables, mashed potatoes, salad, and fresh baked bread… yum! His new bread baking hobby has been making me VERY happy lately.

8. Chocolate cake… ‘nuff said. The candles are thrifted too! They have little flowers around the base :)

9. Hangin’ with family: We are lucky to live really close to most of both our immediate families and two of Lucas' sisters live right on our street. So, they came down with their families for an impromptu cake and ice cream gathering along with some present opening. My sister-in-law Isolde’s birthday was two days before so we blew out the candles and opened our gifts together.

10. Clover’s dress-up stylings: Always a source of happiness… and why more princesses do not incorporate feathered headdresses into their royal attire is beyond me… I think she’s really on to something here!

I’m supposed to pass this on to 10 more bloggers, but I’m gonna be lazy and pull the ol’ whoever wants to do it, I pass it on to you, and let me know if you do cause I’d love to hear what makes you happy :)