Have you ever found the perfect dress for the occasion, only the occasion had yet to present itself? That’s kind of how I feel about this dress… an enchanted garden party perhaps? I found it at the Goodwill for $6.99 while thrifting in Sebastopol on Monday. The label is Candi Jones California, apparently a Gunne Sax knock-off label of the seventies.
I wore it at home for awhile yesterday and took some pics to show you guys. This dress makes me feel like I’ve just stepped out of a fairy tale. The lovely muted colors, the smocking, the lace, the empire waist… so many wonderful details… and the sleeves, those magical fluttery sleeves make me think of delicate butterfly wings!
Unfortunately, there were no enchanted garden parties on the agenda, in fact, after I finished prancing around looking all Princess Bride, I spent the day mundanely getting things done around the house. As it turns out, butterfly sleeves have a tendency to get in the way while doing dishes, and floor-length anything, not so great for putzing around in a chicken coop where the ground is covered with, well you get the idea. Needless to say, more practical outfit choices had to be made.
On a different note, much to Clover’s delight, our plums have finally ripened and she’s been happily going to town on them, juicy purple smiles abound! Also cause for smiles, a new batch of ah-doooorable thrifted hand-me-down dresses from her cousin, this being one of them:
Um, I guess you could say the zucchini in our garden has been getting a wee bit out of control lately. Here Clover is showing off our biggest one yet. We were doing pretty well for awhile… shredded zucchini in scrambled eggs, stuffed zucchini, sautéed zucchini, zucchini spice bars… then we sort of fell off the zucchini wagon.Last night I climbed right back on though and made a delicious dinner of sautéed veggies on herb couscous featuring green beans, fresh thyme, parsley, and mint (and zucchini of course!), from our very own garden.
Followed by zucchini chocolate chip cupcakes with goat cheese frosting for dessert, sooooo good! I need to thank for posting this recipe for the cupcakes on her new blog which I am very much enjoying. I switched out the nuts for chocolate chips, I have a tendency to do that with my baked goods… chocolate chip banana bread anyone?
If you too have zucchini coming out your ears at the moment (and even if you don’t), I highly recommend them, and I have to say, the combination of the chocolate chips with the goat cheese frosting is AMAZING so try it. Happy baking :)
26 comments:
Wow that dress is so enchanting and romantic and I love the photos by that wonderful tree. You will have to have an enchanted garden party! That pic of Clover with that enormous is soooo cute.
*zucchini:)
Wow. That dress is so gorgeous. I love the sleeves.
well, i think that dress is a perfect fir for you, it is so YOU! I love it when you find something that was truly meant for you. And wow, that zucchini is almost as big as clover. My grandma always made the best zucchini bread, I think I might have the recipe if you are interested. I also wanted to ask you where that vintage wedding dress shop was that you posted about a while ago, I have a friend getting married and I was telling her about it, but I couldn't remember where it was! :)
My email is Jocehairart@gmail.com if you want to email me the location and do let me know if you would like the recipe.
I'll pass that recipe on to my Dad, he has zucchinis galore in his garden! Beautiful photos, little Clover's dress is adorable and I'm sure you'll find the perfect occasion for your dreamy dress :-)
I just found out you can freeze shredded zucchini for later use in breads and muffins and so on--perfect for those giant zucchinis!
oh as soon as I saw you I opened my jaw dropped in admiration, you LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL! This is the perfect dress, you cannot believe how how beautiful you look! Clover looks very funny with that super big zuchini on her arms hehe
Even if there's no special occasion you don't need one! I hope you wear it again many times because you look absolutely breathtaking!
Happy Dreamy Life! We're just getting on the zucchini wagon, so thank you for the recipe. Your dress is definitely some sort of garden goddess garb and Clover and her zucchini should enter some sort of fair.They'd win all the prizes.
yeah that dress definitely has a Princess Buttercup vibe about it. it is gorgeous!!
My goodness, that dress is amazing! Lucky you finding it! You look like a princess :)
oooooh, those SLEEVES!!! they are absolutely gorgeous! the world needs more fun dress-uppy occasions even if just for simple activities, like ladies getting together for tea: the sleeves and length might be able to handle that! i have a few similar dresses and as much as i utterly adore them and could never part with them, i never get a chance to show them off around town! i love to imagine you and clover just puttering round the house and garden in your lovely old dresses; clover's is perfect too, and a teeny bit better for romping about! your zucchini reeeeaally makes me wish we had a garden this year. at least i am still getting tons of fresh veggies about twice a week from carolann's farm. but no squash yet? hmmmm......i'll have to see if i can take some off someone's hands!
Try zucchini pickle relish. I've been making it for years from the ones that get too big.
it's beautiful, i wish long dresses like that didn't make me look soo short! and holy moley look at that zucchini! my boyfriend brought one home (almost) as big as that one this week, zucchini bread anyone? heheh:)
omg, you are a vision!! what a beautiful dress. you look straight out of the mists of avalon or something!
i'll be in sebastapol the weekend of the 22nd. i'd love to hit up some thrift stores with you. i have no idea where any of the good ones are my my mother in law is not into that sort of thing. let me know if you want to meet up sometime.
That dress is a charmer! I say carve coaches out of the zucchini, hook on a fleet of magical mice and go for a ride!
those sleeves are SO dramatic and SO amazing! and little clover is so sweet with her backyard bounty.
p.s. i bought those duck shoes! i think they are gonna be awesome for mucking about town! ;) sounds like you could use some in the chicken coop!
oh that candi jones, she does love her smocking and billowy sleeves. you look like princess buttercup!
i am almost done reading flower children, it's been a charming little read--thanks so much for recommending it!
gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!
I love the dress! I Know what you mean. I just bought a gorgeous pink satin 1940's dress yesterday. Kind of a ballgown, but I certainly don't have any really dressy occasions. I think I might be able to dress it down to make it a dinner dress. Make an occasion or just adapt it I say! :)
Waaaaah, i've been away from blogging and missed all these great posts! Your zucchini recipe talk is making me want grated zucchini like nothing else. It's $10 a kilo here right now. expensive. I think you could get away with wearing that dress, anywhere and anytime. Suits you marvellously friend.
no zucchini here, cucumbers though. lawdy-mercy, i am picklin them as fast as i can. and, on the cusp of a pepper and tomato deluge.
Hey Missa!
Sadly I couldn't find the recipe for the bread but I did stumble on a different one using Zucchini. My Grandparents always had a large garden so I'm sure they were in a similar circumstance. They did a lot of canning and I think this might be a canning recipe, but I am sure it would be good fresh too (or just boiled for a sauce)
This one is for Zucchini Relish (it says "can be used with large ones") :) It seems like a very large batch so maybe you can cut it down.
Remove skin and pulp
2 quarts ground squash (corse)
4 med onions (ground)
1 large bell pepper (ground corse)
cover with 1/4 C salt and all water to cover, let stand for 4 hours then drain in colander
add 2 1/2 cups sugar, 1 tsp tumerric, 1/4 tsp powdered cloves, 1 tsp mustard seed, 2 1/2 cups vinegar
The rest is hard to decipher but it involves straining and re-boiling (the canning part
I will keep looking for the bread recipe, it was always so yummy when I was growing up.
Just stumbled on your blog....I love that dress...it's an awesome dress and awesome on you. Being a 60s child, I love all things 60s and 70s!! Don't ya just love a great thrifty find?? me too..yeah.
aw, thanks for the shout out! oh my stars, you were not kidding about that zucchini!!! i mean, woah. mmm, dinner grown entirely from your own garden, that's pretty magical. i love the dress - especially with fall and winter around the corner i think there will be lots of occasions for an enchanted butterfly wings dress. summer always feels so casual, i'm looking forward to cooler weather and dressier times. i love clover's dress too - you're so good at getting sweet little vintage frocks for her!
thanks for the sweet comment too - yea, i definitely don't think i can claim the 90s, but if i could build a time machine and go back in time and nab a walk on roll on "buffy" my life would be complete!
You live in a magical land far from me :> How is it that you find giant roosters and harvest giant zucchinis? All with the cutest wardrobe ever too:>
Ahhh so pretty! So, so pretty! What a serious thrift score. I'm sure you felt just like I did wearing this dress, modeling my new love yesterday. It is the only dress of the set I considered keeping. Oh and the label is Peggy Barker. Looks like Candi and Peggy were seriously ripping on Jessica's style! Thank god.
PS that shot from behind is so gorgeous. I am watching this PBS thing on fractals right now as I work and your hair, the dress, and the tree branches are so reminiscent of that imagery!
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