A Simple Message of Love

One night when I was four years old, my dad and I went for a walk to the local market. It was just the two of us. I rode on his shoulders. We looked up at the night sky together and had a conversation about the stars and the universe.

Though I don’t remember the specifics of what was said, I do remember the sense of connection and bonding that occurred over the course of our walk. He later told me that was when he first saw me becoming my own little person.

It was a special walk for both of us and we ended it with a little phrase that I do remember and that we would continue to say to each other for years to come. Just a few sweet words that would always remind us of that night. The phrase was, in essence, a message of love.

Messages of love were never in short supply with my dad. My mom and my sisters and I never had to question this man’s boundless love for us.

I love you dad. I miss you.

Hola!

Hey, so nice to “see” you again. Where have I been? Well, we jetted off to Mexico for a fun-filled week of sun-kissed days, surrounded by good friends and warm sandy beaches. The Pacifico with lime flowed freely and each night began with a glorious sunset… of course I took a million pictures, so more on that to come. In the meantime, here's an outfit from just before our trip…

Dress: Recent thrift gift, thanks Laura Jane!
Leather Leaf Hairclip: Made by Milla
Beaded Necklace: Gift from Nicole
Denim Jacket: Thrifted
Moccs: Violet Folklore

This cute little white dress, rescued from the dredges of the Goodwill bins by our thrift savvy friend Laura Jane, made for a perfect backdrop to show off this gorgeous and amazing beaded necklace that was given to me by the equally gorgeous and amazing Nicole back when we did our swap… the beading, the colors, the little bells that jingle cheerfully wherever I go… I adore this necklace!

So, we came home to some awfully dreary weather. Chilly, cloudy, rainy… a bit of a shock to the system after a straight week of tropical paradise conditions. Not to mention a week spent internet-free.

I’m slowly finding my way back to blogland (so behind... hoping to soon be commenting on a blog near you ;) and other business-as-usual. The good news is that the sun finally poked out from behind the clouds today and according to the powers that forecast, she’s supposedly gonna hang out for awhile, woohoo!

Now, in the spirit of catching up, before I start bombarding you with vacation photos, I have something fun to share...

I’m sure plenty of you recognize the bright smiling face with me here! Yup, I finally got to meet up with the gorgeous, hilarious, and super stylish to boot, Brigit!

If, during your internet travels, you haven’t come across her wonderful blog, Bonfire of My Vanity, I highly recommend dropping by… especially if you enjoy laughing out loud while being sartorially and otherwise inspired. Brigit is one of the most entertaining blog writers I know and most definitely the funniest!

We met up for coffee in the Old Railroad Square historic section of downtown. Even though I’ve now had the pleasure of meeting several of my blog friends in person, and each and every time it ends up being a fun and relaxed experience, I still never fail to get all nervous beforehand.

Of course Brigit’s warm smile and totally down-to-earth personality put me at ease immediately and we proceeded to enjoy a lovely chat over coffee followed by me giving Brigit the grand tour of the nearby vintage, thrift, and antiques establishments.

Whistlestop Antiques, or “The Olden Days Store” as Clover refers to it, is housed in an old brick warehouse-sized building where 35 individual antiques dealers sell their wares. It’s the sort of place in which anyone who is a lover of old things can get lost wandering through the maze-like array of old-timey treasures for hours on end. Needless to say, Brigit was an instant fan of this place as were Milla and Charlie back when I gave them the tour.

We ogled antique silver and turquoise jewelry and sifted through boxes full of random old photos. If you look closely at the framed photo above, you can see the little dude up there chopping off the top of that giant tree, pretty wild!

From one iconic Santa Rosa Vintage retailer to the next, we walked down the street and around the corner to Hot Couture Vintage, which has been around since the early 80’s. I can remember this place as a kid!

This shop has a vintage purity that I admire, having remained true it’s classic aesthetic over the years. They still draw the vintage line at the 70’s. No 80’s/90’s revival happening here.

Beautiful vintage dresses galore!

Brigit, the true bohemian babe that she is, was drawn to the embroidered Mexican frocks, like the little beauty she’s eyeing above. Speaking of bohemian style, I’d like to point out her awesome tie-dyed dress, and then draw your attention to that killer leather/woven bag she’s carrying, which was given to her by none other than our friend Milla the Magnificent.

I went crazy over that bag when first seeing on her blog and let me tell you, it’s even cooler in person. I pretty much couldn’t take my eyes off it and the fact that my own favorite woven bag had just begun unraveling to the point where it had to be retired and I had been on the lookout for a new one wasn’t helping.

As it turns out, not only is Brigit fun to hang out and shop with, she’s also got amazing thrift luck! Earlier, as we hit up a couple of thrift shops, she came across this beautiful woven bag for four bucks and was kind and generous enough with the thrift love to hand it over to me!

I’m sure the look of longing in my eyes when I spotted her with it didn’t hurt my cause, and we joked that it was a diversionary tactic to keep me from attempting to steal her bag, haha.

A little snippet of the wall of vintage scarves.

Hats, hats, and more hats :)

After a couple of hours of shopping and chatting, our parking permits were about to expire and it was almost time for me to go pick up Clover from pre-school, so before walking Brigit back to her car, I asked the lovely woman behind the counter to take a final picture of us together, which she happily did. Look at us all matchy matchy in our little faded denim jackets :)

We had actually tried to meet up this time last year when Brigit was in the area visiting her in-laws and attending an annual belly dance festival. It didn’t end up working out that time, so I’m glad we finally managed to get together. Having two adorable little boys of her own, it was nice for us both to get out for some kid-free time as well.

We’re hoping to hang out again during one of her future visits down this way, perhaps a play date will be in order for the kiddos, and possibly a road trip to Sacramento for some more blogger meet-up fun! Thanks so much for coming into town to hang out, Brigit, I had a wonderful time and it was so nice to finally meet you in person!

P.S. You can check out Brigit's account of our meet-up here. You'll get a better look at that awesome tie-dye dress and her humorous account of how she got lost on her way to the meet-up and tried to get directions from crazy people :)