The Easter Dress

Our Easter ended up being very similar to last year's flurry of activity: homemade lattes, baked goods, and a spirited early morning egg hunt for the neighborhood kiddos at my sister-in-law's house across the street, followed by a quick appearance at the annual Easter party at Clover's pre-school, then off to spend the afternoon at my mom's house for a delicious lunch and yet another egg hunt for Clover and her cousins. Sounds super relaxing doesn't it?

Well, at least this year, in celebration of the glory of Spring, I did manage to toss the perfect Easter dress into the mix. Thanks to Heather! It was part of the birthday bundle she gifted to me during her surprise visit.

As you can see, Clover has no shortage of neighborhood playmates. It's all about those little smiling faces!

Lucas chatting with his mom, Oosa, and her husband, Geoff. You can see where he gets his wonderful smile. True story, back when I first introduced him to my parents (about a million years ago) my dad's first impression of him was that he had "a warm and genuine smile" :)

My sister Val took the dress photos in front of the wisteria in my mom's backyard. Our own is just beginning to bloom.

Hunting for eggs at Grandma's house. Gotta love the bare tights in the dirt, no wonder she goes through them so quickly.

Ah, fluttery goodness ♥

Clover wore the Peter Rabbit dress we picked up at the White Elephant Sale. Here she is post-egg hunt with Val's daughters, Riley and Alana, and my mom's kitty in the background.

Clover also wore a little embroidered and beaded cardigan that was recently handed down from her cousin Lucia. It originally belonged to Lucas' sister Kelcey's daughter Chiara, who is now about to graduate from high school!

It still has Chiara's name written on the tag. After making its way through all the nieces, it's now Clover's turn. I love how so many of her clothes have family history and it's fun that when her aunties see her wearing these items, they get a sweet reminder of the days when their own little girls wore them.

Mazzy Star update? It was an amazing night! Lovely ladies galore. I went with my dear friend Angelina and it was so much fun for us to get a rare night out together without the kidlets. We met up with a few other lovely lady friends and after a few missed connections, finally found my sweet friend Julianne and her awesome clan of sisters at the end of the show. Julianne took this shot of Angelina and I with the sisters out in front of the Mystic as the night was winding down.

The show itself was mesmerizing, Mystic indeed. I could listen to that woman's haunting voice paired with those dreamy guitar driven melodies all night. Kaleidoscopic imagery projected onto the stage brought a psychedelic texture to the atmosphere and amplified the mood in a way that made it easy to become pleasantly engulfed by the whole experience, and I only had two beers!

Hope was as stunning as ever in her dark otherworldly way, and true to form, did not attempt to engage the audience in any way other than a beautifully soulful performance of each tune. To the contrary, her few spoken words between songs were only to request less brightness and more silence.

I wish I had read that article before seeing her live. Reportedly, trying to block out the audience as much as possible is how she deals with the stage fright that comes with intense shyness. That being her first live performance in quite a while, it must have been pretty nerve wracking. Between songs she appeared seemingly aloof and almost bored. It was a bit hard to know what to make of her demeanor without prior knowledge of her extreme discomfort with live performance.

Though her guardedness is intense and personal connection with her audience is not a priority, I will say that seeing her live is still totally worth it! They sounded AMAZING. She's described how blocking everything else out on stage allows her to "get inside the music" and if you're lucky enough to witness it, she'll take you along with her. There's a captivating sense of depth and melancholic beauty behind her voice, and you get the sense that what she's guarding of herself might just be a little bit magic.