Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Easter Dress

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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.

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

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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" :)

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

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

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Ah, fluttery goodness ♥

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

12 comments:

Mrs. Habit said...

well, I do believe that dress is the epitome of Easter - you looks so pretty in it. And I am also really enchanted by the one pic. of your mother-in-law. She is so beautiful, her hair, smile, everything. Also, your neighborhood is so much like ours! Kids and events all the time. It's the greatest way to grow up, right?

Love getting a glimpse of your hectic little holiday rounds. They are surely filled with so much palpable love and spirit.

xx
J

Teeny said...

Awwwww maaaaaan! Now I'M feeling sorry for Hope. Hey Missa Missa, you and that dress and the Wisteria remind me of Picnic at Hanging Rock, ethereal you. You look divine lady. I'm glad that you and your hubs found each other. It is obvious even through this blogger medium that there is alot of love there. Much love to you.
xx

moonshinejunkyard said...

awww yay, it is so gorgeous on you, just as i suspected! a nice flowy fluttery springtime dream. i love the photo that showcases your elegant arm and hand; you are the picture of grace. what a perfect easter; can't wait to have a little one scampering around so we can all participate in egg hunts and bunny festivities!

lucas and his mom are radiant. soooo glad you have the best most loving community ever in which clover (and all of you) can thrive!

and how interesting to hear about hope's severe stagefright. i'll have to show this to my sister, it is something she is always grappling with as a performer, sometimes much easier than others. glad you pretty ladies had a blast!

Nichole said...

Oh goodness, that's so cool that you saw Mazzy Star! She's not coming up to Washington at all this year. And lovely Easter dress! So very springtime with the wisteria!

mmgood said...

gol dang darlin'! that is the dress of my dreams, and i would be having some serious envy if you weren't such a satisfying vision. you are the perfect picture of spring flowering, next to the all too fleeting wisteria. (one of my favorite flowers too.). i see some of hope's grace and deepness in YOU...fade into you indeed. :)

and now i'm on the lookout for a little plaid skirt for you...you just watch...every care package for the next six months will have some incarnation of it! much love.

anne said...

very pretty! that really is the perfect easter dress.

look at all the wee neighborhood kids! my gosh! what a fun neighborhood to grow up in. clover looks adorable in her peter rabbit dress and the beaded sweater is, shall i say, lovely! what a great hand me down.

that's very interesting about hope's intense stage fright. it's amazing that she can get up there at all. thankfully she didn't let that deter her from singing! i've been to a couple of concerts where the performer has no interaction with the audience, van morrison immediately comes to mind. i guess everyone's there for the music anyway. glad to hear you had fun and that it is was amazing, i knew it would be :D and glad you enjoyed my ice cube lyrics. i always can count on you to get my humor ;D

gold fawn said...

wow,so wonderful that you got to see mazzy star play-i've always wanted to but never had the chance, I don't think they've ever even played here... I used to see her at mars in berkeley from time to time and she was soooo shy and spoke in the quietest voice ever... what a lovely night. and your easter dress is adorable. xo m

Violet Folklore said...

Beautiful girl! I thought that dress looked familiar...

That is seriously super sweet about what your dad said about Lucas. And totally true :-)

I love the photo of the neighborhood kids divided by gender. It's gonna be so fun for all of them to look back on someday.

Milla said...

Wow, you're a sight to sore eyes (how eyes can get sore SANS internet is probably one of the 7 wonders of the world...) The dress, oh it is a beauty. These shots are so coy and sweet and Victorian. I've always thought there something very "Alice" about you, probably the long blond locks and how good you look in light blue;)

I love the pics of the little egg-hunters. Such a darn joy, kidlets.

And yes, Lucas has a very wonderful smile. I'm glad to see he's able to use it again, he must be fully recovered hahah (Just kidding!).

It's so nice to see you guys. I've missed you so. AND I'll get to see you for reals in a little bit! Yes! We must talk!

That's interesting about her shyness in performing. I kinda wonder about Beth Tacular of Bowerbirds, it sometimes seems like she's really aloof and maybe that's a sign of shyness, because she seems so sweet and sincere on paper and in interviews...

Love you!

Tera said...

Mmmmmmm Wisteria! One of my favorite scents. You really look lovely in purple!!!

Nicky said...

These pictures are so sweet! What a fantastic decription of the band and music (and I can totally identify with her (not that I'm quite that talented) but I do love to sing and play guitar and have a huge amount of stage fright or just people fright!?! haha

I had the coolest dream the other night- they are always a bit wacky, so hang on! You and I were neighbors and I was having a BBQ in my back yard. We looked up in the sky and saw a group of people flying around doing aqua aerobics formations but flying (not sky diving). You were one of the flying people and you guys landed in my backyard all wearing these light gray/baby blue outfits that looked like wet suits with hoods. I told you I wanted nothing more than to just "fly." WHAT does all that mean???? hahahah

Unknown said...

I like the photos they look pretty and sweet. Good job and thank you for sharing.


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