If I was...

After seeing this meme done so beautifully by Anne and Milla, I decided to give it a go myself. If you feel like it, you should too!

If I was a month, I’d be June
If I was a day of the week, I’d be Saturday
If I was a time of day, I’d be sunset
If I was a planet, I’d be Earth
If I was an animal of the sea, I’d be a sea horse


If I was a direction, I’d be homeward
If I was a piece of furniture, I’d be an antique wardrobe
If I was a liquid, I’d be morning dew
If I was a gemstone, I’d be amethyst
If I was a tree, I’d be an oak


If I was a tool, I’d be a level
If I was a material, I’d be soft worn denim
If I was a kind of weather, I’d be warm and still
If I was a musical instrument, I’d be a flute
If I was a color, I’d be forest green



If I was an emotion, I’d be serenity
If I was a fruit, I’d be a peach
If I was a sound, I’d be a distant fog horn
If I was an element, I’d be earth
If I was an automobile, I’d be this...


If I was a food, I’d be chocolate
If I was a taste, I’d be savory
If I was a scent, I’d be fresh baked bread
If I was a place, I’d be a meadow on the edge of a forest overlooking the sea
If I was a flower, I’d be a daisy

Speaking of which, the lil' blond daisy picker on the end... that's me! My dad took this photo in June of 1977, the year my parents packed up the van, left Massachusetts, and headed out west to the golden state for a new life. That's my mom carrying my sister in front, followed by my aunt and two cousins. I love this image so much.

(Other image sources: 1,2,3,4,5)

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 :)

Tagged

Sorry about the blog neglect over the past week. For whatever reason it just wasn’t jiving with my (or should I say Clover’s) schedule for me to get any posts done. So to get back into the swing of things I’m actually going to do a tag… yes, you read it correctly. I know, I’m a big ol’ flake when it comes to these tags and memes and awards. I guess I just need to face the fact that despite my intentions awhile back to get better about it, I’ll just have to sporadically fit in the ones that I can. Sorry if I skipped over your tag!

So, last week I was tagged by both Tracy of Vintage Found, a new-to-me blog that I have been enjoying very much of late, and Anja of Clever Nettle, an old favorite, to do the Always & Nevers meme. The task at hand being to list 5 fashion always-es (things you always like or cannot do without) for YOU personally, and conversely list 5 nevers (would not be caught dead in) for you personally. Keep it fashion related, tag 3 bloggers, and post any kind of photo you want. So without further ado:

(image via garance dore)

Always!
1) little white dresses
2) perfectly worn jeans
3) flat boots
4) floral prints
5) overalls (I may be in the minority on this one, but I have always had a great fondness for them and I think they look adorable on grown women. Now in argument of my case, look at this picture… YOU tell ME which of those ladies is the cutest?! ;)

Never!
1) heels for casual day-to-day wear (I’m a flats girl through and through, but kudos to you girls who can pull off grocery shopping in a wicked pair of heels!)
2) NEON (Too bright, I prefer my colors to be more subdued. I will admit that a pair of neon pink ankle socks may have found there way into my wardrobe in the 80’s but I was just a kid, I didn’t know any better.)
3) probably anything that could be classified as “bling” (I don’t like it when things get too sparkly, not to say that I don’t appreciate a shiny element here and there when it’s incorporated well)
4) visors (pretty much always funny looking)
5) Crocs (need I elaborate?)

My tags:
Milla of The Girl Who Married a Bear
Caroline of Bonjour Mon Coeur
Anabela of Fieldguided

But wait that’s not all. I love all three of these ladies’ blogs too, so I figured I might as well pass on an award to each of them while I’m at it.


This very sweet award was given to me recently by the ever so lovely and kind Anna of Much Love and it was just too cute to not pass on! Again, if I failed to publicly acknowledge an award that you gave me, I’m sorry, they really are always appreciated!

Tagged...twice

Tagged by Sophie Jade of Sweet Dreams Till Sunbeams Find Me.

5 Things found in my purse:
-tangerine lip balm
-my keys (still on the rainbow butterfly key chain I thrifted back in high school… I don’t like change)
-a pair of f21 floral print sunglasses from a couple years ago
-my cell phone with a picture of Clover as a newborn on the screen (she’ll be 8 months in a few days, I should really update that)
-way WAY too many thrift store receipts

5 Things found in my bag:
-digital camera
-fashion magazines (I’m horribly addicted and have been since about age 12)
-knit hat when it’s cold or sun hat when it’s warm
-scarf (I get cold easily)
-baby paraphernalia (keep in mind my bag is often a diaper bag)

5 Favorite Things in my room:
-string of hand made paper lantern lights made by a family friend
-memory foam mattress (Remember those commercials with the wine glass on the bed and the jumping? That's no joke, and Lucas is the world’s lightest sleeper and the world’s grumpiest woken up person.)
-painting by a friend (given to us as a wedding gift)
-The Swing (It’s a big plastic hideous thing that plays awful music, but when Clover won’t sleep, it is a magical slumber inducing contraption that I can’t imagine life without.)
-my slippers (Because I love a good cowgirl pajama party (?) and they are SO comfy cozy. Lucas’s mom gave them to me for my b-day this year. They are the best slippers ever, and I practically live in them around the house.)

5 Things I've always wanted to do:
-own my own shop filled with awesome brick-a-brac
-have a pet corgi (those proportions… they’re just so all wrong, in such an adorable way)
-travel through Europe by train
-see the aurora borealis
-learn to ride vert on a skateboard (I kid you not, I was a skater chick back in high school)

5 Things I'm currently into:
-vintage and vintage inspired photography on flickr
-unexpected color combinations that totally work, like purple tights with red floral dresses (I present to you exhibit A and exhibit B… I rest my case.)
-child proofing my home (Clover recently started crawling, pulling herself up on furniture, and finding things like electrical outlets fascinating... yikes!)
-grannies and their shoes (but more on that in a later post)
-pomegranate flavored things (yogurt, soda, and best of all hagan daaz dark chocolate covered pomegranate ice cream bars…yum!)

And 5 Impressions on Sweet Dreams Till Sunbeams Find Me (who tagged me):
-she has incredible taste in women (the lovely ladies she features as inspiration are all girl crush worthy)
-she has a deep appreciation for romantic beauty
-the overall aesthetic of her blog is stunning and jam packed with inspirational eye candy
-she spends lots of time creating outfits on Polyvore and from what I can seen it appears to be time well spent
-her taste is exquisite (she has a wonderful eye and a true knack for combining beautiful images in a “the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts” sort of way)

Tagging:
The Girl Who Married A Bear
Bouy
Pop Elegantarium
A Cat of Impossible Colour
Vintage Vienna


Tagged to play the 6 quirks game by the ever charming The Girl Who Married A Bear.
The rules of the game are to link the person who tagged you, to tag 6 other bloggers and let them know where the rules are found, and then to post 6 of your quirks.

Quirk 1: While I love berries and peaches, I hate almost all fruit. There are some, like apples and citrus, that I am ambivalent toward but for the most part I am anti-fruit, especially if it is of the melon or tropical variety.

Quirk 2: I love and consume sweets more than anyone I know. Not so much candy, but chocolate and baked goods (usually involving chocolate). Ice cream and pudding are good too. I pretty much eat such things daily and would probably be morbidly obese if I did not have the metabolism of say… a hummingbird and the superhuman ability to eat an entire cake or a whole box of doughnuts without gaining any weight (for clarification: I have not actually done this, but I’ve probably come darn close a time or two.) On second thought, this might be more of a gift than a quirk.

Quirk 3: I am an extremely quiet person, as in if you were to look up “Chatty Cathy” in the dictionary, you would most certainly not find a picture of me. However, when I write rather than speak, I have a tendency to ramble on and on about things and don’t seem to be at any sort of loss for words. This puzzles me about myself.

Quirk 4: So, I was having trouble coming up with quirks and I asked my husband for help. His only response was “You drool a lot when you sleep.” Wow Lucas, thanks for your incite, although he’s right, I do… but “Really, is that all you’ve got?” To which he replied, “You’re mild mannered Missa, you don’t have any quirks.” So maybe that’s a quirk. I am usually decidedly low key and unquirky, which makes the following behaviors even more odd:

Quirk 5: I have an alter ego who rarely makes public appearances but she’s loads of fun when she does. She has been given such names as “Crazy Mary” and “Mexico Missa”. Her appearances often involve alcoholic beverages, hip hop, and a dance floor and needless to say she’s a hit at parties.

Quirk 6: I have a wicked competitive streak when it comes to games. I once assaulted Lucas with a scrabble board. Lettered tiles went flying, it wasn’t pretty. I have also been known to cheat at pub trivia, not something I’m proud of just so you know ; )

Tagging:
The Girl Who Married A Bear
Bouy
Pop Elegantarium
A Cat of Impossible Colour
Vintage Vienna
Sweet Dreams Till Sunbeams Find Me