Christmas

It began bright and early with stockings, lattes, and watching Clover and her cousins open presents across the street at my sister-in-law Isolde’s house.



A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across this gorgeous sterling silver heart bracelet at a funky little antique shop. I mentioned how perfect it was with it’s enamel yellow roses on the larger heart and clovers(!) on all the little hearts.

My wonderful husband surprised me with it in my stocking Christmas morning… I was hoping ;) I love it so much, I haven’t taken it off.



We ate a delicious brunch and drank mimosas later in the morning at a larger family gathering at my sister-in-law Kelcey’s house. Clover got to open even more presents and as you can see, she got REALLY into it this year!

Enjoying some down time with papa… aren’t they sweet? I’m a lucky gal for sure.




The light in their house was so lovely that I may have gone a little overboard on the picture taking, but I had a good excuse. I was getting to know my brand new camera!!!

Lucas got me a nice little Canon point and shoot to finally replace the one that broke. I’m having lots of fun with it. Like I said, I’m a lucky gal… thanks sweetie!

Lucas’s sister Kelcey gave Clover an adorable vintage dress, red velvet with a built-in crinoline that she personalized just for Clover as she was mending it. I had no idea sewing machines could be programmed to do that! It was so perfect for the occasion that she had to put it on right away : )

She made that amazing felted bag on the chair next to her too, and I wish I would have taken a picture of the felted slippers she made, they were so cool. I envy her crafting skills big time!

Just chillin’ with their cute little kitty, Bella.


The men of the house… my brother-in-law Tim (who you may have guessed is a musician based on the snazzy new shirt he got for Christmas) and my 12-year-old nephew Tait who inherited the music gene in spades…

Tait hopped on the piano and played this song from Amelie for us. He plays several instruments and composes his own music on the piano too, he’s pretty amazing, and has been since he was just a little tike.

Speaking of little tikes, I love watching Clover milling about in the corner at the tiny play kitchen, unable to sit still even for a second : )

Merry Christmas to all...

... and to all a good night :)

The Basics

This was LAST Thursday’s outfit, where is the time going?! With all this holiday hustling and bustling, how is a girl supposed to keep up with presenting her outfits to the world wide webs-ky in a timely manner? I tell ya… ;)

I wanted to share this particular 100% thrifted (tights excluded) outfit though because it features two new casual wardrobe basics that I am currently loving.

The little cream colored fine knit tee ($1.50, Salvos) is just the right amount of stretched and worn to the point of being slightly drapey and sheer. It may not look like much, but a perfect fitting tee is tough to find, and this one must have been well-loved back in the 90’s from whence I’m guessing it came based on it’s cropped length. Speaking of which, I’ve been getting into the high-waisted bottoms with cropped tops silhouette lately…

Enter, my new uber-high-waisted faded red denim Guess skirt… yes, GUESS?, complete with the once coveted upside down triangle on the back pocket… oh, my sixth grade self would be so jealous! It couldn’t be a more perfect fit and it actually came to me in an awesome thrift package sent by my friend Angelina who has seen me in person but was never given my sizing or measurements… she is just that good. Thanks so much Ange, I love it!

I added a couple of layers, 90’s inspired of course, to keep things cozy. The vintage plaid shirt I found over the summer for .75 at the Welfare League Thrift and my cashmere grandpa cardigan found last year is now an old favorite go-to-piece for coziness.

Ok, well now I’m in the mood for a little iconic 90’s goodness…

Here’s Sonic Youth‘s Sugar Kane video to transport us back to 1992, when grunge was first making its way onto the runways and a young Sassy magazine intern named Chloe was first making her way into the limelight… ah, the good old days : )

(Sorry about the crappy picture quality *shakes fist at youtube*. There's a cleaner version here if you are logged into yahoo.)

Pretties

When it comes to jewelry wearing, it's sad to say, I’ve grown increasingly lazy over the years. First it was the earrings that I couldn’t be bothered with, then the rings (except my wedding ring of course). I’ve always liked bracelets but they too seem to have fallen by the wayside. Necklaces are the only jewelry item that I manage to wear on a regular basis these days.


Lately though my inner style pendulum appears to be swinging in the opposite direction as I’ve been growing increasingly smitten with the look of big statement rings on multiple fingers, piled on pendants, and tangles of bangles mixed with more delicate wrist adornments… and in all cases the earthier and more mismatched, the better.


While it remains to be seen whether this growing appreciation for “hippie bling?” will motivate me to attempt pulling off something of the above nature, I've at least managed to pull out some old bracelets and rings that haven’t seen the light of day in years. Not to mention, I will be haunting the thrift store jewelry counters with new vigor effective immediately!

(images via: weheartit, the streethearts, smoke and sassafrass, drifted abound, and teeth teeth teeth)

Boy, Oh Boy

This was an outfit from a few days ago, in which I made my first attempt at wearing the vintage blazer found recently at the Goodwill. Blazers seem to be everywhere these days and just when I thought it was a trend that I would be skipping (they can be tricky fit-wise), this one came along and there you have it, I'm dressed like a boy.

The vintage plaid shirt is one I thrifted for Lucas awhile back (the label says: The Men's Store) but I'm kinda liking it for me now, the little plaid hair bow is from a thrifted vintage boy's bow tie, and the sock/shoe combo was inspired by this.

This weekend was about getting our little family unit into the Christmas spirit... tree decorating, garland and stocking hanging, and Christmas music listening (The Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack is back in heavy rotation :)

Some Sunday morning moments and more styling magic from little Clover (who knew the fairy tutu was such a versatile piece? ;)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

self-styled

I'd show you what I wore to storytime this week, but it really just paled in comparison.

P.S. - Remember those awesome tie-dyed leggings from my previous post?... Go here to be tutorialed (it should be a word) on how to make them, by the designer herself! Thanks for the tip Alexa!

To Dye For

I fell in love with Shabd Simon-Alexander's amazing tie-dye pieces back when I first saw the spring 09 collection. Unfortunately, such beautiful craftsmanship, though I'm sure worth every penny, doesn't quite fit into the current budget.



Enter this tie-dye silk scarf I dug out of a basket of dollar scarves today at the Welfare League thrift. It made me think of the SHABD collection and these in particular:


"...hand dyed accent pieces, inspired by Hubble telescope photos of worlds being born and stars dying."

Now, what better to be inspired by?


And what are the odds of me running into a pair of these awesome leggings in a thrift store?

Warm December Day

Yesterday I wore this adorable prairie blouse that arrived awhile back in my "Last Days of a Seventies Summer" package from Milla. It's tiny floral print reminds me of spring and even though it was the first day of December, I had sunny warm weather to match. Today is feeling a lot more like what one might expect on a December day (cold, damp, foggy). You just never know with this silly California weather.

I was on my way out to bring Clover to storytime at the public library... oh, what a glamorous life!