A Mary Little Christmas

Clover and I went over to my mom’s on Wednesday for an early Christmas celebration with her and my sisters and the cousins. Here I am by the tree with little Miss Mary Christmas herself.


Mom in the kitchen with my sister Val. For lunch, she cooked up a delicious veggie lasagna with garlic bread and I whipped up my signature salad, super simple and always a crowd pleaser, I'll have to tell you about it sometime.



My mom and her husband love hunting down treasures at flea markets and antique stores and have a home full of wonderful finds. I loved the fun contrast of festive touches and funny little Christmasy critters against their Native American/Mexican/Southwest/folk art inspired decor.

They've got an amazing collection of blankets and rugs too. That was their sweet cat Buddy sprawled out on one of them. Poor thing was limping around all day with an injured paw :(

Kitchen coziness.

Wednesday afternoon was the only time that worked out for all us girls to get together. Unfortunately for our men folk, they had to work, making it just the girls this year, which was actually kind of fun.

Speaking of the girls, I've already introduced my Mom and Val. I'm the oldest of four and Val (closest to me in age) is two years younger. That's my youngest sister Julia (by 10 years) in the gray cardigan on the couch and my niece Sadie (Val's oldest daughter) sitting on the floor in the back.


Mary amidst the flurry of present opening. We just did presents for the kids this year and they had the living room floor covered in paper in a matter of moments. So fun to watch.

That's my sister Shayna (8 years younger) with her son Austin on her lap. He's the youngest of Clover's cousins and we had been convinced that our family could only produce girls, until he came along!


My mom got little fairy dresses and wings for Clover and her cousins Alana and Riley (Val's two youngest). Of course, they were prancing around in them over their clothes pretty much instantly.


Just a couple more cute pics. Here we have Austin entertaining us on the xylophone and Alana and Fairy Mary having a secretive huddle over some stickers.

Christmas day was spent with Lucas' family, and the festivities went very much like last year's. Overall, we've had a fun holiday filled with food, friends, and family... the very best kind, I suppose. Now it's the day after Christmas and we're spending a quiet day at home, recovering from all the excitement.

Hope you and your loved ones enjoyed a wonderful holiday too!

Peace and Love,
Missa

There's Something About Mary

We've been watching the movie The Secret Garden lately. The 1993 version, borrowed from the children's section at our public library. I'd be lying if I said I didn't see this coming...

Oh yes, Mary Lennox is indeed the new Gretel :)

[Movie stills link to flickr sources]

The Artist's Studio

A couple of weeks ago, we took a fun little trip down to San Rafael to visit Helen at her studio. After reading my post about her recent gallery show, she extended an invitation for us to come down and choose one of her pieces to have come and live in our home for awhile!

Rather than have them stored away, she likes to loan pieces out to friends and family so they can be actively enjoyed. I can tell you right now that we have been very actively enjoying the one we chose! More about that though, after I show you some photos I snapped of her dreamy studio…



Bones, bird nests, sticks and stones, creature-like cacti in terra cotta pots, ceramics, woven baskets, books upon books, objects of inspiration at every turn… not to mention all the art supplies and magical paintings in various stages of completion.



Artist’s studio meets natural history museum meets Southwest Trading Post, a curiosity cabinet of creativity… I could have moved in.



An old trunk filled with years and years of notebooks all bursting at the seams with ideas and annotated sketches. Just leafing through a few brought up tales of travel and adventure. Helen is a really great story teller, by the way, with many a great story to tell…

As I'm checking out this gorgeous photograph hanging above the old trunk, she starts to tell me about it. Turns out it was taken in the late sixties by her old roommate, Annie Leibovitz! The cute girl with the pixie-cut on the left is Helen at age nineteen! Helen and Annie were roomates for a couple of years when they both studied at the San Francisco Art Institute.

This was back when Annie (who later became known for such iconic images as this and this) was first getting into photography. They had just come from the very first Bay Area Renaissance Festival, which was coincidentally held at China Camp State Park where we went with Helen following her gallery show. The photo was taken at the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. You can get a better look here.


Lucas and Clover channeling some of the studio space's palpable creative energy. Helen’s idea to bring out the paints was successful at keeping Clover occupied as I wandered around examining each and every available painting and deliberating over the tough decision at hand.

Lucas gave me final say on the matter and I’ll admit, I’m not the quickest of decision makers, especially when there are so many wonderful choices!

As tough as the decision was though, I’m sure those of you who remember my post about Helen’s gallery show won’t be too surprised to see who is now mischievously peeking out from behind our Christmas tree…

So awesome! We are utterly stoked to be able to enjoy such a unique piece of art in our very own living room for the next year or so… many big thanks to Helen for her generosity and hospitality. She’s currently on a much anticipated trip to Egypt… filling up more of those notebooks no doubt!

Four Hens A-Laying

Just a quickie outfit post from Saturday (old stuff, all second hand other than the boots, necklaces both from Milla :), and some fun news...



Yay, we've got eggs! The girls have been laying for about a week and a half now. We're currently averaging about 2 eggs a day between the four of them (apparently Hiccup was feeling camera shy that day), though today we found three!

Already plenty for our little family's egg consumption needs. Though still pretty small at this stage, the eggs are super yummy and it's exciting that we won't need to buy them anymore. Good news for friends and family too, it looks as though we'll even have some to share :)

Swap Magic and a Trip to the Christmas Tree Farm

There seems to be a continuing theme going on with my outfit posts. That being: Check out this awesome vintage dress given to me by *insert name of lovely and amazing lady here* and see how I styled it. It's a fun theme for me, that's for sure. Though, I can only take limited credit for the styling on this one.

You see, when this soft purple calico dress showed up in my swap package from this lovely and amazing lady, it was already wearing the beaded-granny-cardigan-of-my-dreams and flower necklace… a lovingly wrapped, pre-assembled outfit from a gal whose impeccable bohemian vintage style I absolutely adore. Pretty cool!

So true, so true... haha.

Swap treasures galore! I’m telling you, Nicole puts together a kick-ass package…

Even the boxes themselves are lovely, and if you’d like to get in on the action, hurry yourself on over to Nicole’s blog, Flaming Hag Folkwear, and sign up to win her giveaway! Yes, you too could have a box of amazingness show up at your very own door. Her blog is a favorite, definitely one to follow :)


While wearing this lovely outfit, I followed Lucas and Clover around the Victorian Christmas Tree Ranch in Sebastopol. Unfortunately, due to dumping rain, the outfit ended up mostly hidden under my big yellow raincoat :(

Luckily, I took photos earlier in the day, before all the storming began, when it was still possible to kid myself into thinking my outfit might be weather appropriate.

The purple bird-print tote recently migrated all the way from Finland via an awesome little birdie-themed surprise package from Milla! It was the perfect addition to my purple ensemble :)



We met some Christmas Tree Farm critters. Clover was totally creeped out by the turkeys. "Mama, I don't like their heads."

The beautiful beadwork on the cardigan continues all the way across the back! Nicole knew that one of these was on my wishlist, and this one is in PERFECT condition and sooo pretty. I love that it's pretty much the exact gray/green shade of spanish moss :)

Oh yes, the cheesy holiday family antics continue!

As does little Clover's Gretel obsession. Fueled, no doubt, by the adorable green corduroy folk skirt and wee embroidered peasant blouse that Nicole sent for Gretel in the swap package, SO CUTE. Seriously people, go enter that giveaway, before it's too late!

Saturday Afternoon

Hey, remember Hillary, the vintage dress fairy? This lovely tweed number was her doing as well. After patiently spending months in my closet awaiting wintry weather, her day finally came.

The heavy fabric with silk lining make it a perfect chilly day dress, and it’s got some really wonderful little details including the matching belt and little black velvet bow at the collar. I felt very prim and proper and ladylike.


We joined the holiday hustle and bustle downtown and ate lunch at Mac’s Kosher Style Deli and Restaurant, a yummy downtown Santa Rosa institution where the pastrami sandwiches can’t be beat. As you can see, Clover was in a particularly impish mood… which provides equal parts entertainment/exhaustion.

Oh these two… when they’re not drivin’ me batty, they’re warmin’ my heart with how sweet they can be together! Haha.


We decided to really up the cheesy holiday family ante by capping the afternoon off with a free horse-drawn carriage ride through Old Railroad Square.

Clarice (Rudolph’s girlfriend) thought it was really fun.

I must admit, I kinda did too.