A Few New Things, and A Small Confession

On Halloween afternoon, I took a trip to the thrift store in a last minute attempt to help Lucas out with his lack-of-costume-dilemma. As you know, I was not successful in finding him the perfect costume; however, I WAS successful in finding myself the perfect vintage hooded sweater poncho!

Aptly labeled “Cuddle Knit,” it has been keeping me quite cozy. The vintage woven bag was one of last week’s finds from the same thrift store. (Poncho: $8, Bag: $3.50)

I wore this out to a party on Saturday night, for some friends who are expecting their first baby next month. A last hurrah/baby shower. It was such a lovely party. Unfortunately, I seem to have become lazy about taking pictures lately. Having Clover attached to my leg or whichever body part she happens to be clinging to at the time doesn't help either.

Other fun events that I failed to photo document since I last blogged include a very cool Day of the Dead celebration that Clover and I attended downtown with beautiful alters and amazing Oaxacan dancers in traditional attire with incredible feather headpieces. Also, Lucas’ birthday, which I felt kinda guilty about while catching up on Heather’s blog the other night. While reading, I discovered that our husbands share the same birthday, and she dedicated such a lovely post to hers.

Sorry Lucas. You know I love you more than any blog post could possibly convey, unless of course it was written by Heather 'cause her post was pretty darn sweet. I’m sure you enjoyed a break from my usual obsessive picture taking on your special day though ;)

I wore this same outfit on Sunday afternoon to take Clover to see her very first play. It was a children’s theater production of Hansel and Gretel and she LOVED it. To the point where she has become a little obsessed.

Days later, she is still pretending to be Gretel and insisting that everyone refer to her as Gretel, not Clover (I told you, once she gets into character…). She's been carrying the now tattered program (with photos of the actors in character) around with her everywhere.

She took it to pre-school on Monday and it came home in two pieces. We taped it back together and it went back with her again today. It was fun to pick her up and hear that her teachers indulged her enthusiasm for the story by having the kids act it out. Guess who got to be Gretel? :)

Alright, and now for the confession… my final new thing… the long-sleeved tunic tee in the above photo, the one where I'm hanging my head (in shame?)… was a recent purchase from... from... alright it was from TARGET! I bought it at TARGET!… oh the guilt... the guilt!

I wasn’t there to buy clothes for myself and normally their clothes don’t even tempt me, but in a moment of weakness it caught my eye with its nice pattern and colors and that tunic cut. Tunic top/skinny jeans/boots is a look that I find so easy and comfortable and I knew it would be perfect for that.

Next thing I know, I’m looking at the sale price of under ten dollars and the rest is history. Oh, and I figured while I was off the wagon, I might as well throw in a cheap purple floral tank top for layering as well. Sigh…

Yes, I’m being overly dramatic. There was a little bit of big-box guilt involved though. Ah well, I'm already getting a lot of wear out of it, and it is super comfy. Ok, back on the wagon.

Halloween 2010

I found this vintage candy striper pinafore at the beginning of October, on the newly set out Halloween rack at the thrift store, and knew my search for a costume was over before it had even begun. All I needed to thrift were the white shoes, which ended up being pretty easy to find, not to mention, SUPER comfy.

Luckily, I still had the nurse's cap from Halloween 2003, the year I went as her. Not sure what happened to the eye patch.

In case you were wonderin' just what kind of candy I was striping :)

Clover in all her fuzzy little panda glory... cutest thing ever. As soon as it got dark we set off down our street with a little group of kids for some trick-or-treat action.

Clover was totally into the trick-or-treating this year, and as we made our way down the block and back, she looked like a little ewok hobbling down the street. Pretty darn cute.

Garden gnome grandmas! Also pretty darn cute.

Next stop, a party conveniently located across the street in my sister-in-law's driveway. They had the firepit going and fresh chunks of bacon-wrapped tuna on the grill. Lots of family, friends and neighbors. A fun for all ages kind of party with toddlers, teenagers, grandparents, and just about every age in between.

More costume cuteness. Our neice Vida and her friend made awesome sheep costumes (with some mom help) and her friend's older sister went as a folksy version of Bo Peep.

The really cool part about their costumes was that they got the wool from the friends' very own sheep and sewed it on themselves! They even kinda smelled like sheep, it was all very authentic and impressive.

Our neice Fiona's Harlequin costume was definitely a favorite of mine, so adorable!

How CUTE is that pointy little nose?!

So yeah, there were cute costumes a'plenty... aaannd then there was Lucas. Oh, the last minute, hastily thrown together hillbilly get-up. Yup, that's my guy! Am I a lucky gal or what?

Seen here with our brother-in-law Sam, who had more hilarious dirty pirate puns up those puffy sleeves than you could shake a sword at. Quite the pair these two.

Apples and almond slivers... fun and healthy!

So that was our night, hope there were plenty of smiles to go around on your Halloween too!

Alright, and since I know you were wondering, I'll leave you with a photo flashback to Halloween 2003...

This was at a work party with my coworker, who decided to follow my lead and go as her.

We worked as molecular biology researchers, for a company that did vaccine development. You may need to full-size the photo to read it, but the wording on the poster in the background was purely coincidental, yet so perfect.

The inspirational scene:

I left the theater knowing what my costume would be that year :)

Photo Flashback: Halloween, 1977

Watching my pre-school teacher get the pumpkin carving started... things were about to get real messy!

It's pretty obvious, but in case you weren't sure, that's me holding hands with the little girl in pigtails, whose hem is somehow miraculously even shorter than mine! I remember being related to her and the little girl next to her in some way, second cousins I think.

This is the earliest Halloween I really have memories of. I was four years old, just a year older than Clover. My costume was Raggedy Anne that year. I really wish I had a better picture, but here's a little peek...

My mom made the costume. I remember going to the fabric store with her and trying to find just the right yarn for the hair :)

Still have some last minute costume preparations to get done for tonight and last minute pumpkin carving too. I'm such a procrastinator.

Happy Halloween to you all!

This Morning

Dropping off Clover, I mean Elmo (once she gets into character there is no calling her Clover) at pre-school today. Halloween party day!

She has a super cute panda costume lined up for Sunday, but this morning she pulled the old secondhand Elmo vest thingy out from the dress-up basket and would not be dissuaded.

It was fun to see all the little kids running around in their costumes...

... and just when you think things can't get any cuter... the teacher pulls out a week-old baby bunny... eeeeee!

When it rains, it pours...

Which is exactly what it's been doing here all weekend. Not only did this week deliver up some actual honest to goddess fall weather, it also brought the delivery of another wonderful Milla package!

Friday's decidedly 90's grunge-inpired outfit featured several Milla goodies, including the zip-up denim jumper dress and floral leggings which arrived in this latest package, and the boots which were an earlier gift.

If you follow her blog (and you should, because she lives in something of a dream world, trust me, I've witnessed it!) then you've already seen the gorgeous carved leather hair accessories she's been crafting and wearing so beautifully.

I was SO excited to find this little leaf (along with an equally lovely butterfly) tucked into the pocket of an amazing leather bag (which I'm sure will be making an appearance before long). It is absolutely the best ever fall accessory and I keep getting compliments from strangers every time I wear it out!

Milla and I love coming up with themes for the thrifty care packages we send one another. The fun part is that the themes will often just present themselves based on what we happen to find, which adds a little bit of magic to the whole process I think :)

For this package, Milla came up with a super fun 70's/90's fall back-to-school theme, based on two vintage teen magazines that were also part of the package. An early 90's Seventeen magazine and a magazine called Sassy from the late 70's (different from the one that was big in the 90's). These being the decades we both most often look to for style inspiration (and I'm sure a big reason that we have such similar stylistic tendencies) made this package so perfect!

The backpack which arrived pre-adorned (vintage sun/arrow boyscout pin added by me) took me straight back to my college days in the 90s. Even Lucas, when he saw it, made a comment about how it was like traveling back in time (something that Milla and I aspire to do as a team one day, incidentally ;)

This is what I wore on my now biweekly trip with Clover to the public library. We go to storytime, return books, and check out new ones to read. We go through A LOT of childrens' books each week and it turns out my new old backpack is just perfect for lugging them around on our library trips!

The obligatory silly Clover outfit shot :)

nom nom nom...

In other seasonal news, check out the bounty from our compost heap. Lucas harvested all of this just from volunteer pumpkin and squash plants that sprung up out of last years compost!

Oh, and the title of this post was not only in reference to the weather. In addition to the awesome package from Milla, this week also brought: a swap invitation from another favorite internets gal and style inspiration, which I'm very excited about, an amazing 70's vintage sweater dress gifted to me by Oosa (mother-in-law and beautiful bride from my previous post), and then just yesterday, I unexpectedly received another very special package from yet another lovely and infinitely inspiring blogger... all posts for another day!

Wedding on the Farm

Ok, ready for a little time travel? We're going back to this time last month, the weekend I first started coming down with my dreaded cough to be exact. As I mentioned, during my time away from Blogland, there were several blog-worthy events that occurred. The first being my mother-in-law Oosa's beautiful wedding.

Remember back when I went wedding dress shopping with her? Well, you finally get to see the amazing dress she found in action!

Obviously, that's not it, haha. That's the adorable vintage dress that my sister Val gifted me straight from her very own closet to wear for the occasion. I tried it on to borrow and it was such a perfect fit that she said I could keep it, awesome sis, right? It's the sweetest dress and I just adore it.

Val was also in attendance as the official photographer and spent her time at this wedding behind the camera. She then got married herself the very next weekend! You'll be seeing plenty of her in my next catch up post :)


The wedding was a bit surreal for us because it took place on the same farm where Lucas and I got married seven years ago (bringing back lots of memories) and where Clover now attends preschool (when we arrived, she was like “Mama, where are all the kids?”).

Mr. and Mrs. Scarecrow all decked out in bride and groom attire at the entrance were one of many parallels with our own wedding.

Oosa was such a radiant bride, absolutely glowing! Val took this photo in front of a mural painted on one of the walls in the bedroom that was used to prep for the ceremony. I love how her hair blends with the mountains in the background.

Lucas’ sister Kelcie putting the final touches on the bouquet she made for her mom.

Kelcie’s oldest daughter Chiara wore her aunt Zoe’s dress that Kelcie hand-made for her sister's wedding over 15 years ago, even the lace work was done by hand!

As you can see, the dress was gorgeous on our lovely niece Chiara. She and our nephew Jonathan were also in our wedding, though just little kids at the time.

This little kid was pretty excited about her very first flower girl gig :)

Clover did such a great job leading off the procession of grandchildren with her cousin Fiona. Her dress is one that has been handed down through the cousins and once belonged to Vida in the polka dot dress in the back. So many adorable dresses making their way through the girls of this family!

And of course the dress we've all been waiting for, doesn’t it look beautiful on her? Geoff, the groom, was visibly blown away (and rightly so!) as Lucas walked his mom up to her husband-to-be. I don’t think we could have found a more perfect dress.

That was such a great moment when one of the resident farm cats decided to wander up during the ceremony and check things out :)

The ceremony took place up in the field, under the same wise old oak tree that yours truly spoke her vows beneath. Though the weather was a bit drizzly early on and looking like it might even rain, as if summoned by all the love in the air, the sun broke through the clouds just as the ceremony was getting underway and it turned out to be a gorgeous day.

As for the ceremony itself, it was a lovely series of truly special moments. The joining of two people quite obviously brimming with love for one another… so wonderful to be a part of.

Geoff’s son and daughter-in-law performed the song for their fist dance. There's a little video I took at the end of the post. It was soooo sweet, 70 years old and just beaming away at each other like a couple of kids :)

Speaking of kids, the cake table was a popular hang out spot with the little ones.

I love this picture that Chiara took of Clover.

My brother-in-law Tim’s 40’s/50’s swing/blues band played. That’s him on stand-up base. They also played at our wedding, back when they were a brand new band. Our tiny dancer danced her little heart out with auntie Zoe.

Most of the photos in this post were taken by Val, and some by Chiara too, with cameras much nicer than mine, but this last one I took as the moon was rising over the farm and the party was winding down. I’ll leave you with that little video I mentioned before :

Aw... :)