Darkness and Light

On Sunday, I finally got around to wearing that dark blue lace dress with the big pockets that I thrifted months ago. What took me so long?... I don't know, I guess when you have too much stuff in your closet, even good things can get lost in the shuffle.

It also seems Lula "the dark issue" has gotten to me as well. Maybe it's the Halloween spirit, but I'm feeling drawn to this whole dark fairytale style right now...

... and this dress seems to fit right in.

I have a thing for saint imagery and like to collect old charms and trinkets and such. It's not a religious thing, I just find them beautiful. The top charm on this necklace was a flea market find and the one underneath came from the Welfare League Thrift. I strung them on an old thrifted chain and love the way they look together.

I believe this fascination can be traced back to when I was quite young. In fact, one of my earlier memories of when I was 3 or 4 years old, occurred in a small town in Massachusetts where I was born. The street we lived on at the time was Church St. and I remember it being on a hill at the top of which, there was an old white church.

One day in the parking lot of the local supermarket, the bells of this church began to ring. Now, from a very young age, I was familiar with spiritual endeavors, my parents being hippies and all, but not in the form of organized religion or church going. So, it was a little strange when I then proceeded to very matter-of-factly say to my parents "I must go to those bells." Yup, those were the exact words that came out of my little mouth and from what they have told me, I was quite serious about the matter. Pretty cute right... and yes, maaaybe even a little bit creepy.

To their credit, my somewhat surprised and totally amused parents obeyed my wishes. I still remember being carried through that church by my father. Looking up at the super high ceilings, watching the colored light come in through the stained glass windows, and hearing footsteps echo while marveling at all the beautiful statues. I remember there being many colorful, life-like statues, and for me at the time, this put the church on par with some sort of wonderful theme-park. From what I can remember, which is all a little surreal and hazy, it was a beautiful church and remains a favorite childhood memory.

I did a quick search on flickr and ahhh, the wonders of the internets... I was able to find this photo of Church St! We moved to California when I was 5 years old and I haven't laid eyes upon this street or that white church up in the distance since. How crazy to see this again! I also found a better view of the front of the church here.


On Sunday afternoon Lucas, Clover, and I took a stroll through the old rural cemetery not far from where we live (I also happen to have a bit of a thing for old cemeteries). It was a functioning cemetery from the mid 1800's up until the 30's. In the years following, unclear ownership lead to it becoming dilapidated and overgrown. Though, in the mid 1990's, volunteers began it's restoration and it has since been given Historical Landmark status.


The cemetery is located right in town but kind of tucked away on a small hill in an old oak grove. Oaks are one of my favorite trees, Lucas and I were married under a huge one :) I love looking at the intricate carvings on the worn headstones and reading the old fashioned names.

With the dappled light filtering through the trees, what a peaceful little afternoon getaway, or I assume it would have been had my one-year-old not been crying due to painful teething as I forced her reluctant father to try and get a decent outfit shot of me ;)

I'll leave you with this thematically and seasonally appropriate Silly Symphony cartoon, I love these!

Nifty Thrift Picks of the Week (8.22.08)

Sharing my weekly faves from the Nifty Thrift flickr group where people post pics of their nifty thrifty finds.

As my own kitchen is currently a mess, awaiting a planned expansion and remodel that is unfortunately stalled at the permit getting stage, I found inspiration this week in these three lovely thrifty kitchen corners:

farmers market flower
Originally uploaded by the lulu bird

Kitchen Nook
Originally uploaded by simple moth

Kitchen Corner
Originally uploaded by Vintage Pleasure

Here's a better look at that amazing vintage scale from the third picture:

Vintage Scales
Originally uploaded by Vintage Pleasure

The scale was donated to the thrift store by an old post office that closed down. It's got that magic green/chrome thing going on, isn't it gorgeous? I want one and I don't even know what I'd use it for. Probably nothing, but it sure would look cool in my fantasy kitchen, along with these covetable finds:

tea time
Originally uploaded by Candi Mandi

Thrifted Pyrex Bowls
Originally uploaded by Tamara Kane

Thermos Family Portrait
Originally uploaded by O!Rachew!

Let's hear it for Candi Mandi for making BOTH Picks of the Week posts this week, that's a Thrift Candy first :)

100% Thrifted Pick of the Week (10.21.08)

take a walk in the woods, originally uploaded by Candi Mandi.

This is pure 70’s album cover goodness! I love it all, from the outfit to the vintage photo treatment. The mood is gorgeous… a contemplative walk alone in the woods, surrounded by the beauty of nature, birds singing, sun filtering through trees. Just a pretty girl, a lovely dress, an awesome pair of boots, and that shawl… oh, how I love that shawl… per-fection :)

Maybe it’s the album cover reference, but Candi Mandi is reminding me a little bit of Cher back in the early days when she still looked natural and beautiful:


Check out the 100% Thrifted flickr group for more fabulous fully thrifted outfits!

Cute Interlude

Yesterday evening Clover and I hung out on the beach while her papa surfed,
tonight she got into my stash of tights and belts.

This is how I found her, she did it all on her own.

I think it's a good sign :)

Today's Outfit: Romper Bloom

Ok, so maybe I was a bit hasty in bidding farewell to Summer just yet. It was a gorgeous day today with temperatures reaching the upper 80's and the same forcasted for tomorrow. Since it was too warm for most of my new finds, I decided to pull out the ol' romper.

With the above Built by Wendy dress in mind, I searched my closet to no avail for a suitable skirt to layer over the bottom half of the romper. Then I gave this vintage skirt with the crazy bright flowers and confetti(?) print a second look because it happens to be the only black skirt I own. I was in no way expecting it to work.

To my surprise, when I put it on, the whole thing ended up looking like a dress! I added the Guatemalan belt because the colors were so similar to those in the skirt and I think it helps with the whole dress illusion, distracting from the separation of the two pieces. Again, these Rocketdogs are the only black flats I own and the colors in the embroidery just happened to be right.

This made me think about how this methodology comes into play for me often when I'm putting together an outfit. I usually start out with a particular article of clothing (in this case the romper) and then go from there. Unexpected combinations often come about because I simply don't own what I would originally think to pair with something and end up trying whatever I happen to have that might work based on color, texture, or shape.

For example, in my last outfit post, I started off with the tapestry skirt and that Pixies tee shirt was the only top I could find with a color and fit that would work with the skirt. By no means did I wake up that morning and think, hmm... I'd like to wear my new tapestry skirt today, I think it would be really cool paired with my old Pixies tee that I haven't worn in years.

So there's a little peak into my sartorial thought process. It's the old "necessity is the mother of invention" method that usually leads to my more creative outfits, which often turn out better than what I would have come up with if only I owned things like a basic black pencil skirt... though I really should get one of those ;)

Nifty Thrift Picks of the Week (10.15.08)

Sharing my weekly faves from the Nifty Thrift flickr group where people post pics of their nifty thrifty finds. This week's theme is "pairs":

owl glasses
Originally uploaded by Miz Roxanne

Whooo wouldn’t want and awesome pair of owly glasses like these? Oh look, that wowl is winking ;)

his-n-her holgas
Originally uploaded by See Margaret

I’ve seen some really awesome holga photography like this and this while browsing flickr. How sweet are his-n-hers holgas? What a lucky couple. At $6.99 each, in original boxes, like new, you’ve gotta love the Goodwill!

vintage Selva tap shoes
Originally uploaded by buppins

Ever since seeing this lovely photograph months ago, I have been charmed by the idea of tap dancing. I think finding a sweet pair of vintage mary jane tap shoes like these just might convince me to take it up!

Speaking of tap dancing, and in keeping with the pairs theme, check out these adorable tap dancing twins from 1934 :D

100% Thrifted Pick of the Week (10.14.08)

One nation under a groove, originally uploaded by missemma.peel.

Missemma.peel’s style has me totally intrigued. Her ability to layer unexpected pieces in unique and creative ways is truly inspiring! She does this in both of her 100% thrifted looks this week. I mean who would think that layering an unbuttoned sweater vest over a floral dress over a crocheted top and tucking it all into a pair of pleated and cropped pumpkin hued pants would even be logistically possible, let alone end up looking, dare I say it, incredibly hip. Her finesse with accessories has also not gone unnoticed… the headscarf, teddy bear belt, and lil’ purse add just enough quirk and tie it all together perfectly!

Sing it back, originally uploaded by missemma.peel.

In the second look, the scarf (yup, it’s a scarf) under the oversized tee under the little black cropped top creates really cool proportions, and I’m loving the interaction of the scarf and tights patterns. Again, just the perfect dash of quirk with that fried egg pin. This girl is good, and while looking through her photostream I liked seeing how she used the same pieces in different outfits, often to very different effects. For example, notice the same scarf and black top here and here. Off to check out her blog :)

See the 100% Thrifted flickr group for more fabulous fully thrifted outfits!

Ode to Bodega

Over the weekend we headed out to our old stomping grounds of Bodega, Ca. It’s a very small town out in the country passed through when heading west out to the coast. One of those places where everyone knows everyone else and there’s a real sense of community that’s pretty rare these days.

Back in the day, there was such a wonderfully eclectic mix of characters living there… surfers, hippies, artists, fishermen… lots of eccentric types to keep things interesting and then being a quaint stopping point on the way to the beach, you’d get tourists and bikers as well.

Once upon a time, Lucas and I lived behind the general store (big blue building in first photo) in an old water tower converted to a tiny studio, right in the heart of town. This consists of the general store, the surf shop, the teeny coffee shop where Lucas used to work, the post office, firehouse, a handful of shops to entice the tourists, and the social hub, The Casino, a biker bar with two pool tables, ACDC, Patsy Kline, and Bob Marley in heavy rotation on the jukebox and the most impressive collection of taxidermied animal heads you’ve ever seen (not to mention this wallpaper behind the bar)… God I miss that place!



Bodega also has the claim to fame that the famous church and schoolhouse scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” were filmed there, and the town is known for being quite haunted. While I can’t back up the haunting claims first hand, I can attest to the fact that the birds in that town are actually quite friendly ;)

All of the above photos are via various flickr photostreams and link to the original source when clicked on. It was funny to randomly come across that photo of the laundry line which I really love, then to read the description and find out that it belongs to my brother-in-law’s mother, haha! It seems the picture was taken by someone just passing through town… small world :)

We were actually there for a party in honor of our old and dear friend Tim’s recent marriage which happened out of state in his lovely bride’s hometown back east. This was a chance to celebrate at home with friends and family.

We had a wonderful time and the setting was absolutely breathtaking, with gorgeous gardens and pastoral views! We got to hang out with so many people we hadn’t seen in years, it was almost like a reunion of sorts. It all brought back memories of a really fun time in my life and we got a chance to show off the little one too :)

Speaking of little ones, I kept trying to take pictures of Tim’s precious daughter in her adorable pink fairy princess dress, but I wasn’t using the flash and she was fluttering about so much that all the photos turned out fuzzy in this really wonderful way. Almost as if she were an actual fairy I had captured :D


This is our good friend Joey, who is someone that we do still see on a regular basis as he lives right down the street from us. He’s posing for this photo to show off his new Missa-thrifted vintage plaid western style shirt, so seasonally appropriate with its orange and brown hues, if I do say so myself, unlike his somewhat inappropriate footwear ;) This is one surfer who lives in flip flops rain or shine!

Then Joey turned the camera on me and I think it’s quite obvious that I’m clearly more comfortable being photographed when it’s just me and my self-timer alone in the backyard ;) Not my most inspired outfit I’ll admit, but I was wearing my recently thrifted cardigan, so there you go.

Also, once the sun went down it was FREEZING cold and I was happy to not be in a dress or skirt. I threw on a knit scarf and hat and was a whole hell of a lot cozier than Mr. Flip Flops I'm sure!

Hope you all had wonderful weekends as well! :)