I am so beyond clueless when it comes to posting pictures.

Hah!

Anyway, this week has been so great! Who's with me? The sun was shining, and when it wasn't, it didn't bother me at all because it was still warm out. Ahhh this weather has made me feel like myself again.

The outfit below is actually what I wore yesterday..

 

Silk shirt: old Express, thrifted

Belt: thrifted from children's section

Jeans: F21

Shoes: Nine West, swapped

Muchachon in my hands letting me kiss him.

(Fun fact: he makes kissing noises if he wants a kiss!)

A closeup of my belt:

This is quite possibly my absolute favorite thrift find ever.

It's decorated with little silver animals that go around the entire thing!

rhino, sea turtle, zebra, elephant... whale, leopard, walrus...

Truthfully I feel a little guilty that I snatched this up from the children's section! How could I resist?

How about I give you a list of the top 5 best things about my week, hmm?

Here we go,

1. My seedlings sprouted! Yes! I've got to plant the morning glorys (glories?) in the ground tomorrow.
2. Tuesday nights are always sure to be fun and interesting when you walk into an establishment going by the name of "Nuff Ced".. and then end the night (greet the day) at the Boulevard.
3. This is huge. Really huge. I cleaned out my cloooooset!!! Lots of very swappable stuff in there, getting it all ready for a good old-fashioned Worcester Canal District swap.
4. Two beautiful words: Spring Cleaning.
5. My appetite is decreasing and my energy is increasing! I am such a true hibernator. I get tired and lazy and hungry in the cold seasons, and in the warm seasons I am up early, getting excercise, and all around a much happier person. I know I said it once up there, but I just have to say again, I feel like myself again. Hoo-ray.

Tonight, I am heading into Boston, meeting up with some friends and my sister to get dinner and drinks and then seeing my favorite band, MewithoutYou. You can check em out if you like, but just a heads up: they are an acquired taste. Most of my friends don't like them at all; those that do really love them like I do.

Lastly, here is a picture that might just make your heart burst from cuteness overload.

You have been warned.

E with Roo and our other (rescue) bird Cyrus. Yup. I'm pretty lucky.

I hope you get to spend lots of time outdoors this weekend!

Tomorrow is our neighborhood clean-up at Castle Park (behind our house),
and then more gardening, then a backyard bbq. Sigh.

Springtime, I'm yours.

Reasons to Be Happy

1. Today it's foggy and warm. Not cold and rainy. Hey now!

2. They made The Help by Kathryn Stockett into a movie! It's coming out in August of this year. I'm so 'cited. Watch the trailer here.

3. Essie's "Geranium".. nail polish really does make me so happy.

4.  At small group last week, we finished up The Horse and His Boy from the Narnia series. Tonight? PJs, potluck, and a viewing of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

And..

Nug.

Luv.

Buds.

My So-Called Wardrobe

This is serious.

I no longer have the ability to make rational decisions regarding 90s style.

Please note the unintentional Rayanne Graff strand of blonde hair.

I got the Ann Taylor Skirt at Salvation Army last week for $6

The Docs were also a Sally's find a couple years ago for an insane $9.

They fit like a glove.. er.. gloves.

Chunky winter socks via Eric's sock drawer. Heh.

Details

Like I said, I can't help it lately.

 I love the styles of the 90s. Can't get enough of it, & this is probably only the beginning.

My Easter was really nice.

When the clock struck midnight, Lyd and I went out with the boys for mai tais and love potions to celebrate the end of their fast.

(they gave up LQ for lent. such strength! haha)

At church, Eric Ben and Austin covered "Roll Away Your Stone" by Mumford & it was seriously seriously good.

I took an iPhone vid if you don't believe me.

After church we were off to Eric's Meme's house which was packed full of aunts, uncles and cousins as usual. Delicious food, hilarious conversation, I love that family. From there we made one last stop at Liz's house. She hosted a dinner for students who couldn't make it home for the holiday, and people who had no one to celebrate with. We capped off the night laughing at playful pups, drinking delicious wine, and having deep and confusing conversations about the future affecting the past or something like that.

Happy Monday!

Here's to a lovely spring week!

All photos by me!

A slice of me, 15 different ways..

For lack of something better to do on a chilly cloudy Friday afternoon, here is one half of 30 Photographs about me.

I always think things like this are so fun. I love reading posts like this by others, so I hope you enjoy mine! Realistically, I don't think I have the attention span to post 30, so we'll just say 15. Check out A Lost Feather and Srsly Liz to see where i got the idea from!

1. Someone I spend a lot of time with. E. Basically, my other half.

2. Myself. I laugh at weird things..

3. Makes me happy. My babies! Hamilton, Nugget and Roo.

4. My mom at my age 22.. with an itty bitty me, and my Gram

5. An old picture of me. Long hair, long gone.

6. Sisters. Kyla (now 4) Alli (now 20) and I in Harvard Square last summer.

7. Random (and really weird) of Eric and I. We were trying to be creepy when he shaved his beard last year..

8. Someone I can tell everything to (aka best friend): Lydia and I on our Memorial Day weekend camping trip. Just us and 25 of our closest friends.. BLAST!

9. Somewhere I love. Ocean Beach, San Diego. I think I left my heart there.

10. An accomplishment: A kitty litter cake for my friend Nate who hates my cats and likes to refer to my dreads as "cat turds." He never saw it coming, and it was the highlight of our joint birthday party last summer!! (Annnd, it tasted pretty alright.)

11. A great night: I love nights that accidentally turn out to be amazing- full of fun and laughter. This was one of those nights.. having a blast at our favorite dive bar, the Hotel Vernon. Dollar drafts, peanuts, and some of my favorite people in the world.

12. One that makes me sad. (My Penny moved across the country to Eugene, Oregon.)

13. Always makes me laugh. (Thank God for Photobooth on long family car rides!)

14. A crazy photo from a crazy time: Pat swung around the ship wheel at the Vernon's Uke fest. Somehow he cracked his jaw and we all ended our night at the ER. Thumbs up.

15. So last summer: Tuesdays at the farm were truly the highlight of my summer. I had an amazing summer in general, but still. Those Tuesday nights where we got out of work and drove out of the city to garden on Janet's farm, finishing the night off with a BBQ potluck and endless sangria with so so many people I loved. Fresh air, magical time of day (dusk), laughs, love, and dirty fingernails. My heart was quite simply full.

I love photos and I love my memories.

I am a very nostalgic person, so I jump at any opportunity to dig up old photos where amazing memories come flooding back.

Thanks for reading!

Have the happiest of happy weekends!

Like, enough.

                                   "People are always saying you should be yourself,

                                      like yourself is this definite thing, like a toaster.

                               Like you know what it is even.

                               But every so often I'll have, like, a moment,

                                 where just being myself in my life right where I am is, like,

                                    enough."

               Inspiration & why I've been so absent:

               My So-Called Life

               specifically inspired by Rayanne Graff

               I got my camera back!

I have been making my way through the series any time I have a free moment. I'm totally addicted and it is to blame for my lack of blogging (or doing laundry or cleaning or sleeping). Yeah, it's good. If you were ever a teenage girl who went to high school, you should watch it.

Here's one more quote for ya, from Tavi who recently did a post about Rayanne*, the main character's BFF before there were even acronyms as cool as "BFF". She writes about the series,

"Though most of us know a Catalano and a Krakow, the most universally familiar aspect of Angela's life, at least among teenage girls, might be her narrations. They're wise words spaced out with "likes" and "reallys," and, when the show was still on the air, were sometimes regarded by critics as too intelligent for a teenage girl. Many people have also found them overly cheesy or deep, but that's how some of us teenage girls think! All these experiences are new and sometimes we think of something that sounds really poetic and perfect and think we are brilliant because of it!"

*Major spoiler alert. Serioulsy if you have any interest in watching the show, heed the warnings. I didn't and I suffered the consequences of knowing how it all ended.

So, I'm 5 episodes away from finishing. I feel like I've been swept back up into 90's style. I can't stop wearing my red Docs, flannels, quirky headbands, etc.

Seriously can not stop.. and I like it.

I want to sit in an open window on a lazy afternoon,
                                            warm breeze blowing in, sun on my skin...

{image via we<3it}

drinking delicious magic juice
                          with my best friend...

{recipe via Design *Sponge, found here}

while listening to some chilled out music such as...

Natural Calamity's "Dark Water and Stars"

                                                        and painting our nails

                                 sweet stripes

                   and blossome like so...

{image via we<3it}

with absolutely

nowhere

to be...

Great weekends come in all shapes and sizes

Friday night I attended Eric's "Mystery Band" show.

"What is Mystery Band?" you ask??

Well my friends, a group of underground Worcesterites (hipsters, to be specific) got together and created this really fun community event. Basically, you sign up for it and list your musical talents, then all your names go into a hat, and they match you with other Worcesterites (strangers). From there, your new band gets together weekly to write music and practice, and at the end of what seems like two extra short months, you put on a show for friends and other newly formed bands. I could go on and on about this night, but basically it was awesome. I have never been in such a crowded room stuffed with dirty hipsters. Next time I'll be sure to have a camera that is not in Jamaica.

On Saturday I found that hanging out with kids all day is a great way to keep from going out at night. I accidentally fell asleep at like 10 because I was so beat on Saturday night after spending the whole day with our friend (and housemate) Lora and her three itty bitties. Lora's husband Lucas was in Jamaice with Ben all week for work, so Eric and I jumped at the opportunity to have a fun outdoor day with Lora, Willow (6), Judah (3) and Mystic (1). I should also mention that Lora is approximately 3 weeks away from giving birth to her fourth!

She is the very definition of "Superwoman."

Since my camera was still in Jamaica,

I snapped some pictures with my trusty iPhone.

Enjoy! (click the image to enlarge)

1.2.

3.4.

5.6.

7.8.

1. E playing bass at the Mystery Band show.

2. Austin made us some fried oreo ice cream sundaes.

(To make: dip oreos in pancake batter and fry!

It is not even right how good those things are!!!)

3. Judah at a little stream in GreenHill Park.

4. A windy backseat with Willow and some TJ's kettle corn. Life is good.

5. We bought lots of soil for our garden! Yaaaay!

6. Judah is seriously the most coordinated 3 yr old I've ever met.

He's already putting my skateboarding skills to shame.

7. E and I visited our friends, new parents Erin and Josiah and their beautiful baby boy Isaac.

(E's a natural, PS)

8. Mango smoothies and a friendly game of scrabble with E at Nu Cafe.

It's fun being married to my best friend!

Plus, two things making me very happy right meow:

{my new Deena & Ozzy bag from the Harvard Square Urban Outfitters basement.

Originally $68 but on mayyyjah sale for a jaw-dropping $20.}

{A friend of mine had to go to Germany on business and decided to treat himself to two days in Paris. He is a very good friend, for he returned bearing gifts of the latest Vogue Paris and a pack of blacks. Le sigh.} 

Summertime Clothes

Summertime Clothes by HilaryGrace featuring vintage tops

Pretty much my outfit for today.. more or less.

My friend Ben took my camera to Jamaica for the week (whimper, whimper.. I miss it so much!) so, I figured I'd head over to Polyvore to create an outfit similar to the one I'm wearing today.

If only I really was wearing those YSL sandals.. HA!

& my yellow tee is actually yellow and white striped. So cute. I initially had on a highwaisted black skirt but it was a little chilly for all the walking I've been doing today.

Nail polish: burgundy red fingernails & cloudy grey toenails.

Listening to Animal Collective nonstop.

Pining for the weekend nonstop.

This week flew by.

Highlights:

Eric's band played at Nick's last night and they had an excellent turnout.

I watched far too many movies including:
     -Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Elizabeth Taylor & Paul Newman, yes!)
     -The Graduate (Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack, and Anne Bancroft is amazing)
     -The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola is mind blowing)
     -An American in Paris (hellooo random colorful daydreams and bursts of tapdance)
E and I were really intentional about spending time together and it was so so nice.
Warm, sunny days! Windows open! Sandals on! Yay spring!

This weekend we're going to plant seedlings, head to the park with our friend and her little ones, go thrift store hunting for a new coffee table, and lots of other fun stuff! Eric took part in Worcester's mystery band, and the concert is tonight. So excited for it. Currently purchasing tickets for the Further Seems Forever (bleh)/ Mewithoutyou (YES YES YES) show at the end of the month. Also, our favorite local vegan restaurant is having a grand re-opening. Duck Yao.

Okay okay okay, one last thing:

harharharhar. so so good. {source}

(inspiration for a gray Tuesday)

I've been getting the spring cleaning bug lately, and with that comes an urge to simplify and redecorate. Here are some of the things that have been inspiring me!

(Sorry, I lost some of the sources.)

{source}

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Isn't that the absolute dreamiest shade of pink? I doubt Eric would ever go for it in our room, though. Hehe.

All of the plants and flowers in this collection of photos makes me want to do some gardening this weekend! I asked E and he agreed that Saturday will consist of starting seedlings. I'd love for it to end up looking something like this:

{source}

..we could at least keep the herbs in this way, anyway. The flowers and produce will be grown in a couple of plots in the community garden, which happens to be right behind our house! I can't wait to get things growing.