Easy-peasy

I found this lace shouldered tank by Behnaz Sarafpour for Target at the thrift store and it was cute but missing something and that something was a vintage doily. Literally five minutes later, I am in heaven.

I am such a sucker for vintage doilies. I have one in a picture frame on my living room wall. I am thinking of making a skirt inspired by this one out of several doilies


And, while I am on the subject, this skirt is the bomb. It was at a local shop and hand-made out of pieces of vintage lace. It was all $600. That is till the shop was closing and I stopped by on a whim and it was like $80 and a size 2. PERFECT (but still also the most expensive clothing I own, other than maybe a winter coat and one pair of boots)

Ta-Ta!

Oh, Carl!

I have a car. His name is Carl. We have been together for 103,412 miles. He's my pal. I named him Carl in anticipation of him becoming a junker. Sorry to anyone named Carl or who loves someone named Carl, but I thought it was a good deadbeat name "Dammit Carl!" and "Carl is several months behind on child support" all seemed to make sense. So for 7 years, Carl and I have been together and he has yet to turn into a deadbeat. In fact, he is still rather adorable, Carl likes dandelion seeds (and skulls if you can see the one on the dashboard).


Carl likes ants.


Carl however, has a problem with bullies. He was fine for the first 5.5 years. Now, he is just a nerd in gym class, waiting for the beatings. So about a year and a half ago, Carl got hit while parked on the street. I was dropping off a friend and still doing the "what are you doing later" convo. A guy turning into his grandfather's driveway in a HUGE pickup, almost ripped the front bumper off when he turned too sharply in his new truck. He had a friend who worked at a body shop, with a business card and everything, so I didn't call the police or report it to his or my insurance. Carl was repaired while I was in Chicago and it was all good. Also, this particular fellow had the last name Pimpkin. I laughed. Carl did great with his new front bumper until this January. I was stopped at a red light in Uptown, waiting to turn right, but had to wait until the pedestrians crossed first and was smacked from behind by a chick on a cell phone. Damn. Again, Carl was repaired and I had a brief affair with a rental car. Then, about 2 months ago, someone hit my car while it was parked on Hennepin Ave sometime between 2am and 10am. They scraped up the side a little and somehow managed to rip the plastic cover off the driver's mirror without taking the mirror itself out. Leaving Carl like this...

Now, last night I was at Salsa a la Salsa for a friend's birthday and parked my car at a meter. Sometime in the hour and a half while I was inside this happened!!!

GEEZ! and we didn't even notice at the time. Ryan was driving and went around the front to get in. I got in the passenger side so didn't see it. The two friends who sat in the back also got in on the passenger side so as not to be out in traffic and thus didn't notice. It was only when we got to Ryan's house when he noticed. Double damn. Oh well, Carl shall be repaired and our love affair will continue. But NOTICE to all bullies. Carl has had his hard knocks. Leave him alone. PLEASE?

and P.S. this is the abbreviated story of Carl's abuse. There have been SEVERAL other little accidents that are not in this tale. I'm none too fancy and neither is Carl. I don't mind some scrapes and dings and the big ones that are acquired in parking lots while I am not there are covered in touch up paint and slapped with a 89.3 The Current sticker over the really big scrape...

Anyway, later and give your cars some lovin' for me and Carl!!!

beisbol y mi amor

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, that is "baseball and my love"... and you should learn Spanish cause it is addicting but also distracting (I am constantly trying to translate my thoughts and song lyrics into Spanish, so if you are talking to me and I am staring off into space, that is what I am doing. Or sometimes thinking about The Universe in a Nutshell... or sometimes cute shoes and lines from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I'm all over the map.)

Anywhoo, baseball today was good. We had about 20 people which is awesome. I like playing with smaller groups cause you get to bat more, but we are also not skilled enough to play with only like 2 outfielders. Fun day all around, except it was weird without Ryan there. Ryan is the only reason we all started playing every Sunday over a year ago. He rarely misses a day and this was the first week since we started playing this spring that he wasn't there (including that one day in March where we played in the SNOW and that day like a month ago where the sky turned GREEN and the tornado sirens went off and the wind was whipping branches off the trees onto the field. We played on both days and every other crazy Sunday in between.) So, why am I ranting about baseball and dedication and weather and Spanish and Ryan???

Um, I guess cause I have now been dating Ryan for ONE YEAR. This is a BIG DEAL. Before him, I had literally dumped every guy I had dated within three months. I had never been broken up with and ditched EVERY guy within three months. I am 26. My friends (and mother) were getting worried. But I insisted, I just knew what I was looking for and when I knew a guy was not the one, I set him free rather than waste both of our time. So, although you are in New York right now and missed my first anniversary EVER IN MY LIFE, Ryan, I am so glad we made it one year and can't wait to pick you up from the airport tomorrow (although I will have to immediately drop you off at your sculpture class.) With that, I will save the rest of the mushy stuff for more private venues and leave the rest of you with one of my favorite pictures of Senor Ryan...

Have a very psychedelic Christmas and/or Monday!

McFly

So, like I said last night (or early this morning) I found my PERFECT '40s dress and when Emmett "Doc" Brown shows up in his Delorean to take me back to the '40s, I will be waiting on a train platform looking like this

(how perfect that I own matching vintage heels, have vintage traveling gloves, and that little suitcase is the one I found yesterday in the same store as the dress) and did I mention that it has pockets?!?!? which I love?!?!!?

and no, I did not run around all day in that, I have been wearing this

since I sat by the pool for like a half hour this morning. Oh, and changing in and out of a bunch of other vintage clothes for photos for

my etsy

Anyway, I need to put on real clothes and go to Target cause I feel like a pathetic adult when I have to use kleenex as toilet paper for TWO days...

i'm a junkie

Yeah, I only deal to keep myself in good supply... I'm talking about thrifted clothes of course! So, I went to one of my favorite thrift stores on the way back from waitressing today and found some GOOOOOD stuff... unfortunately this is one of those times where there are a few things that I don't think I can part with, that is unless you want to pay off my mortgage... but no, I made a vow on

my etsy

to only sell things for $30 or under, not like $100,000. Thus, I am keeping them. By them I am referring to a little boy's fringed leather vest from Mexico, a PERFECT old blue carry-on suitcase, a handmade chocolate brown 1940s dress that looks like it was made to my exact specifications, a yellow wire lamp from the 1930s that I will not plug in until I get it rewired, and a ruffly shirt I can't decide if I NEED or not... anyway, I am still posting lots of awesome stuff tomorrow since I have the whole day off, even from my client who I see every Thursday night and will miss, but he will have more fun at his family's cabin and I will have tons-o-fun taking whack-job photos...So, new stuff on

my etsy

tomorrow, including this funky high-school-band-looking vest


these cute old (but never worn) moccasins


and this awesome vintage purse made of WOOD BEADS


also, why am I blogging at 2 am? Oh yeah, I have the WHOLE DAY OFF TOMORROW... sorry, during the school year, I had FIVE jobs, FIVE (not including making my t-shirts) JAWS! A whole day off is a rare thing of beauty so I intend to make the most of it... sleep in, brunch in my kitchen, run five miles while watching the Twins kick the National's booties, shower, take pics of the new stuff and put it on etsy, then do whatever the hell I want (or do laundry). Anyway, I am going to bed and not getting up until like 11 am! Hell to the YESSSS!!

art is neat

Randomly found this while bored at like midnight...



Amazing art of the ASL alphabet made from matchbooks found on the street. See more of JK Keller's work

here

A.W.E.S.O.M.E

my endless love(s)

Love of my life #1

Sparta bike.

My dad bought it for his mother (my grandma) in 1970 while working at an exotic bike shop... it was made in 1969 in Amsterdam and I am in love with everything about it. It has a built in generator that you just push against the front wheel and it makes the light and brake light work! Who needs batteries when you're using leg power anyway? It has a cute built in lock which I wouldn't trust around Minneapolis, but love that it has one anyway. You push this little stick in and (a key pops out for you to take), the little stick gets in the way of the wheel spokes, so the tires can't turn and no one can push or ride away on your bike. Neato-torpedo! Those dutch really know their bikes! Of course it is in mint condition cause my grandma never rode it more than like twice and it has been in the attic ever since. I rescued it like 3 years ago and my love goes on and on.

Love of my life #2


Long plaid skirt. I found this at a thrift store in Nordeast Minneapolis and it fit perfect, it is so comfy, it feels like I'm wearing nothing at all... it's just so flowy and movable. I can do the Karate Kid style crane kick

and it twirls great.

I can dress it up or dress it down and I've gotten very attached to my $4 skirt.

Anywhoo, Ryan is out of town so I will try to post more. My life has not been too happening lately. Waitressing, bartending, driving the beer cart, etc. Baseball Sunday was good, Ryan bought a new bat and I kick ASS with it. It's amazing. I am going to go see a bunch of short films with my friend J-Rod tonight. Some 48 hour film festival thing he was involved in where they have 48 hours to write, film, edit, etc a short film. His is a western... um, ok. Laterzzzzzz

frankie says relax

So I finally have a few days off... I didn't have to work at all yesterday and pretty much wasted the day sleeping (being to work at 7am for the last 9 months earns me one day of lazy, yes?) I then decided to go lay by the pool and nap, thus finally getting a little color, that color being pink. I was only outside for 40 minutes, but it was from noon until 12:40... oops. Anyway, I HATE matching bathing suits which works out just fine because I can always snatch up the odd tops/bottoms from the 75% off section at Target. Sometimes they kinda match like today

(hey, they are both striped right?) and other times, they are SO mismatched, but I don't care. It's my thing. I also have this habit of wearing bathing suit tops as bras all the time in the summer. I think it looks hoochie if you walk around in a top where people can see your bra (either due to sheerness of the shirt, or like wearing a tube top or halter with a regular bra underneath.) But anytime a bathing suit top is sticking out of a shirt, it is just plain cute. I do it almost every day in the summer and the bf is annoyed by it but what does he know? Plus I can just keep a pair of bottoms in a ziploc bag in my purse and if I feel the need to jump into one of MN's 10,000 lakes, I am all ready. I grew up on a lake, and seriously spent all my summers in the water, so while having like 40 bathing suits seems odd to some people, to me it is just the summer wardrobe. Anywhoo, sometimes I do wear real clothes (although come to think of it, there is a green bathing suit top on under this little baby) Here is me today Slightly less pink skinned than yesterday and spending 3 hours this morning organizing my sewing stuff. It was making me nuts. Now all the trim is together, all the upholstery fabric, all the scraps big enough to do something with, etc. I feel so much better and that is why I am leaving you to go sew. I am going to try to finish sewing a few bags and put them up on

my etsy

within a week or so. I'll let you know when they are up and in the meantime, go put on a swim suit (the top at least.)

one more day!

Only one day of working at a middle school and then I am free! I'm not too worried about a job yet, as I have the country club gig to get me through the summer, but this whole arm thing has me thinking that I may get myself in trouble when my insurance stops in July. Yikes! Anyway, I am going to see REM, Modest Mouse, and The National tonight, hooray!

Also, this morning when I woke up at 6am at Ryan's house there was a random black dude in his 30s SLEEPING sitting up on one of the camping chairs on the porch. I was scared to leave so Ryan yelled at him to leave and when the dude got up, he was on some SERIOUS drugs. He fell down like 3 times then sat back down in a chair. Ryan yelled some more and the dude was stumbling and fell down the porch stairs. Then I finally left. Yikes. The same thing happened last year but at like 2am, when Ryan and I were still on the porch and he pulled a KNIFE on us. We had to do some serious acting and perform an elaborate lie to get him to leave, but he eventually did. On a lighter note, here is the outfit from today ...


and yesterday's since I didn't post it and it is fun.

Also... these sights make me laugh every day

Garfield Minus Garfield is just what it sounds like. Poor Jon is so pathetic without his pets.

Natalie Dee is terribly witty and always makes me laugh.



Ok, mama needs a nap before the concert so adios kittens!

Geez

Well, on Saturday I got my wish for a storm... a HAIL storm. I am so glad my car was in the garage because a lot of my neighbors have dented up cars from the close to golf ball sized hail that fell. Here is what it looked like outside my door


I decided the storm had passed and met Ryan and a few friends (and a pit bull) at the lake to go sailing. There wasn't much wind but figured we'd try it. 15 minutes later, the wind picked up and we were happy! Till we realized that wind was bringing in some scary storm clouds. We started heading in, but the wind wanted to blow us away from shore. It started lightning and thundering and raining. Luckily Ryan actually knows what he is doing on a sailboat and was able to get us in just as it started pouring rain. We made a mad dash for The Tin Fish (a little cafe under a big concrete overhang covering some of it's tables). About 15 minutes after that, the rain was barely a drizzle and we pushed the boat home. I'm glad we didn't get hit by lightening and Kylie (the pit bull) did fine on the boat and in the storm.

I don't have an outfit for today cause I am wearing PJs because I stayed home from work. I felt this wierd "twang" feeling in my forearm yesterday and then my arm felt sore. I left to go to the Twins game with 5 friends and my arm started getting puffy and swollen. Then my hand went numb and got fat and puffy too. I called in sick to work and felt guilty cause Friday is the last day of school. Anyway, 2 hours and 2 x-rays later, they think I have an inflamed tendon. She said if it gets worse or doesn't get better within a week to call cause I may have a cyst that is irritating the tendon. Whatevs. Here is what I wore Monday



Anyway, I'm off!