(mis)adventures: the good, the bad, and the ugly

I'm alive. Here's proof:

Shirt - eBay

Skirt - thrifted 

Socks - Target

Shoes - Chinese Laundry

This shirt is my little homage to Miu Miu... I was pretty excited when I found it on eBay for $20! It was my end-of-the-school-year gift to myself!

Well, I went to go visit the parental units in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for a week and a half. It was really nice to be there for so long. Usually I'm home for Thanksgiving or Christmas and it's just this whirlwind of relatives and I'm so busy the whole time. It was nice to be able to actually spend time with my family for once. I got to hang out with Tory, my brudder...

Oh yeah, look at him rocking one of my t-shirts... he also helped to remind me why I never, ever, under any circumstances do shots. Guh, it has been years since I did a shot, and I will hopefully never do another one.

I also got to work with my mom!

She's a second grade teacher (actually she just retired this year!!), but in the summers she has a concession stand at the local ball field. It was so fun and cute to work there, selling snacks and drinks to the tee-ball and baseball kids. I went to my aunt's birthday party so I got to see some of the extended fam too.

My great-aunt said she had some stuff she wanted to give me, since she knows I like vintage and antiques. She said she had a winter coat I could have, that used to belong to my grandma, but she doesn't wear it so I could have it. She pulled out a grey and black Victorian style coat for me to try on and as I grabbed the collar to try it on, I saw it...

That's right. Comme des Garçons.  This coat has been worn by not one, but two octogenarians. Hilarious. I'll show you pictures of the coat itself this winter, I left it at my parents for now since I'll see them again before it gets cold. My great aunt also gave me this rug, which was made by her grandmother's sisters in Norway. So my great-great-great aunts sheared the sheep, spun the yarn, dyed the yarn using natural dyes, and then wove it on a loom.

Isn't is amazing?? Well, I also did a bunch of thrifting and went to a few flea markets and antique stores. I came back yesterday, so I could go to my book club meeting (we read Parrot and Olivier in America and it was SO good!) In hour four of my six hour drive, I was screaming singing along to the music and suddenly I heard this crazy loud scraping noise! I pulled over to the shoulder and was faced with this:

As semi trucks screamed past me on the highway, I called my dad to let him know the "doo-hickey jobber thing" that holds up my muffler broke. I had no choice but to drive to the next exit and try to get it fixed or strapped up. Since I was in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin, the next exit was in NINE miles.  Nine embarrassing miles of dragging later, and two car repair shops later, I found a sweet mechanic who agreed to fix it.

So I should be back to semi-regular posting and commenting, I'm so behind! But I will also be doing more traveling (South Dakota and Washington D.C.) and wandering this summer, so it will be sporadic. This weekend 18 of my friends and I are going camping! And two of them are getting married while we're there, but shhh! It's a secret!