Denim dress: thrifted and gifted by my step mom-in-law.
Shoes: Target.
Also, talk about style? Here's all the Culpa ladies at Stage Right at the Miramar Theatre.
For the record, I'm not an Amazon women - just happened to wear some heels that make me six feet tall. Love all these ladies' outfits! I confess I steal style ideas from them all the time.
Wow. What a night. The Meteah Strike's last LAST show, Joie's third-to-last show, Venna's probably-last-show-for-a-while... Beers and Tears was the theme of the evening. Still, such a great night. Jim Hanke played first and included some of my old El Oso faves in his set, Joie got up and killed it. Every song they played just made me sadder and sadder that they will soon be no more. Their music is so nostalgic - listening to them is like being at a show in the late 90's only better since the musicians are more experienced and have better equipment, ha! The Meteah Strike were amazing... no surprise there. God it makes me depressed that they are not going to play together after this. It's hard to keep a band together... there is so much that goes into this. It's just... hard. Complicated and hard. But you keep playing music one way or another because you can't stop. Anyway. I'm not going to wax sentimental here - I did enough of that last night.
Now, pictures!
Joie De Vivre:
Kryptonite is such a cute little bar - love the art.
THE METEAH STRIKE.
Whitney snagged a couple pics of Venna too:
Anyway. Good show. So many people there I haven't seen in ages! I love shows like that. Also: settled a bet about my socks, got asked for my number while on stage and had shots of Knob Creek to close out the night. It's hard to have a night like this knowing there aren't more in the future. But we'll make do.
As for now, listening to French pop music and trying to work up the energy to change out of my jammies.
So yeah, hi! The past two weekends I have gotten to get out with husband and friends a lot. There was all you can eat BYOB sushi and midnight movie double date with Dustin and Whitney:
(photos by Whitney.)
I crossed "Going to the Music Box Theater" off my Chicago bucket list. We saw The Shining and I confess I may have snuck in a 15 minute nap around the time Jack started up with the axe stuff. I am getting so old.
Last night The Meteah Strike played a reunion show. (insert mild freakout here.) Ok, so The Meteah Strike is one of those bands that was around 6 or 7 years ago. They played a bunch of shows with Culpa, put out one amazing EP and a handful of unreleased demos. I went to every possible show I could and I'm glad I did, since due to life and other circumstances, they didn't last.
AND THEN THERE WAS LAST NIGHT.
(Photo by Marky.)
(Photo by Dustin.)
Oh yes, that's me and Marky doing Big City Story (which Venna covers) with them. Thing is, we wouldn't have had to sing at all. The crowd was singing every word louder than us. It was amazing.
Anyway. I did my best not to gush at them about their music and how it means something, blah blah blah. Whatever. I love them. I just do. You know, if a band comes along and creates music that blows you away, becomes part of your story, infuses itself into your memories and roots itself in your heart... I figure if a band comes along and does that and you are lucky enough to get a chance to hug them and tell them to their faces how much their music affects you... You should do it. Because most bands sure as hell aren't doing this for the money and fame. And if you don't tell them... they will never know. So rally your community and support the bands you love.
Next weekend, Venna is playing with them at Kryptonite in Rockford. See the Facebook event here. Anyway. It's going to be bittersweet. It'll be our last show for a while and The Meteah Strike have no scheduled shows after that. Also, Jois De Vivre who are also playing with us ARE BREAKING UP. I'm guessing we're all going to get drunk and cry a lot. So come out if you want to join us for some beers and tears.
Here's a jam by The Meteah Strike for your listening pleasure. If you dig it, you can pick up the track at their Facebook page.
Back later with an outfit post finally... and probably some bunny pictures. (I know. I have a sickness.)
I pass this scene every single day on my way to work. I have no idea what these structures are, but today Marky and I decided to stop and investigate.
I like to imagine they were used to hold birds. Or baby pterodactyls.
We wandered around and took some photos.
There was also a barn nearby which we did not go into, and a creepy outbuilding, which we did.
It was a really fun little adventure/date this morning before we picked up the kids from my parents' place. These are, hands down, my favorite kinds of dates. <3
Okay, so, I think I fixed this dress. I really didn't want to return it. I basted it up the sides of the bodice and I think the fit is better. Today I'll sew it up for reals. These are such terrible photos, but you get the idea.
These socks were my birthday splurge. Sock Dreams has the most incredible collection of over-the-knee and thigh high socks... I was in heaven. I'm huge into this layering socks thing for spring dress wearing.
Enough of the fashion nonsense. How about some BUNNY PICTURES!? To think this guy was so not friendly when he was given to us... crazy. Now he'll endure photo shoots with his crazy-rabbit-lady mama.
This one is at my feet right now doing this:
Smooch!
So, I stumbled across this amazing cartoon called Cat Vs. Human which is for crazy cat ladies (which I still am, albeit from afar as husband is massively allergic) and I got such a good laugh out of them, I had to share:
Two more days of vacation left! Trying to make the most of it. Debating whether or not to brave the train to Chicago tomorrow with the boys for some fun downtown... eep!
It's been warm enough to be outside riding bikes in T-SHIRTS. Will wonders never cease?
(Also: I love him. And the way he loves his stuffed puppy and wears striped tuxedo pants with band t-shirts.)
You know what I don't love? How my older two suddenly are camera shy and don't want pictures taken of them, like, hardly EVER. Seriously. They're seven going on sixteen.
Anyway, so this vacation week wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, but it's been good in ways I didn't expect it to be. I got to spend a lot of time with two of my best friends which has been extremely restorative. I haven't written any letters, only played a little on my guitar and have done zero crafts. Turns out, it's hard to just pick up where you left off, as far as all that's concerned. I cleaned and wandered around my house while the boys were in school. It's sort of like I got dropped into this alternate version of my life that is sort of like my life but also... not. I don't know. It's difficult to explain. Anyway. I'm grateful for whatever extra time I can get with my boys. And I still have two whole days yet to hang out with them.
I took some pictures of my other ModCloth dress which I managed to fix by taking in the bodice some. More on that later, perhaps. It's been a full day and I need my bed.
As par the course, Marky's gone so I'm not sleeping. So here are some things I'm really loving right now.
1. This free app I came across called "Old Photo" that makes even crappy shots look magical.
2. I can't stop listening to this song. I cannot wait for this album to come out now.
3. I love everything about this photo.
4. Ruche's spring lookbook. Not just because there are rabbits involved. (Although, that is definitely part of it.)
5. These pretty spring colors.
6. 4-H and other types of awards. I have a highly treasured vintage 4-H gardener pin I love. These are all pretty amazing though too.
7. My little brother still makes blanket forts. (And takes awesome pictures.)
8. I love this video/song. I know it's cheesy. I don't care.
9. This blog called Seablanket I came across. Her playlists are amazing. She's also got great DIY tutorials sprinkled throughout. Love it.
10. The fact that I am ON VACATION THIS WEEK. Yay! I am playing my guitar, writing letters, snuggling with my boys, baking, knitting, watching Audrey Hepburn movies and tooling around on the internets. I am so grateful for a rest.
This one was an impulse buy at Target today. I didn't even try it on, I just threw it in the cart because it was just that lovely-looking. It was $35. When I got it home, it fit perfectly. I belted it (although you totally don't have to) and it's a little bit short so opaque tights are a must, at least for me. I love the WWII-era feel of this dress. So totally up my alley.
Also, IT HAS POCKETS. *swoon*
This dress is available on their website. I'm 126 lbs and about 5'8" and a size small is perfect for me. I'm totally wearing this to work.
Sorry for the craptastic laptop photos but it's all I got at the moment.
Here's the dress without the belt:
I also splurged at ModCloth.com and bought the Thyme and Peppercorn dress.
It's totally adorable. I love it. It works with my shape really nicely. Again, I'm wearing a size small here. I don't know if this can be worn to work - it feels a little bit too sassy - although, I think if I wore my long black cardigan and some boots I could wear it on casual Fridays.
Here's the pic from ModCloth. It's a MUCH prettier color in person.
I also bought another dress from ModCloth which I am going to have to alter. The top portion is really baggy and unflattering so maybe after I take a needle and thread to it I'll snap a photo of that as well. It's this dress:
It's really beautiful but like I said, totally doesn't work with my top half.
Pizza and I were playing with my new Photobooth app. I finally graduated to an iPhone 4. I bought a cheap $79 refurb which then ended up being swapped out for a brand-spanking new one due to the mic going dead. Seriously the best deal ever.
Yesterday I used Color Fix to strip my hair down to its "natural color" which turns out to look like the picture above (yeah, I don't think that's quite right either, but I'll take it) and I got pretty excited. The color was so pretty except that by my roots it was really light so I thought, okay, I'll grab some red dye and just do the roots, pull it through and go with that. I should have left well enough alone. My roots are bright red now and the rest of my hair re-oxidized the black dye. FAIL. So, my husband went out in the rain, picked up some dark brown dye and a giant coffee from Starbucks and my hair is pretty much where I started before this whole mess.
*sigh*
Anyway, as a pick me up, I was going to do a post about all the springy things popping up in blogland that have been making me happy but I'm going to save that for another time because right now I am so obsessed with this one blog, I can't even think about any others. Let me show you.
This is Keiko Lynn. I LOVE HER. She doesn't spend more than fifty bucks on any item she wears, she reuses pieces over and over and some of the dresses SHE MAKES HERSELF. Also, she posts about panda bears and has a cat named Puppy.
Did I mention that I love her?
Also, totally obsessed with this song. If you like it, you can snag the free download by going to their website.
Recent Comments