Vintage Here, Vintage There: Out and About

Yesterday, we headed out to a park we always forget exists despite the chilly temps. I was on a mission to find mushrooms! Nathaniel Green Park apparently has some fun play places, one of which is mushroom themed, that are not only interesting but interactive. Fun for the kids AND cute for photos, right?

Not that we need much more cuteness than this.

We didn't make it to the mushrooms but we did stumble upon a pretty little garden with a Ruby-sized bridge and a small pond full of tadpoles and water bugs.

Ruby was so excited about those tadpoles that I thought she may fall in. She shimmied right down to the edge of the pond and waved and waved at those little swimmers. It's the little things, folks.

I bought my dress from Past Times Vintage a few weeks ago after seeing it pop up in a search for cotton dresses. I immediately fell for the colors and I loved the vertical stripes. Hello, slimming!

I found the bag at a church sale that I randomly drove past last month. You can't beat an interesting purse for $ .25. Deal of the month? Close.

I'm wearing: Vintage dress, Past Times Vintage. Cardigan and belt, Target. Boots, thrifted. Vintage purse, thrifted.

Ruby's wearing: Denim pea coat, thrifted. Vintage dress, gifted from an online friend. Tights and shoes, gifted from Mom.

Ruby loved trying to keep up with Sebastian when she wasn't getting a free ride on Daddy's shoulders.

Sometimes little adventures in town can be just what a work-at-home mama needs. They're usually inexpensive, can be enjoyed before (or after) nap time so that everyone is in a good mood, and can happen on a whim. I've been thinking about making another list of all of the places we never think to visit in Springfield for afternoons like these.

Here are some fun purses for afternoon adventures such as these: leather, needlepoint, floral, carpetbag, woven leather, hand-tooled, ethnic.

What kinds of little adventures do you take yourself or your family on? Head 'over there' later today to see what kind of big adventure Rubyellen and her girls went on this week (local AND free!) and try not to wish you could have gone, too! Hint: the most magical place on Earth.

xoxo,

Rachel

Just Pull The Blanket Over Your Head

Today's sunny, breezy, warmish weather paired with a porch project involving outdoor string lights reminded me that summer is almost, almost here. It took me back to last summer's family vacation to Destin, FL and the perfect afternoon Ruby, Brett and I had the day before we went home.

I made this beach blanket out of some of my favorite vintage sheets the week before we left for that trip, sewing late into the night to make sure it was finished before we boarded the plane the next morning! It is soft and light for summer days but nice and large so the whole family can fit on it.

Today, however, I just wanted to crawl under it and hide from tornadoes. Joplin, MO is only an hour up the road from us and was completely devastated by an F5 tornado earlier this week. I couldn't stop reading tweets about it and checking news sites for the latest information. Then I got a phone call from my mom this afternoon saying they were corralling everyone at her school into the safe room and that she loved me. I could hear the adrenaline in her voice and started calling the rest of the family in OK to see what they knew.

I called my dad who was on the road coming back from a work event and passed along the message from Mom that he shouldn't drive any further North. I don't think he paid any attention to that because he ended up in the basement of a hospital pretty close to their home. I couldn't reach them for awhile so I called my grandparents to get news updates and stayed glued to Twitter and online news sites.

I called my Meemaw when Brett told me one of the tornadoes was headed towards her town and she told me she was headed to the closet. It skipped her town and headed to Shawnee, the town we went to college in and still have good friends in. Then I heard it was headed to Ada and called my grandparents again to check on them.

A little later and another tornado was headed towards the Dallas area, which makes sense, BECAUSE THAT'S NEAR WHERE THE REST OF MY SIDE OF THE FAMILY LIVES. I felt like a crazy woman! Thankfully, all were safe at the end of the day. Except as I type it's the end of the day and the storms are headed to Springfield. Awesome.

I'm so thankful for the safety of my family after seeing the devastation in Joplin. I will forever take tornado warnings and sirens more seriously. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers today as I shared my concern for family on Twitter. My heart goes out to those who have sad stories to tell.

I'm off to hide under my blanket until I hear either the sirens or the sound of a four year old saying he's ready for breakfast.

xoxo,
Rachel

Vintage Here, Vintage There: Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was pretty low key. Brett had finals looming so he had to study, Ruby got sick and was working on a few molars coming in, and I was just plain tired. Thankfully, we had beautiful weather! We let Brett study in my studio and got outside for a bit to play in our makeshift pool.

Ruby had a fever the night before but she was happy to get in that cold water and forget she was sick for awhile.

Her sun suit is from Nanna's Attic on Etsy. I saw it last week when preparing links for VH,VT and it reminded me of something I had when I was little. I think mine may have been a smock but it had a tulip on it. Mom or Grandmother, does that ring a bell? I got another vintage romper for her from the same shop that I'm hoping to use as a pattern to make some myself.

After a long day of relaxing Brett took a study break and we headed downtown for some iced coffee. I decided we should take advantage of the change of scenery for this week's VH,VT. Springfield, you have some great alleys.

This is a dress I got from Red Velvet last year and wore earlier in the year on a bowling trip. I realized after we left the house that I was wearing the wrong bra with this dress so it looks a little busty! HA!

I'm wearing: Vintage dress, Red Velvet. Belt, thrifted. Shoes, Target. Vintage scarf, thrifted. Sunglasses, ModCloth.

While Brett was taking photos of me, the littlest one was sneaking drinks from my iced coffee. Naughty, naughty.

Sebastian was pretending to be Spiderman and loved being in those back alleys! Ruby chased birds and tried to climb some loft dweller's back stairs.

Ruby's wearing: Summer smock gifted from 3RingCircus. Bloomers, thrifted. Vintage Minnetonka moccasins, thrifted. Heather of 3RingCircus is a sweet online friend and sent this and another pretty embroidered top that her daughter, Penelope, had outgrown. Thanks, Heather! We love them.

I'm so thankful to be their mother. So, so thankful.

I'm pretty sure every lady needs a vintage scarf in her wardrobe. Here are a few I found on Etsy: Here, here, here, here, and here.

Did you have a special Mother's Day? Did you get to wear a pretty dress? I know Rubyellen and her family had a relaxed Mother's Day weekend as well and I can't wait to see what she wore on her special day!

xoxo,
Rachel

p.s. Thank you for your votes for the Top 25 Kids' Style Blogs! You got Smile and Wave in the top 10 and I'm so flattered and thankful!

Vintage Here, Vintage There: Warm Weather

We took full advantage of the sunny weather today after so many days of rain and gray skies. Total mood changer! We went to a few fabric stores, played in the front yard, and made some messes inside. We're good at making them but I wish we were better at cleaning them up.

Ruby's wearing: Thrifted vintage top, tank top American Apparel from Gilt Group, white capris from Old Navy, navy Mary Janes gifted (Old Navy) from my mom.

Sebastian's wearing: Vintage shirt from Miskabelly, pants and shoes, Target.

I'm wearing: Vintage floral dress, Red Velvet. Vintage belt and shoes, thrifted.

Do you think it's easier or harder to incorporate vintage into your wardrobe during warmer months? If you love vintage dresses, probably. Even with cardigans, tights, and boots I was always a little too cold to feel really comfortable wearing dresses in January (or April this year!). Now that it's May I foresee dresses every day that we're hoping to get out of the house.

Here are a few of my favorite every day dresses from some favorite shops: Collared, Embroidered, Checked, and Denim and lace.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Rubyellen styled her baby bump and three beauties 'over there'. They always look so good! Oh, and see how much fun they had for True's fifth birthday over the weekend. Ponies!

Thanks for reading. I appreciate it so much!
xo,
Rachel

Birthday Weekend in Instagrams

We started the weekend off on Friday morning with Starbucks on the way out of town and made the trip to Oklahoma City to have our first date weekend (since kids). Ruby passed the time reading Sebastian's comic books, I enjoyed the eye candy from Bazaar Style, and worked on hand piecing flowers for a new hexagon project. All of this in between handing out snacks, passing out toys, and calling the police on intoxicated drivers. Yes, that happened.

We dropped the kids off at my parents house, freshened up, and headed to Midtown.

We met our good friends from college, Alicja and Brad, at Cafe Do Brazil for appetizers, headed to Iguana for dinner, hit up Shop Good to browse the racks, and finished things off at Sara Sara Cupcakes!

The weather was looking scary so our friends headed home and we hit up Starbucks for a late night drink before heading to my parents. It was such a relaxing night. I couldn't wait to start it all over again the next morning!

Saturday my parents headed to my grandparent's house with the kids and Brett and I struck out on our own to see the sights! Now, we spent about five and a half year in Shawnee, OK during college and made frequent trips into OKC with Brett working at Starbucks and Tinker but we NEVER knew about some of the fantastic things OKC had to offer back then.

The Paseo District was pretty great and we knew about some great venues for live music but there is SO much more that's opened up since then. I asked about what we should do on Twitter and a few OKC locals told me about some of their favorite parts of the city.

Let's start with Cuppies and Joe. We graduated with the Diefs, the beautiful and talented ladies that are part of the family that opened the lovely cupcake and coffee shop, and got to visit a bit with Elizabeth. We kind of skipped lunch and went straight for the cupcakes and coffee and it was pure bliss. Then we found Guestroom Records and spent about an hour and most of Brett's birthday money on some used records.

Next up was the Plaza District (thanks, Dana and Julie!) to browse Collected Thread and RetrOKC. We met a lovely gal (whose name escapes me now) who welcomed us and told us about the shop and how fantastic that last few First Friday events have been in that area. It was full of fun product from Etsy vendors and locals and we picked up a few pretties.

RetrOKC was a well-curated little shop full of your favorite MCM finds. I asked the owner, Mike, if he had any Catherineholm and he pointed me to his personal collection behind the counter. I was sad. It was fabulous. And not for sale. There were some pretty enamel ware, paint-by-numbers, kitschy Polaroid glasses, and some great chairs, though. A must see if you're in the area! We didn't have time to visit a few others on the list but that just means it'll be even more exciting next time we're around!

We left the Plaza District to see Brad and Alicja's new cafe, Sips, in Shawnee. It's on main street in downtown Shawnee and serves delicious sandwiches, sweets, and Elemental coffee. Brad, being a treasure hunter himself, took us to a few of his favorite places - one of them being way off the beaten path. I found these pretty enamel flower pins as well as some Pyrex and a fun vintage watering can for the front porch flowers. Thanks for the thrifting, Brad!

That night we landed in Ada to stay with my grandparents and go to church with my family the next morning on Easter Sunday. There was an Easter basket opening, church, lunch, and an unorthodox indoor Easter egg hunt that my mom took care of while we packed quickly to get back on the road. We had to make it home that night with enough time for Brett to work on his plan to lead PT for the ROTC the next morning at 5:30 a.m.

Long story short, we stopped at a Starbucks in Tulsa for a potty break and refreshments only to realize our car wasn't going to turn back on when we were ready to leave. That middle picture is about how that felt. We got a tow, found a hotel, and e-mailed people to delegate Brett's responsibilities. Popcorn and Cheez-its from the vending machine and two hours of Disney channel and the kids were happy. We took it in stride and decided to chill out about things.

The next afternoon our car was fixed and we were free!!! Since we were in Tulsa without needing to rush home we visited Ashley and Breese in the hospital. I hadn't seen Ashley in about eight years and wasn't able to get in touch with her before we walked through the hospital room door but really enjoyed getting to see them! It kind of redeemed the whole breaking down part and we promised to meet up at a flea market rather than a hospital the next time.

We finally made it home after a stop at my favorite flea market outside of Joplin that was miraculously still open at 6:00 p.m. It was the happy ending to our happy weekend! We truly enjoyed some time as a couple to celebrate Brett's birthday and are so thankful that my parents and grandparents were so generous with their time and attention regarding our kids. It was kind of great to know Ruby could be away from me for so long without freaking out and makes me excited for the next time we can do this!

Thanks to Instagram we now have some fun reminders of everything we did on our weekend date! I'd love to hear from anyone else that lives in or has visited OKC and what kind of places you love to visit. I'm planning on finding a new place every time we go and I know other people would love to hear about them, too!
xoxo,
Rachel

30 Looks Good On You, Already

To the man with great hands and a killer jaw line. Your taste in music and things that run deep are still some of my favorite things about you. You're a great father and my favorite person in the world.

Happy birthday, babe.

All my love,
Rachel

The Happiest Weekend

We went to Oklahoma City to celebrate Brett's 30th birthday (it's the 26th) and had THE BEST TIME! We aren't quite back yet, though, as our car decided not to start after a quick potty break at a Starbucks in Tulsa on the way home. We're hanging out at a hotel tonight and taking the car in to a garage in the morning to see if we can get it taken care of and be on our way. In the meantime, we're going to try and enjoy this extension of our little weekend away.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend and I look forward to catching some of your weekend recap blog posts in between car repairs and napping children. I'm planning a little recap of our own with a list of all the places we went thanks to some helpful local ladies!

xo,
Rachel