Updating my FAQ's Page

I'd love to hear any of your blog/life/crafty/vintage related questions in the comment section below so I can update my FAQ page and keep it fresh and relevant. I know you guys are DYING to know if I floss my teeth every day. Ha! (For the record, I don't.) Thanks in advance for keeping it polite.

The blog makeover is coming along nicely and will be ready for action tomorrow afternoon!

xoxo,
Rachel

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

Project ReStyle Guest Post on A Beautiful Mess

I found two old children's cots awhile back at a local thrift store. This is what happened next. For the full story head over to Elsie's blog for my Project ReStyle Guest Post and favorite ReStyles from our Flickr group.

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!

Last Week in Instagrams

It's going to be a full week ending in a fun and exciting weekend! I'm going to be playing catch up all day on Monday and Tuesday with posting (hello, April Sponsor Giveaway!) and Mother's Day photos. Ruby got sick and Brett had finals to study for so it was low key and we were all pretty sleep deprived. Nevertheless, it was good to be together!

I hope your weekend was enjoyable! Monday starts Elsie Marley's Kids' Clothes Week Challenge and I fully plan on squeezing at least two dresses into some nap time slots. I'm also excited to share an opportunity to help clothe some orphans in Haiti so stay tuned!

xoxo,
Rachel

P.S. Monday is the last day to vote for friends in the Top 25 Kids' Style category on Circle of Moms. It's been exciting to be in the top 12 since the start of the contest! I'd love your last vote today. Thank you for being such lovely readers!

House Tour #3, Part 3: Master Bedroom

I've shared the kids' room, the living room, the kitchen and middle room, and now the master bedroom. We've been in this rental for six months now and other than the studio feel like we're settled. Almost everything has found it's place, the walls are full, and most importantly it feels like home.

Knowing we'd likely only be living here for a year, it was important to get things unpacked and arranged as quickly as possible so that we could really enjoy our time here rather than seeing it as a temporary space. That said, I'm not the kind of girl that can have her house set up in a week. For some reason (and maybe that reason is named Ruby) I get things done in layers and spurts.

I like to get things where I think they should go and then see how it works for us. I need to feel out traffic patterns and whether or not a certain arrangement is useful.

Our bedroom wasn't a complicated space to set up but it took me up until the day before I took these photos in late March to decide what to put on the walls. We didn't have much on the walls in our old bedroom besides two mirrors and a giant gas station number (still included in this one) and we had a completely different furniture arrangement. We also purchased our first ever bed frame for Christmas! This means we're adults now, right?

I brought in a few things I had hanging in my studio in our last rental like this orange and cream gas station signage as well as some things that were in storage tubs such as the For Like Ever print and a matted photograph from a friend in college.

The bench finally got it's coat(s) of paint and was given a home at the end of our bed. In a perfect world I would have adorable pillows stacked in the corner but it currently acts as a clean laundry catch all.

Yes. We have piles.

We have two bedspreads and a duvet (gift from a special lady) that we regularly keep on our bed during the colder nights but keep the duvet stored in our closet when it's warmer. The hounds tooth bedspread is from Urban Outfitters and still one of my favorite patterns. The pink bedspread is from the Liberty of London line from Target a few years back. The duvet (not shown) is from Anthropologie.

I've always loved the look of random photo collections hanging near a bed. I had photos of me and my best friends taped to the wall through high school and college but stopped when I got married because it felt too 'young' and uncouth. Ha! I've made this one a little more grown up by using photos and art with common themes and colors.

The stair case is where Brett and I spent one of the last evenings chatting away before Christmas break our first semester. We weren't dating yet but it was obviously headed that direction. He was off to India and I was going home and it felt like we'd never see each other again. Ahhh, young love.

The old photo is a copy of one my Meemaw gave me. I'm not really sure about the story behind it but it's right after her and my PawPaw's wedding ceremony. Mom, remind me of those details next time we talk. They look so happy and smitten.

The Enid Collins purse was given to me by my Grandmother and has seen some use lately but is usually carefully placed on a little shelf in my closet to keep certain toddlers from coloring on it.

The band poster above my dresser was a purchase from Domestica earlier in the year. I fell in love with the colors and design right away and THEN realized it was from a favorite band of ours! The clipboard used to be in the kids' room but was a small one from Staples that I painted with chalkboard paint. I plan on rotating photos and the chalkboard paint makes it fun to add details. The matted photo is from a friend from college.

I made the curtains for this room the same way I did in the kids' room by stitching almost all the way around all four sides of cut fabric and a vintage sheet (the lining), turning it right side out, stitching all the way around it, ironing it, and hanging it from clips. It's fast, easy, and allows for the curtain panels to slide back and forth without much tugging.

I removed the DIY lighting from above the bed for photos as it was getting in the way of some clear shots but we keep it up all of the time. It's good mood lighting for...umm...reading...and stuff. Ha!

The only thing left to show is my studio but don't hold your breath. I may save that one until the very end of the year the way things are going right now. It's full of half-finished projects and those last few boxes we haven't unpacked. Maybe I shouldn't even look in them and donate them to Goodwill, huh!

Also, our home is rarely as clean and clutter free as it is in these images because we lead busy lives and have little ones like many of you. Ask my neighbors! However, all my messes are colorful and all my piles a sign of fun being had.

I totally subscribe to the idea that you can make a space you love on a budget with a little patience and a strong idea of what you want. If you're totally overwhelmed with where to start in your home or are wanting to plan for your next place I've shared everything I know about
pulling it together and making it work in my recent E-Course, Style Your Space. It includes guidance and resources on finding your specific style, how to work with what you have, getting the most out of your arrangements, and four fun DIY's to make your space more fun. Details here.

I'm so thankful for our current house. Even our leaky basement. We no longer have to worry about where to go when the tornado sirens go off!

What's your favorite thing about your space? Do you have a lot of half-finished corners? Do you like to rearrange every few months? How do you keep it feeling fresh?

xoxo,
Rachel

Furniture: End table and two dressers, Craigslist. Bench and chair, thrifted. Lamp, K-Mart. Bed frame, AllModern.

Lighting & Accessories: Large industrial light, thrifted. Large gas station #3 and smaller metal gas station sign, thrifted. Vintage fan, books, and birds, thrifted. Picture frame, thrifted and painted. Fake rotary phone, found but originally from Pottery Barn.

Art: For Like Ever print originally from ReForm School. Frame purchased from Michael's Craft Store. The New Pornographers poster, Domestica.

Linens: Hounds tooth bedspread, Urban Outfitters. Liberty of London bedspread, Target. Liberty of London pillow, thrifted but originally from Target. Cross pillow and curtains, handmade by me. Afghan, thrifted.