Family Affairs

I'm enjoying these images from the Family Affairs S/S 2011 lookbook. I think the Milky Way dress has me convinced that I should try out a maxi length dress. The collection is called Ocean Lemonade and I love the creative description from the designers...

For the spring summer 11 collection, "Ocean Lemonade", the Family Affairs heroine is exploring the South of France with her old battered suitcase. She is feisty rather than sweet and a little defiant. She often doesn't brush her hair. She goes wherever she finds the carefree pleasures of summer on dusty back roads scented with lavender: picking up tomatoes, olive oil, honey soaps.

She collects feathers, picks cornflowers and wild Jasmine to put on a scrubbed wooden table. She makes lemonade in a glass jar, uses whatever she has to hand and bakes something delicious, ties it up in a picnic knapsack and heads to the beach, singing along to Jonathan Richman: "That Summer Feeling: Memory comes taunting, you pick these things apart they're not that appealing, you put them together and you'll get this certain feeling, and that summer feeling is gonna haunt you one day in your life..."

Weekend Update

photos by Tom b.

- H&M dress
- vintage cardigan
- UO boots
- vintage wool beret
- vintage Coach purse



We had yet another nice, quiet weekend. Tom was sick all last week and we'd both been cooped up in the house so it was nice to finally get out for a bit. Friday night was Lancaster's monthly First Friday celebration so we walked downtown to check out all of the new gallery shows. There was a design show at the college where Tom teaches so we hung out there for a while before heading to a new Indian restaurant for dinner with a couple of friends.



Then it rained for the rest of the weekend so I'm glad we got out of the house for a bit while we had the chance. I spent the next couple of days pouring over flower catalogs and dreaming about finally getting to landscape our backyard. I'm hoping we've already had our last freeze so I can hurry up and get out there and dig in the dirt. Astilbe, loriope, hostas! I'm so excited. :)

Photography: Mike Disfarmer

There was a bit of buzz about this week's photography spotlight about a year and a half ago after The Sartorialist mentioned him as an artistic inspiration. Viewing the photos you can certainly see why. Mike Disfarmer's photographs predate street style photography by several decades and give an amazing glimpse into fashion and lives of people from early 20th century Arkansas (Starr, these made me think of you!).

Not only are the photos lovely to look at, Mr. Disfarmer was quite a character to behold as well. Born Mike Meyers in 1884 he changed his surname to Disfarmer (meaning "not a farmer) to rebel against his immigrant family's way of life. He even claimed to have been deposited into the Meyer's family via tornado! Ironically, after an actual tornado destroyed his family's home he set up a studio on Main Street and invited local townspeople and passers-through to be photographed.

He used glass plate negatives, a method that was considered out-dated at the time, leaving behind images that are rich and detailed. He never posed or prompted his subject resulting in images that give a very honest glimpse into the lives of his subjects.

Etsy Update: Spring is in the Air, Pt. 2

polka dot dress, 50s brown plaid blouse, pleated green dress, snail love skirt, Levi's chambray shirt


navy striped dress, turtle love dress, shamrock sweater, ruffle mini dress, blue embroidered skirt


Calvin Klein jeans, calico print blouse, blue pleated skirt, 60s abstract print top, 70s reversible skirt

Etsy Update: Spring is in the Air, Pt. 1

60s seersucker dress, floral reversible wrap skirt, navy polka dot blouse, 60s sailor dress, 70s Jordache jeans

It's time! All of these pieces have made their way into the Etsy shop and I'm working on adding even more. Be sure to stop by and check them out. Thanks so much for stoppin' by!


70s denim jumper, navy floral embroidered blouse, 60s striped dress, floral print skort, 50s pleated skirt


70s belted dress, 70s seashell sundress, checkerboard crochet top, cotton plaid skirt, 60s brown striped top

Not one woman has revealed the secrets of this world...

photos by Tom b.

- 20s Irish lace blouse
- vintage cardigan
- Fletcher for Lyell denim shorts
- AA tights
- Topshop shoes
- listening to: PJ Harvey - Let England Shake "In the Dark Places"



I feel like it's taken forever but tomorrow is finally the big day! I have lots of pretty spring items all ready to be listed in the Etsy shop. I've been looking forward to blue skies and green grass and that's what inspired this first little collection. It's been so long since I tried on each piece as I photograph them that I daresay it was almost fun. There was a time when I thought my head would explode if I had to press the self-timer button on my camera ONE. MORE. TIME.

The only bad thing is, when I try things on for the shop rather than just put them on the dress form, I'm way more tempted to keep some of them! I was very good this time and even though several pieces tempted me only one made it to my closet. It's a Levi's chambray shirt and the tag inside says it was made for the 1980 Olympic Games. How could I resist?



Anyhoo... I joked with Tom that I was going to title this blog post "Damn, ho!" because that's what a couple of teenage (?) boys yelled at me as we were taking these photos. I was naturally offended but then Tom explained to me that it was meant as a compliment rather than an insult. Um, thank you? My evil revenge is photoshopping them out of the background!

A few notes about this outfit: I think this is the first time since I can remember that you've seen a photo of me without a hat on! The hair-growing-out makes it difficult to leave the house without one. This Irish lace blouse is one of several pretty lacy things I've picked up for spring. I'm super excited about white lacy things for spring. The color of these AA tights is "cappuccino". I thought they were going to be more brown than they are. When I put them on I was afraid they made me look like I had a really bad spray tan on my legs but I ended up sort of liking the way they perfectly match my shoes. Random!

Built by Wendy Spring 2011

Happy March everybody! March is definitely one of my favorite months. It's when spring officially begins and I don't want to jinx it but yesterday I saw five little daffodils starting to poke their heads through the dirt in my backyard. It's also my birthday month! Now that it's March I won't feel quite so guilty posting all of these spring/summer collections, like the new Built by Wendy collection. I'm usually a big fan of BBW and in this collection my favorite pieces are all the easy to wear dresses and striped pieces.