Interview and Giveaway at Poor Pitiful Pearl

Head on over to Poor Pitiful Pearl to read an interview we recently did and find out what I let Ruby do when Sebastian's not home. Shauna, of PPP, recently made her 2,000th Etsy sale and threw a big party to celebrate! She offers reworked clothing with laid back, California style and donates 10% of all profits to Casa Hogar Orphanage .

all photos belong to Shauna

Her stuff totally reminds me of the beach! Ahhh....the beach....(trailing off in thought)...(okay, I'm back). You can see Ruby wearing one of Shauna's beautiful, patchwork tops here.

While you're over there checking out photos from her blog party, read my interview and enter for a chance to win a free Mini Ad space for the month of November on Smile and Wave!

Thanks for reading! I'm in full sick mode over here and still have a little costume to make for my sick little girl that I am determined to get done before 4:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. It will happen! Check back later on Thursday to see the BEFORE and AFTER photos of the children's space I designed in the new RVA dress shop on Commercial Street!

xoxo,
Rachel

I Used To Wear OshKosh

I found these OshKosh pants a few months ago and they finally fit this growing little girl.

I love the railroad conductor look but my favorite part are these heart-shaped pockets!

I paired them with Ruby's brown Mary Jane's from Old Navy last year and I'm afraid it's the last time those feet will fit into them.

With so many vintage dresses in the closet it was getting hard to want to put them on her when all she wanted to do was crawl through the dirt in the front yard so these pants are going to get their fair share of play time.

I'm not sure how much OshKosh was in my little girl wardrobe but I distinctly remember having a pair of OshKosh overalls. It was the typical mid-eighties wardrobe staple, right? ;)

xoxo,
Rachel

Sofia Coppola & Louis Vuitton

Happy Friday luvs! Before signing off for the weekend, I'll leave you with these shots of the always chic Sofia Coppola, her beautiful apartment, and the lust-worthy bags from her Fall 2010 Louis Vuitton collection:

via style rumor

Ruby Has More Vintage Dresses Than I Do

Thanks to some really sweet online friends, Ruby now has a few more beauties in her wardrobe! This one kind of stole my heart. It's missing a front tie on the left side but I have a feeling I can manage that. It'll be ready for Ruby to wear in a few months!

This one is probably as charming as they get. The placket on the front with those four little buttons is adorable, the peter pan collar is super sweet, and the sailboat sail doubles as a pocket!

Thank you, Kristin and Grace, for your thoughtfulness and great eye! I am totally smitten with these dresses!

This sunshine yellow dress is from the darling Rubyellen, of Cakies. She and I did a little vintage swap last week and were both excited to find extra surprises in our packages! Her little Soul is a month younger than Ruby so we were online pregnant friends and got to commiserate and enjoy all of those parts of pregnancy that aren't always blog appropriate. ;) She is such a lovely gal and one of my favorite sources of inspiration for making life with little ones extra special.

This little number is from Scarlet's Vintage. Micalah has another adorable red one that I would snatch up in a minute if Ruby didn't already have about ten red dresses! And I kind of love these cowgirl boots.

I've got plans to get photos of Ruby in each of these as she grows into them and some plans are in the works with a vintage loving mama to share how we've styled vintage frocks for ourselves and our girls! Mostly it's good motivation for us but I can't wait to add this to the schedule.

xoxo,
Rachel

Cider Days: Every Year I Pretend It's Not Hot

After church Sunday morning we walked down to Cider Days like we did last year when I was 8 months pregnant with Ruby to find something good to eat and pretend like the sweat dripping down our backs wasn't sweat at all and that the leaves will be turning colors any moment now. Brett and I have decided Cider Days needs to stop kidding themselves and move the date back at least one more week to give the weather a chance to actually feel like fall.

Despite the way humidity can wipe you out and induce crankiness in the most quiet of hearts, we enjoyed ourselves. We saw the first pumpkins of the season, said hello to the mini horses that are paraded around every year, people watched, found Sebastian's favorite cupcakes with red things on top (sorry, Emma), ran into people we knew...(not those guys below)...

...and had some more pie! I was thrilled when Brett pointed out the Pie Box booth and pretty much dragged Sebastian two tents down to get a slice of pecan. One of the girls working remembered Brett showing up on his scooter to pick up three pies on my birthday and the other knew about RVA so we had a good chat about pie and Pushing Daisies. If you're in or around Springfield you must try The Pie Box for the kind of pies your grandma makes at Thanksgiving. My mouth is literally watering even typing this!

Probably my favorite part was on our way out when we came across the cutest three year old and his little sister selling organic lemonade for $2 a cup. I heard his parents explaining to some friends that he was raising money to buy more Thomas trains. That sign was what got me.

We'll probably forget how miserably hot it felt being out in the mid-day sun with two little ones and go again next year because that's what you do to feel like a part of the community you live in. You go out and do stuff, and bump into each other, exchange stories, observe, enjoy, and sweat together. And then you remember how fun that was last year and want to do it all over again.
Ha! What did you do with yourself this weekend? Oh, and today made vintage dress #3! However, I may have decided not to change clothes before attacking a large spray painting project while everyone napped the afternoon away and may have gotten a little bit of white paint on the bottom and may have rolled my eyes at myself for not having been more careful. I'm not sure it'll come out so it's either a shorter hem to make it more of a tunic or something pretty sewn on to cover it up. We shall see.

xoxo,
Rachel

Oh, and we ran into my midwife and her family on our way to the car and we hugged necks pretty tight. She is such a sweet woman and still so special to our family. I love that so many pregnant friends are using her!

She Takes After Her Mama

I found this red velvet zippered jumper in a little town in Southern Missouri last month and wasn't sure if I loved it until today. I paired it with a polka-dotted onesie from Target and one of the black headbands I got in a pack from Walgreens. It's super soft and if I distract her long enough after I put it on she'll forget about pulling it off.

This is my new vintage dress from the new Red Velvet Dress Shop. Elsie pulled a few from the stacks for me to try on and this one took the cake! I love the print and it's a really nice fit on a good day. ;)
That makes TWO vintage dress days in ONE week. I get a gold star!
xoxo,
Rachel

p.s. I got to see the lovely Margot this afternoon over coffee. Thanks for making the drive to see us and for the goodies you brought my kids!

A New Favorite Vintage Dress

I found this vintage striped dress in a Goodwill in OKC last month but had it stashed in the pile marked 'needs shortened' until this morning. I had a fun business meeting with Elsie and Emma over coffee so I threw it on, marked where my knee line was and just cut the rest off. Since it's polyester it's pretty forgiving in the short term. I plan on adding a rolled hem before it gets washed again but sometimes a girl needs a dress in a hurry!

I had Brett take this photo on his way out to class and Ruby made her way over in between takes. She loves to be walked around the house these days. She's like a stomping little duck!

She doesn't like it when I call her names.

She's also a biter.

Ruby! We're twinsies! Ruby of Cakies recently posted about how hard it can be to pose naturally for self-portraits and I couldn't agree more. I usually take between 10-50 before I can settle on a few that I like enough to share online because Photoshop can take care of those dark circles under my eyes but I've yet to learn to erase the ten pounds that slouching can add. I have to remember to pull those shoulders back, tuck that tummy in, smile with my eyes, chin up slightly, etc., etc...it takes awhile. I'm no Tyra Banks.

However, documenting 'dress days' is important to me. Being a work-at-home mom can sometimes leave me feeling like it doesn't matter what I wear since the kids aren't quite old enough to call me out for wearing my yoga pants all day. I do try to make the effort on a regular basis, though, in order to avoid cascading down that slippery slope of 'work out clothes' that suddenly make up 100% of your laundry pile. Plus now there is preschool drop-off and we're new.

Elsie has been around with a great dose of courage in this venture into vintage dresses. She owns a vintage dress shop with lovely dresses in all sizes and she recently gifted me a darling tulip print dress from her collection for my birthday that I can't wait to wear next time we hang out!

What I want to know is if you've ever gone out in public hoping you won't see anyone you know because it's been days since you've showered or done laundry only to run into the ex-boyfriend/girlfriend...I know you've got stories!

xoxo,
Rachel

p.s. I'd love to see your vintage wardrobe if you have links!

I Get To Wear A Pretty Dress To Elsie's Wedding

Elsie and Emma hosted a cupcake party under the guise of testing out Emma's recipes and getting photos for her portfolio but really they just needed a bunch of their friends and family to show up at the same time to invite us to be bridesmaids in Elsie and Jeremy's wedding. I can usually see these things coming a mile away but those two have twice pulled off grand surprises that I've been lucky enough to be a part of.

These were some random shots from my camera using the Hipstamatic while carrying Ruby in a sling on my other side. She was squirmy. Janae was there taking photos and Elsie has shared some beautiful ones on her blog here and here. I'm so thrilled to be a part of the unfolding story of their lives together and love that I get to share this piece with these lovely girls that I admire.

Be back soon with some projects I probably shouldn't be starting!
xoxo,
Rachel

Plenty To Wear These Days

I spent some time purging the kids' wardrobes this week since a new season is upon us. I have kept a few special pieces from Ruby's early months but what can't be transitioned into the fall and winter months is going to a friend. With limited space for all of her clothes/socks/shoes/blankets/crib sheets, I have to keep things as easy to look at as possible or it gets overwhelming.

Ruby has more closet space than Brett and I put together. Old houses = Lots of wardrobes.

I have been saving vintage dresses and smocks since before we knew we were having a girl almost a year and a half ago and Ruby is finally big enough to start wearing some of them. I have had some luck recently with a few pieces but most of these were thrifted in Springfield and surrounding areas as well as gifts from sweet readers around the time Ruby was born.

Plus a few more that were in the wash and one that was so delicate it was torn in the dryer. Sad face.

Sebastian, on the other hand...

... has one measly piece of vintage clothing and I only just found it this weekend. Somehow, I don't think he minds. This poor boy does own more clothing but it was sitting in a clean pile in another room that also included a sleeping baby.

If it isn't from Target or Old Navy, it's been thrifted, handmade, or given to use by sweet people. The mailman hat, for instance, was delivered by our favorite mailman after Sebastian told him he wanted to be a mailman someday. The wardrobe is just a billy bookshelf from IKEA that I found for free four years ago, added a curtain rod to, and covered with wood grain contact paper. This is what it looked like two years ago when his shoes were so much smaller!

Ruby wore a vintage red sailor dress and one of the vintage Mexican dresses shown above this weekend while hanging out with the RVA girls. I think the dress shop is her new favorite place!
More on that soon...

xoxo,
Rachel