thrifted + gifted. children's books.

hello loves.

sorry for the radio silence the past few days. i have been concentrating on my little miss who has had a head cold since last weekend. she's a trouper though and looks to be on the mend! 

i'm happy to have a few moments tonight to share a few more of the goodies i thrifted while little miss + i were visiting back home in indiana this easter. (there's a song there i think. back home again in indiana... ha.) 

thrifted + gifted. part one.

inspired by: the rv life.

morning!

it's friday! joey has the whole weekend off and i couldn't be more happy... it's been a very long 14 days with no day off for him. it's so crazy hot outside so i don't think we'll be spending too much of it outside of our little flat but we are planning to hit up the st. ann's fest (our church's big street festival) and maybe try a little park time. regardless of what we do it's going to be heaven having our little family together!

this week i've been obsessed with all things summer vacation. we are gearing up for i guess what would be considered an 'indian summer' vacation in september to california and i seriously can't wait. this trip is going to be the first 'real' vacation for our little family that isn't specifically to see family or celebrate a holiday so it's going to be fun to have just the three of us explore and have fun. getting ready for this trip has made me dream about all of the future summer vacations we'll have and the amazing times we'll share.

my number one dream... RV's.

one day we will have one. it's probably my biggest dream to have a home on wheels that we can take anywhere we want and really explore this country like neither of us have before. i want to take a crazy picking adventure in some of the states we've only breezed through and i want my kids to really experience true Americana before it disappears. check out Sara's amazing family at walk slowly, live wildly . they have done some fantastic rv remodels (they use veggie oil too!) and LIVE on the road. literally. this is their photo stream...


how can you not fall in love with these little slices of heaven?

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or how amazing would it be to run a business out of a restored vintage camper...

{enjoy cupcakes}

{fresher than fresh}

{adelante's curb service}

*sigh* love.

vintage 70s floral dress // for sale

hello friends.
i bought this little cutie at a 60s/70s vintage store in new york city on the lower east side... it's in beautiful condition. unfortunately the print is a little young and doesn't look great on me so i'm offering it up to a better home. i don't have my etsy store up and running yet, but i thought i'd offer it here before taking it somewhere around here for consignment.

there's no tag/brand on the dress so i'm guessing it's handmade... and it's made very well! the ruffles/bow on the back are so cute!

i took the measurements with the dress laying flat so you'll have to double where appropriate. it fits me well and i'm about a 8-10ish right now...

bust: 16"
hips: free
length (armpit to bottom): 25"

price: $25 OBO

this is such an affordable little vintage sundress! i priced it way below what i bought it for because i think NYC vintage prices are crazy insane...

i have a paypal vendor account and if you feel better going through our ebay i can accommodate. i will charge flat rate shipping to USA only.

please share this post with anyone who might be interested!

thanks. love.

a long daddy-less weekend.

so long.
long playtimes... long naps.
long rounds

(resisting the urge to add a lot of o's...)

we didn't have daddy this weekend which was a huge bummer. not having him around means that my kitchen is a wreck, i didn't make sunday dinner, and the laundry is now taking over my bedroom... but i won't think about all that right now.

we did have lots of long laughs, which was lovely. little miss is doing all kinds of new things and just can't stand it when she conquers a task... she screeches, laughs, excitedly chatters to all who will listen, and there are several rounds of applause. she's too much. quite obviously my daughter!

my sister's blanket is coming along. the rounds are getting super long and still haven't decided if i want to end it with panels & then a border, or keep doing rounds and do a thick border. decisions, decisions.

naptimes are really the only time i can work on it, as evidenced above. if i keep working on it while little miss is awake i have about 5 minutes before she wants to help. i've started giving her cast off yarn to play experiment with...

#1 we are working on not eating it. after we settle that she tends to throw it around for awhile, pull it apart, and hand it back to me in little fuzz balls. good times. she is really into handing me anything she comes across that she feels is out of place. she's delighted when you thank her for it!

and yes... that is an ipood tee she's wearing. i think i mentioned the laundry earlier.

so now babe is finally asleep, i'm going to think about cleaning the kitchen for a minute while i fake a dinner for myself, and then crochet and watch american pickers on netflix until joey comes home. it could very well be a late night but i'm praying it's not.

is it too soon to start a countdown to california? i think so.

oh. oh. speaking of cali... i almost completely forgot! a little later i'll go more into it but i'm super excited about putting together a real travel wardrobe for our trip. real dresses. put together outfits. vintage for me (and little miss too!). no easy cotton tees... etc. and the plan is to blog the process. putting this together is a little nerve-racking because these are going to be some of my first big fashion purchases since losing the majority of my baby weight and i still have a bit to go before September 1st. so every piece i order i have to pray that it will 'close' to fit, which is scary sometimes when ordering vintage or indie. but i digress...

the cause of my present excitement is my first purchase! i've been eyeing this dress at the red velvet shop and last night i took the leap... into my cart it went.


so i've broken the ice and i'm really happy. i hope to be just as happy when the dress comes home to me! i think it will... i don't want to spoil it but i am 99.9% sure that i'll be choosing this to wear for our friend's wedding. i'm planning on styling it with some off-white/antique white tights (as it will be post-labor day) and wedges.

and now it's time to get back to my hook and yarn zone. i noticed i used 'break the ice' like they do in american pickers... wouldn't that be an amazing job to have? my dream.

love.

back home. time flying.

i can't believe how fast november has flown by... we just returned home from a week in florida to show our lovely girl off to her tampa taylor family. it was a great trip and abby did so well on her car rides and being in so many strange places every day. it was amazing to see the huge bright giggly smile abby gave each new relative as she met them. she totally knew this was her big family and she was so pleased to be welcomed into it!


the best was getting to spend some thrift time with abby's new favorite cousin helen.

we went out for cuban sandwiches first - there is no cuban like a tampa cuban. they are amazing and we always get our fill when we are there... we went to The Cuban Sandwich Shop (aptly named) on Florida Ave.

crazy good. and although abby has yet to enjoy the simple magic that is a tampa cuban she had fun and enjoyed the company...


after lunch we went to several thrift stores but the best was definitely Sherry's Yesterdaze...


i could have spent hours in there but it was our first stop and we wanted to make sure to hit a few other places. sherry has an amazing housewares selection but i could not get over the amount of clothing... i look forward to going back next trip!

all in all it was a great trip and we can't wait to go back... we already miss all of the aunt's, uncles, and cousins that we live just too far away from for our liking. we're hoping to see them up in new york soon!

it was a shock to return to the cold north but i'm so excited for the start of the holiday season. we haven't decided when we are going to pick up our tree but i'm going to talk sweetly to joey and see if we can't get it next weekend after painting the living room (finally).

this week:

announcing some new blog features!
starting handmade christmas gifts #1 & #2
finalizing our christmas card design

love.

inspired by: vintage kiddo

one of my goals in the coming year is to buy more vintage, especially clothes for abby and myself. i'm so inspired by this cute duo... rachel and ruby are so sweet and i'm in awe of how much rachel can accomplish professionally & creatively while being a work at home mommy to two little ones. i've just started scouring etsy for fun vintage finds for abby and i thought i'd share some of my favorites...

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is there anything sweeter than this rocking horse.
i'm so coveting the space to have this in abby's room... oh well

finally i wanted to share an etsy store called Vintage Tot Spot. it's a little pricey for our everyday vintage but some of the outfits are kind of amazing...


love.