On the front porch

 

 

Dress: Old Navy, thrifted;

Shoes: Tayla platforms, Target;

Red belt: Ann Taylor Loft;
Ship necklace: Beacon's Closet.

When I get home, it feels so good to get out of work clothes and into something much more comfortable and livable. It's liberating to be able to wear clothes that I think express my identity, instead of black work ensembles that are just thrown together.

I did get the nerve to walk up on the farm's cabin porch Thursday afternoon, but it still felt so...macabre. Visitors are allowed to walk all over the farm property, because it's now a county park, but I kept expecting a gust of wind or something to knock me down when I stepped on the porch. It felt like I was intruding on someone's property, except no one's lived there for more than 70 years. The door to the cabin is locked, but I've played around in my head about what's inside except for the period furniture and blankets. Buried treasure under the floorboards? The answers to the universe etched on the other side of the door? Some crows were keeping watch over the fields during our shoot, and it just made our daily visit all the more surreal and eerie. At least the photos turned out well.

This dress was a recent thrift find. I think being at the farm park so much is beginning to affect my sartorial choices, because when I saw this dress, I thought it was perfect in that Southern Gothic kind of way. It's hard to believe that it was originally from Old Navy, because it definitely looks like it was made during a much earlier era.The color of the dress is olive, with a print of white leaves all over it. I feel like a character from a William Faulkner novel when I wear this dress. 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! 

Treasured: Ancient mariner necklace

Necklace: from Beacon's Closet, NYC.
All the ways I've worn it.

Growing up, my house was a shrine for my dad's collections from his former Navy travels. He left the military when I was six to focus on our family and move us to a more settled town. However, the memorabilia from his past life took up our walls and rooms: straw hats from China, paintings from Japan, nature photos from Alaska, and the like. What often outnumbered these items were his trinkets that depicted Navy life itself: model boats in bottles, Navy men dancing on lager pint mugs and a little trio of metal ships named Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria. I spent hours reading about female pirates and sea captains. It is no wonder that I became obsessed with nautical life --- I was ingrained with it, in the same way football culture can be ingrained in small children. It was in my blood. If there was anywhere I wanted to be, it was with the mother sea.

When I was in high school, I got involved with the Boy Scouts' co-ed program and learned to sail. I learned all the important knots, how to raise and lower sails, how to adjust the jib and the mainsails. I went on a few sailing trips, around the local lake and once even in the Florida panhandle, where I saw huge waves and dolphins try to jump onto our boat. I was around the saltiness of it all so much that I wanted to compete in a yearlong sailing competition, and even contemplated naming my future children after boat parts (Tiller and Hull). My father even had a friend donate an old red sailboat to me, one that I scrubbed and cleaned, and set up sail in my backyard. Even if we lived a few hours from the closest lake, I still sat inside it, dreaming of all the places I would go with my trusty red boat.

When I went to college, I went to a landlocked university, and my time on the water waned. My hands idled over schoolwork instead of tying knots. My parents eventually donated the boat to my brother's Boy Scout troop.

A couple years later, I spotted this necklace during a trip to New York. Its design reminded me of my father's model Columbus ships. I had to have it. When I wear it, it reminds me of my childhood, and wishing I could have been a sea captain back in the day, because it sounded cooler than being the damsel in distress. Whenever I wear it, it makes me feel like a pioneer --- like I could suddenly do all the things I promised a very young version of myself that I would do -- live on a sailboat, learn all the knots, compete in sailing races that would take me to exotic lands. Maybe one day I will. But for now, I'm content to wear this necklace, and wikipedia different ways to tie intricate knots.

Musings of a Super Bowl nature

 

  

  

Coat: Club Monaco, thrifted;

Top: vintage, thrifted;

Jeans: Ann Taylor Loft;

Tights: Anne Klein;

Shoes: DSW.

Necklace: Beacon's Closet, NYC;

Sailboat pin: Thrifted.

    This was my Super Bowl outfit -- I wanted to be as comfortable as possible while sitting on a couch, so I wore my recent thrifting finds.The coat is my favorite part of the ensemble. It reminds me of a Navy peacoat, so I played that up with my nautical accessories. I can't wait to restyle it.
    The best laid schemes of mice and men often get screwed up -- I had every intention of getting these photos posted last night, but my computer was going slow. The best way to combat an irksome computer? Taking a little cat nap on my bed. The nap turned into full-on sleep and I ended up forgetting the photos and missing the last 10 minutes of the Super Bowl. Oh, well.

        I am not a big fan of pro football. I can get excited about college football and basketball, but I just never got into pro sports. I am one of those people who gets excited over commercials. I took an advertising class one year and my professor kept talking about how wonderful it is to study advertising in the spring semester because you are required to watch Super Bowl and Oscars commercials for class. Tough assignment for sure, haha.
      I wasn't really into most of the commercials from this year,  because it seemed like a lot of them were about men complaining about the women  that are ruining their given rights to be 'manly men.'  I understand the Super Bowl is supposed to cater to mostly male interests because of its supposed testosterone-driven audience, but millions of women watch as well and many are passionate fans of the game. I found a couple of these ads offensive, alienating and most of all, embarrassing to the companies using them. Some of you might disagree and think I'm missing the humor in a few of them, and that's totally fine and I respect your opinion if you do. But I think these commercials didn't make either gender look so great and the advertisers missed an opportunity.  Jezebel has a good gallery here of some of those ads. 
End rant.

        I did, however, really like Google's 'Parisian Love' commercial. Simple, to the point and sweet.


      Did you watch the Super Bowl, and if so, did you have any favorite moments from the game or the commercials?

Threehorns never play with Longnecks

 

 

Listening to: "Big Rock Candy Mountain," from the "O, Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack.

Thinking about: "The Land Before Time."

Dress: Banana Republic;

Slip (unseen): Thrifted;

Sweater: Target;

Tights: Anne Klein, Marshall's;

Belt: Fossil;

Necklace: Beacon's Closet, NYC;

Shoes: Nine West.

Book: She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea by Joan Druett.

Nik will be back to posting soon  after this Friday -- she's going through her semester finals, which are always stressful. You can do it, Nik! Think kind thoughts for her this week.

I was having a rough day this afternoon -- something I had applied for turned into a rejection email. It felt pretty bad, but I am trying to stay on the sunny side. I was in a foul mood when I came home after work, but I came through the door and Jeremiah had gotten some burritos from Moe's and had Sprinkle on the couch waiting for me. The tense knots and sad feelings began to dissipate. I need to keep telling myself that there are people who love me, I have a lot to look forward to and a lot for which to be grateful.

About the outfit. The necklace is my favorite part because I am obsessed with the ocean and all things nautical (I even learned to sail in high school). I found it at Beacon's Closet in NYC when I went to visit this past spring break. The dress was a pick-me-up purchase last year. I love the color but don't really love how thin it is. Oh well. The combination of green and brown, especially my legs and shoes, made me feel very foliage-y which reminded me of "Land Before Time" and Littlefoot the brontosaurus's obsession with leaves, or "tree-stars," and then hence my favorite quote from the movie which I used for the title. I know, that is a random chain of thoughts, but the idea of dinosaurs forming prehistoric cliques never ceases to amuse me. On another note, we should start calling leaves tree-stars.

Have a good night!