Halloween, Toddler Edition.

My baby makes a purty cute scarecrow, right? She wore her costume to school today, and then to the park, where she acquired her first splinter, and then to the coffee shop, where everyone thought she was a boy baby. When Papa Lion came home, we went trick-or-treating and let Tessa eat four pieces of candy. She then ran around all the rooms of our downstairs shrieking at the top of her lungs before we finally pinned her down, removed the splinter, and put her to bed. It was a good day. Happy Halloween, you good people!

Halloween, Adult Edition.

 

Happy Halloween! 

We did some celebrating last night (too much celebrating) with our friends Jack (zombie dude), Brooke (zombie chick), and Marscha ("just married" car). Nekos was the cowardly lion, and I was a sexpot Dorothy (you know he picked out my costume, right?). Along the way we also met up with a Justin Bieber and his No. 1 fan. I somehow forgot to get a picture of my ruby red slippers, which were spot-on. 

Tomorrow Tess will be the scarecrow and our cairn terrier, Garp, he'll be Toto. When it comes to the tin man, we're out of luck. We considered spray-painting our other dog silver, but that probably wouldn't fly really well with her. 

One note about these pictures: Isn't Nekos the scariest looking cowardly lion ever? I could hardly look at him last night without getting the heebie jeebies, which sort of seemed to offend him. It was all the makeup's fault. Without the makeup, he looked like an especially adorable lion, but with it, extraordinarily, ickily, terribly creepy.

I was out of the house when he was getting dressed, and he says Tessa watched him carefully as he sat at my vanity and applied all of his lion makeup. When he put her to bed he was wearing his costume and had on a full face of makeup. She was totally unphased, and didn't cry at all on her way to sleep. Wuh? When the babysitter arrived, he answered the door and the babysitter didn't cry either. One friend told us that Nekos looked like a "black Rod Stewart on a bender." Hilarious.

Check back in tomorrow for the Halloween, Kid Edition post, where there will be fewer scary hangovers and way more adorableness. 

Stuff I Wore: Mama's Day Out

It's been sooooo long since I made a blog post. It makes me sad. 

Life and work have been really busy, too busy, like lie awake at night and sweat bullets busy. And I haven't had any time for fun, which is what this blog is all about for me. But things should get better right about ... now. Instead of two jobs, I now officially have one job (not counting taking care of Tessa Jean, which is my very most important job). And in an hour I'll be on a massage table getting the bejesus massaged out of my knotted-up back. (Thank you, Nekos!) Afterwards, we're going out with some friends, in costume!

And how this all leads up to my "stuff I wore" post is .... Even on the very busiest day I find joy in opening up my closet and putting together an outfit. I think it's especially fun these days because I work from home and don't always make it out of my pajamas. 

This is what I wore Monday, which is one of the days Tessa goes to Mother's Day Out (aka the best thing that ever happened to me). It's nothing fancy, but it's very typical of what I wear in the fall -- lots of hats and sunglasses and little jackets. And lots and lots of Converse, always. 

Tank - Target

Jacket - Pangea (Nashville boutique)

Skinny Jeans - BDG, Urban Outfitters

Hat - Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses - Ray Ban

Shoes - Converse, studded by eBay seller 

19 Months Old.

Tessabean is 19 months old today. When considering the last month with her, Nekos and I both agree that it's been all about the talking. Every day it seems she says anywhere from one to three new words. What makes both Tessa and me so happy is that she can tell me what she wants now, and I can give it to her (if it's not going to, you know, put an eye out) and that's totally gratifying for both of us. The best, the very, very best word she's said so far? "P-wease." Which is, of course, babyspeak for pretty please with a cherry on top, mama. I worked and worked and worked on that one, and then one day she said it, and now she says it often, and she's smart to do that. Because that word totally works wonders on me. Pile of butter at her little caramel-colored feet, I'm tellin' ya. You want more sugar-encrusted gummy bears dipped in lard? Ok, sure, so long as you say "p-wease"and just like that. 

Stuff I Made: Burlap Pouch Tutorial

Here's an easy little tutorial for making a burlap pouch. My idea was to make a burlap clutch but because it ended up more square than rectangular, it is decidedly pouch-like. Great for a make-up bag or collecting other assorted randoms. I think this would make a nice gift for girlfriends around Christmas time, too. And if you made it larger it would rock the world as a laptop case. 

Supplies Needed:

Burlap coffee sack (ask your local coffee shop and they'll probably cough one up for free) or you can buy burlap at any fabric store

Zipper (mine was a 10")

Scrap fabric 

Sewing machine, thread, scissors

Rickrack (optional)

1) Choose the shape of your pouch. I used a magazine and outlined it with a Sharpie. I traced two of these shapes right on top of the other and cut it out so I only had to use one piece of burlap for the purse.

2) Then cut out two pieces of pretty fabric to use as the lining for your pouch. You'll now have three pieces of fabric -- one burlap, two lining material -- all in the same size.

 3) Put the three pieces together in this order and ...  

4) ... pin.

5) Fold your pinned-together fabric in half and use a sewing machine to stitch up both sides of the pouch, leaving about an inch at the top so you can get the zipper situation settled in a minute.

6) Turn your pouch right side out and pin zipper to one side of the pouch.

7) Sew zipper on.

8) Twist the other side of the zipper and pin like this, then sew.

Add some rickrack to the zipper if you want, and you're done!

Stuff I Wore: The My So-Called Life Dress

It's so weird that I've never written about My So-Called Life here before. I think that I just legitimately love it so much that it's almost hard to put into words, like when I talk about my mom or peanut butter and jelly. It's stitched tight into my past; it's become part of who I am. I know that sounds very, very dramatic, but it's true. I have never before or since had such an intense reaction to a television show or any kind of media. I know I'm not alone here, but when this show came out in 1994, I was in junior high and I related so intensely to Angela Chase that the show actually helped me feel like less of a weirdo. Her character nourished me, just like so many peanut butter and jellys. In high school I curated what I called my "Claire Danes scrapbook," where I saved every tidbit of every photo or article I could find about her or the show or any of her other movies. My friends thought it was bizarre but fascinating, and they'd pass it around homeroom to flip through the laminated pages. I didn't really care what they thought. I just felt compelled to make it. Looking back it was totally scary obsessive, but I also think it was all just part of me becoming me. And part of me is that I'm very, very enthusiastic about things that I really like. 

Another thing that I obviously really, really like is clothes. This week two of my obsessions -- My So-Called Life and clothes -- came face to face and gave each other a huge hug.  You guys! This week I was on Facebook and I came across a photo of a babydoll dress that was being sold at an adorable local shop called OMG (which stands for Old Made Good). And it wasn't just any dress. It was the very dress that Angela Chase wore in the second episode of My So-Called Life. You all know I went right over and got it, right? It makes me so happy to have this early '90s Rampage dress that is flannel and plaid and babydoll-style and 100% Angela Chase-approved. Grunge is back, and I am pretty happy about it.

Life Lately.

We got purty sweet news this week. I was fortunate to get a really great regular freelance writing and editing gig. The only downside is that I put in my two weeks at my old writing gig, and in the meantime I've been doing both jobs and taking care of Tess, whose Mother's Day Out program just happens to be on fall break this week. Let's just say I am s - t - r - e - s - s - e - d outtttt at the moment. Luckily, my mom comes to pick Tessa up this afternoon, and she'll keep her for two nights so I can get it all done. That way I won't feel like a terrible mother anymore. I am feeling major guilt about putting on so much Yo Gabba Gabba while I sneak off to get some work done.

There's a light at the end of this tunnel, though, and it's really bright and buttery. Professionally, I'm so blessed that things have shaped up for me since Tessa came into our lives. I always dreamed of making the freelance-writing-from-home thing work out but having her has given me the courage and the reason to make it a reality. I'm very, very grateful for that. 

Unfortunately, the blog will probably be pretty quiet for the next 10 days or so. But I'm stockpiling tons of ideas for fun, easy DIYs, and I honestly can't wait to get to work on them. And, also, my bedroom. The one I was painting? It's still half-painted. So that's something I'm going to wrap up once this madness is over, too. Y'all? Life is busy, but so good. 

Fashion Muse: Love Story, 1970

Set on the Harvard campus in the 1960s, Erich Segal's Love Story is gripping and sweet and heartbreaking. I read it when I was a teenager and found it super reassuring that the feisty bookworm got the handsome law student to fall in love with her. Afterwards I rented the 1970 movie, which starred Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal. I wasn't a fan of O'Neal in the movie because, let's face it, he's way too dopey to play Oliver well, but MacGraw was Jennifer Cavalleri. Almost more perfect than her acting was her preppy wardrobe. Now when the weather starts to get colder, I invariably think of Ali MacGraw and her pin-straight black hair, bundled up in a rugby scarf. She is my wintry weather fashion muse.

Photo Source

Sources, clockwise: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Reunited.

Nekos took the day off today. I finished my work up early, and we planned a little day. It was something like this: Nekos + me + Tessa + lunch at Mas Tacos with my best friend (who lives in Spokane and was just passing through town) + feeding ducks Wonder Bread in Centennial Park + playing soccer in front of the Parthenon. Tessa likes being with me and she likes being with her dad but what she really loves is being with us both. That's what we all really love.