Love like a sunset

 

dress & underskirt: vintage | shoes: Goodwill

On Saturday, during the slightest of reprieves from the unbearable heatwave, my family, Chris, and I traveled to Indiana for the wedding of one of our dearest friends. Our two families have been friends since long before I was born. Before either of them had any kids at all, in fact - over 30 years ago. We have a rich history, full of inside jokes and family vacations and loads of embarrassing pictures. As we kids grow up and get married and have kids, it has gotten harder and harder to uphold our long-standing tradition of visiting each other every summer. Luckily, they live closer now than they did before. This wedding was actually my third time getting to see them this year - the most recent time was this post. It's good to be around people who knew you when you were in diapers and doing all manner of silly things. It keeps you humble.

  

And how lovely it was to see Anna get married! Talk about perseverance - her now-husband pursued her for seven years while they were both teaching abroad in Taiwan. Wow. They have such a sweet story, and it was wonderful to see them begin that next chapter. I mostly kept my camera to myself because I was so busy soaking it all up, but Chris and I did manage to get a few shots in. The reception was held in a gym, but you'd never have known. We both gasped when we turned the corner and saw how it had been transformed into something out of a fairy tale. Very fitting.

We had to leave far too soon to make the 3-hour drive back home, but the timing actually worked out well, because when we crossed the border back into Michigan, we were treated to the most gorgeous sunset I've ever seen. I'm only including one picture here, but trust me, we took way more photos! It was constantly shifting and changing into forms each more glorious and colorful than the last. It was sad indeed when the sky finally went dark, but I felt privileged to have seen something so beautiful.

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Colors and the kids

headwrap: ModCloth | top, shorts, shoes: Forever 21 | tights: Target

Well, I hope you like this hairstyle and headwrap, because you're probably going to be seeing them a lot this summer. This is pretty much the only hairstyle I know how to do, really, besides a basic braid or something. But if I can only master one hairstyle, this is a good one: it keeps my hair out of my face and it's perfect for dressy occasions as well as not-so-dressy occasions. Case in point: I've worn it to a wedding, and traveling - such as this day, here. We were trying to get to the house of some dear family friends for a reunion, but instead of taking us on the freeway, Google Maps took us through a meandering tour of Amish country. It was an absolutely gorgeous drive. However, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't been stressed out and worried that the directions were leading us completely astray. I think I'll use a GPS next time!

Once we did (finally!) arrive, we had a wonderful vacation. I took two days off of work, and it was incredible getting to relax and see family and friends I hadn't seen in a long time. My mom worked really hard to plan out the events, and it showed: we had 2 baby showers, a bridal shower, a white elephant gift exchange, and a ping-pong tournament. Whew! I was quickly eliminated from the ping-pong tournament, but now I'm determined to practice for next year...

Much to my delight, we got to take my 4-year-old niece and almost-3-year-old nephew home with us when we left! They live in Maryland, 12 hours away, so I don't get to see them nearly as often as I would like. I must say, during their visit I became quite the expert at healing my niece's "owies." All I have to do is ask her how many times she wants me to kiss the owie. She tries to think of a really high number and breaks into giggles. (31 is the highest number she's given so far.) Works every time!

This morning, they left to spend time with their other grandparents, and the house already feels a little bit emptier without them. They add so much color and life wherever they go. They'll be back in just a week or so, and I'm already counting down the days.

All in all, last weekend was a lovely vacation from reality. It's making me want to make sure my summer has regular little getaways planned for when my brain gets too frazzled from work. Do any of you have any vacations you're looking forward to this summer?

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Ne me quitte pas

cardigan: H&M | blouse: Goodwill | dress & belt: vintage | tights: Forever 21 | shoes: Charlotte Russe

The morning of our trip to Chicago dawned cool and rainy. Though I had envisioned a picturesque sunny day (like the day before the trip - of course...) I think there are definitely worse ways to see a city. It turned out that the next day was sunny but blazing hot, and neither Chris nor I do well with miserably hot days. So it all worked out in the end.

Anyway, I think there's something magical about cities in the rain. You get to see a whole different side of things. It seemed that many Chicago-dwellers opted to stay inside due to the weather, so we got to experience a quieter, cozier version of the city. Since it wasn't pouring, and there were some breaks in the clouds, it was actually quite pleasant for walking. And everything had a slight glimmer to it, as if it was a special treat for those of us who braved the elements.

I didn't get to do absolutely everything I had hoped, but when is that ever the case on a trip? I think the only time when I did get to do everything I wanted to on a trip was when I was 10 and my family took a 6-week vacation out to the West Coast, driving out through the U.S. and back through Canada. It's not as though that trip was perfect, mind you - our car broke down on the second day and my dad got sick and I got lice - but out of that trip was born a wealth of family stories...

But I digress. It's hard to even scratch the surface of what any city has to offer, especially if you only have part of one day. I was able to pick up some wonderful vintage (including a red velvet dress, which I have coveted for so long!) and some new things, too. However, the suspenders I bought will need some work - I don't think suspenders were intended for short-waisted people like me!

I couldn't help but snap this picture of the Avengers mural that was going up across the street from Knee Deep Vintage. What a fun introduction to the city...I hope to be back soon!

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Two towns from me

Let's pretend my skirt wasn't so wrinkled, shall we?

At least I had a good reason for it to be so. I took Friday off work and Chris and I spent the day in Ann Arbor - a city highly recommended to us, a mere 2.5 hours from us, and neither of us had ever been. We figured it was high time we fixed that.

cardigan and boots: Forever 21 | dress (as top): Modcloth | skirt: GAP | tights: Goodwill | belt: Salvation Army (from the boy's section!)

I decided to tackle two of my sartorial fears in one outfit: neutrals and separates. Dresses and bright colors are like a security blanket to me. Separates are scary and I always feel I look boring in neutrals. It's totally irrational. But wrinkles from car travel notwithstanding, I actually loved how this outfit turned out and I will be wearing it again!

After a considerable amount of time spent looking for parking, we stopped into a lovely little free trade/organic coffee shop and grocery store. I had an Americano and Chris got some freshly-made juice: carrot, apple, orange, and ginger. My coffee was wonderful (probably the best Americano I've had) but I most confess I was jealous of his juice. Made me want to buy a juicer!

Next, we stopped into Zingerman's Deli. How great can a deli be, I thought? Well, I got my answer, and there's not room enough here to do it justice. So much food, so many lovely smells and tastes - fresh bread, cheeses, vinegar dips, pumpkin butter anything you could imagine -and you can sample as much as you want! I wish I'd gotten photos of the inside, but I suppose that will serve as even more motivation to return.

After that, we walked around downtown, struck out at a vintage shop (the shop was great but everything was too small - so disappointing), bought a few sale items from Urban Outfitters, and headed to one of Ann Arbor's many used bookstores. It did not disappoint.

I didn't buy anything, but it's lovely to look, isn't it? I found an early edition of A Farewell to Arms...

...the biggest dictionary I've ever seen...

...lovely Russian books in my favorite colors...

...and this Charles Dana Gibson book (behind glass) that Chris pretty much had to physically drag me away from:

 

Though we enjoyed all of the bookstore, Chris looks quite at home in the kid's section, no?

 

We finished off our long, lovely day with a Blind Pilot concert, which made my love for that band grow (their albums are already in heavy rotation on my mp3 player so far this week!). We were so close, I was actually leaning on the stage.

I couldn't have asked for a better 11.11.11.

 

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