the long weekend

I don't have a smartphone, so I don't do Instagram, but if I did, the long Memorial Day weekend would have looked something like this.

This shot is kind of typical of our summer weekends--Andy and me headed south into downtown Grand Rapids, laughing smugly at the cottage-bound traffic jam headed in the opposite direction (in this case, they were lake-bound).  Since we live on a lake already, there's no mad rush north or west for us.  (Do you like the crack in my windshield?  Keeping it real!)

Michigan beers and pinball at the Pyramid scheme.

Quality couch time with Lucy the dog.

We visited an out-of-town friend's chickens to feed them and collect eggs.

This little lady is also named Lucy, and I'm nearly as obsessed with her as I am with the canine Lucy.

Look!  She just hatched a baby chick...who did not want her photo taken, and tried to hide herself up in Lucy's wing.

Lucy the dog had, surprisingly, zero interest in the chickens.

We decided to give gardening--on a small, manageable scale--a go again.  Tomatoes, basil, rosemary, cilantro, petunias, marigolds, and a tiny lavender, pink, and white ground cover-y flower whose name I can't remember.  The lady behind the cash register was all, why are you taking a photo.  I thought the cart was cute.

Cobb salad season!  Well, salad season, period--but Cobb is the best!

xo

K

what I wore; not so plain jane

the details 

dress - thrifted / vintage

jacket - thrifted

brooch -  Sleepy Bunny Pin c/o Sugar Cookie

belt - thrifted

camera bag - c/o ONA

shoes - c/o BC Footwear (last year)

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite dress. I found it buried in between a bunch of other clothes at Goodwill a while back. I was a little unsure of it since it seemed so plain but for a dollar I figured it was worth the risk. BEST DOLLAR EVER SPENT. I really love everything about this dress. It's the best color and the cut is just perfect. It feels so feminine and sweet. Once again, one of the downfalls of thrifting a piece of clothing you love is that you can't go back and buy it in a zillion more colors - because if that was an option I'd own this baby in every color of the rainbow!

Hope you're having an excellent day!
xoxo

my top 10 favorite polishes

I recently cleaned out my nail polish collection and gave all the colors I don't wear away. I had just about every color you could imagine but the problem was that a lot of them weren't quality polishes. It doesn't matter how gorgeous a color is if it takes 5 coats to achieve that color and then takes an hour to dry.

Today I thought I would share my top 10 favorite nail polishes. These ten are some of my favorites not just because they are beautiful colors but because they're great polishes that I highly recommend! They all have great consistency, dry fast and generally only need two coats for nice, full coverage. They're colors I find myself grabbing from the rack over and over again because I know I can rely on them.

In the photo below you can see each of the colors on my nails (sorry about the awkward hand position, it's kind of hard to hold your hands so you can see all ten fingers in a picture.) Each polish has two coats and then a coat of Seche Vite to give it some shine and to make sure they don't chip.

Top row - left to right;
Wet n Wild - On a Trip
Essie - Lilacism
Revlon - Marmalade
Sally Hansen - Sorbet
Revlon - Bare Bones

Bottom row - left to right;
Sally Hansen - Thinking Of Blue
Zoya - Wednesday
Revlon - Emerald
Zoya - Dree
Zoya - Goldie

What are some of your favorite polishes - not only because they're pretty colors but because they're great polishes?
xoxo

shop preview

Leaves, vines, plaid, dots, flowers...there's only one "plain" (solid color) item in this shop preview.  Here's hoping you like prints!

1960s trumpet vine print cotton shift dress (already in the shop).

1960s deco dots print knit top.

1930s white eyelet lace summer dress with stripes.

1960s pink and yellow floral print blouse with Peter pan collar.

1960s coffee bean brown plaid dress, by Nancy Greer.

1950s dirt and moss gingham print full skirt.

1960s swirl print dress, by R&K Originals.

Moss green patchwork print bathing suit, by Lee Swimplay Suits.

1960s abstract peacock crepe dress, by Countrywise/Macshore Classics.

1950s fern green gingham shorts.

1950s yellow cotton sundress with a full skirt.

xo

K

photo an hour // May 21st, 2012

While the 21st is a little late in the month it's sooner than the last few month's photo an hour posts so I am one happy lady to not have forgotten until the very last moment. So, without further ado, here is my May 21st, 2012 broken down to one photo an hour...

8 am // Finishing the day's post and putting on some nail polish.

9 am // Finally made the bed and did my daily sweep of the bedroom
(the litter box is in our bedroom so I have to sweep ALL THE TIME!)

 10 am // Putting on make up and getting dressed for the day.
(I think it's kind of funny how much make up someone who wears so little make up owns! I just can't bring myself to throw make up away because what if someday I want to play dress up, or discover that I'd really like to wear neon green eyeshadow again? Hahah!)

11 am // Watering all my pretty plants on the deck!

12 pm // A quick work out that, as always, was interrupted by a flopped kitty.

1 pm // My favorite lunch, a baked potato smothered in butter, cheese, oregano and pepper and a big glass of chocolate milk.

2 pm // Taking some photos for a post to come early in June about the books I've read so far this year.

3 pm // The mail man brought me some pretty dresses! So exciting!!

also 3 pm // Taping down some of my pressed flowers and plants with some pretty tape I bought from CuteTape.

4 pm // Snacking on the most delicious vanilla/coconut cupcake ever that I made for my brother's going away party. So glad there were way too many desserts and I got to bring nearly all my cupcakes home. Kevin and I are destroying these things.

(Did you know that refrigerated cupcakes are like the best thing ever? BECAUSE THEY ARE!)

4 pm // Kevin got home and brought me some goodies from my PO Box. 

(THANK YOUUU!!!!!! Also, if you're new around here and don't already know - I collect teeth and dental items ;))

5 pm // Kevin, Doc and I watched some horror movie trailers on youtube while waiting to hear what the plans for the evening were.

6 pm // We headed over to my brothers to say goodbye to my oldest brother one more time before he moves. My dad found this nest with two different kind of eggs in their garden.

7 pm // It all started with one niece painting her fingernails and before anyone knew it we were having a "nail polish party". Everyone got in on the fun, including all the boys! 

(Holy cow, kids are messy finger nail painters!)

This picture of my nephew sneak attacking my brother's toenails with nail polish is basically the cutest thing ever!

The evening ended with more refrigerated cupcakes at home and reading in bed! Perfect!!
xoxo

la sardina // at the beach

It's time for more La Sardina photos! These ones are from the beach. If you haven't gathered it already - my favorite place to shoot film is the beach. It's a great place to play around with double exposures aaaaand I really just love the beach!

These were shot with lomography's color negative 100 ISO film and developed at Discount Drug Mart.
xoxo