Don't worry, there won't be flannel, or rather, there won't be much flannel.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Yellow Sweater

And so begins a series of The Yellow Sweater posts. I borrowed this yellow sweater from my sister and I want to wear it as much as I can before I have to give it back. The next three, maybe four posts will involve the yellow sweater. It won't get boring. I promise. 


This dress, purchased for six bucks at Old Navy has proved to be quite a resourceful piece in my wardrobe. Excellent buy if I do say so myself. 











Sweater: Borrowed from my sister
Dress: Old Navy
Belt: Vintage
Necklaces: from around
Shoes: Burlington Coat Factory
Sunnies: Target

And I'm off to bake some cookies. Don't forget to watch out for the next post in the Yellow Sweater series.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Maxi Dresses Save Lives

Guess what is amazing about long dresses? They keep the flies off. Black flies are the scourge of the beaches right now. On this day we were out on the lake fishing and I wasn't bothered near as often as the guys in shorts. Woot. Woot. 
We went to Wetmores Landing a few days ago. I walked out on the beach and I felt like I suddenly had a pair of black, crawling, biting pants on. Flies, thick on my poor bare legs. As you can tell I wasn't wearing a maxi dress. Sooo, needless to say I'm staying away from that beach for awhile. 


Oh, and another good thing about maxi dresses is if you happen to be near or on a big lake, where it tends to be cooler, they keep you warm. See, maxi dresses practically save lives. 



















Dress: Target
Belt: Thrifted
Clutch: Gift from me sister
Sunglasses: Target
Shoes: Payless

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Disqus me, then send a Tweet

I've got a wee bit of news concerning the blog. I've updated the comment section, using whats called Disqus. Yippee. I'm sure you are all excited. Originally I was always a little disappointed with the comment section because a visitor had to have a blog or website to leave a comment otherwise it only showed up as anonymous. That isn't fun. Being in the U.P. people aren't connected as they are elsewhere (Hardly anyone I know tweets. Seriously, try it. I like it better than facebook). Now a visitor only needs an email and a name. A website can still be added as well. 










Dress: Target
Necklace: Vintage
Belt: Forever 21
Clutch: Thrifted
Shoes: JC Penney





Friday, June 22, 2012

Thought Provoking and the Owl

What? It's a Friday night and here I am writing a blog post? Yes, I've finally getting to it. I mentioned in a previous post that when I find a good book I'm obsessed until done. Well, I stumbled across a trilogy. Author's name is Libba Bray and her trilogy is of the Young Adult sort but I am fascinated by where you find thought provoking writing. It doesn't necessarily need to be in some heavy tome lost under layers of dust in a library or in a text book. Those best seller books that we deride for being so terrible or cheesy (Twilight series come to mind?) are really important because they say so much about us, as a culture, as humans, as subjects (not individuals, there is no such thing as an individual). The question being, why are these books so big (like Fifty Shades of Grey, what is the deal with that book?), why is everyone reading them? 
But maybe I say this about contemporary literature because I'm lazy and don't want to try at reading, like Nietzsche or Derrida. It's probably why I'm not going for my Master's in literature.
Anyway, if you're interested these are the titles of the books:
A Great and Terrible Beauty
Rebel Angels
The Sweet Far Thing


Oh, and on to the point of this blog:


I wore this to my sister's graduation party. Chic and chill for a party taking place on a lawn. If over 21 just add a beer and the outfit is perfect.




When taking these pictures I didn't notice that owl lawn ornament thing but now that's all I keep staring at.



Over the shoulder look. A favorite recently.




Shirt: Thrifted
Skirt: Maurices
The off centered Belt: Thrifted
Shoes: JC Penney
Necklaces: Lying in the bottom of my jewelry box

And to end this post, another wildflower, of the rose sort, born alongside the road.




Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Kit Kat Bars

I love these bars, so delicious, so good. Great for a party, for just about anything.




Kit Kat Bars:
Ingredients:
2 cups crushed gram crackers
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 cup brown sugar
25-30 club crackers
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
2/3 cup peanut butter

Lay a flat layer of club crackers in bottom of 9x13 greased pan.
Mix gram crackers, butter, sugar, mils, brown sugar in pan, bring to boil for five minutes, don't over boil or it will burn, You want a nice thick, caramel-like syrup. Stir constantly. 
Pour half of mixture on crackers
Add 2nd layer of crackers
Top with remaining mixture
Add 3rd layer of crackers
Melt peanut butter and both type of chips and layer over the top
Done.

Try it and I promise you will love it. 

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Just Ducky

My sister's grad party went splendidly and I'll have a couple posts from that later this week, including the recipe that I may or may not have promised in my last post.


Nearby there is a beautiful cemetery; I took pictures out here way back in the winter, not by the pond, for the pond isn't much to look at in the winter. You can see that post here. Right now the lily pads are just sprouting with their pretty white flowers and the ducks are gliding across the water and it's quite idyllic. 















Shirt: ?
Skirt: Thrifted
Belt: Gift from my mother
Necklaces: Various places
Heels: Payless



Lily pads!








Thursday, June 14, 2012

Paisley.

Okay, I'm back. I have this tendency to find a good book and become obsessive until the book is done. Everything else falls to the wayside. But tonight, I must bake. And blog. And actually get stuff done. This weekend is my little sister's graduation party and hopefully I get a blog post up about one of the delicious desserts I am making for it. But I feel whenever I announce I will do something on this blog, I never get around to it. Then I just look unreliable. So, perhaps I will post a recipe of a dessert in the coming days, or maybe not...


The following outfit isn't really summery, but hey, the weather this week hasn't exactly been summery. But I love the skirt. It's the fullest skirt I've owned and it feels pretty. The end. Hope you like it. 

















Shirt: Target, ages ago
Tank: Target
Skirt: Thrifted
Shoes: Payless
Belt: Thrifted
Sunnies: Target



And a pretty wildflower to end this post...

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Hark the Hail

What a week, the things that have happened. Long hours at work (nice paycheck, though, can't complain) where weird things were happening, car problems, went home because of the car and my dad decided it was the day to cut down a big tree out of the yard, and, oh yeah, the giant hail that fell on my car. I didn't even get any good outfit posts out of the week. It was just uncomfortable outfit after uncomfortable outfit.


First there is a melange of all the pictures I've taken recently, particularly all the beautiful flowers that are in bloom right now.







Almost every trip I have taken recently, I have come across these cranes. This time I stopped the car to snap a picture. This is as close as I could get to them. Wish I had a better picture, but they kept moving away from me. They are such beautiful graceful birds.




Sweet moth.



This weekend we headed to my parents house to have my dad take a look at the starter on my car and I knew we would end up helping them with something for my sister's graduation party that is scheduled for next weekend (really excited). And we did. We pressure washed the front of the house and then Dad decided to cut down this huge branch that hangs over the house. I have a couple pictures of that event. Just to showcase how it's never dull around my parent's house. Anyway, this leads me to my outfit post...


Finally, right? So, I didn't particularly care for this outfit, but I wanted something chill, something I can work in, something comfortable. And my sisters liked it, so I decided to post it. That, and I get a lot of flack for, sometimes admiration, for dressing up for events that a skirt is not needed, like heading to camp or helping to cut down a tree. And there is me in a skirt. I say, why not? As long as the skirt covers your butt, and you're not in danger of wrecking it (sawdust can be brushed off, not so much with varnish or paint, for example) wear it while you work...Plus it was so hot that day, which can be so brutal when you are working outside, a skirt and a loose tank are awesome. Skirt + outside work = justified. Even if you don't like my reasons, or excuses, however you want to look at it, maybe I do it just to shake those naysayers up. I'm a rebel, right?




Dad and bro-in-law up in a bucket. When you cut such a huge branch over a house, you don't cut the whole thing down, just pieces at a time. 


I'm not sure what I'm doing...maybe admiring the fence my dad just put up. He did such a beautiful job. He still surprises me with his creativity. 


Swim suit on, all ready to get out of the heat and into a pool.






Skirt: Old Navy
Tank: Forever 21
Shoes: Payless
Swim suit top: Old Navy
Necklaces: Collected, gifted from here and there
Sunnies: Target
Purse: Thrifted via my mom

One last picture to end this long post: the size of the hail hitting my poor pitted car. Golf ball sized hail. It was crazy. I've never seen them so big.