To Thrill a Mocking Jay

So, back in the 2010's I watched The Hunger Games and liked it well enough that I decided to read all the books. I think it's pretty commonly agreed at this point that the books were great, the movies...not so much.  Eventually, when my children were old enough, we got the audio books and listened to them on our daily commute.  My kids were hitting an age where books didn't really interest them, but when we started these books, they started begging me to just get in the car and drive around with them just so they could hear what would happen next.  

Because of our mutual love of these books, we also got the prequel, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.  The story was not really up to par, and the voice actor was kind of ridiculous, but we suffered through it together.  Now my oldest has informed me that the newest installment, Sunrise on the Reaping, another prequel which tells the story of Katniss' mentor, Haymitch, is actually very good and she begged me to read it so I can discuss it with her.  Family book club?  How could I refuse?

So, I'm reading the book and loving it so far, and in the spirit of summer reads, I  thought I would combine this thrifted Modcloth To Thrill a Mockingbird dress with a little Hunger Games goodness.

Outfit Info:  To Thrill a Mockingbird Dress-Thrifted Modcloth, YeMak Cardigan, Shoes are from SheIn

All Good Things

Patience is a virtue and all good things come to those who wait, or so the sayings go.  In all my many decades of fashion love, I have learned that more often than not, patience will yield very good things and substantial savings.  There's always the small risk of missing out if you don't buy immediately and pay full retail, but I overwhelmingly I have found that the things I want will either last until the sale or turn up for resale down the road like this pretty little telephone print dress by Porridge/Anthropologie.  I first saw this dress probably 10-ish years ago and have watched and waited for just the right thrifted price/condition combo until I finally found one.

Of course there have been dresses that I felt I would forever regret if I missed out and so opted to pay full price only to more often than not see droves of them on thrift sites for years to come and at a fraction of what I shelled out.  And there have been times I waited for the sale that never came and the thrift bargain that never manifested, which is why I still do not own the Eva Franco Matryoshka dress.  

There are exceptions to every rule, but generally speaking, if you just watch (the fun part), and wait (the not so fun part), the good things will eventually cross your path.

Outfit Info: Anthropologie telephones dress by Porridge, cardi from YeMak, flats are old.

Celia & Disturbia

2026 is off to a rocky start.  Barely out of a huge family holiday drama and we had a big trip and a couple of medical emergencies back to back to back.  I'm kind of tired already, but such is life and we just keep going.  We drove in all the winter chill to an out of state graduation that was in a small town in the middle of no where...and I loved it!  This tiny old town had so much history, tiny little eateries, funky small bookstores, and even an antique store where I found both this lovely vintage necklace and beaded bag for a song.  I have recently tried a new-to-me brand called Disturbia and though I only purchased two pieces in total, I am very pleased with the results.    

I ended my No Buy challenge after 8 weeks, by making this purchase from Disturbia and one other dress from Unique-Vintage and just in time for this trip because I knew I might want to look at thrift or antique stores and decided to allow myself that flexibility. Also, I like to plan for success, which is why I knew I didn't want to be ratcheted down on my spending during a family trip.  It worked like a charm.  I enjoyed my time with my family, the pressure was off me financially, and  I only spent $20 at the antique shop with no regrets about the lovely pieces I found there.

As far as this Celia Moth dress from Disturbia, it's unlike anything else in my wardrobe, and since it's also been a while since I've done a Youtube review of a brand, you can check out the lengthy, long winded details  on the video below.

 Outfit Info: Celia Moth Dress from Disturbia, Use my link to get $10 off your first order of $60 or more.  (just a referral link, not an affiliate) Necklace and purse are vintage, shoes are old from SheIn

A Paw-fect Halloween

It's sort of become a tradition to wear one of these pet portrait dresses from Retrolicious each autumn.  I'm so glad they came out with this Halloween version this year.  I think it may be my favorite of all!

Outfit Info:  Haunted Hounds Fit & Flare Dress from Retrolicious, Heels from B.A.I.T., Bag is old from SheIn

Eye of the Tiger Summer

When a tiger is stalking its prey, it has a moment when it turns its head to the side, cocking their heads to the side and reveal eye-like spots just before striking.  This process is two fold: 1.  It distracts the prey.  2.  It allows the tiger to zero in and strike.  From this comes the saying, "Eye of the Tiger."  It means you are intensely focused on a goal.  This summer has been one of intense focus on the construction of our house.  Instead of building an entirely new structure as we planned when we moved out here, we have been adding on some space and reorganizing the existing place.  When we were touring our house with the realtor, we noticed that one of the ceiling panels was newer than the others.  After asking about it, we were informed that a tree had fallen on the roof several years prior but had been duely patched.  Didn't seem like an issue, so we moved ahead with the purchase.  

After moving in we noticed that an entire 1/3 of the house had no electricity...because of that tree fall.  After a year or two we noticed a window directly under that brand new ceiling panel would leak during heavy rain.  At around five years in the home, the entire ceiling in that same 1/3 of the house started to leak when it rained even a little.  Turns out, that spot wasn't properly patched at all and we now had big, big problems.  So, we had to make a decision about how to move forward and repair/renovate was the route we took.

Two years ago we put in some new floors, paint, etc and at the end of that hard work, that's when we noticed the leak.  We spent the winter planning and then last summer we began the addition.  We excavated, hand dug, hand mixed and poured concrete, measured, cut, drilled, and on and on and on.  This summer it was time to put on a new roof and the timing was critical so that we didn't get a torrential downpour while the roof was ripped off.  That meant we had to time out each phase of construction as closely as possible and wow is that hard to do when you have never done this type of thing before.

Every weekend for the past the past six months or more, plus every spare moment in between, we have worked on the house.  For all this time though we've had this intense focus, the eye of the tiger, we've done nothing else but build, build, build.  Now, it seems we are nearing the end...of phase one. Thankfully phase one was been the most challenging and physically demanding.  I'm hoping things go more smoothly after this, because I've made a vow to myself that once this is done, we won't ever do it again. We'll just kick back, relax, and enjoy what we've built.

As far as today's outfit, obviously this adorable tiger print suited the theme well.  It's never failed to amuse me how perspective can change in an instant.  One moment you see the a certain thing, or even the whole world one way, and then the paradigm shifts on a dime and everything is entirely different.  I've window shopped Modern Millie at least half a dozen times over the past year and I've seen this Tiger shirt dress and always passed it by.  Then one day I saw it and thought it looked like the cutest kitschy print and from a brand I love and trust and I just had to have it as part of my autumn wardrobe.  Eva Rose is a reasonably priced brand that always has adorable prints and very good quality, plus I love supporting smaller businesses like Modern Millie.  So this post is all tied up in a neat little bow.

Outfit Info: Tiger Dress by Eva Rose from Modern Millie