Set Sail For September

It seems like a cruel trick that the last few and precious weeks of summer are so unbearably hot that they have to be spent indoors or at least in the shade.  The silver lining then is that when September rolls around, it's such a relief that I hardly have time to grieve summer because I'm so busy enjoying being able to just go outside again.  

This darling Palava dress caught my eye in the summer time, but due to it's 3/4 sleeves, I decided to hold off on wearing it until autumn, so there's another silver lining to the end of summer.  Palava has become a favorite brand for their lovely prints and excellent quality. (No, I am not affiliated with them, just a fan)

Outfit Info: Cynthia Navy Shipwreck Dress from Palava

The Best of August

August is the worst month in my opinion.  It is unbearably hot, everything is dry and dying, school starts/the fun stops, no good movies come out, the concerts are over, and the list goes on.  There are two good things about August though, and in the interest of being balanced, I'd like to mention them here. 

1. Night Swimming.  2.  Star Gazing.  And it's very convenient that you can accomplish all (two) of August's best activities at the same time.  It's so hot that the water is warm enough for a lovely swim until dawn, and while you're floating take a moment to catch the splendor of the Leonid Meteor Shower.  

Some of my happiest summer nights, the ones that truly defined my childhood and teen years were spent on an August night when school was looming and we threw all caution to the wind and the wonder of summer to make the most of the short days of freedom we had left.  Swimming in prom dresses with girlfriends, wading into warm murky ponds with the gang, sitting by the poolside talking about the future with a roommate.  Always the night, and the water, and the stars shooting by.  This was August to me.  

This year Mr. Bleu, our daughter, and I woke ourselves at 1:00 a.m. on a weeknight no less to lay in the back of our truck and try to catch the show.  We saw a few and they were lovely, but the moment together was loveliest of all.

Today's post feels like the last of the summer outfits.  Once September arrives it's farewell summer; I swap out all my bright colors, florals and stripes for plaid and shades of rust.   So, for today, something summer while it lasts.

 

Outfit Info: Edme & Esyllte Floral Skirt is thrifted, Cabi top is thrifted, B.A.I.T. shoes, bag is gifted.

Movie Review: The End of Oak Street

Here it comes, the scathing movie review you didn't ask for about a movie I hope you didn't see.  Heads up, there will be "spoilers"  I have to put that is quotes because I don't think turds go bad, but here we go.

The End of Oak Street is a story about a bunch of selfish losers who live in suburbia in the 1970s.  One day their gross miserable lives are interrupted by dinosaurs.  Carnage ensues.  Mom does some really tiresome generic girl-bossing, sis too, dad gets eaten by a dinosaur just when mom thinks she might not totally loathe him, and mom tries to be protective of kids she was desperate to abandon only moments before.  Then...they make it home via time travel and mom decides to save old timeline dad, you know, the version of dad who has not experienced any personal growth.  She also decides to save a few neighbors, including one she despises, while somehow not finding time to save the other version of herself or her children.  There are now two copies of a random neighbor kid they rescued living on the same timeline, so it's not like it would cause some Back To The Future style implosion of time and space.  But, no, their own duplicates are sent into the dino-world time loop, this time sans-dad, to suffer horrible deaths while they assume their lives so mom can write a tell-all book and achieve a pathetic degree of fame.  I'll pause here if you need to throw up.

The acting was awful.  I don't believe Anne Hathaway really loved her children, despised her husband, or hated her neighbor; she was phoning in her emotions harder than she phoned all her neighbors to warn them of the time loop.  And for the love of sweet Orson Wells eating fishsticks, could Hollywood STOP CASTING EWAN MACGREGOR WITH AN AMERICAN ACCENT.  He can't do it!

The tiny segment of Jurassic world this neighborhood lands in is a sheer and totally unrealistic-constant-bloodbath-feeding-frenzy-hot-zone of predators.  Predators are territorial, there could never be so many in such a small space.  We do get a lengthy dino sex scene, an abundance of mounds of dinosaur excrement, and a good three minutes of the moody teen daughter singing a song in the car, which I was hoping would lead to her getting eaten, but did nothing but waste time.  And girl-bossing. Could we stop?  When it's organic, it's freaking awesome: Sarah Conner, Ellen Ripley, Zoey from Firefly, etc.   When it's forced, it's just grating, (Captain Marvel...I  just gagged from typing that) and this was forced and oh so grating.   

I'm convinced that if lumped together every single jumbo mound of dinosaur scat we see on the screen, and it is constant, this movie would still be the bigger pile of shit.  Don't waste your hard earned money or moments of your precious life on The End of Oak Street.

Summer Reading: The King In Yellow

If you enjoy a good summer read then prepare yourself for something delicious: The King in Yellow. This lost treasure was written in 1895 by Robert W. Chambers and has all the eloquence of the Victorian era in this macabre work of proto-science fiction better known as cosmic horror.  And, if you're worried that summer is nearly over, worry no more, for this is a collection of short stories woven together by a common element.  

 

I knew nothing about The King in Yellow, but it was recommended by my stylist at my last color appointment, and since I was in need of a read and enjoyed the prospect of combing a book club style conversation with my next root touch up, I found it for free at The Gutenberg Project, and discovered that my lunch break was just enough time to read one story per day.

  I finished it in about a week, loved it, and knew I had to share.  In honor of this book, I  thought it only right that today's outfit combine a little soft summer gingham with the color yellow.

Outfit Info: Unique Vintage Yellow Gingham Dress Thrifted

 

One Skirt: Four Outfits.

In the early days of my blog, I loved to take one item, usually a dress, and style it lots of ways in a single post.  It was just as much for my benefit as it was for my readers.  I loved the creativity of digging through my closet to find things that would pair nicely and for my own curiosity to see just how many ways I could wear a single piece.  Those were the days.  I still do that with my clothes, but now it occurs more spontaneously.  I'll pull a skirt or top out and feel like mixing it up with a different cardi or shoes,etc. and a new outfit is created, but I rarely have time to stop and photograph it anymore.

Getting back to my roots, I decided to sit down and pull together a few outfits for this lovely skirt since it has so much potential and here are the results.  Frankly, I love them all, but I did feel that the cute goose cardi needed an extra photo for a close-up.

Outfit Info: Florence skirt in Navy Vegetables & Strawberry Cardigan from Palava, Goose Cardigan from Urban Outfitters, Navy Tee from Walmart, Qupid heels are old, YeMak burgundy cardigan

GownTown Betty

Betty Page, Betty Rubble, and my darling Aunt Betty all have one thing in common: the bombshell factor.  These ladies wore that 50s style in such a way that it set the example for the rest of us.  It was the hair, the the lipstick, and most of all it was the dress, and GownTown gets it.

Today's post features GownTown's 1950s' swing dress with pockets in this bombshell blue and that little upward swoop of piping at the bust line really ups the wow factor.  This dress is a dream and comes in a range of colors for a very reasonable price.  Absolute love!

Outfit Info: GownTown 1950s Swing Dress with Pockets-$39.99, Shoes from B.A.I.T., Petticoat from Leg Avenue

That Little Black Dress with GownTown

I've had a very long break from collaborations.  And I really needed it.  But when a brand you love reaches out, it's time to come out of hiatus.  GownTown has such nice quality, inexpensive vintage style dresses, plus, they're just really nice people who have always been so kind to me.  

Today's post features this adorable Little Black Dress with bows down the front, and pockets, of course.  Simple, elegant, timeless.  I added a belt to accent the waist and a petticoat for a fuller skirt, but this dress is solve lovely all on its own.

Outfit Info:  GownTown 3/4 Sleeve Bow Knot Cocktail Dress-$39.99, Shoes from B.A.I.T.

Orange and Blue Will Do

One of my earliest posts was about the right way to combine color wheel opposites such as orange and blue.   If you're not familiar with color theory, color wheel opposites are the harshest visual combination.  But that doesn't mean you have to steer clear.   You can see my previous posts on orange and blue here and here, but the jist is: reach for a more muted shade of one to enhance the other. 

For today's outfit I combined an intense orange with a (muted) navy blue and a darker orange cardi to tone down the contrast.  Voila!  Visual interest instead of seared retinas.   

Outfit Info:  Emily and Fin Tiger dress is Thrifted, Ecosusi Bag, B.A.I.T. shoes, YeMak cardigan