I watch the ripples change their size

Ladies, thank you so much for all your wonderful comments! Since I found out I lost my job my mind has been elsewhere, and I haven't been consistent with reading and commenting on blogs, but I appreciate all your thoughts and support.

Turns out I wasn't completely finished with work - I'm working some days this week to make the transition smoother. Hah! It's not smoother for me. I went from euphoria last week to limbo and lethargy this week. Can't wait until the break is clean and complete and I can really relax (an abundance of alliteration there!). Oh, and try to make a living.

I've missed a lot of my favorite link-ups lately, so this outfit will make up for lost time.

Today - 52 Pick-me-up - '60s
Friday - Secondhand First 
Sunday -Visible Monday

Here's my pseudo-'60s, secondhand and visible outfit. I'm sort of like Shelley Fabares meets Susan Dey.

Not exactly bell bottoms, but flared dungarees, along with a top tied at the waist and a button-up cardi thrown over my shoulders. The top, belt and jeans are thrifted; the cardi is Target and the sandals Clarks, and they're both at least five years old.

The top has a sort of mod pattern, and colors like 1960s kitchen appliances - avocado green, coppertone, and almond.

And I'm wearing my locket, previously seen here, which is from the '60s.


Hey, if you didn't already know, Joni James is doing a new blog! Check it out - An Artful Closet.

Thanks again for your lovely comments. Be sure to visit and join the link-ups!

Val

Days of Wine and Roses and Instagram

Ah, the wine...

On our Memorial Day holiday, I went out to one of our favorite wineries with my mom and sister.

A friend of ours, Inoke, was entertaining. This time he wasn't solo - he had two women with him. Inoke is a good performer - deep, soulful voice and an engaging and friendly manner - but these women stole the show!

Teresa Cunningham sang a little, but mostly she rocked the sax.

And Vilma Halstead was totally working the congas.
 

Fortunately, they're playing together a lot this summer, so I hope to see more of them.


Here are the roses - in my top.

I wore this a couple of weeks ago and stockpiled a few photos. I haven't been taking as many selfies lately. I guess I was feeling a little bored with it, so we'll see how things go from here.

 
The necklace is a little locket I was given by my parents when I was about 12. It's brushed gold and engraved with a V, but I've rubbed it so much it's more shiny than brushed!

What AM I looking at?

The skirt is from Christopher and Banks, and you've seen it before, many times. The top and belt are secondhand, so I'm linking up with Secondhand First at Citizen Rosebud.

When I met Bella and Joni in Seattle, they both said I should get on Instagram. You have to have a smart phone, and my phone is not too bright, so I signed up using my husband's phone. Then I went to my PC to see my account, but I could only view - I couldn't comment or add pictures. I did some Googling and found out how to run the Instagram app on my PC, so I asked my personal tech guy (Mr. S) to help me - I knew it wouldn't be straightforward.

Here's what we had to do:

We downloaded and installed Bluestacks, the platform to run apps on a PC. But before we could make it fully functional we had to install NET Frame. But before we could install NET Frame we had to scan for malware. We did that, we installed NET Frame, we installed Bluestacks, but then all we got was a black screen within the Bluestacks frame. Mr. S did some more Googling to find out how to get rid of the black screen and found out we needed to update the video card, NVIDIA. But to do that, first we needed to update Java!

One hour and five different programs later (!) I had Instagram functioning on my PC. I followed a few people and left a few comments, then signed out because, quite frankly, I was tired of being on the computer by that time! I only went back to see Instagram the other day.

I opened Bluestacks to access Instagram, but to use it now they say I have to purchase their App Player Premium (it's only $2, but still) or download their sponsored apps.

To be honest, I don't think I'll be doing Instagram, at least not until I get a smart phone. The weather is good, and I don't want to be spending that much more time online. I'd rather be outside drinking wine!

scarf was a gift from Bella

Are you on Instagram? Do you use it a lot?

Linking up also with Visible Monday. Which picture to use...

Val

Oops, I did it again

Remember last month when I posted pictures of my nephew-in-law Kenji when we had a family get-together (Easter)? Well, here are some more photos of my nephew-in-law Kenji at another family get-together (Mother's Day).

I was trying to crowd in on his hipness then, too.

His vest, which his mother sent him from Japan, has a striped back and striped lining in the pockets. The label actually says "University of Oxford." Maybe they're branching out to make some extra money?

Remember in my last post when I was wearing a red dress? Here I am wearing another red dress. I bought both dresses the same day at the thrift store, so I'm linking up - again - to Secondhand First at Citizen Rosebud. I'm just going around in circles here!

Since the dress is red, I'm also linking up with Share-in-Style: Red at Mis Papelicos.

I wore the leopard-print cardi to work twice that week, and then again on the weekend. Madness!

Remember when I told you about my blogger meet-up in my last post? I'm on my way to another one!

It's just like Groundhog Day, lasting all week.

Val

Visible in Seattle

Look at these beautiful women I met in Seattle!

They're gorgeous, aren't they? They're also really naughty.

I know, I was as shocked as you!

It's not like I was encouraging them or anything.

There's just no taming these women, bless their little cotton socks.

Merci to the lovely French woman who took pictures for us, and I can't wait to see what photos Joni and Bella got!

I had met Bella before, and she is just as bubbly and open and friendly as I remembered. Joni is laid-back, sweet and very cool. I miss her personal style blog, Walking Colors, but at least she can still be found at her art blog.

I can't remember what all we talked about, but I know we had a lovely time sitting outside at Fremont Coffee Company, and I know I didn't allow enough time to really get to know these lovely ladies! I hope there'll be a next time. And very soon in blogland I'll show you the gorgeous shawl/wrap that Bella gave me.

My outfit? Thrifted boots, thrifted slip and thrifted dress by Devawear, so I'll link up with Bella's Secondhand First on Friday NOW.

Saturday update - also linking up with Share-in-Style: Red at Mis Papelicos.

The belt is from my raincoat because I forgot to pack one. Necessity is the mother of invention!

I also saw some other friends in Seattle, Mr. S met one of his online correspondents from Piano Forums...

and we went to see a trapeze show where said correspondent provided some of the music.

It was really hard to get decent pictures, but the show was amazing!

Seattle had sunshine, puffy clouds, its usual Pacific Northwest buzz, funky neighborhoods and street art.

Someone once asked me where my spiritual home was, and I said Seattle. I haven't lived there in 18 years, but I'll always love it - intensely!

Coming in a little late, but definitely linking up with Visible Monday!

Val

SToned

I usually try to have some kind of thematic cohesion to my posts, something that pulls the text and photographs together. Maybe you haven't noticed. Seriously? You haven't noticed how hard I work on this? Well, then you won't notice that my theme got stretched a bit in this post, but I think we'll get there in the end.

You see, I've got photos of the skirt I gave you a sneak peek of here.

And I've got more photos from the Scavenger Hunt that I dumped out of the bottom of my handbag. These are of my city, Eugene.

And the only thing I could think of to unite them was stones. Have you ever read The Stones of Venice by John Ruskin? No, I haven't either, and I have two degrees in Art History. Maybe I'll get to it one day.

For now, I present to you My Stoned Skirt and The Stones of Eugene, in one rambling post.

I found the skirt at St. Vinnie's thrift shop - just the right size! The stoney-pebbley print was irresistible. I wore it with white tights in the morning, which looked about the same as my white legs. By afternoon, it was hot so I ditched the tights.

 

The shoes were previously seen here. The top is just a basic tee from Kohl's.

Now to the stones of Eugene. Downtown Eugene has a lot of mid-century architecture, and very few old buildings.

There used to be some lovely old architecture, but it wasn't cool to have old buildings in the 1960s, so some were razed and some were adapted.
 

And in case you're wondering, Eugene was named for its founder (circa 1850) and first postmaster, Eugene Skinner. Eugene is an odd name for a city, but it's better than the original moniker of Skinner's Mudhole, which I'm guessing was dreamed up in a saloon.

This was taken about a month ago - all the trees have leaves now, lots of leaves.

Now for an added bonus and another stitch in the thematic jacket that is trying to hold this post together, here are some photos of Venice, taken in 1989.

Linking up with Citizen Rosebud for Secondhand First and then to Not Dead Yet Style for Visible Monday.

Ciao, amici!

Val

Easter Melange

I love that word - melange. And I couldn't think of a better way to describe this post, which covers Easter, birthdays, men's style, food, family, sunshine, sewing, and a gnome.

In my family we have plenty of birthdays in April - my mom's, my sister's, my brother's, now also my nephew-in-law's, my sister-in-law's, and also one of my best friends's (pronounced "best friendzuz"). At least here in this town we're able to combine three birthdays and celebrate at once. It just happened that Easter was the best time to get together for a barbecue!

my brother-in-law barbecuing

I've been wanting to take some photos of my very cool nephew-in-law, Kenji, who was one of our birthday celebrants. Kenji would like to find some men's style blogs, so if you know of any, let me know.

 

the sunglasses are Ray Ban's

Cool, huh? He's also an absolute sweetheart, which is nothing less than my niece deserves.

This is Kenji and his wife, Lisa, with their two nephews.

This photo includes my sister, color-coordinated with Lisa, and my other niece, Mildred. The boys are her sons.

My goodness, these people are multiplying like rabbits! My mom and I joined the line-up.

And what is Val wearing, I hear you ask. Well. I made a cape thingy from a scarf and wore it over a white tee shirt.

maybe Kenji's coolness will rub off on me

I'm also wearing my Frida necklace (made by the delightful Tamera) and some pale pink jeans.

Here's the back of the scarf-cape. I just had to cut the scarf in half and stitch the long edges together, leaving room for my head, of course. The fringe was an added bonus!

We had lots of yummy food.

The carrots (made by my sister) are cooked in broth with cream cheese (!), then chopped pecans and green onions are added, and a little lemon juice. I bet this would be good without the cream cheese, too.

What do you call an angry garden statue? A gnomad! (Thank you, Mr. S.)

And then we came home.

Linking up to Visible Monday and Creative Mondays! Have a good week, everyone!

Thursday - I'm also linking up my upcycled scarf-cape thingy to The Citizen Rosebud for Secondhand First. The scarf was bought at Buffalo Exchange resale shop.

Val