The Pines with The Sills

 Dress: Elizabeth Dress in Floral Bouquet by Cherry Velvet via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Cardigan: Avenue

Teggings: Re/Dress

Sandals: Dansko

Necklace: A Luscious Thing

Earring: 80s vintage from The Limited 

Photography: Me, Jason, & Kate (iPhone)

I wore this fabulous foxy floral frock to girlie happy hour & to see The Pines & The Sills play at High Noon. I'm kind of in love with this dress. I really like the fit of Cherry Velvet dresses...they are tight on top & then flare out, which I feel is flattering on me. Most Cherry Velvet dresses run big & this 3x fit me wonderfully. The fabric is a nice heavy weight & I adore all the flowers & colors in this dress. I want a whole wardrobe of this style of dress.

Super Boo helped me choose these teggings to wear underneath the dress...I nearly went with bright yellow...these are perfect. 

I am wearing eyeshadow from the Urban Decay Vice 2 palette. I love UD shadows. 

New spring drink menu at Merchant! Our first drinks of the night: Beet for Kate & The Young Cardinal for me. Both went on my list of 'Merchant Drinks I Like'...our second drinks did not. 

 2 Girlies in Cherry Velvet dresses are better than 1!

Other than when we saw them in the living room at The Anna Lee, this was the best performance by The Sills I've seen...the sound is great at The High Noon Saloon. And...they had a fantastic new bootleg CD for sale that I can't get out of my head. 

The Pines were wonderful...mellow haunting Americana. We especially enjoyed Benson's soft raspy voice. I am looking forward to seeing them again in September at The Shitty Barn. 

Purple Paisley

 Skirt & Top: Lane Bryant (2003)

Sandals: Born

Necklace: Jody McGill

Earring: etXarte

Photography: Super Boo & Me (iPhone)

I wore this flow-y outfit on this breezy warm day to work & to see our last film of the festival. I have had this skirt & top since 2003. I am quite sure that Kate bought this for me because I wanted some new clothes to wear to go to San Francisco with Super Boo for the first time. We actually drove across the country in his truck on a road trip out to California. This remains one of my favorite warmer weather ensembles...I also have it in black, but I prefer this purple. 

I don't know if you can tell here, but I am wearing this gorgeous purple sparkly eyeliner from Stila, Purple Tang.

Another Day, Another Movie...or 3...

 Dress: Sleeveless Ruched Waist Dress by Jessica Howard via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Cardigan: Lane Bryant

Shoes: Dansko

Necklace: Vintage

Earring: Wendy Baker

Lipstick: Blood Orange Matte Creme Lip Crayon from Bite Beauty

Photography: Super Boo & Me (iPhone)

Another comfortable dress for film fest. This is the 4th dress I've gotten in this style from Jessica Howard. I like it as much as I can considering the gapping problem in front & the bunchy pointless zipper in back. However, I forgive those things because of the marvelous ruching at the waist & its perfect length. I am not a huge fan of this pattern, I prefer it in dots. I liked how this chartreuse cardigan & orange lipstick gave the outfit punches of much needed color. I have an aversion to white & felt the need for something to offset how much of it I was wearing. 

These photos were taken right before seeing our first film of the day at Sundance Cinema, which is the most comfortable theatre ever.

I really like my hair. For years, I fought my natural wavy texture & used products & equipment to straighten it, then I spent years setting it in hot rollers...soooo much work & time. Now I just spray some sea salt spray in it while it's wet, then add a dab of molding mud/concrete when dry. Easy!

I don't know why, but I was very excited by the fire hose port.

Wisconsin Film Festival 2014

 Dress: Island Print Maxi Tank Dress from Karen Kane via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Cardigan: Avenue 

Socks: Sock Dreams

Shoes: Fluevogs

Necklace: Babil & Bijou

Earring: etXarte

Photography: Super Boo (iPhone)

Super Boo caught this candid shot of Kate wiping away some fallout from my eyeliner & I kind of love the face I'm making. 

I wore this dress to attend a full day of movies at The WI Film Fest, day 3. I loved the fit & comfort of this maxi dress, & it was the perfect length for me. It was fairly low cut, & I would not have worn this dress to work. My only complaint about this dress is completely personal...I am not a fan of the aztec print, but it was fun to wear once. I did adore the mocha color...that is the color of my coffee...lots of cream. I also was pleased at how well it went with the striped socks.

I nearly didn't get any photos of this dress, but luckily there was a fire alarm right before our first movie began. Kate & I wandered outside, while Super Boo was just getting to the venue & pictures were taken. The guy above in striped pants...this is how everyone around here dresses when there is "a game"...in this case, it was basketball. I don't get it. I'm not a fan of any sport. 

 

The Wisconsin Film Festival is one of the things I look forward to most each year. It is currently 8 days of films shown in various theaters around town. We get paper copies of the film schedule 2 days before tickets go on sale & read through each description, noting the ones of interest...then we have to make the difficult decision of which movies to keep, there are always conflicts & it is agonizing to get our schedule set. This year Super Boo & I got tickets for 23 movies. We made it to most of them. Ok, we skipped 6...that's still most of them. My favorites of this year's festival were: You & The Night (France); 20,000 Days on Earth (Nick Cave *swoon*); Coherence (USA); Le Weekend (UK); The Rocket (Australia, Laos); & Cannibal (Spain).

Orange You Glad It's Girlie Happy Hour?!

 Dress: Squareneck Dress in Coral from Lands' End via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Cardigan: Avenue

Shoes: Dansko

Necklace & Bracelet: Vintage

Earring: It came from the 80s, probably The Limited

Photography: Kate & Me (iPhone)

I wore this coral & black outfit to work, Tai Chi class, & girlie happy hour. While I LOVED the color of this dress, it was definitely a one time wear for me. I am always drawn to square necklines, but they never lay right on me & this was no exception. This dress is lightweight & perfect for summer without being cheap feeling at all. I just didn't feel the cut was flattering to my figure. As with all Lands' End clothing, the 3x was a good fit for me as they run a size big. 

Stop! In the name of love...I look like I'm practicing my moves to join The Supremes. 

It was so incredibly windy out this day, that Kate & I had to duck into this little vestibule to take photos. I like the black & white flooring with both of our outfits, but especially Kate's. 

Look how precious Kate looks in this kaleidoscope dress! I wore it here, but due to it not fitting me, looks SO much cuter on her. Also, perfect matching tights & mismatched headband. I LOVE this outfit on the girlie...so adorable!

Merchant happy hour & Wisconsin Film Fest tickets. I had tickets to see 23 movies over the course of a week. How many do you think I went to? 

Moscow Mule. How have I never had this classic drink before?! I am so glad Kate ordered it! I had to have Ginger Rogers as my second drink as their winter drink menu was about to be replaced by spring. 

I'm so ready for spring.

A Day At The Farm

 Dress: Avenue

Cardigan: Avenue

Socks: Sock Dreams

Boots: Gripfast

Necklace & Earring: Me

Photography: Super Boo (iPhone)

Super Boo & I visited Heartland Farm Sanctuary the last Sunday in March. They are a homeless shelter for farm animals. One of my goals this year was to become friends with a pig, because they are cute & intelligent & I would like to get to know one better. Well, this didn't fulfill that dream, but I got to meet several pigs & pet them...so that's a start. 

O! M! G! Their snouts are adorable! We got to meet 3 miniature potbellied pigs that were inside the barn together...Ellie, Lola, & Lucy. So cute! That is Ellie above (with Lucy in the background) & below is Lola.

Ellie was standing up & I rubbed her belly & she flopped on her side like a dog. I loved these pigs! I teared up when I visited them again right before we left. 

There were more pigs, but these 3 girls were my favorite. There were also chickens, roosters, turkeys, llamas, mules, ducks, geese, & cats. 

 There were also gentle goats...

And the sweetest sheep. I think this was Francis...every time I would stop petting him, he'd rub his head on my hand to let me know he'd like more pets please...

 Interspecies playmates...these two were having fun together...

 Opal was another sweetie...

I can't remember this precious girl's name, but I loved her. Everyone was trying to get her attention & she was ignoring them. After they went away I called her & she came over. I don't know anything about horses, so I held out my hand for her to smell & she started bucking her head up & down under my hand so I was petting her whole head/muzzle. Super Boo took about 50 photos of that & I couldn't stop laughing...I was so enchanted by her affection. What a sweetheart. I loved our day at the farm & I'd like to go back again. Perhaps someday I'll volunteer there & get to know these wonderful animals better. I'd like that. 

Pattern Mixing: Polka Dots & Floral

 Dress: Sleeveless Ruched Waist Dress from Jessica Howard via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Cardigan: Floral Cardigan from Lands' End via GB

Shoes: Dansko

Necklace: Babil & Bijou

Earring: former etsy seller

Bracelet: Vintage

Photography: Super Boo & Me (iPhone)

I wore this ensemble to see a play with Super Boo. I was SO excited that GB sent me these 2 pieces at the same time. I LOVED these patterns together. I never wanted to take this outfit off & wore it again for the second day of The Wisconsin Film Festival. I was only able to send this cardigan back because S. Boo is getting one for me from Lands' End for my birthday. I was not expecting to like a pink floral cardigan as much as I adored this. It was so soft & the perfect weight...Lands' End makes really nice cardigans. This Jessica Howard dress is the same as the one I am wearing here, but sleeveless. The ruching on this dress makes it fit beautifully, but I had the same issues with this dress as the one with sleeves...it gaps at the neck in front & has a pointless zipper in back. Otherwise, it is perfect...comfortable & flows so nicely. 

I've had these Dansko shoes in my closet for about a decade. I never wore them because the holes for the buckle were too far up the strap & did not fit my feet. I came across them while cleaning my closet & Super Boo punched new holes in them for me! Yay! New shoes. I love shopping in my own closet & coming across treasures. 

A long-time acquaintance of mine, Melanie, was given free tickets to this play at Forward Theatre, Or,. Once upon a time all of us had been season ticket holders, but we quit going because we didn't care much for their selection of shows. It is the theatre company's 5 year anniversary & part of the stage was strewn with props from their previous shows, I want that victrola horn...

The play was mostly good...it was clever & funny. I think we may give them another try next season.

I've had this mosaic bracelet since high school & was happy to be able to wear it with a mosaic earring & floral necklace...