Kitschy 'til the Cows Come Home: Neon Trees and Jujubes

Top: Madden Girl, Kohl's; Skirt: Wild Fable, Target; Boots: Betsey Johnson, Zulily

Sunset Ranch Necklace

Bag: Zulily

Clips: Marshalls

Hand cream: Cath Kidston, Kohl's

Top: ModCloth; Skirt: Trixxi, Kohl's; Bag: Dolls Kill; Shoes: Madden Girl, Amazon

Glamazon of the Galaxy Necklace

Lipstick schtick.

Purple clip: Lisa Frank, Kitsch

Yellow: Always appealing.

 Skirt: So, Kohl's

Clips: Every '80s baby's Kitsch wish come true.

Bag: Amazon

Top: Care Bears, Dolls Kill

Just kidding.  There are no jujubes.  Just two candy-bright fits that I wore to work and one I wore in my yard.  Partly because I can't drive in those boots and partly because even I have my limits.  Still, my coastal-cowgirl-going-to-a-rave look holds a special place in my heart.  Maybe one day I'll get to wear it for real.

Stagecoach, here I come.

Blooper Scooper: Mother's Day Hits and Kisses

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad; Kohl's; Bow barrette: Wild Fable, Target 

Cake Talk Necklace

Shoes: Madden Girl, Macy's

Proud graduate of Mom's school of I hope it's enough.

Sunglasses: Wild Fable, Target

ShopRite: Baking so moms don't have to.

Bag: Madden Girl, Kohl's

Just two rebels wearing white shoes before Memorial Day.

This was my second year hosting Mother's Day.  And by hosting, I mean serving store-bought dessert after my dad takes us out for dinner.  Still, I managed to drop my niece's ice cream on her dress and my nephew's on the table.  What can I say?  Coordination isn't my strong suit.  Anyway, I loved hearing Charlotte's shrieks as she ran around with her cousins while I caught up with my mom and sister.  And when it was over and it was just cake crumbs and crumbled tissue, I realized what I had to reach midlife to learn: messy is happy.

So, to all who celebrate, I hope that you had a great Mother's Day, one so full of laughter and heart that you had to break out the Dust Buster.

Although not literally.  Because cleaning on Mother's Day is sacrilege.  

And no one has Dust Busters anymore.

Fruit Loot: An Ode to the Purse Panacea

Top: New York & Company; Skirt: Love, Fire: Kohl's

Some necklaces that I made eons ago.  Fake fruit always stays fresh!

Butterfly clip: Twig & Arrow, Boscov's

Shoes: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Socks: Amazon

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Boots: Chase & Chloe, Zulily

I walked by this tree, and its scent made me stop.  Flower power perfume forever!

Bag: A New Day, Target

Bow: A New Day, Target

Cookbooks -- but just for show (see spiderweb).

Top: IZ Byer, Kohl's; Skirt: Candie's, Kohl's 

Bag: Steve Madden, Marshalls

Blue sky blooms.

Shoes: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Socks: Amazon

Citrus-slash-stone-fruit season's afoot.  And you can't say "fruit afoot" without thinking about Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Roll-Ups' less plasticky produce cosplayer.  But in this orchard of old clothes I'm wearing, there are two new things to chew on, namely the bags.  The lemon one brings the beaded trend, and the cherry one boasts an also (still?) trendy bow.  They make me happy, like I could tuck my worries into cute carryalls and let the fruit juice juju douse my doubts.

So don't let anyone tell you that accessories are frivolous.  Accessories are amulets.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to glue rhinestones to my strawberry-emblazoned breastplate. 

Location, Curation, Fixation: Pink Prairie, Rainbow Ranch

Top: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Skirt: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney

Geometry Gem Necklace

Bag: So, Kohl's

Trinket tray: Michaels

Bow: SHEIN

Bright Beetle Necklace

Boots: Universal Thread, Target

 LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Crafty Confection Necklace

Sunglasses: Circus NY by Sam Edelman, Boscov's

Shoes: Worthington, JCPenney

Top: Wild Fable, Target

The best kind of crown.

Bag: Isaac Mizrahi, Marshalls

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Boots: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney

Charlotte was here.

Bag: Marshalls

You'd think that after all these years, I'd be over my country kitsch schtick.  That I'd get real with myself and say, face it, Tracy, you're a Jersey girl.  But aside from the occasional impulse to set up my tripod at a nearby abandoned gas station, I'm uninspired by my suburban surroundings.  So instead, I put on one of my many pairs of cowboy boots and imagine that my yard is a speck in a stretch of wide, open spaces.  Delusional?  Sure.  But it's probably wise.

Intriguing or not, that gas station seems suspect.