Pants and Plants and Produce

Pants: Boscov's; Tee: Candies, Kohl's; Wristlets: City Streets, JCPenney

On Saturday night, when the husband said that he planned to go to the farm stand on Sunday morning, I was like, challenge accepted.  Then I set my alarm for the ungodly hour of 9:30, just like the real farmers, and plucked these pajama-like pants from the back of my closet.  I hadn't worn them in years.  They've very '90s, with the vertical stripes and the tie at the waist -- as are the lettuce-hem tie-dye tee and rainbow scrunchie I picked out to go with them.  I was glad I took pains to plan ahead -- and also to not sleep 'til noon.  Because it was beautiful this morning, and it felt good to be out and getting these shots of the vibrant peppers and petals.  As cheesy as it sounds, Mother Nature's color palette never fails to astound me.  

I suppose I could say the same about the early-to-bed-early-to-rise lifestyle of agriculturalists.  But my inner night owl won't let me.

A Book Review and a New Necklace Too: Celebrating Summer in Style

Top: Wild Fable, Target; Skirt: So, Kohl's

Shoes: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Bag: Gifted

Top and Skirt: Nine West, Kohl's

Shoes: ALDO, Macy's

Bag: Amazon

It's June 21, and you know what that means: tropical fits and summer reading lists.  And I don't mean Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and Hemingway (unless you're into depressing stuff by dead guys).  I mean light-hearted love stories by ladies like Elin Hilderbrand.  I marked the first unofficial day of summer with her Endless Summer, so it's only fitting to commemorate the first official day with her The Hotel Nantucket.  And it might just be her beachiest -- and most hopeful -- book yet.

Everyone at the newly remodeled, possibly haunted, and incredibly luxe Hotel Nantucket is looking for something, be it love, redemption, fame, or revenge.  Reading about it is half the fun.  The other half is Hilderbrand's lush writing, especially when it comes to her characters.  She tells the tale of a sweet but steely Minnesota transplant as convincingly as she voices a prep school prince, a glam grifter, and an eager-to-please ingenue as well as a colorful cast of others.  Disappearing into her stories is like, well, taking a vacation.  Minus the bill and the sunburn.

Of course, making jewelry is a little like taking a vacation too.  Which is how I ended up with this Parrot Paradise Necklace:

In addition to parrots, it's got flowers and even an anchor.  Also, it's big.  Really big.  Maybe a little too big.  That's why I decided not to list it.  Something tells me that I may be the only one to appreciate the way it takes up the entire front of a shirt, like a Hawaiian breastplate or an aggressively festive reverse dickey.  

It's just you and me against the world, Parrot Paradise Necklace -- offering up one awkward aloha at a time. 😏🌺

Bad Guys and the Guise of Surprise: Staying Ahead of the Hat Game

If there's one thing I always say, then it's this: you can never have too many books or too many hats.  Or too many books about hats.  Yes, once again I'm chattering about my chapeau collection in the same breath as Jenn McKinlay's Hat Shop Mysteries.  Although I suppose the books will soon come to an end, as I have only two left in the series. 

Thankfully, Assault and Beret was a particularly fun one, with cousins Scarlett and Vivian swapping their home base of London for Paris.  The cause of their, ahem, wild hair?  Viv's teaching a hat-making class while Scarlett susses out a man from Viv's past.  (Try saying that five times fast.)  Intrigue -- and elegance -- abound.

I like to think that the same is true of my hat display.  Nestled among the fascinators is a new topper: the bow-bedecked, straw, LC Lauren Conrad cloche:       

Although it's quieter than its rainbow-plumed sisters, there's something simply sweet about it.  I can see myself wearing it with a long, flowy dress and carrying flowers.  Or maybe a nightstick.

You know.  Whatever brings out the bow.

After the Fire, into the Fryer

Dress: Lily Rose, Kohl's; Sandals: Katy Perry Collection, Nordstrom Rack

Barrettes: SHEIN; Necklace: A super old Tote Trove favorite

Bag: Sugar Thrillz, Dolls Kill; Pink bangle: Who Says, Zulily; Striped bangle: B Fabulous; Strawberry bangle: Delia's; Ring: Claire's

Skirt: So, Kohl's; Bag: Mix No. 6, DSW; Shoes: Jessica Simpson Collection, DSW

Studded ring: Wet Seal; Green ring: Making Waves, Ocean City; Sunglasses: Nordstrom Rack, Beaded necklace: SHEIN; Flower Necklace: Dolls Kill; Bangle: XOXO, Ross; Pink bracelet: Amrita Singh, Zulily

Top: SHEIN

Traffic Stop Barrette Brooch

Tissue paper: Spritz, Target

Dress: Who What Wear, Target

Bag: Circus by Sam Edelman, Kohl's; Shoes: CL by Chinese Laundry, JCPenney

Barrettes: Goody, Target; Necklace: Another Tote Trove oldie but (also, hehe) goody

After the Fire is a book by Belva Plain that I put to the side of the road along with all my other excess books before I moved almost six years ago.  I thought of it today because of the title of this post, which doesn't come from the book at all but from yesterday's 90-degree sun after the smoke finally cleared from the Canadian wildfires.  I was excited to put on a sundress (the red one in the first pic) to run errands because it felt like the first day of summer.  And also because I've only ever worn that dress layered over, of all things, a sweater. 

Some of our neighbors ended up taking those books.  I like to think that they read them, but the husband thinks they sold them on eBay.  Either way, I'm glad.

Because an abandoned book, unlike a banned or burned one, can always still tell a story.        

SySTEMically Sweet: Love Sick Schtick

Dr. Bee Konigswasser's not your average romcom heroine.  A purple-haired, pierced, and tattooed neuroscientist who runs an anonymous Twitter account called What Would Marie (Curie) Do?, she gets freaked out by spiders and stress and passes out at the drop of a hat.  Now, as someone who's fainted a time or two, I couldn't help but wonder how she made it through all those tattoos and piercings.  Because the mere thought of needles has me reaching for my smelling salts.  Then again, Bee is a conundrum of contradictions.  And that's part of what makes Ali Hazelwood's Love on the Brain so much fun to read.

Much like its predecessor, The Love Hypothesis, Love on the Brain is an enemies-to-lovers love story that's also about being a woman in male-dominated STEM.  So when seemingly surly engineer Levi Ward turns out to be Bee's ally in co-leading a high-profile project at NASA, it's more than the setup for an office romance.  It's an "I see you" moment for women, a kind of reimagining of the mutual respect and, okay, (alleged) lust that combusted between Marie and Pierre.  And that's the kind of devotion that Bee's looking for.  She's been orphaned, cheated on, and betrayed, all traumas that feed her need for true love -- but also her fear of it.

Hazelwood tackles loss, misogyny, and even standardized testing (I'm looking at you, GREs) with wit and levity, making Love on the Brain a dopamine fix with depth.  Also, there's a character who carries a watermelon-shaped purse.  So Hazelwood's next novel, Love, Theoretically, which comes out next week, is on my TBR list.   

Because I love love -- especially when it shares the spotlight with feminism and fashion.

Setting Sail on the S.S. Smiley: Happy Face Place

Skirt: Tinseltown, Macy's; Bag: Marshalls

Top: Bisou Bisou, JCPenney

Don't Worry Be Crafty Necklace

Shoes: Unisa, DSW

Bag: Nine West, Marshalls

Smiley Sailor Necklace

Tunic (really a bathing suit coverup!): Miken, Macy's

Fabulous Felt Yellow Dice Barrette; Yellow rose ring: Making Waves, Ocean City; Gray ring: Old Navy; Lemon wedge clip: Wild Fable, Target; Whole lemon clip: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Shoes: New York & Company

Dress: B Smart, Kohls; Bag: Xhilaration, Target; Shoes: Simply Vera, Kohl's

Smiley Swan Necklace

Little bow: Carole, JCPenney; Big bow: INC, Macy's 

Skirt: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Bag: Olivia Miller, Amazon

Top: Just Polly, Macy's

Black Cutie Necklace

Love bangle: Boscov's; First yellow bangle: Silver Linings, Ocean City; Both black bangles and black and white bracelet: Mixit, JCPenney; Second yellow bangle: B Fabulous

Skirt: ELLE, Kohl's

Top: Nine West, Kohl's

Affable Anchor Necklace

Sunglasses: Betsey Johnson, Zulily

Bag: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Black and yellow are an undeniable duo.  They're equal parts dramatic and mellow, making bees, cabs, and caution tape pop.  And also, of course, smiley faces!  I was excited to make necklaces with these happy face beads and build black and yellow outfits around them.  I also had some black and white anchors, which explains the necklaces' nautical bent.  You might think I'm some sort of sailing enthusiast considering how often anchors come up in my projects.  But no, I just like the way they look and the retro feels they represent.  In reality, I steer clear of boats because I get seasick.  Kind of like how I'm crazy for cacti but have no desire to visit the desert.  Or how I'm into unicorns but not horses.  Also, if by some miracle I met a unicorn, then I'd probably run screaming in the other direction.  

Ah, crafting.  You let me soar while keeping me grounded.  

And that's why you're my happy place.  

Picture It: The Tote Trove 2023

There's no way I could compete with Sophia Petrillo in the tall tales department.  Because crafting doesn't lend itself to the intrigue of growing up in turn-of-the-century Sicily.  But although I can't pretend to change the course of pop culture, politics, and Mama Celeste's frozen pizza, I can celebrate the irreverence of one of TV's most colorful storytellers.  And I'm doing so with this too cute mug and Itty Bitty from Hallmark's Golden Girls collection.  My favorite thing about this duo?  The way the Itty Bitty Sophia is smiling, whereas the mug features the raconteur's signature scowl.  It's like two sides of Sophia, even if one is pure fiction.

Kind of like those "picture it" stories.