Not Quite a Ghost Town

When Rhiannon at Liebemarlene Vintage started posting about ghost towns I got really excited, because there are supposedly several around Albuquerque and I figured I could visit a couple of them before we left. Yesterday we drove to Chillili intending to take pictures, but everything was so close together and there were people milling about and it wasn't exactly what I had in mind.. I was hoping for something more spread out, but if I took pictures there it would definitely be noticed by the people who live there. So we abandoned the idea and drove to a trail right outside the city, and I stood on a rock and took pictures. Good enough!

This is going to be my favorite summer outfit, I can already tell! I'm in love with this top, which is vintage and a recent thrifting find. And my moccasins! I've had them for a while but haven't put them in a post. They are exactly what I wanted and so comfortable.

After months of trial and error I think I've finally found the perfect red lipstick (MAC Ruby Woo). It's long-lasting, matte, and doesn't dry out my lips. Since I'm still getting used to lipstick and attempting to branch out, do any of you pale-skin ladies have any color recs? I'm thinking of trying a coral next.

(It seems like Jeremy's always wearing his Iggy shirt in blog photos, I promise he has others! Haha.)

We're leaving tomorrow morning and I think I'm going on a little internet break for a week or more while I'm at home. When I post again I'll be in North Carolina! (Probably sweating to death and extremely mosquito-bitten.)

Thrifted vintage top
Thrifted shorts and sunglasses
Minnetonka moccasins

The End of the Desert

Just a quick outfit post for today while I run around frantically packing and doing laundry. We're leaving Albuquerque at the end of the week and I'm going to be so sad to leave it behind. I never thought I would like living in the desert but it's been so wonderful and magical and strange, and just look at the light in this park! I think it's every style blogger's dream lighting.

Jeremy's taking a permanent position back in NC so we're going to stop traveling. It's been so lovely but we miss our family and feel like it's time to have a permanent place to call home. I know I've talked about this before, but moving back to Wilmington is going to be so exciting and nerve wracking because we were college kids when we lived there last, and now we need so much more out of a city. The excitement outweighs the nervousness though; so many new possibilities come with settling down and strangely enough I miss the beach so badly, even though I am the opposite of a beach person. I just like being near it, not in it!

But anyway, outfit details: these boots were on sale at Urban Outfitters for $30, so of course I got them even though it's summer (I'll thank myself in the fall). I think I've only worn these socks one other time on the blog but they're one of my favorite pairs. And that last photo was a total accident-- I didn't realize the camera was so zoomed in, but I really like it! It looks kind of like an old photo booth picture.

UO dress & boots
Thrifted cardigan
The Little Fox necklace
Sock Dreams socks

What I'm Making: Soctopus(es) & Various Baby Things

Socktopus, Basketweave Blankie & Greenleaf Hat

My friend Sarah is due with her first baby in July (his name is Jude!) and I made a package of knitted things for her. I know I've already posted a Socktopus, but I love them so much that I've made several more since then! Three are going to babies and one is for my dad, because he thought they were awesome.

I think the Greenleaf Hat is one of my favorite baby-related patterns; the last time I made baby hats for my nephew they were way too big, but I was just getting started with knitting again and didn't realize that I should have chosen smaller needles since I knit so loosely. This time around I used size 5 dpns and it turned out much smaller and more newborn-sized (I hope!)

3.5 skeins of Cotton-Ease in Taupe. I love this color because it's kind of purply-silver-brown in certain lights, which goes really well with her Enchanted Forest nursery theme.

THEY'RE JUST SO CUTE.

Tea Please!

This haircut! It's following me! I think it's just my default hair and it rejects any change. I went to a stylist on Wednesday intending to do something TOTALLY DIFFERENT and.. uh, well. I wanted to go red but it turns out my ends were in bad condition from all the dying recently, so I cut lots of it off. Sigh. I've had such hair woes for the past year. I'm just going to leave it alone and grow out the dark bits on the ends, and then change it. Yes.

But anyway, we did the best thing today! Jeremy took me to the St. James Tea Room after hearing about it from a coworker-- it seems to be popular with little-old-ladies, really, so obviously he figured I would love it (he knows me so well!) It was fun and we felt very fancy. We had three different kinds of tea and lots of little bits and bobs. It looks like you're eating tiny things that wouldn't fill you up, but that's not true at all! Everything is so dense and rich. The pink scones are Rose Almond, which I was so happy were included because I was eying them in the case at the front. They were delicious and I really need to figure out how to make them. Mostly I'm excited because now I know how to do afternoon tea if I ever have a few fancy lady friends over!

They had a little area at the front from which you could take hats to wear during teatime, which I didn't do but thought was neat anyway. And I love that the sign on our table says, "Welcome Jeremy and guest!" because he forgot to put my name on the reservation. Thanks Jer!

The menu (this month's theme was the royal wedding):

Savories
served with Buckingham Palace Garden Party Black Tea

Filafal
Princess Spring Salad
The King's Savory Cheesecake
Blessings Zucchini Muffin with Radish
Cucumber Sandwich with Lemon Aioli and Mint

Scones & Bread
served with Earl a' la Creme Scented Black Tea

Rose Flower Almond Scone
St. James Traditional Cream Scone
Served with Rose Pomegranate Curd and Clotted Cream

Sweets
served with Ginger Peach White Tea

HRM Crown Cake
Berry Champagne Toast
Royal Rosemary Chocolate

An edible pansy! :D




A map of the place that looks like the Marauders Map!

I've worn all of this before so nothing's new, except the shoes! The shoes are new. They're vintage glittery silver flats that I got from Etsy recently, but I couldn't get a good picture of them. A kid from the apartment complex stopped me the other day and told me I looked like a ballerina in them!

Modcloth dress
F21 cardigan
Vintage flats, Etsy
Vintage bag, shop in St. Louis

Tinkertown Museum

Yesterday we went to the Tinkertown Museum-- which, can I just say, is basically my dream in real-life form. It's this weird little place with tons of hand-carved wooden figures (you can push buttons to make them move!) and lots of other weird things like carnival memorabilia, dolls, a boat that sailed around the world, and other random oddities. In my dream world I would love to collect weird things and set up a strange little museum and charge people $3 to come look at everything. Obviously the carnival section was my favorite, which is why I have so many pictures of it. The miniatures there were incredible.

The shoe-size of the World's Largest Man who toured with Ringling Bros.

Food from Flying Star Cafe (which I'm going to miss so much when we leave in two weeks):

Black bean veggie burger, nom!


Pie to go: Coconut Cream & Strawberry Rhubarb.

(More on Flickr)

Thrifted top, skirt & sunglasses
UO tights
Vintage espadrilles from Etsy

A Long Overdue Post: Swap Prezzies (From Last Year)!

(click to go to Filckr and see who who sent what)

OH BOY. Talk about a late post. Back in November I did a craft swap with a few other bloggers and readers and it was awesome! I sent out some of my little knit hairbows and I got lots of good stuff in the mail: handmade jewelry, postcards, letters, magnets. I definitely want to do another one later this year.. maybe something Fall-related, or a holiday swap. I've been so obsessed with knitting the last several months so I have tons of ideas floating around in my head-- hopefully there are lots of you guys who love to knit/crochet and would want to participate. (I can make TOYS AND THINGS now!)

I hope I didn't forget anything or mix anything up (that's what I get for waiting MONTHS, what on earth) other than Andrea's package, which was a collection of little photos from Spain that I've already put in my scrapbook.

Drawing of me by Megan Mae!

This cartoon is so beyond adorable-- the physical version is up on my fridge because looking at it makes me so happy. She made me much cuter than I actually am, haha, which is probably why I like it so much.