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Fly Away Pants

Where to begin, where to begin.  I realize I spend an incredible amount of time waxing on about Free People, but I honestly just can't help it.  There is rarely a time when I glance at their online shop or visit a store and don't find something that is truly unique and a blast from the past.  If you get their catalogues then you know firsthand how well they capture a moment, an item, and your wallet.  Which is exactly what happened when I saw their Extreme Vintage Flares.

It all started while I was prepping for my tax appointment aka tax showdown 2011.  In order to get myself through the paper sorting process I do not allow for lollygagging of any sort including internet browsing, catalogue shopping or cookie baking.  If there is one thing I know about myself it is procrastination rules at tax time.  Just prior to t-day I happened to get an email from Free People bearing no other than the Extreme Vintage Flares.  Unable to contain myself as images of Gene Simmons and the Bay City Rollers flooded my mind I found myself clicking over completely disobeying my own rules.  

pause. stare. pause.

*internal struggle ensues as disobedience to rules carries on*

'the papers aren't sorted and the appointment is tomorrow.  but what if they sell out? they're not going to sell out.  they might sell out! (said in pleading voice to self)' rinse and repeat.

Long story short I purchased the pants immediately after the appointment.  We'll skip the part where they ran out of inventory and I had to track them down at a store.  Victory was mine and that's all that matters.  
~H&M Blazer, TuckerxTarget Butterfly Cami, Free People Extreme Vintage Flares, 
Old Stud Handmade Belt, Sorial Handbag, can't remember the sunnies~
Up Close
Note swooshing pant legs.
Not my car.  Just loved this shot.  And the pants.

I've been staring at them in my closet for a month which provided ample time to think of different ways to wear them.  It would be predictable for me to roll out in the Winter Kate fringe vest, which I'll do later anyway, so given the brisk air I dressed them up a little with a soft pink linen blazer (the one I stalked down at H&M's from here to kingdom come) and ta-da.  Gotta say I love the look and random passersby did, too.  One of the few times I wasn't self-conscious taking the pictures.  It was all about the pants.

Wayuu Mochila Bag Giveaway

As much as I love an expensive handbag, come the warmer months I am full swing embracing my inner hippie and searching for ways to express that to the fullest - especially in the accessory department.  Does it have fringe?  Is it made of burlap?  Any tassels on it?  Okay I'm in.  About a month ago I was in Barneys making mad attempts to avoid scoping out the the Isabel Marant selection when lo and behold I spotted the most insane bag out of the corner of my eye.  Leaving Isabel behind (no small feat to divert my attention from her) I darted over to discover the coolest Wayuu Mochila bucket bags.

I went home that day with the bag locked in my mind.  After doing some digging I learned the Mochila is a traditional, hand-woven bag that originates in Colombia.  One of my favorite things about these bags is that they are made by indigenous people groups that each have their own style.  The bag up for grabs was crafted by the Wayuu - a tribe native to the peninsula of La Guajira, Colombia.

This is the very Mochila (size large) that Wayuu Mochila Bags will gift to one lucky winner.
Truth:  I wish I could keep it seeing as I'm in love with the straps and fringy tassles.
Imagine it with denim shorts, a t and a vest...or a maxi dress, light fringy sweater and a pair of strappy flats. 

Wayuu women handcraft these bags as a way to support their families and community (now that's my fave part).  Each mochila is crocheted with cotton by a member of the tribe and takes around 40 hours to complete.  Incredible, huh?  The variety of colors and patterns used in the bags represent the creative ideas of the Wayuu - and the straps are known to be tightly crocheted and colorful.  When you look closely at the each mochila you can see patterns like wind, rays of sun, love - a vast array of personal expression.

Giveaway Details:  2 simple steps - 
1.  Make sure you're signed up to follow the blog on GFC.  
2. Visit Wayuu Mochila Bags  and peruse their one of a kind bags then come back and leave a comment including your fave bag and email address where I can contact you if you win.  Simple!  

*For an extra entry or two you can tweet about the giveaway (Enter to win a one of a kind Wayuu Mochila Bag @birdgirlc:  http://bit.ly/lziZhH) or follow This Free Bird on facebook.

*This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian readers only (So sorry everyone else - I'll have something for you soon).  The winner will be announced next Wednesday May 24, 2011.  Good luck everyone!  And a special thanks to Wayuu Mochila for this beautiful one-of-a-kind bag.  

Beach Stop

Living close to the water has to be my favorite thing about living in Southern California.  As much as I miss home on the prairies in Canada, there is something glorious about being able to walk onto warm sand and have salty ocean breezes tousle up your hair.  Truth is I somehow always knew, even as a kid, that I would end up in SoCal.  I realize that sounds crazy, but it's true.  As a result I never really settled anywhere after I left home in my late teens - and even more bizarre is my flip flop pile consistently predominated all other shoe collections as my nomadic lifestyle carried out.  One of my best friends in Seattle told me from the time she met me she was always learning to slowly let me go.  Isn't that kind of sad, but poignant?

Speaking of sad it's Monday.  The past two days have officially been declared "Weekend of the Spontaneous Purchase" as a Saturday toothpaste run somehow resulted in 3 pairs of shoes - each the last or only pair in size 36 meaning it was a sign right?, a tunic that I'm pretty sure Carey is going to tell me is a caftan (I think I've crossed over to the dark side aka caftan-lover-in-training), $15 worth of dark chocolate at See's Candies, and a random pitstop at the beach.  To be fair I left the chocolate with the Chef at his restaurant and actually zeroed in on the tunic Friday night at, oh, 8:59pm after randomly spotting -and then immediately purchasing- the very last blush linen blazer at H&M after stalking location after location for three weeks.  Should have seen the signs coming...

Every time I see the ocean, it stops me in my tracks.
Kind of like the fringy tassels on this tunic...I didn't stand a chance against them.
~Club Monaco-Tunic (caftan?), James Perse-Ribbed Dress, Lucky Brand-Denim,
Dulce-Clogs, PANYC&Motif 56-Bracelets, Melinda Maria-Rings, Foley&Corinna-Bag~
This Free People necklace, from what has to be a year ago, turned out to
be a mad show stopper.  Got stopped at least 5x that day.  Who knew?
Had to slip this picture in, too...how cool is that surfer running out of the water?
And, in picture overload, I leave you with a full body.  Despite the fact that I'm 
pretty sure this is a bikini cover-up it will be in daily outfit rotation.  
As I sit in my pj's in the home office. Ha!

Hope your weekends were relaxing after Blogger meltdown 2011!  Can I get a Tuesday?

I've Got a Fever

...and it's not from Blogger.  Holy shazam was that a gong show or what?  Bloggers far and wide lose marbles over site being down for what seemed like an eternity.  Can someone give me the 411 on the miraculous upgrades we're supposed to be experiencing because all I've got is about 35 missing comments?  Uh, yeah.

Onward and upward to the weekend dear readers.  This has been the week from Friday the 13th and I, for one, am relieved to see it end.  On the agenda for this weekend is the local flea market.  Count back to a year ago and there is no way you would have heard me waxing on for a flea market find.  Every time I went all I could see was bobblehead Garfields and more dirty old cups than I'd care to count.  Then about 6 months ago I started meandering through without an agenda to see what I could see.  Low and behold it all began to make sense.  I began to actually see the goods that were there.  Somewhere out there my mother weeps with glory.  Her daughter has caught the frugal find bug.  But even more than that I began to see the value in the vintage treasure.  Just last month I choked up over missing out on a pair of vintage leather disco boots circa 1975.  Verklempt doesn't even begin to cover it.

I did however stroll out with a seriously old leather concho bracelet from an authentic dealer, a crazy maxi skirt to carry on the craze and an off.the.hook. detailed leather belt that the Chef swears came off the pants of some tiny man in Mexico.  I'll take the man's belt and give him $9.  Yes - $9.  I later saw a similar belt in a very "cool" hipster hangout for...wait for it...$140.

Can you imagine that little hint of tiger/leopard at bottom??
Ran off with this baby for about $10.  Coupled with a tank, mad beaded necklaces, 
belt, and my studded sandals (seen here) it'll be off the hippie chain on a hot summer night.
Check the sunrise detail - it's a horizon shot all around the belt, and the
 leather/concho bracelet came straight off a Native American reserve in New Mexico.

Cut to Sunday and you will find me with the concho bracelet dealer and his wife.  They are the absolute best of the best and have been scoping things out for me for the past month.  It's been too long and I can't wait to see them *insert flea market fever*.  My wallet is ready, I'm thoroughly stressed out from work and the mail stealing neighbor (see twitter), and it's time for a flea market find.  Wish me luck people!!  

If you have yet to take in a flea market or pull the trigger and make a purchase I couldn't encourage you more. Set a spending limit you won't regret and dive in.  I've worn this belt almost every day for the past month...best $9 I've ever spent.


Here's to a slow moving, relaxing weekend.  I think we could all use one of those.

The Big Question about the Chukar

How many cars could a chukar chuck if a chukar could chuck cars?

May Showers of Tropical Beauty c/o Free People

The rain is coming down softly tonight in Southern California.  It's after midnight and the first time I've had to sit down and truly breathe.  What is it with some Mondays?  From start to finish mine was go, go, go with a side of grueling interactions with slightly unhinged people.  The kicker was when the crazy old lady next door called to have a chit chat while I was in the middle of a conference call.  I tried to tell her I was working (yes you saw me outside this morning but I'm working now), is it an emergency? (no), okay I have to go and will call you later...to which she then replied 'well actually it is kind of an emergency.' Okay boy who cried wolf it is not an emergency.  She does this stuff all the time out of boredom.  Two minutes later I could hear her screaming at her other neighbor.  sigh

Cut to afternoon and I'm on the phone with a client who has called me from his car.  It's 7:30pm in the east and he is just heading home.  His words:  "You don't sound so good"  Me:  "Monday"  Him:  "Is it a full moon today?  I swear Carrie if you have a job offer for me I'm taking it right now."  Me:  "You know Friday is the 13th.  Maybe we're getting a dose of it all week." Him:  (dead air)......then (hooooooooooooooooonk) Me:  "Are you okay?!?"  Him:  "Let's get the hell off here!! Some crazy woman just tried to hit me with her car!!"

I kid you not.  Luckily the May Free People catalogue arrived in the mail today.  Sadly it appears as though I'll need a second job if I want to acquire all of the insanely beautiful pieces.  How is it that one moment you can feel totally deflated and the next be transported to a place of serenity and peace?  Three words:  Free People Catalogue.

Beautifully and perfectly accessorized Tropical Storm Dress
Pardon me while I book a vacation.
Gulp
They had me at fringe.
I have no words.  Okay I do:  it comes in four colors.
I've been staring at this combo for about an hour.  

Onward and upward to Tuesday, dear friends.  It's a new day...day 2 of the Level 3 of the 30 85 day shred.  I am feeling a bit more like a lean machine and will be using the legs in the above picture for inspiration.  Pip pip cheerio!  (still not over the royal wedding)

The Night the Lights Went Out

Last night was quite possibly the most epic Cinco de Mayo yet.  Let's face it, I'm not 21 partying down and barfing in a back alley.  I'm 22 and far too mature for that.  The Chef and I decided to roll over to our favorite Mexican place around 9:30 - let me preface this by saying it is a family owned restaurant.  Key word being family - that's the bulk of the clientele as well.  

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd walk up, be asked to enter via the front door only, then go around front to find a guy hanging onto a palm branch unable to stand begging some girl to come back to his place and continue the party.  Oh it gets better:  there were gobs of people strewn everywhere all wearing wristbands.  I had to get a wristband if I wanted my Don Julio.

Exhibit A 
(taken hours later in the Chef's kitchen that is undergoing significant cleaning)

Even better?  It was a mariachi disco once inside.  Oh who am I kidding?  I heard that music from the parking lot.  As I followed the host, weaving through the crowd toward our table, servers danced on by.  Upon closer examination it appeared the majority of patrons were dancing around.  Unable to contain myself I burst out laughing and collapsed into the booth immediately taking to twitter:

 Carrie   Omg our fave Mexican restaurant has turned into a mariachi disco...I just had to get a wristband & a server danced by the table

Moments later the Chef appears with a big grin on his face.  I holler, 'This place is going OFF.  Who would've thought?'  To which he responds, 'WHAT?!? I can't hear you.' As I peruse the menu the Chef gives me the secret eye signal to look to my left where I found the following:


 Carrie   Red alert: couple grinding next to table   isn't this a restaurant??

Next thing you know some random guy from another table joins them.  I have to turn away.  I'm officially old.  Wait!  My camera's in my bag! Is it too late to get a video?!  While I attempt to figure out how to work the stupid thing they disco off back to their separate tables before I can get documentation.  Bugger.  We manage to get our drinks, take a few gulps from the plastic cups, ogle the older woman next to our table with the tatted sleeves tossing back shots of tequila, and get our food order in while trying to maintain composure.  As my Shrimp Botana arrives at the table and I proceed to indulge in a homemade tortilla as we revel in the joy of being out with the crazy Cinco de Mayo peeps.  It's fun, it's energetic, it's scary, we're alive...and the place blows a fuse knocking out power for an entire city block. Where's my camera again?

Exhibit B
Drunken Cinco de Mayo revelers attempting the 'drink and dash' 
after the mariachi disco spinner blows a fuse.

Within 5 seconds drunken fools began screaming 'Bin Laden's dead!' as they scattered to exits attempting not to pay their tabs.  Fortunately employees began blocking off exits and handwriting checks.  I was so bummed.  All I wanted was another margarita.

Exhibit C:  Best Cinco de Mayo yet

I have officially lost control of the font and can't get it to behave.  In any event I would love to hear about your Cinco de Mayo's.  And if you don't have a tale of your own, by all means feel free to re-tell mine.  

Have a great weekend everyone...enjoy celebrating your Moms!  I can't wait to see what my cats got me.

Cinco De Mayo...Guacamole!

I'm fresh off of yet another day of Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred - read:  I'm too scared to venture into Level 3 territory.  In an effort other wise known as procrastination I worked late, tidied a few things (walked in circles trying not to think about chocolate) and then made guacamole.  You do realize that the entire time I knew I was avoiding the Shred?  Why do I do this to myself?  I know I want to do it.  I know I feel better after I work out.  So why the delay?  Deep hidden mysteries of the universe yet to be uncovered, I guess.

In other grand news today is, indeed, Cinco de Mayo.  If you follow me on twitter you know I wax on endlessly about Don Julio tequila and the glorious margaritas it produces.  It would have been lovely to pull some simple syrup together and mix up a margarita for the blog, but the Chef is hard at work prepping for opening over at the restaurant and I should not be left alone with Don Julio.  I kid, I kid!  In all honesty there have been several instances where I almost posted my guacamole recipe, but then ate the subject before it could be photographed.  Oops!  Guacamole is one of my favorite things to eat, and I refuse to only enjoy it when out to eat or purchase the mush in the store.  Life's too short and it's too good.  For all you guacamole lovers I swear by this recipe.  Hope you enjoy.

Ingredients

Homemade Guacamole
Ingredients
1 jalapeno pepper  - seeded and minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
3 tablespoons chopped tomato
2 tablespoons onions minced
1 large avocado, ripe
1/2 lime

Begin by mincing the jalapeno. I start by chopping it, getting rid of the seeds and then mincing it.  Once complete finely chop the cilantro and then mix jalapeno and cilantro together, sprinkle with salt to get the natural juice out and mash into a paste. I either do this right on the cutting board or using a mortar and pestle.

Before/After to demonstrate just how easily it mashes into paste.
You can also do this with the bottom side of a spoon on your cutting board.
Transfer the paste to your guacamole serving dish.

Next chop tomato making sure to get rid of all seeds and juice.  The last thing you want is watery guacamole.  Not good. I chop my tomato pieces into cubes because I like a chunkier guacamole - the goal is to have a finished product that is not going to turn to mush when you mix it.  Once you've chopped your tomato and minced your onion transfer those to the serving dish as well.

Lightly mix the three ingredients together

From here take the avocado, cut it in half and remove the pit.  Because I do not over mix my guacamole I cut the avocado into cubes from the inside and then scoop them out with a spoon.  Much easier than peeling, cutting and transferring - and lessens the mush factor.

From here all you have to do is gently toss the avocado with the other ingredients, 
squeeze on the lime, lightly mix again and it's ready to be eaten.
Completed Product

I proceeded to eat half of this for dinner with some Tacupeto corn chips which are an unparalleled store bought chip (at least in our opinion).  Hope you guys have a great Cinco de Mayo!  Any plans to celebrate or just keeping close to home for a little soiree?  My crazy neighbors across the street have been Cinco de Mayo'ing for 2 days straight...and they're in their 60's.  I'm almost afraid of what tonight may bring.  Look for me in my sombrero hiding under the bed with Don Julio margarita in hand.

The Spring Feeding Outlook is Rosy


This spring, for the first time ever, a male rose-breasted grosbeak has been visiting the sunflower seed feeder outside the kitchen window. We get them annually on the feeders outside the studio windows, which are farther from the house. And their tennis-shoe-on-the-gym-floor eeek! is a common sound on spring mornings here at Indigo Hill. But this dude was so close that I was able to take this image with my Canon G12 standing at the kitchen window.

I wish we were lucky enough to have the rosies around all summer, but they are merely passing through en route to more northerly woodland. At least while they're here we know they will be well fed and watered.

$100 Shopbop Giveaway: Strike While It's Hot

The past couple days in SoCal have been incredibly warm and summer-like.  You know it's a good day when it's bloody 78 degrees by 9am...except when 2pm rolls around and it's roughly 780 degrees in your home office.  It was right around that time yesterday when I started to get a bit woozy and headed straight to the refrigerator for a Mr. Freeze.  Ta-da!  Within moments I was revitalized, back on a conference call (read: staring at the Shopbop sale section) dreaming up warm weather outfits.  Hey, can you blame me?  When in Rome.

Now if you've perused Shopbop you know good and well that it is of approximately no use to try and remain in one section.  Oh no.  They're sneaky those Shopboppers!  They suggest things for you to look at - you know "other things" they think you might like.  Um, you mean like all of it Shopbop?  So of course that lead to me in a full-on shopping frenzy up in Women's Shorts.  I have a weakness for shorts.  And for maxi skirts, but that's another story.  Let's stick with part one and reveal some of the goods.

Admission:  I had a white out upon seeing this striped pair. Must.have.
Of course I decided to click on all of the Alice & Olivia Shorts after that.
What? You know you would do the same!
In a valiant effort to stay on track I also fell upon these Rag & Bone culottes.
Help.
And apparently all roads currently lead to pink in my life
because this wonderful Antik Batik maxi occupied
my thoughts for much of the evening. 

Well it's a happy Wednesday indeed friends because Shopbop has generously offered to giveaway a $100 gift card to one lucky reader of This Free Bird.  All you have to do is make sure you're signed up to follow on the upper right - international friends included - and leave a relevant comment that includes your email address in the event you win.  

For an extra entry or two you can tweet about the giveaway (enter to win a $100 Shopbop gift card @birdgirlc http://bit.ly/eIFoJf) or follow This Free Bird on facebook.  Easy enough, no?

A winner will be announced on Thursday May 19, 2011.  

Restrictions:  This giveaway is not open to Pennsylvania bloggers (bummer).

Wind Power and Birds


Recently I was birding in Oklahoma and I was astounded at the number of wind farms—clusters of giant wind turbines—that I saw as I drove around the northwestern part of the Sooner State. This should not have surprised me. After all, Oooooooooklahoma is the state where "the wind comes sweepin' down the plain!" And as the photo above shows, wind-generated power has been around a long time.

No bird watcher would argue against the notion that our country—and the world at large—needs to begin harnessing other, greener forms of energy. In many ways wind power is as green as it gets. The wind blows, giant turbines are rotated at high speeds, and energy is generated by this motion. However the problems with wind energy center on these same giant turbines. Among the turbine-related issues are:

1. Though they look as though they are spinning languidly, the giant blades—especially the tips of the blades—are actually moving at several hundred miles per hour. Anything trying to move past these blades, but within their reach, is going to be hit by them. For a flying bird or a bat, this means instant death. We know that there is mortality at most wind turbine sites. And we know that some are far worse than others based upon their location relative to patterns of bird movement and migration.

2. And speaking of location, lesser prairie chickens and other grassland species of lekking gallinaceous birds (such as both greater and Gunnison sage-grouse) will leave areas when wind turbines are erected. In some cases this moves birds off lekking grounds where they (and their ancestors) have been doing courtship displays for decades if not a century or more. To a prairie chicken a wind turbine (or a cell tower or a string of high-tension power line towers) looks too much like a predator perch, so they leave the immediate area permanently. The same avoiding predators dispersal behavior would happen if we put a bunch of trees out on the prairie.


Lesser prairie chicken

3. Them things is ugly! Opponents of offshore wind farms shout most loudly about how clusters of turbines disrupt their natural vistas. And I have to say that when I've been out in the great wide open spaces of the Great Plains, scanning with my binoculars for longspurs or pipits and a cluster of wind turbines has come into my view, my reaction is negative, not positive. They are an eyesore we're not yet used to seeing.

At their most virulent, the arguments for and against wind power sound like the daily animosity we hear on the political talk shows. Proponents of wind power—and especially the wind industry—are trying to wear the Green Energy badge with pride while largely ignoring the legitimate concerns about incidental deaths of birds and bats. Not ALL wind turbines are bad. But the ones that are bad can be REALLY bad. Still, we want to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, right?

On the other hand, anti-wind-power people sometimes seem to want to ban all forms of turbine-generated energy. Both sides cite statistics to back their claims (environmentalist/birders say towers kill millions of birds. The wind-energy industry counters that far more birds are killed by collisions with cars or window glass or by feral cats. Perhaps this is true, but why add another bird-killing element to our continent? In many states there is basically no regulation on the siting of wind farms, which means towers go up and start spinning before we know the impact on birds and wildlife.

So whom are we to believe?

What we really need is a wind turbine design that is efficient in generating energy but that is also safer for birds and bats. Furthermore we need some cooperative action among environmentalists, policy makers, and the wind industry to ensure that the impacts on birds and wildlife are considered when wind farms are being sited. Right now, it's all about location, location, location.

Until that day, all we can hope for is that the information gathering and the conversation continues. Perhaps we can find a happy medium.

We need wind-generated power. But we need it to be done right.

Here are some interesting links to sites covering this controversial topic.

The American Bird Conservancy's Wind Power Policy
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/collisions/wind_farms.html

Misconceptions About Bird Mortality and Wind Power:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/04/common_misconce.php

How Turbine Design Can Reduce Bird Impacts
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-turbine-kill-birds.htm

The USFWS Proposes Voluntary Guidelines to Avoid Bird Deaths
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/10/wind-energy-voluntary-gui_n_820708.html

KQED-TV Feature on the Altamont Pass, California Wind Farms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtgBWNKwBkE

Black Swamp Bird Observatory's Wind Energy Issues Page
http://www.bsbobird.org/wind_energy.htm

Blog Post by Ted Eubanks on the Wind Energy Rush
http://www.birdspert.com/?p=1630

The American Wind Energy Association
http://www.awea.org/

Laura Erickson's Blog Post About Testifying in Court Regarding Wind Power
http://lauraerickson.blogspot.com/2011/04/from-court-transcripts.html

ID Quiz Winner: Birds on a Wire

Left to right: Loggerhead shrike, boat-tailed grackle, mourning dove, Eurasian collared-dove.

And the winner IS..... Oggie. Who correctly identified all four species and wrote a haiku to proper haiku specifications.
His entry:

Loggerhead Shrike
Boat-tailed Grackle
Mourning Dove
Eurasian Collared-Dove

My Haiku:
Dove flies to the west
Dove circles the world in time
Dove that ate the south

Oggie wins a copy of my latest book Hummingbirds and Butterflies co-authored with Connie Toops and published by our friends at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[Oggie, please see my contact info in the captions on the original post so we know where to send your fabulous prize.]

By the way, we got some great haikus with this contest. You can read them in the comments section of the original post.

In Full Bloom

When I last left off it was the eve of the Royal Wedding and I was going off the royal tracks with excitement.  Suffice it to say I stayed up all night Thursday watching it unfold, tweeting with several of you, and texting back and forth with one of my top Canadian girlfriends. It was a mixture of tiaras, tea cups and tears over at the bird (oh and possibly 15 mini cream puffs, but who's counting?).  Friday morning found me a hot mess, trying to work and still buzzing from all the royal festivities...shockingly so were several of my clients.  It was a royal kum bah yah.  Someday I will stop saying royal, but not exactly sure when that will be.

I think it's safe to say at this point that the neighbors think I'm whacked due to round the clock laughing and crying.  That could work in my favor regarding keeping them off my deck, so pardon me while I go let out a cat call to keep the stigma alive.

Okay I'm back.

Anyway I awoke Saturday morning determined to get more unpacked and organized.  This of course meant I abandoned ship and headed straight for Free People.  Procrastinator C at the helm.  What was supposed to be a return resulted in the most spontaneous yet delightful purchase I've made in some time:  hot pink slinky ruffled dress.  I wore that mother to church yesterday morning, then straight out to brunch afterward getting stopped along the way all day.  Brace.

~Free People Dress, J.Crew Tissue Hoodie and Vest, Brandy & Melville Bag
Matt Bernson Studded Sandals, Target Sunnies~
Let's take a moment to discuss:  gorgeous color, bottom portion so full you have to
gather it to ascend/descend stairs a la Scarlett O'Hara (or at least in my mind)
fringe bag swinging in the wind + paper thin layered hoodie + military vest =
a marriage of multiple styles culminating in favorite new outfit.
Fresh off meeting one of my fave teachers ever we celebrated with brunch at a fave spot,
sipped cocktails called 'sonic smash' and made a pit stop at the chocolate shop.  
Okay I window shopped to maintain some semblance of the 98 day shred.
Said fave teacher, John Piper, and me with me third grade panic grin.  
Humor me, okay?  It was a moment.
Speaking of moments let's all go have a bunch of them so Friday gets here QUICKLY.
I need a nap.

In the sheer giddy of it all I forgot to show more of the dress details.  You can find it here and it also comes in white and navy which are just perfect.  The fabric is super soft and great for summer because yesterday was 85 degrees and I swirled around all over without breaking a sweat once.  In my mind I see it layered with a pullover type sweater and my Joie combat boots...kinda can't wait to try that one out.

Happy Monday everyone!

Caption Contest #18 Winner!


It's time to announce the winner of the Bill of the Birds Caption Contest #18. You can see the original post for Contest #18 here.

Congratulations to
Robert Mortensen from the Birding is Fun blog for his winning caption which is:

On the eve of their nuptials, Prince William and Kate Middleton kissed and they both turned into toads. A very public couple, regrettably with no modicum of privacy, British paparazzi photographed them consummating the marriage.

He also chimed in with this one:

The minister said not to do this before marriage or we'd get warts. I guess he was right!

Robert wins a $20 gift certificate from the BWD Nature Store.

Some other great chuckles were generated by these contributors:

Face said...

Ribbit to me one more time, once is never enough for a frog like you...

tommyart said...

I knew we should of done this back at my pad.


CNemes said...

Not tonight, dear, I've got a frog in my throat.


pambirds said...

“It’s okay Trudy, no one will see us – they’re all looking up for the warblers.”


Thanks to everyone for playing!

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