I'm falling...

Indeed. I'm a summer girl pretty through and through. But for some reason, I'm really looking forward to Fall this year. Perhaps since we didn't have much of a summer, I'm just excited for some sort of season change. Santa Barbara stays pretty temperate all year long (us Cali folks freak out at the slightest bit of rain). Our only real signal that fall has arrived is the shorter days and changing leaves.

I'm already thinking of Halloween, an adventurous Thanksgiving and travels for Christmas.

Perhaps I'm most looking forward to a fresh crop of deliciousness at the Farmer's Market. I'll take any excuse to try a new recipe. Or two. And any excuse to eat hot food and sit by a fire!

I've been trying to find a way to style this silk romper ever since I thrifted it. I found it in summer and definitely thought it had summer appeal. But for some reason, I picked it out on a rather cool and gloomy day. I thought the color was pretty perfect for the first day of Fall though. In typical crazy California weather fashion though, the forecast call for upper 70s the rest of the week.

(dressed:

thrifted silk romper,

old target cardi,

old steve madden wedges) 

What do you love most about the changing seasons?

XO,

Chelsea

a friday DIY: painterly shirt

I've said it before, I'm addicted to stripes. I've never met a stripe I didn't like.

Feeling inspired by some of the painterly stripes I've seen out there, I set out to make a DIY version. I'd never worked with fabric paint before (those neon puffy paints from the 90s don't count), so this was a fun experiment.

the summery inspiration from J Crew

DIY Painterly Stripe T

materials needed:
plain t-shirt
fabric paint - make sure you pick the right paint for your fabric
paint brush
ruler or straight edge
tailors chalk
some sort of dropcloth

1. make sure you start with a clean, washed t-shirt. I had an old tar-jay T-shirt that I knew was clean already.
2. Lay out your dropcloth.  You may find it easier to work if you have the dropcloth taped down. I didn't because I'm deathly afraid of ruining the hardwood floors. My landlord put the fear in me when we moved in.
3. Slide a piece of cardboard or paper bag inside the shirt. You don't want to paint through to the other side!

4. Using the tailors chalk and your ruler, make lines to your desired width. I went for about 3/4 " lines with about an inch between each stripe. I wanted some extra space between my stripes so I went wider but you could certainly make your stripes bigger or smaller to get whatever effect you prefer!

5. Start painting!! I was extremely surprised by how quickly the fabric absorbed. The first line was definitely a bit more saturated then I had planned but I started to get the hang of it by about the third line. If I was smart, I would've painted a few lines on some scrap fabric first, but I have zero patience so I just went for it!

6. Wait for the front to dry. Mine took about an hour to dry to the touch.
7. Flip your shirt over and repeat the process on the back.
8. Once both sides are dry, follow your paint manufacturers' instructions for setting the paint. Mine called for ironing for 3 minutes on the reverse side. I decided to keep my cardboard inside while I ironed and I'm glad I did because some excess paint absorbed into it.

9. Turn your shirt back to right side out and you've now got a fun, painted T-shirt that you did yourself for a fraction of the $70 price tag.

I really like the way this turned out. The blue was quite a bit brighter than what the bottle and sample in the store showed. Next time, I think I would like to experimenting with mixing some of the colors to come up with something more custom. I also think this could be awesome with darker T-shirts and lighter colors or some metallics on top.

What do you think?

XO,

Chelsea 

paintballin'

I have become rather obsessed lately with wearing skater dresses. I love the twirl and the flippy skirt. Something about it makes me feel like a kid again. 

Perhaps I'm channeling my inner school-girl since my little guy started Kindergarten this week. I can't believe I am typing those words. It seems like just yesterday that he was a tiny little baby in my arms. I sure do miss his days as my sweet baby, but there is nothing more amazing than getting to know the super sweet and thoughtful, imaginative little person he is becoming. 

And he's becoming quite the blossoming photographer. Carl and I have decided its definitely something we want to foster.

Sutter took all these shots, directed me like I was a real model - and then quickly got distracted and starting snapping shots of the sky... 

These shoes have become a serious wardrobe staple as of late. A $4 thrift store score and I can't think of anything I don't want to wear them with. The soft, off-white linen is just getting better looking every time I wear them. For a self-professed heel addict, this is quite a leap. 

Going full force with the schoolgirl look, I also went for two french braids. Eventually, I started making hash marks on a sheet of paper each time someone called me Heidi or Pippi Longstalking. 

I only wish I could show you the bottom of this picture because my skirt is twirling so pretty and ruffling along the edges. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately for everyone), I'd have to stick a big black bar across the pic though. Nothing says classy like twirling along in a parking lot and later uploading pictures a getting a giant surprise when you spy your bum sticking out.

On that note...I've got a pillow calling my name. Not my bed though - a dahlia petaled number I've been working on for way too long. Its my first real sewing job from a pattern and boy do I know how to pick 'em! Lots of small pieces. But I'm super excited to finish it and I promise to post it soon. 

Good night!

XO,

Chelsea

last person on earth

So I'm pretty sure I'm one of the last person's on earth to do so, but

I finally got some Tom's yesterday!!

I know, not earth-shattering news, but I still wanted to share that I picked some up with my lovely birthday gift card from my auntie.

I went the plain-jane route and got gray since I feel like everything else I own is pretty loud. You know your wardrobe is colorful when your office-mates have nicknamed you Ms. Coral Pants and constantly remark on your electric blue high heels...

We decided to take a little post-dinner walk last night. I feel like a kid savoring every last bit of summer before school starts up again...except this time its not me starting school. Sutter will be in Kindergarten in about 3 days and I just can't believe he's that old. I need to sprinkle some anti-grow formula on him in his sleep to keep him from getting any bigger and less attached to his mama.

As you can see, we had some fun with the camera last night too. 

On our walk, Carl suggested that what if everyone wasn't inside watching TV and rather outside enjoying the sunset. How cool would it be to meet your neighbors out for an evening stroll at twilight?

What about you? 

Would you give up your TV and take a walk after dinner?

XO,

Chelsea

Wardrobe Wednesday - this rocks

I am very much in love with the raw rock vibe of these baubles. A little bit Flintstones, a little Pocahontas, but all the way sexy in a raw and natural way.

Fools gold studs

turquoise slab ring

Geoffrey Good's amazing Hex Agate Necklace

agate ring 

dara ettinger's amazing necklace

raw diamonds

finders keepers

Ever have those thrifting days when everything seems to be going your way? Last Friday was that day for me! I scored 4 amazing dresses, 2 maxi skirts, a fabulously colorful guatemalan belt, an electric blue silk scarf and a sweet little woven owl bowl. S C O R E! My favorite of the dresses has to be a sweet yellow eyelet shirt dress from Paris. Fits me like a dream...but you'll have to stick around to see me style that one up.

Ever since I saw this outfit on Refinery29, I've been craving some brown ankle boots. I'd seen some other cute versions around the bloggy world, but this was the first look that put these on my mental thrift list.

Fast forward a few weeks and seriously only one thrifting trip later and I found the beauties I was after.

Perfectly scuffed, soft, worn rich brown leather. I spent a nice little chunk of time last night playing in my closet and putting together lots of cute little looks with these. I'm already envisioning myself strolling down international sidewalks sporting these on my feet! Thank you to whoever decided these no longer had a home in their closet. Score one for me.

What are you on the hunt for these days?

XO,

Chelsea

wardrobe wednesday - going tribal

A jam packed weekend, a work week that started with a sick day (curse you neckache and migraine!) and a busier than usual schedule at work have sapped me of my ability to really post anything this week. Ooops. I'm sure you'll all live though...

A recently acquired tribal meets 80s geometric print romper has me noticing the tribal trend everywhere.Its a fun summery option that is easy to incorporate into your basics wardrobe. I'm loving the juxtaposition of it mixed with some of the military styles that are out there right now too.

I'm absolutely in love with this dress from Ruche. And thrilled they finally got it back in stock in my size!

Thinking its the perfect thing for my upcoming Norwegian holiday...

I am totally in love with these shoes and wondering if they might be just the ticket to cash in my Mother's Day gift from my sweet little family. So cute with anything!!

Although...these embroidered wedges from Anthropologie kinda rock my world too

And since we're already talking about Anthro, I might as well go ahead and mention this bag

And I'm in love with this bright scarf for dressing up any LBD

And a little something to make you feel like a modern-day Pocahontas

Now, quick, hide my wallet! 

What are you craving for summer?

XO,

Chelsea

weekend wrap-up + wardrobe wednesday

Yes, I am actually doing Wednesday's post on Thursday. A crazy weekend and busy week have pushed me all the way into Thursday without posting! Not to mention the lack of internet at home which causes me to do all my posting (shhh) on breaks at work. I'm happy to report though that we are all hooked up to the interwebs and now I can actually do some posting at home! And I'm hoping to enlist my honey's help over the weekend with some photography skills. He's pretty good and has a sweet camera!

Our last weekend was pretty crazy! Lots of progress on setting up the house - its even to a point where it might be worthy of getting some photos over this weekend!!

The two littles weren't feeling so hot, so we had to skip out on a birthday party.

Sutter loves this old fashioned key. I told him it was the key to my heart.

Harper loves makeup and headbands. I'm in serious trouble

We tried to make it up to them with some playtime at IKEA. If that didn't work, the ice cream at the end definitely did!

We spent all day Saturday at IKEA - super fun to get all the odds and ends we were needing, but there's something about spending all day doing that that just sucks a little bit of your soul!! It was pretty fun though to have Carl in tow to pronounce all the names of the items. And he got a bit of the homeland to bring home. We bought a ton of packages of Swedish meatballs and sauce. Plus I surprised him with 6 jars of Sill. We also picked up a GIANT projector screen on the way to IKEA so our movie theater experience is just about complete :)

We were rewarded for our hard day's work with a fun night out at Carr Winery. Its an awesome local winery who's tasting room is in a quonset hut. Its pretty awesome. Barrels of wine aging to perfection, shuffleboard, backgammon, great sounding music, good friends and good wine. They had an "Open That Bottle" evening where they were offering library wines for the price of the current stuff. With my industry discount it made for some pretty affordable juice, so we ended up going home with a half case. Oops. Well, we needed something to fill our new wine rack!!

Check out Carr, its pretty awesome. 

Carl is double-fisted with the drinks there. I guess he's probably holding my glass...

no idea why Chantal keeps trying to hide behind her wine glass...

 the quonset hut creating some serious love mood ;)

we got some great video of a guy dancing the funky chicken, but I'm still working on figuring out how to get that here! anybody know how?

a robot with a heart. and a glass. guy after my own heart!

Sunday was full of more organizing - mainly by Carl! I snuck out for breakfast with the girls and perused downtown SB. Kass - I popped into Anthro and managed not to buy everything in sight! It was hard!

Sunday night was the best though because we had the crew over for some delicious lasagna and great wine. Finished the night off with some peach cobbler and a little Motorcycle Diaries. Great day!!

Now for some Wardrobe...

Its been sort of a wet week here. I thought I'd brighten the mood with my new tights from Anthro - on sale for $7. Hard to say no to that!

 

 

This heart dress is my favorite. Its a go-to that never fails to make me feel happy when I wear it!

I'm looking forward to our guest this weekend and lots of happy home nesting!!

What is everyone else looking forward to?

XO,

Chelsea

winner wednesday

Monday afternoon I was pleasantly surprised with this sweet little package!

I won my first blog giveaway from the adorable JenLovesKev blog! I love Jen's blog and I was so thrilled to take part in her giveaway.

Caitlin's etsy shop To Be Determined is chock full of the cutest little pieces reworked and reconstructed from vintage clothing. I was super stoked to win something from her shop! I love getting packages in the mail, especially ones wrapped sweetly with a nice little note. Thanks Caitlin!  

 

Seeing as today was a wet, wet Wednesday down in Southern California I decided it was the perfect day to break out my new skirt. Nothing beats the gray of a rainy day like a hothouse floral skirt. 

I didn't have much time to style this as much as I wanted to so I took some cues from Caitlin herself and went with black so the skirt would be the centerpiece. I grabbed my bright green sweater (conveniently already hanging on the doorknob of my closet) and opted for wedges instead of the teal boots I had originally envisioned with this. 

All pictures taken by my 5 year old. Seriously. He kept telling me to look at the camera instead of away!
Definitely time to dig out the more serious photography equipment!! Sorry about the terrible lighting...

Not a huge fan of this pic, but Sutter told me it was his favorite because I looked like a princess. So, here you go, one Technicolor Princess coming right up!!

 (outfit: Banana Republic swing sweater,  THEME blouse, To Be Determined skirt, Express tights, Steve Madden wedges)

I'm looking forward to a cozy evening cooking dinner with the kiddos and listening to the rain. How is everyone else spending their mid-week??

XO,

Chelsea