L ♥ V E

I had a great little Mother's Day lunch today at Harper's pre-K class. It was so incredibly sweet hearing all the children talk about their mommies. We were each presented with portraits of us as drawn by our little ones and stories of how much they love us and what they'd buy us with $100. Harper says she loves me to Infinity and she'd buy me a wedding dress, long to the floor with her $100. 

My girl also helped me getting dressed this morning. I thrifted this skirt last summer, but for some reason every time I pulled it out it wasn't quite right. I finally realized it needed to be dressed down for juxtaposition. Sometimes all you need is a little simplicity.

All that pink made Harper happy. And that made me happy. 

[skirt: thrifted, t-shirt: gap, shoes: jessica simpson, bracelets: street vendor, ring: a merry mishap]

xo,

chelsea

color. blocked.

I am totally in love with all the color-blocking out there. Lucky for me, my closet is practically bursting at the seams with color. A whole bunch of impatient color that had been stuffed in the back during my winter-time fascination with blacks and neutrals. If the 80 degree weather is really here to stay, I expect this to be the first of many brightly outfitted days!


ps - please ignore my wrinkled linen...

[skirt: ann taylor; old, blouse: thrifted, kork-ease flatforms: jcrew via ebay, 

necklace: thrifted, sunnies: thrifted]

And one of my favorite fashion photographer

xo,

chelsea

Dressed - gray sidewalks

This has been a pretty wet week for us California folks. Unlike most everyone else - who seems to be beckoning spring like a siren at sea - I'm holding on to the winter. We rarely get what I call "weather" around these parts and it's nice to have a change once in a while. Plus it gives us a chance to break out the sweaters, boots and jackets that are usually saved for "cold" places. Yes, we are kind of sissies in California.  But the silver lining is that the thrift store run amuck with cold weather goodies. I scored this awesome sweater the other day and couldn't wait to break it out. I was so excited to wear it, that I enlisted my favorite little photographer for some impromptu snaps.

(sweater - thrifted,

pants - j crew minnie,

boots - sam edelman - amazing LF stores sale!!)

Not to be left out, this little miss wanted to show off her rainbow brights. I'm pretty sure her outfit picks these days deserve their own fashion blog. 

And Sutter wanted to be in front of the camera for a bit too! Showing off all his mad karate skills. Hi-ya!

I hope you are having a lovely week! I'm very happy that tomorrow is Thursday and this long week is coming to an end. I'm looking forward to a relaxing, craft-filled weekend!!

XO,

Chelsea

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

some love around this home

I've been very busily lovin' my home, but haven't shared any peeks in a while.

For some reason I am extremely picky about butter dishes. I never think they are quite wide enough to actually accommodate and they are either way too plain or way too ugly. But this little one caught my eye...and then its wayward brother and sister caught my eye as well a few shelves down. For $4 all in, it was hard to resist. Butter dishes, really? The things I obsess over sometimes...

This sweetly made heart has been on my to-be-framed list forever. I even had the shadowbox sitting out waiting to be filled ever since my sweet little guy made this for me. I'm proud to have such a creative little soul as a son.

What are you loving at home this week?

XO,

Chelsea

PS - I mentioned a few posts back that I'd be having a giveaway as soon as I hit 20. Well, that time has come so I'll be back tomorrow with a little something!

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

time for two things

Happy Tuesday to everyone!

The sun is shining after a bit of rain on Sunday and yesterday. I don't mind the rain too much and I love the way everything looks so fresh and green afterwards. Harper always says the rain washes the sky, and I think she's absolutely right. We saw a beautiful rainbow on our way home yesterday and it made us all smile.

I'm super excited about Kassi's Two Things Tuesday this week. I get to share two great recent thrift finds. If you haven't checked out Kassi's blog, hop on over now to check it out. Its a daily read for me! She's got great personal style, a beautiful family, and major crafty-girl skills.

I mentioned a little while ago that I had found this great chair for my little Harper. I had seen a very similar one on another blog that was painted a vibrant, juicy orange. I immediately made mental note to look for one on my thrifting/antiquing adventures but never thought I would actually come across one that same week at a thrift store for $4! I've debated painting it a bright, shiny color but Carl seems to love the white and I like the juxtaposition of the chippy paint against our mid-century modern Drexel dining set.

Seeing this chair everyday just makes me so happy. Harper seems pretty pleased with it as well. She feels like like quite the little lady having this special chair all to herself.

Same favorite thrift store, a few weeks later, I also found this adorable ceramic camera. This was one of those a-ha! thrifting days where you feel like you scored some seriously awesome treasures.

The drink menu in the background I swiped from the Saint Cecelia Hotel during our trip to Austin. That hotel is so incredibly cool, I wanted to live there!

I love the wonky shape and hand-painted details on the camera. It looks like it could be someone's ceramics class cast-off. Lucky for me!

The camera made its new home in one of my favorite nooks in the house

I'd love to see the two things you are loving today!

Tell me about your two things in my comments

Or create your own post and head on over to Kassi's blog to Mister Linky!

XO,

Chelsea