ann + chuck = 50 years

dress - target, tights- target, boots - modcloth, cardigan - uo, bag - thrifted dooney & burke, sunnies - target, necklaces - talonalia and handmade (a birthday gift)

Last weekend my mom's whole side of the family (minus my aunt from New York) ventured across the mountains to celebrate my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. We went to some wineries in Woodinville and then had a lovely dinner at the Grange in Duvall before heading back to my parents' house for brownies, more wine, and to look at old pictures. It was really wonderful to have everyone together and my grandma brought some old pictures I had never seen before. They were such a cute couple.

trench thoughts

trench - vintage, boots - seychelles, sunglasses - cheap, scarf - vintage

I bought this trench ages ago. I haven't worn it because I have trouble with coats this long. I don't know how to wear them! I threw this on today (with my gorgeous new boots!) because I wanted to ask for advice. I'm thinking about hemming it about 4-5 inches so it's just above my knee. What do you think? I'm planning on wearing it with a short dress and heels to a wedding in April.

I absolutely love these new heeled, lace-up boots. They're almost exactly like a pair my grandma had in the sixties, which you can see in this photo. As you can see, the photographer, my mom's cousin, cut off her head in the photo and the inscription on the back is referencing that. Her sister told him to take a photo of the boots and . . .  well, he did.

quack

I may not have mentioned this in my last post, but I've been sick and that's why blogging has been slow. Well, I haven't been sick this whole time, just the last couple days, but I was also really crazy busy with work.

jeans - gap, shoes - thrifted, shirt - depeche mode concert, peacoat - old navy, scarf - borrowed

This picture looks weird because I'm eating fries and I had to crop my crazy family out of the photo. But I borrowed this AWESOME scarf from my aunt, who I believe got it as a Christmas present from my other aunt. It's huge! The yarn is super thick, so the knit stitches are huge, and the whole thing is really long. I really want one now.

Also, this picture was taken right before riding the ducks. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you've never been to Seattle. It's the most touristy thing one can do, after going up the Space Needle of course, but my aunt is from New York and she wanted to do it. The ducks are these amphibious vehicles from WWII that do tours all over Seattle. It was fun, in a totally ridiculous, touristy way.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your day was filled with holiday cheer, good food, and loved ones. I had a wonderful Christmas. I enjoy giving presents to people very much and this year I feel like I did good. I also made a tasty chocolate cake with choco-peppermint ganache and crushed candycanes which was received very well.

I promised a winner of the contest today, and I do not break promises. I had a total of 5 people enter the contest (thank you all!). I wrote the names on paper and threw them in a hat (the H&M one I wore to the Depeche Mode concert, if you're curious). Mixed them up reallllly good, and drew one.

Congratulations Sally, from The Other Scrapbook! You are the winner. I'll need you to email me your mailing address and then I'll get your prize in the mail as soon as possible.

My cousin also cut my bangs today. (I took my dress off and hung out in my tights and my uncle's tshirt so I wouldn't get hair all over my dress while she cut it.) So much better, amiright?

20 isn't the most exciting birthday, but it's a nice one

dress - hand-me-down (from banana republic), shoes - bucco

This is the dress I was thinking about shortening. My grandmother was here and offered to help me with any mending I had, so I asked her what she thought. Her feeling was that taking any more than two or three inches off would ruin the lines of the dress. I decided to take her advice, but there was still a problem. I washed the dress after I found it in my attic and shrank a bit and no longer fit me. We decided to take the facing out so we could move the buttons over a bit, even though this would make the whole thing off center. The solution was not perfect, but it made the dress wearable, so I am happy.

Anyways, I wore this in the evening on my birthday, to go to the local mexican restaurant and then go dancing in the street (there was a band playing to celebrate the new stuff they did on main street). It was fun and ridiculous and chill. I didn't hang with friends on my actual birthday, but I'm thinking of having a party with Amanda, since she never really did much to celebrate her birthday back in June. We're thinking a sweet garden party, with pretty dresses, cute decorations, and tasty food.

Tomorrow I am going shopping with J, with some specific goals for both of us, but I'll get into that later.

iced coffee, sandwiches, used books, and a walk by the river

shirt - target, shorts - diy cutoffs, purse - vintage coach, sunglasses - crossroads vintage on the ave, shoes - online, scarf - thrifted

This is what I wore during the day on my birthday. Yesterday we were hanging out with my grandparents, and we went to the park by the river, the used bookstore, and the new coffeeshop (they have delicious sandwiches, the sundried tomato and porcini one is amazing). The used bookstore is my favorite ever. I picked up One Hundred Years of Solitude and because it was my birthday (and I've known everyone who works there pretty much since birth), I got it for free. So sweet. I just found out that this purse is probably a lot older than I thought it was. I think my mom got it when she was a teenager, and a friend of the family gave it to her, so it may have aready been vintage when she got it. I was thinking it was probably from the eighties or nineties, but it sounds like it's a bit older.



I really like this vintage silk scarf I got at the thrift store with Amanda a couple weeks ago. It's small, but the pattern is really cute. And it's nice to hold my hair back when it's hot like this. It is starting to cool down though, thank god. Yesterday was bearable, and today was even better. And the nights, oh man the nights are so nice and cool now after that stupid unrelenting heat.

birthday

more to come later

obama, escucha: estamos en la lucha

So a couple weeks ago I went to this healthcare march in Seattle. My grandparents were bussing in from Richland for it, so my mom and I decided to come too. My grandma made a banner. It was quilted and colorful and the best banner there.


Grandpa, Grandma, Mom

I ended up carrying the banner pretty much the whole time. It was pretty entertaining.




shirt - diy tie-dye tank, bandana - from the march, jeans - pacsun

The "Fire the Insurance Man" banner was pretty good too, and I chatted with the kids from Planned Parenthood who were carrying it. They were pretty cool. The cops even weren't assholes. Some of them actually talked to us and asked us about the whole "single payer" idea and what it all meant. They were interested and not rude. Some of them were on horses, and a bunch on bikes.



This picture shows the banner pretty well, and my grandparents are also next to me. My grandpa has an awesome beard.



And here's a pretty nice shot of a portion of the crowd. There were a lot of people there. (My mom took these pictures, by the way.)



It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, and a pretty important issue to support. It was all really nice until the ending point, where there were some people across the street with silly opposing signs. Oh well. I enjoyed myself. Got a little sunburnt, but again, oh well.