Angel of the snow.

Snow day! Kind of a pathetic rainy snow day, but I'm counting it. I think these are the only pictures I have of my kids in the snow this year, which is crazy. Our snowman is already dripping and tilted, but Iris did get a kick out of his mushroom eyes and orange slice mouth (which were also the first things to fall off his face.) Oh, and we also did a lot of Costco box painting today, which is a very popular activity in our house.

I put two new items in the shop tonight, check them out!

Around the house.

I thrifted a pretty needlework piece a few weeks ago and finally got around to framing and hanging it this weekend. I love it! It was only 50 cents at Bibles for Missions, so I spent more on the Ikea frame than on the art. It reminds me of otomi fabric, which in spite of being everywhere in blogland, I still love.

While I was taking a picture of that piece, I snapped a few more around the house. (On a grey afternoon, so the light wasn't the best, sorry.) Those glass shelves in the living room make me crazy because they collect an inch of dust every day. Someday we'll replace them with nice thick wood shelves, and then I won't feel like such a bad housekeeper. The art in that little black frame on the bottom shelf was made by my daughter! The pieces on the top shelves were gifts from our talented friends.

We also just framed a Debbie Carlos poster for our bedroom. I was a little nervous about it because it's so huge, but it looks great on that wall. (There's no glass in the frame, so if it falls on us one night we will only be annoyed, not horribly injured.)

I put a few new things in the shop this weekend!

Wayback machine.

My daughter and son, hanging out last winter. Their expressions in this picture totally crack me up. Arlo's awesome bear coat and Iris's gold sweater vest were gifts from a dear friend, but that shirt Iris is wearing was something I thrifted a few years ago. Such a fantastic print! I love it so much and will be very sad when she outgrows it. 

 I put some new things in the shop yesterday, including this rad '80s sweater dress. It reminds me a lot of the clothes Oilily sells.

Blue steel.

This is James, my friends' cat. He is a big fluffball who was very patient with my grabby toddler this weekend. (Also it helped that he's declawed!) Thanks for being cool, James.

Red planet.

Happy weekend! I hope you have some fun things planned. We're going to hang out with some old friends this weekend and I can't wait. We've been friends for more than 15 years, which blows my mind. I predict a lot of record listening, dance parties, kid craziness and wine in our future.

I found some good stuff this week for the shop but haven't had any time to take decent pictures of it. This is a shot of my son wearing some simple but awesome 1970s red knit overalls that I have totally fallen in love with. They will be listed in the shop soon!

Wayback machine.

This is my son when he was just two months old! He may have been unable to hold his head up very well, but he sure was rocking a sweet vintage shirt. (This one didn't make it to the shop—I passed it on to my friend's new baby instead!)

Sit down I think I love you.

I added a few things to the shop this weekend. This dress just knocks my socks off! It's made from the softest chambray fabric ever, and the red embroidery and buttons add such a kick. Plus it's for an older girl, which is extra special.

Everyone in my house was a bit sick this weekend, but we still had some fun. That top picture is my son crashing a photoshoot for the shop. I normally try to keep him in another room while I'm taking pictures of the clothes, but he charmed his way in on Friday afternoon. Notice one hand sneakily trying to pry off our childproof outlet covers. Pretty sly, kiddo.

Iris and I made a big batch of spritz cookies. I usually use the Blonde Designs sugar cookie recipe for my holiday cookies (which is fantastic!), but it requires a long chilling period and I didn't have time to wait. I've only ever made spritz for Christmas, but when I dug the cookie press out of the basement I realized there are quite a few Valentine's Day and spring shapes! Instead of helping with the icing, like she does when we make sugar cookies, Iris got to dust everything with colored sanding sugar so she was still happy. I'm going to bust out my cookie press more often, I think.

I also thrifted Iris a super awesome Valentine's Day dress this weekend. Unfortunately, the only picture I got of her wearing it is in this jumping-on-the-bed action shot. (Her bookshelves are a hot mess, I realize. They are on my spring cleaning list. Come on, spring!)

Potato Cake Vintage model spotlight!

Check out this little cutie showing off her dresses from Potato Cake Vintage!! I love it! Kitty's mom writes Lottielulu and it looks like they love vintage as much as I do. So fun!

 Look for some new items to be added to the shop throughout the weekend. These saddle shoes are the best—I'm bummed they're too small for my kiddo. How cute would they be with little white socks and a sweet spring dress?

Foodies.

(1) A few of the felt doughnuts I made my daughter for Christmas. I used this tutorial and they took about 15 minutes! Best project ever.

(2) I bought them on a whim last year, but our Japanese egg molds are used several times a week. My kids are crazy about their bear and bunny eggs. I really want the fish and car molds, too!

Wayback machine.

My daughter just before her first birthday, wearing a sweet vintage Baby B'Gosh sunsuit.

Wake up your windows.

Photo by Will Deitz

We saw Jeff Mangum at the State Theatre on Saturday night. Some folks from Elf Power and The Gerbils opened and they were lovely and so fun to watch. I listened to them play and thought, "Oh, this will be such a nice night! It's already so good."

And then Jeff walked on stage and started playing and my mind was blown. It was the most moving show I've ever seen. Simultaneously joyful and wrenching. (I was in tears for most of it, which embarrassed me until my husband later confessed that he was, too!) A really magical night.

Saturday also marked our first real non-family babysitting experience! We're lucky to have my family in town and they are so great about watching the kids for us, but on Saturday two friends came over hang out with Iris while we were gone (and the baby, too, though he was already asleep). It went really well and made me excited for future date nights!

The shop is stocked with tons of sweet red clothes for Valentine's Day, by the way. I had some really great luck last week and found an armful of amazing stuff!

Saturday afternoon.

A few scenes from our Saturday afternoon.

(1) My daughter, Iris, is obsessed—OBSESSED—with Care Bears. My mom dragged out my childhood collection from the '80s last year, and then we bought a few more on eBay for Iris when we were bribing her to go to bed quietly and not wake up her brother (they started sharing a room when he was about six months...it was not a smooth transition, let's just say that).

(2) The baby's changing table. That #2 canister holds our cloth diapering accessories, ha.

(3) New wood puzzle we picked up from the thrift store on Friday.

(4) My kids actually entertaining each other! A miracle.

(5) We're having a LOT of dance parties to Here Come the 123s these days.

Look for lots of new stuff in the shop this weekend!

Friday's child.

I'm having a Nancy Sinatra/Francoise Hardy afternoon and it is lovely. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Check out the new baby items in the shop!

Thrifting rewards.

I was in Value Village the other day waiting in line for the cashier and the dude in front of me was gushing to anyone who would listen about the rad Chemex coffeemaker he'd just plucked from the shelves for $3. I have to admit, I was pretty jealous! It's so sad when you see someone else in the store holding something you technically COULD have snagged if only you'd gotten to it first!

But I had both kiddos with me, and I had to remind myself that even I'd gotten to the store 15 minutes before that lucky dude, I would have never taken my grabby 16-month-old through the glass section. Never. So I would've missed out no matter what.

Still! Those Chemex contraptions are so pretty. At the food and drink tasting event I went to last month, Peace Coffee was brewing a few varieties of their coffee using Chemex coffeemakers. I don't know if it was their beans or the Chemex, but the three (!!) cups I had were super delicious. 

Anyway, the bright spot of that visit was I found out Value Village just introduced a new rewards card. It's $10 to purchase, but then you get a $10 coupon to use on your next visit. And after that you can accumulate points (on both purchases and donations) that will eventually lead to more store credits. Value Village is definitely one of my hot spots, simply because its locations happen to be in my normal traffic patterns, so this will be put to good use!

Also at that visit (it was quite an exciting day at Value Village!), on my way out I saw the woman behind Retro Wanderlust and I remembered that she's having another sale in Hopkins this month, Feb. 16-18. Minneapolis people, you should check it out! We made eye contact because she was watching my goofy kids as she browsed the store and I recognized her face, but it wasn't until we both looked away that my brain registered who she was: "Hey, that's the lady who sold me an awesome floor lamp!" 

It looks like exactly this, only I'm pretty sure that 1st Dibs dealer isn't selling it for $60 like the Retro Wanderlust lady was, bless her heart. It's one of my favorite things in our living room now.

I added an awesome sweater t-shirt to the shop last night! I still have a bunch of little baby stuff that's coming soon, too.

Wayback machine.

My daughter when she was 8 months old, in a vintage Sears baby dress. This one is actually in the shop now! It's so fluffy and sweet—one of those baby dresses that makes me wish I had just one more baby girl to dress (for a day).

Look for a shop update in the next few days! I have an armful of sweet little baby clothes that I can't wait to photograph.

Wednesday afternoon.

(1) Two new bins (Target!) to organize the kids' closet.
(2) Looking for Goldbug.
(3) Inscription to one of our vintage books, Patrick Will Grow.
(4) My daughter wearing the shirt her little brother "made" her for Christmas. We used gold fabric paint and a shirt she already had. I used a stencil from the awesome Mer Mag.