This is definitely the look I am going for in 2009.

photos by Christian Anwander for 10 magazine

WOW. 

*Insert the sound of the longest, heaviest whoooooossshhh of a sigh here*

Christmas was rough this year, I am not going to lie! My daughter came down with croup the Monday before Christmas. If you're unfamiliar with croup, imagine it like having a barking seal in your house...who never, ever stops barking. Poor thing! After several days on medicine, when she wasn't improving, chest X-Rays showed that it was morphing into pneumonia. WEEEE! I can honestly say that my husband and I maybe got 20 hours of uninterrupted sleep BETWEEN THE TWO OF US the entire week of Christmas. I spent most of the week steaming her up in the shower, issuing medications, and trying not to BAWL in frustration. Then everything in the house started breaking! The lights flickered, the car broke down, the ROOMBA DIED. If you have experienced the joy of ROOMBA in your home, you know how spoiled you can get quickly. When the roomba died I almost gave up. I mean, get the vaccuum out?? After months of pushing a button and watching the room clean itself? It was almost too much to bear. I won't even get in to the financial stress because that was a load we all carried around this year.

BUT! The bright shining light was Christmas morning. I recommend that everyone spend at least one Christmas morning with a four year old girl during their life. There is nothing more magical than waking up with a little girl who truly believes Santa Claus has just come into her home, eaten the cookies she baked, fed the reindeer the apples she picked out, and left TOYS underneath the tree. Pure happiness! We laughed our way through the exhaustion on Christmas, played with new toys, and ate chinese food. I have joy in my life because I have such a beautiful little family. I couldn't ask for more.  Plus! My husband got me a gift certificate for a new tattoo, a matching one that we have been planning on getting since last year. Much to the disgust of most of our family to be sure. C'est la vie guys! 

I'm sure you can figure out on your own that I barely got dressed in the last ten days. Forget my ebay store...I am going to be recovering from a two week hiatus for months, I am sure. Momentum works in a big way when you sell online. I did discover that Drew Barrymore has pretty much achieved style perfection...

I mean come on! So good, so much.

I did manage to get dressed. Once. Barely.

dress-vintage, Portland OR

jacket-vintage

scarf-H&M

booties-FRYE

I also found the perfect NYE dress! Thrifted for $8 no less.

Sparkles! So very many sparkles!

Now I just have to find something to DO on New Year's Eve...

I'll leave you today by saying that I hope you ALL had an amazing Christmas and that you WILL have an explosive New Years Eve!! For your amusement, here is a video of the man and the monkey child singing and dancing. If you pay attention you'll see me too ;)

Things you can tell just by looking.

Christmas is like a ninja. From a distance ninjas seem BAD-ASS and exciting. NINJAS ARE RAD! But in reality, ninjas will get in your face and abuse you before you have even caught a glimpse of their sweet moves. Christmas is exciting when you think about the prospect in June. Then it creeps up on you. It is holding a knife to your throat and you never saw it coming. All of a sudden Christmas is a few days away and I am in a state of panic. Rushing to get gifts and make sure my daughter has Christmas magic raining down on her at all times, trying to think of a present for my husband, and getting glitter from ornaments all over my carpet only to find out that my vacuum cleaner has died...again. 

The funny part is how little we as a family actually buy into and indulge in Christmas cliches...and it is still a cyclone of activity here! I cannot imagine how people who really and truly get sucked into all the Christmas obligations must feel...well, I guess they are the same people who stomped a man to death for a discount on televisions at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago. Let's all raise a Christmas glass of wine (or bourbon, or champagne, or hooch if that's your poison) to breathing and loving and giving this year. Just do those three things and you'll be fine. We all will!

I do have to say that it is all worth it to see Averys face on Christmas morning, to start our own brand new, first-time ever Christmas family traditions (chinese food is involved, for sure), and to eat Santas' cookies of course. In the meantime, I have been to Target about 124 times in the last week, seen two preschool Christmas recitals, and and attended one housewarming party behind a Boat-World, Oh! And I found a new little nich to take better blog photos in!

Stuff That I Wore This Week

I was actually on the phone in this photo. Multi-tasking!

Dress- Thrifted

Jacket- Buffalo Exchange

Boots- Steve Madden in '07

Bag- Lucky brand

I'm not thrilled with the proportions of this outfit. It happens.

High waisted circle skirt- H&M last Christmas

Blouse- thrifted, Savers

Belt- vintage, thrifted

Peacoat- New Bohemia Vintage

Boots- Steve Madden

I'm not allergic to ironing, I just don't like doing it!

Dress- Anthropologie last Christmas

Jacket-Buffalo Exchange

Scarf- Thrifted, Goodwill

Boots- Vintage, Ebay

I did manage take in some journalism *coughmagazinescough* this week. I'm not usually captivated by black and white photography. That sounds...limited? Maybe, but I can't help what my eyes are attracted to. The good news is that the most recent issue of Dazed and Confused magazine blew the doors off my little preference. Heidi Slimanes "Teenage Takeover" editorial was mesmerizing.

Highlights

I was completely inspired by this and decided to go through the folders of saved photos on my computer to see what kind of B&W pics had caught my eye before. I found some beautiful images I hadn't looked at for months! Here are some of the more "fashion-y" that I found...

 

I am getting a little bit intoxicated by the way black and white photography puts the emphasis on texture. I may be an overly tactile person, but I love to see textures competing! I need to spend some time seeking out some more black and white journalistic photography this week...while I am not in Target of course.

illin.

sick, in the good way.

photo credit: Siri Tollerod

Everyone is ill. Everyone who blogs, everyone who is online, everyone who owns a computer, wears shoes, buys paper towels, and has seen the ocean is sick right now. And everyone besides that. It is a phenomena, akin to Lady Gaga, that is sweeping the nation so ferociously it will be months before anyone realizes they have never actually HEARD  a Lady GaGa song...Okay, I veered hard for a second there. Being sick means not so much of the cute clothing or the makeup, or the hygiene in general. I forgot to brush my teeth this morning, no joke. I am going to suck it up and blog right now though because I love you. No, really it is because I am a narcissist and I like the sound of my own voice, er, typing.

First I want to bring to you the really anti-climactic news that you can find me on lookbook.nu. I posted A photo as a formality. I'm usually pretty hesitant to join any "post your own" fashion site, and even more so when I cannot post photos from my shop. I have a remained loyal to a few sites that I can post Magnolia Family Vintage captures in and receive feedback/marketing points. I really joined lookbook.nu because you have to be invited and I am a sucker for any club that doesn't want me. There is something of the "what's beyond that sunset?" quality to a site that you can't just register for. Kudos to them for making it seem exclusive! I bought it. Once I got an invite (which was embarassingly easy, sorry Lookbook) I did find a lot of great inspiration and lovely girls wearing killer shoes. But after perusing the style for a long time, click-click-clicking through, I became baffled and a little disoriented. I'm not sure how to phrase this question, so here goes... 

Disclaimer: There is the possibility that I am venturing into "bitter, party of one!" territory. I do that unawares quite often...

How are these girls getting a photographer to follow them around? Do they hire someone? Do they all have an unemployed boyfriend (if so, congrats on that), or are they offering a "professional and atmospheric self-photography" course in Junior College now? I was not offered that class. I am so confused! I see dozens of girls everyday who have these ah-mazing photos of themselves, not occasionally, not on weekends or special occasions but apparently EVERY DAY. There is editing and lighting, there is great composition, there is casual, hip posing!! How does this happen? (I was tempted to link the previous sentences to evidence in the form of other bloggers, but I could see how it may be taken wrong) How does an entire generation of fashionistas enslave a legion of amateur photographers? Don't they feel silly walking around with one paparazzi all day? I would. I feel silly saying "Hey. Dave, would you mind very much taking my photo, I promise it will be fast!" I am not mocking anyone here, for the record. If I could, I would make self-photography a priority in my life!   I am just jealous. I want to look back decades from now and see myself back-lit with sunlight flare and whatever that polaroid effect is...I want to look better in photos than I do in my own memory. 

Anyhoo.

I am not a crafty type, nor a DIY-er by any stretch of the imagination. But I know a good opportunity when I see one! Yesterday we went to Garden Ridge SUPAHSTORE here in Austin to gather up sale price Christmas decorations and it was a BONANZA of potential awesomeness!

There was so much fun, sparkly, feathered, colorful stuff! It seemed to me that it was all just waiting to be transformed into other kinds of amazing stuff. I want to hang that orange feather in my hair! If I were of the crafty persuasion, I imagine this kind of place would be a gold mine. And all the Christmas decorations were half off! Since my family fails at organized decorating, we decided that our theme for Christmas this year will be "gaudy." We basically snapped up every sparkly, gold, bright, shiny bauble we found...and a big white tree. The results of this holiday cacophony will, I'm sure, be posted here soon enough.

And speaking of shiny, this is the feature of my blog where I steal things I find in other peoples blogs. We can call it "Grand Theft Blog," and it starts now because I am so obsessed with this jacket,

Antonin Tran piece found at jakandjil

It's so right. It feels so good.

New listings in the Magnolia Family Vintage shop...

New Auctions in the Magnolia Family Vintage store! 

We have a bunch of goodies up for auction right now in the shop! On top of the regular auctions, check out our special 99 CENT starting bid sale. Lots of lovely items and you can get them for mere pennies. xoxo

in the shade of the light show.

Look who's getting into the Christmas Spirit!

xo