and here's to the silver sea.

There are so many amazing things about going on vacation in Hawaii with your family. The most amazing being the inevitable (if we have the same mother, anyhow) group family photos on the beach.  I thought I would, nee should, share some of the beauty with you all.

"I'm squishing your head"

Looks like my hypersensitive offspring just realized she was standing on *GASP* sand.

Don't worry, with a little time and patience, you too can learn to look this pretty in photos...

I think we pulled it out in the end. This one has "annoying family photo Christmas card that you look at once and then throw away" written AAAALLLLL over it.

So I was in Oahu all last week on family vacation and I took a merciful break from anything blog related. This is almost all the photos I ended up in. In case you are wondering, I found that dress at a flea market near Peal Harbor. A few of the other lessons/highlights of my vacation included,

• Avery gets stung by a portugese man o' war on night one. She speaks in tongues and screams for an hour. The next day she GETS BACK IN THE OCEAN. Whaaaaatttt?

• Polynesian guys dancing is hot, really hot. I was unaware.

ooooh manly.

   

• We do not have television at my house. After spending a week in a room with a television, I have discovered that I love the Animal Planet channel and Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel.

Again. Whaaaat?!?!

• Japanese tourists are the most stylish people on earth. I probably do not need to point this out but come on. They always look this fresh and styled, even while sunbathing.

Oooooh, I also got to hit up 88 Tees in Waikiki, a fun, trendy japanese vintage/tee-shirt shop. I was desperately searching waikiki on our last day on the island for a sweater or sweatshirt to buy so I wouldn't freeze to death during the 11 hours I was going to endure in the air. I detest being cold. It would have been an easier task were I not bound to this little secondhand agenda. I was so excited when I discovered the racks and racks of vintage shirts, sweaters, and sportswear in 88 tees!!

I ended up with a vintage NAVY hooded sweatshirt for $18! Perfect. I was cozy all the way home and I stayed true to my pledge. Alas, Austin is suffering through a vicious heat wave and I may not even touch the sweatshirt again for months. It is topping 100 degrees here every day, by several degrees in fact, and doesn't look to be cooling soon.

In the spirit of blogging about what this blog is actually about, here are the last two outfits I photographed before leaving on vacation.

LEFT

dress-thrifted

shorts-husbands

shoes-vintage

RIGHT

dress-thrifted, from Anthropologie

shoes-vintage

And yes, that is my kid on two different days in the same dress. She is young, we'll forgive her ;)

A massive attack, in parts.

Since I have been absent for awhile, I will eschew the coherent, narrative blog style today in favor of a BLOG DUMP. Sounds classy, right? Basically, here are a bunch of things I have saved, noted, or intended to blog about... dumped all over the page in a sloppy, jumbled fashion.

1. Summer is here. 

How do I know? The obvious evidence being the month of June, the heat, and the parade of magazine articles about self-tanner, your bikini body, and cold soup recipes. The less obvious evidence being the trail of wet bathing suits, empty SPF 50 bottles, and crusty, chlorine wasted magazines all over my house. I usually look like this...

What else are you supposed to do when it is, in all seriousness, 103 degrees outside, with 80% humidity, and there are tornados threatening your sanity. TORNADOS IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD PEOPLE.

I have just fallen into a routine of work, working out, and going to the pool with the tiny one. Every once in awhile, I have been compelled to get dressed. Sometimes like so,

thrifted skirt/dress

thrifted Cache vest

I know. If you're paying attention, you must be freaking out because HOW AMAZING ARE MY NEW (?) WONDROUS, VINTAGE PLATFORMS? I picked them up at Feathers a few weeks ago. I don't need any more children, these are my babies. In my opinion, heels this great, in mint, vintage condition, are the holy grail. I don't think I looked at the price, I was ready to spill blood for them. I could tell the shopgirl was a bit envious that they fit my feet.

Moving on... Someone tell me, does my right arm look that large in real life? I deserve to know!

thrifted gauze dress

thrifted lace vest

FRYE boots, obviously.

thrifted satchel

I was quite pleased with this Goodwill purchase as well!

Oh, and here is what it looks like to be upstaged. HARD.

Anthropologie dress, purchased at least 3 years ago

thrifted Dian VonFurstenberg bag

vintage sandals

I am ALMOST as excited about these sandals as I am about the platforms. I mean, THEY SAY MY NAME. How does that even happen? When it's right, it's right. I bought these when we were in California, forever ago, and have been saving them for summer proper. I was amazed when I visited my old neighbourhood how the already nifty Fourth Street drag in Long Beach had sprouted even more amazing and hip little vintage boutiques. It's not hard to make me miss CA, but they succeeded with a vengeance.

Enough of that...

2. My bestie (kick me in the face, I would) has a wicked blog.

Honestly, MUCH better than mine. You should stop reading this right now and move on to Experiment in Poverty right now. NOW! She updates, like, EVERY SINGLE DAY. She writes about her boyfriend, the artist, she loves ballet, and she was on Glamour Online last week! This is Jasmine...

Anyhow, we have been best friend for more than a decade. According to her, the first time we met was in line for the water fountain or something, P.E., 7th grade. I introduced myself with charm by saying "No offense, but you have a lot of split ends." In my own defense, I have no memory of this. In hers, this totally sounds like something I would have said.

We used to be so innocent.

*If I hear you say you look fat in this photo again I am going to cry. Seriously, I am not going to do anything mean or funny I am just going to sob and make you feel guilty.

3. I cannot stop watching these videos.

 

I feel like I have an infection, it's that... vital. I watch it in the morning and in the evening. I like the balance.

To be continued...

Magnolia Family Vintage FOR YOU.

New, lovely, vintage items added to the

Magnolia Family Vintage shop!

And it's all for you. Take a look at what's in store...

♥keep it in the family