mayday, mayday, IT'S JUNE?!

me made mission accomplished.  lucky number 13 of the month was a tribute to the mastermind behind it all, zoe, homage brilliantly suggested by the crafty gillian.  i was fortunate enough to have zoe's number one choice of backdrop handy: le red door, but i couldn't finish the job without my gent.  so he grabbed a little sunshine with me.  he's all ready for graduation, dontcha know. 

if you'd like to see my full mmm set with bigger pics (the last one bearing my thank you note to zoe), hop on over to flickr.  me, i'm done hopping for the night.  i'll be putting my feet up and having a little sweet vermouth.  i'll tell ya, it's a good thing this was me made may and not jacked up june, cause this next week is gonna be ca-ray-zy.

did you play?  are you celebrating with a toast?  cheers, baby.  and do tell what's in your glass.

thooooose were the daaaaays

my day 11 outfit for mmm reminded me of just how awesomely intricate RTW pieces were back when our parents walked to school uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow, so i had to get some close ups for you.  like i said, i'm pretty sure this was a mommaballoona maternity dress.  look at the embroidery on this little piece of cotton heaven!  i love all the angles and the little insets and trim... the buttons are from my stash, it used to have small plastic jobs that didn't seem to have the same standards as the rest of this dress.  i topstitched it like crazy in gold, carefully hiding and tucking all the worn places away.  it feels like a faded photograph on, and i always just barely iron it for fear of it disappearing completely.

i found this frock in my parent's magical attic (no longer in existence, sadly for me and probably a source of great relief for parental kalkatroonans).  it didn't matter how many times i'd sneak up there, i would Always. come out with some treasure.  the magnitude of the prize dictated whether i would show it to said parents, or stuff it in my overnight bag.  in my mind this was not stealing; it was a rescue mission.

i like my mind.

this stitched belt was rescued by ruggy from his dad's Oh My God We Are Getting Rid Of EVERYTHING period.  you know that phase, yes?  when you can't stand your closets and shelves and cupboards any more?  and then lament over everything you maniacally tossed?  oh, the wondrosities that were fated to boxes by the side of the road.  and the thing is, i probably wouldn't have known to save any of it even if i'd been there.  i looked at ruggy like he'd been hit on the head with too many sports related flying objects when he brought this belt home.  it came with a joe namath polyester button down (as in, the tag said joe namath menswear, and the shirt had repeating drawings of joe namaths surrounded by women) and a pair of acid purple bell bottom jeans.  i was all into the jeans.  sadly, my ass was NOT.  circa 70s ruggian dad apparently had a booty the size of one of my thighs.

even though papa ruggy was eager to let this stuff go, he made us promise we would never get rid of the shirt & belt.  (the jeans were abandoned shortly after arrival.  it was too depressing.)  i'm glad we made that promise, as i wear the belt constantly now... we'll see if joe namath ever makes it into heavy rotation.  (ba DUM dum.)

i left many, many accessories behind in NY, so the only embellishment for this outfit was a pair of earrings found last christmas with mother ruggy.  they were fifty cents.  THEY WERE FIFTY CENTS.  hand painted!  i lurve them.  

(now... dad du kalkatroona, if only you'd find that lions head gold necklace, i could dub this ensemble the Parental Parade Package.  or was it swallowed by magical attic?)

mmmmonday the fourth

you shouldn't go from manhattans to burgundy back to manhattans and then on to champagne.  i'm just saying.

my me-makes this week started out with a serious test of seams on my hipster camo dress, which i wore to work. i had to propel my five-foot-two-and-three-quarters-inches onto a six-foot-three-thousand-and-seven-billion-inches man.  repeatedly.  my knees are bruised but the seams held.  huzzah!

the Perfect Shade Of Blue vintage tent dress was shown the town in its first ever outing, and boy did it have fun.  i stole was graciously bequeathed this dress by my mom, i believe it was a maternity dress.  the color and the gorgeous embroidery (and the fact that my mom wore it... maybe i wore it too?) made me lovingly schlep it unworn from move to move, and i finally found the guts to refashion it into a patio dress.  it was a LOT of work, and thanks to y'all i've decided refashions that were a LOT of work totally count.

did you see the rock and roll hall of fame ceremonies this year?  HOLY SHIT THE BEASTIE BOYS TRIBUTE WAS JAW DROPPING.   YOU MUST YOUTUBE IT.  AS SOON AS THERE IS A DECENT VIDEO I'M PUTTING IT UP HERE AND IT IS MANDATORY THAT YOU WATCH IT.  i'm sorry, i shouldn't be yelling when there are peeps nursing hangovers in the vicinity.  this xxl t shirt has 3 refashioned seams running up its low cut back, and a cool twisty embellishment at the neck... but who cares, IT'S A BEASTIE BOYS T SHIRT.  i'm sorry.  i will chill.  the skirt is the bottom half of the magical schizophrenic 4 in 1 hack of this vintage dress.  though the skirt half was mostly seam rippage, an hour of pulling threads qualifies in my book.

whoah hey, one more mmm left!   i have no finish to this post other than that (see: first sentence).

three squares a day

i think three day weekends are all the more delicious when you unexpectedly have them OFF.  walls are coming down at my place of work, so i'm free.  freeeeeeeeeeeee!  we left the house at 10am and had an (also unexpected) adventure day.

breakfast:  coffee in our new favorite shop.... greg's garage, also known as trystero, where he serves up macchiatos in twice a month tastings, made from beans he roasts himself (that he will gladly deliver to your door).  this beat intelligentsia, yo.

what do you spie with your little eye?

lunch: pulled pork sliders and cheddar burgers in a converted warehouse, also known as golden road brewery. ruggy won with his choice of meat, but i won with my choice of brew: get up offa that brown english ale.

we parked our happy asses here.

dessert:  VINTAGE FABRIC FROM 1976 AT FIVE BUCKS A YARD.  in between beverage adventures, a sign proclaiming "a thousand fabrics" caught my eye (i yelled when i saw it).  on the way home, ruggy was happy to listen to the top 100 albums of all time while i greedily devoured my dessert.

don't ask me how i missed the floral awesomeness underneath, i was blinded by the all the sunshiny wovenosity (and tipsily concentrating on my host's hand, who delighted in showing me the year).  still thirsty, we grabbed some vermouth on the way home.

you know, for dinner.

like to take a peek?

 

i've made a facebook page for le blog.  peer pressure finally did me & the rugster in, so i thought why not throw a little oona love in there.  (also, during our battle to see who would get to 100 friends first, i wondered aloud if i should link my alter ego, and ruggy was all YOU HAVE TO GET A FACEBOOK PAGE BEFORE SOMEONE TAKES OONABALLOONA.  and yes, he said it in all caps.)

(ruggy won.)

(i'm not quite sure how we got so into facebook.  many of our friends think it may be a sign of the apocalypse.)

for now i'll be posting sneak peeks of what i'm working on that won't appear here until the project is finished... i'm thinking of it as oona hors d'oeuvres.  would you like a pancetta wrapped date stuffed with marcona almonds?  how about a few strawberries with goat cheese and a balsamic reduction?  i won't have any of those over there.  but there will be bits of lace and thread and probably cocktails.  so if you're into the facebook thing, go on over and like it if ya like!