Today's Inspiration- Otis Redding - "These Arms Of Mine"

Read more

Today's Inspiration- Thomas Campbell

As people at home are getting crafty, I will look at things in my own home with much less seeing kids I went to high school with (though you never know? If any FHS grads are around Greenlake, they should totally stop by). One thing I can do is look at some objects that incorporate craft into their aesthetic, like Thomas Campbell's faux quilting flowers.

from www.gingkopress.com

These flowers are made of thread and varying types of paper (if you look close, you can find currency in there!). Beyond being quite femme and pretty, they highlight craft by letting those strings hang, reminding you of the labor involved. So Thomas Campbell is my inspiration today.

Hope all of you Franklin people are enjoying the first day of Applefest!

Read more

Vintage lace wedding dresses - featuring gorgeous Felicity!

Dear Reader,
As our Bride of the Week is Felicity, I thought we'd take a minute to look again at the beautiful lace she is wearing...

For this 1930s inspired Butterfly dress from my Heavenly Collection, we use a family firm of lacemakers in Nottingham. They have been producing some of the world's finest lace for over five generations...!

Elegant 1930s shoppers look at my exclusive lace!

When I was sourcing the lace for my vintage-style wedding dresses, I looked at ateliers worldwide. It was so exciting to find this wonderful Nottingham company and see their original pattern books - the equal of any couture atelier in France or Italy. (After all, Nottingham was the heart of the world's lace industry for 150 years.) 

We agreed on an exclusive license to produce this stunning quality lace from the 1930s, for my Heavenly Collection dresses. (I was thrilled to find the photo of two elegant 1930s shoppers looking at the exact same lace, recently.)

The lace they make is elegant, strong and drapes beautifully - as you can clearly see in these pictures of gorgeous Felicity who looks so fabulous in it! 

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

If you like this, please check out 

Angel and Butterfly 1930s Wedding Dresses in Nottingham lace

Read more

6 Things You Should Totally Do at Applefest... For Us

We have had a good two days, and there is plenty to be grateful for, but more importantly Applefest starts in earnest tomorrow. I know all you crazy kids will be out and about, but between your merriment, take a moment for those of us who cannot appreciate the joy of Franklin's colorful trees, packed sidewalks

1. Awkwardly Avoid Eye Contact with Someone at the Apple Pancake Breakfast- I love this part. If you don't awkwardly avoid talking to at least one person who also mostly doesn't want to talk to you, you are missing the magic of your small town filling back up with people. So kick the whole thing off with pancakes and just the right amount of awkwardness.

2. Buy a Ridiculous Craft (Extra Points if It's a Little Bit Racist)-We bought a shell with Native American stereotypes on it back in high school, and i think we also have one with the Pope. If you share the political leanings of everyone I block on facebook, maybe a nice rebel flag related item? I also like the tire swings and any kind of clay figurine. Oooooh! Also, anything with a lot of glitter glue.

3. Eat Leonardo's bread-Savor every bite, because it does not get any better. If you get pizza, think of me.

4.Complain About Traffic at least Once (Car and Foot Both Count)- Oh Franklin, and your one weekend of traffic.  it is ridiculous, and then when you finally find parking, you can be in shock at how many people just stop in the middle of wherever you want as long as it is incredibly inconvenient to everyone else. Do they not notice? Or arethey encouraging everyone else to stop and appreciate the moment? Even better? People with giant strollers. Like big enough to hold 6 babies. Bonus points if there are no spawn to be seen.

5. Pretend to be Interested in Classic Cars for as Long as You Can- If you make it longer than 5 minutes, you do better than me. I figure you just pick your favorite and move on. You would absolutely school me if you had a conversation with one of the owners, though then you have to make conversation with strangers, so weigh your options on that one.

6. Go to Chicago-This show, from what I read, is no place for children (you have been warned, in case you have never heard of Chicago before). So watch out, because the Barrow is encouraging some serious hoodlums. Or just go see an amazing show which everyone has been singing the praises of since it opened last week. With lots of my favorite people involved. And tell me all about it, so I can be super jealous.

Read more

3 Things for Yesterday- Apple Cider, Apple Curry, and Teal Tuesday!

1. Apple Cider- Gah, it is so good! Yay treats!

2. Apple Curry and Chicken- The Boy made a delicious apple dish that you probably wouldn't find at Applefest usually, but it made our house smell amazing (if you can't have the smell of french fries and funnel cake, the smell of curry is a pretty good substitute).

3. Everyone who participated in Teal Tuesday! I was especially excited that people who I don't know did it, because I think that means this thing has got some legs. Special propers go to the lovely and amazing Paige Greene, who hit it out of the park and got a lot of friends to participate. I think  I counted 27 people who posted selfies in teal, which is awesome (I didn't post them all, because I felt like that is overkill and I didn't want to put anyone out there who I don't know well)! I just think it is so special to see how much support Ann got in particular, but also how many people wanted to help share the word about this disease, which is truly awful. We will be doing it again next year EVERY Tuesday in September, so start stocking up on your teal duds!

And even better, Aunt Ann's CA-125 is 56!!! To put this in perspective, it has been higher than 200 and the "normal" range is 0-35. This could not be more exciting!

Read more

October Fashion Inspiration and What Worked in September

October Fashion Inspiration

So October is month 8, and I am really done by maternity clothes (ok, I lie, I bought one t-shirt for Halloween, but otherwise, DONE). This month, in my mind, is about bringing out boots, leggings, layers, and scarves. I am hoping that creates enough transformation that all the stuff I have already seems fresh and fun still.  Here are a few inspiration pictures:

from glorycloset.blogspot.com.es

This is my idea of a perfect late pregnancy fall outfit. I really love that in this season you can still wear pre-pregnancy jackets open with a great scarf and jeans, and you look pretty chic (maybe not as chic as this model, but still).

from http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/31/fa/76/31fa761365f20dd366c8df0e1647a0bb.jpg

 In general, I don't love these kinds of sweaters, because I believe in the power of waists (so I just think buttons help), but late pregnancy and fall basically begs for something like this. I did buy something kind of like this (but colorful) for the nursing phase, but I will probably pair it with boots and leggings as well.

from http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/e9/90/0b/e9900b55fce64edb21cb9ea62fb84159.jpg

Lastly, I feel I can make it through these later stretches by just wearing dresses as shirts with boots. This is about 90% of my strategy for the next 6 weeks. I like this combo because of the belt/boot match, but I think I can work with what I have this way.

What Worked in September

Oooph, this ended up being a month with a lot of growth for me. As in I exploded from pregnant into PREGNANT. I can see why people kind of give up at the end- just feeling comfortable is a pretty significant goal. On the other hand, you can look pretty cute really easily, because people associate you with babies, which they think are cute even when they poop and puke and are as gross as most miracles seem to be.

 Most of my best moments this month were on our trip to New Orleans, in which I got to dress up a lot. I love this grey dress, which is comfy and not too clingy (thought about prego clothes- they push jerseys because they are stretchy, but they also hold on to all the wrong things). I feel the message of this dress is "Yes, I am pregnant, but have you seen my boobs?" I also thought the sleeves would be good for fall, though we are just getting to that weather here.

 This lace dress was a gift from Aunt Ann early on in my pregnancy, and for a while we would joke about its tenty-ness. Now, it is almost too short because there is so much me. I love the color and having a kind of monochromatic print. This one is getting used in a big way now that it is tights and leggings season.

 Also, I would like to give a shout out to my Pea in the Pod splurge maternity jeans, which remain all kinds of awesome as things get more casual and colder. I am generally not a jeans girl, would happily wear a dress everyday, but I do applaud these jeans for holding on so well. Also, yay for really large-scaled jewelry, which is now getting replaces with scarves, but really brought it in September.

Read more

13 Things You Don't Realize Until You Leave Franklin, PA

Hedging: This is no slam on anyone who now lives in or out of Franklin. I swear these are all based on moments The Boy and I have had when we realize we aren't in Franklin anymore. 

1. Apparently other people vacuum their floors, I sweep mine- Also, jagger, not thorn. And "to be" is not nearly as useful as other people seem to think. The floors needs swept is a perfectly legitimate sentence (The Boy just read this as I was writing it, and it blew his mind. He had no idea that everyone doesn't say "this needs cleaned" or "the ring needs destroyed"). Also, this can be the quickest way to find other people from PA.  You don't need to be from Polklahoma to have an accent.

2. Grocery Stores can be filled with people you don't know- At certain hours and in certain levels of lazy fashion failures, this is even a good thing.

3. Not everyone knows someone who owns lots of guns (in a totally non-creepy way)- Last weekend, we had the gun debate with a friend, and as is often the case, he was surprised (given our general super-liberalism) that we are mostly ok with people having lots of guns (they should have licenses and background checks- and some guns nobody needs- we aren't crazy). Some of the gentlest and most nature-loving people I know are also hunters, there is no disconnect there. Apparently, if your grandpa doesn't like wearing a bolo, doing sudoku, making his own ammo, and sitting in the woods, you have a different mental picture of what it means to be a gun-owner.

Also, and this has been noted many times in and out of Franklin, first day of deer season is not a holiday everywhere.

4. "Frownie Brownie" sounds super racist- Also, the t-shirt has certain historically specific connotations people aren't fond of. It even gets worse if you try to explain it to someone. I am totally sure it is unintentional, but I have been suspicious since I realized the wall of the Barkeyville King's Lady Bathroom says "KKK" on it.

5. You need Identification when you go to the bank- Looking just like one of your parents does not help you when it isn't Northwest Savings Bank.

6. Nearly nothing takes 15 minutes to get to (and some people don't use time as a form of measurement)- Franklin to the cranberry mall? 15-20 minutes. Franklin to Utica? 15 to 20 minutes. To Barkeyville? 15-20 minutes. Also, some people measure distance in miles. For the record, I would guess these distances based purely on the assumption everyone drives at exactly 60 miles an hour at all times.

7. You can buy beer in grocery stores- You can even buy liquor outside the hours of 9 to 5. I still feel like someone might kick me out when I am in the Safeway booze aisle, because I am in the state store without my Mom.

8. Meeting people is its own skill; You haven't always sort of known everyone you know- When people ask when or how the Boy and I met, the short answer is Marching Band. The long answer is that his brother dated my friend all the way back in Middle School, and I can remember watching his dad at the pizza shop as a kid, and there is a picture of he and my mom when he was in 7th grade. When you get out of the small town, friendship feels more like world's colliding. In Franklin, it can feel more like you have always already known that person.

9. Everything is louder than the mighty Allegheny- You miss genuine quiet, or even the slight buzz of 322 and the sound of the river. Both my brother and I both have to listen to things to sleep, but city quiet is never quiet enough, so you are better off drowning it out.

10. Things other than Walmart (and formerly Kings) can be open at 3 in the morning- If it is very late, and you would like to do something or go somewhere, there are other options than "just drive around" or go to Walmart. Though I have found there are fewer King's or Eat'n Park-like establishments in the world than it needs.

11. Parking tickets can be expensive! No longer 2 bucks, every ticket for the rest of your life will remind you of Franklin as a parking utopia.

12. You have to tell your doctor your family history- Because he wasn't also your mom's doctor, or friends with your grandma, etc. I will say, I am cool with our baby not being delivered by the doctor who delivered me, which I know for a while happened a lot in Franklin. No one needs lady parts comparisons with their mother.

13. You can tell your family news before they hear it at the beauty salon or curves- My advice: tell everyone around the same time, or else your grandmas will discuss it at Curves before you get to them. Just because you have left Franklin doesn't mean that people won't still know your business, but the distance means you can at least put it out there at your own speed.

Read more