Category Archives: Real Life : Dottie

Real Life:: Grandparents in town!

Real Life : Dottie

My parents just came out for a nice visit.  The time always flies by no matter how long they stay.

Seeing her and my parents interact is always a treat for all of them. It always makes me think about my own grandparents.

In my family, we called our grandfathers’ “Poppy” because the first grandchild, my brother, couldn’t say Grandpa, but instead called my father’s father Poppy.  And we called my mother’s father “Poppy with Smokey”–Smokey being the name of his dog.  Once again, this was based on my brother John’s toddler mind insights. After all, dogs do tend to make impressions on kids.

My father chose to be called “Grandad” and all of the kids light up when they see him.  Grandma is my mother’s choice, although several of the kiddos have been known to call her possessively, “MY Grandma” much to her delight.

I don’t know what I’d like to be called should I be lucky enough to have grandchildren.  But a friend of my mother’s had the best grandmother name–“Madam”.  Her grandchildren would run up to her calling, “Madam, Madam!” It wasn’t because the grandmother insisted on such a formal name, but because as a mother she had so many daughters that the girls’ suitors would call their mother “Madam” as if the house were a brothel and the nickname stuck.

What names did you call your grandparents? What do your kiddos call your parents?

OMG :: funny follow-up story to Renegade

Real Life, Real Life : Alix, Real Life : Dottie

Duuuuuude. Dottie totally reminded me that i forgot to tell you the funniest thing about our day at the Renegade Craft Fair. SO the place was PACKED. I mean, there is a fair amount of parking down at Fort Mason and every nook and cranny was filled. Dottie was my gracious driving buddy for the day (she does this a lot….and I so appreciate it!). So we are going around and around through the lot. No spaces. No where. Suddenly we end up behind this monster….and i mean MONSTER…..camper trailer deal. The thing was like 40 feet long. I sway-uh. It also had about 30 bikes on the back. Clearly this was some young family traveling cross country. In a tour bus. That could hold Bieber’s entourage. It also had the name “FLAIR!” emblazoned on the side.

Suddenly we ended up behind Flair as we cruised down the parking row. And then we saw it…. the elusive, lone parking space. “YES!!!!” Dottie hollered. We happily zipped forward to claim our prize, when we noticed FLAIR had stopped next to the space. And was suddenly kickin’ it in reverse.

“UM, Flair…..surely you don’t think you are going to fit in that little space??”
Dottie and I laughed. How funny! As if FLAIR could fit into the compact space. Flair wouldn’t dare.

Oh. But Flair did dare. And for the next 10 minutes scooted forwards and back trying to squeeeeeeze into that damn parking space. Flair nearly took off the side view mirrors of the car next to him. Flair ensured that whoever came to their car would never be able to open their doors. Flair also had a good 12 cars lined up behind him while he tried to squeeze into the space. At one point he stopped, as if he thought he had made it in the space, but was sticking out so far that no one could get past him. There were lots of groans and moans from all the cars around us. “Dude. You won’t fit.” and “Duuuuuuuuude! C’mon!” Dottie and I were trapped, watching Flair take our space.


{note how perilously close FLAIR is to that car on the left.}

Suddenly Flair gave up, pulled back and left. “YES!!!!” We happily swung into the wee parking space….only to find…FLAIR TRYING TO PULL IN FROM THE OTHER SIDE!!! The driver stuck his head out the window and shouted at us, “AW, C’MON!” Wait…..what? FLAIR? You calling US out? You who has blocked the entire parking lot in your gigantic TOUR BUS are trying to make us feel badly??  “I LEFT MY KID THERE!” We turned our heads to where he was pointing and spy a small boy was standing awkwardly to the side of the space. CLASSY Flair! Classy! It soon became painfully obvious that FLAIR DIDN’T CARE!! We were so annoyed and while we could have been jerks, FLAIR is not our middle name. So we simply pulled back out of the space and drove off in a huff (as huffy as one can be in a car that is dwarfed by FLAIR). We both shook our heads and then just burst out laughing. The guy was lame, and sure we ended up parking 200 miles away, but we had a nice walk and the day was still grand.

And if you are ever in the position to be driving something as honkin’ as FLAIR, please, for the luva gawd….acknowledge to your fellow drivers that your crazy antics and behemoth mobile are causin’ a rude ruckus. A courtesy wave does wonders, friends!

The Renegade Craft Fair Hits San Francisco

Real Life, Real Life : Alix, Real Life : Dottie

A few weekends ago, Miss Dottie and I decided to head on down to the Renegade Craft Fair. It’s always at the most scenic location, Fort Mason. The joint was jumpin’ and we saw and met some really amazing folks (shout out to the most wonderful Robert Mahar! So great to finally meet in person!)!

Renegade is filled with all kinds of handmade goodness….silkscreened artwork on tees, beautiful felt floral hair clips, stuffed animals and dolls, art work, jewelery and much more. A lot of the work is playful and tongue-in-cheek. A little bit indie. A little bit kitschy. And a lot of lovely. Let’s look around!

I was quite taken with this cuckoo wolf clock from Black Forest Clockworks.

Another favorite were these globes, they were STUNNING I tell you. Vintage globes are all the rage, but I thought this fun spin on them was especially cool. Usually people futzing with vintage objects can kinda bum me out (“What?? Paint on a gorgeous vintage globe??? Sacrilege!”) but these were glorious. Artist Wendy Gold paints whimsical designs and even customized family trees on them and turns them into unique pieces of art. You can see more at ImagineNations.


Once of my fave things to scoop up are groovy tees for Wolfie and Greg. SO MANY great ones. I got Wolfie that little groovy fox down there. Rad tees from Gnome Enterprises.

These pins were really sweet—but mostly they made me want to find the vintage puzzle that they came from.

I say….doesn’t everyone need a monocle???? I reeeeally wish I had bought that, just so I could give people THE LOOK whenever I felt like it.

OK. This was so gross. We bought these little cupcakes before realizing they were called, like, poo-poo cupcakes. Yeah. That’s a marzipan fly on top. Not a big fan of that concept…. (But guess what? Close your eyes, and they were delicious!)

I tell ya, Big Foot really never gets old. Same goes for Chewbacca and Abominables. And a Chewy with a taco? Too good.

This is the adorable Lisa from Zelma Rose. Her “vintage inspired curiosities” are these really charming hand crafted pendants. Dottie loved the beautiful chalkboard lockets and sillouettes and I was quite taken by the constellations (hey, they didn’t used to call me Galexie Girl for nothing! I lerve of all things spacey!).


We ran into our sweet pal (and fellow Devil-Ette) Katie. She bought some really great felt hair doo dads from migration studios. Really lovely.



We had to take a break for some snackies and veggie corn dogs did the trick!

Then it was back to the show! I have to say I’m crazy about these suave animals from Ryan at Berkeley Illustration. I bought two prints for Wolfie’s room, the dapper Wolf and the mysterious Cheetah (because Wolfie recently informed that the cheetah is his “Top Favorite Animal”). They are very affordable and super cool.


Emily from The Black Apple was there and her display was as adorable as you would expect. Little vintage suitcases filled with goodies? Yes please.

I swear we don’t really own many “wolf” items (although I realize I just referenced THREE in this post alone) but this notebook was so cute I couldn’t resist!!

The lovely ladies at Goodbye Blue Monday had the sweetest dolls. Dottie almost bought one for the Peach…must remember come Christmas!

Best in Show for me was Fox and Owl. She makes these completely magical little stuffed animals that remind me of the vintage German Steiff animals I had growing up. They were SO sweet and wonderfully made. Just gorgeous. You must check them out!

So cute….

All in all it was a smashing day! If the Renegade is coming to a town near you, you should def check it out!

Psst, click here to read a quick a funny story about us trying to find parking at Renegade!

Tea Collection & the Peach

Real Life : Dottie


Although I was quite bummed I couldn’t attend the Tea Collection open house with Alix (I was in LA for E3 at the time), I still wanted to do a little post on how much I love Tea Collection!

The Peach has been wearing Tea Collection dresses and leggings since her earliest days.

The lovely wrap neckline is perfect for getting those big baby heads through.

The patterns are also sso jolly and not condescendingly BABY, if you know what I mean.

The dresses turn into tunics later because I just hated taking them out of rotation.

I just love that the brand grows with her.

Here are some recent pics of the Peach I snapped wearing some of the goodies I received in the gift bag Alix brought back for me. It included some wonderful pieces from their upcoming Mexico-inspired collection that I know will become staples in her wardrobe. Like this dandy top. Perfect for the balmy weather we are having right now.

And I love love love this turquoise terry hoodie that is so darn wearable and the first thing the Peach grabs before she heads out to the park. It will be available in the Fall so keep an eye out for it.

The first wave is already on their site (the Jardin Azul collection) and I can’t wait to see Tea Collection’s full fall line! Squee!

Real Life:: Dottie’s Yankee Doodle Weekend!

Real Life, Real Life : Dottie, ,

Oh lawdy, I’m tired!  But I had the best three day weekend for the Fourth. We decided to forgo travel this weekend and hunker down on the island. I LOVE a good family car trip or plane trip or (squee!) a train trip. But sometimes it’s nice to just hang out in your old stomping grounds and pump a little special into the mix.

Like making blueberry pancakes Saturday morning! I don’t know if it gets more special than that! CHOW has a wonderfully easy recipe that I have a feeling will work its way into my cooking repertoire very soon.

We also went on a “hike”  on Montclair Trail, which is perfect for the kiddos. Not too crowded and a beautiful easy shady walk. I can’t wait to go again. Brave Daddy heading the trail with Miss Peach picking up pieces of sloughed eucalyptus bark.

And we also snuck a little tag sale action into the mix. Our gal, glamorous authoress Lynn Peril (of Think Pink, College Girls and her latest book, Swimming in the Steno Pool) had a little tag sale which was choc-a-block with wonderfulness. She even had an original RECORD from the cast of ZOOM! But the best part was seeing Lynn and fellow Dame, Karen Finlay’s fabulous hats.

Why, yes that is faux netting made of straw and yes, that is a little lobster caught in the straw “net’ on Lynn’s hat. I know. Trust me, I know.

I also stopped by another tag sale a block away and scored some AMAZING finds. Like this terrific vintage floral suitcase and two darling floral vintage dresses which have both been added to the summer UFO project list because they just need minor little changes before they are fabulous. Oh, but they will be fabulous. Don’t doubt it for a moment, friends!

Sunday was rather hot for the Bay Area! So a morning bike ride to the beach was in order.  Me with my hat and the Peach with her toys. Sadly the tide was really out but the Peach had a blast chasing tiny tiny fishies in the tide pools.

And when the sun got too strong for our fair Peach, we hustled her into the little Crab Cove Nature Conservatory which was full of sweet facts and cool things to look at—like aquariums and a neato info about sharks and whales. I loved how they tried to create the feeling that you were in the bottom of the ocean by painting the walls and hanging things like this boat from the ceiling.

 

And there was also a bit of QT spent playing in that summer suburban classic—the sprinklers.

But the best was the local Fourth of July parade on Monday. What a hoot! And such great local flavor.

The Peach wore a little vintage red, white and blue number to cheer on everyone in the parade, which is always best watched from Daddy’s arms.

My favorite part was watching the oldest baton troupe in the U.S., The Pearlettes. I would have loved to be one, but I’d be too afraid of it hitting me in the head.

The weekend was a blast. We also went to BBQs, the local pool and I did bits of sewing and other little things. And danced to silly songs and marched around the backyard. And reading many many many books to the Peach.

Yup. The best part of the weekend was just being able to spend time with my sweetie and my favorite little Peach.

How was your Fourth of July weekend?