Vintage Kiddo Retro Round Up

Kiddo Style: Vintage

Did you have a lovely weekend?  There was a whole lot of wonderful weather to be enjoyed in the Bay Area and beyond. I however, spent the majority of it inside sick or tending to someone sick. Sigh. But of course that means that I had oodles of time to spend looking for some goodies to share with you online. Oh, and there are some real goodies here…

Behold, the world’s most awesome jonjon.  I’d like a dress out of this fabulous plaid.  From Etsy seller, KidWonder.

Oh, this sweet little red, white and blue dress is just so sweet. I mean, look at that great collar! From Etsy seller, Pinkleberries.

This little yellow romper is just perfection to me.  And the six little marching soldiers–just too much. From Etsy seller, Blue Bird Lucy’s Vintage.

It’s a good thing the Peach is too big for this wonderful lil’ top or I would have bought it in a second.  The little duckies and the mallards? Insane!  From Etsy seller, Tiny Yellow Bird.

Blast off to reading fun with this wonderful astronaut book! From Etsy seller, Mad for Vintage.

You know I have a soft spot for cowpoke babies. And seriously, this little Western vest shirt combo was just perfection.  From Etsy seller, Potato Cake Vintage.

Clearly I must have babies on the mind because this wonderful little outfit with the sailor is just too marvelous not to share! It’s a set! From the always marvelous Ms. Tips!

Perfect for the little girl who wears her heart on his sleeve! You’ll be wishing you bought it come Valentine’s Day! From Etsy seller, 3 Ring Circus!

I don’t know who Ike is, but he must be pretty cool to have a game named after him! From Oopsie Daisies Vintage.

This vintage Fire King plate is great for the little picky eater who wants his or her food separated.  And would even look cute mounted on the wall too!!!  From Etsy seller, Sweet Lily Studio.

Happy Monday!

Alix’s Closet: Bundling Up in the Cold.

Alix's Closet

When we travel to Michigan I always have to rethink my wardrobe. What’s cold to us here in the Bay Area (say the low 30s)  is child’s play out there (where weather can dip well below zero). And I usually find myself woefully unprepared. Snow boots? Huh? What about all my cute lil shoes?? But because we didn’t have any snow this time, I didn’t have to sweat the footwear and I could even wear tights. Whooo hoo!

I found this sassy green coat at Old Navy last year and I love it. The collar is actually separate. It’s a fluffy, fuzzy, faux fur dealie I got at H&M and I love it! It kind of transforms any coat—not to mention keeps me cozy.

Oh and here’s what was under that coat….and what I wore on Christmas Eve while helpin’ with dinner.

Accessories are my favorite things….a little hairclip. A fun necklace. A sassy shoe.

Of course the best accessories are sometimes a leetle bit bigger.

Kachow!

Going Home :: Christmas in Colorado.

Real Life : Dottie

This winter break, we decided to take the Peach to visit her grandparents in Colorado. As a girl who graduated from Boulder High School and came back for grad school, I love this town!

This was Miss Peach’s first trip on a plane (that she was conscious for) and I must say, she was a wonderful little traveler and spent the majority of coloring and handing pictures back through the seats to a charming two year old girl.

Ever the ready traveler she also spent a good chunk of time reviewing the flight emergency fold out and telling me stories about the travelers as the hopped out of the plane on slides.

Of course. We wanted snow. Living in the Bay Area means no snow days, so we were hoping for a bit of snow–just a sprinkle to show the Peach. And one night it started to snow.

And snow.

And snow. Until 5:00PM the next day…

Fourteen inches of lovely snow. The most exquisite light snow that you could actually see the snowflakes.

And the Peach loved the snow! And slogged through the 18 plus inches with a whole lot of joy. She wore those wonderful items from Polarn O. Pyret and put some layers underneath them to deal with the 25 degree weather. (Psstt.. P O.P is having a HUGE SALE right now, so stock up for next winter if you can!)

And she topped it all with a tutu Grandma gave her. Perfection.

We have our little traditions–the Christmas cookies and Parker House rolls. And going out to eat on Christmas Eve is one of my favorites. Such a nice break from all the prep.

Christmas morning was wonderful! The Peach totally scored with some sweet hands-on prezzies.  Basically a Melissa and Doug bonanza!

But the surprise hit was her camera. Who knew?

Actually, the Peach’s biggest gift was being able to spend time with her grandparents. She enjoyed every minute with them.

I think the feeling was mutual.

It was the first time back in Boulder and I wanted to show Eric my old stomping grounds, so we sneaked away during the Peach’s nap time to Mountain Sun, where I spent many a night with my study group drink pints of the best beer west of the Mississippi.

I was really excited to check out the junk/thrift shops in Boulder, but alas being a college town full of young people, there really wasn’t much except Target goods that were a few years old.  Instead we went to a terrific vintage clothing shop called Goldmine. And it lived up to its name!

Eric bought some plus fours and I left with this sweet faux Enid purse that I LOVE! Can’t wait to take that to Alt in a couple of weeks!

Since I was home, I went through my closet and some old boxes I had left there from my childhood up to my grad school years. Remember those discs? I found a great stash of my childrens’ books too!

Best find–my vintage Betty and Veronica comics. Including this gem from the fashion pages!

Well done, B & V–you are still trend on thirty years later!

I’m so glad we came out to Colorado for Christmas. One of the best decisions of 2011!

Did you go home for the holidays?

Home for the Holidays.

Real Life : Alix

We are back from Michigan and we had a terrific time. BUT it wasn’t our usual winter vacation. For starters:

In the past two years we have had a winter wonderland of fluffy flakes. I mean really. Lotsa snow! See?

This year it was like a crisp autumn day. A bite to the air, but lots of sunshine. Not bad really. But still….we wanted to walk on the lake. We wanted to wear our snow boots. We wanted snow.

I have to say it was kind of a hilarious Comedy of Errors this holiday. We had an amazingly wonderful time, but I gotta tell ya folks, we had SO many calamities happen too. Here’s a little taste of our crazy holidaze:

1) Much to our dismay, Wolfie was extremely sick right before we left—high fever and just not himself. That’s him up there. And before you think I spend my days taking photos of my sick boy, we were waiting at the doctor’s office and I said “Oh Wolfie your little cheeks are so flushed!” and he said “Take a picture and put it on Instagram so everyone can see.” haha. Ahh, the modern child. So anyway, we went to the doctor to check him out and they said that on the plus side it wasn’t strep or an ear infection, but on the down side it would just have to work its way through his system. No fun flying with a listless kiddo. Wolfie was a champ and did really well. He had a bit of a relapse once we were in Michigan that had us all crossing fingers for a healthy boy by the time Christmas Eve rolled around.  2) Because airline tickets are so expensive these days, I agreed to take on a freelance project for three days over the holidays. BAD idea. Who wants to work on vacation?? I love the client, which is partly why I said yes. But still. It was pretty rough having to hunker down at Starbucks while the family was out having fun. Sigh. [cue: Donna Summer’s She Works Hard for the Money]  3) When I finally finished work, Greg and I went out on an afternoon date alone. Thrifting! I was so excited. Until while walking out of a shop, I didn’t see this cracked step and twisted my ankle, collapsing in a heap of pain and biting back tears. Friends, I was a MESS. I couldn’t stand. My right knee was ripped open and bloody. My left ankle swollen. Horrible! Greg wanted to take me home but I was so embarrassed/annoyed/sad I said “I am NOT going to let this ruin our day!” So we bought some bandages and an ankle brace and I hobbled around the thrifts anyway (having a blast too). Greg threatened to buy me a hot pink granny cane at the Rite Aid, which I semi considered.


Thrifting was so fun and Greg and I always love our drives around the lake side. But the craziness wasn’t over because 4) At 3 am that night my cell phone rings. It’s our alarm company telling us that the burglar alarm/motion sensor at our house is going off. AHHHHH! Seriously?? It was awful. We kind of deduced it was *probably* the cats. But we weren’t sure. Our super kind neighbors were feeding the kitties and we called them the next day and got it all sorted out. Stressy! 5) The heat in my parents house died. Thank goodness it wasn’t the snowy cold winter we were dreaming of because it wasn’t too bad. But just another thing to worry about. In another stroke of luck, the repair man was at a house in the area so he scooted on over and fixed it, and didn’t charge us for the house call since he was out there anyway. Holiday Spirit lives! Despite all my tales of woe, we really had a fantastic time and everything turned out well. With calamities behind us, let’s get to Christmas!

We found a giant “Santa’s Mailbox” in the sweet little downtown and Wolfie knew he had to get in one last letter to Santa with a plea for a Nintendo 3DS. As he was mailing it, the town clock chimes starting ringing—playing carols. It was so charming and awesome.

That night was Christmas Eve and we read Twas the Night Before Christmas, had an awesome dinner buffet and then sang Christmas carols. (Wolfie’s pick? Twelve Days of Christmas. Which is officially the longest christmas song EVER!!!)


My younger brother Karl was visiting too and Wolfie totally adores him….Karl makes Wolfie laugh like no one else, and watching them make cookies for Santa was the sweetest thing. Wolfie wrote his note to Santa and as per tradition, he left him chips (because he worries Santa might be like him and not really like cookies) and a cup of ice cubes for the reindeer (“because they will be very thirsty mama!”).

Christmas morning is always amazing. Wolfie gets that thrilled look of wonder at ALLLLL the presents under the tree. We hid his very last present which was a Nintendo 3DS that he has been *dying* for. That was his “big” prezzie. He shrieked with happiness….”I knew it! I knew it!! He knew!!” haha. He also got smaller things like Pokemon softies, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, a stuffed animal with a big “W” on his belly and a sweet photo album filled with pictures from our vacation in Hawaii (which he really loved!).

My mom surprised me with several really thoughtful/cool gifts. She reads Modern Kiddo and has been scoping out my Friday Link Hootenanny posts and got me a few things from there! Including that sweet camera up there, a dress from Bonnie and Buttermilk AND she hand crocheted that awesome zig zag throw that I featured in my Missoni post! I was so touched. She’s the best!

My favorite part of vacation is always the relaxing, reading (I’m reading the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray which is an awesome YA book about a spooky boarding school in 1875. The first book is called A Great and Terrible Beauty which sounds “meh” but trust me, it’s awesome!) and movie watching (Hugo: TWO THUMBS WAY UP!! It’s so good. We Bought a Zoo: THUMBS DOWN. Not a holiday film. It’s being marketing totally wrong. I was expecting a fun-filled family film and it’s very heavy for littles and over-acted and cheesey).

On our very last day, we woke up to this:

Hurray! It was so pretty and we were happy. We got our white christmas afterall.

All in all it was a terrific holiday. I hope you guys had an amazing one too!