b00kl355

Last night Matt and I had a great time at the Bookless Party inside the gutted Madison Central Library.  I wish it would stick around longer than one night.  Here's a gif I threw together of some cute pictures from the "photo booth" station.

 

librarians know how to party

new finds

Lately I've only been posting about food, and mostly (or exclusively) Meatless Monday posts.  So, I thought I'd share some of the rad things I've picked up in various locales as of late.  The dress I found at a great little vintage shop on a recent trip to Portland, Oregon (can't remember the name, but it was on Mississippi).  I wore it to me and Matt's fourth wedding anniversary dinner.

60s wiggle dress, $25 

American Tourist "Tiara" suitcase, $15

I got the perfect travel accessory at a little antique store in Dickeyville, Wisconsin, home of this place:

 Dickeyville Grotto

Luckily, the church adjacent to the grotto had a garage sale!  I grabbed this super cute sewing box (the chimney is a pin cushion!) and also a coat, but it's way too hot right now to even look at a wool coat.  

 sewing box, $0.50

Matt and I also had a very successful trip to our favorite local consignment shop a few weeks back and got the following items:

 metal cabinet, $25

 set of 6 coasters, $2

vintage fan--watch your fingers!

nickels and anchors

I haven't done a wardrobe post in a long time, and I really haven't taken any shots of my outfits lately, but I happened to get some pictures at a nickel arcade in Chicago last weekend.

 

I made Matt stop taking pictures of my slack-jawed concentration face and catch my outfit.

dress - Zara in Tokyo

tights and cardigan - Target

boots - Good Style

The arcade was the greatest place to spend the afternoon!  Tetris and PacMan for free and skee ball for nickels.  My dress was perfectly comfortable for playing skee ball and had great big pockets for nickels! 

 

We finished the night off with a nice dinner with friends.  This was the only shot of the front of the dress, with its cute little anchor buttons.  I picked up the dress in Shibuya last summer at Zara--pretty much the only affordable place in that neighborhood.  Nautical style was everywhere, so there were lots of tempting pieces.  I still sort of regret not buying an oversized T-shirt with a huge anchor.

 

Lucy & me

six new-old things

Over my break from grad classes, I finally put inspiration from Casey's blog to work and made this jewelry holder. 

I painted an old bulletin board with an old off-white paint on the cork, then taped the cork off and spray-painted the frame glossy black.  Then all I had to do was screw in some inexpensive gold cup hooks and I had a much more attractive and organized way to keep my jewelry.  The cork holds my brooches and pins as well as extra pendants on straight pins.

Next up is a new Madison spot we like that is not really all that new to the city.  In the past year or so, Madison Sourdough opened a restaurant featuring their yummy breads.

I got a the bacon/goat cheese deal, which I liked better than Matt did.  He got the chicken salad, which he liked better than I did.  Both were really solid sandwiches with tasty side salads.  Plus we ordered a chocolate croissant, too quickly inhaled to be photographed.  We will be returning. 

bacon with fig marmalade and goat cheese on five grain sourdough

 

chicken salad with apple, pine nuts, red onion, aioli, and greens on country sourdough

Right after the holidays, Matt and I had a very successful trip to Good Style Shop, which has just changed hands but will likely still be providing a great deal of my vintage wardrobe.  I found this lovely spring coat.  Let's hope the groundhog was right so I can wear it soon!  It has a nice houndstooth wool lining, but it's not nearly heavy enough to tackle these below-zero windchills.  And, since I've been practically living in my boots this winter, I was thrilled to pick up this cute new-old pair.  Apparently, I've got a thing for camel-colored clothing right now.

 

Below is a video of my favorite new song, played live.  It's from Ty Segall's last full-length, Melted, which came out last summer.  I'm just a little slow on the uptake sometimes.  (I'm working on getting the sizing of the video right...) Edit: I finally got the size of the video right!

Finally, just for fun, is a brand-new picture of my old dog.  Not all the white on that face is snow!

 

Stay warm!

spring greens

With all the restaurant posts I've made lately, one might think we eat out all the time. Here's a recipe to prove that we do still eat at home sometimes (or about 6 nights a week!). As things are starting to sprout again, I'm enjoying using fresh local veggies in my cooking. The asparagus and spinach are from the season's first farmer's market here in town. The eggs come from my school custodian's chickens, and the chives are from the art teacher's garden. I love spring!

Oh, and there are shots of a favorite "new" vintage dress.

vintage dress and shoes, Good Style Shop

tights, Target
teardrop necklace, thrifted

Green Goddess Frittata
from Anne Louise Gittleman

I halved this from the original recipe, which made two frittatas. It would be easy enough to double up again if you were cooking for company.

6 eggs, beaten
1/2 c cottage cheese
1 1/2 c chopped fresh spinach or asparagus
2 scallions, minced
2 tsp chopped garlic
handful chopped chives (optional--I just had them on hand)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix eggs, cheese, veggies, and seasonings in a large bowl. Melt butter in an oven-safe skillet on the stove. Add egg mixture and cook for 3 minutes over medium heat. Place skillet in oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until eggs are just set.

cozy

I'm enjoying my first snow day at home for this school year. We have several inches of snow and more on the way. It's a sunny and pleasant day to be inside and cozy.

our backyard

It's lucky that I picked up a warm new skirt this weekend from Good Style Shop. It's a handmade 1950's wool circle skirt in red, blue-green, and brown, perfect for wintry weather. I also love this double-breasted cardigan as it winterizes many of my more summery dresses. I'm not sure what it is about this outfit that made want to stand with my hips pushed forward.

cardigan - H&M
top - Urban Outfitters
skirt & shoes - Good Style
necklace - thrifted
tights - Target

warm-weather finds

vintage, $20, altered to fit

60s rattan purse, Etsy, $12
sunglasses, Urban Outfitters

Ever since I went to Kansas and saw my friend Cass with an adorable rattan purse, I've been a woman obsessed. I was thrilled to find this one in near-perfect condition.

swimsuit, vintage, $17

Though it looks blueish, the swimsuit is actually a royal purple. It came with two different tops, but this is the one I prefer.

recent finds

I've had some successful shopping trips lately. All in Madison. Mostly at Good Style Shop.

plaid button-up, $9

high-waisted woolen shorts (rear view), $6

loafers, $11