Milwaukee, for a Minute

Milwaukee, for a Minute

uyguguygu   05.49   Comment  

Aside from moving I've been on the road quite a bit since we landed here in Michigan. About a week after we got to Michigan I took off for five days to Milwaukee, where my parents live. I had a fantastic time there with my mom, dad, and sister. I got a chance to celebrate a very important event for a very amazing person - we celebrated my sister's Bachelorette party.

We went down to the Historic Third Ward in Milwaukee during the trip to meet up with some friends. Call me curmudgeonly and old but I'm always amazed at how that place has changed since I first started hanging out down town. It used to be empty and run-down, mostly abandoned but now every building is filled with a business or a restaurant or a store and it feels like it could be a slice of a much larger city.

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The top and turquoise bracelets are vintage, the pants (somewhat similar here) are from Target, the shoes are from j. crew, and the purse is Kate Spade (sorry, can't find a sale link for this one any more). 

First Day of the Year Ride

First Day of the Year Ride

uyguguygu   07.00   Comment  

On the first day of the year JR and I decided that we were going to ride around the city from friends house to friends house. We wanted to greet them with the happiness of the new year and keep our friends cozy and warm so we handed out pairs of wool socks, which sound really silly but was way more fun and brought much more joy than we could have anticipated. We got started around noon and took a two hour jaunt around. We handed them out to friends we ran into while walking. We left them at unanswered front doors. We gave them to friends who were up and at 'em. We really got lucky with the weather during the ride - before and after we rode it was snowing, cold, and wet. 

Hope your 2014 is cozy and warm so far! 

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The blazer is by Banana Republic (somewhat similar one here) and the chambray shirt is by The GAP (somewhat similar one here). I'm wearing (again, yes, I know...) Madewell's Skinny Skinny jeans with thrifted shoes. The pearl earrings were a gift from my in-laws and the belt was given to me by my aunt. The bike is a Pashley Princess Sovereign and of course the socks we gave out are made by Wigwam, which are made in my home state of Wisconsin! 

Merry and Bright

Merry and Bright

uyguguygu   16.12   Comment  

Advent is in full swing around here: we've been playing lots of Christmas music, we've participated in more holiday events than we can count, and the house is all done up with twinkling lights.

This year decorations are simple and subtle. We wanted it to look clean and fresh but still cozy so we went with the decision to play with lighting instead of objects. We filled my glass cake platter with a short string of lights in front of our chalkboard and tack board filled with cards we have received. We also stacked up all the old windows we have behind our Christmas tree, backlit them with extra lights. The effect is so pretty with the windows that we might just leave them up all year, even after the tree comes down.

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Finally, if you're reading this on an aggregator you might be pleased to know that I re-did the headings and sidebar on the blog. It was pretty overdue and I just wanted something really clean, simple, and fresh. The fonts I used are minion and Optimus Princeps. Someone informed me on Facebook that Optimus Princeps may or may not be the font used for Kinfolk Magazine's title. I think it's pretty interesting that I went for it. It must be in my subconscious or something... sorry, Kinfolk! 

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I'm wearing a very, very old sweater from The Gap. Underneath it I'm wearing a striped shirt by Pleione. The jeans are by Madewell and the boots are from Frye. The shirt and sweater are so old I can't find links to them anymore.