Tag Archives: family

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Glory be, isn’t this the prettiest lake in the world?

Every time I visit home, I take a solo trip to the beach. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s 70° and sunny or 20° and icy, or if I spend an afternoon there or just half an hour…being by the water makes me feel sooooo gooooood. I don’t realize how much I miss living by a huge body of water until my feet are on the sand, and I’m just enchanted by the water, the waves and that sky.

Anyway, I hope you all had wonderful, joy-filled weekends. I’ll be back to regular posting soon. Now, though, it’s time to start tidying up my very messy house and readying myself for the work week…I have an extra special house guest coming in just a few short weeks and have *lots* to do before she arrives. Plus, welcoming the new year with a cleansed, pared down household just feels right.

xo,

Meghan

beautiful little lady

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On Monday morning, I rubbed my eyes just after 7 a.m., looked at my phone and got some very exciting news. My friend Jamie had delivered her baby girl around 2 a.m. that morning, one month ahead of schedule. (!!!) Her name is Zora, and last night, Andrea and I went to the hospital to meet her. Jamie is feeling awesome, healing nicely and resting a lot. And Zora. Well, she’s just perfect. And her toes!! I melted for those itty bitty baby toes.

Welcome, pretty girl. I can’t wait to watch you grow.

xo,

(Auntie) Meghan

 

happy mail!

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My cousin Joanna lives way, way, way, too far away in Boston with her sweetheart of a husband, Nate,  and their adorable baby, Audrey. To say I miss her a lot is an understatement. To help stay in touch, we surprise each other with an occasional letter & care package. Last Thursday, I was having a rough day and found this lovely surprise in my mailbox.

Talk about perfect timing! There were so many sweet goodies inside, but my favorite thing has to be the oversized book of vintage souvenir matches from the Alligator & Parrot Jungle in Miami, Florida. Aren’t they so cool?

My other fav? The announcement of the arrival of baby Audrey Hilda, accompanied by a cute lil’ mix CD honoring the wee one, featuring my favorite Bob Dylan song (“Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right”), Janis Joplin & Mahalia Jackson (“His Eye is on the Sparrow”).

Listening to it definitely made me want to make a mix…maybe one to even share with you, sweet readers!

Anyway, now that it’s my turn, I have to start saving up fun stuff to send her way. I hope my package will arrive on a day when she’s needing some extra love, as hers did last Thursday.

Do you all have pen pals? Have you gotten anything via snail mail that’s made your day brighter?

xo,

Meghan

weekend road trip

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This weekend, I took a drive to Wisconsin to visit my mom & thrift my fanny off in my hometown. With only a couple of weeks until the sale, I was a bit hesitant to go, since my to-do list is ultra scary, but occasionally, I crave a road trip like you would not believe. And this weekend was one of those times.

Sadly, much of the 14-hour round-trip drive looked a lot like this…Rainy, rainy, rainy. Gray, gray, gray.

Saturday, I got up and thrifted like crazy. I went to a bunch of my favorite spots from when I was in high school and had major luck. How hilarious is this sign at the register at the Salvation Army?

Here’s a pretty find from the morning…an extremely soft, creamy white, hand-tooled leather handbag from Mexico. I want to keep it, but am probably going to sell it. *sniff* It’s the nicest size and in impeccable shape. So lovely.

After thrifting north of town, I met my mom at home and she drove us to some more stores in northern Illinois (Gurnee, to be exact). On the way, we passed the reason for my crazy asthma…the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant, which generates 13 percent of all of Wisconsin’s electricity, but also puffs out 8.6 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Yucks.

The thrifts in Gurnee were all complete dumps. Imagine: diaper-y smell, dim lighting, hoards of kids, dirty merchandise. All around nasty and stupidly expensive.  After a couple of (discouraging) stops, we were shopped out. We headed home, I washed a bunch of my thrifted goodies, we ordered Chinese, watched “American Masters” and called it a day.

The drive home was uneventful, with just a couple pit stops for gas, one of these and some smoked string cheese for my honey. I did see this little guy, tied up in the rain outside a gas station, however. Random, right?

All in all, it was great (albeit quick) trip home, and I anticipate another one in my near future.

(All the pics for this post were taken with this app, btw.)

How was your weekend? Do anything fun? Hit up any thrifts? I hope it was a lovely one, whatever y’all were up to!

<3!

Meghan

family traditions: plate walls

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I’ve got home on the brain. Not my home for once, but my mom’s. I’m heading there for a quick visit next weekend, and I can’t wait. I always get a ton of fantastic ideas for decorating when I stay with her. Every wall is packed full of beautiful art—some by her, some by my aunt and grandma, some from her time living in Europe and more from her many years of thrifting.

One idea that was passed down to her by my Grandma Mary, is the plate wall in her bedroom. (Both my grannies had plate walls, now that I think of it!) I wish I had a picture of it, because it’s so pretty. Vintage blue & white plates, hung in a pyramid shape, look divine on her buttery yellow walls above her bed. Seriously dreamy, like this pic.

via on dressing up

Anyway, unlike my dear Marmee, I’ve still got primo wall real estate up for grabs in my humble little house. And the fact that I’ve been stumbling upon charming vintage plates at thrifts left and right, is getting me to think I should carry on the family plate wall tradition.

My first order of business? Beefing up my plate collection. You all remember this one I got during last week’s Savers adventure?

Well, I got it’s sweet little buddy, too, which also came ready to hang. How adorable is that little border made of hearts??

Lotsa truth on that plate there. This was $2.50 at the Savers on Lake Street. (Read my review of that shop here!)

I’ve gotten a lot of ideas from newly wed blogger Christina of Down and Out Chic, who documents her big-time obsession with plate walls. Browse the inspiring archives here.

via Down and Out Chic (original source)

Hanging a collection of these quirky altered vintage plates like those found in this Etsy shop is a cute idea.

This one is awesome.

Anyway, I’ll have to figure out which wall to start with. Once it comes time to start putting holes in the wall, I’ll be needing some help. It didn’t surprise me one bit that Design*Sponge has a DIY for hanging your own plate wall. Freakin’ geniuses over there, I’m telling you.

Anyway, it’s been a big week, and I’m fixin’ to hit the hay early. As in now.

Nighty night, lovelies.

Meghan

saturday scenes

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Happy Monday, all! Mind if I share a few scenes from Saturday? Really? Okay then….

I got up waaay too early and thrifted my little fanny OFF. As luck would have it, I found a ton of seriously adorable stuff. Armloads of pretty vintage dresses, some really stand-out housewares and a handful of vintage baby things I tried to resist, but couldn’t. I tried. I really did. Peeks of some of the finds to come later in the week. Whee!

Once I made it up north, I inhaled a burrito the size of Texas and Finnie got fawned over by at least a dozen hippies. (What’s up with all the hippies, Duluth?!) After stuffing myself proper, we made our way to an perfectly desolate beach in Superior. The water’s 20 degrees warmer than average this summer (!!), so swimming wasn’t nearly as jarring of an experience as it normally is.

Once I got to the lake, instant happy hour commencement. Sipping wine to the sound of the creek. Definitely enjoyable.

My Dad was kind enough to humor me with a stop at this amazing junk shop on our way to dinner. I wanted to live there, honestly I did. I am now the proud owner of a super old croquet set, and I’m predicting a Sunday filled with lawn games in my very near future.

After junking, we ate burgers at The Anchor Bar and hurled Trivial Pursuit questions at each other over the din while waiting for our food. Here’s a view from the front door of The Anchor. You can faintly see the lights of the John A. Blatnik Bridge. Love that bridge.

I hope the iPhone photo-heavy post isn’t too irritating. More posts, with “real” pictures coming real soon, promise.

Have you all had good days? Mine has been equally productive and positive, two amazing things considering it’s a Monday and all. I hope yours was equally happy!

xo,

Meghan

happy wedding, addie!

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Today, my dear cousin, Adrienne, and her fiance, Jeffrey, are getting married in Toronto. Sadly, my passport-less self will remain here in the States.

And in her, honor, here’s a little photo flashback.

Growing up, Addie was my favorite, best-friend-but-we’re-cousins cousin. Here we are up north at the lake. I was two. Addie was three. Seeing my grandma’s hand-written captions on these pics makes me sad…I miss her.

This is us, hand-in-hand (for cute!), at my favorite prairie back home in Wisconsin. It’s a happy place for me, and always will be. That’s her sister Heather behind us.

I’m more than a little sad to miss this very important day in her life. I’m sending so much love up to you both today, though.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Love you,

Meghan

ladies of the lake

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Happy Friday, pretties!

Today, I thought I’d share some pics of my beautiful, beautiful aunties, taken at my family’s cabin in the 1960s. From oldest to youngest, let me introduce you to….

Sharyn

Cheryl (right)

Cindie

Beth

Judie Sharyn

You can’t blame my Grandma for her boo-boo here. My mom, Judie, and her younger sister Sharyn, did look alike.

I sadly couldn’t find a black and white pic of my mom in this collection. But here’s a gem of her and my older brother, at the lake in the summer of 1982. I was born just a few months after this was taken.

Dreamy dress, right? I loves.

Well, I hope you all are having lovely mornings. I’m fully over-caffeinated, and am off to Duluth to pick up a vintage dress form, and then do some thrifting on the way back to the cabin. The afternoon holds lots and lots of swimming, sunning, reading and eating. Happy Friday, indeed.

xo,

Meghan

mama’s got some new toys

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Yesterday after work, I dashed over to my brother’s to pick up these cameras, both of which had been gathering dust in the back of my mom’s closet.

Holy giddiness!  These beauties were used by my mom in the late ’60s and ’70s. She’s an awesome photographer, and just holding them and thinking about all the cool sites and people she’s snapped with them makes me happy. After learning that both the Olympus 35 ED and the Canon Canonet QL17 G-III are comparable to Leicas, I’m even more eager to get them up and running ASAP.
Thanks for sharing, Marmee!

The slew of pretty Canonet shots in this Flickr group are inspiring.
This one is extra dreamy.


Do any of you shoot with film? Any tips for a brand-new beginner?

xo,

Meghan