Here's an example of what I'm wearing lately. It's SUPER FUN to assemble outfits that are more than just a top and a bottom; when the weather is chilly, I get to LAYER!
In the above photo, I'm wearing pants I got from Ross, Madden Girl boots I got from Macy's, a top from Target, a Levi's pink faux-leather moto jacket I got from Amazon, and a pink cotton beanie from Target. My bag is by Scarleton from Amazon. Oh, and my striped socks are from Target, too.
This sort of get-up has been working for me when the temperatures are like this:
Greg is still back in Arizona, getting our house ready for sale and getting in on the market. It should be for sale hopefully next week at some point! I'll update you more on that soon.
In the meantime, the cats and I have been working hard to stay positive and to make our little rental house cozy and homey.
We have also been snuggling a lot and watching squirrels!
They're fluffy and cute and twitchy!
And they're busy.
Sometimes there are no squirrels to see, so we need to take a nap.
On the topic of wildlife, on a walk lately I saw this turkey! Sadly. she (he?) had a limp. A man walking his dog said that neighbors have been trying to get wildlife services to come help, but so far no one has come. I hope she has plenty of food scraps and a nice cozy pile of leaves for sleeping!
Since I last posted, we got TWO short bouts of SNOW!!!!
I was, of course, very excited. In fact, I love snow and wanted to know how much snow, on average, the Twin Cities area gets every winter. The answer: 54 inches!!!
This means I can look forward to much more snow to come.
I was, of course, very excited. In fact, I love snow and wanted to know how much snow, on average, the Twin Cities area gets every winter. The answer: 54 inches!!!
This means I can look forward to much more snow to come.
I grew up calling this type of snow "corn snow" because it's small and hard like itsy bitsy corn kernels.
It's almost like teensy hail . . . . but slightly fluffier.
This is our front sidewalk. Happily, darker-colored paved areas stay warmer and the snow melts by itself better than on the ground, so I didn't even have to shovel!
Last weekend, the contractor and partner of our landlord put up new blinds in the whole house!
they are very pretty and clean and nice.
they are very pretty and clean and nice.
On the first day we had any snow that "stuck" (i.e. didn't immediately melt), I decided to make some snow-themed cookies. I started out with a sugar cookie base. Oh, actually, I started out with a recipe for snowball cookies, a pecan base rolled in powdered sugar, but I didn't like them, so I started over with this sugar cookie recipe.
I haven't practiced fancy frosting techniques, though I do have a piping bag (somewhere in a box!) I snipped off the end of a plastic bag and used it to "pipe" these kind-of sort-of snowflakes. Or perhaps they are snow splats!
The bag got messy very quickly, so some cookies are neater than others!
Of course, chocolate frosting is always good, too, so there are some cookies that just ended up chocolate.
When it snowed the next time, I went for a walk after it stopped (it didn't snow long, so I didn't make it in time to actually walk DURING the snow). This says "Hi!"
I got to try out my new puffer coat and it was very toasty!
It's from DKNY and I bought it at Marshall's.
The snow was sparkling under the streelights.
This fire hydrant had a pole on it so that it's visible when the heavy snows come!
Since I got rid of some of the vintage drinking glasses I had (they never looked clean anymore, even when they supposedly were clean), I bought some new ones. These are blown glass in a beautiful turquoise color with interesting swirls in them.
Don't worry; there are more cute kitty pictures!
Since the rest of our boxes from Arizona (including Christmas supplies) probably won't arrive until mid-December, I decided to find some additional decor. I bought a not-expensive gold tinsel tree (my favorite kind of tree!) on Amazon and went browsing for vintage ornaments (my favorite kind of ornaments!)
Buying plastic ornaments from a big-box store? NAH!
I went to Hunt and Gather, and insane and wonderful vintage shop near our house.
I started out wearing my mask . . . but I took it off after a while because there was barely anyone else in there.
Look! The hugest pile of sock monkeys I've ever seen!
Need a jawbone? They've got 'em!
Why am I not in this book?!
Huge bin of Scrabble letters. How fun would it be to make an artwork or a card for a loved one with these letters?!
This was a multi-shelf pile of pages torn from books and magazines that was very cool. There were poems, pieces of music, photos, paintings . . .
Infinite mirrors:
I peered and poked my way through the whole shop, looking for BLUE vintage Christmas ornaments and I found a whole bunch of them!
Aren't they gorgeous?
I also found these adorable little mugs, which I'm using to hold my measuring spoons.
The few mornings it's sunny, the cats line up on the back of the couch (this direction faces East, so the sun comes right in the window!)
This particular day, I was planning to run some errands and do a bit of shopping with my Mom and my dear Auntie Cindy.
I wore my new blouse (Karl Lagerfeld from Macy's). It has a pattern of little café chris and light posts and bicycles. It's very cute.
I found a little cami on Amazon that has lace at the neckline, and it looked nice peeking out.
I wore this with my jeans (INC International Concepts from Macys) and pink moto jacket (Levi's from Amazon) and bag (Scarleton from Amazon) and felt very cute and appropriate for the day.
My Mom also looked cute. She has a new haircut that suits her and looks great!
We went to Hobby Lobby, where I got some twine for my new ornaments.
There we are! That's my cute Auntie Cindy, my Mom's sister.
We went to TurnStyle (a consignment shop), where I got some baskets.
This container was labeled, "butter thing" and that made us all laugh.
Then we went to Home Goods, where I found a blanket (so I could put the other white one under the tree like a tree skirt).
We picked up a couple of things at Party City for my Mom's Christmas Eve family get-together. And I found the perfect holiday wreath (just what I was looking for at $6.99!)
There was still some snow lurking in the shadows and full of pretty leaves.
Look at my Mom's cute snowflake socks!
Then we picked up pizza for me and went back to my parents' house. My parents got pizza from a different place (that doesn't have gluten-free options).
I also picked up a water-squirter and a few other things at Target - we need to be prepared for all eventualities with cat behavior!
Later, of course, there were more cat snuggles. Stephen is comfortable enough now that he's starting to droop again.
Allistair enjoyed the new blankie!
And the sun the next morning!
My Dad fixed this birdie's tail for me (thanks, Dad!)
The squirrel was back, and Allistair was on the case!
And that brings us up to date on what's going on here lately!
More soon on the progress with our Arizona house.
May you have a peaceful and joyful weekend!
