vacation, had to get away

there's an 80s song to fit every occasion. song of the day: 'vacation' by the go-go's
i totally meant to have this post up a long time ago, but well it didn't happen. better late than never i always say! so, we got back from louisiana yesterday at about 8pm. it was a super fun trip. i was born in lake charles and i still have some family there. it's always good to visit with them and see all the places i frequented as a kid.

this is me and my grandma, or mawmaw as i call her. she is my mom's mom and my only living grandparent. she looks pretty stinkin' good for 85, no?

ah, tabasco! good stuffs. we drove about two hours to spend the day at avery island and boy was it worth it! we got to tour the factory and see a video on how they make the hot sauce. then we had lunch and bought some habanero sauce and sample some jalepeno ice cream. nom nom.

here we are at the jungle gardens on avery island right by the tabasco plant. see the baby alligators? cute.

me and my mom. she's an amazing lady, holding her stolen moss :)

my little boy making his funny face.


inside this building is a buddha that dates from 1100! crazy old, huh? this area of the garden was definitely the prettiest.



we went down to the coast on saturday. this is me and my dad at holly beach. a few years ago, it was rated the 2nd worst beach in the country. in fact, there is a sign at the entrance to the beach stating that swimming is not advised. there were loads of people in that water! you can drive right onto the sand and a truck full of girls got stuck right behind us. another truck came to pull them out and then it got stuck. the girl driving the first truck got out and started pounding a beer. this place is classy. maybe more like 'klassy.'



me and my man!

while down at the coast, we came upon a place selling fresh jumbo shrimp. we went up the road, bought a couple of ice chests and filled them up with shrimp! don't they look tasty? well, this is when we were deheading them. about four pounds of these babies are sitting in my freezer waiting to be enjoyed.
so there you have it, a little taste of what i did on my southern vacation.

if you're lost you can look and you will find me

song of the day-'time after time' by cyndi lauper

yay! i'm back! it feels so good to be home. we had a blast but it's just so nice to walk into your house after a long day of driving and breathe in your own smell and let everything else fall away. home-what a lovely word.

so during the 10 hours of travel i listened to a lot of cyndi lauper with a heavy emphasis on this particular song. it was just so soothing.

on friday we went to avery island where they make, bottle and ship tabasco (if you don't know this, we love hot sauce in this family). it was cool to see the factory and tour the grounds. i'll talk more about it later when i post some pics of my trip, but these were taken at the jungle gardens that the mcilhenney folks created as a wildlife refuge. it was really quite lovely out there. it was also really quite hot. but well, i do enjoy a good sweat.

i was on this bridge and my dad said something to me about a bridal shoot so i was posing as the brides do in their pretty gowns and such. while i was vogue-ing out there, matt snapped my picture. he says it's his favorite :)

details:

dress-90s dress from vintage shop

shoes-vintage bass, thrift store

necklace-vintage locket, etsy

it's now or never and tomorrow may be too late

song of the day: 'amanda' by boston

ok so i have a confession to make: i have a fantasy that includes this song. i don't even think i've told matt this whole thing but here it goes. so it's raining outside, not a heavy rain but a nice steady light rain. matt and i have had a fight and i'm mad at him. he leaves the house and i've no idea where he's gone. i start getting a little worried about him because he hasn't come back and then i hear some taps on the window in the living room (remember that we live in a loft on the second floor). i look out the window and see that he's throwing rocks up to get my attention. i pull up the window and yell at him asking what he's doing. he then climbs on top of his car (an '82 volkswagen rabbit-like for real, that's what he drives) wearing a jean jacket and holds a boombox above his head and blasts 'amanda' in the rain as his apology. 'i'm gonna say it like a man and make you understand, amanda. i love you'. of course, i am overcome and then i run downstairs to meet him in the rain and yada, yada, yada. you get the picture. i've no idea where my kid is, but since it's my fantasy he doesn't have to be there :)

it's pretty cool to have a song with your name in it, huh?

you may be wondering, what in the hey i'm wearing. well, i'll tell you. i am wearing a pair of my running shorts. yes, they are vintage saucony shorts that i bought at a vintage shop in fayetteville and i do indeed wear them while running around town. they are super short (i'm certain people have had a glimpse of butt cheek) but that's the best thing to put on when it's hot and you're logging some major miles. i love them! the shirt is vintage that i picked up at my local favorite thrift store, the manna center, and actually the shoes are from there as well. they're blue leather bass shoes. so very comfortable.

if you look closely you can see my rad tan lines. i think i'm just gonna roll with it this year.

so i'm leaving in the morning for louisiana. if i figure out how to schedule a post i might have one for tomorrow morning. we'll see. but if not, you kids have a great week, and for those in the states, a great holiday weekend!

details:

shirt-vintage

shorts-vintage

shoes-vintage

she's got eyes of the bluest skies

song of the day: sweet child o' mine by guns n' roses

growing up, this was my very favorite song. funny that at the tender age of 7 and 8 i was listening to hard rock hair bands. i have much older siblings and my brother was super into guns n' roses in the late 80s. anyway, i've loved this song from day one. the opening guitar riff alone makes this one of the greatest. and i do have very blue eyes, just sayin.

this isn't a very inventive outfit, and i've worn both the top and the skirt fairly recently. but i did need something loose and easy, and this fit the bill. i think i need more dresses. i really don't have very many and when it's hot, dresses are so much better than anything else.

we are leaving in a couple days for vacation! well, as much as going to southwest louisiana can be vacation. we're driving down with my parents on wednesday to stay with my grandma in her trailer (nothing wrong with that) and sleep on the pullout in the living room and sweat because she jacks up the temp on the a/c at night and lake charles is awfully humid and muggy at this time of year. hopefully we'll get some good crawfish and shrimp. i'm a bit nervous about that what with the oil spill in the gulf and all. but we always really enjoy going down for a visit. i'm from there originally but we moved to oklahoma when i was 10. oh, and she doesn't have internet so unless i get on the ball with some planned posts, wednesday will be the last one until next monday. i'm sure i'll get the shakes from being away from the computer for so long. but i'll be able to check a few things with my phone. bless you sweet iphone!

details:

top-vintage

skirt-target

shoes-vintage

kick off your sunday shoes

song of the day: footloose by kenny loggins

pulled out the horsey skirt again. it' such a funny little thing.

summer has arrived in northwest arkansas. it's hot and humid. we have all the windows in the house open and our floor fan is on non-stop. it's like a little game we play every year: we try to see how long into the summer we can go without turning on our a/c. it's fun actually. last year we made it until mid june. but really only because we were gone the first week and when we came home, the a/c was broken so we had to wait a couple days to get it fixed. it got up to 93 degrees in here! i took a picture of the thermostat with my phone so i could have a record of just how hot it was. right now, it is only 83 in the house. ha! child's play.

yesterday was a busy day with working at the shop and then in the evening matt and i went to a fundraiser for an organization that gives jobs to adults with disabilities. it was nice to get a babysitter and hang out with other adults and drink free wine. oh, and support a really great cause too :)

and tonight i'm looking forward to grilling some steaks, having a bit more wine and relaxing in our hot house. i love summer time!

details:

top-the limited? it's been so long ago i don't really remember

skirt-vintage

shoes-cv for target

we belong to the light, we belong to the thunder

song of the day 'we belong' by pat benatar

i had this song in my head all day long yesterday so i knew it had to be the title for today's post.

ok, so you know how a lot of super stylish folks (and by folks i don't just mean ladies, i've seen some dudes rocking it too) are wearing crop tops these days? well, i admit that i am smitten by that look. i was a bit nervous about trying it because i didn't want to show off too much skin or feel like i was stepping straight out of the 80s. i hope i was able to come up with a good balance. i was chatting with acute angle the other day (digitally of course) and she gave me some tips on wearing a crop top. after that, i was determined to find one. this one came about in a little different way as it was a dress. i know!!!! i cut it. well, i loved the pattern and it was way too big for me. it had a great black band around the waist, a perfect spot to cut it into a crop top!! now i have the best of both worlds-the cute pattern and an inexpensive top so i can try out the trend without investing too much into it. i like it. a lot.

and i'm sorry about the picture overload. i couldn't decide which ones to post so i posted them all.

i'm so glad it's the weekend. matt is training for a half-ironman in september so i feel like i never get to see him. three mornings a week he gets up at 5:30am to swim and then when he gets home at 6:30pm he has to either bike for an hour and a half or run for like 45 minutes. and this is only the second week of training! it will only get worse from here on out. it's been his goal for a while though. i joke with him saying it's gonna be a cold lonely summer with him training all the time and being exhausted when he's home :)

hope you guys have a wonderful friday night!

details:

shoes-target

jeans-topshop

top-dress that i cropped, vintage

i'm walkin' on sunshine

whoa, and don't it feel good! song of the day by katrina and the waves

i feel as though it hasn't been pretty and sunny in ages! maybe i'm just being dramatic. anyway, it was nice getting to wear my shades and bask in the rays.

i bought this skirt the other day from my favorite thrift store for $2. and then i chopped it. i know, but it's been such a long time since i've cut off parts of my clothing. i think i was due for one. i wanted to wear it as a strapless dress and then sometimes as a long skirt but it really didn't look good as a dress. because of the gathers, it made it too big around my waist and i looked frumpy. so i grabbed my scissors. i love the pattern on it, kinda ethnic, kinda boho. lovely colors too. and very comfy. just my kind of skirt.

details:

boots-steve madden from idee geniale's closet

skirt-vintage, thrift store

belt-vintage, ebay

tee-american apparel

scarf-etsy

locket-etsy

gold chain-flea market

living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

song of the day: total eclipse of the heart by bonnie tyler

gosh, i did a horrible job of hiding the remote this time. you can see it in every picture. oh well. this dress is so comfortable and i really only wear it around the house or to run small errands because it's now off-black with all the washings. i've considered buying a black fabric dye to freshen it up a bit. have any of you ever done such a thing? does it work or is it not not worth the trouble? this dress used to have pockets but it was way too big for me so i took up the side seams and had to forgo the pockets, much to my chagrin. i guess i could've reattached them, but that would've been much more involved and taken up a lot more of my precious time so i cut them out. i mean, i totally couldn't spare an extra five minutes in my day to sew around the pockets. i told you i was lazy!

and i haven't worn makeup for the last few days. i need to do a complete overhaul of my stuff as my face is breaking out like crazy! i'm giving it a break and will try and make it to the store to find something different. i am way to old to be dealing with this crap.

ok, i know you guys don't care about all my rambling. you know it's wednesday and i'm supposed to announce the winner of the giveaway. alright, in an effort to keep you all happy and coming back, i'll oblige you.

and the winner is....

The Daily Fashionista said...

I am so excited I found your blog! Your clutch is pretty awesome too, and I would love to win it!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:21Powered by RANDOM.ORG

congrats, lady! now just send me an email with your address to offofbroadway(at)hotmail(dot)com. yay!

**and i don't know why the generator changed the number when i copied and pasted it on here. i promise the original was only out of 41.

you fill up my senses, come fill me again

all right, i admit that this song is indeed not from the 80s but from 1974. but you know, i can't be bound by only one decade, that's just asking too much of me. i chose this one as it is called 'annie's song' and i am wearing my little ocean annie dress! isn't it just so adorable? i'd been eyeing this one for a long time and it's actually even cuter than i had imagined.

i am determined to be more productive today. the sun is shining and my house needs cleaning. today is the day! no more procrastinating! no more being lazy! i'm going to start out with a nice easy jog around town and then get to work. and you guys need to enter the giveaway if you haven't yet. you don't want to miss out on this one.

ok, have a fabulous day. be great everybody, be great.

details:

dress-little ocean annie

belt-vintage

shoes-lower east side, ebay