Tights and Charlie Brown

While reading Jen Loves Kev yesterday and loving Jen's outfit I realized that I am seriously lacking in the tights/leggings/socks department. One of the problems with only shopping at thrift stores is that I never have enough basics. I own about 3 pairs of calf length black leggings and one pair of matte black tights. While I definitely get use out of these pieces I need some leg wear variety in my life! I looked at some great websites including We Love Colors, Hansel from Basel, and Modcloth but decided to try and find some great cheap(er) tights on my own. I went to TJ Maxx and found nothing but boring colors and a serious lack of patterns besides cheesy lace ones. I figured I try Target and I did have some luck. I bought 3 pairs of knee socks (light heather gray cable knit, black and gray stripes, and ribbed gray) that were $2 a pair, a pair of charcoal gray sweater tights for $10, and some hot magenta ones for $5, not bad! While my trip was mildly successful I think I might still purchase a few pairs of tights online. I'll let you know what I decide and I can't wait to wear my pink tights! While doing errands I wore a scarf from Thailand, tank and cardigan from TJ Maxx, thrifted and altered Banana Republic jeans, vintage Hang Ten sneakers, and yard saled silver hoop earrings.




After tight shopping, I scored some pretty awesome vintage jewelry to sell at a random consignment shop that I passed by, including a magnifying glass necklace, and one with a huge elephant head. Come scoop them up this Sunday at SOWA in Boston (it's the last one of the season!) or see them online in the near future. Here's a photo to wet your appetite!




When Brian got home from work he made some delicious homemade meatballs and marinara that we enjoyed with some crusty bread and pasta while watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" It's always so weird watching old cartoons from your childhood as a adult. They're more interesting and boring all at the same time.

Carving Pumpkins

What a great few days before Halloween evening we had last night! Caitlin and Jeff invited us over to their new home for a night of yummy fall food and pumpkin carving. Caitlin made a fantastic sweet potato soup with curried apples, yogurt, and chopped mint with some bulgar with almonds and dried cranberries on the side. It was so good! I brought some of those Daily Bread ginger molasses cookies for dessert along with a bag of their almond crescent cookies. Those are even better than the ginger ones. I love this bakery!

The carving of the pumpkins was an interesting affair, I hate how the insides smell! I don't think that I've carved a pumpkin since I was young, and I don't think I was the only one. Carrie went creative and made a cat with the stem as its nose, Caitlin was more traditional with a silly spooky face, and I just wanted to make a swirl. (Note that I had no intention in making it look like the Nightmare Before Christmas!) They looked so good all lit up on the front steps. What a fun night!

New On Etsy: For Your Home

Click here.

Delicious Local Dinner

I made a pretty awesome dinner last night. I don't mean to toot my own horn but I was proud of myself. As previously mentioned, two of my good friends are moving to Hawaii in a few weeks so I wanted to have them over and make a big dinner of (mostly) local ingredients. I was going to head up to Providence to go to the Monday farmers market at Whole Foods but decided to give closer surrounding towns a chance. I ended up doing a really good job at buying mostly everything from small independent shops. I did have to go to Stop and Shop for a few items because I either couldn't find them or they were just way too expensive at the smaller shops. (Paying $5 for a box of rice crackers, no thanks.) So here's what we had:

*Mixed cheese and cracker plate using cheese from the Milk and Honey Bazaar in Tiverton, and my mom's homemade (and grown) pickled hot peppers.

*Salad of organic arugula and roasted beets from The Green Grocer in Portsmouth using only olive oil, balsamic, salt, and pepper as a dressing.

*Risotto topped with organic roasted root veggies (also from Green Grocer) and Paive cheese (Milk and Honey Bazaar.) I got this recipe out of Edible Rhody except I substituted risotto instead of the polenta. I think it made the recipe much easier and much lighter on the butter. It was still superb.

*Steamed littlenecks from Bridgeport Seafood in Tiverton in a broth of onion, garlic, red pepper, local tomato, and white wine. I kinda just made up the recipe as I went along and it came out great! I just love how white wine broth tastes. We complimented this dish with olive oil drizzled toasted French bread from Daily Bread in Bristol.

*Hot chocolate and Ginger Molasses cookies (Daily Bread) for dessert. Yum!!

As always, I never follow recipes exactly and I never measure. I like it much better when you kinda just throw everything together and eye ingredients. Everything was so good and I definitely learned a few things. (Most fish markets are closed on Mondays, who knew?)





While I am definitely getting better at taking photos, food is not even close to being a strong point. Sorry for my lack of photos of the food but I'm very bad at making it look good in photos, maybe a project for next week.

Tetris Halloween

On Friday Brian, DJ, Bailor and I headed down to New Haven, Connecticut for a Halloween party that his college friend throws every year. It's a benefit for breast cancer and came complete with an open bar, apps, and A HUGE TABLE FULL OF CANDY!! (Maybe I should have put the open bar part in all caps, yes, no?) DJ, being very constructionally talented, made our costumes and they came out really great. We were each a different Tetris piece that wonderfully fitted together. It was so enjoyable to wear a fun, original, handmade costume that was actually pretty comfortable and didn't involve a lot of makeup. I think the sexy devils/nurses/air force pilots/kittens were a bit jealous.

New on Etsy: Where Are You From?

Click here.

New on Etsy: For Your Feet

Click here.

Aloha Daisy!

In a few weeks my dear friends Daisy and Matt are moving to Hawaii. They are following their dreams and are going to be working on an organic farm once they arrive in their new island paradise home. I am so proud and happy for them even though I think they're a bit sad right now about leaving the place they've called home for so many years. Last night we had a farewell dinner for them at Perro Salado in Newport, which happens to be where we met. We drank champagne and margaritas and enjoyed amazingly delicious food. I wore my vintage Mexican circle skirt from Frecklewonder, vintage belt and jewelry, and my awesome thrifted 70's Hang Ten red sneakers. I am going to miss them so much, but maybe a trip to the Big Island is in my future...






Candle photo taken by Andi Flax.