a summer celebration

We spent the last three days celebrating the birthday boy's big 5-0!  Starting with delicious pizza and beer at Harmony Brewing.  (For anyone who cares, in my opinion, Harmony and Amore Trattoria make the best pizza in Grand Rapids.  Possibly the only pizza worth eating in GRR.)

We also did a little thrifting and had some great finds.

It's not a celebration without a cocktail or two at Viceroy.  Steven made me this beautiful lavender lychee-flavored concoction.

I was serious about wanting to wear an all-black wardrobe from now on!

Bunting from HeidiAdnum on Etsy was just the festive touch the living room needed for the small shindig we held for Andy on Saturday.

I asked Andy to get me "a bunch" of mint from our neighbor for drinks--he apparently dug up an entire plant!

We had lots of good food courtesy Andy and our friend Roberta...and cocktails, courtesy me.  I made mostly whiskey drinks:  Whiskey Smash, Scofflaw, Junior, Old Fashioned.

And we recuperated on the lake on Sunday.

Lucy engaging in her favorite pastime--fish watching!

xo

K

irl

Andy ran the 5/3 Riverbank Run on Saturday, and our pal Stephani came over from Detroit to visit for a few days.  So I took a mini-break from the internet. (Other than watching a marathon of Gavin and Stacey, which Stephani needed to see--as do all humans.)

Andy did pretty well this year.  No PR (personal record), but he also didn't almost run into a deer and pull a muscle, like last year.  So all in all, a win.  He is pretty happy here.  We took him out for breakfast.

Stephani took us all out to a fancy dinner at Reserve, where we ate all the menu items containing ramps.  And the pork fat fries, to which I am addicted.  Yes, I know my eyes are closed, but this is my current favorite dress and my only photo of it.

We took Lucy for a walk in the woods.  It was beautiful, and Andy found ramps (more ramps!) and made us ramp carbonara for dinner.

We went thrifting and stopped to get ice cream for Andy and Lucy.  This was taken just before she puked it up--luckily, outside Stephani's car.

I did find some good things while thrifting, but I will leave you with photos of two not-so-good things I found that I did not purchase.

You have to love that somebody manufactured fancy tableware just for serving canned cranberry "sauce."

xo
K

focused

Andy and I spent a couple days up north last weekend.  It was partially a shopping trip (as all our trips are), and partially an excuse to eat at a couple of our favorite places.  (I am still crazed about the lentil crêpe at Patisserie Amie, and have a newfound burrata obsession, thanks to Trattoria Stella.)  I am mainly shopping for the shop during these trips, but sometimes I find treasures of my own.

In three different locations I found these antelope bookends, and old editions of Jude the Obscure and Robert Burns' Poems and Letters.

An illustration from the Burns book.

I also found this crocheted collar.  It doesn't fit the bookish theme--but it sure looks pretty there!

xo

K

macro thrift

Andy and I took a little thrift trip yesterday, and I snapped some photos.  

I didn't buy the Music for a German Dinner at Home vinyl, and I kind of wish I had.

xo

K

thrift dog

A dog and her boy.

A dog and her girl.

The girl's outfit.  1960s plaid dress and Isaac Mizrahi for Target herringbone tweed flats.

These have probably been on the blog before.  They're one of my favorite, most-worn pairs of shoes, and for a cheap-o Target buy they've held up amazingly well.  The occasion for these photos was a little long-overdue thrift trip we took over the weekend.  Lucy and I were both excited to get out of the house and on the road.  I never find 1940s dresses while thrifting, but there's this one store where I've found them two or three times now--and this trip did not disappoint!  You'll see it in the shop soon.

xo

K

insanely cool...or just insane?

I was tempted, and am kind of regretting not buying him. He looks like a squirrel Amy Sedaris would have on her wall. But he stayed on the thrift store shelf. (Call me, Amy--I'll let you know where he is.)

These came home with me, of course.

Just plain freaky. Stayed in the store for the crazy doll lady.

I loved how they were arranged on the shelf. Which is where they stayed.

Even with the scuff on the cover, I loved this. It came home with me.

Purchased.

Purchased.

Andy was so excited--this was his second "The Whites" album of the day. If Andy had things his way, the house would be filled with weird albums like these. But I like to keep the record cabinet filled with vinyl we might actually listen to...so none of these came home.

xo

K

i've got wheels and you want to go for a ride

I might just name all the blog posts after Magnetic Fields lyrics this month. I listened to 69 Love Songs over and over again while we were on our road trip last weekend, so it's kind of stuck in my head.

Mega icicles! There was tons of snow up north, and even more fell while we were there, but the driving wasn't bad at all--probably because folk there are used to driving in the snow. Winter isn't high tourist season up north (which is why it's the best time to go!).

We ate breakfast two days in a row at our favorite place, Patisserie Amie. Mmmm.

Andy waiting on breakfast. I love the colors here so much I didn't do anything to this photo besides putting the frame around it.

Here's the delicious omelette we split before we had Breakfast Dessert.

Dessert was a Le Tigre cake (it had chocolate and almonds) and a lemon tart, with big dollops of whipped cream on the side. (We also enjoyed delicious dinners at two other favorites--La Bécasse and Trattoria Stella.)

Here I am freezing but trying to look nonchalant in a thrift store parking lot.

The only vintage thing I'm wearing here is this pretty bejeweled lucky clover pin, which belonged to my grandmother.

We found lots of great vintage on this trip, but the only thing I'm showing you right now is something I'm keeping for myself. I found this old printer's tray at one of our very last stops. I want to hang it on the wall somewhere--maybe the bedroom?--and fill it with jewelry and wee tchotchkes.

xo

K