Oh and Morning's at My Window She Is Sending Me to Bed Again

Outfit details:
Green long-sleeve shirt: thrifted, originally J. Crew, remixed
Teal shirt: Target
Khaki pants: Old Navy, remixed
Shoes: Seychelles, via solestruck.com, remixed
Necklace: World Market, remixed

Where:
Work

This will be my last post for a little while. Joe and I are taking a week off of work to meet up with my family in Colorado, and I simply couldn't be more excited!!!! I am not taking my computer, and am thrilled at the thought of having only to read, eat, hike, and sleep everyday for a week. I'll bring my camera and take a few pictures, but probably not everyday. Mountain vacations are not always fashion-friendly, and I desperately need a break from my daily responsibilities. But I'll miss you all and I very much look forward to catching up when I get home!!

My outfit today felt uninspired. I didn't seem to be able to think about much of anything other than my upcoming vacation, so I kind of just grabbed stuff out of my dresser this morning. These Seychelles are the saving grace of this ensemble. They are totally broken in now, and far more comfortable than I first thought they'd be. And I adore their rich color and retro style. I think I'm in love!

I thought I'd take a few pictures outside today to make up for my lack of outfit-related inspiration. I love how so many bloggers take their daily photos in such interesting locales. I know I've been mostly confined to my office or living room so far, but hopefully you'll start seeing more diverse surroundings for me soon. I also totally forgot that I had my iPod in, so you are privy to me taking photos while listening to Elliott Smith.

And They're Splitting Like Plums

Outfit details:
Black crochet-top tank: Old Navy, remixed
Jeans: thrifted, originally Gap, remixed
Wedges: Rampage , via Piperlime
Earrings: Old Navy, $1 clearance
Ring: Forever 21, remixed

Where:
Breakfast disaster at home, out and about

So Joe and I wanted to make a nice breakfast this morning. We had it all planned out: omelets with tomato, avocado, and green onion filling and pepperjack cheese, plus bacon, blackberries, and coffee. We were very excited to have a nice cozy brunch together. What happened, however, was that I burned the omelets to a crisp on the outside, leaving the insides completely uncooked. Also, Joe burned the bacon. Also, Joe's coffee was nothing short of chewable. Also, the blackberries were of a bizarre un-blackberry-esque texture. You'll be happy to know, however, that this is only the second-most disastrous breakfast we've experienced. Maybe I'll tell you about the other one sometime. Maybe.

On a non-omelet related note, I LOVE. THESE. SHOES. I've been battling myself over my desire for summer wedge sandals, for various reasons. For some reason, shoes like this fall into the "frivolous" category, so I always feel guilty when I buy them. Hence, I partake in a good amount of hemming, hawing, and other general waffling in the process. I finally settled on a pair, but they weren't right, got returned, and I gave up. Then I found these. Majorly on sale and just what I was looking for. Loves.

Joe is less enthusiastic about the corkiness of the sandals, but I'm working on him. He already came up with a few outfit ideas that he liked that incorporated them, so I think all will be well in the world of boyfriends and sandals. Maybe we'll see them during the Joe Dresses Clare Challenge Week (which should be coming up pretty soon here!).

Also, I'm ANTM:

How the Music Can Free Her Whenever It Starts

Outfit details:
Teal jersey bubble-hem dress: Nordstrom Rack, so incredibly on sale
Yellow tights: Target
Socks: Target
Boots: DSW, very remixed

Where:
Fave breakfast place, local independent bookstore, home for reading marathon, tidying, and cooking dinner

The local bookstore that we love was having a major sale today. Joe is a member (members essentially buy stocks of the store) and this week they are offering 20% off to members off of any item. Bookstore bargains are our favorites, so we totally rocked that store (and, in the process, spent a not-laughable chunk of our paychecks). This inevitably resulted in a reading marathon this afternoon. Joe is now 1/3 of the way through The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne and I spent much of my afternoon drooling my way through my new Madhur Jaffrey Indian cookbook. Yum! I made eggdrop soup for dinner tonight, which I must say I am pretty proud of. It's a recipe, and style of cooking, that I don't often attempt, and while the soup was a tad vinegar-y, I still think I rocked it (and Joe pinky-swore that he liked it, so I think I'm in the clear).

This outfit feels slightly reminiscent of Ronald McDonald's bright, slightly visually aggressive, costumes. I actually kind of love it, but I'm well aware of how out of my color comfort zone it is. It just feels like the right ratio of springy, flirty, and funky. Also, I'm loving this dress so much, and excited to style it in different ways (a daring minidress, a flowing tunic, etc. Stay tuned!). What do you guys think? Is it too much?

Speaking of Mickey D's, we overheard the best conversation today as we left the bookstore. We caught it in the middle but it was sooo worth it. Observe:
High School Student A: ...in a young girl's heart?
HSS B: No, in general. Like Harry Potter.
Okay, it took us awhile too. What we finally figured out was that the beginning of the conversation, which we were not privy to, was "do you believe in magic?" Priceless. Freaking priceless. Sorry if that wasn't as funny to all of you. Maybe you just had to be there.

photo credit

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with String

Just so ya'll know, there is a mega-sweet giveaway going on at the lovely Eyeliah's blog, Style Symmetry. She is celebrating her 1000th post and giving away some great stuff. Go check it out!

http://stylesymmetry.com/2009/05/20/the-1000th-post-giveaway/

Shop Update ~ Tatter Tees

Hi Gals,

Just letting you guys know about a trio of lovelies added to the store today. Larger sizes available in this batch as per requested, hope you guys enjoy. :)

In Style......

bonzie & ger

Drink to the Foam until We Meet Once More

Outfit details:
Brown tank: ??
Blue/white striped cropped cardigan: Target, remixed
Green sailor-button skirt: Old Navy
Gold ballet flats: Target, worn all the time
Anchor necklace: lengthened and remixed

Where:
Work

This will have to be a short post as I'm writing it between bites of paella, sips of red wine, and watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona. A perfect night in and a fulfilling start to our weekend (yes, both Joe and I work ridiculous hours and days). Ahh...

The recent lengthening of this necklace (see link above) has inspired in me an overwhelming desire to be all nautical and sailor-y. While I don't normally associate brown and green with seafaring, the button design on this skirt seems nautical to me. And the way the brown from the tank plays off the brown from the buttons seems appropriate. I kind of just kept adding and removing things this morning, random colors and accessories, until I finally settled on this. I like it, and the way it makes certain of my curves stand out (in a good way!).

My office right now fluctuates from hot to cold all the time, so on the way to work this morning I had to make sure to pack another cardigan. It felt strange, wearing two at once, but I also felt like it kind of contributed to the nautical feel, so I went ahead and snapped a picture of it too.

p.s. Rent Vicky Cristina Barcelona. So far so good.

A Special Gift to You!

Gals,

As a show of our appreciation for all of our well wishers during our feature spot on etsy last week and to welcome all of our new blog readers we are hosting a wee blog giveaway to gift 3 randomly selected winners an original "Bonzie Haunted Bloom". All of you gals who left us a blog comment since our feature last week and to any of you who sent us love filled convos to our etsy store will be entered into a draw and 3 names will be drawn to receive a bloom.

Winners will be drawn and announced tomorrow, best of luck to everyone and again our warmest thanks for a really great show of support, we appreciate each and everyone of your comments.

In Style........

bonzie & ger

The Sky Wore a Veil of Gold and Green

Outfit details:
Salmon shirt (worn under dress): Maurices, so old
Maroon dress: Old Navy clearance, remixed
Blue sash: from sweatshirt
Knee-high blue & gray socks: Target
Boots: DSW, remixed
Anchor necklace: Etsy, remixed

Where:
Work

This dress is so divinely comfortable! It's not quite jersey, but pretty close, and I love that about it. I feel like with some jersey dresses the fabric is almost too forgiving, and they show all kinds of lumps and bumps that are probably best left un-shown. But the fabric here provides just enough structure and swing to remedy that, while still being loose and flowing.

Every time I wear this dress I have the overpowering urge to wear a looonnng necklace (see remix link for another one!). Something about the neckline and simplicity of the garment begs for a long, showy strand necklace. So I used a second necklace to lengthen my darling anchor necklace today (a bit a la E. of Academichic). I was originally looking for another silver chain to make a seamless look with the longer necklace, but my eye caught on this navy one and I tried out the two-tone look. I like how it plays off the blue from the sash on the dress. I feel like it almost gives the whole outfit a nautical feeling.

Punkd!

Heres a sneak peak at our next jacket to hit the shop, total tatter couture, with a smidge of steampunk for a very edgy look! Size Medium.

In Style........

Bonzie & Ger

Brush Man

Left somewhere

for someone

to find.

Fireworks Blooming Above in the Sky

Outfit details:

Olive tank (under white blouse): Target, sooo old
White embroidered blouse: Forever 21
Boot-cut jeans: Old Navy "the Flirt", endlessly remixed
Sandals: Seychelles "Always a Lady", from solestruck.com, remixed
Beaded leather cuff bracelets: gift from Joe's Mom, remixed here and here

Where:
Coffeehouse breakfast date, chores @ home, dinner on Devon

I have always been a fan of the Mexican embroidered peasant blouse. My mom used to wear one when I was really young, and I know she wore the heck out of them in college. My absolute favorite dress of all time when I was a kid was a kelly green shift dress with yellow and white embroidery along the collar and sleeves. I wore it to every birthday, party, or other dress-appropriate event from age 4 until I couldn't possibly fit into it anymore. So I've decided to wholeheartedly embrace the new (or rather, returning) trend of the embroidered peasant blouse. Now, I must admit that a little piece of me died inside when I had to buy my precious blouse at a Forever 21 in liu of a market in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. But I think I can come to terms with it. After all, if $9 got me a ticket to Mexico, I'd be there in an instant...as it is, it got me this blouse.

I am slowly but surely breaking in my precious new Seychelles. After applying a bit of mink oil to the leather the other day, they are much more flexible and caused almost no blister pain! They took me all the way to Devon Ave, where we met up with some friends and enjoyed a most delicious Southern Indian dinner. After a long day of laundry, dishes, tidying and Monopoly (yes, that's virtually all we do!), a spicy tasty vegetarian dinner with friends was just the ticket. Yummers. How did you all spend your Memorial Day weekend?

Haunted Blooms.

Sharing some lovely hauntedness with you gals in the form of some "Tattered Couture" style haunted blooms in muted antiquated shades.

Coming to the shop tomorrow. :)

In Style.........

Bonzie & Ger

Just One Day Out of Life

Outfit details:
Yellow t-shirt: Old Navy, remixed
Gray t-shirt: Urban Outfitters
Skinny jeans: Old Navy, remixed here and here
Shoes: Converse All-Stars, DSW
Turquoise ring: Forever 21, remixed

Where:
Bike to work, work, Memorial Day cookout at work, more work, walk (w/bike in tow) home with Joe

Man, am I ever itching for a holiday! I know that this is normally a big weekend for people here, with grills and cookouts and family, but since I have to work through most of it I haven't been able to embrace it as I should. But both Joe and I are taking tomorrow off, so I'm very excited for our day! We probably won't do much grilling (it looks like rain), but we have a coffee + breakfast date all planned out, which sounds like the perfect medicine for the No Vacation Blues (a.k.a. toomuchworkitis).

In order to feel holiday chic (or maybe just holiday casz), I am so rocking the jeans and t-shirt today. Once upon a time, today's outfit was my absolute go-to uniform of choice, with a few minor adjustments (red Chucks, looser jeans, longer hair). So I always feel the most comfortable in my original "look". I'm also pretty happy about this yellow tee under the gray one. I've had the yellow one for awhile and just never wear it because it always seems too bright. Maybe it'll just go into the layering pile...

This gray t-shirt holds a special place in my heart. I got it in a bargain bin at the downtown Urban Outfitters, so there's not that much special there. But I adore Kerouac. In that total hipster, On-the-Road-changed-my-life kind of way. And I don't even care. One of the happiest, purest moments in my life was spent in a village at 12,000 feet above sea level in Bolivia reading The Dharma Bums. It may have been the altitude, but I never quite got over ol' Jack after that. What about you all? Is there a specific piece of clothing that holds a piece of your heart? Is it a fashion-related connection or does it tie to something else in your life?

The Only Thing I'm Hunting for Is an Outfit that Looks Good

Outfit details:
Mustard shirt: Target, remixed
Gray/blue vest: Urban Outfitters, remixed
Blue polka-dot skirt: Old Navy, remixed
Suede mocs: Kmart, remixed all over the place

Where:
Work, downtown to scope out the parade, back to work

This outfit is definitely best when in motion, which is why all my pictures are crazier than usual. I do like the color combination, though. I'm in love with rich colors right now, and also colors named for foods (which happen to be rich): vibrant orange, mustard, olive, rust, eggplant, deep teal. Ahh, color...

(links to each photo if you click on the name of the color)

It's Memorial Day weekend so I'm tres-bummed that I have to be inside at work. I'm very lucky in that I usually get a three-day weekend almost every week, but it's kind of rough when the one time that the whole country gets three days off I have to be at work. I took my lunch break to go downtown and watch the parade, which was awesome, since it was a parade, and all parades are pretty sweet. We get Memorial Day off, so we'll have to plan something fun (like laundry and cleaning). What are your plans for the weekend (please please tell me so I can live vicariously through you!)??

Reality Bites!

New Edition to the Shop, Napoleona Red Velvet Coat

Gals,

First and foremost a humongous THANK YOU! to all of our friends and supporters who chimed in with well wishes this week during our etsy "Featured Seller" gig. We were absolutely blown away by the response and felt so thankful to all of our pals on etsy who took time out of their day to share their positivity and warmness with us, we are eternally grateful. :)

In the midst of what can only be described as a tornado going through the studio with over 300emails and a big spike in orders we had a moment of reprieve in the guise of a wee little boy who always brings a smile into our day no matter what we are doing. Ger and I had lots of stock prepared for the feature in advance and we hadn't managed to fit in a photo shoot prior to it so we had to do a quickie photo session out Gers back garden in the middle of the week. Just as Ger was getting into it ( baring in mind Ger is a mom of 3 and has only been rail roaded into modelling by me out of pure necessity on the days that one of our in house models, Niamh, Jez or Judith are at work etc.) , a pose here and a pose there and I was admiring Gers improvisation when just out of the corner of our eyes Gers littlest , who was just home from school, potters over in his Thomas the Tank Engine slipper to where we were shooting and innocently says to Ger, " mam, is me egg ready yet! "

This was enough for the both of us, we were rolling round the garden in hysterics, I don't know if it was the stress of the week, or the fact that we were really getting into the shoot when he brought us right back down to earth. Gers says through the tears rolling down her face, " Ya wouldn't want to be thinking your Kate Moss or anything would ya! " .

Well, its a very glamorous life indeed! lol

In Style........

Bonzie and Ger (Kate Moss)

www.bonzie.etsy.com