Adelaide's Bridal Collection

When I got to dress my friend Amy, for her wedding , i realized what a special thing that is; providing the wedding dress for a bride. So I've been curating a small collection of dresses for the shop. I hope you enjoy

find the collection here

The one where we visited illinois

   

A few weeks ago we traveled to illinois to visit our families. The flooding river pushed us onto roads that we  hadn't traveled before and we found ourselves in a a small town called Plymouth, which just happened to have the most delightful antique store.

Illinois pastures make me peaceful in a way that some people become calm when staring at the ocean, or standing beneath redwoods, or gazing at mountains. I love all those places too, but they do not conjure a feeling of "home."

Asher nearly got swallowed up whole in all the love from his grandparents, and aunts and uncles and cousins. He reveled in having people cheer for him as he learned to walk. He got to feed a cow, and pet a goat and hold a tiny frog by a pond.

and also...this happened :) 

thanks for reading,
m

Shop Additions

Cornflower Blue Seersucker 1940s Dress 

Cream Knit 1960s Mod Shift Dress

Blue Linen 1940s dress (larger size) with Arrow Motif

Ossie Clark Brown Velvet Coat 

1940s silk floral dress

Adrienne Vittadini Cream Pom Pom Sweater

1960s caramel wool sailor dress

Blue Plaid Camp Shirt (1970s) 

1970s sheer plum floral Dress 

1960s black wool Dress

1950s Ecru Lace Wedding Dress

1970s Blossom Branch Dress

These items are new in the shop the last couple weeks. and it is up to 150 items for the first time in....oh, maybe a year? yay! i feel like its a good mix of decades and price points, and seasons, too! 

i would also like to commend the new dress form for doing such a beautiful job! what should her name be? rosamond? 

have fun shopping :) 

m

the big 2 9 .

My 29th birthday was on the 5th. Steve took the whole afternoon off and gave me the gift of alone time. He took care of asher told me to go do whatever i wanted all by myself...and it was lovely.
I went to an antique market, a secondhand clothing store, a coffee shop, and a flower shop where i bought myself some lovely flowers.

that evening was a bit unorthodox. While we had a fancy dinner planned, the more i thought about it, i realized that what i really wanted was help cleaning our room. i am VERY domestically challenged and i just work better with a friend. so we grabbed a quick dinner and then steve rolled up his sleeves and dug into the pile of clothes that is our bedroom floor. He cheerfully helped me hang my vintage dresses, match socks, put away laundry, take moldy forgotten coffees to the kitchen...etc, etc. It was really fun actually.

aren't those buttons lovely?

on sunday i took a long bath, painted my toenails and put on this wonderful dress from Wildfell Hall for church. This dress was my birthday treat from myself. i fall for a lace print, every. time.

a few things i learned this year:

-"its better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all" -Tennyson.
i lost emerson, but i'm so glad that i loved him with all my might while i had him. i want to keep an open heart and not have a hardened one.

- i learned how to make really good french bread. ok, maybe i only did it once, but it was wonderful and hopefully not a fluke.

-- "when parents let their ambitions, housework, or hobbies become a higher priority than parenting, and they begin to view their children as annoying interruptions. This attitude guarantees failure, frustration, and anger. only by reordering priorities and recongizing that parenting is a highly demanding job will there be any hope for decent results and the absence of frustration." --raising Godly tomatoes. .....Asher is not an annoyance...He is a little life, a little person who needs molding and shaping. and i only get one chance with him. loving him and spending time with him (where i am really present) is more important than a perfect home, or a great vintage shop.

--being an introvert mom can be really scary. I tried to do life all by myself for the first 6 months of asher's life. then my face hit concrete. turns out we can't do life alone. i need friends, i need other moms, i need help. i learned (and am still learning) to reach out. and to tell people my struggles.

--i don't want to care what people think, or be a people pleaser anymore. its dumb. i want to please God.

--i can basically do everything one handed. with a little boy on one hip.

--i really really like my job.

--Brussels sprouts can taste like candy.

thanks for reading, seriously.

m

Instagram Lately

i am ever so slowly learning how to use a "real" camera, but my iphone sure captures some special moments in the meantime.

happy customers

sometimes i get tempted to close up shop. it's easy to feel like i can't do it all, and i certainly don't want to quit being asher's mama so if something has to go, it would be my shop.
i only work on it a little each week, and i wonder if its silly. or a waste of time.
but then i get an email like the one i got from this sweet girl.
she bought this 1950s teal dress for her sweet sixteen party and said that it helped make it a special day!

and that makes me want to keep doing what i'm doing...to keep hunting, hand-washing, sewing, ironing, taking pictures, packaging. so that lovely clothes can go to lovely people and bring them joy.  and that the 1950s dress can have a new life :)



i just wanted to share this picture because it made me so happy.
i would love to see you in your Adelaide's purchase, too!  oh, and here is the original dress :)

thanks for reading, m.