my kind of workout

Mother Nature may not have completely gotten the message that it's spring yet (they're predicting snow for tonight! ahhhh!) but we have had a couple days where going outside for more than a few minutes wasn't lethal. On one of those days a few weeks ago, I ventured over to the park for a good old fashioned workout.

By old fashioned I mean the kind of workout I did as a kid. No treadmills, sit-ups or aerobic videos, just simple play. As a grown up I hate any kind of activity that could be classified under the term "working out." It's not that I hate being active, because I actually love it. I just hate how adults have made staying active so darn boring. I don't want to run on a machine indoors watching a cooking show -- I want to be outside jumping rope. You'd be amazed what a good workout you can get from pumping your legs on a swing set, and I guarantee it's 100x more fun than sitting on an elliptical machine in your basement.

I've been thinking a lot lately about childhood vs. grown up things, and how society expects you to stop doing or liking things when you reach a certain age (what age I'm not exactly sure, but I'm assuming sometime between 10 and whatever age you are now) I just think that's sad. I bet a lot of adults pass by swing sets *wishing* they could hop on and experience some of the weightless joy they knew as a child but don't because they think they're too old.



My grandmom has been an avid swing-set fan since I was a kid and at 76 she still loves it. My mom still plays with legos even though me and my brother have long outgrown our interest in them. And my dad, who came with me to the park to take these pictures, had just as much fun at the playground as I did. Basically what I'm saying is -- you're never too old for anything that you enjoy.

gola sneakers - c/o modcloth | hat - gift from casey

sweater - modcloth | skip it - amazon | jeans & coat - old navy

smells like disney spirit

Yesterday was mostly rainy, but we still had a fantastic time at Epcot. I know I go on about this, but... FOOD. I got a vegan beef dish with jasmine rice at Seasons for lunch and had vegetarian grilled fake chicken at the Liberty Inn, and both were out of this world. I wish more places back home offered vegetarian options, I usually get saddled with an assortment of potato side dishes or a salad at most restaurants.

Can we talk about my backpack for a second? I've wanted a smiley face backpack since I was like 8 years old. I remember seeing them in elementary school and practically begging my mom to let me get one, but somehow I never did. Recently I started seeing those 90's bags pop up on etsy (usually for outrageous prices like $100+!) and all those pangs of smiley face lust came rushing back. So, a few weeks ago I was at k-mart buying Despicable Me toys (as you do) when I saw it. One single smiley face backpack on clearance for $15. IT WAS FATE. I was there with my dad and I'm pretty sure he was sincerely concerned for my mental well-being, I was just SO excited about this bag.

It's one of those things where you kind of wish you could go back in time and tell your 8 year old self that you have it. She'd be so ecstatic!! That happened again on Tuesday when I found a hair brush at a story here in Disney World that was shaped like a giant fork. It says "dinglehopper" on it! (You know, when Scuttle teaches Ariel in The Little Mermaid that forks are used for brushing your hair and that they're called Dinglehoppers) I just had to get it. I almost wish I could air-mail it to the past and make childhood me so happy!

pinafore - c/o dahlia | saddle shoes - payless | backpack - kmart | shirt - f21

the slumber party kit!

The Slumber Party Kit is officially complete and up for sale! :) I am so excited about this! I've had the idea since around when I created The Book Fair Kit last April, and I hope to have some more kits in the future (I already have another one in the works!)

The Slumber Party Kit includes everything you'd need to recreate your childhood sleepovers -- whether you want to have a solo party (like I did for the accompanying photo shoot lol) or gather up your BFFs for an old-school sleepover or give your kiddo a little taste of what your own childhood was like! It would also make a cute thoughtful gift to send a long-distance BFF that's too far away for a real slumber party!

In the kit you'll receive a pre-assembled fortune teller, MASH cards, microwave popcorn, a friendship bracelet kit, a mix tape of 90's pop tunes with a hand-written bubble letter playlist and a "rental" movie that you get to keep. And it all comes in a hand-stamped canvas bag. It also includes a URL so you can download the digital slumber party kit, too! You can print out extra fortune tellers, mash cards and invitations and then use the scrapbooking elements to document your fabulous night!

The kit is available in my sweet and lovely shop here! :)

I miss the 90's.

I miss the 90's. Like, a lot.

I always do, but every once in a while that ache for days gone by seems to overwhelm me to the point where I feel genuinely upset that I can't go back. I'm going through one of those phases right now. Part of it is about being a kid... having a relatively carefree existence and having none of the problems that come with adolescence or adulthood. I look at the face in this photo and think "Oh gosh, young Kate. Enjoy your life now because in 2-3 years you'll have acne and periods and bras and unrequited crushes and terrible, terrible hair."

But it's also THE NINETIES. The decade itself. I am so incredibly happy to have been born just in time to have had a childhood completely devoid of anything related to the internet. Don't get me wrong, I do like the world wide web. I met most of my closest friends online, google searches have saved the day more times than I can count, and I make my living on etsy.

But I miss doing things without feeling that urgent need to share online. I miss waking up and NOT immediately checking my emails. Going a whole day without looking at my iphone or uploading something to instagram, or updating my facebook page. I long for a time in which none of my time was devoted to online sharing.

I miss the simplicity of early 90's technology... MS Paint and The Oregon Trail! And WordArt! I miss VHS tapes! I miss the video stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. Going there always felt like such a treat, and the whole place would smell like popcorn. I miss the ads for movies coming soon to home video in 1993.

I miss scrunchies, peace signs, smiley faces, yin-yangs and daisies. POGS!! Remember Pogs?! I miss the mail order ads in magazines like Teen Beat. I always wanted glow in the dark lipstick but never got up the courage to ask my parents to let me buy it.

I miss jean jackets and tye dye. I miss Drew Barrymore with light hair and dark lipstick. I wanted to look like that so badly. I miss the commercials on tv that STILL are more cool and cutting edge than things that try to seem cool and cutting edge today. I miss the macarena.

I even miss school. Not middle school or high school (Dear God NO) but elementary school, where everything I learned still comes in handy to this day, where learning was fun and my teachers were all super friendly (if Mrs. Copeland is somehow reading this, you were my favorite!!) I miss the book fairs (obviously), recess, school trips and lunch. Airheads, pop tarts, dunkaroos, fruit roll ups, gushers and capri sun!

Thank goodness for modern technology, though. Oh, how terrible life would be if I couldn't watch old back to school commercials on youtube or Aaahh! Real Monsters on netflix instant. The internet allows nostalgia to thrive, so for that above all else, I love the world wide web.

my little pony

This is BY FAR one of my favorite dresses ever now. I only got it in the mail about a week ago, and I think I've already worn it four times! It's comfy, it fits like a glove and it's the prettiest shade of purple!

Basically I look like a human version of My Little Pony with this outfit and my pink hair, and I love it! Sometimes I think I'm really just a grown up who never got over playing dress-up. 7 year old me would have absolutely flipped out over this outfit! I would have wanted to wear it while playing Pretty Pretty Princess.

Dress - c/o romwe | Shoes - vintage | Belt - forever 21 | Tie - c/o flapper girl

summerwind

dress & belt - forever 21
cardigan - old navy
tights and shoes - h&m

I'm very much a fall-and-winter sort of person, but for some reason I'm really excited about summer this year. I'm not sure what's come over me but I'm absolutely itching to spend my summer the way I did when I was a kid. Watching cartoons in the morning while drinking chocolate milk; going outside for a while to play with sidewalk chalk before getting too hot and rushing in the house, making a beeline straight for the nearest air conditioning vent. Forts made out of blankets, my mom's homemade lemonade and iced tea, swimming, grilled veggies and (boca) burgers for dinner, being covered head to toe in mosquito bites.

I usually have way too much going on to make this a reality, but I'm tempted to see if this summer I can jam all of my to-do-list items into a few hours each morning, then spend the rest of the day enjoying a pseudo-summer vacation..

flashback friday

A couple months ago my mom found two giant boxes of photos from when me & my brother were little, and I've been trying to think of something to do with them (besides, obviously, scanning them and saving them) ... I was originally going to do some kind of series where I recreated the photos now, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the logistics of that one. In the meantime I thought I'd just start posting some of them here every so often :)

If anyone has a clever name for this series I'd be so indebted to you... I don't want to go overboard on alliteration, and naming things after days of the week. And it also sounds kind of silly to do a "friday" something post anyway when I also do Posh Frock Friday in the morning lol ;-D

come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned

dress - modcloth

collar - luminia

faux kneehigh tights - UO

shoes - H&M

Lately I've been missing being a kid. I had a really great childhood, incredibly carefree and fun. As I got older and things started to change, I was never happy about it. Mother nature practically had to drag me into adulthood; screaming and wailing and holding on for dear life to my precious childhood. I can remember having regular conversations with my mom all throughout middle school, discussing how amazing it would be if Neverland was real.

I'm 24 now, and about to live on my own for the first time... and I still feel a lot like a kid. I don't know if it's just that right-brained people tend to live more creative lives, and keep reaching back into the crayons-and-coloring-books resources of our childhoods, but I still can't see myself as an adult. It constantly amazes me when I see people my age - or younger - who are engaged, married or giving birth to their second or third children already, when I still feel a sense of grown-up pride over doing my own laundry. Then again, I have a feeling that I'll be 80 and still looking out my window waiting for Peter Pan to come whisk me away in the night.

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

Clap your hands if you believe in fairies!!! *clap clap clap*

outfit photo, circa 1991

My mom found a bunch of old photos today, and I couldn't help but post this one! The dress I'm wearing was my favorite when I was little... my mom saved it for special occasions like pre-school graduation, Easter and birthdays. She called it my "posh frock" which is where I got the name for posh frock fridays :) My parents took so many photos of me modeling my clothes, I'm tempted to do a bunch of old outfit posts. Some of my dresses were so cute I wish they still fit me! ;-D

a trip down music memory lane

I think my parents are pretty awesome. There's a hundred reasons why, but one of the biggies is the music they introduced me to as a kid. My dad owned a record shop for the 1st decade or so my parents were married, then they opened a music t-shirt/poster mail order business around the time I was born. Music is super important to both of them, and they made sure it would be to me, too. I could probably buy one record a day for my entire life, and wouldn't come close to matching my dad's collection.

I remember when I was around 8 or 9 I was singing along to a Peter Murphy song (the lyrics of which I only understand now, as a grown up) and my mom apologized to me in advance for exposing me to that kind of stuff. "When you're an adult, you are going to hate us," she said. That might have been true if they hadn't also been busy making me into a progressive open-minded person who'd totally play the same music for her own kids.

When I was about 13 I became interested in older music (Sinatra, Crosby, etc.) and never really listened to the songs I'd loved as a kid, except on road trips when my parents would make mix-tapes for the car. It was only recently, within the last six months or so, that I finally started listening and appreciating their tastes in music again. Not only are the songs little trips down memory lane, but I'm really enjoying exchanging youtube links with my dad, who, needless to say, is beyond thrilled that I'm listening to his favorite music again (except T-Rex. I just can't get into them..) and keeps sending me songs I might like! :)

When I have kids, they're going to be little music aficionados who sing inappropriate lyrics and hopefully they won't grow up to hate me for it ;-D

sidewalk chalk

Along with playing with barbies, doodling, make believe and dancing, my favorite childhood activity was drawing with sidewalk chalk. My mom used to always tell me and my brother that she was her happiest when our driveway was a rainbow of chalky green, pink, blue and yellow. So today -- since she's been a little blue lately -- we rummaged through the garage and managed to find some old sticks leftover from our long lost youth, and covered the entire driveway with color! I drew a giant flower and Kyle wrote "nachos" (although you probably could have guessed who did which without me spelling it out for you..) Not only did this significantly brighten my mom's mood when she pulled up to the house this afternoon, but it brightened mine as well! I really enjoyed myself (and I think Kyle did too, even if he's a stubborn teenager who won't admit having fun chalking up a driveway with his sister..) and I almost can't wait for it to rain so that I can start all over again from scratch :-)

a taste of nostalgia

When I was a kid, my parents took me to work with them every day. They owned a mail order t-shirt business, and every once in a while my dad would take me with him to the post office down the street. Next door was a little Italian bakery that sold the most delicious brownies I've ever tasted in my life. My dad treating me to those brownies on our post office adventures is one of the really special memories that I've cherished for as long as I can remember.

When I was about eight, the bakery closed and I never got to have the brownies again. But I think about them from time to time, remembering not just how delicious they were but how special I felt when my dad would buy one for me.

For the last week or so I've been craving these sandwich butter cookies that look like leaves with chocolate spread in between them. So today my mom took me out to a local bakery to buy some -- but they didn't have any. We then proceeded to the post office so that I could mail my Flapper Doodle packages. While in the parking lot, we noticed a bakery that we'd never been to before, so we decided we'd try them for the cookies.

In the most beautiful twist of fate EVER, it turns out that it's the same bakery from my childhood!! They just moved!!! We always thought they had closed, but there they were, right across from the new post office that I've been going to for months. And they had the brownies. THEY HAD THE BROWNIES.

It's amazing how certain sights, tastes and scents can trigger really deep memories that you never would have thought about on your own. Right now, I'm just floating on a little cloud of nostalgia and childhood, enjoying all of the memories that came swirling back to me at the mere sight of this brownie.