What genus are you?

Here's the second (and last) installment of the Antarctic Voyage drawings! I'm assuming these are bits of seaweed and ocean plants found along the way - but I gotta be honest, I was too overwhelmed with all the illustrations and didn't even try to investigate and learn what each thing is. And, well - I don't read latin, so that's also a problem. But, they're easy on the eyes, so that's fine enough for me!!

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I have around 50 more flower/fern illustrations that came from a turn of the century 12 volume periodical...... It got to the point where I had to stop saving images because there were just too many. I'll have to wait a few weeks to post them so that no one gets too tired of the same 'ol things! For now, I'm off to take some photos before Alice and I go to Harvard Square and drink bubble tea and eat cupcakes and buy things at the stationary store. But check my etsy shop later tonight - I think I have 5 nice cotton house dresses to part with and they need good homes - oh and maybe a few blouses here and there too!

** I was hoping to get the listings up tonight but I woke up too early this morning and my brain has stopped working now! In case anyone is wondering - the dresses are in the Medium/Large range and I will try my very hardest to get them up tomorrow night. Once the work week rolls around I usually end up a zombie - but I'll try my best!

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Ponds and ducks at dusk

I finalllllllllly saw my dear 'ol best pal Jeff, aka Mouse, aka Twin, aka Sweezle tonight. I haven't seen him in over a month so it was pretty nice to see that 'ol guy. Unfortunately I got out of work later than I wanted to so it was a pretty short visit which consisted of iced coffee, sharing my favorite sandwich and a bag 'o chips and driving around looking for something to do. I really wanted to go to the new Friendly Toast in Boston .. but, I couldn't convince him. So instead we ended up finding a little pond with ducks and all that pond kinda stuff. It was practically dark by the time we got to the pond but we wandered around and snapped a few photos, mostly of me holding onto my hat and jumping around a parking lot to see how high I could go.....

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Let me just say we have a lot of unfinished 1385 business that needs tending to - think peel-back film and daylight hours though! We just have to co-align our impossible different schedules .. soon, hopefully??

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San Francisco's callin' us

I spent the past weekend in California, cold grey San Francisco to be precise. It was a nice weekend but it was too gosh darn cold for my liking. Like - I could have used my winter coat and been really content, that's how cold it was. I won't complain anymore because I did enough of that and my poor boyfriend is sick of hearing about my disinterest for San Francisco weather!!

But in between whining about chilly fingers and eating more in-n-out than one human being should possibly eat in a weekend I was able to see some lovely things! A vintage paper show that I could have spent at least 5 hours at and easily spent $500 - but we were good and didn't buy a thing! There was a beautiful pale pink and green chrysanthemum print that I almost bought but decided against and now I keep thinking about it... But, I'm sure I'll find something somewhere to fill the void!

We also did a little shopping on Haight Street, gosh - I've come to the conclusion that all the vintage shops in SF have silly price tags (too many pennies, wayy too many pennies folks!) but I did come home with a beautiful wool cloche from the 20's with tan top stitching and an olive green bow! And two perfect one piece bathing suits from the 50's that fit so well I'd be stupid to leave them behind. Detailed photos of those to come!!!

We did a good amount of wandering around Golden Gate Park. Please, don't get me wrong - I will always, always love Boston Garden, but Golden Gate Park is certainly something special! I mean - octopuses and white washed Victorian greenhouses? Yes, thank you!

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I think my favorite part of the entire trip was getting to see sea-horses in real life! I wandered around the Academy of Sciences or a long time hoping to find a little tank with them in it and I was about ready to go upstairs when I finally spotted them! There were three in the tank and they barely moved at all - much different then their portrayals in Jean Painlevé's films... but, everyone has their bad days I guess.. I think I stood by their tank for way too long and had too many funny interactions with strangers who wanted to pay the sea-horses a visit. Come to think of it, I spent a creepily long amount of time sitting by that tank! It was funny though, most of the people who stopped by made a remark about how 'cute' they are - I couldn't agree more!!

I also think that the Conservatory of Flowers is definitely my favorite place to be in all of California - the aquatic plant room was perfect - hot and humid!!! I think come fall I'm going to spend a lot of time there. It's a bit more affordable then visiting the sea-horses too.



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I spent my last day in California actually enjoying some real heat and sunshine (not just fake sauna style heat at the Conservatory) but we had to go about an hour and a half outside of the city to get it. ... The Russian River! We had ourselves a little picnic afternoon with some kind folks and tasty treats! I was especially excited to wear one of my new bathing suits and take my hat out for the day! I even got to bring along two of my rattier patchwork quilts! I've deemed them my official picnic adventure quilts and I can't wait to see where else they'll take me!

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Psst - There's a little sneak at one of my bathing suits - and a double sneak peak at my hat!!!

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What genus are you?

Ah yes, installment no. 3 of my favorite series - What genus are you?. This set is from a lovely book of botany drawings from a three year voyage to the Antarctic. They set sail in 1844 and returned home in 1847, and I have to say - they sure did see a lot of pretty things during their time away!! Enough for me to break up the drawings into two posts! And no, I'm not giving up any links to the book yet! You'll have to wait until tomorrow (maybe?) to see the book in its entirety!

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Oh, and those of you with some time on your hands - you really should click on the picture and view it large through my flickr stream - there's so many beautiful details in each one that get lost at a smaller resolution size!

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Happy things to brighten sick days

I either have a nasty cold or an insane case of allergies. I'm leaning toward a cold but I'm hoping tomorrow I'll wake up and feel fine. I got home from work not too long ago and I'm already in my silly looking cotton candy pink matching pajama set which I found in Elinor's attic and I'm buried under 5 blankets. This is serious. Not serious enough to muster up some energy to take some pictures of a few new additions and old favorites that have been keeping me good company while I lay here with tissues up my nose...

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I found this book at a flea market a few weekends ago. I really liked the contrasting bright flowers to the black background and the flowers are done in that illustration style I really like from Sunny Rhymes .. And Marcella is totally adorable. You can't see her dress too well, but it's perfect. Also, I neeeed her hat for summer.



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I found this pillow maybe three years ago in my grandmother's house and it's still one of my favorite finds. I know there's probably more dust mites living in there then I'd like to think about - but it's so perfect looking I don't even think about it!



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This little bag holds some of the most perfect candies to ever exist. Does anyone know where to buy them besides Miette in San Francisco? I will pay top dollar!!



and this is where I've stashed what's left of them, in a little jadeite colored planter I bought on etsy and it's sitting underneath the silliest plant in existence and right next to my one eye'd bear.



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Despite the fact that I had a sniffly chilly walk to the train this morning, I started things out on a pretty perfect note - the light was coming through the trees so perfectly and made the dandelions in my neighbor's over grown yard look pretty gosh darn amazing. (and I took this picture on an iphone - just imagine it in real life!)



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And the items below would be the newest additions to the creamy pale colored portion of that wardrobe of mine which keeps growing and growing.



On the top left we have my Nadinoo Pixie dress that came in the mail over the weekend. It's so gosh darn cute - I'm going to wear it with denim cut off shorts come summer and sit around by the lake. I really think I could wear every piece of her collection this summer and be happy as a clam!

To the right of that is a perfect 40's dress that has traveled from blogger to blogger care of ebay/etsy and it's finally found its permanent home!! I loooove it more then I even thought I would! I'm going to make Jeff take some pretty photos of it out and about soon!

On the bottom left we have a silly little nylon sleep blouse I found in my grandmother's attic. I just need to find that illusive pair of high waisted - seam down the center - cigarette pants that aren't too tight so they look like spandex, but tight enough so they're not frumpy.... If anyone has any ideas of where to find these pants - any links would be appreciated!!

Ah yes, and last but not least - a little (and by little I mean 4x too big) 40's silk sundress from Bobby's... It was too pretty to leave behind and I WILL make it fit, somehow - some way. I'm hoping to go on vacation and wear tortoise shell sunglasses and drink funny fruity frozen drinks by some sort of body of water. This is probably not happening anytime soon - so I think instead I'm going to make it one of my designated flea market dresses.

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And now thankfully the sun is off to better places and it's finally dark enough to try and fall asleep without feeling like too much of a weirdo.

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What genus are you? (No. 2)

I think I'm going to have a few more of these wildflower illustrations up my sleeve - so I've decided to start a series! These images come from a very informative book - Warne's Model housekeeper; a manual of domestic economy in all its branches - and it really is quite the manual! There's everything from how to keep cows to instructions on roasted boar's head for your next ballroom dinner party event. My favorite bits from the book are obviously the flowers in the back - although the potatos are a close second!

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Henbane



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Common Hemlock



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Green Hellebore



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White Poppy



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Foxglove



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Monk's Hood



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(Man, it was really hard to pick my favorites from the bunches !!)

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Merry little month

More exploration ensued yesterday - this time instead of finding beautiful sky rise rooftop over grown gardens in downtown Boston - it was a pretty little cemetery in Jamaica Plain with tulips and funny little underground doorways. The one I'm sitting on here is aptly engraved with May. The month of May? A woman named May? I'm not entirely sure ...

I wish that everyone, everywhere could always hang out in tulip gardens ... they make even the greyest afternoons seem cheery and well spent.

It's another dreary one today... but I have a little 50's purple number (one of my Elinor dresses) that I plan on wearing to drop things off at the post office and visit the stationary store and organize and list some new things for etsy. I'm sure some photos will surface later on... Not to over-whelm anyone with this sudden surge of updates on my blog ... it'll quickly go back to it's dormant stage after Tuesday, I'm sure - as my very special houseguest will go back to his far off land and I'll be a sleepy little lazy slug again.

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Well spent Saturdays

Awh heck - the warm weather is here (for the most part) and I finally feel like a normal human being again. I've been walking instead of driving and taking the long way and finding new little bits and pieces of Boston that I didn't think existed before. Yesterday I went for a little stroll around the South End and Back Bay and I ended up (four hours later) back at the car with with blisters and crooked toes from wearing shoes that are too eencie for me feet - but, it was no matter because there was vanilla soda and caramel swirl ice cream to keep me distracted, oh and also my favorite faraway visitor to keep me company.

I braided my hair and made a little headband across the top because it was just being unruly in the morning and it seemed like the best fix.

I also met this funny little tinny snail along my way.

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