Fall Fantasy

There is a chill in the air. I LOVE it. Wool coats and scarves, come to mama! I stocked up on t-shirts and wool socks, and I'm ok for sweaters, so now I just have to wait for a sale to stock up on the last few gaps in my wardrobe:

Best bottom layer ever.

I love corduroy. Fall means corduroy, people! It's a wonderful time! Ignore the model's ridiculous shoes and moldy sweater, please.

These SO need to go on sale. Nobody needs eighty dollars worth of pants. And seriously, are those supposed to be fall sandals? To wear with your cords? Come on, stylist people, be serious.

I really just need to win the lottery. and apparently I am much preppier in my fantasies than in real life.

Anyways, tomorrow is back to work in the greenhouses, where all of these clothes will be totally inappropriate. And it should be 90 again by next weekend. So there will be time for one more barbecue before fall really hits. And hopefully much tomato harvesting. But right now, I am fantasizing and enjoying the rainy weather.

What's your favorite season? I say summer is best for barbecuing but fall definitely wins out on the cute outfits. I am a corduroy and sweater girl! Also, scarves. I can't get behind scarves when it's above 65 degrees out, sorry Urban Outfitters. But right now I have a crazy purple and fuchsia ombre scarf on that I found at Junkee. Apparently I can only find accessories at thrift stores. And also picture all of this preppy stuff with loopy hippie accessories, will you? I wouldn't want to give the wrong impression...

Hopping on the Bandwagon

I'm in the summer squash boat now... not the zucchini overload, but these little alien pattypan things.

The zucchini needed a little more sun, I think. But these monsters are doing just fine.

So the first option is always Z bread. This one had chocolate chunks so it was a gift, that's a bit much for us here.

The next option is Ina Garten's recipe for zucchini "pancakes" (I don't know why they aren't fritters). So the question is, what next? I can always toss them on the grill or saute them up and dump them in pasta.

What are your favorite things to do with abundances of zucchini/squash?

Oh Media.

Not even mass media. Just media in my house. I just spent an excessive amount of time trying to a. get a decent cell phone plan for all the minutes we never use and b. bundle my cable tv, home phone and internet so we can get decent service without being overcharged just because we have different services from different providers who keep slowing down our internet or taking away our channels. This is not the fun kind of shopping, let me tell you.

I am not even going to look at any more cell phone BS until our contract is up so I don't need somebody to buy us out. I like Charter for all the home stuff but then somebody just told me they're in bankruptcy or something. So that makes me sad and curious as to how they can still totally try and sell me lots of services if they are going under. Yeesh.


So instead I need to spend some time working in my garden/taking pictures of it. Because this photo is now woefully inaccurate. I have weeds taller than that, let alone tomato plants. My cherry tomato is just heading into that nice bonkers time of year... I'll be sick of it by the time the rest of them start to fully go nuts, but by then my sister will be sad enough that her tomatoes froze that she will be happy for a pile of spare toms, cherry or otherwise.

Edit: Yeesh, I need to find somewhere to recycle wood pallets. And plastic plant pots. What a messy picture.

Edit Edit: Charter is coming next week to de-crappy my internet. Matt will be here, I will not. We will see what is done/functional by the time I'm back...

Ooh! A Request!

A fellow tuba player and generally awesome chica has requested a personalized outfit post! She is a super-fabulous person and wants to look appropriately super and fabulous for her 10-year high school reunion. So I tried to put together some comfortable yet stylish options. The reunion is dinner at the Sonoma Chicken Coop, whose website claims that they do full formal dinners as well as casual events, so I gave her a couple of options.

Cheryl's Going To A Reunion! Part 1 by ajftuba featuring J Crew

First we have the slightly more casual option - Cheryl is about my size so I figured she didn't need any crazy high heels, we want her to be comfortable here! She is also very fair with very blond hair so I went for a nice soft color for the blouse. I also love her in patterns AND I love this skirt. I (optimistically) imagine it hangs less weirdly in real life.

Cheryl Goes To A Reunion, Part 2 by ajftuba featuring J Crew

Our second option is a little fancier but we're still going for comfort so nothing too short, tight or stiff. A nice soft lilac dress with some snazzy (but not too high) wedge heels to dress it up a bit. And a fun little print clutch because I always think that an impractically small bag makes things look fancier (Erik can carry your stuff in his pockets, anyways). And how gorgeous is that jewelry!

Also I am personally never without a cardigan (because apparently I am an old lady) but it can be cold inside a restaurant with the A/C cranking, so keep that in mind! I'd better start thinking about what I'm going to wear to my reunion... I hope this inspires you to be equally comfortable and adorably cute for your reunion, Cher!

Edit: and nothing is over $100! That took some work, people! I had to stay AWAY from the Anthropologie website (sigh).

For Those Who Are Too High-Maintenance To Camp

How about a fantasy trip? Where would you go if you had a nice long weekend and could go anywhere within one contiguous state (or province, for the Canadians, or country for the Europeans)? That limits me to California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah or Arizona. Darn.

Since we're not feeling outdoorsy, let's go to Portland. Lots of cool restaurants and museums, and some nice sightseeing (and short drives to wine tasting). We'll stay at the Kennedy School, which is not quite what you would think. The McMenamin brothers are a very Oregonian pair, they buy up old hotels and other big facilities and turn them into wacky retro-feeling hotels with the most modern of amenities. The Kennedy School is a converted school with a bar in detention and a restaurant in the cafeteria. It also has it's own brewery, soaking pool and movie theater. And let us give them a token dirty look for making none of the photos on their website embeddable.

From here.

We'll probabaly fart around downtown for a couple of days, first of all. If you're feeling flush, Powell's is a bookstore that encompasses an entire city block in it's main store alone. They have maps and you can really use them. They also have stores in other neighborhoods if you're out and about, or if you're looking for something specific they also have a store that specializes in technical books and a home and garden store (I'm not allowed to go in that one, at least not with credit cards in hand).

If we're not broke yet and can carry stuff other than books, we can go to the Saturday Market. I never got to go there much but there tends to be live music and awesomely greasy food and I have a gorgeous photograph of Mt. Hood from there that is framed and hanging in my bedroom. We have to get elephant ears, they are like giant flat greasy cinnamon-sugar flatbreads (or something like that). You can get hippie jewelry, bags, incense and all sorts of handmade goods but I am a sucker for something I can hang on my wall that will be a pain to transport.

Then that night we'll hit one of the many fabulous restaurants (it's hard to go wrong, really, so why limit yourself?) and head off to the Crystal Ballroom for a show. Another quirky locale, this one's pretty unassuming looking but is a great venue (with a sprung floor, if you like to dance!).

From here.

The next day we can sleep late but if we're feeling virtuous we can go for a walk in Forest Park, and hit the fantastic Japanese Garden, or if we want to get edumacated, the Zoo. I'm planning for the end of summer/beginning of fall here so I'm thinking the Japanese Gardens will win out if the weather holds.

From here. Can you blame me? I do love the Zoo as well though, it is a particularly nice one.

If we want to head out of town for a little while, I have to head towards McMinnville, because that's where I went to school. I'm not going to really call Linfield a sightseeing spot but it is in a lovely town and as seems to now be the norm in small-town northern Oregon, there are tons of options for wine tasting, fine dining and poking around in fancy art galleries and cute shops. The main drag in McMinnville is one of my faves for cute small shops (and local ice cream!). And of course, another slightly loopy McMenamins to stay at - the Hotel Oregon, with it's award-winning Rooftop Bar and a totally tasty restaurant, to boot.

And what better to end with than a Polyvore, since I love to pack a virtual bag?

Portland Trip Pt. 1 by ajftuba featuring J Crew

More muted colors since we're thinking fall here but still lots of pattern for interest.

P-Town Part 2 by ajftuba featuring Anthropologie

And probably a ridiculous amount of bags and shoes for a long weekend. But that's why a virtual vacation is fun! No bags to schlep!

So where would you go?