Style Icon: Miss Patty from "Gilmore Girls"

"Gilmore Girls" is one of my favorite shows of all time, and it is so full of funny, quirky secondary characters. One of the best characters is Miss Patty, the substantial, sexy, vivacious, flirtatious town dance teacher. 

Miss Patty steals every scene. She is simply hilarious. I love her lust for life!

She also lusts after the town's male hot hotties. There's no harm in looking, Miss Patty, even if he is half your age! (Or maybe he's more like 1/3 of your age. No judgment, Miss Patty. No judgment.)

If you aren't familiar with "Gilmore Girls," I highly suggest it. (The whole series is now on Netflix! Have at it!) It centers around a single mom and her bookish, brainy teenage daughter. There's some family drama in there with the single mom's wealthy parents and there's lots of romance and hilarity and adorable small-town shenanigans. It's just SUCH A GREAT SHOW. I had to all-caps that because I feel very strongly about it. VERY STRONGLY.

Ninety percent baby

I wore this to have dinner with friends, which was awesome, and which ended with me saying "Wait! I need to talk about Caitlyn Jenner! I only see Thomas and Robert and neither of them wants to talk with me about Caitlyn Jenner! I have so many things to say!"

I do. I have so many things to say. Just in general. I love Thomas, and he is my sweet and precious baby boy, but he has about zero interest in celebrity gossip. (Or LGBTQ issues... or just, you know, basic politics)...

Thomas likes to say "Mama" and "Baba" and so on. He giggles and he cries and he coos and he squeals and he is the best. But he does not have strong opinions on celebrity gossip or politics or really anything other than his mama and dada and food (He LOVES ALL FOOD and also his mama and dada).

Is my life, like, 90 percent baby right now? Why yes, yes it is. And I make sure there's room for 2 percent Facebook, but these days I just get filled with rage when I'm on Facebook (It's those politics again! Filled with rage! Where are the cute baby pictures? Those fill me with non-rage-y happiness! Put up more pictures of your babies, people! Pets work too!)

Anyway, I wore this to dinner with friends where I discussed adult-type things and had a great time. The shirt is Anthropologie via eBay (the only way this lady ever wears Anthropologie). I would talk about the rest of my outfit, but Thomas is cheerfully screaming "Aaah!" as he slams on my keyboard so I'm going to cut it short for now. Ninety percent baby, I say! Maybe 92 percent!

Polka dots always go with polka dots

What? Too much?

Thomas was like "Nah, mom. They're the right amount of much." So I bought them.

Loving It

Happy (almost) Father's Day! Lately I've been loving...

1. My son's father! My baby daddy! My husband with whom I have a child! He's a good dad, I tell you what.

2. Water tables. They keep a baby busy.

3. So do bran muffins. Baby = busy with the bran.

4. Thomas has been eating all the food. We finally took him to our favorite Japanese restaurant. He didn't eat sushi (so not all the food), but he was all about some crab salad, seaweed, tofu and vegetables!

5. Also: this face. Lately, I have been loving this face!

100 percent

This is a 100 percent second-hand outfit. The shirt and shorts are thrifted. The shoes are from eBay. I've been getting back into thrifting and laying off of eBay lately. Thomas isn't a tiny baby anymore, and he doesn't want to sleep on me while I scroll through internet auctions. Instead, he's cool with traveling around in a shopping cart, checking out the books and toys and even letting his mommy try on a couple of items. 

I've been buying him a lot of second-hand toys lately. I've put about 2/3rds away and am keeping 1/3 in our living room (aka his playroom). I plan to switch them out every couple weeks or so in hopes of keeping him interested and excited about the things he has to play with. The goal of this summer? Keep that baby busy! (And by baby, I mean 1-year-old wobbler. I suppose. Nope. No. I mean baby. He's always going to be my baby!)

Summer list

I make lists. It's just who I am. I like to-do lists as long as the to-do's are all fun! Summer vacation is officially here for this teacher and her almost 1-year-old boy, and we plan to live it up! Not on the list because we did it pre-summer (It's been hot a while y'all): Baby pooling it and Grownup pooling it, but we'll definitely have to do repeat performances of both!

The list:

1. Eat watermelon
2. Eat an ice cream cone
3. Go to River Jam at the Whitewater Center
4. Visit the mountains
5. Go to California
6. Play in a river
7. Celebrate Thomas's first birthday
8. Hang out at Old Mecklenburg Brewery
9. Visit the Atlantic Ocean
10. Visit the Pacific Ocean

Happy summer!

Style Icon: Jenna Lyons

I love all the things this woman wears. All the things. I've never looked at a picture of her and said "Eh. Not so much." Instead, I'm always like "I love this! So much!"

Jenna Lyons is executive creative director at J. Crew, and she is so so chic and yet also funky and fun -- that's not easily done!

She's known for revamping J. Crew's brand, wearing fabulous cropped pants with heels and sporting giant, giant glasses. (I am pretty much a sucker style icon wise for girls who wear glasses.)

So New York! So chic! So professional! I love all of it!

Her dresses/skirt ensembles kill me too. And she always has this really great element of androgyny in her look. Sure, she's got on a super feminine dress, but she's also wearing that masculine coat. Love her. Simply love her. Jenna Lyons: Modern day style icon.

Cool water

"That dress looks like how jumping into cool water feels. Don't you want mommy to look like how jumping into cool water feels?" I asked Thomas. He did. He was very patient and let me try it on and didn't fuss one bit. Then I bought it. It was an impulse buy while at Target (they have the best overnight diapers, they just do), but I have no regrets. 

The color in this photo isn't great because we took it at 8 at night (Hello summer!), but the print is a vibrant blue with sort of a watery-reflection-of-sun thing happening. I wore it to walk the dog and later to sit on the couch and feel melancholy about my fifth-graders "graduating." The school year is pretty much done. I had to say some final goodbyes to students. Ugh. Hate it. Love teaching. Get all invested. Then they have the nerve to do well and move on with their lives!

Feeling feelings

 "Let me tell you about you -- You feel strongly about everything," my husband said.

"And let me tell you something else," he continued (we were laughing) "Sometimes you get mad at me for not feeling strongly about everything."

It's true. I am an ENFP. He is an INTJ. According to Keirsey, it's a pretty perfect match in an opposites-attract kind of way. I feel my feelings, people. I mean, I feel them. I try to be a Zen bunny, but I mostly fail. Robert, on the other hand, approaches everything (almost) with pure logic. (And love! And humor!)

Want to know something I feel strongly about? This outfit. The shirt is second-hand from eBay, and it is splatter-tastic. The pants were thrifted, and they have a great uniform pattern. Look at that! One crazy, all-over-the-place print feeling its feelings and one more structured, logical print looking good too. It's a match made in heaven!

Style Icon: The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air had some major style. Clearly Thomas has been inspired.

Looking good you two!

New sunglasses

When I wear these sunglasses, I am 20 percent tough '70s cop...

... and 80 percent Top Gun. 

(Thomas and Robert are both 100 percent cute!)

Ventilation and sweaty foreheads

Oh the heat! Bring on the shorts! Bring on the ventilation!

This shirt provides plenty of ventilation. It's a party in the back, and, like, a lazy Sunday in the front. That's what this shirt is.

I got these Dansko clogs on eBay. (Of course.) I almost bought them from a store new, I dug them so much. But then I just went on eBay way too much and found them at half the cost and I lurve, lurve, lurve them. 

The shorts were thrifted a couple of years ago. They were originally pants, and then I chopped them off. The time for pants has pretty much past. It's in the 80s and 90s these days. I guess I should savor the 80-degree days since it's pretty much 90 degrees and above starting in June and lasting until September! (And then in September, you're like WHEN DOES IT END? And it goes on for another couple of weeks and you're like WHY IS MY HAIR STILL STICKING TO MY SWEATY FOREHEAD? And then sweet, sweet fall comes. Oh sweet, sweet fall. Is it bad I'm looking forward to fall? Let me refocus. Summer is going to be awesome. There will be ice cream! Watermelon! My baby in a baby pool! And a lot of my hair sticking to my sweaty forehead as well.)

Loving It

Lately I've been loving...

1. Thomas's two little bottom teeth (can you see them?). Not loving: the pain that comes with teething. Poor baby!

2. Hiking to waterfalls with my handsome husband.

3. We bring along our baby on the hikes thanks to our awesome hiking backpack!

4. Mountain sunsets.

5. Thomas bonding with his cousins.

6. Little kid river wading.