I'll take a holiday in spain, leave my wings behind me.

tunic dress- thrifted "how sweet it was vintage" (all of my dresses this week have been thrifted, a must do!), boots- chinese laundry (vegan), faux feather earrings- forever 21

my lovely future (some day) sister in law, rene, took these gorgeous shots for me. she is such a talented lady... for reals. not only does she have ridiculous photo skills, is hilarious and beautiful, but she BAKES. dude. I keep telling my hubby and his brother that if he doesn't marry her that I might have to! only for her baked goods, obviously. we had our mini photo shoot in the in laws back yard while we were waiting for everyone to get there. when the hubby and I are in town the family tries to have one big night with all of us. we cook, we eat, we drink vino, we laugh, we sit by the firepit, and we enjoy each other far too much. most of the siblings and cousins on my in law's side are all in their twenties and married or in a serious relationship so it really is like hanging with your closest buds, but its family instead. very cool. we celebrated my little sister in law's birthday and it was wonderful to be home again.

as for TODAY... I am off with my hubs to scottsdale, arizona! he booked a few special days for us at this fancy spa resort, the montelucia, to celebrate my 25th birthday! seriously, go have a look at that place because I was swooning when I saw the website! it was a surprise that he planned all by himself and he told me a few days ago on my birthday. I am so lucky to have him. :) so I will be back on friday after some pool time, maybe a massage and a facial or two, and some soothing desert yoga. nomaste.

remember to enter the "autumn goodie bag" give away by checking out this weeks posts and commenting. here are monday and tuesday.

even in this desert, a hundred flowers bloom.

dress: target
belt: bebe
purse: thrifted, vintage
shoes: bakers
earrings: betsey johnson
sunnies: nordstrom (bp section)

happy middle of the week! we are very busy over here in casa di wolf. while it is still immensely hot in arizona, we ventured out to spend all day yesterday searching antique and thrift shops for fun, original things for our house. it was a successful day and today we are going to be painting some of the pieces that we found as well spending time with the newest little canine member of our wolf pack. rocked this outfit as we ran around town and I am already planning to wear it again! it was incredibly comfortable in the heat. in other news, we are three days and counting from the next trip and it is shaping up to be an epic weekend in san francisco. in other, other news... something is hideously wrong with the blogger comment section and unfortunately some ladies were not entered in the coach give away. I wanted to apologize if you were one of the individuals who suffered from this blogger break down. but not to worry, because I am planning a few more give aways between now and the end of the summer! I am going to be scoring a super sweet something on each of my trips and I will be bringing it back to you! anyways, time to get working today. hope you are all having happy and productive days as well. cheers :)

manic mondays: winners and mailbox mavens

happy monday morning!
so so SO much to cover today. so lets get to it then.
I'm taking a break today from posting the never-ending california trip outfits.
I'm going to finish them up this week with the last few posts.
promise.
I wore this look over the weekend while I was out running errands and wanted to post it because I fell in love with the retro-ness of the polka dots and the vibrant colors.
I'm also becoming ridiculously head over heels for all of these over-the-shoulder-bags.
they are going to be everywhere by this summer.
every once in a blue moon, fashion can be practical and chic.
this is most definitely one of those times.
and one of the best parts of this little red bag?
found it at good will for two dollars.
oh the thrill of a fantastic good will find.

I was feeling pretty matchy matchy with the polka dots on both the skirt & on the headband.
kind of like the outfit I'm pretty sure I rocked in my kindergarten school picture.
what can I say? the magic of polka dots has spoken to me since an early age. :)
I know that this season it is all about mixing it up.
and by it, I mean everything.
any color, any pattern, it all goes this year.
gotta say, I am looking forward to things getting pretty crazy/interesting now that the fashion world has given me the *go ahead* with that.
I'm just saying.

I was inspired by the gorgeous/fellow bay area diva: miss taylor sterling of sterling style to try this spring-y mint color. making moves away from my darker winter colors to some bright shades.
on the menu for this week? bright pink. can't complain about that.
as far as this picture, I used OPI go on green

so I have this problem where I adore flats. why is this a problem? well, because I buy tons of them. I maybe have 20ish pairs in my closet as we speak. its ridiculous because I buy them and NEVER end up wearing them. I'm just barely over 5 ft tall, and I have tiny feet, so when I put on those adorable flats, they make me seem about 5 years old.
and then I end up putting on boots or heels.
so, in honor of a new fashion season on our heels (ha), I am trying to rock the flats more often.

in other news: I have become obsessed with BBL's headbands. I am now the proud owner of four of these babies. I think I over did it. but the thing is, with the new, short hair, I am constantly searching for ways to make my hair look differently styled each day.
hard to do when you can barely pull back a pony tail.
so a cute headband is just the thing.
as soon as this one arrived in the mail I had to try it on
and of course then proceed to have a mini photo shoot in my bathroom.
in my pajamas.
like the rockstar that I am.
obvi.

disregard the pj's and the crazy lady hair. k thx.

mirror, mirror on the wall... who has the cutest headband of all?

I also was playing around with some new spring-time makeup from mac.
so, I know I can't be the only one who has mirror photo shoots when trying out a new look, right?
tell me I'm not nuts.
thanks. :)

in more news: I am participating in a truly exciting swap, proudly deemed
the mailbox mavens.
I am incredibly lucky to be involved and to be trading duds with some of the most fashionable ladies around. just fantastic.
meet the girls.

the fabulously talented miss kyla made our button (check it out on my side bar. oh hai.)
and the equally talented miss christina put together the photos for us and came up with the swap! thanks ladies!

mailbox mavens role call:

Kyla from Blue Collar Catwalk
Amy from the Bargain Hunter Extraordinaire
Terra from Stylish White Female
Jade from Lowbrow Style
Tabitha from Fashion Therapist
Julia from Song of the Exile
Elyse from The Style Rider
Clare from Between Laundry Days
JoAnn from Sidewalk Chalk
Brianne from BrianneLee
AB from The Owl's Closet
Christina from Fabulocity in Amish Country

hooray. we have reached the end of an epically long post. good work.

on a final note, the winner of the valentine's week give away is emily! for this give away I entered 72+10
(72 followers + 10 comments)
(so 82, we are great at math around here)

into the random generator, and number 75 was the winner!
congrats emily! go ahead and email me your address and let me know which flavor of lovie you would like. :)

thanks to all that participated and hope that you enjoyed a fabulous weekend.
away we go with the week.
cheers.

xoxo