It's 101 degrees in my town today. So miserably hot that my roofer husband is off work and the kids don't even want to swim. On days like today the only thing to do is hit the library.

I returned my recent read, Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes. Its a sequel to You, which I haven't read but the librarian said its really creepy and twisted. Hidden Bodies was pretty hard to put down but the ending left me wondering if there will be a third book.




I always head straight to the cookbook section. I love cookbooks with beautiful full color photos throughout and I usually pick something up based on the cute typography on the spine. I know they say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but I often do. On this trip, I grabbed a Nigella Lawson cookbook promising quick meals (which always grabs my attention) and a bento book since I'm gearing up for packing school lunches again in a few weeks! 


 In light of this dreaded heat, I picked one of my recently sewn cotton dresses from my closet this morning. I sewed 3 or 4 of these dresses, planning to wear them with a shirt underneath or a cardigan on top. I never wear sleeveless because I'm self conscious about my arms. I think a lot of people have a "thing" like that but I'm starting to feel like I need to let it go and embrace shorts and sleeveless shirts in the name of comfort.

 Its hard to feel comfortable in clothes when you're not totally comfortable with certain parts of your bod  but I reasoned with myself, when the temp is reading over 99, I'll be much less comfortable with long sleeves.  I put on lipstick, set my hair in rollers and hit the road. With my cute fruity earrings and lace-up shoes, I didn't even care about my wobbly arms. Believe it or not, I actually ironed this dress right before we left home but the humidity and heat sitting in the car crumpled it right up again! I swear, autumn cant get here fast enough!

I wore my atomic clock brooch today, which I did a tutorial for a while back. I used sewing pins for the little spines!

This week is dreadfully hot in St Louis with highs almost to 100 degrees every day. Its been hard to get out of the house or wear makeup without it melting right off. Lately, I've been going outside in the early morning before the sun hits the back yard to let the kids play in the pool and enjoy my patio.


This spring, I did a little work on my patio area, giving everything a fresh coat of paint. I bought this adorable pineapple umbrella from Target and a few pink accessories from Ikea like the throw pillows, watering can and a little pot for my cactus. I can't mount anything to the outer walls of the house so I spray painted some of these metal grid walls gold and found some small wire hooks to hang pots and garden tools. Its not finished yet but its coming along nicely!


I love to sit out here and read or knit while the kids play. We're growing some veggies so I come out around breakfast time to water everything and get a few minutes of quiet time before the day begins.

We've been taking advantage of the library a lot this summer too. I'm not a big reader but I want to be! With everything else that I love to do, I don't make a lot of time to be quiet and still enough to enjoy a few pages so patio time is a good time for that. This week, I'm reading this wonderful collection of short stories by Alice Hoffman, author of Practical Magic (Which is very different from the movie but equally wonderful). Blackbird House, much like Practical Magic, has heavy themes of love, loss, magic and dreamlike East Coast towns. Each story somehow ties into the same small house.



With the heat and humidity, I've been looking to late 50s-60s starlets for style inspiration. Today's outfit was inspired by Bridget Bardot. She always knew how to look stylish and super comfy.


I altered the neckline on this Target tee and paired it with a simple pencil skirt and ballet flats. Some knit fabric scraps made an easy headband to keep my hair out of my face in about 2 minutes! While I'm trying to strategically dress to cool off, Rhys is usually trying desperately to get me to allow him to wear his winter wear in July.

This summer, I've been away from the blog and enjoying lots of time with my kids. I planned a calendar of fun outings around St Louis for us so we would keep busy. Yesterday, we took our first family visit to Cahokia Mounds, just across the river in Illinois. I posted my first few video Instastories while we were there.

Cahokia was an ancient city. At its height, it was larger than London and most other European cities.  It is the largest archeological site north of Mexico. People first settled Cahokia around A.D. 400 There were miles of wall around the main part of the city, which enclosed many of the homes, mounds and a big central plaza where people gathered for games, ceremonies and other events. Some of the mounds held large buildings on top of them while others are thought to be burial bounds. Near the city is wood henge, which was thought to be a calendar to track the solstices, equinoxes and growing seasons.  Mound #72 holds the sacrificial remains of 272 people.

The interpretive center at Cahokia has a great museum with artifacts uncovered at the site and displays of what the homes, city and people looked like. Outside of the museum are marks on the ground, outlining walls of homes that were excavated.



Today all that remains of Cahokia to the naked eye are the mounds, wood henge and the pits that were left from digging soil and clay to build the mounds. A few small sections of the original wall have been reconstructed and the original trails and stairway paths have also been reconstructed.

The largest mound is Monks Mound, where the leader of Cahokia lived. It is the only mound with stairs that can be climbed. Monks Mound is about the same size at its base as the pyramid of Giza and is about 100 feet high.  It is the largest earthen structure in the Americas.


It was in the 90s the day we went so I wore my hair in an updo. I tried a new hairstyle inspired by Ann Margret and it worked out so well I'll have to post a tutorial for it soon!

I had this blue top in my closet for a couple of months. It used to be an oversized, kind of frumpy tee shirt with crochet trim down the front. I pulled the trim off and altered the neckline and took it in a bit at the side and now I think it will be one of my favorite shirts. The Cahokia Mounds website recommended practical clothes and comfortable shoes so I wore black capris and flats.


After our visit to the mounds, we drove down the street to Horseshoe Lake for a picnic. Cahokia also has picnic tables on site but I thought the breeze off the lake would help cool us off after our long climb to the top of the mound.




pink vintage scarf- thrifted
pink cat eye glasses- sojos eyewear
blue tee- thrifted
black capris-thrifted
black flats-walmart
backpack- Herschel