Vacation to Lake Michigan

This was my last summer before both kids started school so I enjoyed as much time with them as possible because now I'm home alone all day! 

Earlier this month, we went on our first family vacation out of state. My mother in law (who just beat cancer!) came with us to celebrate. I wanted to take the kids to a beach because Missouri is landlocked, we don't have any nice beach areas.  I got on google maps and found the closest point from our house to Lake Michigan and that was Michigan City, Indiana. It was over a 5 hour drive but the kids did great in the car! We had loads of car snacks and a little dollar store toy or sticker book for them at different points on the map and that probably helped

We stayed at Al and Sally's Motel, a family owned 1960s motel. It was one of the most reasonable motels in the area that had the best reviews and since the five of us shared a room, it was one of the few that had a room that could accommodate all of us. The motel was just as the reviews said, clean, quiet and kitschy. Our room had a pink bathroom with glass brick windows and I loved the neon sign out front. There's a small but very clean pool out back so we took the kids for a dip after dinner one night.

We went to the beach two days in a row. We played at Washington Park beach and Beverly Shores. We could see the Chicago skyline far in the distance and Rhys, Olivia and Pj saw their first funnel cloud. That's Rhys and Pj catching some waves!

We collected pretty rocks and beach glass as the waves crashed in. My kids have never seen such a big body of water or waves before. They were absolutely in heaven! I can't wait to take them back to Lake Michigan and someday to the ocean.

I was so badly sunburned (although I did use a ton of sunblock!) that I couldn't wear a bra on the last day so I went to the Walmart in town and grabbed this floral strapless dress that looked okay-ish with my bolero. I've been wearing it a lot since we got back from vacation.

 Before our trip home, we went to the Hesston Steam Museum, which has 3 different antique steam powered train rides. We happened to go on a special discount day too, which was awesome! There is an adorable vintage soda fountain/restaurant on the grounds, where we stopped in for ice cream and lunch.

 You can see Pj's video of our trip to the Hesston Steam Museum that he made for his You Tube channel here:

It was a wonderful relaxing weekend! Next year, our big family trip will be out west to Arizona to visit my vintage loving friend, Katie and explore the desert!

How I styled a dress I never loved

 

Hey there, long time no see! My life has changed in a big way over the past few weeks. My kids have both started school and that leaves me home alone for 8 hours a day. I've been using the first few weeks of back to school time to get into my groove with homework, packing lunches and housework but now, I'm ready to get back to blogging full time again! Today is my first blog day and my first time taking outfit pictures all by myself, without the kids in the alley with me.




Today I decided to try a dress that I've had for a long time but I don't love. It's growing on me, though. This is a 70s dress that originally had a much longer tie around the neck. I felt like the last thing that a busty girl needs is a big voluminous bow over her biggest area so I cut them shorter and hemmed them many years ago.

The color has also always been a problem for me. I don't do a lot of electric blue unless its part of a print or something and being a big, curvy, tall girl with bright hair made me feel like I stick out in a bad way. I decided to give it a try again today with some really neutral accessories.

I actually googled "how to wear electric blue" to get some ideas of how to style this dress and it looks like most fashion bloggers go with white or cream or kind of a neon yellow. I don't have anything neon yellow in my closet except for my husband's safety yellow roofing shirts. Since I'm going with a bright color, I needed a really fabulous crazy hat. The one I spotted first was this amazing vintage hat with big curly feathers so I accessorized to match.

Although this is a 70s dress, it has some great 1940s features, which were trendy in the 70s so I decided to go 40s with the accessories with platform t strap heels and a classic alligator handbag.



The thing that I'm starting to love about this dress is the neck tie that bothered me so much before. There's a lot of ways to wear this collar and change the look of the whole dress. Tie it, clip it in the middle, tuck it in completely, fold the collar around the neck or wear it high. Its a light, silky polyester, which is nicer for warm days. I think I'll be wearing this one more often.

70s blue dress- estate sale

curly feather hat- private collector

blue beaded earrings- gift from a blog reader

scotty dog scarf clip- antique mall

t strap shoes- thrifted, designed by Mudd

vintage alligator purse- I have no idea!  

Free Pattern: 1950s Parfait Stripe Dress Knitting Pattern

Knitting a dress is always something I've wanted to do but being a very slow knitter, I haven't attempted it yet! I'm in love with this beautiful 1957 dress with its simple bodice and skirt to flatter any figure.
See my free patterns page for more vintage knitting, crochet and sewing patterns.