"...sometimes I dream of a place in France,...."

"...or maybe it's Ohio.....where people live in big houses with peeling white paint and grow herbs in the backyard next to the swing set.”

  Mom ripped that quote out from one of her house magazines and eventually had me paint it in on the wall of her dining room years later.  Thanks to my her, I have always idealized this big old farmhouse in the middle of a great green nowhere, lots of trees and tons of flowers and little kids running around barefoot in dresses. Maybe some chickens too.  The house with shining, dark hardwood floors, white furniture, breezy curtains and galvanized buckets of flowers in every room.  Sometimes I go to this dream house of mine and walk through the rooms she would tear out of her magazines, breathing in the warm fresh air and running my hands over the crisp white cotton everything.  Somewhere along the way I wondered how she knew that was everything I've ever wanted......

Onward with farmhouse inspired outfits. How about this frikin adorable bicycle pendant???  It really has about ummm.... nothing to do with farmhouse style, but I love it. I want to ride it away into the sunset with flowers  and a baguette in the basket......anyway.

Things & joys dress ($128)  and ruffled cardigan ($98) from Anthropologie . 

Provincetown dress ($55) Modcloth.

All of the floral dittys above are from Modcloth as well. (boots $122, tunic $45, dress $48, , necklace $28) AND THEN!!

I was perusing some other sites and cane across this fabulous little site: Ruche

Friends, they have much of the same product as Modcloth, and, gasps, CHEAPER. (by at least ten bucks) so yeah, thanks for the inspiration Modcloth,but you have been bumped from first class.

Everything in the above group can be found online at Ruche. Clockwise from the top: "a straw hat for Huck's girl"($32), victorian floral button-up ($25), parchment perfection top ($55), mariachi ensemble caridgan ($55) lemonade & freckles dress yes this is the same dress modcloth has for 48 ($37!) xo S

Things that I am a little bit obsessed with #1: Nautical EVERYTHING

First of all, I'd like to note that my closet is organized by navy, white, navy and white stripes and anchors. Seriously. Button down with vintage gold anchor buttons? check. Shirt dress with a giant anchor printed on? check. Thirty five navy and white stripe tops?  Gold rope sandals?  Pretty much anything that should belong to a sea captain? (better; a sea captain's fabulous wife?) check. check. cheeeeck. Ok, now that that's out of the way........ you have to admit there's something so timeless and elegant about nautical style.

 Adorable striped straw tote. Guess how much?  

 You can def put together some cute things dirt cheap from f21. Especially if you're not really a nautical type gal and you just want to try it out. I think the belt was like 6 bucks and the tunic maybe 10.   Ok, enough of the cheap shit. Onto Anthropologie, the store i HATE to love... which just so happens to be on board (eek that was bad) with the nautical trend. Anchors away dress in yellow($148), curls and coils rope necklace($42), and crow's nest top($68) are a couple of my favorites.  How cute would that top be with some navy shorts and gold sandals? So, about the piece of rope for forty two dollars. My friend C wore this to my sister's nautical themed wedding rehearsal dinner with a navy dress. At first I wasn't really sure why anyone would pay 42 dollars for a piece of rope. I saw this maybe with a smidge of jealousy, as i picked it up in the store and though maybe since it's just rope, i can afford this. Nope. Alas, it grew on me, and C was forgiven.

These are just a couple of examples -- nautical stuff is literally EVERYWHERE. You can really find it at any price point. More to follow later... B is home and ansty for me to get away from the computer. xo S