"LOVELY"

friday afternoon marked the beginning of the sweetest weekend ever. you may have seen amber's lovely post on it already, and i offer much the same tale... so here we go again! it is just too fun to relive, and my pictures are slightly different. just barely. ;) it was one of those experiences that makes your heart race with pure fun and beauty and love.



i picked up amber and mycie in sacramento and our little entourage headed down to santa rosa to surprise missa for part of a series of 40th birthday surprises masterminded by her amazing husband lucas and helped along by the loving organization of milla and many other friends. milla had arrived by plane just a couple hours before and missa'd had no idea she was coming. little did she know they would soon be joined by two more bloggy buds.
it was a joyous reunion. we had yummy mexican food at las palmas and caught up amidst bright turquoise walls and delicious salsa.



back at missa's house we were smitten by zephyr, her dashing darling white fuzzy cat. 

i handed out gifts for the little girls as well as birthday packages for each of these lovely aquarian ladies. 
giving clothes to clover and mycie is so gratifying: they immediately want to put them on. look how cute they are in their vintage dresses, prancing about, reading their new stories and coloring. 



and needless to say, they get their clothing enthusiasm from their mamas. it really makes it extra-special fun to find treasures for these friends who always so thoughtfully gift to others (and me!).

this red velvet dress was so romantically amber to me. missa pulled out its velvet cousin from her own closet for a photo op.

milla looked so adorable in the patchwork dress i found her in the girls' section.



we stayed up talking all sorts of fun girly subjects, and missa even brought out her wedding dress to show us. 
you can see her wearing it on that magical day here, what a knock out!

soooo cozy the next morning. it was a delight to wake up in missa's light-filled house to the smell of freshly brewing coffee (yes i love the smell again even though i still have no desire to drink it which is still weird to me) and mister zephyr curled up on a family heirloom pink patchwork quilt with pretty milla in her finnish nightie.


more morning cuddlers:

the girls turned into kitties who needed lots of snuggles. which i was happy to provide.


we were all thrilled to meet lucas's mom oosa when she stopped by for a quick hello. and she graciously took turns with our cameras to get us our first group photo. my black dress in all the rest of the photos was included in the most amazing gift package from missa, more of which i'll be showing off later! 

the little girls/kitties went out to collect some morning dew.

and then we all headed off to the farmer's market around the corner.

where we found beautiful colorful produce galore. up in the hills our markets aren't usually year round so it's fun to see fresh bounty in early february.
....including the raddest carrots ever.

we had breakfast burritos. SO GOOD. i am quite the eater these days.

and sour oranges! even these were strangely addictive.


milla, mistress of the bees, explaining the joys of raw honeycomb.

which the girls were pleased to try.


back at missa's a bright sunshine had peeked out and she let us gather some lemons from her tree. that is california bounty right there, like bottled sunshine. i'm a big fan.


we got some kale too. missa and lucas grow all kinds of delights from broccoli to collard greens to beets....all my faves!



you've seen a similar shot of amber's so i figured i'd include the goofy one :) we really do get quite giddy.

i LOVE that amber rocked this outfit for a stroll to the farmers market. long elegant velvet and crocheted lace trim. like amber noted, people were kind of staring at us; we must make a rather eccentric bunch of ladies. i know i'd be interested if i saw us go by ;) 


and guess who showed up next!??! next on the list of surprises that grew and grew....
delight of delights, here we have nicky and anne with baby marianne in tow!

anne came bearing gifts: check out this gorgeous birthday dress for missa, along with the charming hat:

she brought me the sweetest maternity package too. i was going crazy for all the pretty things and cannot wait to show them here. and yes folks, i got rad 80s leggings from both missa and anne, which will be popping up here real soon. it seems i am now the stretch pant queen!

anne even brought some little pots of homemade lip balm she made. i could not resist the delicious hint of coconut and now keep it on my bedside table.

it was around this time that nicky and anne explained how their husbands make fun of the blogworld for being just so lovely. Oh, everything is so lovely, just beautiful, sweet, amazing. LOVELY. yep, it's true. the day was lovely, the girls were lovely, the dresses were lovely.
ha! definitely guilty over here! makes me cringe but i forgive us :)

all us girls headed over to railroad square to hit up the vintage and thrift shops. after all, it's what we do best!


nicky with her cutest take on country.

it is just pure joy to roam the streets with these gals. gladness and sunshine abounded. i could not wipe the smile off my face. there was way too much to talk about, look at, take in, rhapsodize. the time flew by too quickly.

skirt chaser vintage was definitely a favorite. 


amber tried on this amazing little felt-embellished ice skating princess outfit.

pretty lovely huh?!

ugh. my heart.


milla was swept away by a certain hat that was so becoming on her. i am glad she did not resist its charms, it belongs with her.


another budding hat lover!

nicky found some badass steampunk old antique glasses.

and the lovely proprietess herself! she was happy we came in. she had seen us earlier at the farmer's market and just knew we were her kinda gals.




over by the railroad tracks missa spied a friend, lucy, a cyclist extraordinaire, who was willing to go the long haul and take group photos with every single one of our cameras! we tried to make them all a bit different, here's mine. how i love these girls.

and the obliging lucy herself!

i thought about so many of you and how i hope we can all meet up in person like this. and how many more activities i want to do together for those that can make it here in california or wherever we meet up. REAL FRIENDS! such a beautiful thing. it really does hit home how blog friends can be special; how hopefully through sharing each other's writing and photos we have gotten glimpses into each other's hearts and sometimes we just love what we find there.
i am so blessed to have gotten to know these ladies. truly truly truly.

amber and i had to head home that afternoon but i absolutely cannot wait to see the rest of the weekend and the epic party later that night! HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY EVER MISSA!

Comments

sanya said…
I have said this to myself so many times, that all of you are so inspiring. I read and follow many of your blogs and they are always filled with sweet words and pouring with a "seize the day" mentality that is infectious. Congratulations on getting to have a reunion of sorts. It definitely is LOVELY, couldnt use a better word for it. Thank you for sharing :) Oh! and congratulations on your soon to be baby, I'm not embarrassed to say that I was utterly excited, even though I in a sense dont know you, I feel as if I do.

Sanya
aww, i love your smiling faces. dude, when i was pregnant i once at about very sour 30 mandarin oranges in one sitting. except i was standing. over the sink with juice running down my face because i was eating them so fast. and it was like...3 in the morning. some things just taste SO GOOD when you are pregnant.
Teeny said…
I'm going to be really shallow here and say I love all of the things that you gals got for each other. The pic of Missa holding up her white birthday dress (and wedding dress) is precious. Leggings queen indeed woman! What i really like about these posts is that the photos you've taken show a different dimension to what everyone looks like! Usually when we take our own photos we'll stick to a particular angle - when someone else takes em, it's all a bit pot luck! Still beautiful though. x see you real soon huh!
Nicky said…
nooo... I just left a comment and it got erased!

What a lovely post! hahahha That's so rad that you named it that :D Let em poke fun, it's a perfect word at times!!!

You got some great shots and it was fun to see the "before we got there" pictures and our day through your eyes. The sleepover looked like fun!

I was so stinkin' excited to meet you gals and cruise around town together- quite surreal. It was especially good to meet you finally after our near miss last time I was in Placerville!!! Can't wait to show you Missa's party and the giant red rabbit! If only nursing school would slow down... it's only day two and my head's spinning!!!!! ahhhhh Time to hit the hay!

Much love to ya!!! xo
mo marie said…
What fun you and your ladies had! I absolutely LOVE your dress. What an awesome gift! And the cute little dresses the girls were in. I love Santa Rosa's railroad square. Skirt Chaser is one of my favs! The owner is SUPER nice. It's such a small vintage world sometimes. I totally saw that purple little dress in there last time I was visiting. Always something amazing in that neck of the woods. You all are so bright and beautiful. thanks for sharing your fun day!
Violet Folklore said…
I love it all, with all my heart. It's so interesting so hear a different perspective and to see different photos. Your pics of the wee ones are so good, especially when they are testing the honeycomb! We are so lucky to have befriended one another and to live near enough to make it work. We've also made deepening our friendships a priority and arranged our lives to do so- I commend us! And I do so wish that we had the opportunity to do the same with all of the amazing Ladies of the Blogosphere.
Andrea said…
Awww!!!! How adorable are you all? Its so sweet that Missa's husband planned it too. Also, can't believe it was a year ago since you all last met up. Looks like you all had a wonderful time!

So, Ms. Heather, really no coffee? Were you a coffee drinker prior to pregnancy? This has been a huge fearful anxiety of mine... what I will do when preggers and I can't have coffee? Will de-caf fill that void? It's all just too much to bare... so this is why your statement really intrigues me. Perhaps, there is light at the end of the tunnel and I won't have a hankerin' for it.

I can't wait to see those stretch pants too!!! ha ha! I thought it was so cute that they all thought of that for you!
Andrea, yes i was a HUGE coffee drinker! couldn't have imagined starting my day (or progressing through the day) without it, and not only that, i love the ritual and comfort of it! i drank coffee at first, for the first seven or so weeks it didn't bother me and i just cut down to one cup a day after i found out i was pregnant. actually that kinda turned into about two cups a day :) i read plenty of reports that said 1-2 cups of coffee can't hurt your developing baby. but then...i LOST my desire, not only lost it but was disgusted by the very smell of coffee. that's why i've been happy that at least it SMELLS good to me again. i used to feel like you do about beer. when people told me, oh you just won't want it i was secretly going "YEAH RIGHT!" but it's true. your body completely takes over. maybe i should do a post on this. it is the most interesting phenomenon. i am used to being pretty much in complete control of my physical self, and you just have to give yourself over to this crazy process that is changing everything about you. so yeah, bottom line...i don't think you need to worry about the coffee thing. my friend ruebi is a total coffee freak and couldn't drink it during the first trimester, then started again at four months and had a cup a day the rest of the pregnancy. i thought that would happen to me, but just haven't gotten there yet, so we'll see :)

thanks for your comments and i can't wait to show off my new leggings. i have three new pairs, teeny sent me some too!!
Anonymous said…
Oh joy of joys! I love reading posts where you ladies get together! Of course, they make me wish I lived closer so that I could join in, but more than anything, they make me smile! The happiness you ladies experience is almost palpable and comes through so clearly in your photos and words.

What an invention, the internet, eh?

xo
Cel said…
I love hearing about this weekend from each of you, so much glowing joy. Yay! If I ever do wind up in California, I don't think I could forgive myself if I didn't at least pass by to see you for a short visit. And I am so jealous you all get to run around bare legged, it's still definitely winter here.
Anonymous said…
there's so much LOVELINESS here that it's almost overwhelming. i feel so much vicarious joy at all your happy faces and seeing you traipse about town. and that vintage store! holy crow, no wonder missa finds such great stuff!

so i want to echo that i too hope we can meet up. i met missa and milla yesterday (i am still swooning) and you are someone that i can't wait to know in real life! much love to you heather, thank you for sharing and showing.
anne said…
oh heather! i can't tell you how happy i was to finally meet you and spend the day with all you "lovely", amazing, rad, awesome women! it was seriously magical and a day i won't ever forget.
hope to see you again soon!
Missa said…
Aw, Heather, that's exactly what it was! THE HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY EVER! Thank you so much for coming, you are joy personified and I so love spending time with you. All you girls make my heart flutter, I don't know how I got so lucky!

Yay, for reliving the magic again and again :D
Miss Claire said…
Oh, such beautiful friendship. I long to spend time with you girls...What a LOVELY weekend :p Xxxx
Milla said…
M'dear, these photos bring me right on back. I wish I wish I wish we could have had more time together, but every moment with ya'll is precious to me. It was so fun to see you pregnant, as fertility and pregnancy was a big topic last year and here you are, glowing with it! Real, sweet, beauteous friend. If only you lived in the next town over...

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