Une ballerine, voilá!

The final result of my grandmama's spectacular sewing skills, a bit of taffeta & tulle, and a major headache.

Despite actually arming myself with a camera, I forgot to take any pictures at the wedding; Caleb & I seem to have an unconscious opposition to cute photos documenting our lives. So I grabbed dear sweet Rose and had her take some today.

It's been nothing but gorgeous weather over here; wherever you are, I hope the sun is shining.

Kisses,
Essie

Silver shoots & tender leaves.

Silent film stars and the soft, feminine look of early 1920's postcards inspired this shoot; the day was perfect, warm and bright. In my humble opinion, Laura owns this look... between her flowy yellow dress and wild red hair, she is porcelain perfection.

And we all mutually lament that we don't live "back then".










I hope the day finds you beautiful.

Kisses,
Essie

Hope is a blindfold, hope is a solace

Well, in good news: I've been working a temp job for these past few days. It's the same job I was working about two weeks ago; they called this week and wanted us to come back for a week or two. It's good timing, because I really need the money. However, it also comes just as I'm sitting on over 500 pictures I need to sift through and edit from our trip to Petoskey. Yikes! So, things have been kind of slow on that front. Most of the pictures are for Somewhere in Time (for any new readers out there, that is the vintage bridal business my mom is trying to get started - check it out!) but I also have some pictures for Owl Eyes that I simply can't wait to share.

Anyway, I got to work today and was there for only half an hour before they sent us all home because they didn't have any work for us today. I could have used the money, but I'm not complaining! This gives me the chance to catch up a little...

dress & hat: vintage | shoes: ...I honestly don't remember, I've had them for ages!

So, since I have a little bit of time, I thought I'd share a few photos from our Petoskey trip. If you've never been, I highly recommend it! It's touristy, but not in that annoying way. It's picturesque, but again, not cheesily so. There were four of us on the trip - my mom, Esther, my sister Vera, and me. It was about a three hour drive from Grand Rapids, and the drive was ridiculously gorgeous. It rained for a little bit, but as we got further north, the sun broke through and reflected off the rain, and everything came alive. When we arrived, there was mist over the water - like something out of a dream. I feel like I'm doing it a disservice by this cheesy description, but trust me, it was so, so lovely. I'm fairly certain I kept babbling about how beautiful everything was for the entire evening!

After a brief photoshoot of some Owl Eyes dresses and a few wedding dresses, we headed into town to grab a bite to eat (hungry models = not a good thing; we were starting to get grumpy, haha!). We had to drive around for a little while before we finally found the City Park Grill. From the name, I wasn't expecting much, but it was so gorgeous inside - honestly, it was my every decorating dream. Apparently, Ernest Hemingway used to eat there regularly, and was inspired to write his short story "Killers" there. Now, I've always been much more of a Fitzgerald girl, but that gave me chills.

Of course, it wasn't all literary seriousness:

All in all, a perfect evening. I'll have many more photos to share once I get them edited!

The wind may be beautiful

dress: vintage | shoes: Target | belt: vintage | bow: Charlotte Russe

Once again, I'm sorry for the lack of updates - things have been a little bit crazy here at Owl Eyes HQ! (Okay, I guess we don't really have an HQ, but it lends an air of importance, no?) Between power outages, minor crises, and a lovely trip to Petoskey for a photoshoot, I haven't been able to update. But after being gone for so long, I have a ton of pictures to catch up on - daunting, on one hand, but lots of fun!

I'll write more about the photoshoot when I have all the pictures edited and ready to go, but seriously, it was the most wonderful mini-vacation. We got pictures of many more wedding dresses for Somewhere in Time and I was able to sneak in a few photos for an upcoming mini-lookbook for Owl Eyes Boutique, which is something I've been wanting to do for absolutely ages. I can't wait to share the photos with you all.

These photos are from last Monday. After getting together with Rose and Esther for coffee, Esther headed off to work, and Rose and I went on what we hoped would be an antiquing expedition. Alas, our plans were thwarted. Both of the stores we wanted to go to were closed on Mondays. How random is that?

But, of course, we made the best of it! Though the stores were closed, there were some great photo locations, which we took full advantage of. I'm definitely going to remember this spot for future shoots.

Much to my delight, someone had left a jumbo stick of chalk sitting on the ground. I couldn't help myself...

And that's how we salvaged a failed antiquing expedition!

Jigsaw falling into place

dress: Charlotte Russe | cardigan: H&M | leggings and shoes: Target

Whew! Things got a little bit crazy this week. Among other things, I started babysitting for four (darling!) children , and I got a 3-day temp job. The temp job was kind of ridiculous, but in a good way. I was told it was data entry, which it sort of was - but it was so disorganized that we only ended up doing actual work for a small fraction of the time. Yesterday we played the game where you try to fit in as many song titles as possible in normal conversation. (I came in third, ha.) We weren't slacking - there was just nothing to do! Luckily, it was a fun group of people, so the time went quickly. Not a bad gig!

I've also been working hard at organizing and taking pictures of more things for the shop. I've got a ton of items to post. It's a little frustrating because I'd like for the shop to look consistent, but I can't really do that at the moment since I have to keep changing where I take pictures. Oh well. It's really just as well, because - exciting news - I found a place to live! I was really bummed when my previous housing plans fell through, but this new plan is going to work out really well, I think. My friend is buying a house, and I'll be living with her. I haven't seen the inside of the house in person yet, but the pictures look gorgeous, and it's right in the neighborhood I want to be in. So happy! If all goes well, I should be moving in near the end of July or beginning of August. This summer has been up and down, to say the least, so I'm really happy to see things finally working out. (So, until I have a place where I can set up for the shop, it's going to be a little eclectic.)

Oh, and speaking of the shop - I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that this will work out - I'm planning to go up north sometime this week to do a photoshoot for Somewhere in Time, and we're going to do some photos for Owl Eyes, too! My goal is to put together a lookbook. If this little trip works out, it should be fun - I've never been up north in Michigan, really, which is strange considering I've lived here 10 years.

I'll leave you with a few pictures (really, just a few - forgot my memory card at home!) from the chalk art contest held in my town this weekend. It's a new thing, and apparently it was really disorganized this year, but they're planning to make it an annual thing. It's really nice to see the community come together, even if our town isn't the most exciting. This event attracted all kinds of people - kids, adults, artists, and - as you'll see - one hopeful lover! A friend of my family's won first place - the man is ridiculously talented.

танцулька

Caleb & I were invited to a friend's wedding on July 17th; it is semi-formal, so naturally I jumped at the chance to pretty up and went crazy designing a dress.

My original plan was to go my usual earthy Bohemian route; however, I couldn't find any fabric that was what I pictured in my mind. I only found one fabric I really adored and would have loved, but at $49 a yard, and being in need of three yards, my Dutch heart balked.

Inspiration came when I tried to adapt my dreams to my budget. I found some ivory illusion for $3 a yard, and fell in love. My twelve-year-old self returned full force, with all her wild ballerina obsession, and begged me to make a ballerina style dress. I gave in happily, found some soft storm-grey taffeta for the top and lining, and a beautiful pinkish ribbon for the waist.

Now all that remains is the making. I've been ballerina-obsessed all day, and thought I would share some inspiration with you dears.








This is my favorite ballet dance of all time; it is a piece called "The Dying Swan", first danced by Anna Pavlova (the ballerina in the first picture) but this is my favorite ballerina, Maya Plisetskaya. She was a Russian Jew during the Soviet Era; her father was executed and her mother sent to a Gulag with her seven-month-old brother. She had bright red hair and was apparently very defiant and stubborn, but had a lively charismatic personality. She sounds amazing, doesn't she?

Kisses,
Essie