Gettin' Caught Up: Where the Hell Is Alix?

Hey gang! I've been busy busy this summer....and I still haven't taken any summer vacation time! (Saving that up for August, doncha know.)

Have you swung by Modern Kiddo at all? We've had some fun posts that I think you would like (whether you have kiddos or not).


MAY THE 70s BE WITH YOU
In honor of Comic Con, I decided to to a little tribute to one of my favorite 70s movies of all times STAR WARS!



It's a totally fun post, if I do say so myself. Check out all the retro fun HERE!

BEET RED, WHITE and BLUE
Back in July we had an awesome time in Fresno. Yes Fresno. It was hotter-n-hell but we were with some of our favorite family friends and spent the day sweatin', BBQ-ing and having some 4th of July fun.

Read about it HERE!

And then back in June I was honored to have been a speaker at EVO: Women in Social Media conference. It was a ton of fun, (I went with Dottie, my Modern Kiddo partner in crime) and we did a pretty silly/fun little recap of our adventure.


I promise it was super fun. Check it out over HERE!

How have you guys been? Anything new going on in your world? Feel free to comment and leave me a link to something on YOUR blog that I might have missed!

xoxo

The Ultimate Retro Tupperware Party

So, the other day I went to a Tupperware party. If you're like me then you probably just said, "Whuuuh? They still have Tupperware parties??" (OK, i guess if you read the previous post you didn't say that....) but YES! They still have tupperware parties. For those not in the know, Tupperware was a line of plastic house goods launched in 1946. It was in the 50s when Tupperware really took off as ladies threw lively parties to encourage their fellow housewives to buy buy buy Tupperware!



One of my besties, the lovely Doe, was the mastermind behind this and true to form it was a fantastic bash— held in the fabulous home of Doe's sassy pal Rusty. Rusty is quite the collector and her place was chocked full of vintage goodies. Really amazing stuff! But the best part was, pretty much everyone dressed up in vintage house dressies. It was a total blast!



Not sure what is happening with this mannequin's hand? (maybe she got too close to the grill?). I'm in love with this huge BBQ salt-n-peppa shakers. HOT HOT HOT!



This was our hostess with the mostess—the lovely Karen! She is an old bloggie pal of mine who I had never actually met in person. Lemme tell ya ladies, this girlie is a sparklin' gem. If she hosted these parties every night I'd be there. She was THAT GOOD! So fun and cute.



Please notice the genius vintage fabric dressie and apron she is wearing. AMAZING! To up the ante on cuteness, vintage treats were on the menu (high lights included deviled eggs, veggie pigs-in-a-blanket and lemon chiffon pie). The entire kitchen was kind of amazing....also, since I'm such a 60s/70s girlie, it was fun to see a place that was all about 40s and 50s. Super swell...








You'll notice that Michelle, Karen's Tupperware partner-in-crime, is wearing a MATCHING DRESS. Seriously, how cute are they??





While we spent the first half hour admiring each others cute outfits and chatting....we were ultimately there for the Tupperware. And honestly, it didn't disappoint! It now comes in super cool colors (mmmm, peacock blue....) and cute new sizes (my fave? the smidget....for lil portions). Of course Karen is so good, she could sell ice to an Eskimo....it's no wonder I shelled out $24 for a set of deluxe ice cute trays. *sigh* That was a typo. They're ice cube trays. But they are pretty damn cute...




Oh, and guess what? You can still *burp* the lid. Woot!

Vintage Tupperware and MORE!

Friends, I have SO MANY THINGS to post about!!! I just need a few more hours in the day. I will have some updates for you soooon I promise (hopefully by end of day). Let me leave you with this little teaser: I went to a retro-styled Tupperware party. Oh yes indeedy! And it. Was. Awesome.

This is me pretending to "burp" my little faux Tupperware (OOPS! don't tell Karen, my Mistress of Tupperware I'm cheatin' on her with this little cutie from Target...).

How is everyone doing? Check in again later pretty please. I'll have more pictures for you and hopefully even more tomorrow!

Woot!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STRAWBERRY LEMONADE!

Oh my goodness peeps....this blog is having a birthday today!!!! How crazy is that? In some ways I feel like it should be much older, and then it seems like time has flown by. Thank you all so much for all the love, support and sweet words! Together we have looked at tons of pretty pictures, met boatloads of inspiring artists and photographers, poured over arty fashion spreads, drooled over vintage clothing, reminisced with vintage snap shots, read vintage children's books, and traded perfume tips. You guys even came out in full force to vote for Wolfie for that crazy Cutest Kid Contest. I was so incredibly touched. (By the way, he was vote #3 out of 4,000 kids and we're headin' to LA next weekend for the big shin dig. BANANAS!!)

You guys are truly the coolest readers out there! Thanks for hanging tough even while I had to abandon the Lemonade Stand for Modern Kiddo and for indulging me in my silly outfit posts! But mostly thanks for simply showing up. You all mean the world to me!

xoxo

PS and thanks to this crazy blog I now appear on the front page if you google search "Goofy Grape." Nice.

Lilacs in the Rain.

We have had tons of rain lately. So much so that we had to postpone Wolfie's birthday party. It started with an innocent sprinkle of rain, but huge grey clouds soon loomed ominously in the sky. Big fat dollops fell which turned into a violent downpour. Then....it simply stopped. A few rays of sunshine appeared so I went outside—where I discovered that the lilac tree was in full bloom. Heaven! Lilacs are one of my favorite sense-memory smells. Their yummy scent immediately transports me back to my backyard in Michigan on a warm summer afternoon. I LOVE how they smell. I snipped a big bouquet and placed it on the windowsill above the kitchen sink and every time I stand there I can breath in the amazing fragrance. I actually look forward to doing the dishes now.

To help us chase away the rain storm blues, we played records, sang loudly, bopped our heads, and created little mini Lego masterpieces.

Is it raining where you are? Are the lilacs in bloom? (Shout out to Jenny! I know yer my fellow lilac lovin' girl!)

Hop hop raindrop.

Wellllll Easter started out fairly sunny. And then the clouds came. Big ol grey clouds (yes, i spell grey with an "e". I don't know why...I think it looks prettier that way. For the record, i don't say "colour" or call potato chips "crisps". Pinkie swear.

Sadly I wasn't really able to take too many photos of our day as we ended up being indoors with the lights on (and I'm all about the natural light, baby!). We had a great time with friends....I made a yummy asparagus/gruyere/carmelized onion tart, my friend made a tasty brisket and we had blood orange and champagne mimosas. YUM! Ain't no way a few dark clouds were gonna rain on our easter parade.

Here are some shots I managed to sneak in before the sky turned dark....



Aw yeah, the Orla Kiely dishes. I was so obsessed with that damn line, but I have to say I use it allll the time. And the table cloth and the dishtowels and the serving bowls and the coffee mugs....yeah, I went a little crazy, but they still make me smile! Those are lil vintage bunnies made out of accordion tissue paper. Really sweet.








That vintage straw hat kills me. It's SO cute...but it looks like a combination top hat, clown hat on me. I think it's made for someone with a smaller head...



This was when the fat little drops of rain started to come down. Waaah!



The Lindt Bunnies are among my favorites. When I was a little girl it was tradition that I always got a white chocolate bunny rabbit in my easter basket...I still love 'em to this day! The kids had an awesome indoor egg hunt and gorged themselves on chocolates. Wolfie, my salty boy, of course passed on the chocolate and was thrilled with his little plastic carrot filled with pretzels. (I know I'm a broken record on this one folks, but I can't figure out how a chocolate lover like me birthed a child who doesn't like sweets!!).

Oh yeah, and here's the rundown on What I Wore for the Style Files:

+ Yep. Liberty of London. Seemed the right choice for an Easter Sunday!
+ Green Cardigan, Target
+ Yellow bow-tie mary janes, vintage
+ Enid Collins butterfly bag, vintage
+ Kooky straw pom pom hat, vintage. It looked ridiculous so I only wore it in the photo!

I hope you guys all had an awesome weekend! Was it rain or shine where you were??

Psst!
OK I have to show off the lil Wolf cub. Check him out in his little tie and seer sucker jacket. He wore it for about 10 minutes and then stripped down to a white tee shirt and his jeans. It was like "How to go from Dapper Dan to Fonzi in 10 seconds flat."
My handsome curly boy turns 6 tomorrow. I can't even believe it!!!

ROOT FOR THE CUTE! Vote Wolfie!

OK, we interrupt the usual bloggie goodness for a bit of shameless self promotion. Or rather, the fact that I'm pimpin' out my child for a photo contest to win a college scholarship!!

Every since he was a wee lad people have always told me that Wolfie was a very cute/unique looking kid and should model. That's kind of not my bag, so I always laughed and said thanks, but left it at that. Then my friend sent me a link to this "Cutest Kid" contest being held by Next Direct (a Euro clothing company that is launching in the US). The winning child will win a $100,000 college scholarship—and suddenly this whole "cute kid" thing started to sound a little more interesting. So here I am, asking my lovely readers if you could spare a minute to vote for my boy. The contest is on Facebook, however you do not have to be a Facebook member. You just need a valid email address! Apparently you can also vote multiple times if you have more than one email addy. It literally takes 30 seconds.

*sigh*

I'm shameless huh? Well....the boy's gotta go to college right??

Click to:

VOTE FOR WOLFIE!

Feel free to pass this link along! I'm trying to get the boy in the Top 50. He's currently one Huntly, one Hampton and a handful of Skye's away from crackin' the Top 50:

http://apps.facebook.com/next_direct/gallery/show_entry/5133

Heading to the Summit.

Whooo weeee! I'm Summit bound! Alt. Design Summit, that is. It's a super groovy lifestyle and design conference happening this weekend in Salt Lake City. A tad geeky for sure, but in all the best ways. I'm super excited. Boatloads of awesome bloggers I love will be there: dooce, design*sponge, notcot,

sfgirlbybay, oh joy, making it lovely....the list goes on and on! I'm totally looking forward to hobnobbin' about with my lovely pal Leslie. She and I are going there to soak up some knowledge and , ya know, pimp out Modern Kiddo a bit.

But now the big question—what to wear??

Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow...

I'm baaaaack! Lawdy this cold has kicked my booty. 2010 has had a crazy start, but I'm feelin' much better. We had a really great vacation in Michigan and were thrilled with the beautiful snowfall. Now, I know if you're livin' in the Land of Snow you're probably thinking, "Yeah Alex, you love it because you got to LEAVE IT for sunny California!!!" And you're probably right....I know it's been a rough winter for everyone, but I still think the snow is really beautiful. Especially at Christmas time. My parents live on a lake and it's was gorgeous.
OK, so this is a bit of a time warp, but this was Christmas Eve. So pretty!





While visions of sugar plums danced in his head...so sweet.

Here is our beautiful lakeside. Hard to believe that only 4 months prior we scooting around the lake on our little pontoon boat. It seems impossible that it would be cold enough to freeze it, but frozen it was! We walked on it and pulled Wolfie on a little sled. It didn't click until he saw the dock and realized "Whoa, wait a minute. This is the LAKE mommy??