Want a chance to win the first ever maneki blog giveaway?  All you have to do is comment on this entry and tell me what you like about summer!  We are having a heat wave here in Austin, and it would be nice to be reminded of all the good things about this time of year!  One winner will be chosen at random, and that lucky person will receive this locket:

A couple of rules about the giveaway:

♥ Be sure to leave a good contact e-mail in the comments form (don’t worry; your e-mail address won’t be visible to anyone except you and me).  Entries without a valid e-mail address will be disqualified–I need to find out how to get you your necklace!

♥ Only one comment per reader, please

♥ This first giveaway is open to US addresses only

♥ Winning entry will be chosen using the random number generator at random.org

♥ All entries must be received by Monday, July 6, at 5:00 p.m. CST.  

Good luck!

I just added some post earrings to the shop.  I think posts are great for the summer!

Last night I saw Jenny Lewis at Stubb’s with my friend, Caroline–I’m sure you can tell who the band was from the awful iphone pic above, right?!  

It was a great show!  She was charming, and the whole band was great live.

If you don’t get my post title, you need to rent The Wizard immediately.  I was so jealous of Jenny Lewis when I was a kid, because she got to be in this movie!  I mean, come on, Fred Savage, the power glove, and sneak peeks of Super Mario 3?  Oh my goodness, I remember waiting for that movie to come out!  I remember sitting on my grandmother’s front porch with my cousin Zachary, predicting what we thought the latest Mario installment would be like.  It did not disappoint.  And it was so intimidating when Lucas Barton opened the case and pulled out the power glove!  They gave us tiny copies of Nintendo Power magazine at the door–I wonder if I still have mine in a box somewhere at my parents’ house.  It’s pretty funny that I loved that movie SO much; at the time, I had no idea that the whole thing is basically a really long commercial for Nintendo.  All I knew is that it combined two of my most favorite things, Nintendo and Fred Savage (ahem).

Clockwise from top: UNWORN Seychelles wedges in my size, peep-toe Bruno Maglis, and gray and cream vintage-style mary janes with stacked heels.

I got all of these for $30.

Yay!

It is pretty fun to have something to collect.  I had it in the back of my mind that I was looking for some vintage dishes, but I wasn’t actively seeking them out.  Then one day, last summer, when I was housing some hurricane refugees (my mother and aunt Becky), I took them to my favorite antique store in Austin.  I came across a lovely set of dinner, salad, and dessert plates for a very reasonable price, and I took them home.  As I was washing them, I noticed that the some of the plates were stamped on the back, and I went to eBay to see if I could find some more dinner plates to fill out the set.  Well, I guess this was a popular pattern in the 1960s, because there were all sorts of pieces to be found–I got my dinner plates, but since then, I have also added tumblers, juice glasses, berry bowls, serving bowls and platters, a creamer and lidded sugar bowl (pictured above), and a casserole that looks like a large version of the sugar bowl.  I’ve also found (I’m proud to say), the highly-coveted butter dish (the one with the loop on top!) and salt and pepper shakers.

I love having something to search for in antique malls, thrift stores, flea markets, and on eBay.  I always have an eye out for pieces to fill out my collection!

Blue Cameo Earrings

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Friday morning (my birthday), little Chibi cut her leg somehow.  She must have done it when she went outside after her breakfast.  It was a pretty bad cut–Shea and I had planned to spend the day at Krause Springs, but we ended up spending a lot of it at the vet hospital.  Chibi needed stitches, and they had to give her general anesthesia to do them.  I was pretty worried about her; she is my little darling and I hated having to pass her off to the vets.  She looked so scared!  But they did an excellent job, and Chibi is feeling much better.  She hardly seems to notice the E-Collar now.  She is on day 3 of her 10-12 day period before she gets her stitches out.

I made these muffins today from this recipe (it’s kind of hilarious and disturbing how much the intro to the recipe references PMS).   The muffins are made with agave nectar instead of sugar, and they’ve got flaxseed in them–which I ground myself!  I’ve been trying to come up with some quick and healthy breakfasts lately, so these are perfect.  Also, I like anything that gives me an excuse to use my silicone cupcake wrappers.