Last night we went to some friends' house for dinner. They live in the basement apartment of his Dad's house, which is a gorgeous home on a hill overlooking the Puget Sound, so we got to sit out on the deck looking over the water drinking Manhattans and barbecuing. The meat they barbecued came from a local farm that they got through CSA, which I'd never heard of before, but it sounded like a really neat concept. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is basically a subscription... to a farm. You pay for a regular “share” of produce and/or meat, and go pick it up! Kind of a cool alternative to going to farmer's markets. We've thought about subscribing to a produce box like TerraOrganics or something, which is similar except they ship it right to your front door weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Someday when we have a house of our own, I'd love to have a bunch of raised beds to grow our own produce, but for now we're just renting and aren't allowed to do such things. Whenever I see Annie's backyard full of growing things and chickens running around I get so excited for the day I can grow my own stuff. One of my earliest memories is picking fresh strawberries with my mom in our backyard!
About two years ago there was a dress similar to this at Ruche, but I didn't end up snagging it in time and it sold out. Ever since I've been on the lookout for a dress like it and the other day I was at TJ Maxx looking for hand weights and "accidentally" wandered into the clothing section, where I happened upon this beaut'! I could only find it in an XL, but I loved the way it fit so loosely, which is how the original dress at Ruche looked like it fit, so I ended up getting it anyway. I'm actually looking forward to styling this in the cooler months with tights and more layers. I think it could be really cute in a free-people-bohemian kind of way, with tons of stacked bracelets and necklaces and a floral blazer and maroon tights. As soon as I get a new item in my closet I like to think of all the different ways I could wear it. If I really love the piece, I sometimes get overzealous and wear all those options the same week...