I’ve been trying to increase the ratio of “dressed up” (i.e. not cotton) tops in my closet, and when I spotted this one at Ann Taylor this week, I couldn’t resist. The material is so light – great for summer in the South. Luckily I had a $25 gift card, as the current price ($68) is a bit much. (I got it in “violet bloom.”)

AT is running a buy one, get one 50% off promotion right now on full-price tops… and I’m seriously tempted by this one, too.

So pretty!

One of the coolest things I did when I was home in Connecticut was stop by a new store in town, Seasonal Home. If you are familiar with where I’m from, you know that that sentence alone is pretty cool. (Like many small, old New England towns, my hometown hardly changes at all. Ever.) Which is why it’s so cool that three local women refurbished an old church-turned-funeral home and opened a shop selling carefully curated new and old home goods. And they did it well. Let’s take a little tour, shall we?

One of the neatest parts about the store is the store itself – it’s been beautifully remodeled, and you can still see vestiges of the old church, like the choir loft and the altar area.

The three women who jointly own the store all source vintage goods to sell, and the vintage goods are mixed in with new pieces, including artwork, from local artisans.

I loved the paintings from this local painter, though I didn’t catch his or her name.

Seasonal Home also sells new upholstered furniture that’s made in America. I thought it was beautiful and classic!

All the goods are mixed in together and curated beautifully, and I found many things I would have been happy to take home with me.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the prices – for someone who’s used to going to flea markets herself, I sometimes find vintage store prices to be a little hard to swallow (though I can certainly understand why they’re so), but I thought Seasonal Home’s prices were very reasonable. The large pot on the right was $15, and I really wanted to take it home, but there was no way I was going to fit it in my suitcase. I did, however, take home the trio of sea stars on the left, and it was $6.

I also took home the pretty green and white dishtowels on the right – 2 for $6.

These pretty blue pieces were quite lovely:

I know not many of you are likely to pass through my corner of Southeastern Connecticut, but if you find yourself there, I’d say a visit to Seasonal Home is well worth your time. And if you do not, then go poke your head into a locally-owned store in your town – you might be pleasantly surprised!

P.S. Another peek into a local home + vintage store

Austin Warnock

Since my last update…
— John had his individual meeting with our pastor. I have mine on Monday!
— We attended our tasting (yum!) and are in the process of making a few adjustments to our menu
— We had a venue walk-through with our florist and made what I think will be the final adjustments to our order
— We met with our chapel coordinator. She is a little bit scary.
— John’s tux has been tailored and looks awesome!
— Kate and I attempted a trial cake… more about that soon :)
— We collected the final silver pieces, and they all look great!
— We bought part of John’s gift for his groomsmen
— We purchased our wedding bands – going to pick them up this weekend!
— We bought ottomans, coffee tables, and candles at Ikea

Next up on the list?
— I’m sad that our invitations haven’t been sent yet, but they’re arriving this week, so I should have them out the door soon! Envelopes have already arrived.
— My final dress fitting is coming up soon
— We need to finalize the text for our ring bearer bowl
— I want to nail down all of our ceremony music so I can send it to our pianist, string trio, and soloist. I would also like to finalize readings.
— I need to collect the rest of our family wedding photos, to be displayed at the reception
— I’m going to make a few signs to help direct guests from the ceremony to the reception
— I’m going to make a set of drink stirrers for my own wedding! :)

I promised recaps of all my recent adventures, and thankfully my girl Meredith Perdue is helping me out! She was the photographer at the second wedding of the three I attended in three weeks, and she posted a little preview yesterday. So fun to see familiar faces on her beautiful blog!

You can see more on her blog right here!

As many of you know I wore a Rent the Runway dress to this gala affair, and when I wrote about it back in March, I promised a review. Happily, my review is positive! When it arrived, the dress was in great condition and needed little more than a few hours on a hanger to be party-ready. I ordered a 0 and a 2 (they send an extra size with every order), and I ended up wearing the 0. Per the reviews on the site I knew the top wouldn’t have much give, which turned out to be true, but it wasn’t that big of a deal because, well, you know.

I did have to run out and buy a pair of fancy flats, because anything higher than one inch would have made the hem too short – and I’m only 5’4 and a half. I wasn’t too upset about having an excuse to wear flats, though!

I felt glamorous and elegant, and it was the perfect thing to wear to this black tie wedding. I happily accepted several compliments throughout the night, including from people other than my parents and date :) A little peek:

Yep, that’s the wedding tuxedo in action! John also fielded several kind remarks, with good reason, I think.

ALSO! Almost forgot to mention that John’s first real bow tie tying experience was almost traumatic. He didn’t give himself quite enough time for trial and error, and so started to panic just a bit as the minutes went by. But, in the end, his first complete attempt looked great, and we were out the door seconds after that. If you find yourself in a similar predicament, I would highly recommend this Youtube video – the gent moves through the steps very slowly and has a calming voice :)