a birthday outing and an outfit post.

 so, my actual birthday was on friday (since james was home the three of us celebrated with disneyland and lots of ice cream) and today my mom threw me a little family lunch party (with a fabulous gluten free feast that ill tell you more about tomorrow). but my big birthday thing was yesterday, when james, my sister, and i went up to silverlake for an adventure:

first, my friends marisa and stacie met up with us at the silverlake art craft and vintage market for some shopping:

which was really, really fun. ive wanted to go to this market for like, three years (im not kidding) and even though it happens every month it never works out for us to be able to go. since it was my birthday i made SURE that we would be able to go, and im really glad we went. its not a huge market, but it had a really great selection of vendors. 

a couple weeks ago james sold some cards so that i could have spending money for my birthday (seriously the sweetest thing ever, i can never justify spending household money on myself), and id been saving it for what felt like FOREVER because somehow i KNEW that this was going to be the perfect opportunity for me to get the new clothes that i (badly) need. 

AND I WAS TOTALLY RIGHT! im not going to post pictures of all the stuff i got, because i really want to start doing outfit posts more regularly (and now i have a TON of great pieces to work with), but i got at least half of the "things my wardrobe really, REALLY needs" list crossed off. AND to make it even better knitted dove was having a sample sale, so i was able to get this skirt (in red!) and this dress (plus a sweater!) for $45!!! it was seriously the greatest part of the day. 

until we went to lunch, that is. i spent a LONG time searching for a gluten-free friendly (but still enjoyable) restaurant in the silverlake area, and after poking around urbanspoon for a bit i came across heywood grilled cheese shoppe:

which, like the name implies, only sells really, really fancy grilled cheese sandwiches. they have several signature sandwiches on their menu, or you can build your own with their list of breads, cheeses and toppings. i had "the heywood" (2 year aged english cheddar and caramelized onion confit) on gluten free bread, "inside out" (meaning it had a THICK crust of cheddar cheese on the outside of the bread) and it was BY FAR the best (gluten free or otherwise) sandwich of my ENTIRE LIFE:

even though the sandwiches are on the expensive side ($10-12, and the gluten free bread and cheese crust cost extra), they do come with soup and salad (the soup isnt gluten free so they made me an extra big salad). and more importantly, the gluten free bread is TOTALLY NORMAL SIZED AND DECENT TASTING. see, one of the big problems with eating gluten-free at restaurants, is that you usually end up having to pay extra for significantly LESS food.

 but that wasnt the case here. yeah i had to pay extra for the bread but at least i still got a regular sized sandwich. and more important, it was an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC SANDWICH. but the best part? for the first time in i dont know how long, i felt satisfied and FULL after eating (literally two days prior i was crying my eyes out about never getting to feel full). and if i can finally feel full, honestly i dont care if that sandwich costs $100. 

anyways, remember back in the beginning of this post, before i started gushing about sandwiches, how i said i wanted to start doing more outfit posts? no? well i totally did. and heres what i wore out shopping yesterday:

dress: hand-me-down (originally from simply wonderful, belt: target (from a skirt), tights cotton on, glasses: zenni optical, bag: vintage camera case, bracelet: vintage, necklace: target, shoes: urban outfitters

 like most of my dresses, this one is a hand-me-down from my sister, from when she worked at a super cute boutique at the mall. even though i LOVE the squirrel print, this dress has just been hanging out in my closet because i remembered it being a really weird tunic length on my sister and i wasnt sure how to style it. of course, i totally forgot to consider that my sister is like six inches taller than me and its a totally normal dress on me. 

the only problem though was that its kind of shapeless, and i didnt have any belts that fit my new somehow smaller than pre-pregnancy waist. at least i thought i didnt, i found this one on a skirt that i bought right after alice was born (that of course i wore non-stop for a few months and now kind of hate), and it was perfect. 

i finished the outfit off with just a couple small accessories (for a girl, im REALLY terrible at remembering to accessorize my outfits), this dress-and-scissors necklace i found while cleaning out my jewelry box:

a vintage kodak camera case for a purse, and a very, very special vintage silver charm bracelet:

james got me the bracelet when he worked as a gold buyer in arizona, and its actually the only piece of jewelry that james has ever bought for me. a lady sold it to his shop and he thought id like it so he bought it from his boss for whatever the silver cost, and its been one of my most prized possessions ever since. all the charms are old, dainty, sterling silver charms that make the cutest little jingle with every movement, AND they are just THE most bizzare assortment of charms you could imagine. seriously. theres a wheelbarrow, an elephant, a buffalo, a mailbox, a ladder, a pair of ice tongs (?), all kinds of crazy stuff. i wish i knew more about whoever collected them. 

so that was my outfit for the day. stay tuned for tomorrow because monday is weekly wishes day!