DREAMING OF A POST-VACATION VACATION

Good morning Little Knuckles!

Yikes, I have been absent for awhile!  Many apologies.  I was on vacation in picturesque New England, visiting my in-laws.  Mr. Brass Knuckles and I had the opportunity to share some nice evenings together, but with kids no vacation is truly a vacation.  Take heed, my childless friends!

My in-laws are in the process of moving, and in the chaos I found a dress that I left there many moons ago, and happily wore this weekend to dinner:

 (Dress, Splendid; shirt, H&M; shoes, Minnetonka moccasins; purse, Elliott Lucca; necklace, Montserrat de Lucca.  On the little guy: Spiderman t-shirt, Target; plaid golf shorts, Carters).

Mr. Brass Knuckles bought me this Splendid dress for my birthday a few years ago.  He knew that I liked this little store called Intermix, and found the dress there.  I love the thought of him browsing the racks at Intermix, buahaha!

I'm normally neither a huge pink nor maxi dress person, but it is always nice to have a strong pop of color in your wardrobe, especially for casual summer dinners when your son is trying to gleefully escape (I love the narrative in these pictures!).

I wore the dress with a pair of Minnetonka moccasins that I bought for $20 at the Union Square Strawberry about a million years ago.  Is that store even still open, I wonder?  The purse was a gift from my beautiful friend Lauren of Undeclared Panache.  It doesn't really go with the outfit, but I wore it on vacation and didn't have a chance to switch purses.  It's the perfect bag for the plane; in addition to my laptop, it holds a ton of other mom-crap, like diaper wipes, snacks, emergency toys, crayons, etc.

Finally, I wore one of my favorite necklaces, by Monserat de Lucca via Modcloth.

Here is a better picture of it:

Cute and Astute necklace, Monserat de Lucca, Modcloth

I love this line of jewelry, and would wear anything on their website.  Their designs are whimsical, fun, and unfussy:

 Large Birdnest necklace, Monseratdelucca.com, $100

 Brass watch bracelet, Monseratdelucca.com, $80

Have a great week, Little Knuckles!

YOU KNOW I LOVE ME SOME IKRAM AND TARGET

If you've been reading this blog at all you know that I'm a big fan of Target:

I'm also a big fan of Ikram, the gorgeous boutique in Chicago run by Ikram Goldman, Michelle Obama's sometime stylist.  While I'll probably never buy anything there, it's a very inspiring place.

So it goes without saying, I love these Ikram-styled Target outfits on Target Style's tumblr:

(all photos, TargetStyle.tumblr.com)

The lesson here is layers, people.  And hats or jaunty little top buns that look like hats.

Cheers, little Knuckles!

RE-CREATION TUESDAYS: AN FCFT FASHION RETROSPECTIVE, OR BECOMING ROCK GODS, (OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT)

Hello Knuckles!

Sorry for the long absence.  On Saturday Mr. Brass Knuckles and the little man flew out on holiday (CoStar and I join them on Wednesday).  With half of the family out of town I actually had some free time to myself, and got to do something I haven't done in years -- work on music!

Even though we are spread out over 3 cities and time zones, my currently-on-hiatus band FCFT has decided to harness technology and try writing new songs via the cloud.  Who knows where this will end up, but the thought is really comforting to me.

In honor of the Fur Cups, for this Re-creation Tuesday I re-created what we wore at our first show.  It was sometime in the early 2000's and we were opening for the very fine Gina Kolata at Freddy's in Brooklyn.  We had like 10 songs and we decided to dress up like men.  I wore:

A plain tee-shirt:

(Goop tee, Kain Label for Goop, $90)

Vintage polyester old man pants that I bought in Berkeley, CA sometime in college (you can find racks and racks of these at 2nd hand stores for like $5, and they always have some kind of weird stain in the crotch.  However, for curvy girls they can sometimes fit amazing and be your favorite pants if you can get over the weird stain in the crotch, which I had absolutely no problem with until one day, I couldn't):

(Stelle pant, Rachel Comey, LaGarconne, $495)

And a pair of men's suspenders, which I believe I bought at the Macy's men's department.  I still have these and they make an appearance about once a year:

(Alfani suspenders, Macy's, $19.98)

  This was the first of many years of shows, and each one featured a costume.  Usually we decided what to wear at practice over beers like two days before the show, and we'd cobble together finds from H&M/Beacon's Closet/old bits of fabric/garbage to create our looks.

When we moved I sadly got rid of my entire trove of old costumes -- a real loss (why?!  WHY?!).  

(Photo credits, top row L to R: 2kjb, ?, minicloud, Will Rahilly; 2nd row, L to R: Jackie Roman, Jackie Roman, ?; 3rd row, L to R: ?, Enamel Design, Jackie Roman, ?; 4th row, L to R: pixietart, 2kjb, Jackie Roman.  Many of these can be found on flickr, search "Fur Cups For Teeth" for proper credits.  Please check out the work of the extraordinary rock photographer Jackie Roman).

Some of the costumes we wore (some more successful than others, and there are many, many more, I just can't remember them all) included:

Men
Owls
Flight attendants
Reverse striptease (this was the night we played above a downtown strip club)
Graffiti-covered
Colors: white, red, green
Leopard print
Dutch cloth guild
Basketball players
Nuns
Garden sprites
Pregnant ladies
Fur hats
Postal workers
Prom 
Zombie circus performers
Blown up on the 4th of July
Tribal
Paper dresses
Trashbags (surprisingly stylish, impossible to breath)
Aging rockers
Housewives
Surgeons
Vikings
Marching band
Little Edie from Grey Gardens
Cowgirls
Rose Selavy

We've been compared to a lot of different bands, but I think in reality we were kindred spirits (the Druids?) to these guys:

Spinal Tap

Have a great week, little Knuckles!

HAIR BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

Happy Monday, little Knuckles!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Ours was spent at the pool on Saturday and at the zoo yesterday morning.  

For dinner we had a BBQ in the backyard, and afterwards went on our nightly wagon/scooter ride around the neighborhood.  There is a cul-de-sac that CoStar likes to pretend is a drive-through Starbucks, where we order everything from blueberry muffins to sushi.

Yesterday evening I joined her on the scooter:

(Shirt, F21; shorts, no label; shoes, Gucci; sunglasses, YSL.  This is neither the most interesting nor inspiring outfit ever, but whatevs, when I got dressed I was thinking ZOO).

I bought the high-waisted suspender shorts at one of those "Every Item $10" stores on Broadway.  They're occasionally too small, depending on how many standard deviations I am above my average weight.  Also, they are dangerously close to Mom Jeans -- I don't deny it!

Anyhow, I didn't shop very often at "Every Item $10" stores in New York, but I saw these in the window and they were too fun to resist (though if I recall they were more than $10).   

My first job in New York was at a raucous internet start-up near Bryant Park.  There was an "Every Item $10" store around the corner that opened at 9am, and it was notorious for outfitting spirited young women the morning after hazy evenings when they just didn't quite make it home.  I wasn't part of this group, I swear!  Not that I'm judging -- I've had plenty of "How did I end up under the porch?!" nights out.


(Image: Annie's Treasure Trove)

Since then the shorts have come in handy at countless picnics and summer outings, and even played an integral role as lederhosen for my Sound of Music costume at the singalong showing I attended last year:

(The critical connector piece that makes it lederhosen is a printed out piece of paper that I cut out and taped on.  Surprisingly effective!  Yodelayheehoo!) 

But last night the shorts were just part of an ordinary evening, with a couple of gals riding off into the sunset....

Have a great week Knuckles!  Kick some ass!

LET ME SLIP INTO SOMETHING MORE COMFORTABLE, WHAT I WEAR THE OTHER 65% OF THE TIME

Happy Friday little Knuckles!  I hope you enjoyed your Independence Day shenanigans.  Even though it was as hot as a Mexican disco, the Knuckles family managed to enjoy our day off indoors, and even ventured out in the evening heat to see some fireworks.

I've now been consistently blogging for a little over a month, and last night was reflecting on The Covert Boutique and fashion blogging in general.  I started getting a little nervous as I wondered if this blog wasn't just adding to the superficiality inherent to fashion, or even worse, perpetuating the myth that we all have to be perfect, all the time?  Because this, of course, is ridiculous.

(Welcome to my drawer.  Everything is wrinkled.  That cream-colored sweater at top isn't even mine, it's CoStar's.  How'd that get in there?!)

I mean, maybe there are some fashion bloggers out there that really are that glamorous, and wear silk kimonos or drip-dyed maxi-dresses or $100 LuluLemon yoga pants around the house.  I'm sure Blair Edie of the gorgeous Atlantic-Pacific doesn't sit around on the couch wiping Dorito dust onto her pants (uhh, not that I ever do that.  I mean, GROSS, you guys).  

But for me that's definitely not the case, and it seems deceitful and unhealthy if The Covert Boutique isn't an honest representation of all my sartorial choices.  I hope you don't think I'm constantly planning outfits and cavalierly wearing hoop earrings 24 hours a day around a grabby 16-month-old boy. 

The fact of the matter is, if you asked my kids or Mr. Brass Knuckles what Mommy really wears every day, they would probably point to one of several tee-shirts and sweatpants below:

(Tee-shirts, clockwise from top left: Barbie shirt, purchased at the Mattel company store in preparation for a Barbie themed company picnic.  Come to think of it, that day they handed out these hot pink sunglasses that would look awesome this summer; Threadless giveaway shirt from the 2010 meet-up; Threadless "Spoilers" shirt; hand screenprinted FCFT tour shirt, one of dozens my bandmate and I made in her apartment in Brooklyn before our third and final album release show in 2010, completely destroying her bathroom by rinsing out used screens in the tub; Wonder Woman shirt, a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law a few years ago).

(Pants, clockwise from top left: grey fleece, Old Navy, an ancient Christmas gift from my sister-in-law, in the winter I wear these pants 90% of the time I am at home because they are just that comfortable; plaid flannel, Pajamagrams, a gift from my mother-in-law to the entire family, that's right THE ENTIRE FAMILY HAS MATCHING RED PLAID PAJAMAGRAMS, tops and bottoms, best gift ever; cotton sailor pants, F21; cotton pants, J. Jill.  Missing from this picture because they are currently in the wash: purple drawstring pants, Target).

The minute I step inside the house, I change into what my cousin and I call "Comfy Pants."  I start to feel claustrophobic if I'm in my street clothes for even 10 extra minutes at home, and if my waistband isn't elastic, then either guests are over or something is very, very amiss.

So there you go.  What I am excited about this Friday is getting home, changing into some comfy pants, having dinner with my family, and eating Doritos on the couch with a martini (I've learned how to make martinis at home these days, using an old plastic Halloween cup with a sippy cup lid as a shaker.  They are delicious!).

Hope you have a very comfortable weekend, Knuckles!

HAPPY DAY BEFORE YOUR DAY OFF!

Today is one of the best kinds of days, because I have tomorrow off and I'm already looking forward to sneaking out of here a little early and grabbing some cocktails with Mr. Brass Knuckles!  So enjoy it friends, cuz if you're like me you'll be back at it on Thursday.

We had a ton of events on our plate this weekend but due to various snafus ended up at none of them.  It's funny, when you have kids the littlest things like unexpected traffic or running out of milk or a nap cut short by a few minutes can throw the entire day off.  That's what happened on Saturday so we were determined to make Sunday more eventful.

We started off the day at my parents' annual community picnic, where CoStar experienced the joy of water balloons and the little guy kept trying to run into oncoming traffic on the bike path:

(My best granny pose.  Dress and shoes, Target; polka dot top, thrifted; belt, H&M).

Mr. Brass Knuckles and CoStar bought me this pink dress for my birthday two years ago.  I had just given birth and told them not to get me anything, since I'd recently upgraded to an iPhone.  But since Mr. Brass Knuckles doesn't follow the no-gifts rule, he let CoStar select a few items for me at Target, which included the dress, a purple hoodie, and purple sweatpants.  Everything was stuffed into an old recycled gift bag, and I was feeling unattractive and ragged with a week-old baby and wasn't expecting anything, and when they presented me with the gift along with a card... well it was one of those "I'm such a lucky gal" moments.  And though I don't normally wear pink and purple, I make an exception for anything picked out by 3 year olds!

After the picnic we drove to the Museum of Science and Industry, one of the entire family's favorite places.  Here is CoStar showing off her climbing skills:

And we topped off the evening with dinner at one of our favorite hamburger places, the Butcher and the Burger in Lincoln Park:

Mr. Brass Knuckles and I are obsessed with delicious hamburgers.  If we were fictional characters we would be Hamburglars:  

Mr. Brass Knuckles said his love affair with fancy hamburgers began with his first bite at Dumont Burger in Brooklyn.  When Dumont Burger first opened we went there all the time, and the hamburger partytimes continue to this day.

 Hope your day off is awesome, little Knuckles!  Embrace the magic of summertime!