Meet Miss Stacie!

I have a good number of offline friends that I met as a result of blogging, tweeting, or other online activities. On the flip side, I recently talked one of my offline friends into joining me online by starting a blog. Stacie is a coworker of mine at the dance studio, hence the 'Miss Stacie' title. We danced in some of the same classes before I moved to San Francisco way back in 2002, but I didn't know her very well before I left. I'd see her at the yearly dance recital (I've never missed one) and she was a big Vivi Dot supporter from the start. She may even hold the record for the most online orders from one person! Since the fall when I began teaching classes again I've gotten to know Stacie much better. She's as beautiful on the inside as she is a on the outside as well as one of the prettiest dancers I know!The main reason I planted the 'you should start a blog' seed in Stacie's head was because she is an incredible dresser. She's one of those people that can mix prints, accessories, and change up her style like it's her job (or it should be). She has a gift for putting perfectly finished looks together all while making it look completely effortless. Most importantly she LOVES it! Sounds like a great style blog in the making, no? She's been at it for a few weeks now so I think it's time for you to see for yourself. Make her feel welcome by following her and/or leaving a comment over at Pretty Birdie Brown. She also just signed up for twitter so you can follow her there at PrettyBirdieB.All the photos in this post were pulled from Stacie's Blog PrettyBirdieBrown

The table is set!

Duncan and I love to cook and entertain so, unlike many couples, registering for some fancy dishes actually seemed like a good idea for us. We planned to use them when we host holiday dinners and other festive occasions. Well, last week I removed all of those dishes from our wedding registry because my Grandma (Dot) is giving me her Spode Geisha China!! I couldn't be more excited to have these beautiful dishes passed down to me.Grandma picked this pattern out when she was sixteen years old. Sixteen! I'll be twice that age when I tie the knot! When the dishes were shipped over from England they sent the wrong pattern so Grandma had to send them back. When they resent the correct dishes they sent two sets of eight instead of one! This means I have sixteen place settings to work with (minus a few casualties). The creamer and sugar bowl are the daintiest, prettiest little things too! I can't wait to host my first dinner party with these beauties.

Grandma is one my most loyal blog readers so I want to say directly to her- Thank you so, so much! I'm honored to be the recipient of these amazingly lovely dishes! I know Duncan and I will have so many great memories with them just like you, Papa and the rest of the family already have.

Phototime

I think it's a great day for another round of Instagram catch up! Here are some of my most recent favorites.

Olive won't eat anything but her kibbles and green plants or leaves. I think the camera phone snapped just at the right second for this one! Now it's Indy's turn - thirsty budy.We've been spending the weekends assembling patio furniture, mowing the lawn, weeding, and planting. Easter came and went.I stopped to enjoy a sunset. There have been beautiful skies and sunny dog walks.Delicious weekend meals have been prepared. The animals are cute as ever.Fun new murals by Henry have popped up around the neighborhood. Vivi Dot HQ has been tidied. I've been cranking out save the date magnets.And Indy and I have chased squirrels and made new friends at the Woodland Park dog park.Hope you all have a great weekend with many photo ops! If you want to keep up with my Instagram pics real time you can find me at user name vividot!

Bohemian Wrap City

So... I've always been really apprehensive about doing outfit posts. Today I decided to throw apprehension to the wind and put myself and my darn outfits out there. It makes me feel really vulnerable to set myself up to be judged, but I know for all the possible haters there are many kind readers ready to welcome me and this new way of sharing myself.

When I logged in to start this very first outfit post I realized that this is my 200th blog entry (queue the confetti from the rafters). So cheers to a blog milestone and to a new, more confident me who's ready to give more of myself and not worry too much about what I get, or don't get in return.

This outfit came about very organically. I think it's a great way to kick off this new 'Style Ish' blog category - I didn't over think it or try to dress for the blog, I just went with it. I got dressed with comfort in mind, ready to work from home and impress no one but my kitty and puppy (Duncan's out of town- boo). Plans were made mid day to meet up with a few friends for dinner so I stuck with what I had on, fixed my hair and added some accessories. Viola! My Bohemian Wrap City outfit was ready!

Bohemian head scarf * Wrap sweater * City Girl Shoes * I bought the plaid scarf at Goodwill a while back and have used it a ton of different ways lately. It's usually my 'I haven't showered yet today and my curly hair is a frizz ball mess' scarf that hides the fuzziness. Today I added it to my more polished curls. Here's a visual step by step on how it tied it on: And there you have it! Here's the breakdown-
Head Scarf - thrifted
Blue V Neck - American Apparel
Wrap Sweater and Cords - GAP
Booties - Payless (yes ladies, Payless)
Golden Triangle Necklace - Courtesy of Moorea Seal
Raspberry Button Ring - Vivi Dot

Fabric Storage

My fabric collection continues to grow while my storage space remains the same size - so I decided to get creative. I rigged up an easy way to hang fabric on the wall so it would remain wrinkle free and easy to find. I bought a multi pack of Large Command Hooks that hold up to five pounds and some nice, but lightweight wooden hangers. We rent our house, but even if we owned it I'd choose these removable hooks over nails any day! They are extremely easy to attach to the wall and they'll be easy to remove once it's time to move or rearrange the room. Setting up the hooks and hangers only took about five minutes- it was the ironing of all the fabric that took a lot of time. I love how it turned out. It brightens up my office and I always adore something that's both pretty and functional!

In addition to the hanging fabric I also store my fat quarters in my tall bookshelf:The rest my fabric is folded and stacked in my office closet in a closet organizer made for sweaters: There's a studio tour and interview over on Moorea's Blog if you'd like to see more of my work space. She's also hosting a giveaway here where you can enter to win any Vivi Dot necklace of your choice!

Oh Momma!

My cousin Katie and I cooked Mother's Day brunch for our Mom's and Grandma Dot. I had a great time putting the table together and making it feel extra special.All of the Mom's love working in their gardens so they had some flower seeds and gardening gloves tied together with a tissue paper flower waiting at their place setting. I also made personalized clip on wine charms for everyone so we could keep our mimosas straight. Grandma Dottie and I finished setting the table.All of the food took way longer than I would have liked, but I think it was worth the wait. We had a roasted red pepper, mushroom, spinach and feta frittata, hash brown casserole, melon salad with crème de cassis dressing, almond puff, and brown sugar and cayenne pepper bacon. Most of the recipes were repeats of the amazing Easter brunch my Mom made Duncan and me a few weeks earlier.Then it got pretty quiet as we all chowed down. It was decided that the melon salad looked like Vivi Dots so a photo to capture the dots was in order. Grandma was wearing her Mad For Polka Dots Earrings and matching Flower Brooch - representing as my unofficial PR person, as per usual. I hope you all had an amazing day celebrating the Moms in your life! Did you do anything special to make them feel especially loved?

Addicted To Love

I'm both nervous and excited to share this next video. It's a dance that Brenna (also a teacher at the dance studio) and I choreographed for the show we had in March. I'm especially proud of what we put together in such a short amount of time (about two hours - not counting the run throughs of the full show). The song is a cover of Addicted to Love performed by Florence and the Machine. Our costumes paid homage to the original music video for the song by Robert Palmer - featuring his 'girls.' I hope you enjoy it!

Addicted To Love from Vivi Dot on Vimeo.

I spot Vivi Dot!

Selling things online can feel pretty impersonal sometimes. You don't get to hear people react and get excited about their purchase, you just get the details of the order, a name and an address. Don't get me wrong, I love that my handmade creations go out to their place in the world to be worn and loved, and given as gifts. I simply love it even more when I see with my own eyes that they've made the recipient happy.

My heart has been filled with joy a lot recently as beautiful ladies I do and don't know are spotted wearing my accessories. Here are some of my favs. First up is the lovely Liz of Srslyliz.com. She looks fabulous from head to toe and is wearing a Raspberry Lace Watch Necklace in the new antiqued brass finish. Here's the beautiful Ashley of Plumeria Avenue wearing some Vivi Dot earrings in one of my favorite prints, Blue Blossoms.Now let's head over to Where My Heart Resides to see what Ashlee is up to. Ashlee was so lovely to feature my shop in her 'Shop Love' post early last month. I sent her a Swings Polaroid Necklace as a thank you for her sweet post and she instantly put it to good use with this adorable outfit. Yet another Ashley who blogs over at That is All purchased a Tea Time Ring for a friend's birthday. It couldn't have been a better fit for how they celebrated - it matched their whole party in both theme and color scheme! So cute!
If you have any photos of yourself enjoying your Vivi Dot purchases pretty please don't hesitate to share them. You can email them to me or share them on the Vivi Dot facebook page.

Caroline of Woodnote Photography recently placed an order and left a sweet little note in the 'notes' section at checkout. It made my day and reminded me to do the same when i shop handmade. I like to think that my site and packaging and everything that goes into Vivi Dot is very professional, just like big time retailers, but at the end of the day I'm simply one person making everything with love as it's ordered just for you.