the soubrette brunette: teapot dress

Yesterday was my mama's 60th birthday!

My mom is one of the most important and special people in my life, and we have an incredibly close relationship. She has done so many amazing things in her life, so it's no wonder that I've always considered her to be my role model. She made her living in the music business for probably 20 years (she and my dad were in a band that was signed to Atlantic Records and had a video on MTV)...

And then she got into musical theatre and earned her Equity card...

Yes, that's me in the tiny nun's habit!

And then she worked as the entertainment reporter for a local news station for 12 years...

And now she runs her own public relations business that focuses on entertainment and the arts. She's a bit of a chameleon, my mom. I admire her ability to persevere in any given situation. Her path has had unexpected twists and and turns and bumps along the way, but she's led about five different lives already, and is always finding new ways to put her creativity to good use. I love that she is always growing, changing, and learning. I hope that I will follow her lead in that regard. (I also hope I look as good as she does when I turn 60!)

So for her birthday, she and I went out to brunch at The Cheesecake Factory...

And I wore my new teapot print dress...

And we took cute pictures...

And she opened her presents...

Which someone thought were for HER...

I got my garden-loving mom this necklace and these matching earrings from Betsey Johnson...

And I also got her this cute teacup-themed vase...

We actually planned to go to a teahouse for her birthday, but there's really only one around here, and of course, it's not open on Sundays. Then we planned to have dinner at our favorite Thai and Vietnamese restaurant... which was also closed! We ended up going to a chophouse on a whim, which was delicious, and then immediately followed that with from frozen custard from Abbott's (which is a locally-owned chain of ice cream shops -- frozen custard is their specialty). It was a day of eating, with a little bit of shopping thrown in for good measure. We also stopped by Powers Farm Market to look at some flowers, and to visit some animals...

These were baby... somethings! I'm not sure what kind of babies they are, but they were cheeping away!

A very suspicious peacock

Since we didn't get to go have tea, I decided to represent it in my outfit...

I first saw this dress on Annika of The Pineneedle Collective (see how she wore it here!), and I knew I had to have it. My love of tea and of novelty prints outweighed any cons I could think of. I was so sad when the measurements to the exact dress she wore were too small, but amazingly, there is another dress with the same print on the website with bigger bust measurements (ahem)! Hooray!