This is the song that doesn't end (+ giveaway winners!)

Outfit Details:

Lambchop Party Dress: I'm Your Present

Lavender hair bow: Clip-a-Bow Boutique

Lavender jelly flats: Pinup Girl Clothing

Rocking horse ring: Hello Holiday

White belt: eBay

This dress is my latest purchase from I'm Your Present (a shop I ADORE).  I love both my Miss Piggy dress and ice cream sandwich dress from I'm Your Present, and I gasped out loud when I saw that Kelly had a Lambchop dress for sale!  I've loved Sherri Lewis since I was little, and I have a huge interest in puppetry (and am fascinated by ventriloquism).  So obviously, I couldn't pass this dress up!

By the by... these are probably the most uncomfortable jelly shoes ever invented.  Although they are advertised as being very flexible, I've found them to be the exact opposite; they're incredibly stiff and hurt my feet pretty much immediately after putting them on.  It's definitely not the same jelly plastic that Juju uses in their footwear.  I would have sent them back if Pinup Girl offered free returns, but it basically wasn't worth it.  They look cute in photos, but I could never wear them for any length of time.

My nod to Charlie Horse

Oh, and announcing the winners of the Dupenny retro tote bag giveaway...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations to Kerri and Brooke!  Your prize will be sent out to you this week!  :)  Thanks so much to everyone to entered my first giveaway!

Have a great Monday!

xox Sammi

Song to a seagull

Outfit Details:

Seagull dress: ASOS

Red belt: Pinup Girl Clothing

White flats: yeswalker

Bracelet: old

This is another one of those dresses that has been hanging in my closet for a while without having been worn.  Weirdly, I bought this dress at a much lower sale price at ASOS a while back, and now it's still on sale, but for much more.  The seagulls remind me of children's storybook illustrations.  And I love that some of them have hats on!  I also just really like the silhouette of the dress, and the fit (in a size smaller than I normally wear, no less) is great.

This was also one of those times where there wasn't enough light, and a lot of my photos came out way blurrier than I'd originally thought.  The ones I chose here were the only usable ones, really.  It looked like it was going to rain, but luckily, the sun came out and we were able to sit outside at one of our favorite restaurants for dinner.  Afterwards, we got froyo and walked along the canal... and happened to see two of the cutest little ducklings amongst all the grown-up lady ducks!

All in all, it was a very bird-filled day.

Joni Mitchell - "Song To A Seagull"

Have a great Sunday

xox Sammi

PS: Don't forget that today is the last day to enter my giveaway!  You have until midnight tonight (technically, 12:01 AM tomorrow) to enter.  Two winners will be chosen, and each will win an adorable, retro tote bag from DuPenny!  Enter and read all the details here.

Garden of simple

Outfit Details:

Put Things Bright Dress: eBay (originally from ModCloth)

Flats: yeswalker

I saw this dress on eBay months ago, and lost a bidding war (at the last second!) on it.  I tried to forget about it, even though I couldn't get over the beautiful off-the-shoulder sleeves and unique floral print.  Recently, I saw another one pop up on eBay to be purchased without an auction, in a size I could definitely fit into... so how could I resist?  I didn't even realize that there's a layer of tulle netting sewn right into the skirt, which makes it even prettier!  I was afraid it wasn't going to zip up, but I can juuuuust squeeze into it, and the silhouette is so lovely, so I can't complain!  I have a great dress from Urban Outfitters that's now too big on me (I should either sell it or see if I can get it altered, since it's such a beautiful piece and deserves to be enjoyed) that has this same kind of off-the-shoulder detailing with a fit & flare silhouette, and I think it's such a gorgeous combination.

The next two photos are the result of me playing around with settings on my camera.  Almost all of my photos are at least a little bit blurry, and because I've been learning things by trial and error, I really don't know the solution to a lot of my photography issues.  So I just started trying things, and though they aren't at all the result I would want for my regular photos, I still thought they were worth posting. 

Seriously though, if anyone has photography suggestions, I'm all ears.

This would be my go-to "petticoat alert" face.

And what I meant to say is xxoo, which means I'm thinking of ya

Which means I've been thinking of you

All along

Hope you have a beautiful Saturday!

xox xxoo Sammi

PS: you have 'til midnight on Sunday (really, 12:01 EST on Monday morning) to enter my Dupenny tote bag giveaway!  Two lucky readers will win a retro, cheeky tote!  More details here.

La belle et la bête

Outfit Details:

Dress: Mart of China

Short petticoat: American Apparel (similar here)

Belt: from another dress

Shoes: BAIT footwear (on sale!)

I have been admiring this kooky dress for a long time on various wholesale websites.  I really love the print of the dancer next to the bull.  It's probably more of a flamenco (and matador?) print, but it reminded me a lot of Beauty and the Beast, which made me thing of France more than Spain, and of ballet more than the fandango.  The dress itself is obscenely short on me, so I knew I had to wear something over it (wearing something under it, like tights or leggings, wasn't even an option).  This petticoat skirt is quite short on me, too -- the only time I've ever worn it was for a costume party in college.  It's pretty obvious that this is just a fantasy ensemble; I can't think of any occasion to which I would (or could!) actually wear this.  But since the dress was only $10, it's not a total loss.  I just wish the graphic weren't lopsided!  I suppose you get what you pay for, though.

While editing these, I realized that this kind of reminds me of something that Annika from The Pineneedle Collective might wear.  She always looks amazing in her short-short skirts and outfits from wholesale websites.  I credit her with even finding this dress in the first place, since I found it on a website that she posted for another item.

In other news, I have my first(!) driving lesson this afternoon.  Having never even been behind the wheel of a car before, I'm pretty anxious about it... Wish me luck and have a beautiful Thursday!

Oh, and don't forget to enter my first-ever giveaway!!

xox Sammi