Manic Pixie Dream Girls

When I asked the girls for some photos of their coordinating fairy dresses they first excused themselves to apply some accessories.

All of their accessories.

Things that are not neccessarily accessories.  As accessories.

Barrettes here, there, and everywhere.

There was a whole lot of skirt-hitching going on.

And manic dancing.

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The 'No Bolas' Bullshirt

Once upon a time (ie pre-kids), Steven and I used to travel a lot.  On our first visit to one of my favourite cities, Barcelona, I was quite taken with the quintessential Bull shirts and was determined to bring one home.

The problem: testicles.  Every single shirt we saw had giant, whapping testicles.  That was not a silhouette Steven wanted to wear around town.

Luckily, I had taken seven years of remedial middle and high school Spanish.  'Perdon, tienes una camiseta sin bolas? No? Gracias!' echoed through the Ramblas.

Until, finally, an anatomically incorrect bull shirt was found!

'¡Hurra! Me gusta este toro porque no tiene pelotas!' I gushed as money changed hands. The vendor nearly died from secondary embarrassment from my vocab, pronunciation and the sentiment. Sadly, the shirt was retired to the garage by Steven several years ago but don't fret- this tale has a happy ending...

Gleefully refashioned into a summer tank for Jamie!

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The Amazing / Ridiculous Wonder Woman Bathing suit

Without further ado, pictorial proof that the Wonder Woman bathing suit was worn in public:

Not pictured: the large group of people laughing and humming the theme tune while the pictures were being taken.  Their spokesperson did have the grace to say they weren't laughing at me. Not as such anyway.  I was okay with it, though, as I couldn't stop laughing either.

Here I am looking for trouble.  And dying.

Springing into action.  And dying.

Flouting the rules.  And blinking.

I'm glad I did the ridiculous photoshot and got all of my nerves and embarrassment out of the way as I was able to wear the suit on later days and gave very few sh*ts about being judged.  That can't be said about wearing it for the first time, however!

When I put my suit on at the house in front of Jamie before the beach, he said , 'Mum! What happened to your stomach?!'  Assuming he was concerned by the really stupid sunburn underbust, I said 'Don't worry, buddy, it's just sunburn.'  To which he said, 'No, I mean- how did you get so fat?'. Which was a great line with perfect delivery, but personally devastating for at least five hours.

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Wonder Woman: Off Duty

Don't even worry about it- I do have a separate red Wonder Woman top.  Promise.  I did not, however, want to wear it at the local pond in my parents' town.  'Did you see their daughter all dressed up as Wonder Woman?! She's 32!' is not something I wanted to subject the folks to.  So I made a separate blue star top to match the bottoms. And wore a tank top over it.

In essense, it's the same bones as my one-piece pin-up suit but without the the middle.  The bottoms are a bit bigger as I didn't want them to cut in, and have about two inches more width at the back seam for extra coverage.

The top has thinner, integrated straps rather than separate straps, and there's a whole cotton-picking bra sewn into the lining. It was just about as fun to sew as it is to get on, but once it's on by golly I'm secure.

 I'd originally planned for the gold waistband to be attached separately and hit at hip level (hence the extra waistband seam) but it was deeply unflattering and much better attached along the top edge.  It took at least twenty minutes of intense staring to figure out how to sew it on with the buckle.

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Reunited and it feels so good

 

As we've done the last three years, we rang in the Fourth of July with the mega-parade in Pittsfield, MA. At two hours long and with participants from as far away as Maryland, it's a big parade and lot for smaller people to sit through in blazing heat.

The night before we left for the States I stayed up all night long doing some last night sewing. We had to leave for the airport at 3:30am, so it wasn't that much later than I sometimes stay up working. The priority was making Maia's Fourth of July dress because although I always cut and bring a bunch of projects to finish here, I have a hard time actually doing it. That sunshine is irresistible.

Jamie wore his questionably feminine stripey Dolman, and looked as masculine as could be.

Even Steven and I red-white-and-blued it up. I'm wearing my Colette Parfait, and received an unsolicited 'Nice dress' from the man who served us our lunch. I resisted the urge to tell him how the waistband has semi-circular under-bust drag lines.

We love us some Shriner wheelie action.

If you look closely in my Dad's glasses, you can just about see Maia looking Fifty Shades of Grumpy. Hot hot heat and prolonged parade watching non-withstanding, she'd been seriously pining for her cousin, Isla, who had flu last week and remained in Boston.

This tale has a happy ending, however, as the girls were reunited after the parade. This is the moment they clapped eyes on each other. Had I rotated camera left, I would have captured the demented glee on Maia's face.

Much like this. They compared height...

And then they were off.

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Things: We Are Doing Them

We have been successfully evacuated from the wet and windy winterland.

All manner of holiday-related activities have ensued: swimming and beaching, the Farmer's Market, (the kids' first) fireworks, a science museum, and playgrounds. Infinite playgrounds.

And so many treats.  By the time I get around to photographing my Wonder Woman bathing suit, it will no longer fit. Or so I will tell you if I feel like too big a dork for public sharing.

Maia does not like the heat very much.  It forced us into a midday showing of Brave, which despite being a precise combination of the two things they are terrified of (bears and thunderstorms), was very much enjoyed by all. Other Things Maia Does Not Like would take to much of my Mum's bandwidth to chronicle, but she doesn't like mosquitos. The feeling is not mutual:

Believe it or not, this is day five of the bite and a vast improvement on days three and four.  And now a bite on her arm is going the same way.  So much fun.

Today's photos are courtesy of a new-to-me DSLR, which my mum kindly passed on!  Now I can take technically sophisticated terrible pictures too.

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