two more times

Weather in Washington took a turn for the dreary, so I thought that Saturday's barbeque was going to be the only hurrah of the weekend, but yesterday Dan and I went to TWO barbecues! Haha. First we headed down to Owen Beach out at Point Defiance Park and it was definitely the happenin' spot in town. There were tons of families grilling up hot dogs and burgers and kids were running all around playing frisbee and catch, some were even braving the cold Puget Sound waters! It was pretty great to see people all out and about enjoying the day off.

After that we headed to a friend's house where a bunch of people were drinking beer, laughing, and yup, more grilling! Burgers, hot dogs and s'mores... again! I'm pretty thankful for how seamlessly I've felt like I've transitioned into this group of friends here in Tacoma. I truly enjoy these people. I took pictures at both barbecues so I'll probably be sharing those soon. More barbeque pics! Bring it on.

top + skirt/thrifted :: cardigan + leggings/target :: boots/courtesy of BC footwear

This outfit is from last week some time, I can't remember. As you can see... it's still legging weather. Dan says, "Summer in Washington starts July 5th. Because it always rains on the 4th of July. After that, it's fine." Haha. Washington, you tease. That's what we get for living in one of the rainiest places in America (although I just looked it up and apparently Buffalo, NY, Rochester, NY and Cleveland, OH all have more rainy days per year than Seattle or Portland).

Memorial Day Weekend!

Yaay! Memorial Day weekend! Dan and I were sitting at a coffee shop chatting with friends when we decided it would be a great idea to have a barbeque. So we went back to his house to get the grill all set up and it turned out that the propane tank had gone missing and the grate for the actual grill part was missing too. So instead of having a legit barbeque, we just fried the burgers up on the stove, which turned out just fine! Our friend Bryan made amazing patties and sauteed mushrooms and I slathered barbeque sauce on mine with some cheese, tomatoes and avocado. Wash it down with a Corona & lime? Yummmm.

It still hasn't reached summer temperatures up here in Washington (or at least not on the west side), so we made a little fire to keep us warm. When Dan and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things before the barbeque we walked past an aptly merchandised shelf that has all the makings for s'mores and we fell prey to it and immediately grabbed the neighboring marshmallows, graham crackers and hershey chocolate bars. Sooo delicious.

After the fire died down and it got to be too chilly to hang out outside, we ventured inward and played a couple rounds of Taboo before everyone got sleepy and went home. It was so much fun and it makes me kind of bummed that I'll be away at camp for two months and have to miss out on more of these amazing get togethers. I'll be back in August though, and hopefully the summer will linger on through September so I can partake in a few end-of-summer barbecues.

Farewell Four Winds

Yesterday my Mom drove my family's RV down to Salem, Oregon to sell it to a new family. Hopefully they enjoy it as much as we did! In the summer of 2007 my family set out on a cross-country RV adventure, starting in Anchorage, AK, going all the way to the east coast and then back to Washington state. We had many adventures, saw enough sights to fill a lifetime and had a blast the whole time. We saw Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Wall Drug, The Great Lakes, New York City, Amish Country, Gettysburg, the Jersey Shore, Cape Cod, Niagara Falls, Kentucky Racehorses, Colonial Williamsburg, and so much more!

Dad putting the last sticker on our map!

Mom & I eating lobster in Mystic, CT.

Goofing off in Elkhart, IN

Human totem pole & the Alaska Hwy

blurry photo of the crew on the last day of our journey.

"Remember to shut all hatches before driving!" & the memorial for flt 93

On the beach at our furthest point east

INDIE Testimonials

It's been a while since Tieka and I debuted the INDIE Blogger E-Course, but I wanted to share some of the wonderful things some of our participating bloggers have said about it!

Thanks so much for this inspiring ecourse!! Enjoying it and learning so much- working on implementing several of your tips! Sometimes it's easy to feel so overwhelmed out here in blogland, but listening to each of your unique voices has been empowering. Thanks girls!
- Love Fox Vintage

So glad to have signed up for this! I learned so much more than what I would have figured out on my own. Tieka, Elizabeth - you girls rock and should be proud of what you do. Thank you!
- Kaye

I have been meaning to get started on my blog but my hectic tax season haven't allowed me to do so. I am really glad I attended this conference and got to know all the info I could possibly need to get started ..THANK YOU so much Teika and Elizabeth!
This was really worth it!
- Reetika

I agree with everyone. This was awesome! There was so much information to absorb. I'm hoping that I will have more time to look at all of it. Thanks again!
- Carrie

This course was perfect and i still find myself coming back to it for reference.
I'm buying a DSLR this week and can't wait to put all the great photography tips into action!
- Grace

I've really gotten into my own blog lately, though I have been reading personal style blogs for years. I attended the INDIE E-Conference and I learn so much about blogging. Thank you for all the hard work you and Tieka did, it was so wonderful!
- Brittany

Tieka and I had a great time putting it on and hopefully we'll be able to put something together for Fashion Week this fall! The INDIE E-course is still available for anyone who wants to sign up! For more info, click here! If you've already taken the INDIE E-Course and want to submit your testimonial, go ahead and send one to me in an email at delightfully-tacky@hotmail.com!

Eye Candy

I wanted to quickly share with you guys one of my favorite blog designs so far, Sugar Fox Candy! I love the sweet and girly color palette and I got to do the photo shoot for the header, which meant getting tasty treats and taking pictures of them. Fun! If you'd like to see more of my designs, check out my portfolio of designs! To learn more about Freckled Nest Design, check out their website!

golden home

Hanging out with my fam I realized that I forgot about some photos from when I visited home at the beginning of this month, including this outfit! Today I'm driving the Brave down to camp to park it in its new summer home! In a few minutes I'll be packing up my brothers and going for a mini sibling road trip (okay, it's only a 2 hour drive, not really a legit "road trip"). It'll be fun for them to be able to see where I'm gonna be all summer. Plus, I don't think they've ever gone for a ride in the Winne!

top/courtesy of striped shirt :: cardigan/handmedown :: scarf/thrifted

shorts/DIY :: shoes/keds :: tights/target

I wore variations of this outfit pretty much the whole time I was home. I've been wearing something like this a lot lately, simply because it's easy and comfortable. Jean shorts, a t-shirt, cute flats and a cardigan. Easy peasy. What is your guys' favorite easy outfit to throw on?

baby blue, powder pink

I almost titled this post "It's a boy/girl!" but then I realized that everyone would immediately assume I was pregnant (which is not the case), so I decided against it. That's a cruel joke to play on you guys. But still, I am wearing very baby-ish shades of pink and blue. No babies for me though, haha.

But speaking of babies, my mama is coming into town with my two brothers this afternoon, so she'll have all her babies together! We've got some big projects we have to complete in the next few days (including moving the Brave to it's new home at camp!), so I may be MIA for a bit. Even though I'm technically unemployed at the moment (or between jobs, I suppose) I feel like I'm doing even more! I have a ton of stuff to get done in the next two weeks! It's been so nice being able to see family pretty frequently the past couple months. I took a little Mother's Day visit to Alaska a few weeks ago, saw my Dad last week and this week I get to see my Mom and Bros!

skirt/courtesy of modcloth :: top & cardigan/forever 21 :: shoes/target

I had on tights earlier in the day before I took these photos, but the day got nice and toasty warm, so I decided to shed them in celebration of more summery temperatures. I've take to changing my outfit like two or three times a day, simply because the temperature fluctuates so much. In the morning when I go to coffee with Dan I almost always have to wear a coat, then in the afternoon (if it's a sunny day), I have to switch to something more summer appropriate, and then in the evening I have to put on pants or tights again so I don't freeze riding my bike.

It doesn't help that I'm going through a wardrobe mental crisis. Dan always makes fun of me when he comes over to my apartment because my bed has piles of clothes from discarded outfit attempts. I've been having a harder time finding something I want to wear lately. Perhaps I'm growing out of my wardrobe. I'm not the kind of girl who buys new clothes for every season (not that I could afford it anyway), so a lot of the things in my closet I've had for at least a year, if not more. I suppose that could explain some of my hermit-crab-growing-out-of-it's-shell type feelings regarding my clothes...

Sponsor in June!

Hey guys! I wanted let you guys know that I'm currentluy accepting sponsors for June and beyond. If you run a shop or blog that you feel like my readers would enjoy, sponsorship is a great way to gain exposure! I've got ads available in all three sizes (large, small, & mini) and I also am offering one exclusive featured ad space which will be placed at the top of the right hand sponsor sidebar for the duration of sponsorship. The featured ad space also includes a sponsor spotlight blog post and the option to offer a discount code or giveaway! If you'd like to test the waters of sponsorship, try a mini ad, which gives you a taste for sponsorship with a minimal financial investment!

If you're interested, go ahead and click over to my sponsorship page for more information. You can also email me at delightfully-tacky@hotmail.com if you have any questions.

Bows, arrows, & bubbles

Last week I went out to camp to help with an event. I was in charge of the craft table so I was doing a couple things including letting people make giant bubbles, which was really fun. Most of the people at the event were much older and weren't really into doing fun crafty things, but there were a few younger people there who really loved the bubbles! I shot an arrow at the archery set up, which I hadn't done since I was a camper when I was just a young'un. I remember being quite the archer, but I'm pretty sure my skills behind a bow have waned...

Blowfish Giveaway!

Hi guys! Glad to see you made it through the end of the world! To celebrate, let's get some shoes! One of you will win these super cute shoes from Blowfish, they're offering a pair of their Junction shoes to a reader of mine! They come in grey and black, and if you win, you can choose which color you'd like. Even if you don't win, you can still snag some Blowfish shoes at a 15% off discount with the code DELIGHT15 through the end of the month!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post telling me what you'd wear with a pair of Junction shoes. Make sure to leave a way for me to get ahold of you if you're drawn as the winner. Entries will be accepted until Friday, May 27th at 9pm PST.

A lot of my other sponsors have discounts for you, as well!

A Wild Tonic has a great sale going on right now and you can use the discount code TACKY25 to get 25% off your purchase.

The Blouse Shoppe has a discount for 10% off using the code BLOUSE.

Vintage Urban Renewal also has a discount for 10% off with the code DELIGHT10.