Astral Boutique's blog

Tiptoe Through The Tulips

On a beautiful Spring morning, me and my friend Summer made a mini-roadtrip out to North San Juan to see the famous tulip display at the Crystal Hermitage gardens at Ananda. Oh my gosh, I am SO GLAD I went!

When I heard "11,000 tulips" I really didn't know what to imagine. I'd only ever seen tulips in a small row in a garden, or planted in uniform colors in big flower growing fields in The Netherlands. I wasn't prepared for the artistry of this garden at all. The Crystal Hermitage is on a slope far above the river canyon, and it hangs there like a dream. I felt like I was in an almost unearthly place:

And the tulips. The TULIPS! Really, I don't need to use words:

Beautiful Summer, a doll amongst the flowers:

I love Summer so much!

I hope you are having fun with flowers this Spring!

*Huge thanks to my friend Leonna who encouraged me to see the tulips.* 

Outfit Post: The Favorite Dress

A good friend who is the same size as me lent me this marvelous dress for the past few months. I had such a good time with it- I love the color (almost-there-slightly-blushing-pink), the style (Marie Antoinette on the prairie?), the weight of the fabric (50/50 cotton/poly), everything. And, let's face it, I probably loved it even more because it wasn't mine. 

Semi-sheer floral jacket and platform 70s sandals: thrifted. Necklace: gift from the Sugatroll. Bracelets: Tibetan import shop, Walnut Creek, Ca.

Thanks to Lulu for letting me have such a sweet romance with this dress!

 

(The Outfit Post Is Back!) Mandalas, Florals, and Navy Blue.

It's been an incredibly warm late Spring, and I recently took almost all of my Spring/Summer clothes out of storage (and started adding some new ones to the collection). If you've known me for a while, you know I am not a fan of winter clothes- and short winter days leave no spare time for taking photos. So welcome back to the season of the Outfit Post!

I happened to get both this dress and this top recently- I think the navy blue ties them both together and makes the busy patterns work in tandem:

As I'm sure you can tell, I love those bell sleeves.

Dress, sandals: thrifted. Top: Tibetan import store, Walnut Creek, CA. Necklace: from Etsy, long ago.

(By the way, I finally had to cut off the last of my dip-lightened blonde hair ends. I was sad to see that experiment end up on the floor of the hairdressers, but it was way past time-- those ends were fried! My hair is a little shorter now, but it is waaaaaay healthier, and I have a whole new regime using no shampoo, baking soda, apple cider vinegar, and honey as a conditioner. My hair feels so much thicker and happier already!)

*Happy Spring to everyone! I hope you are having lots of happy reunions with your warm weather clothes!*

Catching Up

It's been an amazing year so far... and it's just whooshing right by! It's almost April, and New Year's Eve feels like just yesterday. 

I like to put some of my favorite pictures on this blog, as a record for myself more than anyone else, probably. One day everything is going to be one big blur, I just know it.

Here are some images from the trip the Sugatroll and I took to Santa Cruz last month. This was at the beach in Soquel, just south of Santa Cruz:

This boat was a nightlife hotspot in the earlier part of last century, hard as it is to imagine now. There was drinking and dancing and loose women... but the boat was made of concrete, and eventually it cracked in two. Now it's a private estate for the birds.

It was an especially beautiful day on the coast... one of those dream days that makes a gal never want to go home. I am such a beach girl at heart.

The coast always draws in some characters, and their vehicles:

And carrying on with the coastal theme... a few weeks later, Mount Whateverest did a mini-tour of Southern California. We happened to go during a rare February heatwave, which meant that it felt like mid-summer. Here in the beach city of Ventura, a warm breeze was blowing through the palm trees:

A visit to the beach before we doll up for the evening:

The gang, getting ready to head out to the show:

We played with the most glamtastic bands, Zachary James and The All Seeing Eyes and Alexandra and the Starlight Band. They even had swaroski crystals on their musical gear! 

All together now!

It was still t-shirt weather at 3am after we'd played the show and come back to the hotel. We were just a few blocks from the beach, so we decided to do some night wading:

In the city of Los Angeles, we played a Dada Art Opening at a dollhouse-sized, adorable art gallery called Museé 16 that was located in an old fish canning factory. They did vintage film projections on the stage:

Our hotel in Los Angeles, the Hollywood Hills Best Western, was so awesome- the whole place was covered in Hollywood memorabilia. Even the kitchenette had a touch of glam:

The best was that they had an amazing restaurant downstairs that was open until 3am. Everyone in there looked like a movie star to me. Eating breakfast:

Here we are about to head North again, posing in the lobby mirror:

The band has been super busy since then- we recorded a 12 song album! We also had several more shows, including one at a "Burnal Equinox" festival- the midway point between Burning Man events. We were joined by my bestie Linda on the far left. 

Dirt + tarps = country glamor: me and the Sugatroll.

In other news, I've been practicing piano at at least a few times a week, for the first time in years (thank to my friend who is letting me use her grand piano!), which is making me very, very happy. I also started doing Zumba, a latin-inspired exercise dance class, at a local studio. My cardiovascular systerm is very happy about this, and I am loving the dance steps.

I hope all is well with you and yours... happy Spring!

California On Ice

Frozen edges, frozen layers of the stream:

When it gets really cold here, ice crystals actually grow up from the mud...

Just add the ice unicorn.

Glitter On

I think that this little mini (one minute) video of last night's Mt. Whateverest show illustrates our aim in life- to make people have a good time! Enjoy the sparkles:

Our album is available for free download for a limited time here. We are going back into the studio next month to record our newest songs... super exciting! 

Jonah, Sugatroll, Cynthia, me, and Steve

 

Dress Up: Under The Greenwood Tree

This outfit post is a little delayed.. what can I say, it got lost in the holiday space-time warp! But it was one of my fave holiday season ensembles.... forest green cotton Gunne Sax dress, paired with my standby leather jacket. Something about wearing the leather with the Gunne made it feel less overly presh or folksy. Think acoustic guitar plus motorcycle.

I was lucky to be able to score this dress from my good friend- it's so hard to find cute Gunnes in adult sizes. It just barely fits (especially with holiday food marathoning), but while I can wear it, I will. 

Very important question: WHO IS THIS LITTLE GUY? I believe he is from a Japanese children's film. He's looked familiar to a bunch of people, but no one can put their finger on it. 

Do you know?

Catching Up

So, I kind of vanished from the internet for the past three weeks. In the holiday hubbub you probably didn't notice, but for me that was a long break. I'd always wanted to have the full twelve days of Christmas off, and this year my wish came true... and I went ahead and started my vacation a little early, on the 19th of December, the Sugatroll's birthday! 

We went to the mall with our friends. We drank beer (they have beer at the mall now!). We bought light up hula hoops. Me and Candace got in the hurricane simulator. 

photos by Jesse Thatcher

It was well worth the two bucks.

A few days later was a Winter Soltice celebration with traditional Yuletide food and drink, carols around the piano, and dancing with deer horn headpieces:

Then there was Christmas, or shall we say, the First Day of Christmas. (Christmas lasts until the Wise Men reach Jesus in the manger and bring him the booty on the 6th of January, you know.) My mom (on the left) with my aunties and my uncle:

On the Fourth Day of Christmas, my band Mt. Whateverest played a CD release show. Here we are getting our photos taken beforehand:

photo (and hair!) by Therese Meyer

Rocking out at the show:

photo by Mike Meals

On the Seventh Day of Christmas, aka New Year's Eve, the band had a party to end all parties at our house.. it actually lasted until the Ninth Day of Christmas, when all was said and done. We even made an album of our jams (thanks to the technical prowness of the Sugatroll, who kept a steady head on a bateau ivre):

Note our new lasers, and our fiberoptic Christmas tree:

The party was not over yet, though- my cousin Erin has a tradition of throwing a massive Women's Christmas party every year, and this year I finally got to go. Women's Christmas is an Irish tradition, celebrated on the last day (Twelfth Day) of Christmas, when the hard-working gals get to let the fellas do all the work, and take over the pubs with their girlfriends. We had a crew of Man Slaves, neverending food and drink, a pub quiz, a Father Ted episode viewing, and a whole lotta love.

Me and my Cuz, big sillies:

So theoretically it's all over now... except, of course, that it's never over! But I am going to give my liver a break and return to a somewhat regular sleeping schedule and not drive all over the state... at least til February. 

Happy 2013!!!!!!

Holiday Flurry! The Nevada City Winter Craft Fair

This year has been a veritable retail frenzy for me and the Sugatroll, but yesterday was my favorite event of all: the Nevada City Winter Craft Fair. All of our friends, good food, a full bar, even my mom and my auntie from England in town... it was a love fest.

I bought this necklace from Nicole at Flaming Hag Folkwear! 

We put batteries in the cars and trains and tanks and wound them up and set them loose on the floor and encouraged the little kids to come around and play with them and we made the most awesome ruckus ever- and it felt SO MUCH like Christmas!

Our friend Joe and his son check out a fire engine

And no, that dirndl is no longer for sale in my shop. Ya snooze, ya lose! (I fell in love with it.)

Dress Up: Russian Countess In A Candy Store

Give me the Candy Rainbow Aristocracy, please.

Sweater: Christian Lacroix, thrifted

Dress (worn under sweater): Modcloth, gifted from a friend

Hat: 1960s, thrifted

Gloves: Estate Sale

Super candy queens forever!