Skyping with the Fam = Happy Holidays! + Bhalo

Consecutively,

1. Happy Thanksgiving from the Harmon family in Colorado!
2. Happy Caesar named brother Robert, with lil sis Alyse! (All the single ladies, line up. He's a keeper. All the single men, bummer. That pretty lady's been snatched up. Though she's also a keeper.)
3. Happy Anna winning 30 piece of gold on Dark Tower!

There's a bit of a story behind #3. See, back when I was a wee thing, my dad had this amazing game. It was called Dark Tower, and it made all fantasy lovers' dreams come true. Brigands, dragons, warriors, gold. And then he gave it away, and forever regretted it. For his 50th birthday, we bought it for him on Ebay (and it was not easy -- there are apparently a lot of nerds in the same boat) and then we coded a book so he had to guess what was coming in the mail for him.

It finally showed up when I was already back on the islands, and they've been Dark Towering away. But today, it's my turn! Thank goodness for Black Friday.

Oh, and yeah. I won. Above is a Reese's cup on top of the Dark Tower, because chocolate can only make things better. Here are a couple of quotes from our Skype sesh game:

1. Mom: Who am I? I'm so confused. Oh, there I am.

2. Conversation about haggling over the price of soldiers at the bazaar (the bazaar kicked me out):
Mom: Tom, did you tell her to haggle?!
Me: No, I wanted to.
Dad: See! She's her own person!

Gotta love 'em. As for your L&G find (as if that's not enough. Really.) ... check out the Thursday skirt from Bhalo:

100 percent handwoven cotton (don't judge me for not spelling out the 100 because it's at the beginning of the sentence ... it's my blog, I can do what I want to! Anywayyy...), cross stitch inspired by traditional Bangladeshi pattern, made in Bangladesh.

I'll be sharing more about Bhalo on Monday, so if you don't feel like researching, just hold out until then for more loveliness! (PS Thanks to Lloso for this find.)

Until Monday, happy aloha Friday and start of the holiday season, everyone.

What's a Girl Gotta Do for Some Social Studio?

For this outfit, I would probably give up my roommates' dog and say she ran away (Janna and Dan, if you're reading this, I KID! Maybe.) or work a banquet on Christmas (oh wait, I'm actually doing that one ... the plight of the part-time underemployed). Either way, I'd definitely frolic around town in it, like, every day?

Amiright?? Top is the Trapeze Tank for $90; bottom is the Jersey Pant for $110. The whole outfit is made by Melbourne's The Social Studio, which uses all repurposed materials  and creates its clothing from the styles and skills of refugees. They even have a cafe and studio. I can't even get into how great the organization, and working for it, sounds. Read more here. (I'd even go so far as to label it "awesome," but I just read a frequent traveler's account of his top pet peeves about Americans, and that was towards the top of the list. Well played, sir.)

But yes, more importantly, I'll take one of each in size small please. Or maybe medium, if I wanna rock it baggy kine .... Dreamin' away for the holidays. (PS Don't listen to fashion nazis, I endorse light neutrals year 'round.)

Just some images from the website. Seriously, read more about Social Studio here, because I'm not doing its story justice. I originally heard about it from Stephanie over at Fashion at Liberty, and just featured the pants for my snow-day style post over there. Check 'em.

Also, if anyone has any good suggestions of nonprofits to straight up donate to, holla at a girl. Time to start "shopping" for da mama.

Happy Turkey Day, folks! I'm thankful for banjos, beach, and family -- the third of which I'll be Skyping with tomorrow AM.