So Moonshine Hill has been abandoned. Please update all RSS feeds to follow Wildcatters on Moonshine Hill tumblr if you want to keep hearing me talk about fashion, art, crafts and pretty photographs.

The big new blog is over at Dirty Hems, which will be about life, writing and more writing. That’s what I do, I figure the blog should show that.

From now on, this blog is defunct. It might come back in some form or another, but for now ADIOS.

new colorway for the No Tears medal - available now at Wildcatters.

This weekend has been go-go-go from the get-go. Thursday night was pool and drinks at the bar, pretty low-key and rad. Woke up Friday and spent most of it working on shop stuff. Went out Friday night and had a few too many, not too drunk but nice and happy about everything. Life was amaaaaazing, if you get my drift. Had some good conversation, which is all I ever ask. Saturday woke up with a teeny tiny (minuscule) but still present hang-over headache, but blazed through it getting ready for a shopping date with one of my favorite girls. We tore the Galleria down, from top to bottom and side to side. Practically four hours of non-stop shopping, but it was worth it. Found some great stuff, lots of good ideas for my summer wardrobe for sure. It was really nice to get to spend a day with one of my girls - it’s few and far between that I get the opportunity. Life is riding fast for all of us - babies, work, school, responsibilities. Speaking of babies, today was another one of my girl’s little girl’s first birthday party! Chuck E. Cheese was the host, attended by about a million screaming, running, crying, dancing little children. My niece is the cutest, though, and made up for all the rest of the little terrors. Requisite photos of her with icing all over the noggin to come.

And now James and I are about to grill fajitas for two and I’m going to power read through Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony. Television, then bed.

♥ : guacamole, picking our own cilantro from the back yard, iced tea, cup-cake cake, frilly pink dresses on little knock-out babies, baby sunglasses, baby high-fives, baby drool-kisses, babies, leaving the porch door open, cicadas, the hum of the ceiling fan, HEB cottage cheese, sugar-free jello snacks, tax returns.

New in the Wildcatters etsy shop!

I am a listing fool today.

I have three flipping etsy shops. Some might think this is excessive, but really and truly it is necessary. One is for vintage stuff. the next one is for my tough-girl, metal-working side. And then there’s Moonshine Hill, the repository of all my colorful, vintage-bead-loving, vintage-trimming-vintage everything side. This is where my little bags embellished with heirloom lace, my earrings made with aged oxidized sterling and vintage czech glass beads go. I have two crafty sides you see - tough & not-so-tough. I think it works?

Anyway, there are some new items over at Moonshine Hill. Since my camera is in the shop, I’ve been using my boyfriends little point and shoot and let me tell you it is driving me flipping crazzzzzy. After using a DSLR for product shots for the past few months, going back to low-mega-pixels, and no depth-of-field is pretty frustrating. Nothing looks right, nothing seems to make me happy. So there are some pretty mediocre shots of the new bags up - and those are the best out of probably TEN different shot set-ups. I went all over this house and the backyard trying to get it right, but to no avail. I’m especially upset with how the shots of this tote came out. It’s absolutely great in real life, the beading is amazing (I tore it off an old vintage beaded belt) and the fabric is top notch vintage, really sturdy and nice. It’s just the right amount of rugged, just the right amount of cute.

Ugh ugh ugh. I want my pretty pretty camera back!

Once again, I realize that as much as I love current trends in fashion my heart will always turn towards slightly hippie, always comfortable, western inspired wear. It’s the Texas gal in me, the one who listens to Americana and Texas Country, the one who sings along to Emmylou Harris.

I love Emmylou - ever since I picked up my mom’s copy of Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town. Her voice is just magic - as cliched as that sounds, it really really is. I wish I could find more photos of her in the 70s - when she was running around with Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman and all those LA rockers trying to be country musicians.

Hey Hey Kiddos. I threw some great stuff up on Moonshine Vintage this evening. I am so totally loving that 90s fabulous suede mini skirt, too bad my waist isn’t the same size it was in 8th grade. Also really want to keep both the suede vest (how fantastic would that look with high-waisted, wide-legged jeans?) and the rose-print paperbag waist skirt. AH. Who am I kidding? I want to keep them all.

Moonshine Vintage

So since I am camera-less at the moment (long story short: camera + tile floor = repair shop) I can’t show off all the great things I’ve been unearthing at our local thrift stores recently. But wait! Yesterday, on a spur of the moment trip, I found some beautiful old children’s books from the teens and twenties. So this morning I scanned in the covers and a few bits and pieces.

Little Women, 1926 edition. 75 cents!

Why The Chimes Range, 1909 edition. 50 cents!

Cinderella & Other Stories, no date but definitely from the same person and same time period. 50 cents!

I’m pretty sure all of these came from the same household, along with a December 1928 issue of National Geographic.

The Pride-and-Prejudice-o-meter from the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinal. I know, what? But check out how badly Keira’s getting her ass kicked, 1995 version what what!

Notebookism - new favorite guilty-pleasure blog.

I really really really really want this guy to do my next tattoo. Why do I not still live in London?

Is Beth Ditto Changing The Face Of Fashion, Or Is She Just Another Fad?

This weekend has been quiet. I finally got all of the reading done that I needed - two novels in one day, a record? I don’t know, I’ve always been a fast, voracious reader. But it’s definitely a record for assigned reading. Alejo Carpentier’s Kingdom of this World & Louise Erdrich’s Tracks. Magical realism, voodoo, Native American myths. Heady stuff. I really enjoyed Tracks, it’s the first of Erdrich’s books I’ve read and I think I’m going to keep reading. She paints beautiful pictures about Native American lore and culture at the turn and first half of the 20th century. Truly lovely, heartbreaking narratives.

I did some work in my workshop this weekend too - playing around with cutting the metal, shapes and silhouettes. Of course, the first thing I liked were these little state of Texas charms. I can’t wait to string the initialed one on some vintage chain. These will probably be going up on the shop in necklace form very soon, so keep an eye out.

And here’s a recipe I am in love with that I made twice this weekend!

Vietnamese Inspired Salad

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon (to taste) of chili garlic sauce (we love love love this, but be careful, it’s potent!)
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon sugar
1½ teaspoon rice vinegar
1½ tablespoon lime juice
1½ tablespoon fish sauce (Vietnamese or Thai both work)
1½ tablespoon vegetable oil
½ medium onion, finely sliced
freshly grated black pepper
7 to 8 ounces white cabbage, shredded
1 medium carrot thinly sliced
1 bunch of mint, chopped
salt

Optional:
7 ounces of shredded chicken

- Stir together: chili sauce, sugar, vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, oil, onion, black pepper. Set aside for ½ hour.
- Combine in seperate bowl: cabbage, carrot, chicken, mint. Toss.
- Pour cabbage mix over dressing and slowly toss with tongs.
- Add salt to taste.

Ohmygoodness it’s so good. So spicy! The mint really makes this, so don’t leave it out! We made it as the recipe says (without chicken) and it turned out amazing. Tonight I used finely chopped lettuce instead of cabbage and added mushrooms and it was still good! It makes delicious leftovers too, after a day in the refrigerator those sauces really soak in.

adapted from a Nigella Lawson (i think?) recipe