Sartorial Saturday…On a Sunday–Easter Pastels and a New Fascinator

Over a year ago, when I first saw the Nalini-Pia dress in the Miss Candyfloss Chérie Bardot lookbook, I knew it would be the perfect Easter dress. Unfortunately, it wasn’t released in time for me to wear it last Easter, but I was finally able to today!

It was a bit chilly this morning, and I really didn’t want to wear a sweater over the dress, so I ended up wearing a lace dirndl blouse under it. I’m not totally thrilled with how that turned out, because I think it detracts a bit from the beautiful pastel colors on the bodice of the dress, but sometimes it’s function over form.

I went all-in on those pastel shades with my stack of Splendette Duchess Bangles, plus an Erstwilder Easter egg brooch, a pair of RockLove Jewelry necklaces from their retiring Disney “Tell Your Tale” collection, and a new, brightly-colored, lime green fascinator:

Here’s a closer look at the pair of necklaces…they’re the same, just different lengths, and one has a Tiana charm from the same collection attached to it:

And the true star of the outfit…the fascinator! I knew I wanted a lime green headpiece for Easter, and I was starting to despair of ever finding what I had in my mind, but Dillard’s had the perfect thing!

Dirndl blouse aside, I really like how this look came together…the fascinator really brings out the green section of the dress!

I felt very much like a decorated Easter egg, which was kind of the plan!

This was such a cheerful look for Easter!

Holy Week and Easter

Lent went by especially quickly this year, and Holy Week was no exception…it was a complete blur!

On Palm Sunday, Ladybug turned my palm into a cross as she always does:

On Monday, we baked hot cross buns:

Tuesday, Chickadee and I visited the Tulip Trail at Eckert’s with the hope of cutting our own tulips for our Easter table…that didn’t work out, but it was still a beautiful experience!

On Wednesday, I made one of our favorite Lenten dinners, fish tacos:

Thursday found us at church for the first service the Holy Triduum:

Before Church on Friday we made this year’s Paschal Candle, and Bunny and I did some pre-Easter baking:

On Holy Saturday I prepped some salads and our mini donut tray for the year…I found a record 18 different kinds!

The Great Vigil of Easter is still my favorite church service of the entire year (even when we have to start indoors because rain made the church garden too mucky)!

After church, we stoped at Wendy’s for fries and a Frosty for everyone:

Easter morning was a bit chilly, but clear and beautiful!

The church looked glorious, as always:

And we got a nice family photo after the service thanks to our field worker from the seminary:

Easter is the one day a year we have a big, fancy breakfast…I even put a little extra effort into setting the table, using some pretty plates I found at Aldi a few years ago that are just the perfect color palette for the day:

We had a pretty traditional meal…biscuits with a choice of sausage gravy or Pflaumenmus (plum butter), scrambled eggs, sausage patties, brie (also good with the plum butter!), fruit salad, pomegranate and orange juices, and did I mention mini donuts?

We had a fun afternoon watching the first two Big, Fat, Greek Wedding movies, and then it was time to reset the table for dinner:

We went Italian for Easter dinner, featuring Peposo (beef cooked with garlic and peppercorns in red wine), lemon-parmesan risotto, braised radicchio with a balsamic glaze, breaded baked artichokes, antipasto salad, and Colomba di Pasqua (a sweet Italian Easter bread) with more Pflaumenmus.

And for dessert, panna cotta with a blueberry-lemon sauce and fresh berries:

This was a great, although busy, Holy Week and Easter! Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

Holy Saturday

“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” Genesis 2:2-3

What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam’s son. The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: “My Lord be with you all.” And Christ in reply says to Adam: “And with your spirit.” And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.” “I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.” “I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.” (quoted in For All the Saints, vol. III, p. 1037)

2025-26 School Year–Week Twenty-Seven

Fun things first…Chickadee and I went to Eckert’s to experience their new spring event, the Tulip Trail!

Chickadee worked with exponential growth and decay functions in algebra, and learned how to graph them. In history, we read about JFK, the Civil Rights Movement, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Vietnam War. She is re-reading one of her favorite books in preparation for one of her final writing assignments of the year. In science we talked about currents and resistance, and did a fun experiment with a battery and aluminum foil. And for this week’s recipe from the American Girl Sweet & Savory Treats Cookbook, we made plum fruit leather (using three different kinds of plums), inspired by 2019 Girl of the Year, Blaire!

Now that it’s April, the end of the school year is coming fast…I can’t believe Chickadee is almost done with 8th grade!

Good Friday–The Reproaches

“For behold, by the wood of Your cross joy has come into all the world.”

“Thus says the Lord: What have I done to you, O My people, and wherein have I offended you? Answer Me. For I have raised you up out of the prison house of sin and death, and you have delivered up your Redeemer to be scourged. For I have redeemed you from the house of bondage, and you have nailed your Savior to the cross. O My people.

Thus says the Lord: What have I done to you, O My people, and wherein have I offended you? Answer Me. For I have conquered all your foes, and you have given Me over and delivered Me to those who persecute Me. For I have fed you with My Word and refreshed you with living water, and you have given Me gall and vinegar to drink. O My people.

Thus say the Lord: What have I done to you, O My people, and wherein have I offended you? Answer Me. What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? My people, is this how you thank your God? O My people.” Lutheran Service Book

Chickadee Thursday

Here’s a look back at the three-day trip to Columbia and Kansas City Missouri Chickadee and I took, starting with a visit to Mizzou:

We had a great time in Kansas City, where we visited the National WWI and Memorial, had lunch at Town-Topic Hamburgers, did a quick run-through of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and road the KC Streetcar:

And we took a small hike around Rock Bridge Memorial State Park and explored a cave:

This was a really fun little roadtrip!