It’s about to be Memorial Day and that means the whistle is about to blow for “The great weekend exodus from the city”!  We hope everyone has some fun planned as the excitement builds for summer 2014. It’ll be the 4th of July before we know it. We put together a few patriotic themed picks for the upcoming holiday commemorating all the brave people who gave everything for the freedom we enjoy today. There are so many great ways to show your national pride in fashion and it seems that a lot of designers are creating work that boasts an American theme. Here are some cool items that if you love, you have enough time to order before the weekend!

Ralph Lauren American Flag Halter Top

Stars and Stripes Scarf from Nasty Gal

American Flag earrings Karen Curtis

We all know Tom’s

Courtesy of atlantic-pacific.blogspot.com

Ralph Lauren

American Flag Cuff Bracelet Karen Curtis

Stackable bracelet Karen Curtis

Courtesy of atlantic-pacific.blogspot.com

Stackable Bracelet Karen Curtis

We hope this got you a little excited about how you can dress and accessorize this Memorial Day weekend.

On a more personal note we wanted to take some time to pay tribute to a relative of ours Joseph Yarrow, who we will be saluting this weekend. Joseph was my grandmother Helen Niemczyk’s (Yarrow) brother to whom she spoke so highly of. Joe joined the marines at age 19, as my grandmother explained, no one could find a job anywhere, but Joe always had a desire to help… whether that was a neighbor with yard work or a country with fighting tyranny. Joe was stationed in Camp Lejeune North Carolina, originally he was part of the WPA. The WPA was created in the new deal by FDR and actually employed millions of Americans including many noted artists who were employed to create beautiful artwork all around the country. People like Jackson Pollock, Orson Welles, and Burt Lancaster. Joe was sent to rebuild the forests in Colorado but in 1944 he was sent to Saipan with the 2nd marine division. Joe along with 3500 other U.S. soldiers were killed in the 1 month time frame at the battle of Saipan. Joe was only 23 when he died, my grandmother was just 21.

There are no real records of Joseph on the internet other than an obituary. This Memorial Day Karen and I thought what better way to commemorate Joe then to include a bit of information about this brave young man for google to index and the world to know about. Here are some really old pictures of Joe Yarrow and one of the “gang” I was able to pull together with help of Gram.

Joe Yarrow

Joseph Yarrow

Joseph Yarrow

Joe Yarrow with the Gang 1940’s