New in the shop

Today my living room is very bohemian. Sold the couch, chair and ottoman and could not be happier about it, 9 years with one set is long enough. I am currently on the hunt for replacement furniture and won't rush it. In the meantime, it's very mid-Century meets a Turkish lounge with the rug strewn with pillows.

Kinda diggin' it.

Meanwhile, the shop's had an update. Not a big one, just a lil' one.

Loooooveseat

Found! The universe has provided! I am always looking for something, some hat, some item of clothing, some piece of furniture, there is always something I am hunting down and for a little while now it's has been "tufted" things, specifically furniture. And what I really wanted was a pretty, antique, sort of worn out loveseat, very girlie. So this past week I amped up the search and yesterday, I found a listing on Craiglist for a "french sofa and loveseat", that was it, that was all the post title was. I clicked and nearly jumped out of my seat! The listing was for a sofa and loveseat and I was sure the stuff had sold. But it had not! And I was at the lady's house in a matter of 15 minutes, buying up a sofa, loveseat and she threw in a matching chair! Wha?!?? I know! Thing is I don't want the sofa OR the chair, but for $200 I wanted the loveseat and know I can SELL that sofa and chair. And will. But for now I cannot even begin to love this little loveseat anymore. It's the starting piece for the re-do I am planning for my studio/shop. My ahem...atelier...if you will, or I will, rather.

And you can see, Ella really likes the loveseat too.

And today I am not feeling funky anymore, don't know why, just am glad about it.

Dress - thrifted, cut off & hemmed. It's a great cotton vintage 1980s shirt dress from Brook's Brothers.
Belt - thrifted
Boots - thrifted
Tights - Hue
Necklace trio - from Metrode on Etsy

Music on my ride to work:
Joni Mitchell, seems my iPod is liking her right now
Wilco
Boards of Canada
Caetano Veloso

Paris vu par

We are lucky enough to have the Detroit Film Theater nearby, and from the looks of their schedule I'll be there a lot in the near future, first to see Six in Paris, (Paris vu par), 1965 , which looks like something I cannot miss. From the description, "this remarkably engaging, rarely-seen complilation of six short tales, each set in a different neighborhood of Paris. As every neighborhood everywhere has a distinctly different character, so too do these stories, which range from hilarious to romantic to chilling, and which share the intelligence and imaginations of their gifted creators". I am predicting some fashion inspiration, n'est pas?

Next I think I'll go see, Shall We Kiss, "Gabriel (Michael Cohen) and Emilie (Julie Gayet) meet on the streets of a provincial French capital. He offers her a ride, and the ride turns into a pleasant dinner with clearly romantic overtones. But when Gabriel attempts to plant a good night kiss, Emile pulls back—even one kiss, she admonishes him, can have unexpected consequences. We then proceed to the story of Emilie’s friends in Paris, Judith (the wonderful Virginie Ledoyen) and Nicolas (director Emmanuel Mouret), and the consequence of her reluctance to accept even just one kiss. Wry, observant and also deeply touching, the richly rewarding Shall We Kiss? is a very contemporary and highly entertaining meditation on the ever-surprising wages of infidelity and indiscretion–and an unforgettable lesson as to what "just "one kiss can do. Mouret’s intelligent, successful characters deluge their emotions and instincts with very open rationalization as to why they’re doing what they’re doing, trying to appear as if they’re in control–while it’s clear to everyone else they haven’t got a clue."

Out of sorts

Day three now of feeling just "off", not sure why, just "off". I was hoping since today was a normal Monday I'd feel more normal, but no. I feel like I need to hit my reset button or something, and I think in my world that's called "do yoga" so after work today that's just what I'll do. I anticipate more time this week as I have banned myself from thrift shopping since I have so much stuff (does that EVER work!?), and will be able to head to both yoga and Pure Barre this week, and hopefully make a big soup, last one of the year as I think we are also under the last of winter.

My outfit is less than stellar, reflecting my sour and all around weird moody feeling. But I won't apologize for the outfit, if I start doing that I'd be apologizing a lot thereby rendering my apologies a bunch of hot air! And yes, my hair is always looking the same and that is because I sort of hate it and am growing it out so it lives in the little nubby bun for weeks on end!

Sweater - love this teal, nubby, drapy sweater that I thrifted
Necklace - I have a small collection of god heart necklace, I have always loved them, even my cat The Soph has one!
Jeans - JCrew, and love them to death, they make a boring outfit totally unboring!
Boots - thrifted, and waited such a long time to find them!
Belt - thrifted, and with the yellow jeans makes a pink grapefruit sort of effect that I love!


Music on my way to work (was as odd as I feel):
Daniel Wang
Loose Fur
Greg Brown
Joni Mitchell
Alexander Scriaben

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And um, the new Andrew Bird album is soooooo wonderful!
He's not only a total babe, but makes the most sensitive, creative, delicate and
musical songs that I can listen to just about any time.

Coming This Week

1940's Peach Blush Blouse

Champagne Damask Pleated Collar Blouse

Piccadilly Plaid 1960s Dress

Deep Azure 1950s Cotton Day Dress

This weekend I went to the creepiest Salvation Army in the scariest part of Detroit that I have ever been in. Naturally, it was a veritable treasure trove. Not to mention the lady at the checkout who called me "baby" at least 4 times, and the woman who was helping her with 2 inch long & curved fingernails and a 5 inch high bleached pompadour (I swear she was an extra from John Water's Cry Baby). Needless to say, I was in and out as though I was hitting a convenience store.

I am looking forward to posting new items and also to doing a photoshoot of a large bin of items I have just waiting in the wings. My mother and I thrifted and of course I was hoping not to find much because I have so much, but no, I found a ton although when I walked in I disdainfully declared the store "picked over". Never judge a book by it's cover!

Thrifting with Mom

Today my mom is coming over and she is some kind of freak of nature because she LOVES to iron. I have a ton of ironing to be done as I am like most people and do not like ironing at all. But before the ironing we're going thrifting for just a little bit not too far from my house. She's quite good at unearthing treasures so together I am sure we'll come home with some good stuff.

My outfit: Blouse-thrifted, bought for the shop, but I've adopted it for a spell
Jeans - thrifted
Boots - thrifted and will be in the shop very soon

And here is a random pick of two pair of shoes I currently love as I am pretty into snakeskin things at the moment...

Two the shop won't see.

Some have asked how I am able to sell some of things I sell as opposed to keeping them for myself and well, the real answer is that I keep a TON. Too much. That being said, I sometimes wear something once before passing it on, these boots are just such a thing. I had them fixed at the cobbler down the street and wore them today and now am ready to "let go". Oddly, I find that if I just sport a garment one time it somehow makes me feel less anxiety about not owning it anymore.

However, these two floral dresses will be mine mine mine for a long long time. Made of cotton and ever so easy to wear, I cannot wait! They will travel well, wash up great and I can sweat like a goat in them all summer with nary a concern! What more could I want, really?

On tenterhooks...

Are you waiting, like I am, in near breathless anticipation? I can hardly stand it!

My Favorite Coat

I think I wore my favorite coat last night for the last time before next winter. It may have been a bit too warm for it even, but I needed to wear it just one more time. Went out for my favorite cocktail as well, the White Spider. I got the coat maybe 4 years ago or so and it's super heavy wool with a high collar, it's kind of like a Civil War coat or something. I also think it's a little boy's coat as the pockets are up oddly high. It's ma fayvvvrite!

Some call it 'Sweat Equity"

I have had this dress for a long while now and intended to sell it, but had to iron it first. I really dislike ironing, and this was particularly time consuming to iron as it is cotton-twill. Now that I have spent all this time ironing it I want to keep it! At least wear it ONCE to get some mileage out of my hard work!

L'Hommes

There is no way I will ever sell men's vintage clothing. Selling women's vintage clothing alone takes more work than I have ever anticipated and the only reason I can do it is because of how much I really really adore clothing, especially vintage clothing. I have had guys implore me to sell men's stuff, but I cannot, just cannot! However, I found these boots and did not have the power to pass them up. I still debate whether or not I should put them in the shop. I mean, is that weird, having these two random man boots in my shop? But jeeeez, they are some FINE boots. They are identical save for one pair is black and onei brown. Both size 11. The jury is still out, I am still debating...

Fickle Friday

All I knew is that I wanted to wear the brightest candy red blouse that I had just bought, not only is the color super saturated and great, but it fits like a dream! Then, I did know I wanted to wear the pinstripe vest. It fell apart from there. Still not sure which to wear. I feel like the option with the pants "needs" something, maybe a handbag with a print? And I feel like the option with the skirt is missing some balance.

Maybe I just need more coffee.
And to hit the post office.

Red blouse - thrifted
Vest - thrifted
Skirt - thrifted
Pants - thrifted ...i know this is getting boring isn't it!?
Little adorable Mary Janes - from Italian Postcards, on Etsy

Belle of the Ball

Months ago I was shopping for the shop and I came upon the most perfect dress. But like many thrift stores if the item does not have a price tag on it, they will not sell it to you, come hell or high water. I have nearly cried many a time having found something so wonderful, yet so not tagged. This perfect dress was such a thing. Given the number of amazing garments that I have to pass up for whatever reason, I tried to just shake it off. Sometimes this process involved wine, or say, a cupcake.

A few days ago I met up once more with this perfect dress! This time it WAS priced! I could not believe it was still at the shop, I scooped it up immediately and told the cashier dude that "I had waited all my life for this dress", in which he just mumbled, "oh yeah", clearly he is of a lower life-form and does not understand what finding an amazing vintage dress can do to a gal. And so, here it is. The dress of glory if you will, just too big enough for me that I have to sell it. And the shoes, which are also ever so slightly too big for me...but then, perhaps some glasses of wine and a few more cupcakes can remedy that.

Frocks

Just how much more flattering can a garment be than these pinafore dresses from Necessity is the Mother, on Etsy? I am totally smitten with them and pretty much know that I'll be buying one, it is just a matter of when. I would just feel so januty and pretty and even more so when I can hunt down the straw boater hat I am after!

Things are getting sweet...

a case of the adorables dress

key lime frosting blouse

spring garland necklace

french vanilla mary janes

Sweeter days are ahead of us, in so many ways. Maybe we should dress the part.

In-Vested

Mmmmm...this vest, well, I nabbed it from my friend Duff's closet, she has the matching skirt and didn't think she'd wear the vest. I thought I would ROCK that vest! And there it sat in my closet for 9 months. And today I released it from the darkness, into the darkness of the day as it was raining all day! The kind of day that made me want to crawl back in bed and grab my Jane Austen, Anthropologie catalogs and kitties! But alas, I had to go to work, and I made it worth my while by making sure I stopped at this small thrift store on my way in. Of course I found some awesome shoes there, it's as though that place has shoes just sitting there waiting for me. The women that work there are either super nice or super grumpy and mean, they are volunteers, and today it was the nice ladies, I got two Vera scarves and one had a little mark on it so the woman just gave it to me, for free! I love when stuff like that happens, naturally.

'Bout the outfit - since it's raining I slapped on my black Levi's
Vest - from Duff's closet
Blouse - thrfited and I shortened the sleeves
Earrings - thrifted and my post office lady, Cathy, called them "groovy".
Oxfords - thrifted and I am in LOVE with them, just got them, they are like crocodile (but leather) and they are Esprit, no less!

Transitions

This time of year it is hard to tell what kind of weather we'll be having and in a week the changes can be drastic. While it's not warm enough to wear skirts without anything covering our legs, it's also somewhat too warm for bone fide tights. Today I wore some crochet tights and am now just so into them! Not only are the so amazingly cute and interesting to look at, they make a great transition from winter to spring! I felt so jaunty and fun in them all day and vowed I would get some more, because I am not always the most graceful of gals so I am guessing my delicate pair will soon have a delicate hole. Sock Dreams has very nice croche tights in different colors.

A woman of mystery...

She's precocious, and she knows just what it takes to make a pro blush...
March is Women's History month, and well, all women are a mystery really, even unto ourselves. I mean, right now it's a mystery why although I have a migraine, I don't just go upstairs and get the medication that will eradicate it. Or why although my feet are cold, I don't seem to think to go and take these tights off and get into some comfy home clothes. Or other, more interesting female mysteries that I am sure the men in our lives can rattle off...

Antiqued, or something.

I sort of have a case of the Mondays since I was not at work yesterday, and last night I could not sleep because my head was filled with shop ideas, furniture ideas for my house (currently have a hankerin' for a really Victorian settee to put in my studio), and sufferin' the just plain "can't sleeps". I just wanted it to be time to get up! And then of course when it was time to get up I so could not get up. But slowly I did and started to get more excited because I planned on wearing these crochet tights! It's the little things! And also here's a random picture of Ella, because I am obsessed with her, and um, she with me! We're in love!

Blouse: thrfited, it has some white paint splatters on it, but heck, I don't care!
Skirt: thrifted
Belt: thrifted
Tights: from Sock Dreams.com
Oxford Heels: thrifted and lo are they comfy, I am sort of in shock. And to think they almost went into the shop!
Handbag: thrifted in Pottsville, Penn. Or was it Pottstown...oh heck I don't know.

Music on my ride to work: None! None! Lost in my own scheming little mind!

All I wanna do...

...is show you how hot these are. So hot. I am feeling "hot" things right now. So here, have some hot.