Today I laid out new items to post in my shop, prepped my new location for the shoot and made sure my husband was busy so I didn’t get distracted… then went to get my camera. It’s gone. After a crazy weekend of events I spent the last 2 days completely exhausted and due to the tiredness I don’t have a clue where it went. The apartment has been searched, the car has been searched, I have made phonecalls to try to find it… nada. So I spent the day lamenting my lack of style, weight gain, horrid growing-out hair length and the loss of my camera… on the floor… in the corner of my etsy room….

It’s 8 hours later. I have read multiple fashion blogs and am feeling a little perkier about things. Just because I stay home all day and live in a “lower income” area with mariachi music blasting doesn’t mean I can’t step things up and rev up the fashion engine.

To start off I impulsively used up a bottle of hair dye in a great ebony brown, a few shades darker then my own hair, but with my hair being one solid color it looks more purposeful and makes my bluish grayish eyes pop.

I also dug through my nail polishes and choose a deep raspberry color for my nails. I have been avoiding nail polish and hair-dye for a while now because I have been on a natural beauty product (and Burts Bees) for about 1 year… BUT, I need a break and a boost to get me going! I’ll detox when I am bored with the two.

I am hoping to pick up a new camera tomorrow if nothing shows up and hope to get my new items in the shop soon. I am adoring sheer 1960s robes as cropped jackets and had a few to post for you. Plus a Great 1950s atomic dress that I am going to try to squeeze into…

I’ve decided the easiest way to look nicer then I do is a good pair of straight jeans with a loose vintage top and flats OR  straight/skinny jeans with a loose top and a cropped jacket/fitted sweater. The flowy should hide my new love-handles while the cropped jacket will trim me up…. thank goodness I still have good legs!

I am a scary individual who will try many things on the internet if it involves the ingredients in my kitchen. I am terrified of chemicals or pills and on top of that I’m too cheap to buy the products that are “healthy” for me. Well, minus organic soaps and shampoo/conditioner.

Tonights beauty adventure involved a ginger bath. While sipping my homemade ginger tea (1 tablespoon grated ginger steeped in a tea bag thing for like 10 minutes then happily drank) I started to wonder what other marvelous benefits ginger has beyond just taming my sugar cravings. I came across a “ginger bath” it offered promises of a massive detox and a great night sleep. All that was required of me was to grate 1/2 cup of ginger then jump into a piping hot bath with the ginger in it somehow. After 20 minutes I was supposed to sweat like I’ve never sweat before which will help me prevent cancer. Anytime a natural recipe for my body invovles anti-cancer- I am so in. I don’t want the cancer. It is bad.

Well, 30 mintues later I am bathed and wrapped in the required sheet which will catch this out-pouring of sweat and anticipating the wonderful results of my hot uncomfortable bath….

Here was the timeline: 11:45pm hopped into bath. 12am my heartrate went up. 12:10 I hopped out of the bath rubbed the water off until my skin was red (as recommended) and excitedly wrapped up for my sweat-fest. 12:25 feel very warm and just had a droplet of sweat form on my right forehead…. hmmmm my ears feel warm. Actually, my whole body feels warm! Okay. I am verifying that the ginger bath has worked to create a tremendous amount of sweat while sitting in a cool room wrapped in a light cotton sheet.

Now I am supposed to sleep like a baby but until that happens I will be watching a documentary on The Dangers of Pedigree dogs. http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=documentary&emb=1&aq=f#q=documentary+dogs&emb=1&dur=3

Side notes: no one mentioned what to do with the ginger shreds that will now be stuck to the wall of my bathtub.

 I have a strong belief that any women who is tedious and patient enough to knit or crochet or whatever deserves my vintage knitting pattern books more then I do. But I like the pictures, so I will probably never sell them. Instead I will be posting them here!

This is from a 1950 Minerva Fashions in Hand Knit book.

The article is describing the recession I guess. I just looked at all the graphics and giggled.

Off to study for my Mid-Term. Only a few hours to go and I have yet to study… bad.

I love the Texture of the Shag Rug with the Chrome Lighting  on the ceiling.

I obsess and dream of graphic prints because I don’t get to have them. I could, but I’ve noticed that my husband gets really distracted and unsettled so I try to keep things minimalist for him.

What is it about women that terrifies them about letting a man silently drive between two white lines on the road?

Why do we nag them in ways that would make us pull over and kick them out of the car if they did it to us?

My husband tell me it’s because of the curse of Adam and Eve and that it makes me want to rule over him. Personally, I do not see how ruling over him applies to pointing out how horribly he drives everytime we are in the car.

As I nagged my hubby on everything from how he should be shifting, to the fact that the bumps on the road are to keep you in the lane not to drive over PLUS his constant looking over his shoulder for long periods of time and not at the stopped cars in front of us, I realized this would be a long 1 hour drive in traffic this evening. It took 5 minutes before I began to listen to myself and another 1/2 hour until I was sick of hearing my own voice.

Why am I incapable of shutting up and letting him drive? He’s tried a variety of tactics from having me tell him who is the property management company for each building we pass to having me read him the billboards, yet I can’t seem to keep my eyes off the road. I am afraid that if I dare to not critic him on his driving he might ____________? What am I afraid will happpen? A fender bender? A sore neck? Increased Premiums? That a crazed gorrilla might jump in front of us during those 4 seconds that hubby is looking back to see whose driving the minivan???

For my own sake  I need to quit.   The last time he was in an accident was 8 years ago and he was barely 20. He is supposed to wreck multiple vehicles at that age. Not like he doesn’t survive daily without me telling him how to drive either.

Regardless of why I do it or what I can do to silence myself…. my heart can’t take this much more and I”m only 28. Overpasses with him driving shouldn’t cause my heart to nearly fail.

My Hubby frequently tell me to  ”Put on your big girl panties and get over it” I think I will try that.  Either that or maybe a blindfold and a shot of vodka will do the trick.

I’m excited to begin posting some of the amazing images from vintage book I have collected over the years. I hope they inspire you and help you to pursue your creative pursuits

FROM THE 1975 Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Book

These images are for inspiration only, not to be reproduced.

I am excited to announce that there are some fantastic retro One-Piece choices for summer and I am actually overwelmed with which to buy first!

Last summer I watched actions on Ebay on Genuine Vintage 1950s swimwear because I wanted a more modest swimming choice. Being 5′10″ that didn’t really work. I had finally given up and found a few I liked at Urban Outfitters and as I went to buy them I noticed that they had completely sold out… Bummer.

My obsession ended with the Decision to just splurge and buy the “Vamp” Swimsuit by Jantzen in Yellow and Gray

available at www.laraines.com

Then Today I stumbled across these at www.Delias.com – a complete DREAM because I’m tall and I was afraid that the vamp wouldn’t fit me well enough:

this one isn’t retro, but I love it’s sporty cute look:

Now, I can finally go back to Salt Creek Beach and drink my Mike’s Hard Cranberry and eat my frozen watermellon balls….. all I need is to wait for summer…. should be here in a week or so.

PS If you can fit in them I still recommend you purchase a true vintage swimsuit with a firm fabric and a zip up back…. it can’t be beat and you will never worry about another skinnier girl wearing the same suit.

Super Excited. Moving in about 1 week and although the furniture is not yet ready I am! I can’t wait to get my shop running at full speed again. I have so much vintage yet to add to the site and I can’t wait!