Mint and Lace

Lookie!  I'm a good girl and have my Friday post out on time!  This is thanks in part to having a free evening the other night after work where I could put the photos up awhile and then just throw in some words at another time.  Lately I've been either doing something every evening after work or I'm too exhausted to want to do much besides lounge on the couch watching some telly.  Also, my weekends have been pretty booked between friends and reenactments.

So not as much time for blogging.  Which I find rather ironic.  Now that I actually have a semblance of a life and am doing things, I don't have the time and/or energy to post about them.  I mean, jeepers, I haven't even posted photos from Reading's WWII Weekend and that was in June!

These photos were taken by the local creek that runs through my town.  I was running errands this day and didn't want to have to drive out of the way to go to my usual spot.  It's a pretty location but the shading from the trees combined with the time of day made for some dim photos.

Outfit Details:

vintage top, vintage collar {Grandma Ruth}

vintage Ferragamo shoes, belt, skirt, handbag {thrifted}

hair comb {eBay}

You can tell by my hair that these photos were taken shortly before The Great Gatsby came out.  I was still experimenting with different methods to achieve nice looking finger waves.  This was not the best of attempts, by far.  But I eventually got better at it and they turned out rather well for the actual day of my Gatsby photoshoot I did before seeing the film.

I've already started editing photos for Sunday's Instagram post, so hopefully it will actually come out this week and on time!  The horror!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

My (Past Three) Week(s) According to Instagram

I know, I know...  I was doing so good for a week there with blogging and then I let it all go to pot again.

My weeks and weekends have been much busier of late.  I ended up getting a temp job so now my weekdays are filled with work.  Since my back still hurts and I'm not used to waking up so early yet, it's taken awhile for me to adjust.  I haven't been posting as many Instagram daily outfits either because it's rather dirty where I'm working and I don't want my pretty vintage items to get grease stains and the like on them.

My weekends have been filled with either reenactments, hanging out with friends, or both.  The past two weekends I went to two different reenactments.  One at Joanna Furnace and one at Eckley's Miners' Village.  They both had dances in the evening which were great fun.  I still have no idea what I'm doing, but if I have a strong lead, I can go with the flow rather well.

1. My outfit two Sundays ago.

2. First time wearing this vintage dress and hat.

3. No outfit photoshoots lately due to the heat, but mum took a quick snap.

4. Beat the heat with a Mike's hard lemonade at a baseball game.

5. TARDIS pyjamas! Need I say more?

6. Two Mondays ago's outfit. Another new (to me) vintage dress.

7. First time wearing this hat as well.

8. Out to the cinema to see This Is the End. I love this 50s frock.

9. Too hot to care; thus entered the mint sailor shorts.

10. My new favourite cocktail at Applebees: frozen strawberry lemonade with rum.

11. Beautiful Benedict celebrated his 37th birthday on 19 July.

12. No holiday for me this year. But hopefully a beach trip to do a vintage swimsuit shoot at least...

13. Randomly dreamed of Jonathan Scott from Property Brothers.

14. I certainly feel like a fool a lot of the time.

15-16. Outfit for WWII reenactment at Joanna Furnace.

17. A dreamy soldier.

18. I ended up buying a new (to me) vintage dress and changing into it.

19. And then I ended up ripping it whilst swing dancing later on.

20. A girl and her gun.

21. Two vintage baby dresses I couldn't pass up from Joanna Furnace.

22. Last Sunday's easy breezy outfit.

23. A woman from the Joanna Furnace event gave me these custom made 1940s crocodile shoes!

24. Picked some Queen Anne's lace that I love.

25. On the bridge in Mt. Gretna.

26. Joanna Furnace, Mike's, Willow, and Reading WWII Weekend.

27. Smudger loves to play with soda bottles.

28. Johnny Galecki- I can't get enough of The Big Bang Theory.

29. Saturday's outfit for another WWII reenactment at Eckley's Miners' Village.

30. Gorgeous wrought iron bench outside the Sharpe House.

31-32. At the Sharpe House.

33-34. Inside the Sharpe House.

35. A tank outside of where the USO dance was held.

36. Swinging the night away.

37-38. One does not simply come across Captain America and Wolverine masks without putting them on.
39. Smudger from two weeks old to three years old.
40. Took Smudger to get ice cream on his birthday.

41. One of my favourite photos from Reading's WWII Weekend.
42. I can't wait to swing dance again. I miss it.
43-44. Friday's outfit to see Swing Fever play.

45. Behind on responding to my penpals.
46. Saturday's 50s outfit to hear Flamin' Dick and the Hot Rods play.

This weekend I had more events going on.  Friday evening the band Swing Fever played a concert in the park which I attended.  I am addicted to hunting down all the local swing dance events.  I was a bit disappointed that no one was dancing, so I left after the first set.  It was mostly older people sitting around in their lawn chairs.  Not what I wanted.

Then come Saturday, I went to the Lebanon Fair.  My friend's cousin's band Flamin' Dick and the Hot Rods were performing 50s/60s rock and roll there.  Today has been a day of rest for me.  I'm not used to being this active plus working a job on top of it, all with stupid back pain/headaches to throw a wrench in the situation.

I'll try once again to be more proactive with this.  Hopefully once my body becomes more accustomed to the new hours and all I can get on a better schedule.  I hope you've all been doing well!

My Week According to Instagram

I know, I know, I know...  Where the bloody hell have I been?!  I'm so sorry...  I actually took the time and edited over 100 Instagram photos from the past couple of weeks, put them up here, and wrote the whole blog entry.  Then went I went to post it, I lost everything and was too frustrated to go through all that again.  So I am skipping those two weeks and picking back up on this week.

One thing I must share since I'm not posting those photos is that the guy I met at WWII Weekend and I are no longer seeing each other.  I was really sad at first, but now I've realized it happened for a specific reason.  If I would have never met him, or if he would have never split up with me, then I wouldn't be where I'm at at this moment, nor whom I'm with.  I feel the pain was worth it in the end.

1. Watched On the Town for the first time. Such an entertaining film!

2. Last Sunday's outfit.

3. Monday's mixing of matching florals.

4. Gorgeous gloves I got from the lovely Eccentric Owl. She's such a great penpal!

5. Recruited penpals. I'm bringing handwritten letters back.

6. Cocktails with a friend at a pirate themed pub.

7. "When the Right One Comes Along" from Nashville.

8. In love with Wednesday's outfit. I must wear it again and take outfit photos.

9. Wednesday's hair. I have a bit of a fingerwave somehow happening.

10. One must wear a Captain America plaster when they cut themselves on Fourth of July.

11. A patriotic pinup.

12. My Fourth of July outfit.

13. Friday's outfit. It was too hot to bother with anything too fancy.

14. Oh Benny...

15. Finally watched Mr Selfridge and loved it!

I've had some really busy weeks lately, which has been a wonderful change.  I've been hanging out with lots of different people.  Last weekend I went to Gettysburg for the 150th which was really neat to see.  There are photos on my IG account and there will be a post with photos eventually.

I'm writing this post a day early, because I'll be too busy this weekend to get it out on time and I feel terrible about being so far behind in blogging.  Saturday (aka today as I'm writing this) I went to my brother's house for a cookout with my family and a new fella.  Afterwards he and I will be going to a party at his mate's.

Today I'm going to church with R to hear his band play and then going to the Conrad Weiser Homestead with him whilst he takes pictures.  After that I get to go to Shupp's Grove with a friend from the library I volunteer at.  I've never been there before but apparently I'll love it.  There's all sorts of antiques and vintage clothing and whatnot.  Hmm...me, be interested in that...?  Never...

I'll leave you here for now.  Until next time...Which won't be nearly as long I promise!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Style Crush: Rita Hayworth

Just as I did last week in preparation of WWII Weekend this weekend, this week is another of my favourite old Hollywood starlets that was big during the 1940s, Rita Hayworth.

It's amazing the transformation Margarita Cansino did to become Rita Hayworth.  Especially considering that all she wanted out of life was to be loved.  If you're unfamiliar with her tragic story, I suggest reading this really interesting piece.  I won't delve into it here since this is more so about her style than her love life.

She looks so carefree and happy in the casual outfit beside Orson Welles.  She's such a knockout even in something as simple as slacks and a blouse.

Look at that hourglass figure!  Her waist was so tiny.  To me, this is more attractive than some girl in only a yard of stretchy fabric.

It's almost hard to believe she's not a natural redhead.  It looks so becoming on her with her skin tone.  Her hair style is a major note of envy for me.  The curls and waves are just so fabulous-especially the front bit!  I've gotten my trained to do that swoopy/wave in the front like hers, but that's the closest I've got to emulating her style.

This is one of my favourite photos of her.  I think it really epitomizes old Hollywood glamour and beauty.  It's easy to see why she was pinup of choice during WWII.  They even handed out photos of her to the soldiers for morale.

My Week According to Instagram

Happy Mother's Day to all you mummies out there (even mummies to pets)!  Today I got to spend the day with my mum, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew.  Mum and I went to church as usual and spent a bit of the early afternoon together.  Then we went over to my brother's house and spent time with his wife and son while waiting for him to come home from work.  We ate dinner at a local chicken restaurant and had a good time, until my nephew got cranky because he couldn't go miniature golfing.

Yesterday I got to hang out with my best friend Michelle whom I don't get to see as often as I'd like.  We live close to an hour apart, which isn't too terrible, but it does hamper getting together at times.  We spent the day walking around Lititz, which is a really beautiful area.  It's got loads of old historic buildings along the streets and also a bunch of sweet little boutiques and shops.

1-2. I am in love with last Sunday's 1930s inspired outfit.

3-4. Another photoshoot at the train tracks.  This is becoming a regular spot for me.

5. Last week's Instagram post.

6-7. Outfit for running errands.

8. Photoshoot by the cherry blossoms again.

9. Tested out my flapper outfit to go see The Great Gatsby.

10. A close up of my beautiful 1920s cloche hat.

11. 1920s shoes. I want them all!

12. A gorgeous couple from the 20s.

13. A sweet shot of my sweet Smudger.

14. Hmm...which to wear when I go see Star Trek Into Darkness...

15. Benedict Cumberbatch was on a fair amount of talk shows!

16. Carey Mulligan was this week's Style Crush.

17. Shared this blog post on Instagram.

18. My great-grandparents in March of 1920.

19. My great-grandmother on the far right in the 1920s.

20. Shared this post on Instagram.

21. There's just something tasty about British villains.

22. I cannot wait to see (Benedict in) Star Trek Into Darkness.

23-24. I couldn't pass up the photo-op by this caboose built in 1942.

25. I should have bought these cute cat-eye glasses.

26-27. The bedroom display at The Curiosity Shoppe is incredible.

28. Michelle and I couldn't pass up the chance to pose in these extravagant vintage hats.

29. We should have been hat models.

30. Oh no! The Enterprise is crashing!

It was really going into the different shops and looking at all the gorgeous vintage items (and lusting over a lot of them!).  We also tried on glasses and extravagant hats.  We laughed over some ridiculous 1970s clothing including some pretty out there jumpsuits.  Next time I said we will have to try on the craziest outfits we can find and take photos like we did with the hats.

My favourite store we went into by far was The Curiosity Shoppe.  It's loaded with lovely vintage items everywhere.  They've even named the shop's pet birds Fred and Ginger!  This is definitely my type of store.  The owner even told me about some future events because she knows from the last time I was in there (and from my outfit yesterday) that I'm very much into the past.  I hope I'll get to go to the one event in June she mentioned that will have swing dancing and whatnot.  It's only a few days after I am scheduled to get my wisdom teeth out so it will have to depend on how I'm feeling and what the swelling situation is at that time.

How was your weekend?  Did you get to do anything fun?