Recalling Rita Hayworth

This is what I wore for my birthday, as my followers on Instagram may remember.  I wanted to wear something special and ultra classy.  The vintage fur coat I bought the day before at a thrift shop and the vintage tapestry handbag I got the day before also at a yard sale.  Plus the faux fur bolero was another birthday thrift shop acquisition.  It was a very cold, blustery day in February so the coat definitely helped keep me warm.

This is the first time you're seeing this location.  These were taken at the front door to my apartment because I didn't want to risk taking my fur coat over to my mum's house full of dogs.  So I wore it here whilst she took photos and then put a different coat over my outfit.  I just knew if I took it, something terrible would happen.  Though her dogs aren't trained hunters, they certainly have that ingrained in them just because of their breeds.

This outfit just transformed me.  It made me feel very va-va-voom.  It certainly has something to do with the way the dress fits me like a second skin.  The dress is what you would call a "wiggle dress".  I always feel sultry with back seam stockings on.  Plus throw in fur and red lipstick and it's enough to make a girl feel like an old Hollywood film star.  I felt like I could be a modern day Rita Hayworth.

I had a really good birthday which I've wrote to you all about in a previous post.  It's hard to believe this Sunday it will already be a month since I've entered into official spinsterhood.  Time really does pass much faster as you get older.

Outfit Details:

vintage fur coat, vintage dress, vintage hat, vintage handbag, faux fur bolero, belt {thrifted}

backseam stockings {eBay}

heels {Baker's, gift}

As I mentioned earlier, it was very windy and cold.  So unfortunately, a lot of my shots are wind blown and you can't really enjoy the dress for all it's worth.  Suffice to say, I only managed to stay outside long enough to get a few shots before I hurried inside to warm up.  I ended up changing clothes afterwards because I decided I didn't want to sit in yucky cinema seats in my very nice outfit.  I wore this dress to WWII Weekend last year and it's still one of my favourites and a contender for this year's event.

My Week According to Instagram

Thank you to all my lovely friends on Instagram for the sweetest birthday wishes!  I truly had a wonderful day.  I got some lovely gifts including a huge amount of vintage cookbooks, vintage scarves, a new (to me, but major step up from what I currently use) camera, and a trip, among other great presents.  I finally saw Warm Bodies after much waiting and anticipation.  It lived up to my expectations and was equally as good as the novel.

I should hopefully get some actual outfit posts up coming into this new week.  It just seems to be when it rains, it pours, as the old saying goes.  On top of the things and stuff (couldn't help myself, fellow TWD fans will know what I mean) I'm currently dealing with, now my car is acting up even more so than normal.  The check engine light has been on since last inspection, then out of nowhere the airbag light came on.

Now, this week my battery is giving me issues.  It has been very cold here lately and there were some days where it just sat with no use and it wouldn't start.  I got it jumped by a neighbour who noticed the battery had some corrosion on it.  I get in to go to the library yesterday to pick up a Norman Reedus film they have on hold and of course it wouldn't start again.  So my step-dad came over, cleaned the corrosion off the battery, and gave me another jump.  Let's hope the cleaning did the trick and I won't have ay more problems because God knows I can't afford to get a new battery right now.

1. A vintage birthday image.

2. My 2nd birthday.

3-4. What I wore on my birthday last Sunday.

5. Vintage emerald and diamond ring + Warm Bodies= happy birthday girl.

6.  Red velvet with cream cheese icing birthday cake.

7. Thank you all!

8. Oh, yes.

9. Smudger playing Pretty Pretty Princess with the girls.

10. Oh, Daryl...

11. This was me after he returned to Team Prison.

12. Goofing off with vintage glasses at a vintage store.

13. Pretty new lippy my dad bought me as a gift.

14. Finally reading the Walking Dead.  I've read the first 9 issues or so already, but here we go again.

15. Fixing y hair in the mirror of a WWII Jeep.

16. Gorgeous Home Comfort ranges from the late 1800s.

17. 1930, 1932, and 1933 model Home Comfort ranges.

18. Norman Reedus was on Friday's E!News.  Lovely surprise!

19. Glamour shot and close up.

20. Good hair Saturday plus my pretty lippy.

 21. Wishing for Spring. My trip to Castle Tucker in Wiscasset, Maine last year.

22. WWII Weekend, 2011. Apparently the soldiers thought I'd look good with a gun. Thus flocked lots of people with their cameras.

As if you won't be able to tell from above, I am really feeling the return of The Walking Dead.  The episodes have been soooo good thus far and I am quite pumped for tonight's new episode.  The Oscars?  Oh yeah...  Well I suppose I shall record the Oscars and watch The Walking Dead live.  What's a girl to do?  I can't willingly not watch Daryl Dixon when he's on.  It's no wonder I had a walker nightmare Friday night.  Most of you wouldn't think too much on that, but I have a very good imagination.  I seem to have the most realistic, horrifying zombie nightmares.  Does that stop me from reading the comic, fanfiction, or watching the programme?  Of course not.  But I'm not exaggerating when it's comes to how scary the dreams can be.  I usually wake up in a sweat and have trouble falling asleep again.

Are there any things that cause you nightmares, but you can't separate yourself from it?

Vivien Leigh

99 years ago today, on 5 November 1913, Vivian Mary Hartley (most famously known as Vivien Leigh) was born in Darjeeling, India.

I can remember the first film I saw with Vivien Leigh in it.  It was Waterloo Bridge.  This was also my first Robert Taylor film.  I fell in love with him instantly and adored her straight away.  It was such a magical, bittersweet story.

Vivien and Robert Taylor in Waterloo Bridge

Touching up her makeup on the set of Waterloo Bridge

Vivien and Laurence Olivier

Vivien with Maureen O'Sullivan and Robert Taylor

Clark Gable and Vivien in Gone with the Wind

I have since then seen subsequent films that Vivien has been in.  And her talent never fails to amaze me.  She is a delight to watch.  I have only had the pleasure of seeing a few of her films.  They were Gone with the Wind and A Yank at Oxford (co-starring Robert Taylor again).  But that's a problem that I seriously want to remedy and am able to do a little bit today.  TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is having a marathon of some of her movies which I am recording to watch later.

Vivien is definitely one of my top 3, favourite old Hollywood actresses along with Ginger Rogers and Rita Hayworth.  What are yours?

Happy Birthday to the stunning, always glamorous Vivien Leigh.