Ann-Margret Anyone?

The moment I first laid eyes on this dress my mind immediately went to Joan from Mad Men and Ann-Margret.  I thought automatically of a 1960s bombshell.

It's only fitting that I broke out my Grandma Charlotte's sunglasses from that era also.  And why not wear my hair up like Joan and throw on some gloves?

The sweet bow detail on the shoes, though not vintage, I thought was a perfect touch for the look.

I really had fun in this outfit even though I'm more of a 1940s/1950s girl.  I do appreciate a lot of the style from the early-mid 60s but then past that I stop caring for it as much.  Most of the styles on Mad Men currently?  No thank you, I'll pass.

 Outfit Details:

vintage dress, vintage gloves, belt, vintage jewellery {thrifted}

vintage handbag {gift}

vintage sunglasses {belonged to my Grandma Charlotte}

backseam stockings {eBay}

It's hard to think of the 60s when my mind is focused on the 20s and The Great Gatsby.  I definitely want to start integrating more of that style into my wardrobe.

Want to see what photos didn't make the blog?  Head over to Facebook for a look-see.

My Week According to Instagram/100th Post!

Wow!  Can you believe that this is my 100th post?!  Soon enough it will be the blog's one year anniversary.

Monday I volunteered at the library for a few hours.  It was nice to hang out with the lovely ladies there and of course where all the books live!  If I could, I would probably live in the library, that's how much I love books and their stories.  That's also probably why I turned my spare bedroom into a library.  Who needs a spare bedroom anyway?  I spent my time there putting away the DVDs (the actual discs are kept behind the counter) and stocking them plus the books/magazines throughout the library.  It doesn't sound like it would take one long, but after the holiday weekend there was a lot to put away.  Doing this totally fed into my slightly OCD organization skills.

Thursday night I went to the library's crochet club.  You can also knit there, but they like a good alliteration like I do.  The librarian taught me a few basic crochet steps as I've never done it before.  It was really fun and something I wanted to learn for quite awhile.  I'd like to learn to knit also, but they suggested crochet first as it was a little simpler.  I can't wait to get it down so I can start making all sorts of things.  Right now I'm working on a scarf, but that seems a bit silly during springtime.

1. So excited for The Nerdist to be a weekly series!

2-4. Easter Sunday pastels.

5. He is Risen.

6. A sweet old Easter Greeting card.

7. Last week's Instagram post.

8. Fred and George Weasley! Fittingly their birthday was April Fools.

9. I love this little man so much.

10. This calendar has incredible pictures.

11. Norman Reedus looking his usual sexy in The Notorious Bettie Page.

12. Antique table, free from the side of the road!

13. Vintage perfume bottles upon said table.

14. A sweet old photograph of a beautiful girl on my desk.

15. Seeking makeup help for dark eye circles.

16. Thursday's outfit.

17. Took outfit photos. Soon to be on the blog.

18. Incredible stack of old crochet, knitting, sewing, and embroidery booklets.

19. Why yes, yes I am.

20. Doctor Who Wedding? Geronimo!

21. Caffeine fix for watching my 5 year old nephew.

22. Gorgeous peacock at Saturday night's restaurant.

23. Did someone say Lucy? Today's outfit laid out.

24. Watched a great documentary about King George VI.

Yesterday I watched my nephew and then we all went out to dinner at Kauffman's Chicken (or the Chicken House as Evan calls it).  We had a yummy dinner and then tasty ice cream for dessert.  I got to see the beautiful peacock that lives there and then go home and see the beautiful Time Lord that came on the telly.

Today is the usual church and then mum's.  We will probably take the dogs for a walk since it's going to be lovely out again.  Then MAD MEN!  I'm so excited for the return tonight.  Especially since (thank to Watchathon Week) I'm for once caught up for the new season.

Did you do anything special to celebrate the warm weather?  Have a glorious day!  And thanks to those who have been reading and enjoying!

My Week According to Instagram

Happy Easter one and all!  I hope you are having a wonderful time celebrating this very special day.  I will be attending church, as usual, with my mum.  Afterwards my brother, his wife, and son will come over for Easter dinner at my mum's house.  I'm glad we are able to spend time together.

Hopefully by tonight, I can continue to remain spoiler-free in regards to The Walking Dead after last week's fiasco.  There's nothing worse than spoilers.

In more cheerful news, Bomb Girls and Doctor Who is back!!!  Plus Mad Men in one week!  Hopefully these shows will fill the hole that The Walking Dead will leave.  But sadness aside, can we just take a moment and talk about how amazing the return of Bomb Girls and Doctor Who was?  I almost forgot how much I enjoyed those programs until they came back on.  Oh Doctor...

1. Last week's Instagram post.

2. Made stuffed shells for dinner last Sunday.

3. Smudger playing hide and go seek.

4. It's not easy taking a photo of the back of your legs.

5. Angry words with just cause.

6. How great is this?

7-8. Shared this post on Instagram.

9. Emma Pillsbury has some good pamphlets.

10. Baby Willow didn't want her hair to get tousled in the wind.

11. Gingers.

12. One of my favourite Doctor Who quotes.

13. Mad Men marathon. I'm all caught up for next week!

14. Gorgeous pink vintage hat.

15. Bomb Girls is back on!

16. Emma Pillsbury was this week's Style Crush.

17. My grandma Ruth in front of the beach house her dad built, 1940s.

18. Sweet glove clip that attaches to your handbag, belonged to my grandma Charlotte.

19. Throwback to last April. Was going to see Titanic for its 100th anniversary.

20. Oh, silly Smudger!

21-22. Mad Men influenced.  Hello 60s!

23. Friday's accessories. The sunnies belonged to my grandma Charlotte.

24. Took photos for a future blog post.

25. I love the Peter Pan collar on this dress.

26. Shared this post on Instagram.

27-28. Yesterday's outfit. Rosie the Riveter inspired for taking my nephew to an egg hunt.

 29. This car was at the one egg hunt and I couldn't resist even though it's the wrong era.
30. Pastel polka dots for Easter!
31-32. He's back!!!

It's slowly starting to warm up again.  This weekend's weather has been nice, in the 50s, though they are calling for rain this afternoon.  I know I've said this before, but I can't wait for the warmth to come and stay.  Friday I got to wear my pretty blue 1960s frock.  I had to go in that direction after watching a season and a half of Mad Men.  But I'm ready and rearing to go for next week's premiere.  

Yesterday Mum and I helped out at our church's Easter egg hunt.  My nephew came along and then we took him to another egg hunt.  The lucky lad!  I wish they had egg hunts for adults.  I miss the rush and thrill of trying to grab those eggs.  Plus some free candy is always nice.  Though they did hand out chocolate bunnies to both adults and children at the second egg hunt.  Yum.

What are your Easter plans?  I hope you have a happy and joyous day no matter what it is!  Happy Easter!

My Week According to Instagram

It's my birthday!!!  Today!  Right now!  Today I turn 27...Yikes!  I'm the same age as my mum when she had me.  By the time she was this age she had three children.  I feel so behind.  Though things nowadays are a little different and there isn't as much pressure to get married and have children straight away.

But now that I am getting into my late 20s (geez), it really starts to get me thinking about the future and really paving the path for the things I want out of life.  I'm tired of going from job to job and would really like to find a career.  I have no idea what that is though.  Definitely something where I could dress up and be creative.  It also gets me thinking about how much I'd really like to meet a good man so I can take those steps towards settling down.  I don't have to get married and start popping out babies quite yet, but I'd at least like to be on my way towards that, even if it's a few years off.

1. Mmm, Daryl...

2. A great fashion book by the stylist of Mad Men.

3. Those arms... *swoon*

4. Playing with a new app.  This look is rather true now.

5. Entered a giveaway to win Julianne Hough's new shoe line.

6. Made a (at the time) truer to form comic self.

7. Shared this post on Instagram.

8. Gave myself glitzy nails.

9. Loved this photo from this post too much to not share it.

10. A stack of Jean Harlow films from the library.

11. Shared this post about Chuck from Pushing Daisies on Instagram.

12. A vintage Valentine.

13-14. Got gussied up for myself on Valentine's Day.

15. Vintage 1932 La Belle Chocolatier cookbook.

16. The recipe a used, a little well loved.

17. The finished result, which I then gave to my mum.

18. Haha, love this!

19. Oh The Notebook...I had to watch this for Valentine's Day.

20. Oh man, look at all that hair I chopped off!

21. My new haircut, au natural.

22. All styled up.

23. Ginger Rogers looks so stunning here.

24. What I wore thrifting yesterday.

25. A close up of my 1930s fur trimmed jacket and vintage hat.

26-27. Made out like a bandit at the thrift shop.

28. Throwback of me in a bonnet with my mum.

29. Vintage pink and cream Elton's square hatbox.

30. Vintage tan snap wrist opera gloves.

31. Vintage Miss Liberte hatbox.

32. Vintage rabbit fur coat.

33. Vintage dressing table powder dish.

34. Vintage floral tapestry bag and vintage gloves with blue knit trim.

35. Vintage t-strap heels.

36. Faux fur bolero.

37. Charcoal grey faux fur coat.

38. Vintage wooden hangers and vintage copies of Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit, and Gone With the Wind.

39. A stack of vintage vinyls.

40. Vintage silver serving spoon, 1950s cookbook, and vintage Alka-Seltzer song book.

Yesterday my mum took me thrifting as part of a birthday present.  She could have spent that money to get another gift for me, but she knew how much I enjoyed going thrifting.  As you can see above, I made out like a bandit.  I didn't get as much clothing as I would have liked, but I did find some really amazing pieces.

Today my mum is taking me to go see Warm Bodies.  I am excited to finally go see it after reading the book and seeing constant advertisements for it.  We will then divulge in some yummy Pizza Hut pizza and of course my favourite, their breadsticks with extra seasoning.  Yum!  I'm starting to feel really sick so I hope it goes away so I can enjoy today.

Then tomorrow my dad is taking me out to dinner, so I'll get two treats two days in a row.  It will also be nice because I hardly ever see him.  Maybe twice a year.  And in that time we don't really get much quality time together so it will be nice to see him.  The last time I did something that was just the two of us was at least two years ago.  Ever since my parents got divorced and then he remarried, our relationship just started to suffer.  I wanted to have a closer bond with him, but he's not particularly the most touchy-feely type of person, so it's hard that I don't have the type of relationship with him that I'd like.  It makes me all the more grateful for how close I am to my mum.

But enough about that drama!  It's my birthday and it will be a good day.  I'm off to go see a sexy zombie Nicholas Hoult and eat some yummy, greasy food, if I can stomach it.  I hope you all had a grand weekend!  And please cross your fingers for me that I may start to feel better so I can enjoy the day.

Out of the Secretarial Pool, Into the Woods

2013???  Already?  It's still so hard to believe.  I haven't had to write the date as of yet, but I'm sure I'm going to mess it up when I finally have to.  My new year is beginning pretty much the same as the year ended- with a whole lot of nothing.  So I don't really have much to report here.

I've given the post this title because I feel as if I look like some sort of secretary here.  Not that that's a bad thing of course.  I just feel like I stepped out of the office for a stroll through the park.  In hindsight, I think I would have paired this look with a shoe with a higher heel.  The vintage shoes here have just the tiniest wedge and I think with the knit stockings, it throws things off.  It's also bizarre how the camera photographed the print of the skirt.  It got all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.

Outfit Details:

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

knit stockings {target}

vintage ring {paternal grandmother}

earrings {claire's}

Tonight I will be going to my mum's and making homemade pepperoni pizza.  I haven't had homemade pizza in the longest time so I'm quite excited.  When I was still in school and would go visit my dad every Friday we used to make the most delicious pizza and then watch Star Trek and the original Beverly Hills 90210.  There was this one horrible time when I picked a piece of pepperoni off a cooked pizza and burnt my chin.  It was very painful and I had a terrible red burn mark on my chin for a bit.  Suffice to say, I learned my lesson.

Have any of you had any kitchen horror stories?

Want to see what photos didn't make it onto the blog?  Head over to Facebook for the extras.

My Week According to Instagram

Sorry I've been so naughty with posting!  I've pretty much only been doing my weekly Instagram posts, and this one is even a day late.  I really don't have any excuses except laziness and back pain.  I got injured at work a few months ago and have yet to heal from it.  Actually, the pain has increased the last few weeks.  I ended up having to go home from work early because the pain was so unbearable.

But onto less depressing things.  The Christmas spirit is really starting to bubble up inside of me.  I know Thanksgiving hasn't even come yet.  But I can't help it.  I blame the Hallmark and Lifetime channels for having Christmas film marathons that I can't resist.  I'm so looking forward to the decorations, the music, the movies, and the smells of wondrous things baking.

1. A beautiful 1957 Packard for sale.

2. A picturesque property.

3. 'Army babe' costume at the thrift shop.

4. Grandma's hat.

5. Outfit photos.

6. My great uncle's Navy photo.

7. Grace Kelly.

8. World War II Weekend, June 2011.

9. 200 followers!  Wow!

10. Sophie Kinsella marathon.

11. The one that got away.

12. Vintage-inspired gloves from Target.

13. Smudger is getting in the Christmas spirit.

14. Breaking Dawn Part Two.

15. Wearing the dress my mum made in middle school.

16. Mad Men, anyone?

Closer to the horizon is Thanksgiving.  That will be my holiday off (I'll have to work Christmas) and I'm excited to be able to spend the day with some family.  I'm most looking forward to spending the morning cooking and baking with my beloved mother.

What are your favorite parts of the upcoming holidays?