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?

My Week According to Instagram

Another week passes us by.  I worked all week except for Thursday.  I was rather productive that day.  I finally got my hair trimmed after not doing so for the longest time, I started my Christmas shopping, went grocery shopping, and did some sewing with my mum.

I am working this weekend, so I usually don't do much when I work.  I have off tomorrow but it's going to be another busy day.  I like having off a weekday each week, but then again at the same time it's not very relaxing if you try to cram too much in one day.  I always long for my weekends off when I can have two days in a row.

1. Pumpkin spice latte on the way to a flea market.

2. Vintage nails and a Singer light bulb shield.

3-4. The lovely Vivien Leigh.

 

5. Stockings and garter belt.

6. Gorgeous blue Orchids.

7. Handmade Kindle case.

8. Battle wound from Smudger.

9. Lee Pace in Breaking Dawn Part Two.

10. Exploring Maine in July.

11. Hitchcock time.

12. Lovely fabric I need to buy.

13. Making an apron from this pretty fabric.

14. Saving the eggs from spoiling.

15-16. Stunning Waterfall furniture.  I desperately want the wardrobe on the right.

17. The third piece at the thrift shop.

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.

My Week According to Instagram

So I survived Frankenstorm!  Though I didn't go unscathed.  I had leaks in my ceiling that caused some damage.  But thankfully I managed to be one of the lucky ones that didn't lose power.  I was very grateful for that fact.  I was also off on Monday, which was the worst of the days.

I had off yesterday and today.  I spent the weekend with my mum sewing and hanging out.  I made a case for my Kindle and began on a dress.  I think the Kindle case turned out well enough for my first stab at it.  I also had to tweak it a bit to fit my specific Kindle model.  I'm excited to make more now that I've got the hang of it, and put them up on my Etsy.

1. Recently acquired vintage luggage.

2. Grilled cheese on a rainy day.

3. Rice cereal pumpkin treats for Halloween.

4. Ceiling leak because of Sandy.

5. Ceiling rain water dripping in a pot.

6. 1920s inspired hair.

7. Ceiling damage from Sandy.

8. Hocus Pocus on Halloween.

9. Smudger in his hot dog costume...he's not that amused.

10. World War II Weekend, June 2012.

11. Knowlton family coat of arms.

12. World War II Weekend, June 2011.

13. Vintage back seam nylons.

14. Vintage coat.

15. Braving the cold for outfit photos.

16. Sewing time!  A vintage pincushion.

I don't really have much else to report.  I'm a bit tired from Daylight Savings Time, so I believe I will call it a night.  Did you do anything fun this week?

My Week According to Instagram

Nothing too exciting happened the first several days of the week.  I worked Monday through Thursday so those days didn't consist of much.  Friday I had off and spent a lovely day with my mum.

We spent the day thrifting at a few different shops.  I didn't get my usual load of bounty, but I did get a few nice pieces.  The most exciting thing is a stunning vintage 1940s coat that my mum got me for Christmas.  She wasn't going to show me at first, but she wanted to make sure it fit.  I can't wait to get it!  It's so lovely!

We had lunch at the little diner in my town that we also wanted to check out.  They had the cutest Victorian era reproduction Coca-Cola signs hanging around.  The food was so delicious too.

We ended up having to go grocery shopping then.  Crazy!  I really had to go no matter what, but it was still crazy.  We are supposed to be getting a really bad storm here in the next few days so people were going into survivor mode.  I've heard insane reports about how generators are sold out everywhere and Walmart no longer has any water!  I guess they're expecting it to be really bad.  It's rather scary...  Hopefully it won't be quite as bad as they are saying it to be.

1-4. Baking pumpkin shaped spritz cookies with my vintage mixer.

5. Romance in bloom.

6. Lady Mary Crawley.

7-8. Old WWI advertisements.

9. Old newspaper article about WWI ending.

10. Incredible Downton Abbey companion book.

11. Sharing  this post with my Instagram followers.

12. Gorgeous foliage on the way to work.

13. Sharing this post with my Instagram followers.

14. My mum's new dog, Gracie.

15. Taking my mum's pups for a walk.

16. Freshly curled hair.

17. Freshly done vintage mani.

18. Vintage jewelry box.

19. My mum's 1960s dress from middle school.

20. Oxfords and leaves.

 21. Taking outfit photos in the park.

22. The most beautiful shoes I've ever seen...that were too small.

23. Lunch at the Railroad Diner with mum.

24. Ethel and Bobby Kennedy.

 

25. A cute wee bug on my mums.

26. Last Sunday's thrifting outfit.

27. Hello, Hook!  Another reason to love Once Upon a Time.

I'm excited to have off tomorrow.  It's going to be horrible out, so it's the perfect day to lay on the couch and try to finish watching my list of Halloween movies with a cup of hot mint chocolate.  Hopefully the power stays on so I can achieve that.  And also hopefully it won't be so terrible tonight at work that they make me stay the night.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

My Favourite Halloween-time Films

It's that time of year everybody!  Spooks and spells and scares.  So, in preparation for Halloween next Wednesday, I have accumulated my list of favourite films to watch this time of year.  It pretty much goes for all of these that I could watch them any month.  But they each mean something to make it to my personal top 15.  Some of them are scary, some are silly, but I enjoy them all.  So here they are, in alphabetical order:

The Addams Family

They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky.  They're all together ooky...  This is such a classic campy film.  It's not particularly a scary film, unless you're an impressionable young child.  I just love that they are all their own unique characters and it's just a fun film to watch.

Beetlejuice

For the longest time when I was younger, my mum refused to let me watch this film.  It is a bit unnerving, but hey, that's Tim Burton for you.  This is another of the campier films on my list.  One of my favourite scenes is the seance where Beetlejuice sort of possess everyone, making them sing and dance.

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

George Romero (and Tom Savini for the make-up world) is rather like a god in the horror world.  This was one of the first zombie films I saw.  This is such a classic for me.  Every time I go to a mall, it makes me think of this.  I also enjoy the new Dawn of the Dead, for the most part.  I just can't get past running zombies.

Drag Me to Hell

This is one of the few newer films that has actually gave me the creeps.  Not too many horror films scare me much anymore.  Nowadays, it's more so about the gore and shock factor (hello, Saw).  The ending was predictable for me, but I still loved this nonetheless.

The Evil Dead

Okay, okay, another campy film.  I know!  But this is such a cult classic!  I love the whole series, so I'm going to be naughty and count three films as one.  I love all the ridiculousness of these and I can't wait to see what they do with the remake.  Hopefully it will keep to the same sense since Sam Raimi.

 Ginger Snaps

I was first introduced to this movie around Halloween when I was still in high school.  I was watching Night of the Living Dead (1968) and this came on afterwards.  The opening is such a gross way to start a film and I love it.

Halloween

Another classic horror film.  I really enjoyed Rob Zombie's remake, but for the list I'm going with the original.  From the eerie music to the unnerving way Michael Myers just walks slowly after his prey, this is a great suspense choice.

Halloweentown

So here is my more child-friendly choice of movies.  Again for this, I enjoyed the whole series (though I hate when they change the main character in one of the sequels, even though I like the new actress).  This is a cute film to watch with the whole family.  Who says Halloween has to be completely about scares?

Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus is another film that my mum didn't let me watch for quite awhile.  She thought it was scary and didn't realize that it was more so comedic than creepy.  I must say, this might be my number one film that I have to watch no matter what every Halloween.  My best friend and I would quote it constantly.  I just can't get enough of it.

Land of the Dead

Though I suppose I could technically lump this in with Dawn of the Dead, I decided to give it it's own spot.  Here's another piece of George Romero genius.  This is such a great zombie film.  I love the fact that he evolved them a bit, allowing them to keep the basic instincts from their former lives.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

I must say, I believe Freddy Krueger is my favourite horror film killer.  He's such a sick, sadistic individual.  I love the way he messes with his victims minds.  I really want to lump in New Nightmare with this one, since it's so amazing.  It is close to the first movie in awesomeness.  I just love the whole idea behind it.  So if you're a Freddy fan, check it out.  The remake of the first movie was pretty good, though I couldn't get past the changes in Freddy's face.  I know he looks more like a real burn victim, but I was just so used to seeing the way he used to look.

Scream

This was one of the first scary movies I saw when I was just getting into them.  I was at a sleepover with a bunch of girls and we freaked ourselves out so much that we couldn't sleep.  Nowadays, it's not so scary for me.  But I still love all four films in the series.

Shaun of the Dead

How's this for a slice of fried gold?  I absolutely love Shaun of the Dead.  It's such a fun change to see the zombie world through the eyes of fanboys.  It's humorous, the zombies look great, and it's just so fun.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Good ol' Leatherface.  Here's another twisted individual.  Though a lot of that could be blamed on his family.  This film is creepy in the fact that, hey, it could really happen.  Plus that mask made of skin is just so wrong.

Zombieland

And finally, Zombieland.  This is another favourite of mine.  I know I have a lot of zombie movies on here but I can't help it.  I adore them so much and this is such a fantastic one.  This I suppose could also be placed in the campy category, but it does have a few suspenseful moments.  Plus Jesse Eisenberg is so endearing as the sort of anti-hero.

I tried to narrow it down, which was quite difficult in the end.  So there was my top fifteen films that I enjoy watching this time of year (though many of them I could watch all year, and do!).  Wondering what ones slipped from the list in favour of the ones above?

Here's my close, but no cigar choices:
~The Craft (This is eery at times.  Especially towards the end when Fairuza Balk's feet drag across the floor.  It gets me every time.)

~The Nightmare Before Christmas (I know this is a classic for everyone, but it just wasn't enough for me this year.)

~Stay Alive (I'm not a gamer, but even this film creeps me out.  The thought behind it is intriguing and the Countess gives me nightmares.  It's even 'loosely' based on a true Countess.)

~The Rocky Horror Picture Show (This isn't necessarily Halloween-y, but it's certainly campy enough.  Since I watch this film any time of the year, I decided to keep it off the main list.)

~Planet Terror (I love zombie films, and this is such a great one.  But, there were a few zombie ones that just mean a little more to me than this.  Again, I could watch this any time of the year.)

~Fido (Another zombie film.  I love the campy-ness of it as well as the gorgeous setting.  I can't help loving a 1950's vibe.)

What are your Halloween time must have films?  Are they all scary or do you have a few cheesy ones thrown in there like me?