meth is cool

a trip to a west sacramento thrift store this afternoon reminded me to tell you that crack is whack. i know the woman in front of me was high on meth because i've seen intervention and you don't shake all over and say "huh?" every time the checker says something to you and then freak out because you don't know your pin number or what a pin number is if you're not high on meth.
sometimes the particularly druggy areas of town are absolute treasure troves of vintage finds. today, however, it was for pure entertainment only that i ventured past the check-cashing shops and the long john silver's to look through an entire 30 foot rack of dresses and leave with nothing. well, except of course for the reiteration that mmmm....drugs are bad.

one of those

some things just stick with you. ever since i saw the glamourai's blue velvet coat with the bright and fancy lining and the gorgeous red fox fur collar, i've probably thought about it or looked at pictures of it at least once a week.

photos originally uploaded by the glamourai

well today, i found my own version of this masterpiece! she's a 1950's jackie morgan shantung dress coat in peacock blue. instead of the fur, i like the oversized shawl collar - it emphasizes a petite waist - and besides, this is california, we don't need fur when it's 60 degrees in december. (it really was that warm today! yay!)

and on the inside....a bright and beautiful silk lining!


if you were also coveting the glamourai's outrageously awesome winter coat, check out the shop. i'm being good and letting this one go.

i wish i'd seen this sooner!

originally uploaded on take luck

a random internet browse this morning led me to reese dixon for a tutorial on how to make the cutest quilled snowflake ornament. this craft idea is right up my vintage-loving, do-it-yourself, luxe-for-less alley. the pretty little thing is just strips of cardstock curled up and glued together. the tutorial is very detailed and looks easy enough to follow. too bad the holiday's all over now, but at least next year my sad little charlie brown christmas tree will be adorned with gorgeous, crafty, homemade ornaments!

if it ain't vintage...

...i don't want it.
i am working on a little wish-list/paper-doll scenario for you so i sent myself shopping online to pick out pretty things that are way out of my price range.
while perusing the dresses at anthropologie, nothing attracted me enough to even click on the thumbnail for a bigger picture. am i sick? i used to want everything from that store. i could rack up a $2000 (imaginary) order in five minutes without even trying.
i think it might be because these dresses aren't vintage. the ones i kind of liked just reminded me of pretty old things i've seen in photographs and vintage stores. but they don't come with the story of how you discovered it amongst a pile of junky stuff; and you can't look at a picture of your grandma wearing it to someone's birthday party in 1957.
this project might take a little longer than i thought. i'm going to have to be a little more open-minded. or just look at vintage shops only!

a poor man's christmas

there's been a lot of talk this year about making your christmas thrifty. i've been trying to be a more conscious consumer anyway and pretty much everything in my home right now has come from a thrift store, estate sale, friend's handouts, or a thoroughly researched deal.
so, for christmas, i made a goal of spending less than anybody ever has before. i got a vintage fake canadian pine tree at a thrift store for $5.99. then 2 packs of ornaments, and a string of lights on super discount for 74 cents each!
the tree is in perfect condition but the stand was missing from the box. (of course). so boyfriend went out to our one-stop-shop, the alley, where we can generally find anything we need (and once scored an amazing vintage leather armchair) and picked up a beautiful old dresser drawer to use for the base.
he went about craftily drilling a hole in the middle of the drawer front that would be big enough to stick the tree into. and for our topper, a tin foil star! i'll probably keep my eye out for a pretty vintage one in my shopping over the next year, but i'd say this one is pretty and cool and works great for free!


i wish there was tinsel on the tree but i'm not sure wednesday can handle the temptation.


after setting up the tree, tonight was the perfect night for a homemade hot buttered rum (thanks to forkable for the recipe) and a tangerine for dessert!

wednesday

the new love of my life! this is the very first picture of my new baby, taken moments after stepping in the door with her. not a bad pose for her very first try! she's gonna be a model just like her momma.
we found wednesday at the fourth pet rescue center we visited today. the ladies only had kittens there because that's all anybody wants for christmas. when i told them i wanted a grown-up kitty, they were so stoked that one of the foster mommies ran home to pick up wednesday to show me - they knew we were meant to be together!
perhaps i'll have a not-so-blurry photo for you in the future. until then go to itty bitty kitty committee and see why everyone wants kittens for christmas. they're so freakin' adorable!

this week's update

i still seem to be sticking to a very specific color palette. but i've decided that's a good thing. browns, blues, and other neutrals are the only colors anybody should be wearing. i'm starting a revolution here and now!
click here to see the shop. if it's not there yet, it will be soon. or it sold and you were a slowpoke.

more blog love, yay!

yesterday, one of my darlings was featured on sweet figments, a handmade and vintage blog run by two ladies with supreme-o style. i pretty much want everything they pick out for their readers, so i am very excited to have been included!

collage of amazing print works picked out by sweet figments. click here to see article and seller info.

i read back through their older posts and fell in love with these print shops! especially yellena (top left corner). her shop is stocked with beautifully crafted, intricately drawn organic themes in color schemes straight from my dreams. whoa, that was a bit rhyme-y. maybe i should edit.

2009 calendar by yellena, $24

i've 'favorited' yellena's 2009 calendar. twelve original drawings tied up with a cute little blue ribbon. yum!

hurrah for etsy and blogs.

seriously, wall

new hat. on my head. but you can't see it because it too is the g.d. same color as the wall. cute dress though, no?

santa cruz and the brilliant idea

the other day my mom and i drove down to santa cruz for an early christmas present. we have been on a quest to replicate the-best-candle-ever for almost 10 years - countless internet searches and talks with craft fair potions makers have never come close to getting the recipe for that sweet sweet scent. as a last ditch effort, mom decided we would have the perfumer's apprentice give it a shot for us. bring the candle, give her a whiff, and she'd figure out the exact components and we'd have a lifetime supply of the holy grail of smelly candles.


alas, it was not so easy. the 'perfumer's apprentice' turned out to be us! they seat you at a table in a cozy yet airy room with tea and cookies and almost any scent that could ever be used in a perfume. you sniff out your favorites (and coffee beans in between to cleanse the palette), making little scent strips of any you think you might use. then put the strips together to smell the whole aroma and decide what's missing or what's too much.


i got fed up trying to recreate that elusive goodness and set about making my own signature scent while mom worked hard and ended up nailing it right on its sandalwood/cardamom/frankinscense-y head. (seriously, check out that combo - it really does deserve this amount of obsession.) after about two hours and two cups of constant comment tea of sniffing ourselves dizzy, we both were ecstatic over our new creations. my set is pictured below - i'm keeping the measurements secret - but let me tell you, fig is an unexpectedly fantastic top note!

we took home little vials of our new roll-on perfumes and the shop keeps a record of your recipe so you can order refills or other products in the future.

more kudos for santa cruz: we hit two awesome thrift shops in the downtown area (pics to come later when my finds are photographed and in the shop) and had a delicious vegan lunch at what looked like a regular ol' cafe but features only organic, sustainable, veggie and vegan burgers, milkshakes, and breakfasts. yum!

clothes that blend in with my wall

in thumbnail view, everything i just listed looks blah and boring. live and in person, they're all amazing! apparently my bedroom paint job is affecting my shopping aptitudes.





at least the blue one stands out a bit! click here to see these neutral beauties (and that coat i teased you with) in all their glory.