i love...

she's a girl pinnochio! i love this look mostly for her button-down skirt (always a fave) and the fact that the skirt is long and kind of frumpy. as much as i love short short skirts and long long legs, i don't want to see every single skirt get chopped in the name of this year's trends. we may actually want to wear knee-length again someday...this girl is already ahead of her time.

*this post is somewhat cheating on my previous vow to do more dirty work in search of original. the sartorialist is always a great place to start looking for inspiration. but i will find others. i promise.

oh.

i just came to a major realization.
if i keep reading more and more fashion blogs, and only fashion blogs, i am going to have nothing original to say to you!
it's time to work on my research skills and tell you something you don't already know.
more on that later.

and also, a thorough list for you of all these lovely other blogs i'm getting hooked on!

i wish i'd found...

on tuesday the vintage gods looked down on me and said, "welcome back to work."
followed by, "good luck sucker."
i drove 60 miles, spent two and a half hours thrifting, and came home with nothing. it wasn't the best outcome for my first day trying to get back in gear with the shop.
however, this doesn't mean i won't ever find anything good ever again. in fact, it probably means i'm getting better at deciding what not to buy.
while i was browsing through racks of boring, i dreamt of things i wished i would find. when i got home, i checked out the other vintage shops on etsy to assure myself there is still good vintage out there.
i wish i'd found this...
yes, those are carrots on this adorable, flirty, perfect summer dress. i'm jealous that honey bee vintage found it first, but i'm glad to know that things like this still exist. i could never have dreamed of loving a carrot-topped mini dress with as much passion as i do this one!

that wasn't so bad

well the afghan is almost done, i have almost finished watching every episode of beverly hills 90210 - how i got sucked into that one i don't even know - and sitting around doing nothing is starting to get a little boring.
i've been thrifting a bit and i'm excited to bust out the spring things i've been hoarding all winter. i'm working on yet another photo set so new pics might not happen for another week or so. i also joined a local estate sale email list for a company that always gets the most interesting houses in the best parts of town. so there should be lots of goodies coming our way.
right after this post, i'm starting a list of all the things i've been wanting to write about - so there may even be something interesting to read soon too!

thanks for the comments you've been leaving - it's nice to know people are reading! it inspires me to write more!

a short farewell

i think i may be taking a break from the shop. all i've been wanting to do lately is nest (even cleaning the kitchen sounds like fun now - gasp!!) and crochet. there just isn't time for running all over town and out of town for thrifting and i don't know how many posts you want to read about the granny squares i'm making to turn into an afghan.
they'd go like this: today i switched colors! i've got 100 now! 136!
this post will probably suffice.
while i'm gone, maybe you'd like to learn to make granny squares too. apparently it's pretty hip because i noticed this in the urban outfitters catalog today while i was lazily eating breakfast on the couch at noon-thirty.

for some directions, go here.
to just buy the ununique premade one at a pricey price, go here.
when i come back, i'll have things figured out a little better. and probably a huge load of clothes for the shop because i'm kidding myself if i think i won't wander into a thrift shop or two in the meantime.

old man's breakfast club

stolen from vandicla on flickr

and finally...a story from my great big thrift trip last week...
i got to the little town i was going to a bit earlier than their thrift stores open. i was parked in a strip mall with the usual tiny shops and... a donut shop! i stopped in for a coconut cake donut and a cup of black coffee and i knew instantly i'd chosen the right place to spend my twenty minutes when i spotted one of my favorite kinds of groups to people-watch.
one of the cutest phenomena in human nature is the old man's breakfast club. either by chance or on purpose, groups of four to eight men (aged 55+) congregate at the same cafe, restaurant, donut shop, or coffeeshop every morning at the same time.
maybe a couple of them were buddies before and one day another customer joined in their conversation and then he and his buddies all joined the circle. they all become friends based almost exclusively on the facts that they are old and they are men. their conversations range from current events (mainly politics-bashing) to gripes about their wives or children and almost always lead to stories of the good ol' days that you know must be embellished a little but are highly entertaining anyway.
the men trickle in and out of the shop and the conversation. they start side conversations. the group i was listening to finally spread onto two tables with a 'hello' and 'good morning' for everyone as each man came in at his own leisurely pace. it's also super cute to watch their interactions with the people that work at the shop - they've obviously been going to the same place for years and there is a very familiar (and familial) relationship between everybody.
my favorite part of witnessing this situation that morning was reflecting on all the other times i've seen this exact same type of group doing the exact same thing in so many other places. it was even pretty easy finding a picture online to describe what i'm talking about - i had to choose from pics of groups of men at cafes from all over the world. it's not even just an american good ol' boy kind of thing. i could go on explaining why this old man's breakfast club is so dang cute, but it's getting kind of corny and i'm possibly the only person who cares about this anyway, so i'll stop alienating my dear readers and go work on something else to talk about.

how to be unsuccessful on etsy

this is the explanation for my major absence as of late - and the fact that it's late arriving is just perfect as it helps to prove my point some more.
i've noticed a terrible problem with my being my own boss....i'm a terrible motivator for myself. it goes like this: sales slow down in the shop, i decide it's because everything i buy is crap and my pictures are ugly, i stop taking pictures and listing things and contemplate deleting the whole thing, sales continue to slow because i'm not listing anything, and i start thinking about running away to live on a farm in the middle of nowhere.
usually i just let these fear attacks paralyze me (and the shop) with the excuse that if i'm not feeling up to it the product will reflect my lack of interest. it generally only takes about a week until the boredom from not working on the shop gets me back in gear. this time, it even prompted me to take on a big ol' thriftin' adventure, which i think i also promised stories of before, and hopefully, will share in the next day or so.
i have lots of work to do, and even more ideas for new projects to work on so i'm hoping this will be the last little break i take until it's a break i plan to take. if only i had a better boss.

huge update

today i took more pictures in one shoot than i ever have before. i've been hoarding vintage again. it will probably take a couple of days to list all these items, but i'm hoping to get it done as soon as possible because tomorrow i'm going on a massive thrift trip to stock up some more.
also tomorrow...where i've been the last week.




















click here to shop!!!

UPDATE: some of these amazing lil' dolls still haven't gotten into the shop. i've been laaaaaazy. i think i shall re-shoot them in the new setup i'm working on, so no fears. you didn't miss them yet!

waxin & milkin s'more

i was just lurking on my new favorite photo source and found this pic of anna karina looking just like a picture of me last fall except that she's in a pretty room with a pretty coat on and i was in a shitty cubicle hating life. ah, well.

a very useful resource

i've mentioned before my frequent frustration when trying to date some of the items i find for the shop. the label is most often the next best clue after the actual design of the dress, but with designers i know to have had decades long careers, it's still pretty hard to decipher. i've been searching forever for some kind of database to answer my questions, and i just found it - accidentally.
vintage fashion guild is my new favorite bookmark - over 700 designers listed with complete bios and dated pictures of all the incarnations of their labels. it's pretty much my holy grail found...my life is now complete.
vfg told me all i need to know about the jonathan logan navy blue wool sweater dress i found today. the label below tells me to tell you that my find was created in 1973. how's that for precise?!


just one more reason why i looooove the blessed interweb.

a tiny shop update

i bought a bunch of stuff for the shop this week, but this is all that made it through to the photoshoot. most of what i bought is best saved for spring, and a couple things were crap - i still don't shoot 100% when i'm shopping.
luckily, these items are pretty cute and will help us get through the last couple months of winter with style. click here to shop. they'll be there soon.

welcome to my "studio"

did you know that before every photoshoot i stand goofily in front of the camera like this to make sure the lighting is alright? did you care? i've been reading a lot of artist bios lately and there's usually a picture or two of their workspace which makes me jealous of their organization, space, and 'realness.' from there my thought process goes like this:
1) maybe you're curious as to what my studio looks like
2) the outfit i'm wearing today is pretty cute, so now's a good time to show you
3) if you see that my 'studio' is my bedroom you'll feel bad for me
4) then you'll shop more so that i may someday afford a real studio, or ideally, a house with an extra room for this stuff. i like to dream big.
and, voila, this post was born.

also, i thought i'd better post more today than just the sad little shop update i'm about to do.
stay tuned!