Mad Hatter

I'll bet no one has a hat as awesome as this one! It is the work of me six year old nephew Oliver who surprised me with it the other day :)
We obviously have a budding milliner here, so well thought out, complete with the string to keep it on. He's such a sweetie, and so funny. Especially if you get him talking about Star Wars, the kid knows his stuff ;)

Speaking of Mad Hatters, you can see the trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland here.

Merci!

I know I did a thank you post what seems like a year ago (ok, I haven't been blogging that long, so not quite), but I wanted to thank everyone for your kindness and encouragement. Sometimes I look back on posts and think "why do they keep reading when I'm just rambling on about little old lady dresses?". But then I realize that there are more people out there like myself who take more interest in an old plastic button than in the latest runway show. Those who gather here like to know that there are others just as silly and different than they are, just as I visit your blogs for the same comfort. The comments for our wedding day post were overwhelming, such wonderful wishes, and even some of you lurkers came out to say something! I admit I am guilty of lurking on many a blog, and you inspired me to comment more on those wonderful blogs I read but say nothing. It reminded me how good it feels to know someone is enjoying something you love and put time and effort into. I just wanted you to know that I read and appreciate every single comment you leave, in the morning it is my alternative to coffee, perks me right up!
Since starting this blog there have been people as kind as can be offering help and lovely surprises, and I hope that I can return such kindness in some way.
Yesterday I received a gift from Madeline, a reader who just celebrated her 29th wedding anniversary. She enjoyed my postings, and shared my excitement for marriage, and wanted to pass on some of her vintage wedding collection to me. She collects vintage wedding cake toppers, which I think is such a wonderful and romantic item to collect, and had some things in her collection she thought I might like.

Which of course I adore.

In the box of romantic vintage lovelies was an antique embroidered silk frame, pocket mirror, hand grooming set (in a little glove pouch!), vintage card, Victorian guide to happy marriage, pretty printed fan, unused loose powder (in Bridal Pink), a little lovebirds cake topper, and an intricately cross stitched linen.

Unwrapping each item was like Christmas, most things I have never come across in vintage hunts, and she even included a little history of the items to add extra sentiment. So thank you so much Madeline! And thank you everyone who reads, comments, keeps coming back, or simply stops by for a peek :)

xoxo

New listings

I think this is by far my favorite bunch of listings for my shop. I've got a 50s wedding/prom dress, a fantastic 30s dress that looks as though it should be in an old film, and layers upon layers of ruffles. All of these will be up this week in my shop, just let me know if you would like a reserve ;)

I'm hot. But not in a good way.

Right now it's over 100 degrees fahrenheit outside, and not much cooler inside our non air conditioned house. Today Sam, his mother and I headed over to a mall to cool down and spend some gift cards we received for the wedding. At the Fairmont we kind of became addicted to down pillows, so we found some really nice ones, which differ greatly from the pancakes we were using ;)

The rest of the day was spent finding places for all the wonderful wedding gifts we were given. They were all so marvelous, I wanted to display everything, even the pretty food processor, but then we would have no counter space, hehe. I'll just use it all the time :)

Later I'll take photos of everything, but really, it's so hot! I don't really want to get up.

Anyway, since I'm not doing an official wedding post until I have loads of photos to share here are some pre-wedding shots. This is the merry widow my mother bought me at the antique show a few weeks back, as well as the stockings. Both were purchased from the lovely Julie and Lisa, local dealers and sellers. And vintage eye candy. I'm not sure if then have a site or flickr, so if you are reading this girls, let me know!

You can also see a few amazing photos in our wedding set on Vorpal images Flickr.

These photos were taken by Lisa right before the ceremony. Being a photographer she couldn't help but take photos, I could see her clicking finger twitching all morning before she finally caved and brought out her camera ;)

Honeymoon bliss

I'll have more on the wedding later when we get some more photos, but meanwhile here are photos from the honeymoon!
We left Sunday morning from PDX and arrived at SFO to wonderful weather. The shuttle rides to the hotel and back to the airport both rivaled driving in Italy, but thats another story all together. My mother booked us a room at The Fairmont, which is such an amazing hotel, the exterior itself is so grand, right at the top of Nob Hill, and the lobby is stunning. Upon learning we were newlyweds the hotel clerk moved us up to a room with a view! How nice, actually the entire staff there was super, they were really fascinated by our clothing, hehe. We had one of the simpler rooms, which was anything but. The decor had vintage touches, and the bed! The bed was like a cloud, you know one of those huge memory foam mattresses with a down comforter and perfect pillow. But anyway, you don't want to hear about me rant about a bed.

The evening we arrived we changed and decided to have dinner at The Nob Hill Cafe, recommended by my mother. It was delicious and surprisingly affordable. I was in need of some new makeup so we walked to the Union Square Macy's where we then realized it was much cooler and windier than anticipated. It's 80-90 degrees at home, so I packed 50s sundresses, which was a big mistake because the wind was being mischievous and blew up my skirt at every hill. Oops.

The second day we thought it would be a good idea to walk to the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. It would have continued to be a good idea if we didn't take the long way. But after sore feet and spaghetti legs (I am so out of shape) we made it! The walk actually wasn't too bad as there was so much to look at, the architecture is so amazing. Especially Grace St Cathedral, it's amazing!
The neighborhood is filled with little shops and cafes, and I did find a few vintage shops with amazing things but not so amazing prices. Seriously, after going there my wardrobe just doubled in value :)
We did stumble upon a costume/vintage shop with some great deals, where I found an amazing navy 40s coat I wore the rest of the vacation.

I really wanted to bring back a hat, but even the hat prices were outrageous. Luckily I found a killer gray Austrian hat at a Buffalo Exchange thrift store, and the price was in my comfort zone.
The walk back to the hotel was nice, Sam spotted a comic book store we spent a while in while he read Captain America and I read a 50s comic book that was so cute but I can't remember the name. It's about an average women who lives with her sister and father, if anyone knows what I'm taking about I'd really appreciate it!
Japan town was another stop on our trek, where we found a $1.50 store with tons of fun treasures. Everything, even the plastic spoons were cute.

Day three took us to Fishermans Wharf, which was pretty much tourist central. We didn't stay long, but walked out on a pier to get a better look at some of the ships and a gathering of seals. There was the cutest cable car there, so 1930s I wish it would come to Portland!
After the Wharf we headed to Union Square, and went into all the fancy stores :) Prada, Burburry, Tiffanys, and Armani. Tiffanys was my favorite ;)
Dinner was at Calzone's which was adorable and had the best garlic fries ever.

Our last day we were pretty exhausted from the hills, so we stuck around the hotel and visited China town and Union Square again. In China town Sam bought me a pretty Jade necklace, and silk dress. For lunch we went to a restaurant in the neighborhood, and while we were eating a kitten jumped out of a nook in the wall! It was very cute, trying to play with its reflection in the mirror.
On our way back to the hotel to catch our airport shuttle the famous San Francisco twins were walking down the street. They have been a fixture of the city for years, and dress alike everywhere they go. I was so excited to meet them, especially in matching leopard coats! They really are funny, and I love that they are famous for being eccentric.

So there you have it! The wedding and honeymoon were delightful, and it's good to be home again getting back into the swing of things. More pictures on Flickr.

First kiss.

Ok, I couldn't wait, the photographers got a few photos up on flickr and I had to show this. Thanks to everyone, it was the most perfect wedding. Ok, off to pack!

Photo by Vorpal Images

How I found the wedding dress I will wear tomorrow.

Tagging along to garage sales with Josh, Amy, and Oliver usually results in Legos and Star Wars picture books. But over a year ago, one stop at a church rummage sale proved an unbelievable find.
I got armfuls of vintage goodies like hankies and a Stetson hat for Sam, but while I was waiting for everyone else to finish looking, I thought I'd take a shot at the glum looking clothing rack, full of dresses too new to be vintage, and too old to be interesting. I had passed it about a dozen times, but it looked so pathetic that the effort to stop and browse seemed like a waste of time. In the middle of the rack I came across an awful looking gray garment bag with a torn piece of masking tape stuck to the side that had “Old wedding dress” scribbled in sharpie. So I unzip it a few inches expecting an 80s monstrosity and instead get a preview of beautiful vintage cream lace. Although I had only seen a few inches of it, I grabbed the garment bag, threw it over my shoulder and waddled over to the payment table with everything in my arms, and Stetson on head.
It seemed like it would be an old dress, all torn up from age and poor storage, but at least I could salvage the pretty lace for a project, right?
The two old men at the payment booth were obviously put up to being at the sale by their wives, and looked as clueless as could be. I dumped everything on the table which they added up, but then came to “Old wedding dress.”
“Oh there was no price on that” I said. They looked at it, then squinted at a piece of paper tapped
to the table that had price categories listed.
“Well…here it says: Dresses, 75 cents.”
“75 cents?”
“Yeah is that ok?
“Um, yeah…”
We paid and loaded up the car, with Legos and old stuff, and kept on treasure hunting at other garage sales. A few hours later when I got home I was eager to see more than five inches of this dress. Taking it out of the bag did not reveal the tattered mess I expected but something stunning and flawless. Layers of tulle and lace, rows of covered buttons, and even a matching veil and armlets. But would it fit?
I slipped it on, and realized that it must have been somehow made for me 60 years ago, because it fit like a glove. Upon inspection I could not find a single snag in the tulle, or hole in lace. It was perfect.
And that is how I got my wedding dress for 75 cents.


This will be my last post for about a week, tomorrow is the big day, then off to San Francisco for our honeymoon!
Today we gathered Hydrangeas from friends and families yards, my mother took me to get a manicure and pedicure, we had a rehearsal and fabulous rehearsal dinner, and now I am choosing what to wear to and from the venue. So that's all for now folks! I'll see you when I get back, with so many photos you will be sick of them ;)