2012's first edition of "Hey, it's ok"

As I lay in bed recently, the prospect of sleep a million miles away, I was struck by the fact that at the moment I feel like, in some regards, I'm straddling the dived between heaven and hell (proverbially speaking, of course).

There is so much awesomeness on the horizon in my life right now and such a great deal that I'm excited and hopeful about. At the same time though, for past couple of weeks I've been going through stuff on the medical front that, to put it mildly, can only be called barbaric.

There's really never a good time for medical flare-ups and new problems to arise, but right now, with less than a month to go until our moving day, is really not a stellar time for this.

Nevertheless, I do not go down without a fight and believe strongly in perseverance and positive thought, so as best I can, I'm trudging through these hours. Allowing myself a few tears or an exasperated sigh when needed, but also remembering and trying to focus on all the reasons I have to smile.

{Call me an eternal optimist, but I like to believe that ultimately heaven wins out. Utterly darling vintage angel and demon figurine photograph via MissConduct on Flickr.}

 

That late night thought, and the symphony of emotions I've been juggling lately, made me think  though that it was time for this year's first edition of the occasionally occurring Chronically Vintage post series called "Hey, it's ok" (if you're not familiar with the series, be sure to check out the first two posts from last August and October, respectfully).

There are so many big worries and problems that come our way all the time, and as such I strongly feel that it's vital to not get to hung up about the smaller concerns that appear frequently, too. This series of posts is all about the universe (or least yours truly) granting you permission not to sweat the tiny things - especially if there's something massive troubling you at the moment, too.

 

*Hey, it's ok*

 

...if you're still eating your way through the leftover Christmas cookies in the freezer.

...to ruthlessly clean out your feed reader list from time-to-time.

...that you still love - and actively use - your record player, VCR, or retro boombox.

...if you're parenting style is the polar opposite of your own parents.

...for you to make a conscious effort to carve out some much needed "me time" for yourself at least once a week, if not daily.

...to secretly delight in the extra curves you develop if your weight increases a little.

...if you don't watch the evening news very often. Sometimes the last thing any of us wants to hear or think about is more bad news.

...to rush outside in your rain boots and jump in puddles, like you used to a child, after a big downpour.

...that you can't name three new songs that came out last year, but could list at least twenty-five of them from the 40s and 50s off the top of your head right now.

...to do whatever you need to bring the joy you deserve into your life.

 

♥ ♥ ♥

Life isn't always a bed of roses. Sometimes even on the sunniest of days you can spot a grey storm cloud poking its head out over the horizon.

The important thing, the really critical point however, is to cut yourself some slack, hold onto hope, and keep looking for ways to improve whatever is troubling you. I fully understand that this often much easier said than done, but it's rarely flat out impossible.

So while the forces above and below continue to duke it out in own little world, I'll try my hardest to do just that - and hope that if something heavy is troubling you right now, sweet dears, you'll be able to do the same.

Two wonderfully fun vintage cream cheese tea party recipes

There is something about the often dreary, bitingly cold nature of mid-winter that begs for moments of extra special merriment to help shake off the doldrums that can accompany January.

One of the quickest, and surely most elegant, ways I know to do just that is to hold a tea party. Such a gathering can be as large or an intimate as you like - it can even be a party of one, just for yourself.

A few beautiful vintage cups and saucers, a freshly ironed table cloth, and a pretty frock are all you really need as your jumping off point for a wintertime tea party - aside from the snacks and beverages of course.

Tea parties are not designed designed to fill guests up to the extent of a buffet or multi-course meal, especially as they commonly take place between lunch and dinnertime. By the same token though, you certainly wouldn't want you friends' stomachs to rumble, so a selection of small, inviting, delicious foods is a must.

Today's vintage recipes are for a grape, pear, and cream cheese salad, as well as for delightfully chic – and splendidly cute! - carrot and cream cheese sandwiches that are rolled up and adorned so as to resemble the shape of lilies (this recipe would be highly fitting for an Easter gathering, too).

{Help chase away the monotony of winter with this charming pair of vintage tea party recipes that come by way of tattered_lost on Flickr.}

 

In addition to the recipes above, and a lovely array of freshly brewed teas, coffees, and hot cocoa (this is still January after all!), you might want to serve anything from scones with jam and clotted cream to macrons, petit fours, lemon bars, or indicial sized bundt cakes. Offer guests a range of savoury and sweet dishes, to help ensure everyone's tastes are well accommodated for.

Then, sit back and enjoy the company of good friends and lively conversation, as Old Man Winter pounds away outside. You're warm, happy, and snug as a bug in a rug at your beautiful tea party, which can't help but up lift one's spirits and help remind us all that spring's triumphant return is just a few short weeks away.

And if that isn’t worth raising a teacup over, I don’t know what is!

Joyful vintage Chinese New Year wishes!

Unique amongst the animals used in the classic Chinese zodiac as being the only one that is mythical, the dragon begins its reign with today's arrive of the Chinese New Year.

Though I'm not Chinese myself, like many people, I enjoy celebrating this winter festival nevertheless and have long delighted in watching dragon parades, fireworks shows, and other festivities that were put in by the local Chinese communities in B.C., Alberta, and Ontario. (Not to mention whipping up a tasty Asian inspired feast to further celebrate this special day!)

{A cute youngster holders what appears to be a string of firecrackers in front of the mouth on a large dragon costume in this fantastic vintage Chinese New Year's photo from 1937. Image via carbonated on Flickr.}

Like each of the one dozen creatures assigned to the Chinese zodiac, the dragon appears once every twelve years. It is said that those who are born in the year of the dragon are often ambitious, passionate and successful risk takers who are not afraid of challenge or change.

While I wasn't born under the sign of the dragon, there's something quaintly charming about extending to those same traits to the type of year that one hopes lies ahead, as well as to how they carry out their own lives.

Metaphorically, I'll soon be taking to the skies like a dragon to travel across the country and settle in British Columbia, all the while tackling change and challenge with passion - and I hope - a great deal of success.

Likewise, I hope that this brand new year in the Chinese calendar will bring success, happiness and positive change into each of your lives too, dear friends.

Here's to a fabulous year ahead for all of us! Gong Xi Fa Ca!

Totally psyched to have a basement of our own

Basements, as a general subject, might not be the kind of thing that reeves up most people's engines - at least not in the way that a dazzling kitchen, freshly renovated powder room, or stunning garden might.

I admit, as a whole they're usually not my absolute favourite corner of most homes (in part because the largest spider - if it wasn't a tarantula it was darn near close - I ever saw was in a basement when I was a little girl), but that certainly isn't to say that I dislike them either.

So long as they're dry, well ventilated and properly finished, basements can be fantastic places. Thus is not the case for all underground portions of homes though.

Prior to moving into our current apartment, my husband and I lived in a rather dark, nearly window-less basement (the tiny windows that were there had bars on them, which yes, I know is illegal - we didn't put them on, the homeowner did long before we moved in) for over two years. It was, to say the least, a less than wonderful experience.

When we moved into that kind of environment, we did so believing that we would only be there for a few months (max!). Little did we know that events would play out in our lives that would end up keeping us there for much longer than anticipated. When the time came at long last to move, we wanted to get as far away from dank, depressing basements as was humanly possible, and so our house hunting lead us to a high rise apartment.

This home, while far from perfect either (oh the horror stories about this building I could tell you!), was a huge improvement over our previous abode here in Toronto, and for all it's shortcomings, it has served us pretty well for the past three and half years.

Now though, as many of you know, that time has come for us to move once more. Not just from this apartment building, but from Ontario. We're headed to my home province of British Columbia and to a house, that at long last, isn't just one floor.

Finally, in a charming condo, my husband and I are going to have two floors and a basement all to ourselves. This point, as you might imagine, makes me more than a little giddy!

The basement in our new place isn't massive, but it's not super tiny either. It has plenty of room for me to create a dedicated craft space, as well areas for storage, and a washer and dryer (after years of not having laundry facilities in our home, I'm beyond thrilled about that!!!).

Though the paint (and floor colours) are not the same, and there are some other differences in certain respects (there won’t be all the woodworking and DIY equipment, for example), over all our new basement (as I've seen it in photos and videos), looks a fair bit like the 1940s one pictured below.

{Industrious and attractive, this wonderful basement from 1947 is bursting with creative possibilities and plenty of space for everyone in the household to partake in their favourite hobbies, much as our new basement will allow us to do as well. Image via saltycotton on Flickr.}

To me moving into a house with a basement, the rest of which is also ours to occupy is symbolic of how we've come over the years. Are we moving into a mansion? Goodness, no, but as I sit here now, a little over a month from our moving date, I can't help but feel like this new home is every bit as significant and meaningful as if we were.

So, dear new house basement, I look forward to our impending meeting and the fact that you are the foundation upon which our whole home - and much of our home life - will be built.

An engaging Life magazine look at yesteryear fashion shows

As the quest to stock up my wardrobe with some painfully needed vintage essentials continues, I find myself digging deeper and deeper around the web for budget-friendly clothing sources. In the process of doing so, I've also encountered some completely charming sites that tie into the subject of old school threads, but which are not actually selling them.

Case in point, I recently came upon a thoroughly captivating slideshow on the official Time magazine website that includes more than thirty photographs of vintage fashion shows. This is the sort of lose-yourself-in-wonderment-of-it-all grouping of images that inspires and enthrals vintage fashion lovers like us to no end.

Long before the days when (most) fashion shows turned into three ring circuses full of clothes that few people would ever actually wear outside of a costume party, and where those seated in the front row mattered more than the cloths parading down the runway, fashion shows offered real world women (albeit often ones of means) the ability to view the latest and most exciting new styles that emerged each year.

 

As some of the photographs (like the one pictured above of a 1950s model sporting an elegant fur coat) in this stellar round-up demonstrate, fashion show patrons were (often) not only encouraged to interact with the models, but to touch and admire the clothing firsthand (as, designers of the time rightfully felt that this would better help customers decide which garments they'd like to order for themselves).

I think there was something to markedly more appealing about fashion shows of the past, which often put the focus on the clothing itself, instead of on the designer's flights of fancy (or ego!), atomically priced  designs, scarily thin models, or over-the-top publicity stunts. This isn't to say that I'm jaded when it comes to all modern fashion shows (or that I think all of them fall into the same modern camp), rather that the "real world", attainable aspect that shows of the past held appeals to me infinitely more.

Whether you're shopping for vintage clothes, looking for wardrobe inspiration, or simply love seeing fashionable images from decades gone by, I hope that you'll enjoy this beautiful assortment of Time magazine fashion runway images as much as I did.

Wishing you each a fantastic, marvellously stylish weekend, sweet dears!