The winner of the Road to Avonlea giveaway, I wrote a guest post on the colour purple, and other fun going ons this week

 This week was one of those where you feel like that for every step you take forward, you take several back. Nothing (thank goodness!) bad happened per se, though my darling chap is feeling under the weather with the flu (and I'm hoping to high heaven that it doesn't jump ship to me), it's mostly that I've been trudging away at the backlog of things that built up (and require I reply to/do them) while we were away last month. No worries though, I'm making lots of progress there and hope to be at least 75% caught up by the time this weekend is over.

Last week we launched a fabulously lovely Road to Avonlea gift pack giveaway here, which not only brought in 114 comments, but also lead me to discover that there are many, many fellow fans of Lucy Maud Montgomery's writings, and Sullivan Entertainment's products, amongst my wonderful readers.

I sincerely appreciate all those who participated in this giveaway, both here and across the social media spectrum. It was a joy to read each of your entry comments as the came in. The Road to Avonlea giveaway has now wrapped up and I am delighted to announce that the lucky winner has been drawn using a random number generator.

Happiest congrats to comment number 31, which belongs to rachlovespenguins! Please contact me anytime via email with your full name and mailing address, so that I can pass it along to the fantastic folks at Sullivan Entertainment, who will be shipping your prize pack out to you, my dear. I truly hope that you adore all of the lovely RTA offerings that are coming your way.

Recently I was touched when my lovely online friend, Tasha (who I know is also a household name for many of you who adore her stellar blog, By Gum, By Golly), asked me if I'd be interested in writing a guest post for her blog devoted to the colour purple.

I don't write a lot of guest posts, as a general rule, because of the wildly unpredictable nature of my health and that fact that I would never want to be unable to deliver by a given deadline and risk messing up someone's blogging schedule. Thankfully there was zero risk of that happening in this case, as Tasha very sweetly gave me ample time to write the post and then (she is such a dear) held off on posting it until we were back from Calgary and I'd recouped a bit from the trip.

Colour has always been a fundamental part of my wardrobe, and there's scarcely a hue alive I won't wax poetically about, so when I was tapped to discuss purple and the role it's played in women's fashion from the Victorian era up to the present day, I was nothing short of thrilled about this fun assignment. Once the wheels started turning, they weren't in a hurry to slow down, and my post ended up being longer than I'd imagined, but I was really happy with its size in the end, because I felt like I got a chance to really delve into the history and popularity of this regal hue.

My guest post went live today over at Tasha's and you can read all about it here. We may still have 2.5 months of the year to go, but I'm already dubbing purple my colour for 2014, a choice that was spurred on even more by getting the exciting opportunity to write this enjoyable piece all bout that hue this summer.

Elsewhere on the great, ol' interwebs, Chronically Vintage hit 1,500+ likes on Facebook earlier this week. Thank you so much to everyone who made that number possible! I love getting a chance to connect with many of you there as well. Who knows, maybe we'll reach 2,000 likes by the time Chronically Vintage hits its one year anniversary of being on Facebook in mid-December.

Last weekend I shared 31 of the things without which Halloween just wouldn't be the same for me, and one my lovely readers, Jennifer, who is also a longstanding online friend, was so inspired by my post, that she wrote an awesome list of her own here. Her list is so festively fabulous and includes some more of my favourite seasonal things that weren't on mine, such as making sure I set aside time to read Poe's spookiest works this month.

I'm always touched when readers are spurred on to write posts based on things I share, so if you do the same (with any post), please be sure to let me know so that I can share it here in a future post.

As you may recall from this post last May, I'm a big fan of earrings (so long as they're 100% nickel-free!). This rings especially true if they're vintage or look the part, and I always enjoy seeing examples of earrings from the past.

Usually the comes in the form of photographs, ads or while out shopping, but this week Joanna (another endlessly dear friend) from Dividing Vintage Moments shared three terrific old school fashion video clips, amongst which was one from the 1950s in which a model tries on earrings in a costume jewelry store. I really though this short little clip was cool, and so am taking Joanna's lead and sharing it here as well with all of you today.

Hopping subjects once more before this quick Friday afternoon post wraps up, I am super happy about the fact that Tony and I both found our Halloween costumes last weekend. I'm a big fan of surprise reveals, so I'm keeping mine under wraps until the 31st, but I'll give you a couple of hints beforehand.

One, it's someone I've wanted to dress as for Halloween ever since I was a little girl, and two, this person has been mentioned on my before. That's all I'm saying in advance though - you'll just have to wait until All Hallows Eve rolls around to find out more! :)

{Image source}

Have an beautiful mid-October weekend, my sweet dears - and may it be extra happy, bountiful, and very blessed Thanksgiving one to all my fellow Canucks.

Joyful Thanksgiving Day wishes to my US readers!

✯ Day 328 of Vintage 365 ✯

It has always struck me as interesting that both Canadians and Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, yet this holiday falls on different days in each country.

Historically I know why this is the case (American Thanksgiving stretches back to the days of the pilgrims, whereas Canada's is a much more recent celebration of the bountiful autumn harvest we experience in this country, that came about as an act of parliament in 1957 - though it's roots do stretch much further back in time), yet I can't help but think there would be something extra special if everyone - not just Canadians and Americans - celebrated a universal day of thanks at the same time.

Unfortunately however, not every country has its own Thanksgiving Day though. However, there's nothing stopping those who do not have such a day from partaking in either the Canadian or American Thanksgiving, or simply creating a special feast day on which they and their loved ones rejoice in the blessings of life and the bounty of food that the fall time harvest has traditionally provided civilization with.

{Charmingly sweet vintage Thanksgiving Day illustration of a mother carrying a roast turkey to her eager family via Jasoh! Prime and Pub on Flickr.}

 

As I know very, very well what an immensely busy day this can be for many who observe Thanksgiving, I won't make today's post a long one and take up much of your time (chances are you likely have the oven going at full capacity or are packing up the family to hop in the car and drive to a relative's house to enjoy your festive meal there right about now).

I simply and wholeheartedly just want  to wish each and every one of my wonderful US readers a splendidly beautiful Thanksgiving Day on which you feel blessed, content, and happy for the important gifts in your life, whatever they may be.

 

Joyful Thanksgiving wishes, dear friends!