Saturday Snapshots: September 6, 2014

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{It is yesteryear images like this - the ones that depict real world women wearing wonderful fashions in the most charming of settings (inspiring me greatly in the process) - that help ensure this series will keep going strong for as long as Chronically Vintage exist - which I hope is very long time to come!}





{This immensely cute snapshot of a young girl holding two darling kittens has been in my "to use" list of Flickr favourites for years now, but I don't believe it's appeared here before. On the off chance it has, no bother - a photo this precious deserves to be seen twice.}





{There's just something about summer and sherbet hued party dresses - no matter if you're a schoolgirl or sophisticated woman of the world - that go together so smashing well, as these sweet little lasses from 1956 clearly knew.}





{A newsboy cap, bobbed (or possibly simply tucked under) 'do, and rugged stripped ensemble give this c. 1920s gal such an awesome air of menswear inspired style and understated elegance.}





{Though it was written a decade after this great street scene snap was captured in Atlantic City in 1954, the moment I saw it, the opening lines from the classic song Under the Boardwalk sprung into my head.}





This wonderful 1940s group shot of several Alpha Phi sorority members instantly made me think of my maternal grandma, who was a teenager herself during the decade, and I'm sure posed for a few similar snaps with her friends back in the day (though I don't believe she was ever in a sorority).}




{You guys know I'm a big fan of vintage photos that are chocked full of interesting background details, and this fun 1950s image of two female employees at work on the grand opening day of a pet shop just such cool details in spades!}




{Unique perspectives just happen to be another type of vintage image that I've always been keen on, so the moment I spotted this lovely vacation snap of two tourists gazing at the castle on St. Wolfgang Lake, Austria back in 1959, I knew it was destined for this month's Saturday Snapshots post.}




{As with many of the most engaging vintage wedding photos, this 1930s group shot depicting a bride, groom, maid of honour, and three bridesmaids is teaming with a wide array of facial expressions - the very cheeriest of which appears to me to be the groom’s.}




{From her lovely green dress to the darling dachie, those fab white peep-toe heels to the the Chevy they're posing with, there isn't a single element of this delightful 1940s snap I don't adore.}


{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}


♥ ♥ ♥  

Have you ever encountered a quote that - while you didn't go out of your way to find it - came into your life at precisely the right moment, lifting up, shaping, or changing your outlook on some element of your existence, your world, or your future?

About a year and a half go now, in the midst of deep discussion with myself - and some days with my husband, as well as with a treasured online girlfriend - about my own appearance and the struggles I've encountered throughout my whole life regarding self-esteem and how (I feel) society views me from an aesthetic standpoint (a topic that I discussed last year in this post, sparked by one of the most touching, incredible gifts I've ever received), today's quote from Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh appeared in my Facebook stream one day.

Quite literally the night before Tony and I had been waist deep, so to speak, in the thick of a conversation about my perception of myself vs society's actual take on my appearance (by which I mean my physical appearance, not my vintage attire), which really hadn't lead anywhere more productive or helpful than past discussions on the topic had proved to be.

I know that many of us struggle for some, or all of our lives, with issues pertaining to self-esteem, self-confidence, and body image. I am by no means alone on this front, and am sure that quite a few folks out there battle these things on a much greater level than I do, but they've been present with me - like unseen, nagging passengers - ever since I was a very little girl, and I am, quite honestly sick of them (which is part of the reason why I finally mustered the courage, to hone in on one of them, to show the world my crooked/bad teeth on camera via my YouTube videos for the first time this summer, as I discussed in my second ever video here).

For a very long I could scarcely bring myself to even look at my own appearance in the mirror, and if I was out and out in public (where I generally feel substantially more self-conscious and shy) I would intentionally divert my gaze from my reflection in any kind of surface for many years. This carried on until I was about twenty-five - though I still do it occasionally, old habits dying, as they tend to do rather hard.

I saw no beauty in my face or body whatsoever for most of my life. I could, after a certain age grant you cuteness perhaps, but beauty was as illusive as a unicorn, and I longed to have even an inkling of a sense of what that word - that single little subjective adjective - actually felt like.

I wish I could tell you that reading Thich Nhat Hanh's endlessly wise quote delivered that sensation my way, that I woke up the next morning and felt gorgeous, self-confident, no longer at odds with my appearance, but I didn't - well, not entirely. Something had changed that following day though, because I was suddenly more at peace with the face looking back at me in the mirror (much as I was after I received Lorena's beautiful aforementioned gift). I liked how I looked a whole lot more, and I honestly felt like I cared considerably less if others viewed me as aesthetically pleasing or not (again, I'm absolutely not talking about my fashion choices here, happily, I'm very confident on that front).

I am not shallow, and I try never to judge another person based on their looks, but we all critique both ourselves and each other, if only on a silent, internal level sometimes. In the Hanh's words I found the permission to stop judging myself so harshly, and perhaps just as importantly, had a light bulb moment of realization that being myself is its own kind of profound beauty.

Miss Universe I may never be, but I am my true self, as best and honestly as I know how to be each and every day. I am a wife, a sister, a best friend, a chronically ill individual, a blogger, a crafter, a pet mama, a photographer, a daydreamer, a bookworm, a vintage lover, an Etsy shop owner, a traveler and so very much more, and each of these things conspires to make me beautiful in my own unique way.

Just as the passions, stories and telltale characteristics that make you who you are - who each of us has been since the dawn of time - transforms you into a deeply, perpetually lovely individual, too.

Many months have passed since this quote appeared in my Facebook stream, but it hasn't left my side for a day. I turned it into my desktop background image for nearly a year and have reflected on it scores of times since then, trying to embrace and better live its message on a deeper level each morning, noon and night.

Few snippets of sagely advice has resonated as profoundly with me, and so I knew that the time had come to pass it along to each of you, in case you're also in need of the important reminder it carries, and the powerful feeling that comes with accepting yourself right here, right now, exactly how you are in the moment. Beautiful, in more ways than you will ever possibly know.

Saturday Snapshots – July 3, 2010

"If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

{Identified as “my great-aunts Millie and Mayme, great-grandmother Rose, and grandmother Marie”, by the person who posted this terrific photo, these lovely women in their late 1930s garb and hairstyles seem at once both like they could have been actresses or just as easily members of my own family.}



{Three adorable youngsters are all smiles here, as they perch on the side of a canoe in their charming old-fashioned bathing suites (which lead me to feel this shot was taken sometime between the 1910s and 1930s), conjuring up relatable summertime memories for many who grew up near seas, lakes and rivers.}



{Looking chic enough to have just stepped off the pages of Vogue or Harper’s, this immensely stylish young woman cuts a striking figure as she peers out a car window with her wonderfully cute little dog. Absolutely no background information is provided for this elegant shot, but I’d venture to say it was from the fifties.}



{Here two young folks sew long scarf-like pieces of fabric together while sitting outside on a well groom lawn, in front of what looks like school or large church. I love that this 1930s shot shows a man sewing, too, and am curious as to what they were whipping up?}



{There is such an endearing sense of "real world" beauty to this prettily dressed young mom in her checkered dress and curled hairdo. In a way it seems as though this portrait was planned for in advance, and yet elements such as the inclusion of her handbag in the photo and the causal outfit the child is wearing makes me wonder if this photo was an impromptu – portrait taken while she was in the midst of other activities that day.}



{Looking dapper as the day is long, this handsome young gent is identified as being Daniel J. Perini, who (the poster of this photo tells us) later went onto serve in the Navy during WW2, which he returned home from.}



{Nowadays some people might call this chipper gal’s look "geek chic", but back in the 50s, I think she was just about the swellest looking girl in town. From her lovely turquoise and black dress (with matching turquoise head scarf) to her tawny leather camera bag, everything about this photo is pure vintage cool!}



{It’s the bright tomato red truck that jumps out first at you when you look at this 1953 street scene shot taken at Fisherman’s Wharf in Los Angles, but there are many other wonderful details worth checking out, too, such as the sleek black car coming up the road and the instantly recognizable Coca-Cola sign in the background.}



{A darling young brother and sister beam megawatt smiles as they wear sunglasses and summer clothes in this 1940s shot taken in Houston, Texas. This really is the cutest vintage photo I’ve chanced upon in ages, and a perfect representation of the warm weather that’s besieging many of us at this very moment.}



{A smile-inducing shot wraps up this week’s selection of vintage photos. Here several youngsters are busily engaged in a pie eating contest that appears to have permitted the use of the eaters’ hands, as their parents look on and cheer.}

{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}


From a menagerie of memories from my own life to my ongoing adventures in the land of genealogy, I spend the bulk of my time with my family in my head (odd as that may sound), as my relatives all live on the other side of the country.

The quote above rings deeply true with me, for I feel it can be extended out to the human race as a whole and applied not only to the lines in our hands, but to the faces that stare back at us from the past in vintage images (or photos from any era for that matter).

Though we may not always know who they were, these people mattered every bit as much as you and I do today, and deserve to remembered for all of time – just as each of us, and our families, do. For none of us would be here now, if not for the countless generations that came before us - a fact which spending time with one's family (whether in person or within the realm of your mind) is a beautiful and poignant reminder of.