...A video of the ever-adorable Stella drinking from a glass of water on our coffee table.
Hi my darling dears, thank you all so much for your awesomely nice birthday wishes this week. I'm thrilled to report that yesterday was a blast - complete with a visit to a vintage housewares shop and oodles of consignment store shopping in Kelowna. Tony, my parents, and my sister all spoiled me something fierce and helped to ensure I had one of the very best birthdays of my life.
I'm pretty knackered in the wake of all that fabulous activity though, so you'll be hearing more about where we went and what I got (hint: vintage lucite is involved!) on my special day in future posts.
For now though, I hope you'll enjoy an iPhone video that Tony captured recently of our precious cat, Stella, drinking a glass of water from our coffee table (sorry about the somewhat hazy lighting). It wasn't until we moved to this house that Stella started helping herself to our water, but I really don't mind that she does. It's cute as can be and always entertains us when we see her doing it.
Sweet, heartfelt thanks again, everyone, for helping to bring so much cheer my way this birthday. I totally ♥ you, gals!
Perhaps it because I experienced so many of my formidable years during the 1990s, maybe it’s because at any given moment there’s a rather decent chance that a rerun of Friends is being shown on at least on channel on any TV in North America, or possibly it’s simply because sometimes good, honest song lyrics ring truer in my mind than most of the words that I've ever been told in person. Whatever the case, there’s no skirting around the fact that as 2010 has barrelled onward, certain lines from the now pop culturally immortal song, "I’ll be there for you" by the Rembrandts, have been echoing around in my head day after day, week after week, month after month.
It’s true you know, no matter what you witnessed, were told, read, or daydreamed about, no one could ever fully prepare you for (adult) life. Nobody could tell you it was going to be this way, because I don’t think one person can really ever ready a youth – with so many days of possibility, so many hopes, and so much starlight in their eyes – for the rather glaring realities of adulthood.
Growing up isn’t about eating ice cream for every meal (really, didn’t we all holler at our parents at one point or another – usually en route to our bedroom after being scolded for something or another – that we were going to grow up, live on our own, go to bed whenever we wanted, and eat ice cream every day?), it isn’t all rainbows and unicorns (curse you Lisa Frank stickers that filled my childhood sticker books for eluding that such was the case!), it has monumental highs and crushing lows. It bites and kicks and screams, it drives you the brink of madness and then cuddles you like a kitten. It’s feisty, tempestuous, sometimes stoic, all too often ludicrously unpredictable.
Like many people I grapple (more often than I care to admit to) with the fact that my life, as envisioned with the wide eyes of childhood, is nothing (and I really do mean nothing) like how I imagined it would be when I reached the milestone that is being an adult (and I’m not just talking about the 24/7 ice cream binge not coming to fruition, it’s the big things – the dreams and fantasies that somehow slipped into the abyss before they ever had a chance to materialize).
Is it better or is it worse? Those adjectives are truly relative, for one can never honestly compare a dream with what came to fruition. The only certainty that I know for sure is that it’s different, wildly, blazingly, incredibly different, and I think that sometimes the weight of knowing that these differences exist gnaws away rather incessantly at my mind.
Yesterday was one of those days. Those smile and look happy for the (figurative) camera days, where under the first millimetre of your epidermis you’ve silently got an emotional three ring circus going on. One of those days when you’re as apt to laugh as you are to cry, scream as to whisper (lest anyone over hear the whirlwind in your mind). These sorts of days sometimes linger – setting off, much as that now time-honoured song proclaimed – one of those weeks or months or years that simply isn’t yours.
They break though – those murky thoughts, those days of personal toil – something or someone always seems to come along and snap you out of it or provide you with an avenue back to the here and now that jettisons your thoughts from what could have been to what still remains to be seen.
For me, more often than not, it’s the power of a good soul-cleansing laugh that revives me, puts me right with my reality. In the wee hours of the night, after one of thosedaysweeks months, the very laugh I didn’t even realize I was in massive need of, came my way in the form of one of the funniest (spoof video) plot mash-ups that’s ever been constructed.
Going much more old school (circa the Regency period) than the usual mid-twentieth century vintage theme of this blog, the video clip below is so awesome, so immensely funny, so unexpectedly cool and smile-inducing, that after it had mended my blue spirits, I knew instantly that I had to share it with you. Watch it, sweet friends, and bookmark it for the next time the day that – for whatever reason – simply hasn’t been yours. I certainly have.
...Because, after (Jane Austen's) Fight Club, you’re inclined to see the world differently. And that’s rarely anything but a positive, if you ask me.
Happy start of the week, sweet dears, how are you each on this last Monday in September. All is right as rain on this end, in fact it is raining, which often sets my moods off on a rather chipper note (I was born in Vancouver, what do you expect? ;D). I love a rainy day (or two, when it heads into twenty plus days of rain in a row like I experienced occasionally when I used to live in Ireland, well, that is something of another matter), the sound of falling precipitation, the cigarette ash hue the sky often takes on, the way the world seems to be given a good scrubbing for a little while, all of these things add up to more than enough reasons for me to extract joy from a rainy day
{This photo of Times Square in New York taken in the 1940s speaks directly to my love of a cityscape glistening with rain. The vibrancy and sense of motion in this shot is so intense you almost want to grab an umbrella - lest the drops starting hitting your head - just looking at it. Photo from the pages of Straatis' Flickr stream.}
Coolers days have always brought me greater mental clarity. In this sense I’ve come to learn I’m not alone, other too (including my husband) agree that they feel their brains function more sharply once summer has hightailed it out of town. When I lived in the western part of Canada, I can’t say as though I noticed this seasonal affect as deeply, but when the ravenous Ontario humidity came into the picture along with the toasty heat of summer, my mind suddenly felt as though it had turned into pabulum. It is not just the ol’ brain either, my entire body generally feels more up to snuff when the mercury refuses to climb above the low twenties. Anything between minus twenty and plus twenty five and I’m a pretty content camper, or should I say “blogger”.
I had a busy and wonderful weekend. My favourite part of it was on Saturday when we went to the Ontario Science Center for their 40th anniversary celebration bash, admission was free (hard to beat that price!) so naturally the place was crowded to the rafters, but we had a marvelous time despite the crowds and (among other activities) took in a screening of the IMAX film “Under the Sea”, which was narrated by Jim Carrey.
The entirely funny thing about our attendance that day though, was that we were planning to go to the Science Centre that day anyhow! We had wanted to go for some time, but various reasons had kept us away all summer long. Fortunately I wasn’t feeling too rough that day, so we figured we better jump on the chance to visit the Science Centre while we the opportunity to do so. We didn’t find out about the fact that a party was going on there until moments before we left the house (darling hubs wanted to check online how late they were open) – talk about a neat little slice of serendipity!
On the blogging front numerous interesting and exciting links have popped up lately – and much like our admission on Saturday, enjoying the afternoon with all of these stories is entirely free :)
♥ ♥ ♥
* Fashion Extremes: While fashion runaways often spill over with garments that are, in one way or another, excessive, this trend certainly didn’t start recently. Here Poke Salad Annie takes on a visual journey through some mid-twentieth century looks that veered towards the extreme, while still somehow managing to look infinitely more wearable than most of what comes down the catwalk today.
* What’s happened to our bodies?: Via the ever-wonderful Beauty is a thing of the past, an interesting article that compares the way women’s bodies have transformed in size and shape over the past six decades, from UK newspaper The Daily Mail, recently came to my attention. The piece looks at some of the medical, dietary and sociological reasons behind the change in body shape amongst British (and while not stated outright, American) woman and certainly provides some interesting food for thought.
* 1930s fashion plates: Sarai brings us a dose of visual loveliness via numerous (coloured) fashion plates from the 1930s. Each plate is a joy, but I especially like the one of the two women in navy blue dresses with coordinating jackets. Which look is your favourite?
* Betsy McCalls Paperdolls in publication from 1951-1961: While I was born decades too late to play with Betsy McCall paper dolls as a child, I’ve long admired the detailed beauty in these fragile paper gems. Here Alana takes us on a historical ride through the history of the Betsy McCall dolls, complete with several colour images of these adorable vintage playthings.
* A vintage kitchen cupboard medicinal: The dear soul behind A Stitch In Time is feeling a bit under the weather at the moment, but that didn’t stop her from putting together a thoroughly lovely – and useful – post highlighting several classic medicinal remedies such as baking soda, citrus juice, and salt for common ailments that have been plaguing humanity since the dawn of time. (Heartfelt wishes for a very speedy recovery to you, Analiebe!)
* The Value in Tailored Vintage: Melody from A Vintage Ramble raises some excellent points in favour of why tracking down vintage pieces that were once custom tailored can be well worth it (especially given the absurdly high prices modern hand-tailored pieces often fetch).
* Peter Pan Collars: Adore Vintage takes a quick peek at the adorable, rounded style of collar known by the name “Peter Pan”, which can look so lovely on a variety of vintage (and modern) styles.
* Retro Clocks at Target: Atomic Addiction corrals a list of some absolutely wonderful vintage/retro looking (think Atomic Era/Mad Men), reasonably priced wall clocks that are currently available from US retailer Target.
* Silver Screen Sunday {Pin-up Girl}: Recently Andi B. Goode began a weekly series of posts in which she highlights a vintage era movie and then rounds up fashion pieces that you can find today, to help you recreate the film’s iconic style. Most recently she shone the spotlight on Betty Grable’s classic “Pin-up Girl”, with fashion and hair ideas to help you recreate the curvy blonde starlet’s classic bombshell look.
* Beauty tips for red heads: Over at Time Machine to the Twenties, Amanda has been dishing up some fantastic old school Good Housekeeping beauty advise for redheaded gals this past week. A trio of posts on the subject cover skin care, lipstick, and what colours to wear, and are a wonderful read whether you were blessed with ruby locks or not.
♥ ♥ ♥
I wish to present this week’s Your Blog is an Inspiration award to my lovely, effervescent, delightfully creative friend, Maggi (~*Just Add Glitter and Stir*~). From the moment I encountered her wonderful site (seriously it’s bedecked with red sparkles and polka dots, what’s not to love?), I knew I had found a soul with which I had a lot in common. From a passion for vintage to an adoration of crating (she’s especially talented at scrapbooking), as well as a mutual love of Pullip dolls, I knew that she and I we would hit it off, and we certainly have.
Maggi, you and your site – and the marvelously cool creations you share with us – are a perpetual source of inspiration. I always leave your blog with a smile on my face and the urge to be intensely crafty all of a sudden in my heart. Thank you for being the amazing, artistic, friendly, caring, sweet person that you are!
♥ ♥ ♥
Inspired by a yummy Indian meal I cooked last week to celebrate autumn’s arrival (something about the saturated, earthly tones of many Indian spices and ingredients correlates with fall in my mind), I thought it would be fun to share a clip featuring numerous scenes of enchantingly pretty women from various vintage and retro Bollywood films with you. I admit to knowing little about specific Bollywood films and so cannot begin to tell you where the clips in this video hail from originally, but what I do know is that the ladies it features each possess a captivating and alluring sense of glamour that is as timeless as India itself.
I began this post much earlier in the day, since then night has rolled in, but the drizzling rain remains. As I type these words it occurs to me that this is the first night in many months I’ve felt the need to put on cozy autumn-appropriate socks and wrap myself up in a blanket. And so I did both things, Stella curled up in a state of feline slumber by my side, no doubt hoping for the return of her winter coat, and smiled even more than I had when I awoke this morning to rain. It’s the simple joys of the season that have the most impact on my soul.
May you each have countless reasons of your own to be happy this week!
