Links, Life, Love: June 4, 2016

Summer is approaching, fast and powerfully, its air a fragrant blend of thunder storms, honeysuckle, sandy shores, and the first locally grown tree ripened stone fruits in nearly a year. A lively month fills our days now and before we know it, the next season really and truly will be upon us.

Nearly two months have passed now since I launched a new periodically occurring post series called Links, Life, Love here and it seems, now that we're into June, like high time for the second installment of such.



Links:

Thoughts on Modern Vintage Style: I greatly enjoyed and appreciated Bonita's heartfelt look at this topic and how it relates to her own life and wardrobe. It's something that I think many of us will be nodding up a storm as we read and I really commend her on tackling this important vintage style related subject.


My Favourite Instagram Accounts for 1920s Style Inspiration: Searching for some of the best and most arrestingly chic jazz era fashion wearers to follow on Instagram? Look no further than this curated and entirely fantastic list that Jessica from Zella Maybe recent put together. Le swoon!


Spring & Summer Vintage Accessory Essentials: Bianca rounds up several of favourite must-have warm weather vintage accessories, from high heeled sandals to pretty parasols, and highlights them care of some seriously soon worthy yesteryear images in this fun spring + summer fashion post.


The Lifesaving Powers of Vintage Turbans: You'll want to run, not walk, to your scarf collection the moment you read this terrific piece from Nicole at The Artyologst, and then proceed to spend the whole summer sporting the most glamorous vintage style turbans imaginable.


Why I don’t like capsule wardrobes: Personally, I'm quite neutral when it comes to capsule wardrobes and have zero against them personally, but I did find this post on why its author, Christina Fleming, isn't a fan to be a thought provoking, interesting read.


Edwardian Pomade Recipe: Kate's super simple and very natural recipe - complete with a great how-to video - for such will have you running to the local health food or holistic related shop and then your kitchen in a heartbeat.


Flea Market 101: A Beginner’s Guide: Jackie of the always enjoyable blog, Let's Go Thrifting, dishes out some super handy, and very detailed advice, on what to know/do/take with you/expect when you go flea market shopping. This post is a great read for all outdoor second hand market fans, be they newbies, veterans, or anywhere in between.


A Man Took Hundreds of Photobooth Self-Portraits From Between the 1930s and 1960s. But No One Knows Who He Is and Why?: Tell me this doesn't intrigue you something fierce!


5 Keys for Mid-Century (Decor) Style: A quintet of fun, easy ways to inject more of the mid-century awesomeness we so adore into our home decor care of Sabrina over at the delightful blog, Inky Notions.




Life:

In many respects, I feel like I've already shared most of the highlights that have filled our days lately, including our wonderful little trip to the Kootenays, but that doesn't mean that other things haven't been happening behind the scenes, too.

Tony recently returned home from his latest work trip to the States, which saw him touch down for a few days in Denver, Colorado. Save for the airport there, he'd never been to Denver before and really enjoyed his time in this beautiful state, which geographically speaking, share many points (mountains! evergreen trees! vast expanses of wilderness!) in common with our own province of British Columbia.

Much as with Austin, Texas in April, he adored getting to explore more of America and is looking forward to wherever his company may opt to send him to next, be it in America, Canada, or even further afield.

And speaking of Tony, both he and I have birthday coming down the pipeline in the not-too-far-off future. Mine will roll into town on July 10th (I'll be 32) and his appears again on August 6th (he'll be 36). We've always adored that we're both "summer babies" and while we don't have any mega plans in the works for either day yet, are certainly looking forward to celebrating them together.






In fact, we're genuinely psyched to be spending the summer as a whole in one another's company, after being apart while he was in San Francisco (for work) for nearly the whole duration of last summer.

Though we both fared well during that time apart and stayed in constant contact online, it truly wasn't the same letting the most stunning, sunny and light filled (aka, prime outdoor photo taking season) chapter of the year go by without each other's companionship and we feel very fortunate to have this summer together again.

We're also excited about Canada Day on July 1st (it's one of only two days each year - the other being New Year's Eve - when our town puts on a small fireworks show), the prospect of a summertime road trip or two, the return of cherry + peach + apricot + plum + nectarine season, days of weather so stunning it almost makes you weep, and making plans on various fronts for the second half of 2016.


Love:

-Muted colours, as I blogged about recently in this post, are something that I simply can't get enough of at the moment. I recently ordered a fab new fifties dress in these earthy, goes-with-everything shades for fall and am already planning an outfit for October around it.

-And speaking of thinking ahead when it comes to my ensembles (ahh, the life of a full-time fashion blogger), a recent Etsy search for "Christmas pudding brooch" lead me to discover the most delightfully cool handmade fruit and veg themed jewelry shop on Etsy called By the Shed, and I'm not even joking when I say that I want every single thing that they're selling. If I receive some birthday money this year, I uber want to put a portion of it towards my first purchase from this awesome shop.

-Wearing all the vintage straw hats and carrying all the vintage straw/bamboo/raffia handbags. Hands down one of my favourite elements about summertime fashion is this point right here and I've wasted no time this year in putting my straw (et al) accessories to good use!

-Shopping my own closet, so to speak. As evidenced by some of the comments that I received on this  post last year (and various others, too), I know that many of are firm fans of putting existing wardrobe pieces to continued use in new and exciting ways, and that's something that I greatly enjoy and make a point of doing as well.

There is, objectively, relatively little I truly *need* when it comes to clothing and the older I get, the more I want to keep enjoying and experimenting with my existing wardrobe, which naturally means blogging many such outfits here with all of you.

-Kailey Flyte, better known to many online as Mermaiden's, cuter-than-cute collection of cell phone cases that she designed in collaboration with Casetify.

-Magnum Double Raspberry Ice Cream Bars: Oh my stars, are these things amazing! Tony and I just discovered this particular Magnum offering last month and to we're both beyond addicted to them now. Hands down these Double Raspberry Bars are in my top five favourite store bought ice cream products of all time. If you love the taste of raspberries, I seriously can't recommend them highly enough!




-Nestling our camping chairs into the sand down at one of the local beaches here and watching the sky transform from butter yellow to tangerine, coral, lilac and amber as the ever-hotter sun sets over either Okanagan or Skaha Lake.

-This adorable elderly British couple who finally tied the knot after dating for 42 years (aww!).

-When my wonderful Etsy customers blog about their purchases, such as Sara from In a Nutshell, Sarah (with an "h" :)) from Sew Characteristically You, as well as Jessica from Zella Maybe , and Elizabeth from Gloriously Vintage have all done did in recent weeks.

Thank you wonderful ladies each so much, I truly appreciate it! (Check out snaps from each of their awesome posts below, in order from top to bottom: Jessica, Sarah H., Elizabeth, and Sarah.)

{To learn more about a specific image used in today's post, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.} 

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What are your plans for this first Saturday of June, my dear friends? Recently my awesome sister, who lives in the nearby city of Kelowna, caught wind of a brand new vintage sale called the Okanagan Vintage Fair, which is holding its first ever event today, and rushed to tell me about it (isn't she the best!).

I didn't feel that I found out about it far enough in advance to attend as a seller (I usually need, due to my health, several weeks to prepare for an in person selling event, which then, there's never any guarantee that I'll be feeling well enough to attend; thus selling online via my Etsy shop, as I do, works so much better for me!), but I am hoping to bop up to Kelowna this weekend and attend as customer, if possible.

We have exceedingly few vintage related events, let alone sales, in this corner of the province and I really like to support as many of them that do exist as I realistically can (interestingly, a few days after my sister texted me about this event, the organizer - who I'd not interacted with before - contacted me via Facebook to invite me to attend, which was so sweet and thoughtful of her to do).

I know some of the folks who will be selling there and look forward to meeting others who are new to me, as well as to attend the premier occasion of this fun sale. Hopefully I'll return with a vintage treasure or two enrich my wardrobe and/or home with!

Aside from that, we're keeping things nice and on-the-fly this weekend, with few set plans and even less of a desire to be rushed or overly busy. These warm, gorgeous months are all too brief and one should savour them at a leisurely pace as often as possible (even if that means for just a few hours on the weekends or after work).

Have a stellar, delightfully fun - and hopefully relaxing - weekend, everyone!

Vintage Link Love for November 2014

It's scarcely a secret that time seems to past by more quickly the older that one gets (I've experienced this firsthand for many years now), but even I was a little bit floored by how incredibly quickly November whizzed past. It was, for me, the speediest month of 2014, despite the fact that it wasn't perfect by any means.

For example, it started out with a bad ear infect in my left ear (just a four or five days after the lengthy flu I had in October wrapped up; I strongly believe the two are connected) that is still going on and which as rendered me quite hard of hearing on that side (meds aren't helping much yet, but hopefully they will do their job soon!).

Then mid-month, I experienced the death of my beloved Canon DSLR, which had been my loyal friend, and diligent workhorse for over seven years (it had been living on borrowed time already for several months though and had a slew of issues, so I knew that the end really was near).

And most recently, two days ago on Friday morning I woke up with same cold that Tony had been battling since Monday. It was pretty much a given that I'd get it. We almost always share bugs - it's nearly impossible not to when two people spend so much time together in the same house.

Unlike the ear infection and cold, which don't have any quick fixes, when it comes to my camera - which is a must have piece of equipment not only for its own joys, but for taking photographs for all the photos for my Etsy shop (which I shot myself) - I splurged on the latest model, the T5i, of the Canon Rebel (I'd previously had a Canon XSi Rebel).

It's a such a stellar, lightweight, modern, versatile, delightful camera to shoot with and though it was a bit sad to part ways with my older Rebel (we'd been through so much and made so many awesome memories together), I must say, I'm head-over-heels with this new version and truly can't recommend it highly enough if you're in the market for a great, not-too-crazy-expensive DSLR yourself (I got the body only, not the kit, as objectively, much as I adore buying lenses, I don't technically need any new glace at the moment...yes, that stance takes major willpower on my part! :D).

Online things were buzzing with activity, too, and not just because of Chronically Vintage's first annual Vintage Secret Santa holiday gift exchange, which saw 260 participants join up to take part. Everyone has been emailed their VSS match, so on the very off chance that you haven't received yours (please check your spam and deleted message filters first), please email me right away so that I can resend that information to you.

Though this (the #vintagesecretsanta) was certainly a big and exciting part of November, again, it wasn't the only thing that had me my toes this month. Throughout the last few weeks, I've had the immense pleasure of being interview and/or written about on the following five websites, including by the stellar UK site We Heart Vintage, who tapped me to share some of my top tips for achieving success on Etsy.

I was incredibly touched that they did as much, especially given that I'm such a relatively new Etsy seller. I loved getting too talk about some of the things that are really working for me there (on Etsy) so far for the first time publicly and suspect that I'll probably post on this subject here on CV, too, as time goes on (and I've got my experience as an Etsy seller to my name).

The lovely folks behind Ruby Lane's stellar digital magazine, Ruby Read, asked me to take part in one of their magazine articles, which I did, along with numerous other leading vintage/fashion related bloggers. Turn to page 35 to see my contribution, then settle in a little while and enjoy reading the rest of this wonderful edition.

I shared a splendidly lovely interview with fabulous vintage shop Betty Rae Vintage over on their blog, which you can read here. I really enjoyed the range and scope of questions that they asked (especially question #7).

The wonderful Ms. Emileigh from the terrific vintage blog Flashback Summer honoured my Etsy shop and I with a post in November, in which she chatted about vintage sweetheart jewelry and highlighted some of the pieces of such that I had in stock at the time of writing. I've always had a great love of sweetheart jewelry myself, so I was all the more thrilled when I saw that Emileigh had very kindly featured my shop in a post on this great subject.

And last, but definitely not least, I was tickled pink to be included in a post about different, unexpected ways to style vintage cardigans, which appeared on the relatively new - and very charming - vintage blog, The Girl Kissed By Fire (which if you're not already following, I highly suggest you do - just as for the other blogs and sites mentioned above).

Now, elsewhere on the web throughout November, in posts I wasn't involved with :), there was no shortage of interesting, informative, and fun happenings as well. As usual come the end of the month, I've rounded up a dozen of the ones that stood out to me and which I'm delighted to share with you here today.

♥ Alice Guy, Cinema Pioneer: Alice Guy's name is one that I've heard in vintage movie circles over the years, but it wasn't until I happened upon this wonderful recent post from V is for Vintage that I really became well acquainted with this early female movie director and her extensive roster of films (400+!). She's a thoroughly fascinating, admirable pioneer of the film industry for sure and deserves to have the limelight shone of her, instead of just on the actors and actresses she filmed.

♥ Silver hair comb history: Hair combs are one of those immensely lovely accessories that one rarely sees worn these days, especially if we exclude weddings. Yet in decades and centuries past (and still to this day in some cultures around the world) they were an integral part of a woman's wardrobe of accessories, in no small part because most ladies of yore had long locks that were frequently worn partially or entirely up. In this beautiful post, Bianca (herself a passionate hair comb collector who has written other posts on the subject as well) takes a look a particularly marvelous type of comb, those made of silver, and leaves you wanting to add one (or more!) to your own hair accessory collection on the double!


♥ But it's my head we're talking about, sir (a look at the history of turbans): Turbans are one of those vintage accessories that I absolutely love and always enjoy seeing, yet for no particular reason, rarely sport myself (you're much more likely to see me in a snood or WW2 war worker style headscarf/bandana). This engagingly lovely post about their history from Marija shines the spotlight on turbans and was just the reminder I needed to actually wear them for one this winter.




♥ Fashion during the Blitz – Technicolor film by Jack Cardiff: I posted a link to this great piece from Glamour Daze on Facebook recently, but absolutely had to share it here as well as it is such a rare, marvelous look at ladies fashion during the endlessly challenging years of WW2 in the UK. I dare you not to go weak in the knees for every last garment and accessory featured in it!


♥ 8 reasons vintage lovers love themselves: Sammi Davis has been knocking it out of the ballpark this year with her delightfully entertaining (and informative) guides/posts about vintage for eBay, and this recent edition, which focuses on reasons why vintage lovers excel at loving themselves (no arguments there on my end) is no exception.


♥ The Faces of the Men who Fought in WW1: Penned in honour or Remembrance/Armistice Day, this moving post We Heart Vintage is a gripping, powerful reminder of the incredibly human side of war and how so many of the faces in these photos never made it home to their loved ones again, all in the name of ensuring that when the last guns of war range out during the atrocious four year fight, freedom prevailed.




♥ The Martian Invasion of 1938: In 1938, a live broadcast of H.G. Wells' famous War of The Worlds story caused a great deal of temporary stress and problems when certain listeners around America believed what they were hearing was in fact a live news report. This engaging post shares the author's mother's firsthand account of how that day unfolded for her and some of her relatives. In this day and age of CGI, news at our fingertips (and in our pockets), and a great deal more skeptics about a lot of things, it's easy to forget that there was once a time when something like this could happen a few short decades ago.


♥ Repro/vintage clothes in Denmark and the EU: Danish blogger and my dear friend, Sanne, has done a stellar job of rounding up some of best vintage and vintage reproduction websites from Denmark and elsewhere in the EU. If you live in Europe or are just searching for more great sources of vintage/repro (and who isn't?), this post is definitely for you!


♥ Grandchildren of classic film stars: Looking for proof that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to appearance? Enter this terrific look at some of the grandchild of classic film starts from A Vintage Nerd that will have you going "wow" with each new entry that Daffny shares.





♥ Lady in Retirement: How Can I Dress Professionally Now That I Don’t Have a Job?: Over the years I've received a few requests for suggestions on how to wear vintage after middle age. I may write a full post on that topic one day, but I feel like I need a few more years under my belt first. To help those who may be looking for fashion advice in this sphere, I highly recommend this great post Witness 2 Fashion.


♥ 6 reasons vintage suits trump modern suits: This Flashback Summer post gets a resounding nod of agreement from me from start to finish. Vintage suits are incredibly elegant, stylish and figure flattering (especially you involve, if needed, a bit of custom tailoring). They deserve a place in just every vintage loving lady's wardrobe and are a beloved staple in mine the whole year 'round.


♥ Oscar de la Renta's early years: On the heel's of legendary fashion designer, Oscar de la Renta's recent passing, Vogue (fittingly!) take a look at the early years of his career in this article that is sure to make anyone with a passion for gorgeous couture swoon!





{All images throughout the list of links above come by way of the post that they are displayed directly beneath the write up of here. Please follow the links provided to learn more about these images.}

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Chances are you've already started to prepare for the holidays. Perhaps your halls are decked, your cards sent and your fruitcakes are soaking. We're about to head into a hectic, magical, fun filled, beautiful, and yes, at times, stressful, chapter of the year, but it is one that I doubt few of us who celebrate it would ever want to go without it. Here on the blog front, I'll be bringing you multiple festively themed posts and very much forward to seeing all of yours as well.

November might have been quick, and at times rocky, but it was also a welcome respite between the many activities of October and the even more jam packed schedule of December, and in a way I'm sad to say good bye to it. Not too heartbroken though, as I do love and cherish Christmas immensely and am also a bit eager to welcome the New Year and see what 2015 has in store for us.




{Yippee!!! Tomorrow December will be here and with it a return of this splendidly fabulous, fun filled season of giving, love, merriment, feasting, and celebrating. I'm in a really Christmassy mood this year and can hardly wait to enjoy ever one of the last remaining 31 days of the year. Image source.}


First though, let's trim our trees, send out our Vintage Secret Santa gifts, bake a million and one holiday treats, and savour everything that is good and beautiful about this enchantingly lovely time of the year!