Photo Friday: My Sister Got Married Last Weekend Edition

Good morning!

I know Photo Friday is usually reserved for vintage photos, usually of other people's family members, but heck if I won't break whatever hard, fast rules I have for this blog whenever I want to-- it's the special province of being the blog's authoress!

Check it out, folks-- my baby sister up and got married last weekend!

Matt and Sus eating cake. Let them eat cake!

She and her now-husband, Matt, have been together for almost five years, and were wed last Saturday at the groom's parents' house in Franklin. They met at college in Clarksville where both of them were in the Fine Arts program, and have been inseparable ever since. Matt is a graphic designer for a signage company out in West Nashville, and Sus is the brains and beauty behind SoSticky, a sticker shop on Etsy (if you're into cool looking stickers, period, and specifically video-game influenced pieces, this gal is your gal). The short and sweet ceremony featured a cover of the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" by A Might Wind, from the Bioshock soundtrack, and Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky", and a lot of vows-saying and good-crying from the future spouses. Lulu, Matt and Susan's insanely well-behaved dog, acted as ring-dog.

Matt, his dad, and his brother.

After they were declared "man and wife", the bride was kissed and Matt took his new wife down the makeshift aisle in a little boogaloo. The casual reception dinner was a buffet of fried chicken, BBQ sliders, fresh fruit, and three bean salad (for us rabbit food eaters-- Matt's brother and sister-in-law are vegans, too!), and a beverage station of  flavored San Pellegrino, lemonade, wine and beer. Sus and Matt's cake featured the inscription "For Keeps", which Matt explained was a romantic inside joke between Carl Sagan and his wife Ann Duryan that resonated with their own relationship. There was also a cake topper that had stood on Matt's grandparents cake in the late forties'. How sweet!

Sus and I just after the champagne toast. My also photogenic mom has been cropped out due to a history of going "You used THAT photo?! That photo's HORRIBLE of me!" even though she always looks fine.

I did Sus's hair, making the invaluable discovery that a stripped silk flower, removed from its wire stalk, will thread through a bobby pin and stay in braided hair, producing a highly professional effect! My mom made little favors (which I think we'll be using in my reception as well, they're too neat) of candy boxes shaped like grooms and brides, with kisses and peppermints inside. These are all photos that were taken at the ceremony by members of Matt's family-- I took some of my own on my mom's digital camera (mine died), but have yet to retrieve them from her, and I wanted to make sure and get my own little wedding shout-out out there before the week was through!

Anyway, happy wedding week to my sister! Looking forward to having her and my new brother-in-law at my ceremony in September!

Have a great weekend, folks, and I'll see you on the other side. Til then!

Bookshelf Check

Good morning!

I've been reorganizing my desk at work, and thought I would mention some of the books that are going to get me through the end of these summer doldrums. Let's take a look! What should I read first?

1) Pop Culture:

• I Wear the Black Hat by Chuck Klosterman-- It's funny with Klosterman's books, I read the essays, I enjoy the essays, I immediately forget the essays. Whether in book form or in one of his magazine publications, I can only seem to concretely remember a recent excerpt of this book on what he used to hate that he no longer hates (the Eagles, post-DLR Van Halen, etc, etc), which nudged me into ordering this book. Is this bad? I guess that would make going back and reading some of his earlier releases. With titles like Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and Killing Yourself to Live, I am more apt to remember what the book is called than what is in it. 
• My Lunches with Orson edited by Henry Jaglom-- I read about this one on Dangerous Minds and cracked up on Orson Welles's catty commentary on Hollywood celebrities. Katharine Hepburn on set boasting about sleeping with Howard Hughes? Check. The statement "I never could stand looking at Bette Davis"? Check. OW is taking no prisoners and taking you with him in these transcribed tapes from lunch conversations with director Henry Jaglom. Cannot WAIT to read this book.
• Rita Moreno: A Memoir-- I heard an interview with Moreno on NPR a few months ago and have just now worked my way up through the holds list to have it checked out. Moreno was cute as button in her Sunday Morning interview, and I hope that spark and verve comes through as clearly in her memoir as it did in her radio spot. Update: Just read the chapter about her love affair with Brando and her suicide attempt in his apartment. I don't know where the rest of this books is going, but WOW, WOW.
• Kicking and Dreaming by Ann and Nancy Wilson-- One of my very favorite records to put on, just sitting around the house, is the A-side of Dreamboat Annie, the scorching 1976 debut album of sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson in the band Heart. Do I ever get tired of hearing "Magic Man" and "Crazy on You" on repeat? I do not. I remember a lot of sturm and drang from their episode of Behind the Music (Ann's weight gain, post-fame, caused considerable waves in that "ethereal, thin, rock goddess" period of 70's music), so I'm interested in a backstage pass.

2) Cookbooks:

• Vegan Eats World by Terry Hope Romero and Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson--I ordered these two books on the heels of the super disappointing The Everything Vegetarian Slow Cooker. While a couple of the recipes were ok, everything seemed bland, bland, bland! I'm intrigued by the idea of coming home to an already cooked hot meal, but not if it took six hours to cook something that tastes like it came out of a can. So phooey on y'all, Everything Vegetarian Slow Cooker. I'm hoping Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker and Vegan Eats World sufficiently spice up our dinner menus (or "denus", as I just attempted to type)!
• Taste of the Caribbean by Jenni Fleetwood and Marisa Filpelli and A Taste of Cuba by Linette Green-- I am completely obsessed with Calypso Cafe after having dropped in to the East Nashville location on the way to work (which, is housed in a former Payless Shoes across from the middle school I attended... I just derive endless joy from how much the neighborhood has changed and in what ways) on Sunday and getting a black bean plate with three sides (corn and bean salad, sweet potatoes, and calalloo....YES, FOREVER, LET ME EAT THIS UNTIL THE END OF TIME) for $6.29. The only way I could do this more cheaply would be to make these items ahead at home, and while they might not turn out EXACTLY as flawless as Calypso's presentation, I thought it might be fun to try.

3) Various

• Stylepedia by Steven Heller and Louise Fili-- This book came through for another patron to place on hold about two months ago, and I placed a hold on it out of curiosity. LOTS of gorgeous "style-spiration" from the pages within, I just need to settle down and really get a good look at it.
• Lords of Salem by Rob Zombie-- I'm already halfway through this, and while it's written on a YA or so level (with R rated horror, of course), it's still pretty enjoyable. I'm not into Rob Zombie's music, but I'll have to do a post sometime about how I LO-O-OVE his movies. So much so, that I couldn't wait for Lords of Salem to come out on dvd after I foolishly missed it in the theaters, and am plowing through this not-quite-novelization.
• Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli and Me by Patricia Volk Eartha Kitsch told me about this book, and I'm glad she did! It looks great-- the author's mother was the chic hostess at her family's even more chic restaurant in New York in the forties' and fifties', and from what I can tell, this is a kind of dual biography of the mother and one of my favorite fashion designers of all time, Elsa Schiaparelli (see previous blog post on the woman here). Can't wait!

So! That's the shelf, in all its glory. What are you guys reading or looking forward to reading this summer? Are you using your public library to the best of your abilities? You should! I got every single one of these books at our fair Nashville Public Library, which has recently raised the physical checkout limit to 100 items. ONE HUNDRED ITEMS. I could have another 89 books on that shelf! Which of these would you put on the top of your to-read list? Let's talk!!

That's all for today, but I'll see you back here tomorrow. Have a great Thursday, and I'll see you tomorrow for Photo Friday!

Ted Hawkins

Good morning!

First off, full disclosure: I read about the subject for today's blog on ANOTHER blog. I feel bad for piggybacking the topic, but moments after listening to some of the tracks on Amber Frost's Dangerousminds.net post about cult musician Ted Hawkins, I was ho-o-oked. Guys! The Dangerous Minds website in general is one of my greatest internet discoveries of all time-- with around fifteen, razor sharp contributors and topics that look like they were ripped from one of my little "look this up later" journals in high school (Joy Division live on the BBC in 1979, Vincent Price movie trailers, etc, etc), I check it at least twice a day, every day. So, first off, thanks Dangerous Minds, for telling me about Ted Hawkins. Now, readers, let me tell YOU about him.

Born in Mississippi in 1936, Ted Hawkins spent most of his adult life one of two places-- jail, and on a milkcrate in Venice Beach, busking for spare change with an open tuned, acoustic guitar. It was the latter those who remember him would remember him by-- years of singing all day, every day, yielded up the handful of gorgeous cover songs and original recordings that make up his discography. The song that bowled me over from the other blog's post was his self-penned "I'm Sorry You're Sick":

          

Good morning my Darling I'm telling you this
to let you know that I'm sorry you're sick
Though tears of sorrow won't do you no good
I'd be your doctor if only I could 

What do want from the liquor store?
Something sour or something sweet?
I'll buy all that your belly can hold
You can be sure you won't suffer no more

That combination of traditional folk/roots style music with all these other layers of influence create the wholly original sound that garnered Hawkins a small cult following. The sting on "WHAT DO YOU WANT" combined with the sweet/sad phrasing on the rest of the song!! His voice, on this and other recordings, reminds me of if you had a number written by Charles Bukowski and performed by George Jones/Leadbelly/Sam Cooke/that Hawaiian guy who sang "Over the Rainbow" in one body. Here's another original:

                             

Green-eyed girl, why don't you notice this brown eyed boy
I'm havin' dreams of you, green-eyed girl 
Green-eyed girl, let me do something that'll thrill me to do
I want to touch you, green-eyed girl. Green eyed-girl....

I can't help but notice you noticing me watching you
You can't help but notice me noticing you noticing me
I wish I was here yesterday evening 
When you walked by, nobody told me, green-eyed girl.

I can't get over the gentle way he sings this song in that raspy, soft voice. It puts me in mind of what I liked in Roky Erickson's love songs-- for every song he has about aliens running the Kremlin, and multi-headed hell hounds on his trail (which I hold near and dear, but in a different way), there's a song like "You Don't Love Me Yet" or "Starry Eyes" that has some kind of unexpected, fresh, naked romanticism that cuts right through you. You think this poor guy, for all his troubles with the law, drugs, vagrancy, whatever else he's had to put up with in his life, there's a heart and an artist in there that is expressing itself in spite of everything. He's something special.

(source)

While his covers of songs like Webb Pierce's "There Stands the Glass" will cut your actual little feelings out with the arresting delivery on that first note, what really impressed me on first dipping my toe into his albums were his original songs. "Cold and Bitter Tears" is told from the perspective of a run-out-on husband doing this dishes in his wife's apron. "Tonight we done the dishes/Just to keep your memory clear/I cooled the hot dishwater/With my cold and bitter tears," Hawkins sings, like he's standing on the linoleum that moment looking for his wife's tailights to light up the gravel driveway out the kitchen window.  "If You Love Me" is a nineteenth hour plea to a woman who's about to leave him, pledging loyalty and dismissing the outside world as essentially adversarial. "Unpack those clothes honey/I'm not through talking to you/Have faith in me girl/And in the things that I do/People just like to talk sugar/Why can't they leave us alone/You know I couldn't hurt you/Or leave you alone" puts you in the room after a nasty fight, in that uncertain moment in a relationship where mutual trust and security is anything but assured, and Hawkins is the one working on assuring it. The lyrics and his voice are so REAL.

                            

Sales were low for Hawkins's debut album Watch Your Step, but it earned critical praise and a five star review from the notoriously-stingy-with-stars Rolling Stone magazine upon its release in 1982. From reading his biography on Wikipedia, it sounds like more often than not, Ted Hawkins was the thing that got in the way of Ted Hawkins's career. Though he recorded the tracks for Watch Your Step in the early seventies', and was offered a record contract at that time, the release was delayed by almost a decade due to his incarceration and subsequent troubles with drug addiction. He had some success in England, where his records were well-received and his concerts well-attended, before being deported under "unpalatable curcumstances" (probably more drugs) in 1990. Hawkins' died just months after his first major label release, The Next Hundred Years, began to take off. The songs he left behind are a fitting legacy for a man who could REALLY put a song across. I'm so glad Dangerous Minds clued me into this guy, I might have never found him on my own.

So! What do you think about these tunes? Do you have any musical interests that suddenly turned all-consuming on you? What websites do you check to get hints and tips on subjects that might pique your curiosity? Let's talk!

That's all for today, see you guys back here tomorrow. Til then!

Discography from AllMusic

Weekend Finds 2: Vintage Opryland Theme Park Map

Good morning!

I was at an estate sale out on Henry Ford Drive the other day and got snookered into buying a stack of old scrapbooks. By the estate sale dealers, you ask? Nope, they were perfectly low pressure, tiny elderly women who kept asking if anyone needed any help in a way that made you want to think of something they could help you with. Unbelievably sweet, especially by estate sale dealer standards. No, I was hoisted by my own petard in this case. As I was paging through one of the yellowing leaves of these books, I saw some letters from the forties' and thought there might be more treasure in the hills. So I bought four interesting looking albums for fifteen bucks (WAY over my regular price, but again, the ladies were so nice!) and took them home. Turned out, two of them were the "arts" scrapbook of an old maid schoolteacher who had gone to every AND I MEAN EVERY cultural event in Nashville for the years 1972-1974. Playbill after playbill after playbill for community theater productions, evenings at the symphony, classical concerts...whatever sounded like class in the vicinity of Metro Davidson county, she went. I might up and scan/share them with you sometime soon, but for now, behold the jewel of this faded collection:

AN ORIGINAL OPRYLAND THEME PARK MAP FROM 1972:

Yahoooooooooooo! We were just talking the other day about how much I love old theme parks, and how much I miss Opryland. Well, here you go! My prayers went answered for once!

I am, as always, unable to shoot pictures that look like they WEREN'T taken in a dungeon or lagoon or some other sinisterly low-lit place, but bear with me. The funky, whimsical little pictures are so cute!

For our non-Nashvillian readers, Opryland USA was a theme park that opened in 1972 just off Briley Parkway in Nashville. Living in Inglewood, it was only about a five minute drive from our house to the park, so we bought season tickets JUST about every year when I was a kid. The name of the place gives me an immediate, aural memory of the sound of the cranking gears to the Screamin' Delta Demon roller coaster and the shrieking as it made its whirligig descent. You could hear that almost as soon as you got out of the car, and didn't it quicken your little steps towards the entrance to the park! "They're havin' fun in there! I wanna be in there!"

One thing that surprised me, inspecting the attractions listed on this map of the original layout, was how different the feel of the park was from its later incarnations. In the seventies', there seemed to be a much more handmade, folksy bent to the attractions and gift shops. While there were still half a million gift shops in my memories of the place in the late eighties' and early nineties', most of the big draws were roller coasters and splash rides. The "theme" of music and Southern regional interest was way tamped down by the time I was there-- while you still had those wiggly marionettes of Shotgun Red, foam dragons and "I SURVIVED THE HANGMAN" t-shirts are most of what I can recall as souvenirs there circa 1994.

In 1972, the Grand Ole Opry was still down at the Ryman! It made its move to the less historic, but way more plus new Opry house in 1974.

I don't remember ANYTHING about a lake. I'm not saying it wasn't there, because look-- but I would certainly remember riding on a lake raft ride as advertised below. That thing looks awesome!

The Tin Lizzie ride was a favorite, favorite of mine as a kid. As most children who rode the on-a-rail model T ride back in the day, I had no idea we weren't driving a car in much the way we had to get to the park. What if we crash! What if we go off into the ditch! I saw a similar (heck, might be the same!) ride at Six Flags over Georgia when we were there a couple weeks ago and it gave my heart a tiny pang. Notice the "Mexican Candle Shop, La Cantina Show, [and] Mexican Restaurant" in this area of the park-- like Six Flags and its early days, the park was themed by different "regional" areas, and this seems to part of the "American West" area:

The original mascots of the park, who are FINE AND FANCY, if you ask me:

More random snaps I took of the map. There was an artist's signature in the upper right hand corner next to the sun but danged if I didn't forget to get a close up of it. Ah well. Do you recognize any of the attractions here? I remember the petting zoo for sure, but in a different location. And the train always had such a long wait, we hardly ever took it!

THE SKY RIDE. Ugh, I miss that sucker. Just when you thought you might actually die from heat exhaustion, and your parents refused to spring for the wildly expensive lemon ices it seemed like everyone else at the park was double-fisting, the Sky Ride was a perfect solution to "beat the heat". I could have ridden that thing all day.

Did you go to Opryland during its 1972-1997 run? If you're a Nashville native, what do you remember best about return trips to the park, or how it changed over the years? Is there a theme park in your home town or nearby that is close to your heart? Let's talk!

 Have a great Tuesday! That's all for today, but I'll see you back here tomorrow.Til then.

Great Onion AV article on working in the park back in the mid 90's here.
Opryland Timeline here

Weekend Finds: Various and Sundry

Good morning!

The title of today's blog is actually a little of a cheat because I did find a few of these items BEFORE this weekend. However, as I was running around the house scooping up recent coups from my thrift store runs, how could I leave out some of these crazy things I've neglected to tell you all about in the past week or two, due to inherent laziness re: photographing junk hauls? I couldn't. You wouldn't want me to! Let's get a look at the loot:

I think the item out of the whole haul that made my heart stop the most when I first saw it is this vintage Maio print from Goodwill ($6.99). Holy SMOKES, just when I think things like this aren't out there anymore! I was digging through the picture frames when the sheer enormity of this print's frame, sticking out from behind a framed poster of some hot air balloons (bleh, hot air balloons) and early nineties' illustrated prints of Victorian dolls (bleh, early nineties' prints), piqued my interest. When I hauled it out, I had one of those "NO WAY! No way!" moments that make all the dry runs to my neighborhood Goodwills worthwhile....a diamond in the rough, my friends! 

Circa 1998, this thing would have been at the front of the now demolished DAV on Gallatin Road, with a collectible price of like at least thirty bucks. Look at the girl's voluminous petticoats, her tights and high button boots, her tiny little parasol... kitsch perfection. Maio is one of the more famous "big-eyes" artists from the Keane-craze of the 60's and 70's. She was more known for her girl harlequins than waifs, though she seemed to do a number of those as well. I've already found a place to hang this in the den, so I consider this find a perfect "10" of a thrift score.

Red Hall Kitchenware round casserole dish with lid? $7.99 at Saver's up in St. Louis! I love that it has the lid, and that the price was limbo-low.

This hat, dude. As I was walking out of another Goodwill killing time before work on Sunday, I had a Top Gun, slow motion, "Take My Breath Awaaaaaay" moment over near the belts when I saw it perched atop a shopping cart full of things to be put out on the floor. Not this one! You needn't bother with shelf-stocking it, because for $1.99, I'm takin' that puppy home. A blithe little label inside the hat reads "MADE IN MYANMAR (BURMA)", and the thing is COVERED in embroidery and sequins. I die. Even just sitting on my dresser, it was worth pulling the trigger. The only other one I could find online was this one that sold on Etsy about a year ago. Do you or a grandmother you know have a hat like this? Is there a matching fanny pack I need to know about? Let's talk.

A bunch of straw trivets, because I love beautifully made things almost as much as I love not setting hot casserole dishes on my kitchen table. $1.99 for all three of them:

I am torn between the Maio and this for "best find" award. I know I said I liked the sixties' print best, but oh my goodness. As you see before you, a diminutive tote, maybe for a kindergartner's school book bag. The front features a large cookie pocket, and the legend, "ONE CUTE COOKIE". But wait...what is that umbilical cord like protrusion from the inside of the bag?

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD, THE CHANGE PURSE SAYS "CHIPS". There's a matching change purse that is supposed to be a chocolate chip. I DIE! ($1.99, Hermitage Goodwill, you're my new best friend)

This Elton John live record was professionally bowl-shaped by vinyl people in the know (there's a sticker on the bottom about the "process"). While I have friends who have successfully executed this, DIY style, at home with their kitchen ovens, I just don't think I would be able to make it look this professional. And for $2.99, I now have a great living room coffee table centerpiece. 

Last but not least, act like I didn't need this faux woodgrain, mint in box, seventies' travel tumbler. I won't, because I couldn't live with it out for ninety nine cents. Ever since I lost my enormous coffee tankard somewhere in the stacks (how did it get lost?! Will it return to me again some day?!), I have been drinking out of un-lidded coffee mugs, and those things are brutal for early morning car rides, sloshing all over the place. This is a means to an end, and a snazzy one to boot!

So! What did you guys get this weekend? Any crazy vintage scores at the estate sales? I've noticed the season has picked up considerably since a couple weeks ago, so there's bound to be good picking out there for all you fellow tag-sale-ites. I still have the dress-a-palooza of this last weekend to tell you about, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow (or whenever I get around to taking pictures of it all!). Have a great Monday (even if it is Monday), and I'll see you tomorrow! Til then.

Photo Friday: A Quick One Before the Weekend Edition

Good afternoon!

I was so revved up to go to estate sales this morning that I COMPLETELY FORGOT about any and all vintage blogging duties. An egregious error on my part! So shame, shame on me. ((makes the brushing one's index finger with the other index finger gesture)) Did you miss your morning's dose of She Was a Bird? To tide you over until Monday, I present this flickr user's mom, year of our Lord 1968:

What I love about this photo? The woman in the vintage picture is looking through, guess what, VINTAGE PICTURES. How meta of her, right? And a more retro/vintage setting for her to be doing this in I couldn't actually imagine. Look at the Googie chair and couch! The side table! The telephone! The white ottoman/coffeetable type thing! I love the relative to the right's moccasins, and EVERYTHING about the girl subject's outfit. Bulky sweater, checked skirt, cats eye glasses, perfect hair. And not to mention that pretty, wondering expression on her face! My only regret is that this is the only old-time photo I saw off the bat in this photo set. Come on, mister, give us some more of the vintage goods! I would say to this user. You're killin' me, here!

I made an i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e clothing bonanza at an estate sale in Inglewood this morning-- I promise to tell you all about it next week! Have a great weekend, and I'll check you on the other side. Til then!

Warner Bros. Breakdowns and Blow Ups (1936-1947)

Good morning!

I'm trying to take a breather from the internet today, but while I'm resting these weary little ocular synapses, why don't you train yours to the annual Warner Bros. Breakdowns and Blow Ups. I first mentioned these a million years ago in the infancy of this blog , but I recently came across this playlist on Youtube, offering a way larger selection of gaffes and goofs from 10 years of the golden age of Hollywood. It's HIGHLY entertaining to see your favorite old time movie stars, from Cary Grant to James Cagney, lose their verbal footing in the middle of sets to movies you might recognize. I personally loved seeing Bette Davis as her Oscar winning Julie Marsden in Jezebel and Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep. Please note that there's a LOT of swearing and the Lord's name taken in vain, but it the shock quality of four letter words dropping from the lips of screen icons that's half the fun!

There's a great blog on the history of the WB Breakdowns and the insiders' yearly dinner dance at which they were shown here.

Tell me who you recognize, and what terrible things they said, if you do get up the gumption to wade through these videos, I'd love to hear from you!

             

I'll be back tomorrow for Photo Friday! Til then.

Tuxedo Man (Matthew's Got a Tuxedo!)

Good morning!

Gettin' down to crunch time, peeps. With seventy some odd days til the wedding, I have kicked planning into the "oh my god, FREAK because we are actually needing to make decisions on stuff NOW" phase of the process. As I realized the other day that my documents and ideas are all either in my inbox or stuffed in a "important mail" letter holder at home, I finally got my act together and salvaged an old work binder into a cheery little wedding planning notebook. Using the DIY tab suggestions on this website, I've been dutifully three ring punching and stapling and organizing to-do lists and already-done lists (hint: one is way bigger than the other), but I must say, the process was made a li-i-i-itle more cheerful by the printing out/addition of these photos to the section marked attire.

Ladies and gentlemen, Matthew has a tuxedo!

Well, he at least has an agreement to borrow a tuxedo for our big day in September. Matthew's mom, Deb, and the groom to be himself went out to Men's Warehouse in Green Hills on Monday. While the name of the store may bring up visions of small business owners from the early nineties' in terrible, "buy three and the pants are free" suits and ties, they treated them first rate and had a larger selection than other tuxedo rental places the two visited with slightly better names. I sent Matthew with a wallet-sized print-out of a silm fit tuxedo on Justin Timberlake so there would be no mistaking what was meant by "we want a slim-fit tuxedo". Yes, J-tim is the sartorial boilerplate for how I envisioned my little beloved waiting for me at the end of the aisle...he never wears baggy suits! God bless him. And yet they fit-- none of that Pete Wentz "I'm in a band, so tiny, tiny  over-shrunk clothes are ok, right?"

The problem is, no matter what size or height the man inside is, department stores and specialty places alike seem to want to put dudes in grossly oversized pants and jackets. I blame this on the same trend that makes a male "S" t-shirt or button up actually more like a men's M-L in vintage sizes. Do dudes' clothing manufacturers do vanity sizing, or do men just not know they look their best in fitted, not ill-fitting, clothes? I've seen Matthew, who is a slim little dude with relatively wide shoulders and short legs, coaxed into a blazer and pants that would have swamped a much taller, porcine man. "Oh, we can take it in some, though," the wizened salesman crowed when posed with objections to the fit. Um, how much are you going to take it in? Five sizes? ((shakes head)) It was like they were fitting young Brando for old Brando (shiver). No dice, clothes merchants! Wrong is wrong!

This is the same photo as the Instagram snap that heads this post, except pre-Instagramming. See! He looks just as nice without the filters. I am amused by the background full of a Gatsby spectrum of colored shirts and suit jackets. I secretly wish we could get away with a colored suit like this or this, but maybe in the next life, when we're both cats. COOL CATS. Also, his hair? It just does that. I'm not kidding. No product, no special blow drying-- he sleeps on it, and it comes out in the morning looking like this. I hope our kids' get his hair's texture and not my iron-straight, curl-less locks!

I'm kind of sorry I didn't get to go along with mother and son to check out the dressing room preening, but I was happy Deb and Matthew took a lot of photos so I could check it out after the fact. I had the goofiest little love feeling when I saw him all dressed up and thought about meeting him at the altar in September. He was cute because he called me after all the little contracts were signed and said, "I couldn't get a hold of you when we needed to make decisions about the accessories [tangent: how often do you hear a guy say this? It's worth gloating over for a minute], but lemme ask you this-- bow tie or tie?" Me: "Bow tie." Matthew: "YESSSS. Vest or cummerbund?" Me: "Cummerbund." Matthew: "Yes! Yes, I knew it! Pearl buttons or black?" Me: "Black." Matthew: "THREE FOR THREE! I knew what you would like! My training has paid off!"  And it certainly has! Here's the finished product, pre-tweaking (there's a little bit of this to be taken in and that to be altered, but not by much, thank goodness):

Matthew also said the saleslady was impressed with how much he talked about me during the fitting, because she could tell he was really excited to be getting married and specifically to be getting married to me. She told him a lot of guys come in grouchy, petulant, obstinate  and it was nice to see a guy who was actually happy about tying the knot! I was surprised to hear that, because coming as I have from trying on a million wedding dresses, and every human female in the store, bride or bridal party, is just jumping up and down with excitement, I'd never thought about what the dude's portion of this process must have been like.I actually have a tiny sentimental tear thinking about this in the midst of all my "oh good God what do I do about table settings". Guys, it's gonna be a great wedding! Who cares what the chairs and the favors and the food looks like (I do, but you know what I mean)? We got heart! And that's a lot.

Anyway, sorry to sentimental-out on you guys, it was just the first thing on my mind this morning, and that's what usually goes on the blog! Back to vintage stuff tomorrow, with a vengeance. In the meantime though, indulge me-- what wedding planning tips do you have for a gal a little less than three months away from the big day? I got a list of things from a blog reader, Tamra in Alabama, that has been tacked up in my cubicle and making me smile since she sent it, but I'd love to hear more from you marrieds or soon to be marrieds or have thought about being marrieds about how to do this gracefully (is it possible?!).

That's all for now! Catch you kiddos on Thursday. Til then!

The Clothes Off My Back (plus a Shabby Apple review)

Good morning!

Clothes...still wearing 'em, thought I should talk about 'em. I was messing around with Instagram, and now I know why all you fine people put such stock in their photo filters:

1) Stevie:

Good Lord! I knew my hair and my dress were fierce in this photo, but I look like Stevie Nicks on the back cover of Rumours (the highest compliment I can pay a person, even myself)! Thank you, Instagram, jeez. I found this seventies' halter maxi-dress, with saucy cut-out-lace insert, at Goodwill last Friday before the half off sale ($7.99). You should see the bottom of the dress, too; there's a goddessy flow to the skirt. I haven't yet mastered the art of wearing polyester sun dresses in above 70 degree weather, but I'm going to make an honest effort of it this summer. This dress can't wait to go out on the town!

2) Freebie:
An online retailer contacted me a couple weeks ago to ask if I was interested in reviewing a dress from their online collection-- uh, does heck go with yes*? Shabby Apple's latest collection features retro-inspired, vintage clothing inspired numbers. I was a little put off by the styling in some of these photos, but the dresses themselves looked simple, breezy, and ready to be amped up or styled down with whatever accessories you choose, so I sent off for this dress:

The shipping was lightning fast, and I was excited to open up the colored tissue paper enclosed package. My first free dress! In the past, I've been burned by retro-styled online dressmakers who sent me a TJ Maxx or Forever 21 quality dress (no shade, TJ Maxx or Forever 21, but you know I shop there because you put the "disposable" in "disposable fashion") at actual department store prices. BOOO! Even with the $84 retail price tag, I didn't know what to expect. I was surprised to see that this dress, in spite of being polyester, is FULLY lined, and well-constructed. The only thing I would mention as a drawback, which might apply to any and all online, not-in-person shopping, was that the length appeared to be all out of proportion to the model in the picture. I know I'm six feet tall, and I can't expect every dress to be the appropriate tailleur when there's an extra eight to four inches of height on me when compared to the average American female. However! Aren't models tall? How is this hemline knee-length on her and short enough to necessitate an under-skirt for me? At this length, I feel like it would be more suited for casual wear, but the material itself is more formal-occasion oriented. What's a gal to do. I will say I like the color and material!

3) Today's Own Outfit:

Serving Orphan Annie Realness (phew, my hair! What are you doing? It doesn't look any better as I'm typing this, let me tell you). I have come to the conclusion, after standing in front of my closet and heaving through the over-burdened hanging rack inside, that my closet is mostly 1970's-1980's sequined dresses/tops/whatever else (I can't stop....someone make me stop!), polyester long sleeved dresses, and strappy summer sun dresses. None of these are appropriate to an at-work environment, so I'm just going to start wearing the sundresses as jumpers, I've decided. Here's an Ann Taylor dress from Goodwill, with a Gap T-shirt from Goodwill, with the same black underskirt I wear with everything (seeing a pattern here?). I'll have to tell you how my experiment works out, but I already got a compliment in the elevator about "my style", so I'm just going with it, tangled hair and all.

What have you been wearing lately? Have you had similar experiences with online retro-retailers? What kind of break-up do you see in the kinds of clothes you stock your wardrobe with? Let's talk!

I have to get back to work, but I'll see you guys back here tomorrow. Til then!

**Disclaimer - Shabby Apple provided me with the item mentioned above,  free of charge,  for review purposes. The opinions stated are my own.

Weekend Finds: the Lamp I Love

Good morning!

Two separate out-of-state vintage hauls, a trip to Home Depot, and an afternoon with my dad spent carefully tinkering over this trinket have all paid off, ladies and gentlemen. Check out my new/old/Frankenstein of a vintage find, the figural lamp of my dreams!

On the way back from Missouri, we stopped in Benton, Ohio to grab lunch, and I was pulled into the gravitational field of their town square. Anytime I see a tiny brown highway sign that reads "ANTIQUE DISTRICT -->" or "HISTORIC TOWN SQUARE--->", it's pretty much impossible for me to ignore the call of the junk. The first thing I saw coming into the store was an atomic aqua love seat and matching coral colored arm chair...while I caught my breath and began tabulating how much a Uhaul back to Nashville might cost, I was shot back down to earth by the price tag. $695 for the sofa, and $395 for the chair. WHAT. WHY. WHAT. WHY AGAIN. Most things in the store were more reasonably priced than that, but most things in the store also didn't have the knock-yer-eye-out curb appeal of the living room set. My heart momentarily thrilled at the sight of an Enid Collins bag in a case, but further inspection proved that it was missing several key stones and badly scratched. Boo. I was strikin' out on this trip, folks!

We were almost out of the store when I saw this two-tier, fiberglass barrel shade sitting on top of a cupboard in one of the booths. With the store's dubious-up-until-now track record, I expected to experience the sticker shock of a way out of price range shade. And if it was in my price range, it probably had a hole burned in one side or something else criminally wrong with it.  But no! $30 was inked on the little hang tag attached, and there wasn't a mark on the shade itself. After some booth-circling, I finally decided to just buy the thing, and carry it back to Tennessee with the hopes of attaching it to just-the-right lamp. I had one in mind, matterafact:

Do you remember the Louisville trip Matthew took me on last year for my birthday? This lamp base was one of the Peddler's Market finds from that fair city. I'm still groping for the correct term to describe his vocation, even a year later...matador? Harlequin? Matador-in-disguise? Man of mystery? At any rate, I had been looking for a crazy fifties' lamp-with-person for a base for the longest time, and now the opportunity to put shade-to-lamp presented itself! Only one impediment, there-- the lamp base's cord was cut, rendering useless its basic functionality. Dad-durn it. The harp was in pretty bad shape too, and I figured if we were going to go to the trouble of rewiring it, it might as well be with new parts. After picking up a "make-a-lamp" kit at Home Depot, I took the kit and caboodle over to my parents' house, and my dad and I fiddled with it until we had a working lamp!

I am still the world's worst blog photographer, so here's another shot of the lamp outside, which was taken in the vain hope that the outdoor lighting would help with seeing what the piece "really looks like". Something about the fiberglass of the shade just makes the lamp look so expensive when you turn it on and the light's coming through. $30 shade + $15 base + $10 lamp kit = $55 total for the lamp. Compare that to the $75-$125 price range of lamps I've had a little sorrow-induced tear over at Pre to Post Modern, and I think I might have come out a little ahead! Plus the fun of "picking it myself", one piece at a time, kind of adds to the value for me.

So! What did you find over the weekend? Do you have any fiberglass lamp shades or fifties' lamps (or both) in your collection? What's the story behind how you got them? Let's talk!

That's all for today, but I'll be back here tomorrow. Til then!

Photo Friday: 1917 War Effort edition

Good morning!

As it's Friday, I was flipping through my flashdrive of family photos and trying to decide which one to show you all. What would be more appropriate, seeing as it's July 5th, the day after the day upon which our nation's birthday is celebrated, than selecting this patriotic photo?

Marked "1917" in the margin of the snapshot, you can see ten little girls dressed in blinding all-white frocks, wearing the headpieces of the American Red Cross nurses' uniforms. Many service and volunteer groups, for both youth and adult members of the WWI home-front, knitted socks and rolled bandages for the war effort. While there's no other information on this photograph, I'm assuming that among the members is someone from my grandma's Massachusetts family, though which little girl is anyone's guess. Personally, I hope it's this one:

Miss Personality 1917, right? She looks like a pint-sized Joan Blondell. How sharp is that blonde bob under her little cap? I was able to find this photo from the same year, in Grandview Heights, Ohio; it looks like the "wear white, we'll look like we're all in the same uniform" organizing tactic was just as effective in the Midwest as it was in New England. I thought this photo might be another children's service organization, and maybe the members were all dressed up for the portrait-- turns out, the kids are garbed at WWI nurses and soldiers to attend the Texas funeral of Frank Maresh, a local fallen soldier. Macabre, people! That is downright creepy!

Speaking of creepy, did you see the shadowy presence in the background of the photo?

I tried to close-up on the matronly figure standing behind the screen door in this photograph, but her face was lost to the shadows. I love how you can see she's wearing some kind of apron, but that's about the most detail you're going to get. I wonder if she was the group's den mother or similar.

Last but not least, a detail I almost missed entirely because of how washed out the white makes the definition of the photo!

AAAAAH! Did you see the little kid laid out like a practice patient in the center of the photograph? It wasn't until I went in to do a closeup of the woman in the house that I realized they're standing around a stretcher, on which is placed a little would-be casualty. Can you imagine what an opportunity it would be to "ham it up" in the role of the victim? I not-so-secretly envy the kid the position she's in. "Doc, my eyes! MY EYYYYYES, WHY CAAAAN'T I SEEEEEE....", followed with much appropriate-to-the-time-period stage acting of wringing hands and groaning. That would be my approach. See, I've got my plan all mapped out here. Just waiting for my big break!

What do you think of this photo? Do you have any neat WWI-era photographs in either your own collection or your family's? I'm still kicking myself I didn't buy a panoramic photo from this same time period of some British soldier who were bivouacked in some extreme, Downton Abbey style castle in the French countryside, and stood in front of it for the photo. So EPIC a scene, people; what was I thinking.

I have to get back to work, but you guys have a fabulous weekend! Fellow Tennesseans, I hope we get some of that sunshine we were so cruelly denied on Independence Day. I'll see you on Monday! Til then.

Happy Fourth!

Good morning!

Aren't I just over the moon about not having to get up at 6 am? Nom de Dieu, a million times, YES. Happy birthday, US of A! I took an extra little sleep in especially for the occasion. :)

It wouldn't be a holiday here at She Was a Bird, however, if I didn't show you some completely NUTS antique postcards celebrating this holiday, lo, so many years ago. What the Fourth of July is really about, and always has been, is blowing stuff up in the name of patriotism.

Don't believe me? Would you believe Uncle Sam?

source

Why is it so funny to see the long-legged avatar of our nation's government giddily flinging what looks like dynamite all over the place? The seeming solemnity of expression on many antique postcards and other illustrations always make these tableaux vaguely menacing to me. Look at the expression on Sam's face! He looks like a villain in a Bruce Willis movie! I was reading on Wikipedia this morning that the long-legged, grey haired, be-hatted figure we associate with liberty actually usurped the place of an earlier American icon, "Columbia", who was female (typical). It wasn't until illustrator JM Flagg's runaway success with the "I WANT YOU" campaign that "Uncle Sam" became a familiar face in the American greeting card canon. That dates this card to 1916-1917 at the earliest. And if that doesn't interest you, by golly, it interests me! I thought Sam went back to turkey days and pilgrims as far as domestic iconography went. Ah, well.

source

"HURRAH, A BULLY FOURTH" says our short-panted patriot in this card. I see muskets lined up and drums in the foreground of the picture, and probably what I like best about this little paper remembrance, besides the use of the word "bully" in the greeting, is the makeshift obi the little boy has made of the American Flag. Can you see the turn of the century at-home scene that would have precipitated this ingenuity? "Johnny, Mother says you're to wear some form of patriotic attire! Haven't you a red waistcoat in your wardrobe?" "I haven't, Sister, but rest assured, I will 'make-do' if needs be!" Needs was, and here's the little dude's makeshift solution!

source

Put these two figures together, Uncle Sam and a short pants boy, and what do you get? THE FOURTH OF JULY SPELLED OUT IN DYNAMITE. Now we're talkin! Look at how the little kid has a flag in one hand AND A GUN IN THE OTHER. Who gave that kid a gun? I give up on you, parents of the nineteen teens'. It's a wonder humanity survived the early twentieth century.

So! I gotta go get started on my holiday, but you guys have a safe and fun fourth of July, and I'll see you on the fifth! Til then.

$5 Typewriters EVERYWHERE

Good morning!

Well, in my travels over the last two weeks, I have done a thing I promised myself I wouldn't do-- I've bought an additional two typewriters. You didn't see that one coming, huh? What am I trying to do, open a typing pool in my own home? Hoarders got nothin' on me, kid!

I'm only sorry that I'm not sorry.

We dropped in a Goodwill in northern Georgia on the way back from Atlanta. I am wont to drop in Goodwills that are visible from the interstate but before the exit on any and all trips out of state, and we'd been to this one before with some success. I was bummed because my thirty minute perusal had only turned up two full-slips from the sixties' (one red, one black, both cheap!) and a copy of this Welcome Back Kotter tie in paperback (which I wisely, though not without a tinge of sadness, left behind). I did a last minute walk through housewares when a dark yellow case caught my eye. Hm. I wonder if that's a typewriter, I thought. But surely not, when the entire store has been mostly Kathy Lee Gifford style early nineties' clothes and home decor from the ducks-in-bonnets aesthetic. Snapping open the lid, I was actually a little breathless to see a banana yellow sixties' typewriter sitting inside. No scratches, no dings, no sticky keys, and a faint-but-still-functional ribbon intact! There was even a manual (we'll get to that). Price? $4.99. With a heavy conscience but giddy little heart, I hefted the machine to the checkout counter.

The lighting wasn't capital this morning (or was I just standing in way of the light?), but you can get a look at the looker above. Or, for better photography of the same model, there's this one for sale on Etsy for $174! Yeeks! The manual was printed in Japan, and completely adorable. Those spidery illustrated hands! The aquamarine color of the background! The encouraging tone of the text!

A week later, we were introduced to Savers in St. Louis by Matthew's Memaw, who was on the hunt for a small bookcase. On the way home, I Google-mapped another location in Missouri and found a large, suitcase-like case in the electronics department. When I dutifully opened the case, la-voilá, another gorgeous typewriter. This is a later, more expensive Royal model typewriter, and the carriage and keys work just as flawlessly as if I'd brought it home from a contemporaneous retail environment. The price? Half off the $9.99 price tag, with a Savers card, for which I dutifully signed up. YES!

The color is more off-white than cream in real life, and the typing oh so smooth. Matthew and I both took turns on the keys when we got home, and he was amused to see how fast and adroitly I can work a manual typewriter. And that ain't no fluke! 

When I was in late middle school, my dad brought me home a behemoth of a West-Germany-manufactured seventies' typewriter that was going to get pitched from the high school where he was teaching. "I thought you'd get a kick out of this," he said, installing the machine on a matching stand in my room. Now, over the years, I've gotten all kinds of things that narrowly missed being thrown in a school dumpster this way, but in terms of what I got the most use and enjoyment out of, WHEW, did I love that typewriter. It was the turn of the century 2000's, and my seemingly-Luddite parents hadn't seen fit to buy a computer. I'd seen the internet at school and at my friend Kelsey's house, but it was a long way from being a daily part of my life. With a typewriter at my disposal, I would sit and clack out short stories, neatly amassing a pile of manuscript pages in a wooden box, just like I was Jean Arthur in a thirties' movie and a lecherous boss in shirt sleeves and vest might come in and threaten my virtue by asking me to work late. To this day, I type WAY too hard on a keyboard, and it's a result of having to slam the keys down on the old seventies' typewriter, which, despite oiling, was a persnickety hunk of work if ever there was one (it takes one to know one, and I should know!).

William Faulkner (l) and Marlon Brando (r, with friend), hard at work on typewriters.
 Not bad company to be in, if you ask me! (source)

So! What do I intend to DO with these two typewriters? That brings the count in my house to five. YES FIVE. I'm not as sick about it as you are, but I feel I may need to make some room in the utility/laundry room shelving storage space for the beasts. 

In the meantime, I'm thinking of setting up a guestbook table at the wedding with all the typewriters in a line. How cute would that be? Please, sit, hang out, write me a note on the vintage typewriter of your choosing!

An idea at least! (source)

What have you been collecting lately that you shouldn't, but the temptation is just too great? Do you have a typewriter in your collection? How have you seen vintage knickknacks worked into a wedding or event's decor? Let's talk!

That's all for today, but I'll see you back here tomorrow. Til then!