TALES FROM A VINTAGE WARDROBE

"The Long, Hot Summer"

A few nights ago after the usual evening routine I collapsed into my soft, blue bed and clicked on "The Box" for some mindless distraction.  I really wanted to do some reading.  You know, there is that book you are trying to start, that magazine article you are trying to finish, that stack of "Things Which Must Be Read ASAP" and, for me at least,  a little background noise helps to ease off the days hype and can get my mind quiet enough to read something I will actually remember in the morning.

But then, as I lay there (in flannels as Spring has decided to run away again around here!) I scrolled down to the RETROPLEX channel and Oh My!  Guess what was on??? 

You guessed  it~~or maybe you saw it~~"The Long Hot Summer" starring the one and only Paul Newman & his beautiful wife,  Joanne Woodward.

Please tell me you have seen this movie.  Please tell me that you know the names  "Ben Quick" and "Clara Varner".  Because if you do not then you need to do some serious old movie watching to see why I was able to read absolutely nothing that night!!

This movie is all about falling in love:  for all the right and wrong reasons.  It will make you search your heart & soul, it makes you fall in love with and despise some of it's characters, you will cheer for them and try to warn them, you will think of your own self at your own crossroad and you will absolutely love Ms. Woodward's speech at the end when she runs up the stairs and follows Mr. Newman into his very temporary place in her life . . . or so he thinks. . . .it is film making at it's finest and it will make you wonder what has happened to the movie industry in the past 50 years.  If you have a Vintage Heart, anyway!  And I haven't even mentioned the clothes!!!  Talk about "Girls In Their Summer Clothes"~~Ms. Woodwards wardrobe is amazing~~she wears a beautiful green dress one night when she leaves the school and meanders down Main St. toward her Daddy's store where she knows Mr. Quick is still at work. . .oh my. . .and then there is the powder blue dress she wears at the Church Bazaar when Mr. Quick gambles away $50.00 to have a picnic with her. (OK, back then that was A LOT of $$$$!)    Little did he know she would tell him he was "barking up the wrong girl because it will never be you!"

But he stood there in his crisp blue coat and smart red tie (and a straw hat!) and he knew. . .like the right one always does, I guess!

I am not telling you anymore, except maybe that many, many moons ago my Mom was a cocktail waitress at The Thompson Speedway in Thompson, CT and she actually met Mr. Newman once.  Well, she was carrying some beer on a tray out to a car in the pit and she passed by him and when she saw him she, um, tripped and fell and dropped the beer. . .but I think he did help her up (which I'm sure only made it worse!) and so there is my little story about

THE LONG HOT SUMMER.    .     .      .     .

Michelle

Spring Cleaning the Workspace

The home of my on line~boutique is actually in my basement.  I have one half and our daughter shares the other half with the tread mill and the wood stove.  I love to be down there in the winter~~especially if my hubby makes a little fire to keep us company.

But when Spring rolls around I have a harder time descending the stairs when I know the sun is shining bright and sunny up here in the real world.    So I usually take a day and give my "Boutique" some Domestic Spa Treatments~~some dusting, vacuuming, a scented candle & a bit of rearranging.  I can actually spend hours and hours just puttering (as opposed to actually working!)

Here are a few pictures of my workshop/studio/boutique or whatever you want to call it!  This is where I am when I am working on The Red Velvet Shoe:

This is my grandmother's sewing machine.  I have all my sewing notions in that enormous Tupperware thing to the left~~I have a strong aversion to plastic but this is so practical and I like the fact that I can see all my stuff~~the bottom drawer is full of Vintage Sewing Patterns!  That beautiful peignoir set hanging on the right is right out of a 1930's movie~~I love, love, love it even though I will never, never, never fit in it!  It says Size 12 but it's more like a Two! 

This is actually a pool table my handyman husband built years ago.  I dragged it into the corner, covered it with some fabric and Voila'~~a work table!  That's my favorite Robert Doisneau picture on the wall, and hanging to the right of it are my wedding bouquet and two bridle bits from my grandparents farm~~we had a bunch of horses and grew up riding English, Western & most of the time bareback because we used to take them in the pond to swim.  I think these belonged to our Palomino.  And see all of the hats hanging there?  They are all for sale, I just haven't put them in The Red Velvet Shoe yet!  I'm too embarrassed to show you the racks of clothes that still aren't on the floor yet, either!  Let's just say what you see in the Boutique is about 10% of all the Vintage Stuff I have!

While I don't actually have a Brick & Mortar store, my friends are known, on occasion, to drop by to do a little "Shopping". . .this especially seems to happen after dinner parties when the men leave the table to crash in the living room. . .the girls usually grab their wine glasses and  head South~~as in down the basement stairs!  I love this~~probably because I really wish I did have an actual store and this gives me a little taste of what it would be like.  So to give them a bit of privacy I created this dressing room for them.  That's Coco my dress form hiding in the corner.  I hung a curtain rod from the ceiling beam and the curtains can be pulled together when someone is trying on something. 

Old issues of Victoria & a picture of my Mom when she was about five.  I love this picture because I see so much of my daughter in it.

So it's not the fanciest place in the world, actually it is nothing like I would like it to be. . .it's just making do with what I have which is a good thing to learn how to do, I suppose!  I would LOVE for it to look something like THIS beautiful space over at Vintage Home!  If you haven't been there you should check out her site~~beauty, beauty, beauty!

Now that it is all clean & organized maybe I can actually get to work!!  You may have noticed I also made a few changes around here. . .I was having a hard time reading the tiny font I had chosen and thought maybe some others of you have too.  I hope you like it!  And find my ramblings easier to read!

Happy Spring Cleaning everyone!

Michelle

My Husband & The Boss

I WANNA MARRY YOU  by Bruce Springsteen

"Little girl, I wanna marry you
Oh yeah, little girl, I wanna marry you
Yes I do
Little girl, I wanna marry you

Now honey, I don't wanna clip your wings
But a time comes when two people should think of these things
Having a home and a family
Facing up to their responsibilities
They say in the end true love prevails
But in the end true love can't be no fairytale
To say I'll make your dreams come true would be wrong
But maybe, darlin', I could help them along. . ."

My husband John and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary last week~~I decided to give myself a gift of not checking my mail or my boutique that day (and I apologize to the ladies who had sent inquiries for items for my delay in getting back to you.)  I like to take out our wedding album and reminisce about our wedding day~~our daughter loves to see them (although she still can't figure our why she is not in any of the pictures!!) 

Here we are. . .this is my favorite picture from our wedding. . .we didn't hire a big fancy, schmancy photographer.  I wanted photos that captured our celebratory spirit, no staged smiles for this couple!!!  So between my step-dad and a family friend we were able to get some great shots and I just love our wedding album.

Because we went to Disney in February, I thought we were going to have a low key anniversary this year. you know, romantic cards, a bottle of champagne & a fancy dinner at home.  Actually, that is a wonderful way to celebrate, isn't it?

We had all of the above, but my prince decided to get me "a little something extra" since I had been out of my perfume for quite awhile he went Macy's and bought it for me.  So sweet, isn't he?  I was thrilled to have it after so long without it.  I opened the box (which I did notice wasn't wrapped in the cellophane) took it out to put some on and tossed the little gold box onto the coffee table. . .after a minute my husband said: " You may want to check inside that box, dear..."

You will never imagine what I found inside. . .

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!TWO TICKETS FOR BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You must understand that if there is one brilliant songwriter & performer in all the world I have to see before I die it is Mr. Springsteen.  I almost saw him once in the mid 80S and a few weeks ago I made one of those woe~is~me comments to John that "I just know I'll never get to see him.  He's 58 years old and how much longer is he going to keep touring. . .blah, blah, blah". . .little did I know he took my words to heart and set out to land us some great tickets for the last stop on the Tour~~home of the New England Patriots~~Gillette Stadium!!!

Of course, someone paid the actual dollar amount on the tickets but for some reason there was a lot of Ticket Inflation by the time we paid for it!  LOL!  How great is my husband????  ( Despite a bit of jealousy of the first man I gave my teenage heart to!!)   

I do have some of his music on CD but my favorite way to listen to The Boss is like this:

Yep, with my albums & my record player!!!!  Bruce Vintage Style!

   My neighbor was throwing this away about 10 years ago and I was not having that one bit!   I just hope the needle never breaks~~do they even make them anymore????

So once the shock of this amazing gift wore off a bit I started thinking about. . .

WHAT AM I GOING TO  WEAR???

A rock and roll concert on a hot Saturday night in August???  I'm thinking my brown cowboy boots, a vintage floral cotton skirt, a t shirt and my jean jacket???   Or maybe a vintagey floral cotton sun dress with my boots? I found this one that I thought was very sweet and summery   and I also really like this one!   What would you wear to a summer night concert?  Our Augusts are hot and steamy here in Massachusetts. . .but for once I can't wait!!

Michelle

A little bit of everything

Check out this great Vintage cardtable my mom scored at a yard sale for $5.00!  "Thou shalt not covet" I keep telling myself!  I love the picture~~it looks like a Farmer's Market in Europe.  And I just love the red dress on the lady walking the dog~~so vintage!

This is the back of it.

Does anyone recognize anything in the picture?  I'd love to find out how old it is so if you have any info please leave a comment! 

And look at this Vintage sweater I scored at a little shop that I frequent:

The bead work is amazing and in excellent condition.  What a perfect time of  year to wear something so pretty & feminine!

(If spring ever actually arrives, that is!)

Here are some goodies I've found lately. . .the book is French which I cannot read to save my life but it has beautiful photographs and it is my favorite shade of blue!  The note cards are taken from the book  Lawrence Alma~Tadema by RJ Barrow and are titled "Luxury & Decadence". . .there are 16 different images and they are all stunning! 

Of course the Spring issue of Victoria which I am very pleased is back however I must quietly admit there is something missing this time around with it's publication. . .has anyone else thought/felt so?  It's well done but it just seems, or should I say, it feels like there is something missing and I am not sure what.  Any thoughts?

I found the labels at Homegoods for under $5.00 each and just had to bring them home. . .my daughter and I used some to tag our luggage when we traveled in February.  I love to find pictures of old suitcases covered with stickers from all around the world!  They don't stick quite as well to nylon, though.  Another downside of modern travel gear, I guess.

Hmm, what else can I find?

Oooooh, this is a good one!  A few years ago I bought a beautiful little black suede Vintage purse made in Spain.  When I got home I looked in the tiny pocket and found this stamp inside. . .why did she save it?  Who is John F. Donovan?  Did she meet him in Hong Kong?  Did they ever meet?  Was it a last love letter before her wedding to another?

I think the mystery of it all is delightful!  This is another goodie I would like to find out about.  Maybe the postal mark has a date on it?  Once again I find myself wishing I spoke another language!!

My curiosity about the past of Vintage treasures is probably the most intriguing part of collecting.  That and wondering how in the world a size 12 in the 1950's came with a 26" waist!  Where would that put a modern size 12 in that era?  Yikes!  How Americans have grown! 

Have a great week everyone,

Michelle