Tales From A Vintage Wardrobe

What's on Your Wish List?

 

Vintage Fashion Calendars from Glamour Daze

I just had to share this with you...

How amazing is this? Find out more over at Glamour Daze! 

Serendipity: an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

So what do you do when the telephone rings 4 days before leaving for a vacation that's been planned for a year only to learn that the house you had rented was flooded and will not be available?  Generally, you call your travel agent/realtor and they find you a place to stay.  Generally.  When said house is located on Martha's Vineyard and the week you booked is not only "Fair Week" but "The 150th Anniversary Fair Week", there are 14 in your party and the President is coming, that simple feat becomes a bit like the Bermuda Triangle of vacation planning.   Packing (everything but the kitchen sink) came to a screeching halt, and that special bottle of cognac that was saved for "The Vineyard" was unpacked to keep us company as we sat anxiously by the phone and computer, our week of sun, sand & sea hanging in the balance.  Tick Tock.  Tick Tock.  Two days went by, two long, frustrating days.  But sometimes, when things go very, very wrong, as they did, they turn out very, very right. 

This is the lovely house we had the privilege of calling "home" for a week.  A restored 18th century farmhouse on 8 acres of lush island land.  Owned by a young, very talented family man who calls himself a carpenter, but I would call a craftsman.  I cannot begin to imagine the hours of painstaking work that went into restoring and creating this beautiful estate, but I am quite certain it was a labor of love.  I actually got goosebumps when my friend, who had arrived at the property first, escorted me through the door.  I still have them a week later.  As the days passed I kept pinching myself, half expecting to see Jane Austen walk through a doorway at any moment.

While days passed and we sat at the shore, survived the wild surf of South Beach with bruises to show for it, saw the fireworks at Oak Bluffs, spent an afternoon at The Fair, took in the spectacular views from Gay Head, played 18 holes at Farm Neck (in spite of getting bumped from the original tee time because Mr. President wanted to play), bumped into David Letterman at Morning Glory Farm, consumed insane amounts of seafood and libations and even jumped off "The Jaws Bridge" at sunset, the best part of this vacation was that we spent it in this beautiful home.

Serendipity.

 

A Girl Has To Dream...

 
 

THE PERFECT SPRING DRESS

 

 

 

No matter which way you look at it . . . available here.

HOW TO SPEND A RAINY DAY . . .

How do you like to spend a rainy day?

 

I think I'll sleep in a bit. . .

 

soak in a bubble bath. . .

  

get dressed up. . .

 

meet a friend for coffee and a decadent pastry. . .

 

treat myself to a manicure. . .

 

do a little shopping. . .

 

catch a matinee'. . .

 

take a long nap. . .

 

get dressed again. . .

 

for a romantic dinner for two. . .

 

*visit The Paris Hotel Boutique Journal to enter a wonderful French Inspired Give Away!

 

 

BOOK~O~PHILIA

"SOME DAY YOU WILL BE OLD ENOUGH TO START READING FAIRY TALES AGAIN."  C.S. Lewis

Books are, to me, the absolute best gift we can give ourselves and others.  I have loved books and reading since I was a little girl, and my adoration for them has only grown through the years.  Thankfully, my daughter has that same love. . .I can see it in her eyes when we walk into the library and the sheer joy she feels just being surrounded by them,  the smell of them, and the pleasure of lingering in an aisle, running her little finger tips over the bindings in search of the one that is just right. . .I vowed to never say no to a visit to the library or bookstore, and I somehow think she knows that!

Just yesterday my Aunt (who is a Librarian and lifetime student) sent my daughter these two lovely books; from the Wish List to her own little growing library! 

  She even had them signed by the author, Gail Carson Levine, and the illustrator, David Christiana~~both of whom are amazingly talented.  I can't wait to read them, for although my taste in books has matured, I think I am just aboutold enough to start reading fairy tales again. . . Thank you, Auntie Di! xoxoxo

"I WOULD BE MOST CONTENT IF MY CHILDREN GREW UP TO BE THE KIND OF PEOPLE WHO THINK DECORATING CONSISTS MOSTLY OF BUILDING ENOUGH BOOKSHELVES."  Anna Quindlen

While my library has a wide assortment of books and literature, there are a few indulgences I have yet to make.  Here's a peek at my Wish List: 

 

 

"TO SIT ALONE IN THE LAMPLIGHT WITH A BOOK SPREAD OUT BEFORE YOU, AND HOLD INTIMATE CONVERSE WITH MEN OF UNSEEN GENERATIONS ~ SUCH IS A PLEASURE BEYOND COMPARE."  Kenko Yoshida

 

 

"THE LOVE OF LEARNING, THE SEQUESTERED NOOKS, AND ALL THE SWEET SERENITY OF BOOKS."  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 

 

"BOOKS ARE NOT MADE FOR FURNITURE, BUT THERE IS NOTHING ELSE THAT SO BEAUTIFULLY FURNISHES A HOUSE."  Henry Ward Beecher

 

 

Why not take a walk to your public library today?  In this modern, techno~crazed world, it is truly refreshing to sit in the peace and quiet of an old building filled with beautiful books. . .make it part of your world and that of your children's. . .it is a wonderful, lifelong gift you can give them.

 

 

DREAM A LITTLE (BIG) DREAM FOR ME

I have a big list of Maybe Someday's. . .but at the top of my list is:  Own a Vintage Clothing Boutique.  A Vintage Fashion Atelier, of sorts.Yes, I have this Virtual Boutique and it allows me to indulge in my passion for working with Vintage Clothing.  However, if I were able, I would love to have an actual Boutique.  In a beautiful old building with lots of character and hard wood floors with lots of antique chandeliers and mirrors. . .something like this:

 I love the tall windows~~how fun it would be to do window displays!!  I would invest in some beautiful antique dress forms. . .this storefront is home of The Wedding Club in the UK.

I also like this one:

I lost a bit of photo quality when I edited it but you can see the great architecture, and again tall windows!   I found this from a site called The Ped Shed, I guess it was in a town they did a feature on.

This one is sweet, too.  My husband and I actually walked past this when he was in Washington D.C. on a business trip.  We stayed in Alexandria, VA and the entire town was cobblestone streets and old historic buildings~~I had a blast shopping while he was at the seminar!

It was the prettiest shade of pink and my favorite shade of blue. . .wow, I wonder if this was the inspiration for my website colors????

And the inside would look something like this:

 www.exquisitecostume.com

boutique owned by Suzanne Prieur

And this is my absolute dream workspace/shop/boutique. . .of course it's in Paris!!!

www.chaalis.com

And this would be the perfect cash register, wouldn't it?

www.dreamkeepernj.com

And maybe someday it would become the most fashionable place to shop (of course with Valet Parking!)  the place to see and be seen, a place to meet a girlfriend for an afternoon of shopping and then coffee and  pastry in the tea room, a place where the sales clerks are immaculately turned out from head to toe and address you as Mrs. So and So, where they carefully wrap each beautiful item you choose in crisp, clean tissue paper, where the doorman holds the door for you and says "Have a Wonderful Day". 

A girl has to dream. . .