Domino

I've always loved having magazine subscriptions. Each new issue always feels like a little gift stuffed into my mailbox. And nothing is better than getting presents in the mail! But in the last year or so I've sadly let all of my subscriptions run out. Even the mystery Entertainment Weekly subscription that started showing up in the mailbox with no explanation has stopped appearing. With my coffee table woefully empty I figured it was about time to start looking for a new read. Domino caught my eye and as if they knew I needed just a little convincing they went and put one of my favorite gals on the cover. Who wouldn't want a peek into her digs? I was going to steal all of the photos from the Zooey-slide-show and post them here, but I figured I'd be nice and not. Instead I'll leave you with a collection of some of my favorite Zooey images and redirect you here to see a bit of her very blue living space.

Bows and Bows and Bows

Even though I'm sort of enjoying the cold weather (it's such a departure from the mild LA winters I'd grown accustomed to), I have to admit it's leaving my brain in a bit of a fog. I've had these photos sitting on my computer for a few days and I just made the connection of what they all have in common. Bow ties! I suppose after seeing that Anthropologie blouse and getting it in my head that I was going to try a DIY version of it, I've had bows on the brain. I really like how they're a nod to the gender-bending ensembles of Annie Hall and Katherine Hepburn, but still with a very feminine touch. I actually bought some fabric at the thrift store last week with intentions for that DIY project but once I started sewing I realized that it was not the type of fabric that was going to drape the way I want it to. Back to the drawing board! In the meantime, I'm going to also be on the lookout for long satiny scarves to use as bow ties a la Miss Bow herself and a couple of my favorite flickr-ers.

As the winter turned the meadow brown...*

lace blouse: vintage
sweater: A&F via Salvation Army
skirt: vintage
tights: AA
shoes: Seychelles via UO
hat, belt, purse & gloves: vintage
*listening to: Fleet Foxes Sun Giant EP "Mykonos"

I'm finding inspiration for outfits pretty far and few between these days. This ensemble is a result of playing dress up in my closet for about half an hour before I finally settled on something I liked. I've been wanting to wear that pretty lace blouse but it's so sheer and probably not the most reasonable thing to wear in sub-freezing temperatures. When I looked in the mirror I felt a bit like an old timey magician. Maybe that's the influence of recently watching The Prestige playing on my subconscious. I suppose now I'll have to figure out how to pull a rabbit out of my hat. On the other hand, self decapitation sounds like an interesting trick...

This Week at Sally Jane Vintage

Whew! What a whirlwind of a day. I'm finally finished with this week's batch of auctions and they're all ready to go. Look for them tomorrow afternoon in the store. Thanks a million!

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With Strings...

These days are so grey and gloomy I hardly have the energy to put on a cute outfit or browse my usual fashion sites. This time of year seems to always bring a creative drought for one reason or another. Winter is dragging on, spring is not yet on the horizon and the cold seems to be invading my very bones. Here are a few of my favorite things I've been dreaming about to keep my spirits up:

• Antique Steiff animals - what's cuter than these vintage German stuffed animals? Not much, I tell ya'!
• This girl's outfit from Stockholm Streetstyle - it's everything I love right now from the color palette to the bow at her neck to the flowers in her hair.
• Lindsay Pemberton's teacup bracelets - she cuts off the tops of vintage teacups with a diamond saw and makes pretty bangle bracelets from them. Genius!
• Lace Tape from Matter - what a pretty way to dress up my brown paper packages.
• Raven hangers from Birkiland - wouldn't it be even more fun to get dressed in the morning if your clothes were hanging on ravens? Maybe I'd even get around to putting my laundry away more often.
• Miamizeiss' fashion set on flickr - I especially love the clothes in this shot.
• The Selby - I love the voyeurism of being able to peek into other people's homes. Especially when those people are amazing, talented artists.
• Terrariums - I'd like to think of myself as one of those people with a green thumb, but the truth is, I've killed every house plant I've ever had. I think I could handle one of these pretty little terrariums.
• Audubon bird prints - I'm a sucker for anything vintage-bird related. Someday I hope to have a wall covered in framed prints like this.

What I'm Wearing

photos by Tom b.

sweater: old Gap
skirt: vintage (altered by me)
tights: AA
shoes: Seychelles via UO
hat & collar: vintage

I've had this little hand beaded collar in my arsenal for several weeks but couldn't quite figure out how to work it into rotation. I kept looking for just the right dress to attach it to but nothing seemed to work. Finally I realized I was limiting myself in only thinking it would work with a dress and voila! I used it to revamp this Gap sweater that I've had for ages. What is it about those black and white stripes that makes one feel so quintessentially French in all the best ways? Oh, and if you look veerry carefully you can see that these photos were taken while I was still in 'Bama. Do you see what I mean? (look in the reflections)

New Vintage Finds

Somehow or another I've managed to not make it to any of my favorite local thrift and vintage stores since well before the holidays. Luckily my trip to 'Bama was filled with thrifting adventures so that helps a bit. I do feel like I'm going through thrifting withdrawals, something I hope to remedy later this afternoon. Here are a few of the latest things I've picked up:

• My vintage camera collection is growing by leaps and bounds. Going through all of my old family albums made me nostalgic for the look and feel of real film. I do love my Photoshop but nothing will ever beat the real thing. I'm especially excited about the still-new-in-their-original-boxes set of 60's Kodak Instamatic cameras. The 126 film is hard to come by and I'll have to send it off to be developed but it'll be worth it. Little square photos! I can't wait!
• I told you about the local vintage spot that was closing its doors at the end of the year. I did manage to stop in on one of her last days of business. The store was already being moved out and the once full shelves were looking a bit sparse. I was able to pick up this 60's houndstooth coat for a real steal. I think it was a little boy's coat and has the cutest shrunken fit and Peter Pan collar.
• I can't wait to try out these vintage hand crocheted collars. Each one is a little different and I love them all. I think before I wear them a little tea staining is in order.
• This headband is cute but seemingly impossible to photograph. I think I captured it fairly well. It's brown velvet and is made up of three layers of bows. It came attached to an actual headband but when I put it on it was all wonky and warped so I tore the bow part off and it's much better. I just attach it to my hair with a couple of bobby pins and it's ready to go.

DIY To-Do

I, like many others I'm sure, can spend waaaay too much time fantasy shopping on the Anthropologie site. And every time one of the catalogs come in the mail, I get a bit weak in the knees. Not so much for the clothes in that case, but all of the wonderful locations they use. Hi, Anthropologie? Can I please have a job styling your photo shoots? Thanks!

Unfortunately most of my shopping lately has been just that - fantasy shopping. But just because I can't hit the "buy" button doesn't mean I can't take a little inspiration from my virtual shopping cart. Case in point - these two way-out-of-my-budget blouses. I've had these photos saved in my sewing to-do file for ages but haven't gotten around to putting them into action. Hopefully publishing the idea here will give me the little kick in the pants I need to finally get around to it. Both seem like they would be easy enough to accomplish. For the white blouse I need to find just the right black fabric to make a big, drapey bow. And the black one just requires a fitted black tank and a simple bow on the shoulder. The next time I'm at the thrift store I'm going to keep a special eye out for the materials and I'll let you know how it goes.

What I'm Wearing

photos by Tom b.

shirt: UO
skirt: vintage
tights: AA
hat & purse: vintage
shoes: Seychelles via UO

On our drive down to my parents' cabin through rural Alabama, the roadsides are dotted with these sorts of abandoned houses. Not being able to pass up an opportunity to snoop around we, of course, stopped to take photos. This place was locked up tight but looking through the windows we could see that all of the original furniture was still arranged in the living room, sitting untouched for no telling how many years. Like a time capsule! We snapped a few photos for the blog and then I went around back to try and lure the cats that were living under the porch out to play while Tom took more photos.

We're safely back home now but I have a few more photos from our trip that I'll be posting over the next few days. We didn't have an internet connection while we were at the cabin so I couldn't post the photos as we took them. I have to say, looking back at these photos makes me a little sad to come back to the cold when I was walking around comfortably in short sleeves just a few days ago. I think that might be the first inkling that I'm getting ready for warmer weather.

New Auctions at Sally Jane Vintage

Now that the holiday season is behind us, it's back to business here at Sally Jane Vintage. A new batch of auctions will be posting in the store tomorrow afternoon. There are lots of cute mini dresses, a beautiful tweed cape and the cutest 60's coat that I was so tempted to keep. There are also oxfords and boots in a variety of sizes. Thanks so much for stopping by and Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve Fantasy Outfits

1. dress: Forever 21, shoes: Anthropologie, tights: AA, headband: Buddug, purse: Topshop 2. dress: Delias, shoes: Delias, tights: UO, hairclip: ban.do, purse: Topshop 3. dress: Topshop, shoes: UO, tights: UO, hairbow: LouLou, purse: UO

I have to confess that I'm just about the biggest homebody you could imagine. The perfect night for me means staying in and wrapping up on the couch with Tom, a big cup of hot chocolate and an old movie. But there's something about New Year's Eve that seems to bring out the party girl in just about all of us, right? Perhaps because it's one of those nights of the year that you can get away with dressing to the nines and no one bats an eye. Chances are I'll be staying in and keeping the couch warm but on the off chance that I find myself at a New Year's party here what I'll wish I was wearing.

Merry Christmas to Me

I've had my eye on these shoes for months on the Urban Outfitters site. They're the perfect mix of modern and vintage and will look good with everything from skirts and dresses to wide leg jeans. I put them in my virtual shopping cart and there they sat for weeks and weeks. I finally noticed that they'd been marked down on sale and I was sure they'd be out of my size. But alas, they weren't and now they're mine all mine. Yippee!

Tag, I'm It

photo by Tom b.

As I'm sure you all know by now I'm notoriously bad at responding to tags. My apologies! I will try to get around to all of them eventually. However, this one from Jayne at Plain Jayne is so easy to do, I'll get right to it. The rules are:

1. Go to the 4th folder in your computer where you store your pictures.
2. Pick the 4th picture in that folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag 4 people to do the same!

Here's my photo. It's from this past May when a couple of friends from Alabama came to visit Lancaster. We went for a ride on the Strasburg Railroad and then stopped by the Hans Herr house, the oldest home in Lancaster. One of the Amish work horses at the neighboring farm had a foal and I was feeding it hay through the fence. I'm not sure who hasn't been tagged with this yet, so if you'd like to play along, consider yourself tagged!

Also, I've just restocked the store with a few more clearance items. Nothing is starting at more than $5! Now that the holidays are winding down, I'll be back to business as usual. Look for more new auctions this Thursday! Yay!

What I'm Wearing

photos by Tom b.

sweater: vintage (it's so warm I hardly need it!)
shirt: ?? (just an old black t-shirt)
jeans: Superfine
boots & beret: vintage

One of my favorite places to visit when down at my parents' cabin is the old mill pond. I tried to find out more about the old mill that used to be here by researching it online but it's such a small town that there's really no information on the good ole internets about it. It's such a beautiful, peaceful place with little water falls and all sorts of brightly colored mosses and lichen covering the rocks and ferns growing from the trunks of cedar trees. Its the sort of place that makes you think things like fairies could exist.

On another note entirely, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who left such kind notes about the passing of our cat, Rocky. Losing a pet is always a hard thing to go through and all of your comments were very much appreciated. I've met so many wonderful people through the world of blogging. When I first started out, I never expected that to happen. It's been a very positive experience for me. I know a lot of people have to deal with negative comments or other such things, but I've been blessed with the best readers who always have such nice things to say. I think the holidays might be making me a little sappy! So thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you!

In The Beginning...

Spending a few days at my parent’s cabin gave me the opportunity to rummage through all of our old family photo albums. The original plan was to dig up embarrassing bad-adolescent-fashion photos but I when I came across these earlier snapshots I couldn’t resist. I guess this is hard evidence that I’ve always loved dressing up and having my picture taken. ;) I think you can see that I'm still using some of the same poses. Please try not to laugh too hard at my attempt to dress up as an Indian for Halloween. I was stricken with a terrible case of chicken pox and still have the scars to prove it. I think that grimace on my face says it all. For years after that (so many years I’m embarrassed to admit how many) I thought that chicken pox was something that happened to children only on Halloween night.

At Sloss Furnace

coat: H&M
sweater: from Goodwill but not really vintage
skirt: vintage
boots, belt & hat: vintage
tights: AA

Today Tom and I walked around Birmingham's Sloss Furnace. The furnaces have long been shut down but the whole place is open to the public as a National Historic Landmark. It's supposed to be haunted and if ghosts indeed exist, then this would be as good a place to find them as any. Legend has it that dozens of men died in the harsh working conditions when it was in operation. I don't know if it's true but the city does turn it into a huge haunted house every Halloween.

aka: Rock Star Super Kitty

Every once in a while I veer off topic here on the blog - nine out of ten times about our cats. After working from home this past year it seems that they've become an even bigger part of my life than they've ever been before. I guess that's to be expected when I'm spending pretty much 24 hours a day with them. At any given time we have quite the motley crew of cats hanging around our apartment. We tend to always gravitate towards those scraggly one-eyed, one-eared sort that no one else seems to want. Rocky, my constant lap companion and frequent photo supervisor, was a street cat living under cars in east LA when a kind stranger picked him up. I saw him in a cage at an adopt-a-cat day put on by a local non-profit group in LA. His white paws were brown from grease, his head was three times too big for his scrawny body and his face was covered in scratches. One look and I knew he had to come home with me. That was a year and ten months ago. The only downside to bringing home those older animals is sometimes they don't get to spend enough time in your life. Today my lap is empty. Goodbye Rocky. You'll be missed.

I'm taking a couple of days off from blogging. I'm sure you understand. We start our holiday road trip to Alabama tomorrow. I'll be back soon with lots of photos and stories of our adventures.

All Work and No Play

I've been wanting to try out a couple of wool knee length skirts that I found at a vintage store a while back. Since they aren't a style I normally wear I was having a hard time figuring out what to pair them with. My vintage brown knee boots were a given since they're all I've been wearing lately anyway. But what to wear on top? At first I reached for a frilly white blouse but quickly realized the weather was ruling that option out so I grabbed a grey cashmere turtle neck I just picked up at the thrift store instead. I looked in the mirror and was happy with the combination but for some reason it looked very familiar. Suddenly it struck me... Wendy Torrance! Not that that's a bad thing. As long as I don't run into any ax-wielding maniacs.

* I realize that the image on the left is not from the movie but I just love that photo of Shelley Duvall. The only images I could find from the movie were blurry screen captures. Ick. If you haven't seen the movie - do it!

End of the Year Clearance

Lately it seems like things have been piling up a bit around here. I've got dresses and shoes coming out of my ears and I need to do some serious end of the year cleaning. So from now until New Year's I'm going to be selling of some of my stock with super low starting bids. Now's a great chance to try to grab yourself a bargain! Thanks so much for stopping by. Love ya! - SJ