At Reading Goggle Works

photos by Tom b.

- dress: courtesy of Family Affairs
- 70s boots
- vintage denim jacket
- vintage Coach purse
- vintage wool beret

Goodness, there are so many things to talk about in this post, I'm not really sure where to start. OK, we'll start with the dress. This is the "Hollywood Movie" dress from the Fall/Winter '09 Family Affairs collection. It's proof positive of the wonderful people that I've met through this blog. After discovering Family Affairs and writing a bit about it back in November, Nina (the daughter of the mother/daughter design team) got in touch just to say thanks. A few weeks later a lovely package arrived on my doorstep containing this dress and their cute "I miss you" tote bag. The dress is on the seriously comfortable side. Their description says it's like wearing pajamas and they weren't lyin'! The dress is so lovely I didn't want to just put it back in my closet so... I'm using it for the Delightful Dozen project! You're seeing it on my blog first and soon you'll be seeing it on all the other gals as well.



Now, on to the Reading Goggle Works. Goggle Works is a public space in downtown Reading, PA that acts as an art gallery, classroom, dance and music studios, darkroom and much more. The building has been standing since 1871 when it was founded as the first factory in the world to manufacture optical glass for lenses and reading glasses. Later on they produced "fashion sunglasses" during the 30s that were modeled by the contestants of the 1938 Miss America pageant. I'd love to see photos of that!

We found ourselves at Goggle Works to check out the woodwork of Joe Pinter. Joe was a college roommate of Tom's and a ginormous help to us when we moved into our new house. He showed up with all of his painting equipment and didn't leave until every wall in our house was painted! His show consisted of cute (sorry, Joe - they were cute!) carved wood pieces that I imagine would be the perfect place for hiding small treasures. My favorite were what I call the "clothespin people". Their little heads pop off to reveal a hollow body. Yes, I picked them up and popped their heads off - I don't know if I was supposed to do that. There were also some wonderfully Beatlejuice-esque pieces of furniture and a magnetic calender from which someone had stolen the number 25. If you're in or around Reading I definitely recommend that you stop in and check out the show and the whole space.

Last but not least we have photos that Tom snapped of me sitting at the baby grand piano that was sitting in the lobby of the building inviting anyone to sit and create music to fill the space. To say that I play the piano would be a vast overstatement although I did take years of lesson. Those lessons have left me with just a few tunes that are forever ingrained in my fingertips.