I salute at the threshold of the North Sea and my mind...

photos by Tom b.

- 50s peacock print skirt
- H&M tank top
- UO canvas wedges
- vintage Coach purse
- AA floppy hat
- thifted belt
- listening to: Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks "Swim Until You Can't See Land"

Salvage Life Giveaway

I'm so excited to announce my new sponsor giveaway this morning! Beth from Salvage Life is generously putting a $50 gift certificate for her Etsy shop up for grabs. Of course you already know that her shop is full to the brim with lovely vintage dresses but this morning I couldn't stop browsing through the recycled vintage necklaces and the cute little headbands she makes with vintage bow ties.

It'll be an easy task to hop over to Beth's shop and pick out a favorite item. Just leave a comment on this post to enter to win! And if that's not wonderful enough, Beth will be offering another $50 gift certificate on the Salvage Life blog! To double your chances of winning, simply leave a comment on her blog post as well. I'll announce the lucky winner this time next week!

Etsy Upate: Red All Over

Today I gave the Etsy shop a little red makeover. Hope you like it!

Paper Cup

Of course it's just like me to get distracted by a Papercup's fall collection just as the weather is beginning to feel like summer. But really, some of these pieces are just as suited to hot summer days as they would be for cool fall ones. I especially love the Gatsy-esque blouses and the scalloped detailing on the skirt. And of course, I'm always a sucker for a good pinafore!

Etsy Update: Ebony

Here's another peek at pieces that have been added to the Etsy shop today!

Crack a window, crack a broken bone...

photos by Tom b.

- Hello Dahlia blouse courtesy of Modcloth
- UO shorts
- UO canvas wedges
- vintage Coach purse
- vintage hat
- listening to: The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards "Blue Blood Blues"



I picked this blouse out from Modcloth and was excited about the pretty spring print and the little bow tie on the front. But, once I had it in my hands, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to wear it. I tried it under a pair of overall shorts - definitely not for me. Under a corduroy jumper? Too hot. With a pair of vintage jeans? Too much blue. Tucked into a skirt? I couldn't find the right skirt. Finally I paired it with these high waisted shorts and everything fell into place.

Etsy Update: Brown Out

Here's a little peek at today's Etsy shop update! (some I've already added, the rest will be up tonight)

Custom Bikes

My favorite time-waster of the moment is click, click, clicking away to create custom bicycles on the Republic Bike site. If I found $400 laying on the ground the above version of the Dutch bike would be mine all mine! Of course I'd have to add a wicker basket and a bell.

The Last of Lyell

love lyell... from lyell on Vimeo.

The news of Lyell's demise is just too sad for words! Even though the real thing has always been out of my price range, the photos from the lookbooks alone are enough inspiration to get me through season after season. I wish I was in NYC to check out the final days of the sale. I'm betting there are some (relative) bargains to be found. At least they keep adding new pieces to the Fletcher line at UO. I have a feeling that's about as close as I'll ever get to owning a piece of Lyell.

I fall asleep in your branches...

photos by Tom b.

- vintage camisole
- 90s floral rayon shorts
- 70s wood & leather sandals
- vintage Coach purse
- vintage straw fedora
- listening to: The National - High Violet "Conversation 16" (we're going to see them in DC on June 6th!)



Today Tom and I decided to take a detour on our way home and check out a local county park. We intended to walk out to an overlook with a view of the Susquehanna River but I was woefully unprepared in my wedge sandals for any sort of real hike. Instead, we just wandered up the trail a little bit and vowed to make a return trip with more appropriate footwear and a picnic lunch.

It was a really lovely area, and unlike any I've seen thus far in PA. As much as I love the outdoors, we really haven't done much exploring since moving here. Putting that on my list of things to do! I seriously wish these were scratch and sniff pictures. There was jasmine and honeysuckle blooming all around us and it smelled amazing!



There was a lot of in yo' face nature stuff going on during this short walk. We ran into about a million spider webs (I don't mind most bugs, but spiders give me the heebie-jeebies). At one point we had to stop walking to give the right-of-way to a big black snake (I say it was three feet long, Tom says it was four). It was big! He (she?) just sort of stopped right in the middle of the path to chill for a bit. I got a bit tired of waiting for him to move on and finally had to prod it along with a stick. Hopefully on our next trip, we can make it all the way out to the river (and maybe have less spiders and snakes!).

Revolving Styles Giveaway

Hmmm... I've never been much of a jewelry wearer myself, but this necklace is making me reconsider. Wouldn't it be perfect paired with a flowing sundress? Or just the thing to dress up a pair of shorts and a tank top? It's got a great 70s vibe that I've really been craving for this summer. One of you lucky gals will get to call it all your own thanks to Revolving Styles!

All you have to do is hop over to Anna's lovely shop, take a peek around and then leave a comment about whatever caught your eye. In a week, I'll announce the lucky winner and in no time at all, this pretty necklace will be hanging around your neck. Good luck!



***Congratulations to last week's lucky giveaway winner... Michal!

Etsy Update: Easy Dresses

I've just added all of these easy dresses to the Etsy shop! I call these easy dresses because they're the easiest way to get dressed in the morning. Just throw on a pair of sandals and you're ready to go! A gal can never have too many of these in her closet. :)

Etsy Update: Where the Grass Meets the Sky

Oopsy daisy! Here's Thursday's Etsy update on Friday morning. Better late than never, right?! Oh, where does the time go? Get ready for a double dose of Etsy updates today as I'll add even more pieces later this afternoon.

The sun never shines, but that's alright...

photos by Tom b.

- Cucumber Sandwiches dress courtesy of Modcloth
- UO canvas wedges
- vintage hat
- vintage John Romain purse
- listening to Band of Horses - Infinite Arms (another new album to obsess over)



Despite my lyrical quote for the day, the sun finally did peek its head out from behind the rain clouds that have lingered over our city for the past couple of days. This weather, vacillating between spring and, I dunno, fall (?) has been making me a bit crazy. Hopefully spring is now here to stay. With the weather turning nice out, Tom and I are heading back into home-project-overdrive. We've both been elbow deep in paint cans all week long. Turns out we weren't happy with a couple of our initial paint color choices so we've been repainting walls, touching up trim and patching all the spots that were left behind by the great window replacing fiasco that's finally come to an end. We now have windows we can open! With screens! Ah, the little things in life. :)

Another project on our to-do list is repainting the outside of the house. Right now it's sort of a drab tan with black shutters and I want it to be a bit more cheerful looking. So, this afternoon we took a long walk around town to scope out the neighborhood for colors that we like. We've got it narrowed down to a couple of ideas that we're excited about.



Since we were finally able to make it out of the house after days of rain, I figured it was the perfect time to sport my new fave dress from Modcloth! I had my eye on this one since it made its debut on the site and was lucky the lovely ladies over at Modcloth were kind enough to let me give it a spin. I was counting on taking it on our trip down south. I thought it would be the perfect dress to wear while lurking around creepy old southern cemeteries and posing under trees draped with Spanish moss. But, I suppose it was not meant to be. The dress was delayed in the mail and our trip to the old cemeteries was deterred by thunderstorms.

So, instead the dress gets its debut on a lovely spring walk around Lancaster. That's all well and good, but with all the delays I'm sad to say the dress has already sold out on the Modcloth site! At least they have that nifty feature where you can sign up to be emailed when it comes back in stock. If you're tempted by it, I can wholeheartedly recommend the dress. Just be prepared to have some help getting laced into it! I finally managed but not before the cat tried to help by chasing the ties round and round.

Etsy Update: 60s Summer

Today I'm added all of these little 60s dresses and rompers to the Etsy shop. They're just the perfect thing for scootin' around town this spring!

Calke Abbey

I keep a list of places that I must visit: that list just got longer! I'm adding Calke Abbey. I know I'm probably the last one on the boat for this one, but I've just discovered it through Teen Angster who was reposting it from Hello Mr. Fox (it's a-going viral, y'all!). It's just so, so perfect I couldn't resist adding to my blog as well.

Calke Abbey is near Ticknall, Derbyshire, England (those names always sound so romantic to my American ears). It was built between 1701 and 1704 by Sir John Harpur, the 4th baronet of his family. I'm not even sure what that means! The estate was passed down through the family, all the while suffering from neglect and various stages of abandonment. When the house was handed over to the National Trust in the 1980s, the estate had remained untouched since the 1880s! Rather than begin restoration, the Trust preserved the remains as an example of a country house in decay, halting the deterioration but not reversing it.

I imagine this is sort of like what Grey Gardens would have been like if someone had stepped in and preserved it before it went into total disrepair and ruin. Only on a MUCH grander scale.

Etsy Update: Summer Senorita

Here is a peek at the first Etsy update of the week. I think these pieces are perfect for a vacation south of the border or just lounging around the backyard pool!

Jane's Basket Purse

I've gone on and on about my love for all things Jane Birkin on this blog before so it's no surprise that a few weeks ago when I read Anabela from Field Guided's post on Jane's basket purse I bookmarked it for future reference. This morning when I was trying to think of something interesting to blog about (that's the hardest part some days!), I remembered the post about the basket and thought y'all would like it too.



You can catch a peek of the basket at the beginning of the video above. Jane was also snapped quite a few times about town carrying the basket as a purse. Turns out it's a traditional Portuguese fishing or octopus basket. The Feitoria shop has one available here. I think it makes a very nice summer purse or picnic basket.

Coming down with fire, to lift my spirit higher...

photos by Tom b.

- H&M dress
- leather & wood 70s sandals
- 70s tooled leather purse
- AA floppy hat
- listening to: Rainbow "Man on the Silver Mountain"



After a week of post-vacation recovery, we're finally back to li-ife, back to reality. Yesterday's reality was in the form of painting all of our new windows and trim. Today will be spent taking photos for the shop, listening to Rainbow, Dio and Black Sabbath (Ronnie James era), and watching the baby birds hop around in our backyard (two so far!).



These photos were taken just after the rain stopped on our first day in 'Bama. It was all hot and sticky and muggy and gave me my first reminder of what my hair looks like when the humidity kicks in. Speaking of hair, several of you asked about my trip-long-hair-washing-strike. The truth is, I didn't really plan it that way. I think I was just too lazy to wash it all week. Ha, ha. But really, the trick is using dry shampoo. Tom hears me in the bathroom all "shrrsss, shrrsss" (that's supposed to be the sounds of the aerosol can) and always comments about my "newly washed hair".

I've tried a few kinds and my favorite so far is T3. I buy it at Sephora and it's available online as well. Some of the first ones I tried were a little too old-lady smelling. I may like to dress like an old lady, but I don't want to smell like one! I use the Auburn one but it comes in all colors. Since it has a bit of color to it, you can use it for several days and it doesn't leave that white powdery look on your scalp. Trust me, not a good look. It also helps cover my roots in between dyes. Just be sure not to miss your hair and accidentally spray it on your forehead. It will leave a big brown splotch on your skin. Not that I would know that from experience or anything. ;)

Mooi Vintage Giveaway

This week's sponsor giveaway comes in the form of an elegant vintage black and goldtone leaf link bracelet from MooiVintage. Mooi is Dutch for beautiful and that's just the word I'd have to use to describe the selection of vintage jewelry in this lovely shop. My favorites are the lucite butterfly earrings and the button pendant necklace. Hop on over to the shop then let me know what your favorite is!

The bracelet details: The gold tone leaves are brushed and the black leaves have a matte finish. The bracelet is 18cm /7inches long and 2,5 cm /0,9inches in height. It is signed Mode Art and is in perfect condition. Mode Art was a jewelery brand that was in business from the 40s till the 70s.



***Congratulations to last week's giveaway winner... Darling L from Old Words and Vanilla Tea

You must be somewhere in London, you must be loving your life and the rain...

photos by Tom b.

- Afternoon Company dress courtesy of Modcloth
- UO canvas wedges
- vintage John Romain bag
- vintage silk scarf
- listening to: The National - High Violet "England" (totally obsessed with the new album right now)



It's already Friday and I'm just starting to feel like I'm back in the regular swing of things around here. It was a bit of a tough transition to get back to work after such a wonderful, relaxing week off. Yesterday I spent digging through my favorite thrift shops. I think I was in a bit of thrifting withdrawal after not going for two whole weeks. I found tons of new (old) pretty things for the shop and regular updates will resume next week. Promise!



Tom and I were out for a bit of a walk this afternoon, trying to enjoy a little fresh air before the thunderstorms hit tonight. I'm sort of keeping my fingers crossed for a southern style storm with lots of thunder and lightning that leaves the air heavy with humidity. I think that's just a bit of homesickness kicking in!

Anyhoo... while we were out, we stopped in front of this Georgian style brick home. Lancaster is ripe with this type of old brick home and I just love them. This particular one was built in 1760 and was occupied by John Passmore, Lancaster's first mayor. You may think I had to do a bit of research to come up with that tid-bit but really I cheated and read the historical marker that was right out front of the house. ;)

Salvage Life: Relevant Vintage for Wasteless Living

All photos by Tom b.

One of the best parts of working with a sponsor is when they send you pretty clothes to play dress up with – especially when that sponsor is Salvage Life and they have a shop full of wonderful pieces to choose from!

That’s just what Beth from Salvage Life did… she was kind enough sent me a big box of clothes from her shop to keep for a while and play dress up. It was sort of like receiving a box on Christmas morning! I ooh’ed and ahh’ed as I pulled each piece out of the box.

The day Tom and I headed to the park to take photos was one of the rare warm spring days we’ve had lately. There was a bit of fog on the ground and the ducks and geese were just beginning their morning routines. It was such a lovely morning! Here are just a few of the photos we took that morning. If you’d like to see even more from the shoot, you can hop on over to Beth’s blog.

The hardest part was packing all the pieces up and sending them back. ;) But alas, I had to send them back, so y’all could have a chance to have them as your very own! Each of these pieces, and many more, are listed in the Salvage Life shop. Click through to find the blue floral dress, Edwardian lace blouse, caramel circle skirt and the peach floral dress.

Southern Road Trip Diary, pt 4

photos by Tom b.

- H&M dress
- AA floppy hat
- UO flats
- 70s leather & wood sandals (had to trade out for the flats to walk around in the animal pens!)


(cute barn cat... feeding the goats... petting Elliot the donkey)

Our last stop on our trip was spending the night in Stuart, VA. Our friends Tanja and Jeff live in an old farm house with about a billion animals all around. Pretty much heaven! The animals are a result of Tanja's involvement with a local animal rescue group. Most of them were abused or abandoned and have found a wonderful new home on their farm. If I remember correctly there were 3 goats, 2 sheep, 2 horses, a donkey named Elliot, 5 dogs, 5 ducks, a few visiting geese, 5 guinea hens and 20-something cats! The cats of course were my favorite (if I had to pick). There were house cats and barn cats, forest cats and porch cats! Inside the house there was a cat room where the fosters were kept while waiting for adoption.


(Elliot the donkey... hanging out by the barn... goat head butts!)

Tom snapped plenty of photos of the goats and Elliot the donkey but the horses and sheep were pretty shy. Well, except for when Tom would kneel down to take a photo. Then the sheep would sneak up behind him to check him out!


(goats like to have their photos taken too... I was on a hair-washing strike on our trip - day six!)

I think if Tom had to pick a favorite it may have been Barney the three-legged chow. He is the resident watch dog and just one big teddy-bear of a dog. And then there was Love Bug the cat who sort of thought he was a dog and followed us everywhere we went. Too cute!

Tanja treated us to lots of hearty food during our visit including fresh duck eggs for breakfast. I'd never eaten duck eggs but I'm always up for trying something new and I have to say it was quite good! They're a bit larger than chicken eggs and have a creamier texture. I imagine they would be wonderful to bake with.

While we were visiting I was wonderfully inspired by all of the work Tanja is doing with the local animal rescue group. I was hoping there would be a way to donate help directly to her group. Then I found out that they work with PetFinder.com for all of their adoptions and donations. If you'd like to support Tanja and so many others like her, or if you're thinking adding a pet to your family, I highly recommend that you take a moment to learn a bit more about Pet Finder.


(the big dogs... the farmhouse... Tom and Barney... Tanja... little lady goat)