I Feel Like A Fashionista...

...but I am decidedly not!  I don't shop brands, I shop looks and at this stage in my life, I shop what fits.  This fact alone limits my wardrobe choices greatly (just because it's in my size doesn't mean...you know the rest.)  I do believe I'm on my way to doing something about that.  Blame Credit the latest health scare.  In an effort to stay busy, thus keeping myself out of the kitchen, I went to an estate sale today.  I was really looking forward to attending the opening of an art exhibit, but due to the unpredictable nature of my current illness, I didn't think it was a good idea.  (Think excessive burping...) Not classy.  Okay for an estate sale though!!

So I took my very reluctant daughter with me, who showed very little interest in anything until we made a third pass by this really cute orange dress.  She offhandedly said, "If I were to buy anything, it would be that".  Six dresses later, we made our way to the counter.  I convinced her to try them on so I could take some pictures while we still had some natural light coming in.  Ho hum, but okay.  Later, when I'm on the phone, she brings my camera to me, to show me the pictures (uhh...I took them??) Let's just say she was pleased and can't wait to wear her new/old clothes:

  Is this not the prettiest dress?  I think it's amazing, unique, and will be great to wear to a semi-fancy function.  She watched Mulan about 50 times when she was little.  Paying homage. 

Great wear to work dress.  Blazer--yep.  Cardigan--yep.  Ooh, over the shoulders with a sweater clip!  What do I know?  I'm not a Fashionista!

Every girl looks and feels great in a muted floral.  So feminine.  So Impressionistic.  So four dollars.  So happy.

Just darn cute!  The orange dress that started it all.

Fashionista or not, I really hope to someday be able to wear these gorgeous vintage clothes myself and not have to force fight  watch my daughter have all the fun.  Even though, as her mom, it's tons of fun for me.  It's great that I can still dress up my little girl...sometimes...when she lets me...when she's not rolling her eyes...when she feels like indulging me...when she loves the clothes even more than I do!

Rainy Day Fun.

Although I was definitely not at my best, I had to go downtown today to take care of some business.  I mean, I HAD to...and that's the only reason I even got out of bed.  Of course, you get up, you get going, you feel better, generally speaking.  So this is how my day went:

I've been wanting to get some pictures of the giant planter heads on Michigan Avenue, and I found myself right in front of one while walking down the street.  With only a cellphone handy, I went for it.  These things are really cool and I hope they stay!  

 She works at Walgreens...Personally I think all the flowers are a bit unsanitary, given that she works in the pharmacy.  Just sayin'...She needs a hair net.  And if anyone vandalizes this thing and the city wakes up to a hair-netted sculpture, I had NOTHING to do with it!

                                                At least with all the rain, they were well watered.

                                I think this one is my favorite.  I call her "Golden Lady".  Clever, huh?

Yes, I was moving that fast!  Not!

So I sat outside Panera and waited for my ride.  While there, eating my yogurt and bothering no one, in comes this little intruder and he stands on my table, just inches from my cup.  What the??

The nerve, seriously.  He was very rude and stayed there for quite a while.  He knows I'm scared of birds I'm sure.  Blame Hitchcock for that one.  

 

Been wanting a picture of the "legs" too.  I finally got it.  My sister hates them.  I think they're amazing! And tall...

And finally, I stopped by my  niece's house but she wasn't home.  (Of course she wasn't...she was at work!)  But since I was there, I let myself in and helped myself to the contents of her refrigerator.  Shrimp, green beans, tilapia and a little bit of chicken salad with grapes.  Yummy!  I snapped a picture and texted it to her, just so she would know how much I enjoyed her home while she was out.  I crack myself up.  I played with the dog, lounged on the couch and watched t.v.  Love my family!

All told, I do feel better today.  I'll see the doctor on Saturday and find out how we're going to proceed with this latest health issue, but if having a little fun is part of my treatment, I should be just fine!

I'm Sick Y'all...

A hiatal hernia?  What NOW?   My status as "runt" is official.  I have always got something.  And it's usually something weird.

So this is my diagnosis after trying to ignore the excruciatingly sharp and painful jabs I've been feeling in my chest and back for the past three days.  I was sure it wasn't a heart attack since I've had this pain before.  Today, I just couldn't take it any more, plus I was starting to worry, so I took myself to the E/R.
What to do about can be complicated, but it can also be fairly simple.  I think I fall into the latter category since diet and weight can definitely affect it, and both of mine are out of control.  Working on that...

So, I'm pretty tired tonight, but didn't want to skip another day of posting, so here you go. I'll be better tomorrow, I promise!

p.s.  I was looking for a cute graphic or joke to show how lousy I feel. I googled "sick momma jokes".  That was NOT a good idea!

Kids Are Expensive!

This weather!  It was cool today, but I have to say that I wasn't mad about that.  It was actually comfortable.  I'm still sleeping with the windows open, the fan on and even had the a/c on for awhile.  I felt bad though, with my kids sleeping burrowed under their blankets, so I got up in the middle of the night and turned it off.  Good thing I think, because I'm not feeling great.  A few more hours of excessive cooling and I probably would have been out of commission today.

Yesterday, now that was a chilly day.  Chilly and wet.  I had tickets to a baseball game, but decided to turn over all the tickets to my son who easily found four friends to join him.  I really dodged one with that decision because the game was delayed for four hours due to rain.  I kept texting him, asking what they were doing.  Are they warm?  Are they bored?  Do they have enough money?  This was an important one, because 25 bucks at the game does not go far!  Add to that an extra four hours of idle time, and I'm starting to worry that he has eaten his $25 and now that the game is finally starting, he'll be out of snack money. He apparently figured it out because not only did he have a great time, he brought home $3!

The frugality was fruitless, however, at least for me.  He's now busy shopping online because he "needs new clothes".  Why?  He wears a uniform to school, and he's just coming off of a birthday where he got nothing but money.  He spent every dime and now he's trying to spend more.  That $3 isn't looking so good now...

Kids are expensive.

Thrift Hauls!

I don't post all of my thrift finds, but I found some amazing things over two days of thrifting earlier this week that I just had to share.  It all started with a simple bit of information that I received.  My daughter found out she had an after work event to attend and went to work wearing the very same outfit she'd worn to the last after work event.  No big deal to her (she shrugs) but I'm thinking "what if".  What if she sees the same people?  What if those people are undercover fashion police?  So I did what any concerned parent would do who is interested in having their (job-seeking) child make the best impression.  Dash off to the mall?  Hit up Macy's downtown?  Uh-uh.  Nope.  Nothing about my budget has changed, folks.  I ran off to one of my favorite thrift stores, one that I don't go to very often because it's not close to home...St. Vincent's in Chicago.  True to form, there were tons of treasures buried there, more deeply than usual.

I was starting to think I wasn't going to find anything that was appropriate but I didn't give up.  I just made my way over to housewares, where I picked up a set of four vintage Fire-King refrigerator dishes.  I had been planning to buy some for a housewarming gift.  I'm going to fill each one with a meal for one.  Yes, this gift is for a bachelor...my nephew, who really likes my cooking!  To find a set of vintage dishes was just a bonus--I was planning to go to Target for them.  This just makes it better...


These are actually from a vintage home yogurt maker, c. 1960's.  Coolness.


Once I found these, I settled down and really started to look.  I found this really cute, silk, fully lined, back-zip sheath:

A bit of a splurge at $8.

Two cardigans and two pairs of shoes.  A girl must have choices!  I kept with the gray/black theme.  I even found a cute vintage black link bracelet.  

                                                            Anne Taylor Loft, $3.

Kohl's/Daisy Fuentes, $3.  This is a really nice quality sweater, fine gauge knit, nice style and length.  It will be worn a LOT, I can tell. 

             Isaac Mizrahi for Target.  Not pricey normally, but even better at $4.

Pewter slingbacks.  $4.  Leather with snake trim.  Classy!

She was already carrying a black Coach (freebie, long story) purse. I thought I did a pretty good job of getting her ready to schmooze.

BTW, she picked the gray cardi and gray shoes.  Again, options are important!  Oh yes, the bracelet:

Just the black one, the green bracelet, which I love, was found elsewhere.  I also got the pink earrings yesterday because she loves pink.  No other reason needed.  Not pictured are the silver hoops I found, new in the package at St. Vince's.  So I rushed to her job and brought in my two bags of stuff.  Who does that??  Me!  She took what she wanted, and I hauled the rest home. 

She did NOT take any pictures...aarrggghhh!  That's okay, we're due for a photo shoot anyway!  

Next stop was Restoration Ministries--their smaller store in Harvey, Illinois.  Small but mighty!

I hate that I didn't have these vintage "golfer" glasses on Fathers' Day:

 I wasn't too sure about this print two-piece.  I really like it, but it's not my size.  My sister can wear it, but pretty much everything she owns is print and I don't want to feed her habit.  I tried to convince my daughter that it would be so cute with boots this fall.  She wasn't too excited about it, but said she might wear it, but definitely not both pieces at the same time.  It's probably a little big for her, but it has nice style.  Black and gold cord trim, fabric button and loop closure, and a tapered waist on the jacket.  

Vintage is the new black.  She should trust me on this one. Just $3.50, so no harm done. 

              Another vintage Vera scarf.  I have enough but at .50, why not??

Season's over, but I couldn't resist this vintage Hawaii made dress.  Half price at $3.50.  

And there you have it, except for the jacket which I won't reveal until I team it up with something cute, at which point my kids will draw straws to see who has to take 25 pictures of Mom so she can find one that she's happy with. 

Painted Wallet-DIY Post

This is my favorite wallet.  I have tons of wallets.  They're all empty, but that's beside the point.

It has a lot of marks and stains, so I haven't been using it.  But I still love the style, especially the big button on the front. I couldn't toss it, so I needed to figure out how to make it presentable again.  (What Would Bettie Do?)


Paint it, of course!

 Bright orange or dull gray?  You wouldn't believe this unless you saw it, right?  I opted for the gray!

Well, not entirely.  I was already getting bored looking at it, so I changed my mind.  I went instead with the GIFT BOX BLUE!  That's right, I didn't like either of my original colors, so I went with the same blue I used on a pair of shoes a few months ago:
 http://14thstreetvintage.blogspot.com/2013/06/paintfast-becoming-my-best-friend.html

I went with the gray as an accent color, and also on the inside.  I gave the orange some love too:

I love my new wallet!

How Do You Remember This Day?

I remember exactly where I was when I heard about the attack.  Most people do.  I certainly don't want to ever feel that again, but I remember some good that came out of it.  Remember the little flag window clings for your car?  Or the antenna flags?  Flag pins?  I really remember a sense of togetherness.  No one was blaming anyone else for their problems, and I didn't hear much about race.  For a brief time, we were all Americans, and we were all mourning.  And scared.  So I guess we can only be brought together under horrific circumstances...now most of what I read, even from my friends, is about who is killing who, or more specifically, which race has the lead in killing the other.  I have had to delete a few friends who insist on keeping this going.  It upsets me since we obviously have other things to concern ourselves with.  For instance, over the past few days I've read a lot about children being adopted, then the adoptive parents changing their minds and "giving" them away to strangers.  These people cannot really be considered part of the same species as me, can they?  There's all kinds of crazy going on in this world, in this country, that we need to worry about.  September 11, 2001 put a brief halt to all of the infighting and made us all focus on each other, realizing that as Americans, we are in this together, like it or not.  I actually liked it, feeling that everyone had my back for that brief time.  My flag decal had essentially been burned into my windshield by the time I got rid of my car a few years back. 

So now what?  With all of the commemorative speeches and tributes and memorials, how can that feeling of togetherness be recaptured?  The short answer is that it can't.  Not unless we have another national tragedy, one where we can't blame each other because the attack comes from the outside.  Still, I prefer to remember everyone's sacrifice, and loss, and how in the midst of tragedy, they brought our country together for a very brief time.  I'm thinking that if we really want to honor that memory, we should never let those deaths be in vain.  It's the least we can do.