29 & Feeling Fine

Hello there! Bob & I had an eventful weekend. We went to the New England Shake Up, in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. We got there Friday night (it's a four hour drive), and left late Sunday morning. The nicest thing about going to these types of events, is blending into the crowd, so to speak. I hate getting stared at, and at these events, if people are looking at me, it's because they appreciate/like my outfits, not because they dont "get it"/think I look weird. It's kind of a surreal feeling, actually, because no one in my area dresses anything like me. I live in quite a rural area. But, even when I've gone into NYC, I haven't seen women dressed "pin-up" ish. I know there are definitely some there, but I just haven't seen them. It's kind of a hard feeling to explain really (being at these events), but it's awesome! It makes me feel less alone...less alone in my interests, I guess I would say. Seeing tons of lovely "pin-up" ladies on Instagram is one thing, but it's a whole other thing in person! Luckily, my husband is so sweet and patient, that he tags along with me to these events. This is only our second time going to an event like this. Viva Las Vegas in April was the first, and I'm pushing to go back this April!! Although, I think he is getting more interested, because this time we listened to a lot of bands, and both really liked all of the music. At Viva, we didn't watch any bands. Going to the NESU, makes me very excited at the possibility of going back to Viva in April! 
I met some lovely ladies this weekend. One of them, Sara, I knew would be going, and we had planned to meet up at some point. She has a blog here, http://saralilyphoto.blogspot.com/. I'm so glad we finally met in person! She's so sweet and nice, just like I thought she would be. Another girl, Christina, introduced herself to me, and told me has been following me on Instagram, and wanted to take a picture with me. Sara and I got to talk to her for awhile. She's also such a sweetheart. The first night, I met two girls who recognized me from the Trashy Diva group I'm in on Facebook. They were also really nice. I'm glad I got to meet all of them. 
The event itself was a lot smaller than Bob & I thought it would be. We knew it would obviously be smaller than Viva, but it really paled in comparision. There were only about 30 cars at the car show, and not a lot of vendors. But, we still had fun! I found a few things to buy too, of course. I had birthday money burning a hole in my pocket! (My birthdays is today). I got a "retroversible" skirt from Julie Mollo. It's yellow one on side & pink on the other! I love it! I've been wanting a sunshine-y shade of yellow skirt for awhile now, as well as a pink one. Now I have two in one! I'm wearing both sides in the pitures below. Bob bought me a bright blue circle skirt from Mode Merr for my birthday. I also bought a cupcake bolero for $20(!), a pair of sunglasses, and a red top, all from Mode Merr. Oh yea, and a cupcake print skirt from Strange Beauty Bombshell, but I don't have it in my possession yet, because she's going to take it in & then ship it to me. (She didn't have my size available at the show.)
The title of my post is because I'm 29 today! Sounds weird to say that!

"Retroversible" skirt!

Christina, Sara and I

Other side of the "retroversible" skirt & my cupcake bolero!

 

Unicorns & Rainbows

Hello there! Today Bob & I are just staying home. I'm going to work out, read, and just watch TV/relax. He's going to be doing some cooking and baking, like he always does on Sundays. Yesterday I cleaned, did laundry, worked out, read, watched TV, and met my friend for a couple of hours. We went to Marshall's & Kohl's. I didn't buy anything at either store; I didn't see anything I really liked. But, that's pretty typical for those stores. I used to buy a lot of things from both of those stores, but my style has changed considerably since then. I still do like to check out the housewares section though at both places. It's been a pretty quiet weekend, but this coming weeked Bob & I will be in Massachusetts for the New England Shake-Up. 
In the pictures below I'm wearing my Retrolicious unicorns & rainbows dress I bought in New Orleans. It's such a colourful, fun dress! It really looks like a Lisa Frank print. When I saw it in the store window, I knew I had to try it on. There was one left in my size, thankfully! The shop owner said they just got it in, but it really already almost sold out. It's really tight in the bust, and has a little room in the waist. Retrolicious uses the best fabrics. I'm always excited to see what they come out with next.

Dress: Wicked (Retrolicious)
Necklace: Modcloth
Brooch: Deer Arrow
Purse: Trashy Diva
Shoes: Shoe Bakery

~Bye bye for now!

New Orleans, Part II

Hello there! I'm so happy the weekend is here. Bob and I are going to the New England Shake-Up next weekend, and I'm pretty excited for that. We haven't gone before, and it'll be the first time we're going to a rockabilly event in the Northeast. We might get to see some beautiful foiliage on our drive up. If you didn't know, New England is famous for their foliage. The leaves haven't started changing here yet, which I'm glad about, because I'm really not looking forward to the quickly advancing advent of fall. By the way it's not fall yet, it's not until the 23rd. One of my pet peeves is people rushing the seasons!
The first picture below is just showing a typical New Orleans building. I just adore the architecture/design there. It's like no other place I've ever been. I also of course love how much colour is used on the buildings!! Many places have brightly coloured doors. There's a picture of me below in front of a bright blue door. I also really love the huge balconies. I would love to have one some day. 
It was the Southern Decadence Festival for most of the time we were there. It's a huge gay festival. We didn't see too many signs of it until Friday night, especially on Bourbon Street (which is what we figured). It was neat to see. I'm a huge supporter of LGBT. 
The last night we were there we saw a wedding parade in the street! We had never seen one there before. The last picture below is of the procession. It was really cool to see! There was a lot of dancing and music. During our trip we did see some other brides & grooms getting their pictures taken though. I can see why people would chose New Orleans to get married!

Southern Decadence

Patrick, the cat who lives at our hotel!

A Wedding Parade!

Big Bubbles Dress

Hello there! Tonight I worked out, and just am going to relax now. Monday night, Bob and I went over to my grandmother's/great uncle's house to visit, and my dad was there as well. Last night we went out to dinner with my grandparents, parents, aunt, uncle & cousin, for my Nana's birthday. We had a good time. My mom baked her triple layer chocolate cake with chocolate icing, and brought it to the restaurant for our dessert. It's my favourite chocolate cake, ever. Pretty much everyone that tries it feels the same way! I can't wait to have it for my bithday. I know a lot of peple with September-December birthdays, including myself, ha!
My order from Catslikeus.com arrived today. I got a Heart of Haute skirt & dress. I just LOVE the dress! I had first spotted it on the site when it was a new arrival, about a month or so ago. I wasn't 100% sure I loved it enough to order it. Once I had a discount code, I decided to go for it, and I'm so glad I did. I love the print, and think the cut of the dress is very flattering on me. It's obviously low cut, so I'll wear it work with a bandeau. I'm going to wear it tomorrow to work, actually. This is the first Heart of Haute dress I've gotten in this particular style, and I think it's the most flattering on me out of all the styles I own. I'm going to return the skirt though, as it is quite tight on me. Oh well, at least one item worked out for me!

Dress: Catslikeus.com (Heart of Haute)
Necklace: Etsy (Scrumptiousdoodle)
Brooch: Deer Arrow
Heels: B.A.I.T. Footwear

~Bye bye for now!

"I, I Love The Colourful Clothes She Wears"

Hello there! It's been quite the gloomy weekend, weather wise. I can't really complain though, since I don't think we had a bad weather weekend all summer. Yesterday I went out to Pennsylvania with my mom and aunt, to go shopping for holiday decorations. I go out there twice a year with my mom. We go to a couple different towns, and the farthest one is two and a half hours away. It's worth it though, because there are no shops around here that sell really neat holiday decorations. I really scored this time, too. My mom was very kind and bought me a lot of it. I got five new Stamm House Halloween pieces, a Halloween feather tree & four ornaments for it, and one Stamm House Easter piece, and one Stamm House Christmas piece. My favourite piece is the one that's a pumpkin with a cat coming out the top of it. My aunt & mom also got that one. 
Last night Bob and I watched "Love & Mercy", about Brian Wilson's life. (He was the lead singer of The Beach Boys). I really enjoyed it, and I just love The Beach Boys's music. That's where the title of my blog post comes from, if you didn't figure it out, ha. It's the first line from "Good Vibrations", and is pretty perfect for me!!
In the pictures below I'm wearing my new Little Red Riding Hood print dress that I bought in New Orleans. The brand is Retrolicious. This print is so adorable, and I love the colours used in it. I don't like the colour gray, but there's so many colours in it, that I don't mind that the background is gray. Also in the pictures below is my new sprinkle wood die cut sign that is now hanging on my kitchen wall. I was so excited to receive it in the mail! It's now my favourite piece on my wall. It's just so perfect for me. Everyday is a Holiday is an amazing husband and wife team that made that piece, as well as a few other pieces I have on my kitchen wall (like the ice cream cone). They are so talented, and their aesthetic suits me and my style so well! They're also located right here in New Jersey, which is neat.
The last two pictures below are showing the Halloween items I got yesterday. Speaking of aesthetic, the Stamm's aesthetic (the husband and wife team who make the pieces in the first picture of the Halloween items below) also suits me very well. They make excellent German inspired vintage reproduction pieces. I have a good size collection now of Easter, Christmas & Halloween items. They are also reasonably priced, which is great. I'm so happy I found out about such wonderful local artists, who make such gorgeous, unique pieces. I've never seen any other current artists who make pieces close to theirs. My mom has been buying from the Stamms for a long time now, so she introduced me to them, and I started going out with her to their shop about two years ago.

Stamm House Pieces

Dress: Wicked (Retrolicious)
Brooch, Earrings: Etsy (Jesiiiii, Scrumptiousdoodle)
Heels: B.A.I.T. Footwear

~Bye bye for now!

New Orleans, Part I

Hello there! Bob and I got back from New Orleans on Sunday night. We had a great, fun, short trip! We were only there for three full days. We got to the hotel Wednesday night around 10:00 p.m., and then left early Sunday morning. The weather was hot and humid, as we expected. It wasn't much worse than it had been back in New Jersey, though. It was 90 degrees again today in NJ. It did rain a bit a couple of days, and I got caught in it (forgot my umbrella at home) when I went out shopping Thursday morning (my husband was sleeping still). Luckily, it didn't last long at all. I found some really cute clothes! I scored two Retrolicious dresses at a store called Wicked on Decatur Street. They both have such adorable novelty prints! One has rainbows and unicorns, and one has a Little Red Riding Hood print. (They are pictured below.) I wore the unicorn and rainbows dress out one day, and have never had so many people compliment me on a piece of clothing before!! A lot of people asked where I got it from, and said they were going to the store to get it. The print really reminds me of Lisa Frank's prints. I had a few items as a child with her rainbow and unicorn print, and it was my favorite of all of hers. 
I of course went to Trashy Diva a couple of times. I didn't get any dresses there, which I figured would happen, since I had just recently ordered two dresses from their website. I didn't want to wait until we got down there, in case they were sold out in my size, and also ordering them ahead of time, I didn't have to pay sales tax! New Orleans clothing tax is I believe 9%. New Jersey doesn't have tax on clothing. I did buy two cropped tops there (to wear tucked into high waisted skirts), two cropped cardigans, and a strawberry purse. 
In one of the pictures below I'm standing next to a girl in a gingham outfit. She works at one of the Trashy Diva stores, and she recognized me from the TD Facebook group I'm in. She is SO sweet! We talked for awhile, and she had another girl who works in the office come and take pictures of me outside in the courtyard. Another girl who works at a different TD store recognized me, and she was also really sweet.
We went to three tiki bars during the trip. Two of them were only a block away from our hotel, and were right next door to each other. We liked those two the best, and went to each of them twice. We bought 4 tiki cups and one tiki shot glasses. My favorite of them is the pineapple tiki cup, pictured below. So darn cute!!