Back From The Boogie

Hello there! Now that I'm back home after our Nashville Boogie trip, life just isn't as exciting, ha. It likes being in an alternate reality when we attend these rockabilly weekenders; getting to be surrounded by many other people who are dressed similiarly to us and listening to music that we all love is a neat experience. I'll post pictures from the trip in another blog post. 
The trip of course went super fast. We were only there for four full days though; we got in Tuesday night and left for the airport late Sunday morning. We had a lot of fun, and I got to meet a lot of new people, people I recognized from Instagram, and also others I didn't. 
We also got to meet up with my sister and her husband a couple of times; they had just gotten back from a ten day honeymoon in Greece.
This trip just makes me even more excited for Tiki Oasis! I talked to a couple of people this trip about Tiki O, and they said how fun it is, and that people are so relaxed and friendly there, which I'm very happy to hear!
In the pictures below I'm wearing my new to me vintage skirt that I got at the Boogie. I love the southwestern/Mexican print on it, and the colors. I'm wearing a petticoat under it, as without one it doesn't flare out much. I of course paired primary colored fruit accessories and shoes with the skirt. My favorite part of the print is the basket of fruit. The price tag hanging off the skirt called this a "Carmen Miranda skirt", and I can see why, with the woman on it with the fruit on her head. I rarely buy skirts, as I much prefer wearing dresses, but I just couldn't pass this special one up.
I actually didn't buy anything the Boogie other than the skirt and a piece of artwork (a tiki print to hang on the wall), oh, and also Charles Phoenix's newest book "Addicted to Americana". I got to meet him, get a picture with him, and he signed the book! He was super nice and easy to talk to. I was a little nervous to talk to him. He puts on such a great slideshow! We've seen two now. I did get some items outside of the Boogie; two super cute dish towels, and a Nashville magnet that looks like a vintage postcard. 

Skirt: Nashville Boogie (Vintage)
Top: Pinup Girl Clothing
Necklace, brooch: Etsy (Luxulite)
Bangles: Splendette
Heels: Re-mix Vintage Shoes

~Bye bye for now!

Nashville, Part II

Hello there! This is a longgg overdue post, since I got back from Nashville close to two months ago! I had already written about the first half of my Nashville trip, but in this post I'm going to write about the second half of it. I had previously covered Wednesday night - Friday night. Saturday night Sara & Cody were flying home, so we spent the morning and early afternoon with them, before Bob and I headed back to the Opryland Hotel to catch Charles Phoenix's slideshow. 
We explored a different area of Nashville we hadn't seen yet; we went to East Nashville, where there are a lot of vintage shops. At one of our first stops, I found my very first vintage dress! I was drawn to it because of the pretty floral print and bright colors, but when I pulled it off the rack, I didn't have high hopes it'd fit me, as most vintage is tiny, and I am not. Well, much to my shock, it did fit me! In fact, the buttons over my chest barely even gape; it was a miracle! I know Sara was my litle good luck charm. She found some items at the same shop, herself. She has better luck with vintage clothing than I do, though. But, I had a lot of fun shopping with her that day. 
We grabbed pizza for lunch at Five Points Pizza, Bob and my first and only pizza of our Nashville trip. I had heard it was really good, but honestly, I wasn't impressed. This also is due in large part to the fact that I live in NJ, where pizza is basically a religon, ha, and I've of course had NYC pizza....which is incomparable. I just got a couple slices of plain at Five Points and tried one of Sara's garlic knots, which was yummy, and worth my stinky breath, haha. The area we were shopping in doesn't feel like you're in a city at all, it feels like you're in a small town. There's houses all around there, too, and the shops are mostly spread out from each other, so we had to drive to most of them, instead of getting out and hitting several at once. 
After lunch we sadly bid goodbye to Sara & Cody, and we headed to the Opryland Hotel, and got there right at the time the slideshow was starting. I really enjoyed it! I had missed the one Charles did in Vegas the previous month, so I wanted to make sure I saw this one. 
The slideshow consists of slides of pictures of neat old signs, cars, etc. that either Charles has taken himself, or of actual old slides that have been given to him by miscellaneous people. 
I'd say it's mainly 50's era slides, with some outside of that. Charles is really funny, too!
I laughed a lot during it. 
Bob and I watched a few bands that night. We saw the Rythm Shakers at the Opryland Hotel, and the singer was 8 months pregnant! I love her voice; it's so strong and sassy. We headed over to Nashville Palace after that, where we grabbed dinner, and stayed there for hours, until very late, later than I had wanted to be out. We saw The Desperados, Sara Vista, and Hillbilly Casino. We hadn't planned on seeing HC, but we had started hearing from some people that they put on an amazing show, so we stuck around to see part of their set. They didn't come until midnight! They definitely lived up to the hype, though, and I'm so glad we got to see them. 
Sunday was the last day of the Boogie, but we didn't go over there at all. We had had our fill, ha, and were a little worn out. These events are so much fun, but exhausting to try and make it to everything you want to see and do! We took it a lot slower the rest of the trip. Sunday morning we headed to Franklin; I had wanted heard good things, and wanted to check out that town, and it's about 20 minutes away. We stopped at an antique mall there first, where I got an orange fridgie; it's a piece of Pyrex, and was in great condition. We grabbed lunch on the main street, at an Irish restaurant, and I really liked it. After that we just walked around and went in a few stores, including another large antique mall. I didn't end up buying anything else in Franklin.
Next we went to the famous Loveless Cafe for an early dinner, and it was great! Bob loved it too, and he has high standards for food. The biscuits were amazing (every table gets unlimited free biscuits). The menu has a lot of options, but it focuses on traditional southern cooking. There's also a couple of gift shops there, and I bought a few items, including a tote bag and pot holder with a really cute fruit print on them. The prices were really reasonable, too.
Monday we hit a more shops nearby where my sister lives (where we were staying Sunday-Tuesday) that we had missed before, including an antique mall where I got a really cute vintage dish towel. We had lunch at Dandgure's, which was great! Dandguere's and Loveless were our favorite food stops of the trip. We had seen Dandgure's on an episode of Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown", and my husband had made a note that he wanted to visit it. 
It's cafeteria style, where you get a tray and are served from behind the counter of what dishes you'd like. I got fried chicken, mac & cheese, and a couple of rolls.  
On our last day in Nashville we got lunch at Pharmacy Burger. I loved the burger I had there, as well as their creamsicle drink! I would definitely go back there, too. We left for the airport around 2 p.m. We had a great time in Nashville, that's for sure! I'm glad we got to do a lot of exploring there too, and also got to check out Franklin. I look forward to going back to Nashville.

Yummy creamsicle drink at Stillery

Vintage dress that I bought in Nashville!

Isn't this mural we randomly spotted adorable??

I love this candid pic that Bob got of us!

 

Flamingos & Lobsters

Hello there! Yesterday I went antiquing in a town about 25 minutes from me. The only thing I bought was a bangle for 50 cents, ha! It's just a red wood bangle. I thought about buying a Pyrex casserole dish that was a beautiful shade of blueish lavendar, but ended up not doing it. I'm going antiquing in Adamstown, PA with my mom in three weeks, and I'll probably find a good amount of items there that I want, so I didn't want to buy much yesterday. Adamstown is THE place to go for antiquing. I last went six months ago with my mom, and am excited to go back. They have tons of antique malls there, and we usually go to about five of them. My parents sometimes go out and spend all weekend there. 
Bob and I went out for a couple of drinks last night, to a bar about 10 minutes from us, that we hadn't been to in a few months. Other than that and antiquing, I just did a lot of reading and Netflix watching yesterday. I'm not doing much today either, a typical Sunday for me. 
Tuesday Bob and I are going to a family picnic at my parent's house, and Friday we'll be going back to their house for my mom's birthday.
In the pictures below I'm wearing my trusty Hell Bunny flamingo print dress. I got it from Unique Vintage over three years ago, and I still love the shape of the dress, and the print! It's very comfy, too. I added a hook & eyelet in the back, above the zipper, to keep the zipper up. The zipper had been slipping down a bit, because of my chest. 
My new mint bangle I got in Nashville, along with my new pink bangle that Bob gave me for our anniversary, both match so well with the dress. I love this combo of blue, mint, & pink, and I also love that my Luxulite lobster necklace matches this dress so well. I don't have a lot of dresses with that shade of dark red/burgundy that would match the lobsters in the necklace.

Dress: Unique Vintage (Hell Bunny) 
Necklace, brooch: Etsy (Luxulite)
Bangles: Etsy (BrighterBakelite) & Nashville Boogie
Heels: BAIT Footwear

~Bye bye for now!

Go Retro

Hello there! Well, Bob and I are back from Nashville, safe and sound. We got back late on Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning. We were supposed to get back Tuesday night at 10:00 p.m., but got back a little after midnight, due to Newark airport temporarily closing to investigate an engine fire on another plane. After picking up our luggage, and making a stop at the grocery store to pick up something to eat, we got home a little after 2:00 a.m. 
We had a really fun trip though! There's a lot to do in Nashville. It surprised me how big it is. We had use of my sister's car the whole time we were there, so we drove to a few different areas of Nashville, as well as Franklin. We got to do a lot of antique and vintage shopping, too. We saw about ten bands play at the Boogie, and they were all great. Most of them I had planned on seeing and had heard their music before, but some I hadn't heard before, and it was fun to discover those new bands, as well. We also had a lot of fun with Sara and her boyfriend Cody, who we hung out with Thursday - Saturday.
I'll post more info on the trip and pictures of the trip soon, in a future blog post.
I have a 4 day weekend (the school I work at is closed on Tuesday, too), and I'm so excited for it! I came back from the trip, and worked Thursday & Friday, and now get to enjoy 4 days off. Not bad, huh? It'll be nice to have slower paced days off, after having such a busy trip.
In the pictures below I'm wearing my new Bernie Dexter dress. The style is a new style of hers, and it's called the "Drive In", and the print is called "Go Retro". This is my first Drive In dress, and it is quite similar to her Kelly style dress, which is my favorite style of hers. 
It fits very similiarly, except that there's no waistband on the Drive In style.
I had liked this print since it came out about a month or so ago, but debated ordering it, because I wasn't sure how bright it would be in person. There's a lot of tan, brown, and black in it, but it's still bright enough for me. I'm also wearing my new to me vintage sunglasses in the pictures. I picked them up for $10 at the Nashville Boogie, and I love them! They're my first pair of vintage sunglasses, too. 

Dress: Bernie Dexter
Sunglasses: Vendor at the Boogie (vintage)
Bangles: Splendette & Etsy (BrighterBakelite)
Earrings: Etsy (Luxulite)
Heels: BAIT Footwear

~Bye bye for now!