Vivian Roses

Hello there! I am SO happy it's a three day weekend! It's been two months since I've had a long weekend, and it's seemed like even longer. Yesterday I went to a flea market about half an hour from me. I haven't really been to one since I was a kid. I didn't know what to expect, but was hoping I'd find some goodies, and good deals. 
I got a vintage cookie jar I'd been after for awhile, two 50's spaghetti poodle figurine sets (only $10 each), a Blendo glass (for ten cents), and a 60's vintage enamel flower brooch. Admission to get in was only $2, too. I'm really glad I went! It wasn't as big as I thought it'd be, and there weren't really any vintage holiday items or 50's items. I pretty much snagged all the 50's items, ha. 
Today Bob and I are going to his cousin's house for a Labor Day bbq. We got there every year. His cousin's wife is pregnant with their first child (due in two months), and I haven't seen her in a few months. 
We leave for our big trip in just twelve(!!) days now. When I think about it, my stomach gets butterflies! I'm so looking forward to it, and just imagining what it will be like is exciting. 
I hope we find the right balance of hitting most of the things we want to see, but not rushing around too much.
In the pictures below I'm wearing my newest Retrospec'd dres that I snagged in their latest sale a couple of weeks or so ago. I loved this print since I first saw it about a year ago. The colors of the roses are so beautiful. The Vivian is one of my favorite styles they make; it's comfortable and fits me well. Some of their other styles are super tight on my bust, while they fit my waist. 

Dress: Retrospec'd
Necklace: Viva Las Vegas (vintage)
Earrings: Etsy (Luxulite)
Purse: eBay (Enid Collins)
Sandals: Re-mix Vintage Shoes

~Bye bye for now!

Vegas, Part II

Hello there! Well, I'm finally posting about the second part of my Vegas trip! So when I last posed about my trip, I wrote about Wednesday night - Friday. Saturday was the car show; and is the "biggest" Viva day. We got over to the car show early, a little after it opened. We first went to the vendors, which is what we always do; wouldn't want things to start to sell out before we get to them. I found a few items: a $25 Unique Vintage gumball skirt I had been eyeing online since it came out months ago, a Brighter Bakelite beautiful bright blue bangle, a couple of hair flower pieces, and a big Lux De Ville purse which was normally priced at $95, but I scored for $40! I didn't get too many things, but I was happy with my haul. 
After we hit the vendors, we went over and looked at all the cars. It does get really crowded at the vendors and where the cars are, so that is one annoyance. We had lunch at the car show too, I just got a burger from a food vendor. I met Katy, woman who runs the Etsy shop Luxulite, Jesse, the man who runs Brighter Bakelite, and Micheline Pitt! They were all SO sweet. I was really glad I got to meet them. I got a picture with all of them, too. 
Other than the shopping, the big highlight of the day was watching Reverend Horton Heat perform. Bob was most excited to see RHH, out of everything at Viva. Bob had a couple of his CDs, but we hadn't seen him live before. I hadn't been as into his music previously, but after seeing him perform, I was more into it! It was an AMAZING show! I was really impressed, and loved the whole show. I'd love to see him perform again, and I wish he was playing at the Boogie! I was really happy that Bob loved the show too, because he's so patient when I shop and do all the things I want to do at Viva, so I wanted him to really get to enjoy something.
Before RHH, Brenda Lee had been performing. I had wanted to catch her whole performance, but it didn't work out, and we only saw her last song, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree". The reason I missed the rest of it was because I went to a Trashy Diva meet up at the car show, where I met some girls from the TD Facebook group I'm in. 
We talked for a little while, and took some pictures by the Viva car. 
Bob and I were at the car show all day, and  I think we left around 7:00 p.m. to go back to our hotel room to "freshen up".  We went out again to Frankie's that night.
On Sunday morning, Bob and I took a walk on the strip. We walked down to the Wynn hotel, which we had never checked out before. But, I wanted to go there because I had seen pictures of a beautiful hot air ballon and carousel they have in the hotel, which are made out of flowers! They were both sooo gorgeous, and they had other beautiful decorations there, too. After we check out the Wynn, we went across the street to Sugar Factory, and I got a birthday cake milkshake to go. It was really good!
We finally got to hang out with my friend Lisa on Sunday. She had been in Vegas since Thursday, but was there with a few people, and us meeting up didn't end up working out until Sunday.  She met us at the Baliwick Pub in the afternoon (at the Orleans). Bob and I had had an early dinner there, and then moved over to the bar. There was a band playing on the stage there, too. Lisa showed up with her friend, and we hung out at the bar there for awhile. After that, Bob and I went back to our hotel room to get ready to go out that night with Lisa. We went to Frankie's with her first, and met two really nice women who were at the bar. They were in Vegas for Viva, too, and the one woman recognized me from Instagram. I talked to them for a long time, until they left.
We went to the Double Down Saloon next. The three of us had never been there before. The same people who own Frankie's also own DDS. It's a total dive bar, but we all like dive bars, and prefer them actually. I was pretty tired by this point, and didn't want to be out long. 
We saw one band play, and then part of another band's performance before we left. Lisa ended up staying there once we left, because wshe was enjoying the music. I thought both bands were really good and was surprised, ha.  They were very different in sound though.
The first one sounded like indie rock, and the second was heavy rock, a bit too heavy for me, but the woman who sang in the second band had a really amazing voice.  
Monday we took it easy. It had pretty much been a blur the past three days, and we were really looking forward to slowing down. We checked out the Arts District of Vegas, which we had never been to before. They have a few antique shops there, and I got a marbled green lucite bangle at one of them. The one shop I waned to check out most of all was unfortunately closed that day. There were some other shops we walked by that were also closed, but we went in about four shops. 
We went out to dinner that night to celebrate Bob's 33rd birthday. We just went to Caros & Charlie's in our hotel (a chain Mexican restaurant). After that we went to a few places. 
We went to Sugar Factory and sat at the bar. I had one drink there. Their drinks are so expensive (mine was $16!), but I knew that before, as I've been to a couple of their restaurants before. We then went to Senor Frogs, another Mexican chain restaurant. 
We sat at the bar there, too. I had a drink, and Bob had a drink and more food. They are also on the pricier side, but most places in Vegas are pricey for drinks. I just hate paying $9 or $10 for a Vodka cran. It really irks me! We stopped in Casino Royale on the way back to our hotel. It's a really divey, small casino that Bob likes. He did some gambling there. Our last stop before bed was the Margaritaville bar in our hotel. We ended up talking to a woman from Austrlia for a long time, probably about an hour or so. She was easy to talk to. She was traveling alone. She had first gone to San Francisco, and after Vegas was going to NYC for 9(!!!) days! I'd be nervous to travel alone like that and wouldn't do it. One of the main reasons I wouldn't is because I'm shy, but for someone as outgoing as this woman, it'd be a different story.
We left Vegas on Tuesday. We had a great time. We won't be going to Viva next year. Bob says he needs a break from it ha, and I'm okay with it. 

A store we went to in the Arts District

Lisa is on the right, and the two women in the middle we met at Frankie's that night

Jesse from Bright Bakelite

On the right is Katy, the woman behind Luxulite.

 

Vegas, Part I

Hello there! I'm going to post about the first part of my Vegas trip. We got to our hotel toom Wednesday night around midnight. We had booked a non-smoking room, but when we got there, they said they had no non-smoking rooms left, and they placed us in a smoking room. I wasn't happy about it at all, but we didn't have a choice. This has never happened to us before anywhere. We were staying at the Flamingo, and it was our forth time staying there. They told us we could switch rooms the next day, but that didn't end up happening. So, we didn't get into a non-smoking room until the day after. We were both disappointed with the Flamingo, and I don't know if we'd stay there again. We didn't like the way they handled the situation either, which is, basically they acted as if they didn't care. 
But, moving on, we went out for a couple of drinks in the hotel that first night, and then just went to bed. We had been up for 24 hours by the time we went to bed. Thursday we headed over to the Orleans in the morning to pick up our Viva wristbands. Luckily the line was very short, and it only took a couple of minutes. After that we headed out to lunch near our hotel, and then we went over to Frankie's Tiki Room. There were only a few people there, so that was really nice. The bartender we had was great too; we had never had him before on previous Vegas trips. We stayed at Frankie's for awhile, and then headed back to our hotel to freshen up before heading back to the Orleans. When we got back over to the Orleans we watched some music and went to the vendor rooms. I only picked up a hair flower there.  
On Friday we went to the Charleston Antique Mall; we had never been there before, but I had heard good things about it. It was a decent sized place, but we didn't end up buying anything there. Before that we went to the Bellagio in the morning, to look at their conservatory & botantical garden. They change their display there seasonally, and we always make sure to stop there on our Vegas trips. The displays are beyond gorgeous and amazing! They had a Japanese spring theme this time. 
We went to the Orleans to watch some music, and we went to Balliwick Pub for the first time. We ended up going there three days during our trip. We really liked it there, and they also had a stage with live music going on. The food was good, too. We went to the Peppermill for an early dinner, and then we went to check out their lounge (it's attached to the restaurant). We had tried to check out the lounge last year, but it had been closed for a private party. 
The lounge was okay, if a bit of a let down, ha. There was one fire pit inside, and it did give off a lot of heat, but Bob got hot quickly, and we went back to sit at one of the bars in the lounge. After we left there, we headed to Frankie's. It was much busier there, and we could only find seating on a bench (there were no seats at the bar), and the guy who was already sitting on the other side of the bench started talking to us. We talked to him and then his friends for awhile, but itt was really loud in there, making it hard to hear. 
In my next blog post I'll write about the remainder of the trip. 

Peppermill Lounge

Dresses: Trashy Diva & Pinup Girl Clothing
Heels: BAIT Footwear

~Bye bye for now!

Buzz, buzz!

Hello there! Well, I am back safe & sound from Vegas. Bob and I got home Tuesday night around 11:30 p.m. We had a whirlwhind time at Viva. Since we didn't stay at the Orleans (where Viva is held), we did a lot of back and forth between our hotel & the Orleans. It'd be much easier to be staying where the event is held, but it sells out a year in advance. I'm so excited to be staying where the Nashville Boogie is for two nights of the four of the event, and the other two nights of the event we are staying at their sister hotel across the street. 
Monday, the day after Viva ended, we were able to have a much slower paced day and night. It was also the day before Bob's birthday, and the day before we flew home, so I wanted to do things Bob wanted to do. He had been so patient during Viva. Don't get me wrong, he loves watching the bands, and we did do a lot of that, but he's not so much for watching me shop, ha! 
We had mostly great weather while we were there, except that a couple of days it was quite windy, which messed up my hair and made it hazardous to wear a dress, ha! Also, on Monday it was cloudy the whole day, and cooler, but not too cool where I'd complain, ha. I'd rather it be cloudy than raining, that's for sure. I got a little bit sun burnt at the car show on Saturday, but barely on my face. Bob got burnt on his face and head though. He also didn't put on sunblock, and I had it on. 
I met some new people this trip, including Micheline Pitt, and the man behind Brighter Bakelite and the woman behind Luxulite! All three of them were so nice and sweet. I met a few other people at Viva, and also met people at Franie's Tiki Room, some who were locals, and some who were there for Viva. There was only one person I met who was disappointing in person, but I will not say who it was. This is rare though, and I only remember it happening one other time (but it wasn't at Viva, it was at New England Shake Up). For the most part, people who attend Viva are super sweet and fun. I do think there are some snobs, but that's going to happen with any group of people.  
I don't have work until Monday, because my school has spring break right now. So, it's so nice to have a long break between our busy trip, and going back to work. Bob took off yesterday, but he went back to work today.
I'll post pictures soon from Vegas (probably starting in my next post on Saturday), but for now here are pictures of my newest Bernie dress. It was waiting for me when we arrived back home. It's the Mari style, and it's my first Mari. I do have this print, but with a blue background, and in the Jodi dress style. This is a little harder to zip over my chest than my Kellys in the same size; in fact, I wasn't sure it actually would zip. Next time I get a Mari, I'll order a size up. But otherwise, I love the dress! 

Dress: Bernie Dexter
Brooch: Erstwilder
Bangles: Etsy (BrighterBakelite)
Heels: BAIT Footwear

~Bye bye for now!

Vegas, Part III

Hello there! This is my final post about our recent trip to Vegas. In my previous two posts, I covered Wednesday night - Saturday night, and all of the time we spent at Viva. Viva was also going on on Sunday, but we didn't go to it that day. I had done everything I wanted to do there, and plus, I didn't want to make my husband go back again, ha. He had already been so patient, doing everything I wanted to do, and hanging out with my friends. So, on Sunday we took it a lot slower. We walked down the strip a bit, farther then we had gone on previous days that trip. We went in the Bellagio to see the gorgeous flower/seasonal artistic display. They have the most amazing displays! I make sure to check it out on every Vegas trip; it's a must see! We went to the Flamingo and checked out the flamingos, fish and other birds there, in the back. It's really pretty out in the back where the animals are. At night we met up one final time with my friend Lisa and her friend Hannah. We met at Golden Tiki. Bob and I prefer Frankie's and had wanted to go back there, but Lisa really wantd to go to Golden Tiki, so we went there instead. One perk at Golden Tiki is they have a huge shell you can pictures in, which we of course took advantage of (see below)! If it's kitsch, count me in.
It was Bob's birthday on Monday, and our last full day in Vegas (we left Tuesday morning). We walked around the strip during the day, and I popped in a couple of stores. For dinner we went to Peppermill, a funky diner that's been around about sixty years. We had never been there before. It's neat looking inside, with flamingo stained glass lamps, and a shaker of rainbow sprinkles on every table. I got pancakes, which I hadn't had in a longgg time. They were HUGE, and very good. I had been excited to check out their firepit lounge, and have drinks there, but unfortunately the lounge was closed for a private party. Bob and I were disappointed. He had also wanted to go the Riveria casino next door to Peppermill, to do some gambling, but we found out that night that it's permanently shut down! So, the night ended up being a let down, especially for Bob. I felt bad, since it was his birthday and all. Also, I had a cold, and wasn't feeling well, so I wasn't in the best of moods anyway. 
We ended up taking an Uber to the Flamingo, and got out there, and walked back up the strip to our hotel. He did some gambling here and there. Since I wasn't feeling well, I just wanted to go back to the room, and take it easy, before waking up early for out flight the next morning. 
We had a great time at Viva, and it's always hard to go back to "reality". The way I feel when I'm at Viva is hard to articulate. It's just wonderful to see so many gorgeous people with like minded interests as me, particularly fashion interests, ha. It truly must be seen to be believed.

The Bellagio display

Inside Peppermill