Retro Fest

Hello there! Yesterday Bob and I went out to Lancaster, PA for Retro Fest, a rockabilly festival in its second year, and held at Lancaster Host Hotel. We didn't know about it last year, but when I heard about Retro Fest #2 back in December, I made sure to note it, especially because Lancaster is only a little over two hours away from us, as opposed to most rockabilly events being a plane ride away (or VERY long car ride!). We got there just after 10:00 a.m. (it started at 10). After we purchased our $20 tickets ($20 each), we went straight to the vendor rooms, which was of course my idea to go their first, ha. I was happily surprised by the amount of antique and vintage clothing vendors. Nashville Boogie also had a lot of vintage clothing vendors, but not so much of antique home decor. Lancaster is in the heart of antique country though (right by Adamstown, PA, which is the antique capita of the U.S., and where I was last Saturday). 
I bought a few things: a light lime green Pyrex small caserole dish, two bright blue bangles (not Bakelite), and a 1940's vintage fruit print skirt. My favorite find was the skirt. As soon as I spotted it on the rack I grabbed it, and saw that the waist was not tiny, like many vintage skirts are, so I was hopeful it'd fit me. They had a couple of dressing rooms there, and I quickly went over to try it on. It was actually a couple of inches bigger than my waist, but I still bought it. I knew it was special as soon as I saw the fabric. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know how much I love wearing fruit prints and fruit jewelry! Since the skirt is from the 40's, it's a straighter cut than what I usually wear. I don't think it's as flattering on me as my full 50's style skirts, but I will deal! Finding the skirt made the whole trip worth it.
After I shopped, we headed out to take a look at the car show. It was small, compared to what we're used to seeing, and sadly there were none of the Bel Airs or Caddys that I love. There were a handful of vendors out there too, but I didn't buy anything else.  There wasn't much in the way of food or drink at the venue, so we headed over to Friendly's to grab lunch. It was only 5 mins away, which was nice. After we ate lunch, we went back over to Retro Fest. I perused the vendor rooms one more time, and I ran into a couple of ladies I "know" from Instagram. I got a picture with one of them, and ended up having a nice long chat with her later on. 
We tried to watch the Pinup Contest, but the room was so crowded that we really couldn't see anything, and at times, could barely hear, so that was frustrating. After the contest we watched a band I had wanted to see, Blue Wave Theory. They're an instrumental surf rock band. We stayed for most of their set, and then we left. We went to an antique mall about 15 minutes away, but I didn't find anything there. Then we started our trip home, and made one more stop, at Vegan Treats in Bethlehem. I've been to Bethlehem many times, but never had been to Vegan Treats, and somehow had never heard of it until this month.  It was named one of the top 10 bakeries in the world in 2012! I had also never been to a vegan bakery before, and am not vegan.
Unfortunately, they said they had sold out of donuts early that morning, and I had most wanted to try donuts there. But, the confetti cake also caught my eye, and I got that, and a double chocolate brownie. Well, the confetti cake was definitely my favorite of the two! It was so sweet and delicious. I love sweet food, but it was almost too sweet for me...don't' get me wrong, I'll be getting it again in the future, ha! The brownie was pretty dry, but I liked it, just didn't LOVE it. Next time we're in Bethlehem, we'll definitely be going back, and *hopefully* there'll be donuts!!
I wore my Trashy Diva carnival Annette dress; one of my favorite dresses. I got tons of sweet compliments on it all day. 

The 40's skirt I scored!

Dress: Trashy Diva
Necklace: Splendette
Bangles: Splendette & Etsy (BrighterBakelite)
Heels: BAIT Footwear

~Bye bye for now!

 

This Dress Is For The Birds

Hello there! Bob and I will just be staying in tonight, but tomorrow's a big day; we're heading out to Lancaster, PA for the day to go to Retro Fest. It's supposed to rain there ugh, but I hope it doesn't last all day! There's going to be bands, a pin up contest, vendors, a car show, etc., like more rockabilly festivals. 
We finished season seven of "Shameless" on Wednesday night, and it was a great finale, as I expected it would be. It's so hard to wait for new episodes to come out! Every season is phenomenal, and full of really surprising twists and turns. I hope there are many more seasons of it, but so far for now, I read it's been renewed for one more season.
In the picture below I'm wearing my Trashy Diva turquoise birds Lena Sarong. It's my second sarong dress; I added my first one to my closet last month in a Trashy Diva dress swap (and blogged about it last month).Sarongs wil never be my very favorite dress style, as I will always love big, full skirts the most, but I do like how these TD sarongs look on me. I've yet to try another brand. This birds print is very rare and hard to find, and I just really lucked out by getting this one recently, as well as the Lupe in this print that I got last month in a dress swap. I don't have to many multiples in the same print, but if a print is THAT good, I'll make an exception for it! Sarongs are obviously perfect for summertime, but I don't want to own too many, since I like to get as much year round wear as possible out of my dresses.
I paired my colorful fruity Luxulite necklace with this dress. The blue in it matches the dress quite well, and I just think tropical fruity necklaces go well with this tropical dress. Now, can I please go have a dacquiri.... or Blue Hawaiian at a tiki bar on the beach??

 

 

Dress: Trashy Diva (Facebook group)
Necklace, earrings: Etsy (Luxulite)
Bangles: Etsy (BrighterBakelite)
Heels: BAIT Footwear

~Bye bye for now!

Pastel Rainbow (Again!)

Hello there! I haven't had much going on this week, as of yet. Saturday Bob and I are planning on going out to Lancaster, PA for Retro Fest; a rockabilly festival. It's a weekend long event, but we are just going Saturday, and not staying over night. It's a little over two hours from us. It's the second year of the festival, and will be our first time attending. 
I'm excited to check it out! It obviously won't be nearly as big as Viva or the Boogie, but there are going to be a decent amount of vendors there, which is great. I know there will be at least a few vendors with vintage clothing and antiques too, and I'm especially excited for those vendords. Lancaster is right by Adamstown, which is where I went antiquing last Saturday.
I jus discovered the other day that there were a few new episodes of "Shameless" available on Netflix. Bob and I have one more to watch tonight, and then we're all caught up. Ugh, it's still such a GREAT show!! I'm never disappointed by it. 
In the pictures below I'm wearing one of my Modcloth rainbow striped skirts (I also have one in bolder shades). Doesn't this skirt's colors and stripes look so much like the vintage rainbow dress I blogged about in my last post?? Never enough rainbow for this lady, though!
I paired my new Luxulite ice cream brooch with this outfit. I don't wear too many pastels, as I clearly lean towards brighter shades of color, but I still do love a good pastel outfit.

Top: Pinup Girl Clothing
Skirt: Modcloth
Necklace, bangles: Splendette
Brooch: Etsy (Luxulite)
Heels: BAIT Footwear

~Bye bye for now!

Rainbow Vintage

Hello there! Yesterday I had a full day of antiquing with my mom in Adamstown, PA. We hadn't been since December. Adamstown is known as the antique capital of the U.S. There's
over 1,000 vendors in 7 miles. We went to about seven antique malls while we were there.
A couple of the big ones aren't open on Saturdays, unfortunately, which to me is very odd. 
I found a few small things: two cheap bangles, a plastic Santa (it still lights up when plugged in!), an adorable cherry print apron, and a Christmas recipe box. My favorite find was the Santa. I had first seen it on the cover of Golden Glow magazine a few months ago, and I loved it! After that, I didn't see it while browsing online or at antique stores, until yesterday.
I found it for $22.40 (it was 10% off), and then at the next antique mall I went in with, I saw another one, marked $85 and it was 20% off, but still, I think I got a really good deal! 
The recipe box was only $3 and the apron was $8!
In the pictures below I'm wearing my latest true vintage dress! I only had one before this, the one I bought in Nashville, and that I mentioned in my last blog post. I bought this vintage beauty from an Etsy shop called Zest Vintage. I had never heard of the shop before, but an online friend tagged me in the shop's Instagram post about this amazing dress. Luckily I saw the tag a few minutes after, and immediately went to Zest's Etsy shop, although I figured it probably wouldn't be in my size. To my amazement, it was my size! I was so excied and bought it lightning fast. When I went back to Instagram to thank the lovely lady who tagged me, she told me she checked out the measurements before tagging me in the post! Wasn't that so kind of her to do?? Even though it seemed the dress would fit me, it does have a dreaded side zipper, so I was still somewhat nervous about it zipping. 
When I got home after antiquing yesterday, the dress was there waiting for me. I put it on first thing, and was even able to zip it by myself, without assistance from Bob. I was so relieved! I of course LOVE the bright pastel rainbow print! The material is thin and lightweight. I love the matching belt it came with, too. After finding this dress I did an Etsy search and there were a few more of these rainbow dresses on Etsy, but none with the belt. The brand is Jerry Gilden, and I'll definitely keep doing Etsy & eBay searches for more of that brand's vintage dresses! 

Dress: Etsy (Zest Vintage)
Bangles: Splendette
Earrings: Etsy (Luxulite)
Heels: BAIT Footwear

~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!

 

A Dress Fit For A Picnic

Hello there! Today Bob and I both had off, and it was nice to spend the day at home together, even though we were doing our own things; since we live in an apartment, we'll always be in close quarters when we're at home, ha! He was working on making a plan for our house, and that took him a lot of the day. Hopefully we will start the process of building the house VERY soon. He has been speaking to contractors recently, so fingers crossed. 
I just did mostly boring stuff today, like cleaning, laundry, and working out. I did some reading too. I'm currently reading "Ship of Brides" by Jojo Moyes, which is set during WWII. She's the same author who wrote: "Me Before You", which I also read, and which was quite good. I haven't seen the movie yet, but have been meaning to. "Ship of Brides" is good, but moving a little slowly for my taste. It's 450 pages though; so it's a whopper! 
I'm so excited to go to Asbury Park tomorrow! Bob and I are planning to leave our apartment around 9:00 a.m., and I'll definitely be ready by 9:00 a.m., but Bob is another story, ha...he's not exactly a morning person, whereas I certainly am! I'm my mother's daughter, that's for sure. A girl in the Trashy Diva group I'm in lives in Asbury Park, and just sent me a list of places to go, and it'll be so helpful!
In the pictures below I'm wearing my Trashy Diva Lena picnic dress. I got it two years ago, as soon as it came out. It's the perfect summer dress! Gingham is especially made for summertime, and gingham is definitetly one of my favorite prints. This dress is very light, and has comfortable stretchy side panels. I'm all about the TD stretchy side panels! I paired the dress with lots of fruit! I'm wearing a Luxulite necklace, earrings and brooch, and Splendette bangles. 

Dress: Trashy Diva
Necklace, earrings, brooch: Etsy (Luxulite) 
Bangles: Splendette
Heels: BAIT Footwear

~Bye bye for now!

Walk The Dog

Hello there! Have I mentioned I'm escatic it's summer?! Just kidding- I know I definitely have, multiple times. It's my time to shine! My mood is better in the summer, and I love doing more on the weekends. I like to take advantage of the warm weather and sunshine by going places outside, like outdoor bars and day trips to places where I'll get to walk around. 
I just wish it would last a lot longer - like all year! We're only three weeks in though, so there's plenty of summer living left. Another big plus to this summer thus far is that we haven't gotten too much rain; we've been having plenty of sunshine. 
I don't have too much planned through Friday. Next week I'll be meeting up with a friend on Monday and another on Friday.
The next three Saturdays I have day trip plans. This Saturday is Asbury Park with Bob, next Saturday is antiquing in Adamstown with my mom, and the following Saturday is Retrofest in Lancaster, PA. I'm excited for all three trips! I've never been to Asbury Park or Retrofest.
In the pictures below I'm wearing one of my Retrospec'd poodle print dresses. This print is an exact vintage reproduction, except I'm not sure if the original print came in this blue color, but I know it was also a black background, and was otherwise the same adorable print. I got this one about a year ago, and I wear it all the time. It's so comfy, flattering, and easy to wear to work, family functions, etc. My Erstwilder milkshake brooch and Luxulite heart necklace, and earrings match it really well. 

Dress: Catnip Reproduction Vintage Clothing (Retrospec'd)
Necklace & earrings: Etsy (Luxulite)
Brooch: Erstwilder
Heels: BAIT Footwear

~Bye bye for now!