Colour Me Bristol: Pennsylvania

Showing posts with label Pennsylvania. Show all posts

Sunday, July 30, 2017

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!

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

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!

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Antiquing In Paradise

Hello there! My mom and I went to antiquing yesterday in three towns in Pennsylvania: Paradise, Bird In Hand, and Adamstown. It was a long day! I left to go meet her at 7:40 a.m., and got home at 7:10 p.m. The first town we went to was the farthest from the town we met up in; it was a little over two hours away from there. The first two towns we went to I had never been to before. Our first stop was at a cute shop called Black Kat Kollectibles, which sells antiques, vintage clothing, as well as a little bit of vintage reproduction clothing. I bought a Lindy Bop skirt there for $31! It was nice to get to try on vintage repro clothing before buying; that's very rare for me. The only usual times I get to do that are when I'm on vacation, or one the very rare occassion I get to go to NYC. We made a couple stops at antique malls nearby that shop, but I didn't get anything at those, and next we we went to The Christmas Center. The Christmas Center is huge Christmas museum, and I had never been there before, but my mom had a few times. The owner of the museum was even there that day; my mom's met him many times before, and I got to meet him yesterda. He has a booth at antique mall in Adamstown, also. The museum was spectacular. It's unbelievable how many items are inside! My favorite display was a whole room set up as a Woolworth's display. I took a lot of pictures in there. It was very 1950's. I was tempted to take some of the items in there back home with me, ha!
My mom knew it would be my favorite area of the museum.
In a different section of the museum I spotted a snowman Christmas tree stand. I posted a picture below. Oh, I am in love with it! I must find one somewhere. I looked for it at the rest of our stops yesterday, and looked on eBay and Etsy, but didn't find any for sale. It seems rare, unfortunately. My fingers are crossed that I'll find one soon! The graphics on it couldn't be any cuter!
I did get a few great finds in Adamstown. My dad had given me some money for Christmas, to spend on antiques, so I used up that money, and used a little bit of money that other relatives gave me for Christmas. So, I didn't have to spend any of my own money, which is always nice. I got a big ceramic tree that has big bulbs on it; I love those bulbs, and they seem unusual, as I don't remember seeing them on any other ceramic trees I've come across. I got two bottle brush trees. One is huge and spins and plays music, and it came in the original box! The other is such a gorgeous shade of blue, and I'm so happy I now have a blue one for my collection! It was only $16, too! It is missing some beads, but I can deal with that. I may end up buying some matching antique beads to add to it, but I think it still looks great as is.
I got a few other small things: a strand of bubble lights for our Christmas tree, a small plastic Santa with a fawn around its shoulders, a little mustard powder shaker, and an adorable snowman mug.
I plan on keeping my bottle brush trees up year round, as well as my ceramic trees.
Right now they are all on our dining room table, which we don't really use. Once we have a house (which hopefully will be soon), I will have much more room to display them! I can't wait for that.

This one spins and plays music

I got the two on the left yesterday, but I think all three look amazing together! Pastel dreaminess!

The ceramic tree I found yesterday. Big bulbs!

The tree stnad I really want to find!


Woolworth's display

Dress: Bernie Dexter

~Bye bye for now!

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Stamm House Visit

Hello there! Yesterday I went out to Mifflinburg, PA with my mom to go shopping for holiday decorations/antiques. We go out there a couple of times a year. Our first stop is the Stamm House, where a woman sells holiday decorations that she handmakes from antique German molds. She's a great artist, and there's no one else out there like her that I've come across yet. My mom is a huge collector of holiday decorations, and said she's never seen anyone else doing this either. I got my biggest haul yet. She had so many Easter items that I wanted, more than any other time I've been there. I posted pictures below, and I also posted picture of my full Stamm collections, and of displays inside the store.
It was funny, because when we got there at 10:30 (the store opened at 10), there was another shopper in there already, and that woman is the same one who's been there the two last times we were there also. She lives almost as far away from there as we do (we live over two hours away). The shop is small, and some items the artist only makes one or two of, so you have to snatch up what you want right away! But, since that woman got there half an hour before us, she had gotten a ton of items already. There was only one item she had that there were no more of, that I probably would've bought if I had gotten there before her. But, it's okay, because I got so many amazing pieces. A guy came in while the three of us ladies were there shopping, and we had already put aside so many pieces for us (my mom was also shopping for my sister and cousin, and my mom and I were sending pictures to my sister and cousin to see what they wanted.). Poor guy, he didn't have too much of an Easter selection left! We were there about an hour and a half, and it's only one small room. I just love being in there though, surrounded by so much cuteness!
After the Stamm House we went to a gift store, an antique mall, and then a huge gift store.
I didn't get anything at the other places.
In the pictures below I'm wearing my Heart of Haute bubbles dress, and my new peach BAIT Idas that came this week. The Idas match the dress perfectly. I wasn't sure how the peah would look in person, because sometimes shoe colors look different in person than they do on the BAIT website. The shoes ended up a bit brighter in person than they looked online, which is fine by me!