I've been missing in action. I realize that. And I'm super, super sorry! My grandpa recovered, and I was no longer required to care for him but I didn't return to blogging. When it came down to it, I felt like I was spending more time blogging than actually getting out and doing things, and that's not how I wanted to be. I had read a lot of blogging tips about going back and fixing dead links and tagging old photos to make them appear in Google searches and this and that, and while that is all good advice, I felt like I never left the computer. Now I feel like I'm actually doing what I want to do, and I actually would have material for my blog, if I had even bothered to get out my camera! Sadly, all or nothing girl here.

So I shall update you quickly what I've been up to! I had come to the conclusion for the millionth time that I had way too many clothes and that I needed to stopped buying them, especially dresses, since I hardly wear them anymore. I allotted money to different things and different activities. I bought a fancy typewriter (just decoration sadly, since it was only $7 and the keys don't line up) and I also bought a vintage bike! If I end up doing some blogging in the future, it will make a fancy prop, but realistically, it's a way for me to get around. I'm still trying to master riding it, since the last time I rode a bike, I was 12 and regularly crashing into things, including parked cars and my cabin at camp.

Photo via City Cyclery's Facebook Page 

I've also been trying super hard to eat better. This was a big step for me, as I ate mostly pizza before. It finally clicked that the reason I might feel sluggish and depressed a lot might have something to do with my diet. I still treat myself here and there (I had a cookie today and I had some KFC on the weekend) but overall, my diet is much healthier and comes out of boxes and packages much less. 

I also took up knitting! I was inspired by my friend, Nicole of Mercantile 519 and her rad creations. Also, I've just been getting into vintage more and more (and not just clothing, the way people lived in general) and learning to knit seemed like a natural step to take. I signed up for a beginner's class at Michael's and it went horrible to be honest. My mind could not grasp how to form a stitch, because I couldn't keep left and right straight, over and under kept messing me up and I kept confusing clockwise and counterclockwise. It really isn't that difficult now that I've gotten the hang of it but I like to make things more complicated than they are. I have no idea what this thing is going to be below, it's too narrow to be a scarf or a dish cloth, but look, it's a patch I knitted!

 

In an effort to not spend money on dresses, I've been spending money on hobbies, better groceries and things for my house. And also... magazines! Sometimes print magazines and sometimes digital ones if the print versions are too expensive (and I seem to love imported ones so that's often the case.) I was already in love with BUST and Vintage Life magazine but I'm newly in love with Frankie magazine, Mollie Makes and Betty magazine. I also have a library account that hooks me up with digital subscriptions to Women's Health, Martha Stewart Living, Mental Floss, Whole Living and dozens of others. I've been a very busy girl. Between reading several books on the go, I can now have dozens magazines on the go too. Huzzah!

1) Mollie Makes / Digital 2) Betty / Digital 3) BUST - Website / Subscriptions 4) Vintage Life / Digital 5) Frankie / Digital

After reading Vintage Life and seeing all the cool vintage theme events going on the UK, I was yearning for something like that to happen in Windsor. When my mom mentioned going to a poodle skirt themed work function, I timidly asked if I could come. My mom had been shopping for an outfit on Modcloth for weeks, but I didn't get the bright idea to ask if I could accompany her until the day before. Luckily, I had items in my closet that worked just fine. I had so much fun! They even had a hula hooping contest, which was right up my alley, considering I had just bought a hula hoop a few weeks earlier. Sadly, my hoop broke 2 revolutions into the actual competition, but in my heart I know who should have rightfully won.

 Hoop is in the air

Hoop is not in the air

Afterwards, an Elvis impersonator took to the stage and then went up to ladies in the crowd and serenaded then with roses. I was a lucky recipient who received a rose, however, it was a little embarassing because I was in the midst of stuffing my face with popcorn and didn't see him come up beside me. Then suddenly people were taking my picture and I was like, "Noooooo." I don't know the lady in the orange sweater, but look how cute her reaction is. I had to post it!

 

That's pretty much all I've been up to! I have some other posts planned this week because several businesses have graciously sent me products to review (I was seriously stoked because I didn't think I was important enough for that to happen?) so keep an eye out for that! Until next time!

Etsy Christmas Wants

I'm in such a rut! I feel like this whole blog is "Here is a pretty outfit, here is what I want to buy, here is my dirty house." I need to do things, I need to seeee people. The good news is I am currently at my mom's house doing some visiting here (even watched one of my favourite Christmas movies of all time, Mickey's Christmas Carol, with my niece today, woot!) but I just need to do more. In general. It seems I only leave the house to come to my parents'. I'm seriously stalling on that goal! (And the rest of them for that fact! Oops! Should probably re-read them to refresh my memory.)

So until I manage to go somewhere interesting enough to take pictures (does the bank count?) we'll go the usual route with "What does Suzy want to buy?" This time, I'm choosing some Etsy Christmas picks. I noticed while going through some of the vintage Christmas items on Etsy, they just don't have the same appeal that my parents own Christmas ornaments do. I thought I would fall in love with everything I saw on Etsy, but I just didn't. I think part of the reason I love my parents stuff so much is the nostalgia of having them while growing up, of only being able to take them out once a year during such a fun and special time. The majority of my family's Christmas ornaments were handmade by my Grandma Amlin and many have personal touches like embroidered names or incorporate my grandma's love for quilting. Plus, even if I did fall in love with any items on Etsy, there is no way I'd be purchasing any - many of the vintage ornaments ran about $60-90! Eep! I ended up picking all modern items, but today's modern is tomorrow's vintage!

Clockwise from left
Candy Fascinator - ChatterBlossom - $54
Grumpy Cat Christmas Card - KintysCards - $5
Holiday Holly Hair Clip - thehoneycomb - $55
Jumping Cats Ugly Christmas Sweater - skipnwhistle - $29
Modern Christmas Stockings - yespleasestudio - $65
Victorian Inspired Cat Ornaments - oldworldprimitives - $15
Reindeer Kissing Pillow - panpanhome - $15

What are your holiday favourites? Vintage? Homemade? Something you recently picked out from Michael's or Hallmark? I really love hearing about what Christmas items people just "connect" with! Talk soon!

Premiere of Movie Monday!

Woot! Writing my first entry of Movie Monday! Only took 2 months after my blog launched to do it. Like I was saying the other day, watching movies is... well, a bit of a chore for me. It's really strange. I practically have to be forced to sit down and watch them (mostly because it's impossible to get me off the computer) but even while watching the movie, my mind wanders or I focus on really stupid things in the movie that serve no part of the plot (I'm really good at finding editing errors and plot holes. However, if someone asks me afterwards what the movie was about, I couldn't tell them. It's almost like I can tell when the movie doesn't add up while I'm watching it, but I can't see the big picture once it's done.) It's really frustrating because I often don't understand twist endings or when things are supposed to be a metaphor for other things, even when it's glaringly obvious. I actually did pretty well in an English Media class in high school and I'm not sure how because I've always had movie attention problems. I much prefer reading because there's less stimulation (aka distractions like costumes and music) so I can actually focus on what's going on. The funny thing is when I do sit down to a movie and I actually like it, I watch it excessively. I only like a handful of movies, but those dozen movies have all been watched 50 times a piece.

So I figured an easy introduction to Movie Monday would be to talk about a movie I know well. Less pressure that way! The one I chose to focus on this week (this year? Ha) is Sound of Music. Growing up, the amount of play this VHS got was only rivaled by Dirty Dancing and Big Bird in China. Dirty Dancing still gets a lot of action. Big Bird in China does not. I actually just found out Big Bird in China was a TV movie my mom taped and we added to our regular viewing rotation. No wonder none of my friends have heard of it! 

But back to the movie at hand! I always wanted to be Liesl growing up. Her 16 going on 17 song and dance number is the stuff little girls' dreams are made of!

Photo Credit/Photo Credit/Gif Credit

Another highlight of the film for me is the puppet show. I tried to look for a YouTube video of it and was only able to find a version where someone had videotaped their tv and another that was film stills with subtitles *sad face.* But there is a bright side to the story! I stumbled upon a really cute version of Julie Andrews singing the song with the Muppets. It more than makes up for not being able to find the film version.

Another thing I really love about Sound of Music is the clothes. To be honest, many of the movies I love have awesome fashion. The only ones that aren't fashion centric seem to be Christopher Nolan movies (I really like those!) but the rest seem to have a fashion element to them. Some would argue that Sound of Music has bad fashion, but I just bought a dirndl recently, so I would beg to differ.

My favourite dress would probably be Liesl's purple one pictured above but another dress (more like dresses) that I really liked were the ones Maria made out of curtains. A few years ago, I went to a local fashion show and I found a dress that reminded me of them. Now that I have the pics side by side, they actually don't look similar at all, but at first glance, you're totally like, "OMIGOD! Sound of Music dress!" I had actually worn this dress to Easter a few years ago and my sister had said the exact same thing.

Photo Credit/Photo Credit

I'm so sorry in advance. Pic Monkey is really fun.

I've had the top underneath forever. I don't know what it is. I can't let it go. It's a baby-doll top and legit makes me look pregnant. It's pilled like crazy and has butter stains on it from eating popcorn at the movie theater. It's survived so many closet clean outs and I have no idea why. But maybe it's a good thing because I had nothing else that would have worked under this dress! Of course the dress is cute worn alone too but the whole point was for it to look like a dirndl.

Outfit Details

Dress - Dilly Daisy

Shirt - Le Chateau

Necklace - vintage Avon

Shoes - Value Village

Socks - Modcloth

I should probably lay off Pic Monkey a bit but it's fun. Maybe I could just be the blog known for seriously obnoxious photo edits? Is there a niche for that? That's all for me! I promise to queue up some movies in my Netflix! Talk soon!

If you'd like to see all my best looks from the season, check out my wardrobe wrap up post!

Consignment Tuesday

Hi all! It's been a very loooong day. As in I haven't gone to bed yet from last night. The reason for this is because I had an appointment to take some clothes to consignment at 10:30 this morning. Knowing myself very well, if I had gone to bed, I wouldn't have woken up in time. Not to say I'm not a morning person, I just like to sleep for incredibly long chunks of time. Seeing as how I've been going to bed at about 4am the past few nights, that means by my sleep schedule, I wouldn't be due to get up until about 4-6pm. I would have missed my appointment for sure! So here I am. Still trucking along. I'm only surviving right now by playing Sleigh Bells repeatedly. It's getting me revved up. If you don't know who Sleigh Bells is, you can check them out here and get pumped up yourself.

My trip to the consignment shop was sad to say the least. I was taking in 45 items, mostly Sarah, my boss's stuff that we deemed too modern to be selling at a vintage shop. They only took 10 things! Oy. I also got back a bunch of my rejects and made a whole $11. I sometimes wonder why I make the trek out there. It barely covers the bus fare. Selling online isn't worth it either though. I once PAID someone on eBay $10 to take a dress off my hands, because I hadn't counted on the shipping to be so high. It makes me realize that I have to make each and every purchase count and make sure it's something I want because getting rid of it is such a hassle (unless I just donate it but where's the money recouping in that?) Although, I don't mind scooping up other people's items that they are trying to unload. How else would I get $5 dresses on eBay?

Today was supposed to be Treasure Tuesday, but since I had a cart full of clothes and there was major construction down the street where I wanted to peruse the vintage shops, you'll have to settle for some Etsy finds instead.

1) 1940s nightgown - LitteStarsVintage - $24

2) 1950s coasters - strawberrykoi - $22

3) 1960s shift dress - NewmanHall - $33

4) Hedgehog soap - LoveLeeSoaps - $6

5) Handmade ear cuff - martymagic - $69

6) Handmade fascinator - SophiesHatsandMore - $25

7) Vintage pattern pendant - HandmadebyHance - $10

I also thought I'd take a moment to highlight some stores that consistently have neat things (and that I want to one day purchase from!) Here are three that I'm loving right now.

Coin purses by humoresque.

Carved and imprint sterling silver jewelry by rockmyworldinc.

Cute apparel, shoes and accessories by emandsprout.

Another kind of "treasure" today was a promotion Modcloth is running. Purchase any of their exclusive items and receive this cute deck of cards! 

Aren't they adorable? I'm kind of a sucker for anything with the Modcloth logo. I'm notorious for being unable to afford promotions where you get a tote bag when you spend $150, but I'll buy the tote bag on eBay later. I mean, of course I'm sweet on Modcloth and their logo, I have it tattooed on my body (for real!) I entertained the idea of buying something inexpensive in order to get the cards but then decided I was too poor and just bought the cards alone. Had I actually bought something, here's what my top picks would be.

1) Lines Around the Block Top in Rainbow - $30

2) Wisdom by Winston - $18

3) Warmhearted Welcome Cardigan in Blue $40

4) Daybed at Dawn Bralette in Black $20

5) Book Club President Top $40

6) Photo Finish Pillow - $40

It's a really good idea that Modcloth is offering the promotional item alone for purchase (and not for $50 like their summer accessory bags are. They're cute, but $50 is a little steep for a tote and some cheapie accessories.)  I love to show my Modcloth pride! Who wants to play some euchre?