I have a story that is just too good not to tell. I mean most of you already know that I am prone to ridiculous circumstances, right? I mean it is like bizarro scenarios just follow me around and wait for me to walk right into them. So I was back home in Ohio this last weekend visiting with the fam and my step-son, Milo. I begged my sister to go shopping with me because she has an eagle eye for deals and things that will fit me perfectly. We did some second-hand shopping and some maternity shopping looking for things to fit my in-between body. ( I found maternity tights for $8!!)
We sauntered over to the shoes because this particular store always has good vintage dead stock and quality stuff. As we were walking down the isle, I began telling my sister how the last pair of shoes that I got there had actually started to disintegrate while I was at work–it was summer and kind of hot and I had these BEAUTIFUL navy blue and white spectator heels on. I was just minding my own business sitting on a conference call when I uncrossed my leg to find half the shoe was stuck to my calf. ha! Totally gross. It was right about this time that I found a “brand new” pair of black, wedge spectators. They were in perfect condition and ready to be mine! So I swooped those little suckers up.
Let’s progress to Tuesday–The morning started with me battling my dress slacks and literally bending the metal clasps to make them fit. Then snow, so I wore my mountain boots to work. Finally I got to put on the new shoes and a new blouse and look mildly presentable. It wasn’t until about noon that thte shoes started to feel a little uncomfortable. I ignored it because I have a weird (oddly shaped) foot and shoes hurt a lot. Then I noticed that I kicked my file cabinet shut and it left huge scuffs on the door. hmmmm…. That’s weird. I invetigated and sure enough the leather felt uneven and kind of rippled from kicking (it was more like lightly pushing the cabinet shut). Next I am sitting in a meeting and look down to notice that my heel fell off the one shoe–mind you this is a wedge–how does that happen? The final straw came an hour later when I looked down under my desk to realize half the sole of the other shoe had completely fallen off. I looked around and realized there was shoe debris all over my entire cube area. How embarrassing!
I had actually thrown the shoes in the garbage when my friend Jess mentioned that I should do a post about it. Sadly I have no before pictures because I didn’t honestly think this would happen to me once let alone twice!! My sister said I jinxed myself by mentioning it while we were shopping–I think that particular shop may just store mass products in hot storage allowing lovely vintage to dry rot while maintaining it’s adorable exterior. Any theories?
The pics are from my iPhone, but should give a pretty good indication of the damage. I actually cleaned up the floor before this photo, so the remains are just a fraction of the destruction.
That is a really unoriginal title, but come on it’s 8:30 p.m. and I am choosing to post to keep you lovely ladies in the know. I just found a new (to me) site that has beautiful, Budget Retro-friendly, dresses. The shop is Conversation Pieces.
Were any of you already hip to this? If so, bring me in the loop next time–I or we collectively–almost missed out on a huge sale. The little ad is below, but basically you can purchase any 3 items for $80 with free shipping. Are you kidding me? That is a steal! But the sale ends in 29 hours!!! See, we almost missed it.
My top pick is the Ahoy, Sailor Tee. 
**UPDATE: I think the site timer was playing tricks on me–you should still have today and tomorrow to shop, but you still need to move fast because all the good stuff is getting snagged!
Lately I have been feeling the urge to accessorize again. As a young lass I took accessories a little overboard, i.e. I wore like 5 rings at all times, had 4-5 earrings in one ear and one perfectly placed little nose ring–this on top of necklaces and who knows what else. I started collecting vintage jewelery when I was probably about 11 and I have a pretty decent collection of stuff. It had all been stored away, safe and sound and just the past couple of weeks (as I have been trying make myself feel prettier) I have wanted to retrieve a few gems. One of the gems I am speaking off is my beautiful pendant watch given to me by my g-ma. It’s just nickel silver with a plain chain, but the face of the watch is so gorgeous–it has so much character and the quality would kick the butt of most modern day accessories.
That brings me to Swell Vintage and their amazing re-designed and re-purposed vintage jewelry. The proprietor of this lovely shop, Frankie, is absolutely adorable as well. I follow her on twitter (@swellvintage) and she is quite the treat. Below are two versions of her pocket watch necklaces that are a slightly larger version than mine, but just what I have been in the mood to accessorize with.
I know that you have all been dying to know how I am (kidding), but I am finally beginning to kick this cold–two weeks later–and I am returning to the world of the living. I even managed to peel myself of the sofa on Monday (three day weekends are the best thing, EVER!) and attempt a shopping trip. Feeling sicky has actually helped me to save money and conserve a bit, I have hardly done any shopping for myself in the past two months, but the Christmas gift cards were finally burning a hole in my pocket.
I set out to purchase a new winter coat to accommodate my swelling waistline–to no avail. I think I waited to long, but in reality I hadn’t even thought about it–that is until the inside liner of my coat completely ripped last week because my body was taking up more space than the coat was willing to give. ha!
Next thought was jeans–I don’t need maternity jeans right now, but maybe just a larger size? Yes, well I am 5′2 and if you start to buy too large and your legs don’t fill the other space you start looking like a really bad 90’s hip-hop video, so I aborted that search as well.
Onto the shoes–shoes always fit, right? Well now the question was “What do I NEED?” The answer was very obvious that I NEED comfy shoes to commute in and to wear on the weekends. Blah–who wants to spend money on that? I explained to my husband who has been sending me links to comfy shoes and trying his hardest to convert me, that “I’m just not that kinda girl”. I said it felt like I needed to wear a juicy couture jumpsuit with the comfy shoes–they weren’t my vibe. I also had to tell him this horrible story from my first year in NYC (apologies for my digression). I used to walk to my first job in New York, it was about 1.5 miles from my house and I was on a HORRIBLY tight budget, so it helped save money. I originally tried to make the walk in my cute shoes–bad choice, then i switched it up to my converse hi-tops and they gave me blisters on the bottom of my feet! Then my dad purchased me a pair of very white Reebok’s to walk in. They were hideous, but they were like walking on pillows of air. I could make the walk in no-time and completely pain free. The only downside to these new found pillows of air was that they looked ridiculous and I had to walk through the East Village to get home. I felt moderately dorky, but because I had very few friends it didn’t matter at the time–that is until walking home one day in my 9-5 clothes and my white Reebok’s I was spotted by an old friend I hadn’t seen in ages and asked to join them in a pub for a drink. The group looked effortlessly cool and I looked like Ugly Betty. I swore never again would I be caught looking “that” comfortable.
Fast forward “some” years and now I try to balance cute and comfortable–I wear kitty heels and flat boots and I can get away with wearing mountain boots on my winter commute (gotta love Chicago!). If I need to wear comfy shoes I usually opt for my saddle shoes or Jack Purcell’s. But the times they are a changing and to be frank, my feet hurt! After lots of painful thinking I decided to get two new pairs of shoes and both needed to fall in the “I can totally wear these all day” category. Please see my choices below and try not to point and laugh. The Pumas were the least offensive running-type shoe that I could find and I have been looking for about 8 months and the Born shoes are totally the cute t-strap that I love, but they are filled with pockets of foot love on the inside. They are like grandma orthopedic shoes, disguised as casual chic.
Thoughts? Did I do good or I am on a slippery slope to mom shoes and leaving the house in gym clothes?
It’s cold outside, the sidewalks are covered in ice and I SOMEHOW, on top of my pregnancy sickness, managed to contract the cold that stomps all other colds in the face then asks if they want more. Maybe it’s the Bubonic plague? But am I letting that hamper my day dreams of summer days wearing a cute little dress, my saddle shoes and riding my bike? The answer would be no, my day dreams are still alive and kicking even though Sherry the Schwinn is currently freezing her tires off outside on the porch. I am thinking about her too though, and ways I might be able to pimp her out next summer. I have been trying to find the right basket for her for ages, we tried the saddlebag baskets that go on the back (very harley davidson), but they didn’t bolt on right and most of the front-loading baskets totally cramp her style. I mean Sherry is a tough, black, pin-stripped, white walled, riding machine–she means business she can’t have some wicker basket bringing her down. Don’t you agree?
So to remedy the situation I found the Handlebar Bag and, low and behold, it is made in stinkin’ Chicago! (This city does manage to grow on me a little more everyday.) I can’t even tell you how I found them, but somewhere through a labyrinth of other blogs and links while doing research for work this little gem Po Campo popped up.
Cute bags, made by cute girls in cute Chicago–sign me up!
Okay, this is possibly the coolest thing I have seen in a while. A website dedicated to highlighting vintage shops nationwide. I know that most of us want to keep our favorite places secret, so all the girls that can shop during the day on weekdays don’t go and reap all the goods. But after seeing my beautiful sister’s boutique Rockin’ Rose fold last year because sales were so low, I now understand that to keep the shops thriving we need to help promote them and stop being selfish (this is really just directed at myself.)
Jessica of What I Wore appears to be the mastermind behind Vintage Where? and I am so excited to see that someone took the time to do this–it is such a great idea. So please fill in your favorite hot spots!
You read my post yesterday, right? You saw that I was trying to turn things around, perk myself up and look like a normal human being, yes? I really did have the best intentions, after my post I marched into my bathroom ready to make a change and when I opened my medicine cabinet, I glanced over all the lovely new beauty products I had at my disposal. Is it coincidence that I joke that I was looking “bad” and yet every single member of my family bought me some sort of hygiene and/or beauty product for Christmas? I am not even kidding–I received shampoo, soap, creams, lotions, make-up, perfume, etc… I literally have an entirely new arsenal of beauty supplies.
Well first things first I decided to take my new eyelash curler and test it out with a new method my mother suggested to me. She said “you should take your hair dryer and heat up the curler, it gives a much better curl” and I thought to myself “cool”, I feel like I have seen make-up artists do that on TV before. So there I am face potions administered, new found youth and vigor are building and I am heating my eyelash curler with my candy pink blow dryer. But how long do I hold it there? Does it need to be hot like a curling iron? 30 seconds? I waffled on this for a bit and decided to just go for it! Immediately following this burst of confidence I burnt my eyelid with the stinkin’ curler. Apparently it does not need to be HOT for maximum effectiveness! *sigh* Here’s to another day “trying” to be pretty.
p.s. Please forgive my typo yesterday referring to my husband as a couch and not a coach. He texted me while I was in bed last night and he was in the living room and then came in and turned all the lights on to verbally alert me of my typo. Ain’t love grand? 
It’s Monday morning, again!?! I left the couch all of 3 times over the weekend and missed my friend Kristen’s NYE party because I am literally a bump on a log. I feel so bad for ever lacking sympathy for a pregnant person in the past, as these symptoms are legit! But, my plan for January (if this fetus will agree) is to start brushing my hair again and actually applying make-up before leaving the house to, if anything, fake it ’til I make it.
I currently do not look preggo at all–just look like I ate too much Christmas Supper (which is funny because the only two Christmas things I could stomach were mac n’cheese and marshmallow salad!) This is especially difficult when you are walking through the grocery store and violently gagging at all the smells. ha! My husband honestly had to yell at me like a coach last week to “run to the dairy aisle” to get away from the rotting meat smell. barf! So to make myself feel pretty, I thought I might need a little “in between” cuteness. This dress is a little potato sack-ish, but it is frilly and lovely and will hide my widening silhouette.
p.s. I have had a few requests for me to highlight preggo fashion during the next 6 months. Is this okay with you all? I will still cover regular clothes (while secretly cursing all of you who can wear them!) but keeping it relevant to my deformed body could prove hilarious for all involved. Let me know as I really don’t want to become a bore!
p.p.s. I really wish ModCloth was a real store so I could take about 50 of their dresses into a dressing room and play dress up like I was 5.
I think I may have mentioned Lonny Magazine a couple of months ago in a post. After seeing their debut issue, I was filled with excitement that a shelter pub may still have a home, albeit online. I mean the end of Blueprint and Domino Magazine were truly sad days for me. I am one of those lame people that still have some issues cataloged at my apt. Does anyone remember the layout of Erin Featherston’s Parisian apartment? *sigh* Fingers crossed that Lonny is here to stay. She may not be budget-friendly (in regards to the items featured) but she is free and eco-friendly and she gives a wealth of ideas that can be reenacted on a budget.
These two photos got me hook, line and sinker.
I am not sure if I mentioned this in the past, my memory as of late is a little dull, but I have been asked to contribute to a new website called 24 Savvy. I am the Chicago contributor and I am writing on fashion and home. yay! The site covers a little bit of everything but the Webisodes with Kathleen Monteleone are super fun. She is the current star of the touring Broadway show Legally Blonde (and possibly a friend of mine.)
My first post went up this week and it’s a fun little holiday number hilighting the lovely Sprout Home, so I thought I would link and share. Let me know what you think of the site and if you are Chicago local, send me some cool stuff to cover. Considering that I can hardly peel myself off the sofa these days, I can use all the details you fine folks are willing to offer.
