weather patterns.

Still waiting for Fall to arrive in Florida. Eating butternut squash soup, watching horror films, baking with apples; but still no chill in the air. Despite that, I put together an Autumn inspired shop update because today is the first day of Fall and I know many other states are beginning to experience actual Fall weather (very jealous!).

SHOP HERE

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I had been looking for a dark, plummy lip color for Fall, something inspired by the dark rouge worn by the flappers and follies in the 1920s, and after a few months of no luck I finally found the perfect shade. It's called 'Mahogany', and you can find it online here... only $.99! I think I'm going to go make soup and watch a scary movie and pretend it's actually cold here. Enjoy your first day of Fall (or Spring)!

september

it's been quiet around here, I know. I've been hiding indoors, hoping Summer will quickly end and Autumn will sweep in, bringing with it crisp air and crunchy leaves and leaving the sticky heat far behind. My heart pitter-patters knowing that so close are the days of leaving my windows open all hours, letting in the cool breeze, the scent of baking pies and burning leaves in the distance. Taking a good book, an old worn quilt, and a mug of hot tea out on my porch and sitting there for hours, reading and sipping til my finger tips are purple and pale and my bones are chilled through.

I tried to put off Fall-decorating-and-celebrating as close to September as I could, but I finally gave in the day before the new month and spent the day soup-making, leaf-garland-hanging, and apple-crisp-baking. Even gussie helped. It won't truly feel like Fall until I feel that first chill in the air, but at least I can surround myself with strings of paper leaves and stacks of old Autumn-hued books in my house for now, as I wait not-patiently for cooler climes to come around. 

On a side note, sometimes when you don't like the way things are going, you have to force a change. There will probably be a lot of that happening in the coming weeks, starting on Tuesday. It's scary and uncertain, but it's more than necessary.

old friends new chairs (and a sale)

One morning a few weekends ago, I woke up to a text message from an old friend saying that her neighbor was having an estate sale and that there was a chair that didn't sell and for some reason, it made her think of me. She sent a photo along with the message asking if I wanted it, and it just happened to be the exact kind of chair I've been scouring antique stores and estate sales for. Perfect pink tufted velvet, perfect high back, wooden legs, and matching ottoman. I told her, of course I wanted it, and she brought it over that very same day.

I guess it pays to have a consistent old lady aesthetic and have everyone know about it, because I've gotten all sorts of lovely gifts this way. And not only did I get a nice chair, I also got a nice catch-up chat with an old friend. Now if only someone could just come across an old wooden crate or two and think of me... (I need more shelves)

Things are going to be changing around here, shop-wise and blog-wise. I'm not sure sure whether they'll change a little or a lot, but I will be figuring that out very soon. While I work out all the kinks, I figured it would be a good time to make room for new inventory as well. So, I will be having a 'Christmas in July' sale in both shops (that's right, I still have a few trinkets in thefoxparade even though that poor little shop has been so neglected lately). The sales end July 19th at 11PM EST, so hop on over and take a peek! I will be pulling several things at the end of the month to sell locally, so if you've had your eye on something, now's the time! Also, there is a very good chance that this will be the last sale I hold until November. You can find the shops here:

FANCINESS

THEFOXPARADE

summer days

One day last weekend, my mom came over to get lunch and walk around downtown a little and poke around in all the antique stores. We started to walk there and only got about half of a block before we decided it was just too hot to walk. So we took a few photos under the shade of a big oak tree and then made our way back to the car to drive. When we arrived at the little cafe where we planned to have lunch, it was closed, and then we realized it was Sunday and everything in the historic district was going to be closed. So we made other plans and started to walk back to the car.

There's this little tiny red, white, and blue building downtown that used to be an old hot dog stand/diner. It's so cute and quaint and has a row of carnival lights across the top and a tiny window for where the vendor would serve the patrons. It's one of my favorite buildings in town, and I've been wanting to take pictures of it for the longest time. It's been up for sale for so long with no takers so I was worried it'd be torn down soon...so since I finally had my camera we stopped here to snap a few photos on the way back to the car.

...and then this happened:

Not only will the building not be torn down, but apparently someone already bought it, and turned it into a little hair salon. This hilarious guy came out to see what we were doing and when he saw that we were taking photos of the building, he made us come in and take a tour. One of the other men working at the salon said he loved my outfit ('it's like so, vintage or something'), and demanded that I take a photo of it against his backdrop or he would be utterly offended. So I did.

I got this skirt in an ebay lot last Winter and had designated it a "Fall skirt' because of the colors and pattern, but I pulled it out of the back of my closet the other day and realized it would actually make a nice Summer skirt too. And then I realized that it would be the perfect thing to wear with my new antique top. 

Right then... it's really hot today so I'm going to go drink another cream soda with a fancy red and white striped straw and traipse around in a vintage bathing suit eating handfuls of berries and waving sparklers til the sun goes down. I hope you are all having a lovely holiday if you are in the US, and a lovely regular day if not!

july.

Okay! I really cannot believe it's already July. This year is moving so fast, but hopefully that just means that Fall will be here before I know it. I usually allow myself to start being a little ridiculous about Autumn towards the end of July and definitely in August, so I guess don't have much longer to wait. I sneakily bought Fall candles the other day and recently pulled out my Beistle 1930s reproduction Halloween die-cuts that I got in Brooklyn last October and now I really can't wait to decorate this year. It's no secret that I don't like Summer, but since it's clearly here to stay for a while, I figured I would try to appreciate some of the better parts of this hot season.


Antique cotton clothing - After a long, self-prescribed moratorium on knick-knack spending, I finally broke my 'no antiquing' streak. I took money from my rent fund to spend on tea cups, vintage buttons, and antique cotton slips. When I mentioned it to my mom, she asked me but how many are for your shop? I like how my mom helps me justify my frivolous trinket spending habits. This antique cotton crochet vest was one of the things I bought, and I can see this being a staple all Summer long...I think it would pair nicely with flowy skirts and high-waisted shorts and I don't think I would die from heat stroke.

 Berries- available all year in Florida, but much always so much sweeter when the weather is hot. If I don't have pink-red stains on most of my clothing by the time Falls comes around, I'm doing something wrong. This little pink glass teacup is one of the new treasures from antiquing.

Lemonade is one of my favorite Summer drinks. I like it ridiculously sweet, like the kind you get at carnivals and state fairs, and I try to make it different each time- mint lemonade, black tea lemonade, and of course, raspberry lemonade.

And an instagram of the final product:

Summer, you're not so bad sometimes.

treats.

I've never really been someone who cooks. I've always enjoyed baking, but it was infrequent and rarely from scratch. But lately I've been throwing myself into baking and cooking, because it's fun and time-consuming and doesn't leave room to think about much else than measurements and stirring and chopping and cooking times. I have all kinds of amazing recipes bookmarked and I'm slowly going down the list and trying new ones. Many of the recipes are Autumn-y, so I'm waiting until it gets just a little bit closer to a Fall month to try any of those. I don't want to get all of my Fall excitement out of the way too early and spoil it for when Fall is actually here (as if that could ever happen), so I've been sticking to relatively 'Summery' or season-neutral foods for now. 

I woke up early yesterday morning and made these blueberry muffins from scratch. I think they are honestly the best thing I've ever eaten, which is so strange because I made them. I won't say how many I ate between yesterday and today (okay, seven) but they were amazing. Crisp and crunchy on the outside and soft, melty, and crumbly on the inside. I can safely say after eating these I will never use store-bought muffin mix ever again. And they do have a little nod to Fall, in the amazing cinnamon crumble topping. 

Tomorrow is my birthday. We had out-of-town plans for the day but those had to be re-scheduled for this weekend, so we'll be staying in town for tomorrow instead and I'll just have to celebrate my birthday twice (darn).

cat windows.

I attempted a shop photo shoot this morning but the weather did not cooperate. So instead I'll be spending the day making these, listening to this and (fittingly) this, catching up on reading, finally hanging the cheapo ikea mirror I purchased back in February, and all the other little mundane sorts of tasks that get pushed to the side and eventually forgotten.


I'm trying to be really good and not wish wish wish for Fall so soon, but it's been hard. It's getting hotter and hotter, the kind of heat that nearly knocks you over when you walk outside, smothers you, wraps itself around you like a sticky shroud...and I know we haven't even seen the worst of it yet. We still have at least three to four solid months of heavy heat before it's realistic to even hope for a hint of chill in the air. Maybe I will give myself permission to run the air conditioning all day, drink hot coffee, watch 1950s French horror films, and pretend it's October (just this once).