lights.

still haven't made my way to st. augustine yet, but i found out they keep the lights up until january 31st. it doesn't quite feel the same after christmas, but it's still pretty. my best friend came into town for the holidays and we went to city center to walk around and talk and catch up and drink coffee, it's a little park with a lake and a library and every christmas season they cover all the little trees with white lights too, so it was a nice substitute. the weather is finally cold here, at least for now.

i have so many new listings and new blog posts in draft form, but i just can't seem to find the motivation to complete them these days. on top of everything, i got some bad news about my kitten gus today at the vet, and now all i want to do is curl up in a ball in my bed with my cats and watch movies and forget about everything.

gone wandering in woods.

Probably my favorite kind of dresses are floral cotton dresses from the 1930s and 40s, they're just easy and pretty. I bought this pretty one just the other day, and it's easily become one of my favorite dresses already.


These days I've mostly been lazing about; I wander, read Voltaire. Take naps with my kittens. Debate taking up painting once again, when I spy my lonely easel resting in the corner, but remember how fruitless it always is. I bore so easily. or distract, rather. A million unfinished books and paintings and half knitted scarves. It's inevitable.


I'm still waiting on Winter to arrive, Fall even. It's been quite mild here and although I do like that sort of weather, a bit of frost would do to help me feel more festive. Something feels a little off this year, I usually get excited about the holidays pretty early but that just hasn't been the case lately. Maybe I'll dedicate this week to baking and pom pom ornament making. St. Augustine is still on the schedule since we didn't end up going last weekend like we planned, so maybe that's what's missing.

(I can't tell if these photos are really blurry or if my vision is just off from lack of sleep. having kittens is like having a newborn, I swear. I was awoken extremely early this morning by Beatrix jumping on my face. So, sorry if they are.)

christmas parade day.

Every year we walk to my town's annual Christmas parade, which is mostly just good for being nostalgic about the holidays and also looking at old cars and dogs dressed in Santa costumes. The weather was really nice (but also unseasonable, and my attire is misleading since it was actually about 75°) and I brought along my new camera to take some photos of  wildflowers and Fall leaves, since we finally have a few of the latter scattered about. It's finally flea market weather, so this weekend I'm planning to go to the St John's flea, and then to St. Augustine for their annual Nights of Lights. Which basically is just when they cover the entire town in little white lights and put a big Christmas tree in the town square and have little carolers speckled throughout and jazz bands playing the Christmas classics. It's pretty magical. 

parade escapee

(sorry for the lack of actual parade photos, it literally was just pictures of old cars and dogs dressed in Santa costumes. and I don't think there'd be any interest in seeing any of that)

fall is kind of here.

"Fall" is finally here. Florida Fall, at least. which means that the weather is really nice, way less humid but still pretty warm during the day, and a little bit chilly at night. I'll take what I can get. I've been in a slump lately, and this weather definitely changes my mood. 

I spent all week soaking and fixing up some really pretty things for the shop, but the light was so weird all weekend and all my shop photos came out looking green-ish and crazy, like they were taken underwater or. something. I tried again today and the photos came out a little better, so hopefully I'll have those new things listed by the end of the week. Just about eight to ten things, a few perfectly worn-in cotton 1940s dresses, a long edwardian skirt, a 60s jacket, a few pairs of boots and oxfords, and an edwardian tea dress. The palette is mustard, cream, sage, lavender, and brown, and I think those colors are really nice for early Fall. 

I'm trying to get as much done this week as possible, because one week from tomorrow, I'll be flying off to New York for the week. I'm verrrrrry excited. I haven't been there in over three years, and I've never been in the Fall or Winter, which I'm MOST excited about. I can't wait to bundle up and dress for actual Fall weather and stroll the streets of bklyn with my bestest gal. Some things on the itinerary are pretty dress shops, brunch at a french cafe, a dessert date at The Chocolate Room, caramel apple making, and if I'm lucky, a visit to the MET. (all of the best things, basically)

This dress I'm wearing is a dress from the shop, I hated the photos I had because you couldn't tell how cute it really was so I decided to throw it on and take some new ones today since the weather was so nice. It's kind of silly of me to be selling it because this is one of my favorite kinds of dresses, but I'm trying to be better about not keeping every single thing. I do have a shop to run, afterall. So you can find it here.

september twentieth.

I've taken a small break from blogging for the past few weeks, mostly to prevent this from becoming an 'I'm allergic to sun/I hate heat' blog as it was well on its way to becoming. I'm sure no one wants to read continuous complaints about humidity and inability to leave the house without feeling like I'm sitting in a sauna, wrapped in seran wrap, while subsequently being eaten alive by mosquitoes. (that's the last of it, promise.) Sadly the weather still hasn't cooled down at all yet, so I've been waiting for that first drop in temperature to really start getting excited about Fall, and back into blogging again. I just really haven't been motivated lately. I'm truly appreciative of my followers who've stuck around, and of anyone who has recently begun following during my blogging hiatus, and apologize that it's been a bit of a ghost town around here. I have lots of plans for my shop and blog that I'm really excited for, so I promise it will (hopefully) get a bit more exciting to read this ol thing pretty soon. 

For a few days last week I decided to pretend it was Fall despite the weather still being hot and way Summer-like, so I wore Fall colors (and even tights) one day, and went shopping and tried on cloche hats (in dirty mirrors) and bought enough cinnamon-pumpkin-apple pie-spice scented candles to last until next Fall. 

I started working on a little Autumn-themed photo shoot project for some of the shoes that will be in my shop this Fall, but those mosquitoes started attacking my poor exposed ankle bones so I had to postpone the rest of the shoot for a bit. Here is a little peek though! (if you follow my twitter or facebook then maybe you've already seen this peek).

improvements and a shop update.

I've been really frustrated with my shop lately, so this past week was dedicated to making improvements in my inventory (or lack of) and photo set-up. I posted an ad on craigslist last week stating that I was interested in buying vintage clothing from the 1920s-60s or earlier, not thinking I would get any responses, but the very next day I had an email from a lady who used to have a booth at a flea market in town. She sold vintage clothing there for years, but had to stop when she had a baby a couple years back so she had a bunch of inventory left over from her days of selling. She said she had a lot of vintage dresses from the 40s-60s, so we made an appointment for me to look through her stuff last Friday. She ended up being really nice and we shared many of the same interests, and I left with armloads of dresses, purses, hats, shoes and other odds and ends. I filled three huge boxes and two giant bags! I was so excited. (I'm sure many of the other finds will be popping up in my blog eventually, as I set aside many of the pieces for myself, oops.)

Saturday I made my mom accompany me to look at paint samples and new flooring for my photo area, and we ended up coming home with gray paint ("creamy mushroom") and samples of hardwood flooring to test out in the area. I didn't waste any time getting to work painting the wall so that it could dry overnight and I could take shop photos of some of my new inventory today, which I did. It's a subtle change, but I think it makes a big difference. The white paint was too reflective and made my old shop photos look washed out and shadowy, but I really love the way the gray photos turned out. I picked a brown theme for today's update, because I thought it would nicely bridge the gap between the end of Summer and the beginning of Fall (hurry up hurry up!). The lighter wicker basket bags reminded me of sunny bicycle rides and picnics and the rich, warm brown items made me think of hot chocolate and cozy fires. So it worked out nicely. (see the numbered links at the bottom to click through to the item listings!)

from top:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The woman I purchased from on Friday told me about some great upcoming markets in the area so I think this Fall (when it's not 100°) I'm going to set up a little booth and sell vintage for a weekend or two. I'm so excited at the possibility of setting up my own little booth and making it pretty and boutique-y and selling lovely olde dresses and wares and I already have so many ideas swimming around in my tired little brain that I can hardly wait.

more complaints about heat.

Last Friday I spent the day walking around St. Augustine with my mom, shopping and digging through antique dresses and eating chocolate truffles. Out of the things I left behind the previous time, I only ended up getting the black 1930s top. The museum shop wasn't as good as I remembered it being and the only thing I ended up still wanting was the pink 40s top but it had more pinholes and discoloration than I remembered and the lady wouldn't budge on the price. I ended up going back a second time just before we left though, because I decided I'd buy it anyway, but they had just closed. We also went to one of my favorite vintage shops, The way we were, and there were so many thing I wanted, but in the end I came away with a pretty antique harlequin print hat box, the prettiest burgundy lace 30s dress, and a yellow bow dress (that went right into my shop, because sadly I can't wear yellow). It was way too hot and I made the mistake of wearing patent flats (patent leather + hot weather = blistersss) so I was kind of miserable walking around in the heat with painful toes and heels, and it made me wish even more for Fall to come soon soon soon, because St. Augustine is so much nicer and prettier in the Fall (and because it's my favorite time of year).

fleurs sur le mur

All I want to do anymore is poke through antique shops and estate sales looking for soft, worn in floral dresses, and dream of exploring old abandoned farmhouses. The only other thing on my mind has been travelin' North for permanent. I left some things behind on my last trip to St. Augustine that I can't stop thinking about, a stunning black woven 30s top and a pink silk 40s top with cloisonne buttons, a sage and cream striped hat box, a handful of pretty silk flower hats, and a pair of gloves (hermes!!). Does anyone else do that? I feel like I always leave something behind that I think about constantly until I go back and get it, or more likely, go back only to find that some other lucky person has already snatched it up. There were so many amazing dresses in that shop (where I bought that white 1930s wedding dress) but they were way, way out of my budget. So many long velvet 1930s gowns.


I'm planning to go back this weekend, waking up early to go to a few St. Augustine estate sales first, if there are any promising ones, and then heading to the Lightner museum antique shops where all those lovely things are hopefully still tucked away where I left them. I've never gone to estate sales out of town, but it's something I've been meaning to do for a while, and if I'm ever to get my wish of moving out of this no-good state (sorry, florida) I'd better start collecting up all the lovely old frocks I can and sticking them in my shop and saving up all the dollars that will hopefully come of them. I'm also planning a few trips for this Fall, hopefully NY to visit my cousin and maybe a few special other trips (more on those later), so moving towards working on my shop full time is something I need to start doing now-ish.


I've been staring longingly at photos of old crumbling interiors, decrepit structures, peeling floral wallpaper, broken floorboards, rusted doorknobs, abandoned brass bedframe skeletons. I'm so close to being closer to all of this, and it's getting harder to be patient.


from top: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 

dream dream dream.

I have plans that I haven't really mentioned much because they're maybe a bit silly. but I've been thinking about this a lot for the past year or so, and lately it's all I've been thinking about. I can't really sleep at night because I stay up wondering whether or not this will happen and how wonderful it will be if it does. It's no secret that I hate Florida, especially the weather and the lack of seasons, so it seems kind of silly to stay here, so a few months ago I declared this to be the last Summer I will ever spend in this state. I hope to move North, somewhere where the leaves change and snow falls and Summers are warm and lovely but not unbearable. I want to live in a big old farmhouse with hardwood floors, high ceilings and big windows with lots of light, a rickety front porch (maybe with a swing if I'm really being picky?). Where I can live and have lots of room for all of my old dresses to live until they're sent off to new homes. In a small town with strips of old brick buildings and rows of dusty little antique shops, little wooden general stores, maybe even an old movie theatre. maybe this doesn't exist? but if it does, I'll hopefully find it.

I've been researching places that might fit what I have in mind, maybe Georgia, although I'm not sure it's far enough north to escape the dreadfully hot Summers, maybe North Carolina or Pennsylvania, somewhere pretty like York. or maybe back to Maryland  where I grew up, and where my family lives, where my best friends are currently located while attending school. I really hope this works out, because I don't ask for much and it's all I want.


sources: design sponge , this blog , this blog, um...google? these photos have been saved on my computer for months/years even so sorry for the lack of direct links. :(