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.


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st. augustine.

My cousin declared Saturday the 11th to be my fake birthday, since she wouldn't be here for the real one, so we put on our cutest polka dot dresses and headed to my favorite place in Florida (probably the only place in fl I actually like), St Augustine. We were going to make a stop at the st john's flea market first, but we got a bit of a late start so we picked up some sprinkle donuts and coffee and went straight to historic downtown. We visited the Lightner Museum (which will take up a whole post on it's own) and spent the day walking around and peeking into cute antique shops and eating macarons, and I kept finding pretty little gifts throughout the day; one sitting on the seat of my car when I got in, another mysteriously popping up on the table when I came to sit down, etc.

It was such a lovely day (aside from the weather which was disgustingly hot and almost unbearable) and I felt pretty special all day, like it was my real birthday. We ate lunch at a little wine bar that looked cute and promising but ended up being sort of terrible and awkward, but despite the odd, pushy owners and weird food we had a fun time at our little table and there were little white lights hanging across the ceiling, which pretty much makes any situation better. And at the end, when I came back from the restroom, there was a pile of gifts and a giant cookie and sparkler candles waiting for me and it was pretty amazing.

1940s style glasses - anthropologie

1930s swiss dot dress (from this post) - ebay
navy vintage bag - thrifted