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. :(

beach day.

I live less than five minutes from the beach, but I can honestly say I don't like going. It's too way hot here, and there's nothing appealing to me about laying on a towel in direct sunlight, sticky and hot and feeling like I'm about to die. I don't mind the beach so much if the weather is cool, and I'll occasionally go to the beach fully clothed just to walk in the sand for a bit, but it's been years and years and years since I actually put on a bathing suit to go to the beach. in the summer. But when my cousin visited, it was one of the things she wanted to do, so we did. The only reasonable time for two pale ghost girls to go the beach in the middle of June is eight o' clock at night, obviously. so that's what we did. 

40s style sunglasses - anthropologie

1950s bathing suit - ebay

estate sale finds.

As I mentioned before, I've been trying to get back into my old routine of estate sale-ing now that I have more free time, going through the paper mid-week, writing down all the promising ones, mapquesting the addresses, and making a schedule/route based on the distances and duration of each sale to be more efficient (tedious but necessary). This past Thursday I did just that, getting a late start on my schedule making as I was supposed to work Friday but found out at midnight the night before that I would be off. So I stayed up late Thursday night planning my route and got a bit of a late start on Friday because of it. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like every time, there's always one really strange or awkward estate sale experience and one really good one.

The first one I went to was the strange one, when I got there, there were no other cars and I didn't see any signs but being that I'm afraid to miss out on something good, I went up and knocked on the door (which was the most awkward thing ever) and a little olde lady came to the door and said she had put the wrong date in the newspaper but I could come in and look around anyway. Part of me wanted to run back to my car and escape the awkwardness of walking around in someone's house alone, picking through their things, but the other part was excited to have the whole house to myself, not having to knock elbows with crazy estate sale goers to get what I want. Unfortunately it wasn't very good, and the lady made me walk around and look at every single thing, picking up things and telling me they were "SO old/rare/collectible" (most weren't) but I felt bad because I think she was just pretty lonely and excited to have someone to show all her things to. I asked her about clothes, and she pulled out a pile of some men's shirt that were more modern than she claimed, but in the pile I found a 1950s black sequined sweater that she said had been her mother's, and she sold it to me for $1.50. I imagine I will sort of be living in it when Winter rolls around; it's so pretty and sparkly and festive. So all in all, not a total bust, but it took me longer than it should have to leave, because as I kept inching my way towards the door she kept trying to start another conversation with me. But I finally made it out to my car and head off to the next one.

The next few weren't very good and I left empty handed, but the last one, which promised "stuffed animals, kittens and figurines, handmade quilts and a lifetime of treasures" certainly delivered. The stuffed animals were mostly modern, nothing cute and tattered and olde like the little zebra I found, but there were a bunch of cute cat figurines and so many olde handmade quilts. I wanted to take them all home but they were so ridiculously expensive that I couldn't bring home even one. I did find a lovely 1950s faux fur stole, and a few pairs of cute sandals, and the black ones were just the thing to replace my black ones that just broke. The other two were supposed to be for the shop, but the white ones started to crumble a bit (I threw them away) and I kind of like the tan ones so I might keep those for now. I walked back through to see if I had missed anything and I came across the best thing ever. A teapot. shaped like a cat. A cat teapot. The most perfect thing for me ever. So I snapped it up and as I was paying I spotted a pretty depression glass juicer so I grabbed that too. Overall, I came home with some pretty good finds, but I really need to stop buying things for myself and putting more things in my shop!