Happy Halloween!

Victory Fabric and Nudeedudee blouse, Nudeedudee skirt, and Avante-Garde Vintage Steampunk hat!

All is well here, we have just been rather busy, I am hoping to get to a better blogging schedule during the holiday season, but we just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!

So I completely fail at blogging!

Hello Everyone!

Forgive me from being noticeably absent of my blog as of late. I have been a bit busy this summer but hopefully I will get back into the habit of blogging soon.

So what have I been up to?

Well I've been to several conferences, an internship, working on publications, and my husband and I have been quite busy starting up our Etsy shop, that some of you may have seen called Victory Fabric.

We are specializing in vintage and feedsack inspired fabrics. We are also dabbling in selling hair accessories as well for those who love the fabric but do not sew like these Rosie the Riveter styled headbands....

We also are planning a few things coming up for Halloween. If you're interested feel free to drop me a line on Etsy. Our Halloween edition fabrics will be HIGHLY limited so message me now if you are interested in reserving yours.

Anyways, I should get back to "normal" blogging soon. I have had a few modeling shoots lately and I am also planning on a few more in the coming weeks so there will be plenty of fun photos and adventures to come. I really have not had too much time to go antique shopping this summer so hopefully this fall will be a bit more eventful and cooler. It has been so terribly hot and dry here, I have forgotten what green grass looks like...

I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend and until next time!

Dungaree Jeans Review!

Hello!

Work was a bit wild this week so I am late with my review of the Bernie Dexter Dungaree Jeans that I promised for the lovely Porcelina!

Please ignore the dying tomatoes in the background!

Overall I really like these. This photo looks a bit awkward but I think this is due to my sub-par modeling skills! They do drape really nicely when in motion. They're a bit big on me due to my weird hip to waist ratio. It's been a struggle for me to find retro-styled jeans that fit me well. I've got a 25" waist but 37.5" hips so I was nervous about getting a Small and ordered a size Medium which has a 28" waist & 38" hips because I was afraid the fabric would not have enough stretch, however I think next time I'll try the size smaller and see if I can squeeze in them because they do have quite a bit of stretch in the hips BUT the waist band does NOT stretch. So if you're on the verge of size choosing and your waist is the major factor go for the larger size. For these I suspect I'll go and get them taken in just a tick, they're built so well it should be quite easy actually, just a tiny bit off of each side of the hip.

As for the quality, these are excellent. I really love the weight of the denim and the color, it's not too heavy and not too light weight. I really do love the construction within these and for casual weekends and working around the house these are perfect! I also love that they are made in the U.S.A.

They do have long inseams, so for you taller ladies who are not super short like me do not fear! I had to roll up quite a bit of fabric to get these to calf length. I haven't had a chance to measure the actual inseam yet but I think based on how far the length went past my toes they have at least a 35" inseam (they went past my toes!)

Oh and for those wondering my top is one of the Freddies of Pinewood Vintage Panel tops. I really love the vintage fish print, it's perfect for this summer heat wave!

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

Feedsack Friday!

Yes Feedsack Friday has returned!

Today I have for you one of the most beautiful tropical feedsacks that I have come across.

Hope everyone has a lovely Memorial Day weekend!

Did someone say Carmen Miranda?

Happy Wednesday!

Here is a photo of the Carmen Miranda-esque feedsack I promise a few days ago!

I hope everyone is having a great week!

My Soap Box....

So if you do not follow me on Twitter, you have probably missed the explosion of Tweets tonight regarding a certain article posted on Forbes website making the claim that most teenage girls who claim to have gluten intolerance are more often using it as an excuse to hide anorexia.

This is a very personal subject that is incredibly near and dear to my heart and if you want to read my thoughts and manifesto on this please feel free to read my article that I posted over on Delightfully Gluten-Free and I wanted to add a few thoughts here on how I responded to being diagnosed to what sounded like at the time, a pretty awful autoimmune disorder that had been making my life a living hell for nearly a year.

Me and Emmy Lou less than a week after I was diagnosed with celiac doing our "thing"

The photo above is one of my all time favorite photos. It was taken less than a week after I had been diagnosed, and instead of sitting around, locking myself in a room, and crying my eyes out for a month and a half I chose to go out and face the world head on and do my "thing" which was kicking behind and taking names in the livestock world. It was everything I had, and one of the places where I could succeed without being harassed over my weight or look by my peers. This was in the Grand Drive of a rather large open livestock show (which is a professional show), where we won Grand Champion Female after winning the national junior heifer show for our breed the day before, and one week later I won a class at the highly prestigious National Santa Gertrudis Heifer Show with Miss Lilly and baby Dolly.

Can you spot us? ps - I'm totally wearing a vintage shirt that I still own, it's a prized possession.

If I could go back in time would I change anything? Probably not, even with all the pain, sickness, and heartbreak of high school - I learned a lot. It's a part of who I am and who I will become. If anything I would probably just give myself a hug and promise that it would all make sense one day.

Dress Twins

So I know I promised Feedsack Friday, but my husband and I took an impromptu trip out to Austin this weekend for our anniversary! (WOOOO!!!!)

While in Austin we decided happened across Amelia's Retro Vogue & Relics which is a pretty fabulous shop that has a wide selection of 1960's and earlier clothing items. While I was there, I happened across the most amazing late 1940's early 1950's gown that is awfully similar to the one I had Miss Kim at Nudeedudee make me for my graduation. It fits decently, but needs some slight alterations to the top. The black portion is a jersey knit and I think it has been hanging for many years which has stretched the fabric. I plan on taking it to my favorite seamstress next week so she can work her magic!

Forgive my hair and makeup it was close to 100F out this afternoon!

The black top is a jersey knit.

This gown from Amelia's is so similar to the one from Nudeedudee that I'm actually wearing the belt from my Nudeedudee dress in the photo above. I am not sure if Kim used a vintage fabric for my custom dress, but I think she did (Kim if you're out there please chime in! ) but the similarities are absolutely fantastic.

My custom made dress from Nudeedudee.

Overall I had a fabulous weekend and I promise feedsack photos tonight!

My Texas Bucket List

So one of the many reasons I started this blog was to serve as a chronicle of my last years in Texas before I graduate with my last college degree (yeah, there have been a few...) and have to move away due to lack of jobs within my specialty here. Anyways, to try and enrich this experience as much as possible, I have decided to make a Texas "Bucket List" with all of the places and things I want to do before I finally move on. I will probably update this list from time to time and mark off items or add them based on new ideas, but for now here's my list:

Eat as much Barbecue as possible - (beef barbeque preferably, I am not a fan of pork)

Watch the Fireworks one 4th of July at Washington on the Brazos - I've been trying to do this for years and it never seems to work out for me, maybe next year

Photograph some of the "dying" towns - if you've grown up or traveled in this area you know what I'm talking about, the tiny train and farming/ranching towns of Texas that are disappearing back into the sands.

Have my grandparents take me on an in depth tour of Galveston and take video their stories and of growing up on the Island.- this is something that I have been meaning to do for a long time, and I wish I had done it before Hurricane Ike, but hopefully I will get a chance to before we leave. 

Go to a Jerry Jeff Walker concert at Gruene Hall - because well they're both legends.... 

Chicken Challenge. - If you are not familiar with Texas A&M traditions it involves the Dixie Chicken.

Saying goodbye to the Forsyth Galleries - I think I've been slowly doing this for the past year or two since I have stopped volunteering there, but it is still terribly hard and it hurts at times. I made some of my closest friends and created some of my best memories here. This is a place that allowed me to travel the world and introduced me to the art community without judging me for not having the proper background of a traditional student docent when I joined. I just hope it can remain that way for future students....

Texas Reds Festival - at least it's in October so we'll only get mild heat stroke now?


Spend some more time hanging out with my cows - because they are awesome and I do not visit them enough.

Austin City Limits - I want to go to a live taping of it. It's been close to the top of my "wish list" for years..... 

ACL Music Festival - (This is different from Austin City Limits TV Show taping) - and we actually got tickets this year! I have never gone before because I have always used the "Oh I'll go next year" excuse, and since this will run out in another two years, I'm so excited to go it is not even funny, we got single day tickets for the Saturday. We will be hopefully getting to see Stevie Wonder, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Wanda Jackson, Gillian Welch, TV on the Radio, Fitz and the Tantrums and more....  

We will see what else I end up adding to this list but for now I am pretty happy with it. To sign off tonight, I have one of my all time favorite Gillian Welch songs in honor of our ACL tickets. Oh and yes, I promise there will still be a Feedsack Friday post!

Catching Up!

Hello Everyone!

Just popping in to say yes, I am still alive. I survived all of my final exams and have finished submitting grades! I have been quite busy the past few weeks and once I finally got back into the blogging mood we had the "Blogger-gate 2011" with the long outage. Anyways, last week I was providing guest posts for my dear friend Cassandra over at Delightfully Gluten-Free. If you ever were curious about what type of make up I wear, here's a link to my post on Gluten-Free Beauty!

I should be back to my normal blogging regime, and yes Feedsack Friday will be back this week! I promise I'll have something good!

Anyways, to leave you today I have a few outfit photos from spring break when my husband and I went to visit the McNay art museum in San Antonio. If you ever get a chance to visit, I would highly recommend it. The McNay is absolutely beautiful and has an excellent collection of early 20th century American, and modern art, as well as one of the most fabulous pate de verre glass collections that I have seen outside of Europe.

 My outfit consists of Nudeedudee's fabulous knit top, a pair of Level 99 capris I bought from Anthropologie ages ago, as well as my Miss L Fire Mahalo's that are far more comfortable than they look! I promise! (If you haven't been able to tell from previous posts, I'm a huge Miss L Fire fan...)

Be afraid no make up!

One of the entrances to the McNay, it was originally a home that housed a large collection of art that was later endowed to create the permanent collection of this museum.

Feedsack Friday! and a few Victory Garden Photos!

Hello Everyone!

I hope all of you readers are  having a fabulous holiday weekend! In honor of Earth Day and the Spring-like weather (or technically more Summer/desert-like here in Texas at the moment...) I have a few photos of one of my favorite floral feedsack designs photographed in my garden.

The Tomatillos are plotting to take over the entire porch!

So far the Victory garden is going quite well, I have only had one casualty. One of my tomato plants is mysteriously dying. I am not quite sure why but the Roma tomato plant as well as the cherry tomato plant are thriving. I have tomatillos setting right now as well, I cannot wait to make home made salsa from them in a few weeks! More of my recent photos can be found on my Flickr AND my tomatillo bloom photo I posted a few weeks ago was featured in a post on Offbeat Home! *insert bragging link here*

I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday and now it is time to go make a pretty drink and go sit out on the porch!  I will leave you with one last photo of the eggplant that is about to bloom...

The last memory of the cool season...

The summer heat has officially arrived in Texas. Lately it feels like the whole world is on fire, mainly because of the 90 degree weather and because I have been waking up to ash covering my garden each morning from the fires spreading across the state.

 Today's outfit post is of the last "cool" day that I expect to see until November. It was taken a few weeks ago at the local winery where we went out for birthday drinks with a friend. I am still getting used to this whole posing for photos aspect of this blog but eventually I will get better. Here I am wearing my favorite Nudeedudee rayon puffed sleeve blouse, denim sailor style pants from Allure Original Styles, vintage Orlon sweater, Miss L Fire shoes, and snood from Arthelia's Attic!

Hope everyone is having a lovely week! Here's one last photo of the vinyards. As you can tell it is a bit dry here, hopefully we will get rain soon...

Round Top Madness! Part 2

So now the post that you have all been waiting for - the goodies!

My first purchase of the day I do not have a photo of because it's in the sink waiting to be washed, but I was able to get an awesome deal on a Fire King Jadite mixing bowl! It's the same style as this one seen here on Etsy. I'm really excited, I love jadite. When I get a bigger kitchen I'm hoping to get a whole set of them in different sizes to use for my everyday baking.

Next I hit the Bakelite shop while the boys were off looking for camera parts. Here I purchased one bangle and two broaches.

Green carved bangle and AMAZING pineapple broach.

I could not resist this tropical wonder, I can't wait to wear it out!

And another photo of the great anchor I found.

 After chatting for a while with the Bakelite lady, I wandered down to find one of the vintage fabric stores that had an amazing collection of feedsacks. I was good and only purchased two that I absolutely love for less than what I would have paid if they had come up on eBay which made me really happy. This red and blue cactus feedsack below is absolutely outstanding. The color is perfect, I don't know any other way to describe it AND it is still in feedsack form. I think this is one that I will keep in the collection rather than use as a project it's so beautiful.

I do love my southwestern prints....

 The other feedsack I purchased was the cutest novelty print I've seen in a while. It's not still in the sack form but it will be great for a project. I'm thinking it would make a gorgeous puffed sleeved blouse from Miss Kim....

Isn't this adorable?

 Those were my "big" purchases for the day, my husband on the other hand found all sorts of goodies. He got a new vintage leather camera bag (which I don't have a photo of) that's got some great leather tooling with a southwestern theme. He also purchased two large ceramic crocks, a 1960's Navy wool coat, and this amazing photo album that he wants to use for some form of art project, which means I get dibs on all the awesome photos! This is filled with vintage photos from vacations that appear to be from the early to mid 1950's. I'm planning on scanning some of these in, there are some great photos of the Redwood National Forrest in here.

 Last but not least, we also purchased a pair of these chairs seen below. They're absolutely gorgeous. We've been needing two extra kitchen chairs for some time as we have only had 3 that function so it makes for some awkward situations when guests are over. These we got for a great deal, $50 below the asking price.

Overall we had a great time and I cannot wait to go back next year! Hopefully I'll take more photos of the festivities rather than just running around and looking at things (even though that was lots of fun...)

Round Top Madness! Part 1

Tents and buildings line the sides of the road for miles and miles.

 Thanks everyone for all the great comments on my last post! Last night while looking through all the photos I had of our adventure as well as all the goodies we bought I figured I would break this up into two posts. If you love antiques and all things vintage, Round Top is definitely one of the events you must go to at least once in your lifetime!

Anyways, we arrived Saturday morning on the next to the last day of the show around 10 A.M. We decided this year to hit Warrenton first, as it was the farthest away and traffic at the Round Top Festival is notorious for being horrible. Last time we went, we made the mistake of stopping at some of the surrounding towns first and ended up sitting in a line of traffic so slow we moved less than 3.5 miles in an hour. By going to Warrenton first (which was farthest away from home) we were able to hit some of the most popular shops early in the day without sitting in traffic. Our choice of going on Saturday this year rather than Sunday also improved the selection. We discovered that most of the vendors pack up on Saturday before the last day of the show (Sunday) so that they can leave quickly, because of this everyone was willing to "negotiate" or "make a deal", unlike when we went on Sunday last time. It was bargaining heaven, I did not pay full price for anything we purchased!

Below are a few of my terrible photos I took while running around shopping that day. My husband took more "artistic" photos but since he has not edited them I'll wait to show you the links to those later. I think the most important thing to remember if you go to Round Top is to have a specific list of items you want to buy and a budget of what you want to spend on each item. This is really what kept me in check all day. There were home accessories, vintage western items, cooking equipment, furniture, and gadgets everywhere so it was easy to get distracted.

$60 Vintage Mixer with original instruction book - My husband would not let me take it home :(

Bakelite Heaven

 For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you might have seen some of my live Tweeting about the Bakelite vendor I found. She had some of the most amazing pieces I had ever seen in person and I'm really glad I had put a budget on what I was allowed to spend. Since I bought several pieces (which I will post in a little bit), she gave me 20% off each piece and I was able to stay in my budget (YAY!). She had some of the most beautiful items, one of which was the carved clamper bracelet with matching earrings. They were absolutely gorgeous to look at, but way out of my price range. What I did fall head over heals in love with was the red anchor pin which I was wearing in my last post.

I loved it so much I had to wear it!

 She also had a large selection of bangles and necklaces as well as some great books on identifying different styles of Bakelite. I stayed and chatted with her for a good 45 minutes until it was time for me to meet up with the men again for lunch (they thought Bakelite was boring so they had left me to go search for vintage camera equipment). I am hoping to run into her again in a few weeks at the City Wide Garage Sale in Austin which she recommended I go to. Apparently it is a great place to find even better deals than Round Top....

 Here are a few more photos of how some of the shops were set up and some of the goodies I saw like the vintage girls sunglasses on the original card seen above. One thing about Round Top though is there is never a shortage of glass collectibles. It is literally EVERYWHERE. This year I was not really focusing on it as much as I had on our previous adventure when I was shopping for centerpieces for our wedding but I still grabbed a photo so you could see what it looked like.

Who needs Anthropologie when you can stock up on kitchen accessories here?

 In terms of vintage clothing, we saw lots of late 1890's through early 1920's items but from what the Bakelite lady told me, we missed out on most of the good stuff from the 1930's - 1950's. Apparently the opening weekend is the time to come for the good vintage clothing deals because they sell rather quickly.

The furniture we saw was fantastic. I could have furnished 3 houses with everything I fell in love with that day. One piece in particular was the one seen below. I absolutely love this style and one day hope to own something similar but for now I have no room! 

Here's an example of one of the outdoor tents filled with hidden treasures.

 I think one of the greatest things about Round Top is all the hidden gems you can find. A lot of the times some of the vendors who are not experts at every item they have can overlook a few things. For instance our friend Ivan who came with us found 2 working vintage light meters for his camera worth 5 times the price he paid for them as well as a rare vintage camera in working condition worth over $350 that he paid $60 for. If you search through some of the more cluttered and random shops you can find some spectacular deals.

I love the stuffed vintage horse!

 Finally I shall leave you with a photo of my favorite item that I have no room for but one day would love to own of the day! It's a piece from one of the old grocery markets or feed stores that serves as a counter top as well as drawers holding stock. The glass squares on the front would be filled with whatever item was filled in the drawer, and when people would come into the shop they would point at the drawer, tell the worker how much they wanted and the worker could pull the drawer out from the other side to fill the order. Growing up the feed store we went to had something similar, but not nearly as fancy as this. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of going in and looking at all of the current seeds available for planting in one of these. One day when we get a "real" house and get out of grad school I would love to have one of these in my kitchen to store dry goods.

Thanks everyone for reading this! I'll have another post up soon with photos of the goodies we bought!

End of Day Outfit Post

A few weeks ago my husband, a close friend, and I braved the crowds to go to the Round Top Antiques Festival. For those who have never been to Round Top, it is a 2 week antique and vintage festival similar to a roadside antiques show with miles upon miles of vendors. This is one of my favorite shows to go to since there are always great deals to be found and this year was no exception. Over the next few days I'll be posting photos of some of our finds and photos from the event, however tonight I'll be posting my only outfit photos of the day.

When dressing for Round Top this year I decided to go for what seemed comfortable and functional to me. These photos were shot at the end of the day after traversing the heat and wind of central Texas.

 Looking back, I totally should have worn my hair in my navy blue snood from Arthelia's Attic since my curls turned into a giant fluffy poof, but other than that my outfit choice was perfect for the day.  I was able to move around without becoming too hot or miserable and I still got lots of great compliments from all of the vendors. Here I am wearing my navy blue culottes, Nudeedudee blouse from her new Ready to Ship styles (that are now on sale!), my favorite handbag which I have mentioned before, as well as my favorite pair of Miss L Fire shoes!

You can also see the lovely Bakelite anchor broach I picked up from a fantastic vendor while I was there, but I will save the rest of the photos of our purchases for tomorrow.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

It's the little things in life...

that get me through the work week. Here's what I've been dancing around to while doing my scientific baking thing at work this week...

With any luck I get to go see them live next Monday night in Houston!

Feedsack Friday!

Ok, so I know it's technically Saturday Central Standard Time but I didn't get home till super late tonight. This week has been super crazy at work so I've been short on posting but I promise posts of our recent adventures soon!

It has been quite hot here already. Today it hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit so I figured this south of the border feedsack would fit in well with our current weather.

Until next week!

V is for Victory Garden

Well spring is officially here in Texas and I have finally gotten my porch garden in good working order. This year I am dubbing my porch the "Victory Garden" not because I have the idea that we're going to go into a food shortage or that it's a great throwback to older times, it's going to be a Victory Garden because this year I am determined to overcome my arch nemesis - the mealybug....

For those not familiar with the mealybug it is an evil white little fuzzy creature that can infest plants and multiply rather rapidly. They're a huge problem in container gardening here in Texas and this year I am determined to keep them at bay with constant pruning, checking of the leaves, and spraying with a natural repellent when they do appear. Anyways enough talk about awful bugs on to garden photos and discussion of what I have planted!

Gardening is a very personal thing. Everyone has their own method, secrets, and ideas on how to achieve success. I by no means am an expert gardener, but I have kept a garden in this space for the past 5 years and will continue to until we move. Over the years I've learned my lessons on what areas get more shade and which get more heat in the summer. 

Our Porch!

As you can see from this photo, I've only got about 40 square feet to work with which can be a challenge. When planning out what I wanted to grow this year I decided to focus on three specific things.

• Production Level
• I chose certain vegetable plants based on how high of a yield I expected from the crop. For instance our two Black Beauty Eggplant will hopefully be high yielding. I also have three varieties of tomatoes right now with two more varieties on the way. The hanging tomatoes I purchased because they were already in steady production of small red cherry tomatoes and should continue to yield a crop throughout the rest of the summer. Even though we do not have an ideal space for a hanging plant, I was able to attach it to the trellis we will hopefully be using for cucumber (that are yet to be planted... whoops!) Our two other tomatoes which I planted last weekend are also already producing fruit which is very exciting because I have not tried these varieties before. 
• Sometime this week we should have Green Zebra and Black Cherry tomato plants as well as Nepalese Bell Chili Pepper plants arriving from JBF Farms on Etsy. This is the first time I have ordered live tomatoes from a farm on Etsy before so I am quite excited for them to arrive. JBF has had a great selection of tomato starts as well as unusual varieties of peppers and eggplant. 
• In addition to the tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, I have also planted tomatillo plants. For those not familiar with tomatillos they are one of the main ingredients used in many salsa recipes. The easiest way to describe them is a cross between a tomato and a pepper. They have round fruit with thin husks surrounding it and have a unique flavor. I have planted two this year, hoping that they will be enough for harvesting to make some home made salsa this summer. This is the first time I have grown tomatillos in a container so it should be pretty entertaining.



Black Beauty Eggplant



Mi Roma Italian Tomato



Rambling Boy Striped Tomato






Blooms of the Tomatillo

• We also have a large start of rosemary, oregano, basil (which is still inside), and mint for our kitchen garden. I am hoping to start some more seeds for a kitchen herb garden sometime this week. I would really love to make home made pesto some time this summer! My goal is to avoid purchasing as many herbs from the store as possible due to the high cost these days.
• Color
• I love color. When plotting out my garden this year I wanted to choose some brightly colored floral plants that would accent the rest of the vegetables while also being able to cope with the extreme heat here in Texas. Below are just a few of what I have planted, I will do more posts later featuring individual plants (when I get good photos of course).



Celosia



Lantana are great for attracting butterflies



Mr. Flamingo and the Bougainvillea

• Family Favorites



Maybe we will get Strawberries this year?

• These include some of my favorite things to grow each year like strawberries, mint, "shrimp plants" (will post photos once he blooms so you can get a better idea of what that means) as well as unusual varieties of peppers for my husband. 

This is all for now! I have so many other blog posts to catch up on too. Yesterday we went to the Round Top Antiques Festival and a blast! Will hopefully do a post on all the goodies I purchased there soon. Hope all of you lovely readers have had a great weekend, I'm now off to get some stuff for work done! Feel free to share some of your summertime favorites in your garden as well. I'm always looking for new ideas.