it's Camp Vintage time

It's that time of year again - time for the Camp Vintage antique show!

Camp Vintage debuted in September of 2013. It was also the first time I ever attended a vintage show so I wasn't quite sure what to expect but what I found blew my socks off...if I had been wearing socks...which I probably wasn't.

Love is not too strong a word for the emotion I felt when I entered my first Camp Vintage. I felt like I had come home. All the booths had something I wanted - an old window here, a rusted wagon there, a bunch of shutters, old luggage, a door from an old truck - big freakin' sigh of pure ecstasy!

Mr. T, however, wasn't as enthralled. All the words you and I love about shabby chic - chippy, peely, vintage, rusted, distressed - are words that mean only one thing to him. O.L.D.

But now he's watched me take several old, broken down pieces of furniture and, with a little paint and love, turn them into something beautiful for our home so for this year's Camp Vintage, he was actually looking forward to finding something fun to take home and junkify it.

There was so much going on at this spring's Camp Vintage, I actually forgot to take pictures. I think that's a good thing. I mean, I was having a great time and had several things that were under consideration to buy but it kind of sucks now when I have to put together a blog post.

So enjoy a couple of pictures of pretty flowers...cuz that's about all I've got from this year's show.

until I found exactly what I wanted to buy

I bought a couple of old cabinet doors with a really unique wicker design at the top that would be perfect for hanging earrings. I miss my jewelry organizing shutter back in Florida so it's time to make another one. I don't even have to do much painting with this, I love the minty green color and the 1940s styling. love.love.love.

Of course, it's been a couple of weeks since Camp Vintage and they're still sitting, untouched, in the living room but let's not think about that right now. Let's just keep looking at the pretty pictures and count the days till the next Camp Vintage in September.

prairie style weddings

I kinda love weddings. No, that's not quite right. I'm pretty much obsessed with weddings especially ones with a rustic, vintage vibe.

In addition, I am in love with anything that Fifi O'Neill does. I love her style and her way of documenting the world. So it's with great excitement that I await the December 2nd release of her new book Prairie Style Weddings.

Until then I've got this great video that Fifi has put out along with some wonderful preview pictures on Pinterest to keep me going. I hope you enjoy it too!

instagram me

Did you know that I'm on Instagram? Well I am...on Instagram. I am.

Sorry, I got caught up in a loop there. 

I'd love to have you follow me on Instagram though. I try to post at least one picture a day of something pretty. I do hope you'll join me over there.

enchanting

"...we looked down through the pines and sea-fogs on Carmel Bay, it was evident that we had come without knowing it to our inevitable place."  Robinson Jeffers

I am lucky enough to work in one of the most beautiful places in the world. This is not the view from my office window but all I have to do is stroll outside and I'm in an enchanted courtyard bordered by the roaring sea.

Today was one of those days where I was drawn outside for a breath of fresh salt air. The sky was unbelievably blue, which is rare because it's often shrouded in fog, and it was all I could do to go back inside to crunch more numbers.

Where is this magical place? Stay tuned, I'll tell you more.

what I love

A couple of times a week I drive from my office to the post office in town to pick up the mail. I have to do this because I work in a town that has no mail delivery. I think it's unique, we might be the only town in the US without mail delivery and it's an interesting story but I'll save that for another time. The point of today's story is what I see on my drive into town.

Isn't she beautiful?

I pass this amazing truck every couple of days and I drool over it every dang time. One day I just had to pull over, get out and snap a few pictures. I love the shape, the color, the era appropriate trunk in the back...I love it all!

The truck...I've nicknamed her Ethel...is a Studebaker which is a blast from the past kind of name for me. When I was a little whippersnapper my mother drove a Studebaker. I don't actually remember the car, I was too young, but I remember hearing my parents talk about it and I always thought the name was funny.

 

Look at those whitewall tires, isn't that just too cool? Why did those things ever go out of style? I totally want a car with whitewalls one day. Yeah, yeah, I know they're a pain to keep clean and all that but just look at them!

Ethel makes me smile. Sometimes I have to take a different route into town, because of the eternal construction going on around town, and I feel a pang when I realize that I missed out on a chance to hang with Ethel. She's one of the things I love.

The road to Cachagua

Every once in a while you have a moment that changes the course of your life. A few months ago I had one of those moments and it's all because of brunch.  All the best moments of my life involve food.

My boss invited us out to brunch at a new (to us) place - Cachagua General Store. This place, in the middle of freakin' nowhere, is unlike any place I've ever been. Gourmet food in a rather laid-back atmosphere. Cachagua (that's Ca SHAU wa) is a life-changing experience and not just because the road to get there is a treacherous, winding mountain path that makes me want to throw up just thinking about it.

See that red shack behind the sign? That's the restaurant. When we pulled up in the (dirt) parking lot I felt as if we'd driven through a time warp and stepped back into the '70s and I'm pretty sure I heard Dueling Banjos playing in the background. I was instantly fascinated and a little bit scared of this strange place. It's the kind of place that has beat up VW vans (complete with flower power stickers) parking alongside high-end BMWs and Mercedes. It's quirky and funky and a little out there...and that's just the outside.

Doesn't this say award-winning gourmet hot spot to you? But you should see their Yelp reviews. If you ever want to eat there, keep in mind that it's only open for brunch on Sunday and dinner on Monday. Any other day of the week, you're out of luck. Remember, I did say it was quirky.

The eclectic interior doesn't disappoint. Please note the restaurant dogs that just hang out in the dining room with you.

Take a close look at the "curtains" - they are actually paper drawings of curtains, it's like eating inside your favorite cartoon.

The food was pretty amazing, it lived up to the hype.

But how, you ask, could a simple brunch change your life?

It's all because of the clothes, my darlings

Of course I had to buy something new for this outing. Duh. Drawing inspiration from the hippy-chic atmosphere of the restaurant,  I found a cute, hippy/bohemian ivory babydoll top - so perfect! To this I added a crocheted sweater that I already had in my closet. All this hippy on the top needed the perfect embroidered jeans.

 

 

 

Cute, right? In keeping with the boho theme, I decided not to spend hours straightening my hair and let it curl the way it's always wanted to.

I put all this together and BAM - I felt like a new person. I loved the ruffles on my babydoll top, I loved my wavy hair, loved, loved, loved my jeans. I felt like me for the first time. I felt like a free spirit, creative, bohemian, wild-child. My new inner attitude must have shown on the outside too because complete strangers came up to me in the parking lot to tell me how much they loved my style. Um, wow.

That was such a great moment, I've worn the same outfit every day for the last six months. Ok, that's not really true (thank goodness) but I have refigured my wardrobe to reflect my new creative, hippy, boho, shabby chic, vintage cowgirl self. To be totally honest, some days are more successful than others. Creativity is a journey, I guess. All this creativity is spilling over into the house and garden although they are a long-term work in progress. It's really exciting to see where that will lead.

Cachagua will live forever in my dreams....because you're never getting me on that wickedly, winding road with the hairpin turns and sheer drops ever again.

Style

 

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As 3 of my favorite fellows would say - you've either got or you haven't got it.

I like to think I have a style. I don't really follow current fashion but I adore retro/vintage looks and I try to buy only classic styles of clothing that look like they could have been found at a local vintage store. I would buy vintage but there just isn't a lot of it in my size so I have to make do with what's out in the stores. Sometimes it isn't easy, some seasons I hate everything I see but usually, with a lot of patience, I can find the one gem in a sea of crap.

Some years I'm really lucky and vintage is IN so there's a lot out there that appeals to me. Of course then the contrary part of me kicks in and grumbles about trends and looking like everyone else out there. Part of style, for me, is being just different enough so that I don't look like I'm following the crowd.

All this stylishness can be a lot of work. I actually have to think about what I wear in the morning. Some days I leave behind a pile of discarded clothing on the floor because the outfit I originally planned to wear looked better in my head than it did on my body. I suppose it would be easier to throw on a boxy t-shirt and sweat pants but I just can't imagine walking around like that all day so I keep trying things on until I get a look that makes me smile.

To each his own, I'm not telling anybody else what to do (although I'd dearly love to) but, for me, it's worth the extra time it might take and I thoroughly enjoy any compliments that come my way. I know I'm doing something right when I hear words like elegant, cute and fun.

So, because stylish stuff is a big part of my life, from time to time I'm going to write about clothing and accessories I've found that fit into my style. I hope you'll like them too and maybe it'll inspire.

You've either got or you haven't got style - I know which side I want to be on!