Madame Butterfly

This morning, we went to the Missouri Butterfly House. It's only about 20 minutes from my house and I've never been there before! It was incredible. The butterfly conservatory holds over 2,000 butterflies. Seeing them all flying freely throughout the conservatory was one of the most magical things I've ever seen. Right now, they're showcasing the blue morphos which come out in March. There were so many stunningly beautiful species everywhere I looked! Here are just a few of the pretties that we captured with the camera:






Before going into the conservatory, we had fun checking out all of the insect species that they had on display. I used to be a receptionist for an exterminator. I hated the job but I loved learning about all of the bugs! While eating my lunch, I'd often have crazy people come into my office, throwing tupperware dishes full of various spiders, bedbugs and roaches on my desk for me to identify, so bugs don't freak me out...but if you're grossed out by bugs, beware of the next picture!! :)
Here's my husband, Pj being eaten alive by hissing cockroaches!! Eeeeeeeek!


The butterfly conservatory was scorching hot and very humid but there were lots of happy little butterflies! One of them flew right in front of Olivia's face!



They have hundreds of cocoons on display every day so you can always see a butterfly emerging, which is amazing to see! Olivia seemed to really enjoy it even though she's just a little peanut. I think that she'll have a blast once she's older!

I'm an avid scrapbooker so we always take LOTS of pictures of Olivia out and about and around town!





After the Butterfly House, we decided to go out to the St. Louis Science Center. Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures from that adventure!
Blouse-thirfted
skirt-thrifted
shoes-target

The Price of Dignity

It was the Christmas of 1968 and Mandy was in college in Kirksville Missouri, expecting for first child, a girl. Her and her husband, Bob lived in a tiny apartment and had about $20 for a Christmas tree, decorations and presents that year. While out shopping, Mandy fell in love with a some tiny bird ornaments. The shop only had about 4 cellophane bags with 3 birds per bag. The tag on the bag was the right price for her pocket-$1 so she snatched them up. At the checkout, the cashier was a snotty old broad. She took one look at the thrifty college girl and said "You do realize that the price is per bird don't you?" but Mandy rolled her eyes, looked down her nose in the same manner as the bitchy cashier and said in her most confident tone "Oh, absolutely! Ring them up!" and she bought them all. When she left the store, she looked at her husband and said "Oh, god- you won't believe what just happened!" Of course, she actually thought the the price was per bag! The young college couple went home with decorations but no tree. Bob was a painter, so they pulled out his old wooden easel and decorated it with the little birds, some of which had little walnut nests that Mandy had made. With the small amount of money they had left, Mandy and Bob bought a little brownie camera to take pictures of the baby, who was born in February. To this day, she says that woman probably over-charged her just to be mean but she couldn't let snobbery get the best of her, no matter what the price was. So, while I help my grandma find places on the tree for the delicate little birds for Christmas, she always tells me about how she spent all of the money they had on those little things but that mean old woman didn't have the satisfaction of insulting her financial situation! I've found myself in that position on several occasions, especially while thrifting. Often times, items aren't marked or the cashier says that it was mis-shelved but I never let snobbery get the best of me either and I always remember my grandma. I bought this awesome trench coat from Goodwill yesterday for $20. In a store, I would have paid $20 but it was way too much for Goodwill but when they guy said "Did you see that this is marked "19.99" I said "yes, that's awesome!" It's like a genetic reflex, I guess!






On a side note, I am shocked by Goodwill's new high prices. I've seen stained shirts for $8, ratty old shoes for $12, moth eaten sweaters for $6 and so on. I remember shopping at Goodwill just months ago and being able to buy shoes for $3! You can buy brand new items for the prices that they charge! Low-income families all over the country depend on affordable Goodwill prices to clothe their families. While the "new poor" think they're getting deals because they're used to shopping at Macy's, us thrift store shoppers know that the price -isn't- right! Has anyone else noticed an increase in prices and decrease in quality or is it just me?
Jacket-Goodwill
Atomic print blouse-thrifted
Skirt-thrifted
Shoes-Charlotte Russe

Friday Night Fashion and a Movie: The Notebook

The Notebook by _♥ LetMeDoIt ♥_ featuring French Connection dresses

The Notebook by ».kєη∂α∫∫∂957 ♥ featuring H&M dresses

Oh, my gosh! I forgot it was friday! Here's this week's Friday Night Fashion and a Movie: The Notebook starring the gorgeous Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. I love this movie. Every time it's on Oxygen, I have to watch it! The Notebook is the story of summer love and teenage rebellion. When Allie Hamilton meets Noah Calhoun, she can't stand him but after being forced to go on a date, she feels freedom and passion for the first time in her life. After her parents intervene and move Allie away, she becomes engaged to a richer man but her love for Noah never fades.
Not only does the notebook have beautiful 1940's costuming but the hair is amazing! hairstylists who also worked on movies such as Catch me if you Can, Girl interrupted, Chicago, Iron Jawed Angels and Big Fish showcased their amazing talents in The Notebook.
Costumes-Karyn Wagner
Hair- Coni Andress, Dale Brownell, Milton Buras
For next week's Friday Night Fashion and a Movie: Mona Lisa Smile

flower dress-# $43 - frenchconnection.com
3/4 Sleeve Crop Cardigan - Wet Seal
Yves Saint Laurent black patent leather 'Lauren' platform pumps-Bluefly.com
blue dress-hm.com
blue buckle pumps-modcloth.com
Pretty Fan Jacquard Jewellery Roll-monsoon.co.uk

The 3:00 AM Blouse

I've been such a slacker! Due to late night insanity with my baby, I've been too tired to be inspired, so to go with the theme of the week, I give you the 3:00 am blouse:

Multiple choice, choose from the answers below:

I call this the 3:00AM Blouse because
a.) I went club hopping and wore this blouse out till 3:00AM
b.) I went to an early bird sale and bought this blouse at 3:00AM
c.) Olivia woke the whole house up one night and since I couldn't get back to sleep, I sewed this blouse at 3:00AM

If you guessed C you are correct!

Oh, yea! She woke up around 1am and my husband, Pj got up with her. After many diaper changes, feeding her, trying some tylenol since she's cutting teeth, etc. she still wouldn't calm down. So I got up to give him a hand. After about an hour, we got her to fall back asleep in front of the dishwasher in her swing (works almost every time!). Of course, by then, we were both wide awake, so I popped in Pulp Fiction and we curled up on the couch so we could keep an eye on the snorning stinker in the kitchen. He fell asleep soon after and I stayed up till about 5:00AM sewing this blouse and a matching skirt and craving a "Royale with cheese". The skirt still isn't done yet but I figured I'd post pics of my early morning adventures! It's funny, some of my best sewing is done late at night, or early in the morning in this case. Needless to say, once I finally did get back to sleep, I pretty much slept the day away!

Vintage-esque Charlotte Russe

For those of you who read my "Pin Curls the Sequel" post, we ended up seeing Sherlock Homles on our date night and I LOVED it! Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr in one movie? How can a girl say no?! It was smart, funny, action packed, Rachel McAdams was drop dead gorgeous as always and the costumes were designed by the exquisite Jenny Beavan. For those of you who are unfamiliar with her, The Divine Madame Beavan designed for The Black Dahlia, Cassanova, Ever After, Tea with Mussolini, Anna and the King (1999), Emma, Sense and Sensibility, oh- the list goes on and on....*swoon* what a fab job she did! Anyway, we had to go to the mall to see it because my nearest theater wasn't showing it anymore. While over there, I popped into Hot Topic and picked up these adorable glasses! Hot Topic of all places! You can grab yourself up a pair online here

The theater is right next to Charlotte Russe (my favorite store when I was about 17) and I was drawn in like a beetle to a light bulb by some glorious shoes! It made me think of the Barenaked Ladies song "If I had a Million Dollars." As I drooled all over some of their newest Spring fashions, I hummed the tune to myself "If I had a million dollars, I'd buy this whole store!"

I know, the mall is the last place a vintage gal usually buys her clothes but seriously, how cute are these?! I love the fabric flower details and spring-like colors! The place was blooming with polka dots and nautical stripes and light airy scarves and skirts.
Here are a few items from the Charlotte Russe "Loveboat" collection:





These are from the "Scout" collection:





And a few rompers, which could be super cute if you found a similar colored wrap skirt to match!:

Friday Night Fashion and a Movie: Julie and Julia

This movie makes me so hungry! Hungry for food and fashion! I saw Julie and Julia over the summer when it was in theaters and just loved it! It's funny, it's sad, it's sweet and above all it's about a girl, her passion and...a blog! In 1948, Julia Child and her husband, Paul moved to France, where Julia studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu. Julia Child was extremely tall, even by today's standards, which just goes to show you that even when you aren't the ideal womanly shape or stature in the 40's and 50's, you can still look (and be) fabulous! One word of warning, though- make sure to have some sort of sinful and divine snacky type thing or else you'll be running up the street for some gas station cheesecake! If you're interested, you can read Julia Powell's real blog here (kudos to me, thats the first time I've gotten a link in text to work!!) Tune in for next week's Friday Night Fashion and a Movie: The Notebook.
Do you have a favorite vintage-inspired movie? Leave a comment with the title below to see it featured on Va-Voom Vintage's Friday Night Fashion and a Movie.
p.s. And thank you to the real Julie Powell who was one of my inspirations for starting my own blog!

Pin Culrs: The Sequel

Thank you to all of my wonderful readers for advice and suggestions for pin curls. I'm a newbie pin-curler but with a little help and vegging out in front of you tube, I think I have it figured out! Tonight is weekly date night for Pj and I, so I did some pin curls this afternoon and after some brushing out and styling, here's how it turned out! Again, more practice and then I'll post a tute for my fellow pin-curling newbies!

Don't you love this dress? We'll, it's actually a two-piece skirt and blouse! I picked this gem up from a sweet little lady on etsy. Check out her fab shop, Such a Deal- nothing over $15 and she has some great stuff with amazing prices at her other shop

Oh, this hat is the very first vintage hat that I ever bought! I used to work with adults with developmental disabilities and every year, we had a tea party to invite friends and family to dress up and have lots of yummy foods,and visit the day program that I worked for. I wore this hat for my first tea party!

So, here I am, dolled up for a date with my hubby (he hates when I call him "hubby" so I don't do it often). We're finally going to go see Sherlock Holmes, just have to get the peach ready to go hang out with her Grannie!

Dress- suchadeal on etsy
hat- Alton IL shop (forgot the name!)
gloves- (same shop as the hat)
shoes- thrifted 2 date nights ago!
brooch-thrifted

Pin Curls Gone Very Wrong!

I've never tried pin curls but have heard rave reviews about them. They seemed easy enough: take some hair, wrap it around your finger, pin to your head without twisting it...easy, right? WRONG!!!!
Pin curls are taking over my head! I didn't expect them to work as well as they did. I made sure that my hair was wet so the curl would work and I put in small curls because my hair doesn't tend to work well with big chunky curls. I slept in them (VERY comfy) and took them out around noon today. Wow- I look like a clown! So, lessons learned: do it on dry hair, use bigger chunks of hair on top, don't do the curls too high on my head, do bigger curls!Once I experiment more and get the hang of doing it the right way, I'll post a tutorial so you don't end up looking like me!! :)
I don't know, though- maybe it's so wrong that it's right?