Ode to my thrifting passion

Like Al Hoff,of Thrift Score, my absolute favorite place to pursue vintage goodies, is the Thrift Store.
When I was still a teen it was all about vintage clothes,prom gowns,cowboy boots, Audrey Hepburn dresses, hand painted Mexican skirts,tooled leather and lace, anything lacey. When I began living alone, I began my love affair with 50's lamps and kitschy knickknacks. Believe me when I tell you I have owned more than one aluminum X-mas tree.
When I married, I wore a fabulous gown,with magnificent alencon lace from the 60's. My oh so creative mother, helped me deconstruct it into a perfect, of the moment bridal gown. Cost? 29.95. My tragically hip oldest angel even says she wants to wear it on her special day. For my beautiful,husband,I found his white and yellow gold wedding band from the 50's at the same place for 40 dollars! Ah me ,good old T-Towne Ft.Worth. My thrifting habit grew so out of control, I had to get a booth in an antique mall. I might have broken even, but really it was just my thrifting warehouse, my excuse to thrift even more. Alas the halcyon days of thrifting,were not to last forever. Life in the thrift lane was becoming picked over. So its' a good thing we moved to the midwest! Indianapolis, not as much theatre, but wow were the thrift stores brimmin', and now I had a basement! In Indy it seems all you had to do was announce to the universe you had decided to collect donkeys pulling wagons and suddenly you had a collection big enough to fill your window sill.
We have long since moved back to Dallas, and I still miss those thrift stores. An opportunity for a visit to Indy has arisen. So I shall be gone for a bit but back with lots of yummy thrifted booty.
Heres a question, what is your most amazing thrifted treasure, and what is the object you most regret leaving behind , in a thrift store?

50's lamps

50's lamps have long been my absolute favorite home accessory.Furniture has come and gone, but my lamps will always be a part of my decorating personality. There is something about the anthrapomorphic yumminess of a classic 50's kitsch lamp that I just can't get enough of. I do however, have one rule of accquisition. Living in a 2000 sq. ft. home, I absolutely must have the perfect spot for the lamp.
Well, yippee ki yo ,the time for a shopping excursion has come at last!
My husband and I recently took the plunge and bought a classic Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman. My husband and I are an interesting combo. He's a little bit classic minimalist and I'm a little bit 50's tchotske kitsch. Where we meet in the middle ,creates a decorating style uniquely ours. Our Eames chair needs a floor lamp beside it. I am off on a lamp hunt!

WIP Friday

Heres a little project for my littlest flower blossom. She begins Preschool in the fall. I can't believe my baby is that old, so ofcourse it's an oppurtunity for a fashion moment!
All the materials are thrifted,with the dress being the most expensive item at about 2 bucks. My poor babe, 90% of her clothes are from the thrift store, which is why I try to spruce em' up.
This project will only take a wee bit of time , but I gotta run. Crooked Halo, is hosting a slumber party for her "Cats " buddies. Tonight I will be serenaded with songs from Rent, Wicked,and from the Barbra Streisand ouvre, good thing I'm a musical theatre nerd.

The Little Girl With The Curl

I have lately shared so much about my oldest ten year old treasure, but here she is,my three year old baby, the little girl with the little curl right in the middle of her forehead.
You may remember the poem, how when she was good she was very good,but when she was bad... she was horrid. Yep, thats my girl right down to her delectably subversive blue fingernails.
Speaking of blue. Blue sunblock seems like such a good idea, that is until my Noli gets a hold of it and dumps it on the ONLY carpeted area in the house. Sure, blue sunblock disappears on the skin, but NOT on the carpet. My little girl with the curl, then looks up at me with those blue eyes and says," Mommy, I very love you."
The time has come for a room redecoration. I'll be keeping most of the goodies , but using more pink.That request , ofcourse, from the princess herself. The doll dresses were made by both her grandma and great gran, the table and chairs, mine when I was little. These are the before shots. I hope she "very loves" the after!"

Meow Mix Part Deux

This weekend I fought the ravages of the Texas sun by being a theatre vampire.While others were out playing in the park or the pool , I was in a dark, dank, and dusty theatre applying cat faces.Note the make-up change , also there was no 3 year old on my hip while I was applying it. I now speak Jellicle the way trekkies speak Klingon.
My precious child played Jellylorum, in Cats. If you've seen Cats,and who hasn't except me until Ruby's involvement, she sings "Gus the theatre cat ".
Well, my angel with the crooked halo, she kicked some major kitty booty !
As far as the theatre vampire comment goes, I have to confess,theres no place I would rather be. Here I go, outing myself as the musical theatre nerd that I am. This was a very special and emotional experience for me.
To see my child so beautiful, graceful, and comfortable on stage, it reminds me why, in many ways, the Theatre is my church.
At it's base, the theatre is our mirror. It's all of us. The theatre is never exclusive. For me, right before I go on stage is the closest I feel to my Creator. Because suddenly I am the vessel of a truthful message, I am filled with creativity,and yes, I get all this from a bunch of kids in cat make-up.

Meow

This weekend I shall spend being a make-up artist for my daughters production of Cats.The previous sentence, is one I never dreamed I would write.

Heirlooms and Thrift store goodies

Thrifting has long fed my creative soul ( more of an ode to my love of thrifting later).When I
was little I thought of beautiful vintage items as pretty "old fashioned" things,and was mostly drawn to sparkley evening bags, rhinestone jewelry, and delicate embroidery and applique. When my fabulous and spunky grandma left this world, thankfully my sister grabbed a sackfull of vintage linens with handwork done by my grandma herself. Vintage linens were always on my mental thrifting list, but I never knew what to do with them until my first daughter was born. I decided a wardrobe as unique as she was, was needed. So I chose denim as the canvas and combined my grandmas work with thrifted goodies. I was smart enough to ration my heirlooms out and my favorite piece, the little appliqued cook, gets to pay tribute to my Grandma on her youngest great-grand child.

Decoupage Spice

In my former life, as a broadcast actress,I once went to an audition,where the casting director ask me which Spice Girl I would be? Yeah it was that long ago. Without hesitation I replied,"Decoupage Spice". The C.D. giggled and ask why. Well my answer remains the same,I'm a singin', dancin', artsy-craftin' ,kinda girl.
My absolute favorite medium is, collage, of the decoupage variety. I still can't throw out a magazine without making sure I have picked it clean of any cool images.I have a rather large clear box in my closet filled with these "magazine fossils".
Yep, I got in there today to work on something special for my littlest flower blossom. For my oldest daughter, I created a special overnight bag from a vintage suitcase, and images from thrifted doll magazines, when she was 4. Well, now my 3 year old wants her own "goin' to grammas" bag. So I got down to the business of decoupaging today. What fun! Oh yeah I was NOT cast in the coffee commercial or whatever it was. Casting Directors !!??

Harajuku-a-go-go

My clever 10 year old angel, the one with the crooked halo,has always had some truly unique interests. When she was 3 years old, did she watch Sesame Street? No, she planned her naps around japanese anime, namely, Sailor Moon. In 3rd grade she decided for Halloween, she would be a goth girl, so she created a character, Ruby-Saphire. Last Halloween, she was the Seven Deadly Sins all at once. Lately she doesn't understand why a mohawk would be a disruptive hairstyle for school.
So ofcourse birthday season around the dream pagoda is buzzin' with ideas. Previous years have included, That 70's Whats Your Sign?, and last years,Project Birthday Runway(among the challenges,was the grocery store challenge's, innovation, with Barbie dolls).This year, she has been into japanese street style. You know the crazy-cool kaliedoscopic styles worn in Tokyos Harajuku shopping district. She was given a Fruits book a couple of years ago, and has been burstin' with color and funk ever since.
It was only natural to have a Harajuku-a-go-go celebration for her recent 10th birthday.Actually a great theme, but how does one go about instructing other little girls in the Harajuku style? Well we came up with a set of rules, as a suggestion, ofcourse.Things like, think Cindy Laupers distant cousin. We also suggested sites to do a little on-line research.These little girls took these suggestions and ran with them. I was able to do the sushi cupcakes as 1st shown by Jinjur (yep they couldn't be stickier!)I later explored the sushi cupcake thang even further at Not Martha.Thanks girls ,see we really are a community. For a craft the girls created Harajuku style neclaces. We realy used everything but the kitchen sink, or atleast every litle toy from the dollar store.Babydolls,toy cars, tiny animals and that black plastic cord, among lots of other flotsam and jetsom. We down loaded lots of music, Puffyamiyumi,Shonen Knife, Turning japanese,and Alphavilles, Big in Japan. The goodie bags were filled with chopstix,hello kitty bandaids, japanese candy,sailor moon stickers, and lots of funky little girl barrettes from the dollar store. My husband shot video and edited DVD's to go with the thank yous. Now the question is how do we top this for next year?

All about Morgana

Monday night I actually had a date with my hubbie.The girls went to my mothers, and we started the evening with sushi.Now I loves me some sushi,so what a great start to a memorable evening. We were off to see my bestus friend Morgana in her new show, All About Bette,a new play about Bette Davis,by L.A. playwright Camilla Carr.
Morgana is no ordinary best freind. She's the type that has thrown me exotic Deep Ellum roof top wedding AND baby showers.She's the type thats in the room when your babies are born. She spends X-mas Eve with us, and is truly a member of the family.
Morgana is no ordinary actress. She navigates live theatre, and cheesy movies of the week, both with ease,but can you imagine the look on this actresses face after saying yes to the casting call that cast her as the iconic Bette Davis,... in a one woman show? Panic, fear, trepidation even? Well my freinds, Morgana is no ordinary woman,she's got Bette Davis eyes,you see.
This is quite a performance.Certainly nothing like anything seen lately in Big D.For two hours she becomes this legend,makes us understand this woman,makes us love her.My dear freind pours her heart and soul into this once in a lifetime piece,and I got to be there opening night.

Getting the hang of this.

I guess I've been reading blogs for about 2 months and it's such fun,but I was wondering,is there an etiquette for sharing links ?

Do you ask permission,or is it just considered a form of virtual flattery? Not that I'm savy enough to do that yet ,but I will learn.

Recently 2 adorable sites that I truly admire,My house is cuter than yours ,and Petula darling ,coincidentally shared their kitchens. I love cute kitchens. So maybe we should all share our kitchens.So much nurturing for our family comes from this magic place.A place where wishes are brewed. Heres some shots from mine.

A peek inside

To blog or not to blog?

Why should I share my stories? I have been inspired and intrigued and am ready to push my technoligcal boundaries beyond my wildest limits. I love my life and I can tell so many of you do too! Who knew staying at home with kids would have exceeded my free-spirited hearts most amazing dreams. I want to leave virtual proof for my little angels ,that my family and freinds do indeed rule my world! In a good way ofcourse,plus I can't wait to post for x-mas. If you have Dec. archives you can bet I've been lurking there .Aw heck why wait for December ,heres a little X-mas past.

Here I go !

I feel like that Hollywood starlet in the twenties , Peg Entwhistle ,that jumped off the Hollywood Land sign. Here I go free fallin' into Blog World. I am so not computer literate, but if you will forgive me grammar errors and spelling snaffoos, I promise I will try to chronicle all the quirky beauty and banality that transforms everyday life into art.