I Enjoy Being A Girl!

Yes, indeed - I do enjoy being a girl! :)  Thanks to BB&W poster Capt. Smooth for sharing this vintage gem.  He thinks it would make a good theme song for yours truly!

Nancy Kwan - I Enjoy Being A Girl

Flower Drum Song (1961)

Mary Ellen

Vintage Yard Sale Find - General Electric World Wide Travel Iron

With my Momma still on the mend, I've taken over the laundry duties.  As you can imagine with a family of six, laundry is quite the undertaking!  I didn't realize how spoiled I was to have someone taking care of the laundry for me :)

We've also missed having crisply ironed dress shirts, dresses and slacks.  My Momma really is an expert when it comes to ironing!  I don't have anywhere near the amount of ironing skills or experience, but I've taken up this homecaring task as well.  To help me along, my sweet husband bought me this cute vintage iron at a yard sale.  It's a General Electric World Wide Travel Iron, that works as a spray, steam or dry iron.  It came with the original box, manual and all the extras including adapters should I find myself ironing abroad! I was a little apprehensive at first, due to its age.  But, it works perfectly - a great starter iron :)  



It's funny, when I was a teenager, I would unfold the jeans my Momma had carefully ironed and creased to make them look, well not so neat.  Now, the rough dried look doesn't seem so appealing!

Mary Ellen

Wives with Beehives

Last night while flipping through the channels, I came across a special on TLC called "Wives with Beehives". The special will be aired again tonight (12/28) at midnight on TLC (set your DVRs!). If you haven't watched it yet and don't want to be spoiled, you might want to stop reading now :) Based on the title alone, it totally sounded like something I had to watch! The special focused on four ladies living very 1950s lifestyles. Not only in the way they dressed, but their homes and other aspects of their lives. Of course, I loved, loved, loved their dresses, gloves, hats, hair, makeup and cute retro furnishings! I also found myself in agreement with the ladies about the appeal of the 1950s way of life. It was a time of more traditional roles, with men as the providers and women caring for the homes. It may sound strange to some that as a working woman, I would prefer a time when few women worked outside of the home. But, even within my very modern life, our home and mindset is very traditional. My focus is always homeward, hence the tagline, "Celebrating the domestic side of working motherhood".

Of course, it wouldn't be a reality show without some drama! When a new member joined the scene, it brought out some cattiness from one of the other ladies. But, as one of the ladies stated, living the 1950s lifestyle doesn't make you a perfect angel! I enjoyed the show and hope it returns as a series instead of just a one-time special. It would also be great to see not just this group of ladies, but others who live varying degrees of the 50's lifestyle. Or maybe others living in different decades.

ETA:  One of the ladies that appeared on "Wives with Beehives", Dollie DeVille, has written about her experiences filming the show.  And they were not pleasant at all!  It's a shame because I would have enjoyed watching the ladies lives as they are without any drama or fabricated storylines. 

Did you watch the show last night? What were your thoughts? 

 Mary Ellen

Vintage Pillbox Hat

Vintage Pillbox Hat 

from SuzAnna's Antiques

I have a love for vintage and vintage-inspired, if you couldn't already tell!  So, I'm always excited to make a trip to SuzAnna's Antiques to browse all their wonderful treasures.  I literally want to buy the entire store.  But for now, my budget only allows for vintage hats!  My recent purchase, a navy blue, straw pillbox hat with a pearl and rhinestone brooch on the top.  So simple, yet so cute!      

Here's me with my new hat and my navy Ruby Rox retro dress

And Ashleigh took this picture of me with my hat as I was on my way to the farmer's market.  Got lots of compliments on the hat and dress from the other market patrons and vendors!

Mary Ellen

My New {Old} Hat! Vintage Straw Hat with Veil

Please excuse the fuzziness of some of the photos.  My photographer is only 9!  This is the vintage blue straw hat with veil I bought a few weeks ago at SuzAnna's Antiques.  I LOVE my "new" vintage hat and can't wait to add more!  Hats, gloves and accessories seem to be an affordable way to add a little vintage to one's wardrobe.

Side view of the hat and veil

The bow on the back of the hat

I love putting on my hat and gloves and going out to do my grocery shopping or running errands with Dave and the children.  I've received a lot of compliments about the hat, particularly from older gentlemen.  Most men enjoy seeing a woman dressed in a feminine manner.  But for the older gentlemen, there seems to be a bit of nostalgia in seeing the hat, gloves and pearls.  A reminder of sweeter days gone by!

Mary Ellen

Weekend Yard Sale Find - Vintage Fairbanks Scale

Last Saturday morning, Dave and the boys got up early and went out together on a yard sale adventure!  At a local church yard sale, Dave picked up this old Fairbanks doctors scale for $10.   

Despite its age, the sliders still work. 

The Fairbanks stamp on the foot pad.

While at the yard sale, the boys found some treasures of their own!  Clayton & Reed used their allowances to buy these Army helmets for $1 each.  Here's Clay in his camo.

And Reedy in his Captain America costume with helmet!  My cute little soldier boys!

Have A Great Weekend Y'all!

Mary Ellen

Weekend Vintage Finds - SuzAnna's Antiques

Over the weekend, Dave and I took a little excursion - sans kids - to visit SuzAnna's Antiques at The Vintage Village on Durant Road in Raleigh.  SuzAnna's is a shabby chic, vintage lover's dream!  So many beautiful treasures!  If I had the money, I would have bought the entire store LOL!  But this time, I came away with just two small vintage items.  A blue, straw hat with bow and veil and a pair of white day gloves.  Hats and gloves are on my list of vintage items I want to collect.  I can't wait to go back to see what other goodies I can find.  I spotted a vintage scale I would love to have in my kitchen.  Next time, it's coming home with me!

Mary Ellen   

Ashleigh's First Vintage Dress

My Momma has been doing a bit of Spring cleaning lately.  She's been going through her walk-in closet and removing any clutter and organizing the items she wants to keep.  During her excavations yesterday, she came across a couple dresses of mine from when I was a little girl.  Ashleigh quickly laid claim to a pink dress with puffed sleeves and white pinafore.  She's expressed a desire to wear more dresses (like mother, like daughter!).  So, Ashleigh's Spring dress collection will start out with an actual 1980's "vintage" dress.  Isn't it crazy the 80's are considered vintage now?  I feel so old!

    

Ashleigh with her kitten Kiss-Kiss

My Momma also found one of my most treasured dresses from when I was a little girl.  My Alice in Wonderland dress from Disney World!  For a time, my oldest sister lived in Florida.  On one of our visits down to see her, we went to Disney and bought this dress while there.  The pinafore has the white rabbit with his watch embroidered on the front.  I still remember getting my picture taken in this dress.  With my black, patent leather Mary Jane, block-heeled shoes and two, long side ponytails hanging down by my face.  I felt like a princess! 

Mary Ellen