I'm thankful

Though I got to go home for a nice long Thanksgiving weekend, it made me miss having family around even more. I spent the majority of my time between my mom's family and our large group and my fiance's family. I also squeezed in dinner on Saturday night with my dad and his girlfriend. They're really made for eachother, as far as I can tell. 

Other developments include finally getting one of my skirts hemmed so it was wearable and finding my first peignoir set, a peachy confection, in an antique shop I frequent. A very proud day for my little hometown, Thanksgiving was. If anyone was watching the Macy's parade, the first Oregon band to be invited to the parade in over 10 years was from my town. They really did a wonderful job and my family was gathered around the television cheering for them. 

There are only two more weeks (dead week and finals week) here at my university, so I don't have to wait long to go home. If only I had more time to figure out Christmas gifts for my family and new festive beverage to whip up- both quite a conundrum this year.

A Winter Romance

I am in a love/hate relationship with the snow that has been falling through last night and today. I’m all twitterpated over this! It's been a happy day, mainly because I could wear my fluffy fox fur earmuffs. It’s also been lovely to watch the grounds of my campus being covered in the first chilly blanket of white I’ve seen in a while, but I have so many things to do for classes. My procrastinating has been at an all time high this short week, and especially higher than last week, where I really tried to stay on top of my studies. Last week left me exhausted, but I sure did get a lot of things done.

Thursday night and the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 was the high point of my week. This was only my 2nd midnight showing experience, and my group definitely had the most fun I could have imagined. We dressed up, danced, sang, and generally annoyed those surrounding us with quotes from A Very Potter Musical. Back to the movie: It was everything I expected and some more, but a lot of people seemed to be surprised when it ended in the place it did, but I thought that was the only sensible spot to stop... *spoiler* POOR DOBBY! 

I also got out of my dorm room all day Saturday to attend a dance team competition. Boy was that an uncomfortable day! I spent literally the entire day at West Albany high school watching and videotaping team after team. If no one else besides my immediate family knows, I’m a dance team enthusiast and am very determined when I attend competitions. There’s still that dream in the back of my mind of being involved with dance team as a coach or manager one day. I have the skills and the knowhow, really! 

Oh my, I'm rambling and I do hope that someday someone could invent a cure, but it seems to be a natural human state. This human believes so, at least. It has stopped snowing for good seemingly, and it's acceptable, because I'm driving home for Thanksgiving tomorrow and I'd rather not kill myself, my roommate, and her boyfriend on our way home. 

I do wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and a safe trip if you're having to travel to make it to your family!

A wonderful day of thrifting

Last Friday, my only class was cancelled, so I took the entire day to do something I don't do enough: Go thrifting and antiquing!

Now, there are some really cute places around Corvallis loaded with stuff, but there are some real busts too. My favorites: Buckingham Palace (Corvallis), The OSU Thrift Store (Corvallis), Beekman's Place Antique Mall (Corvallis), The Arc Resale (Philomath), and Vintage House Parts and Architectural Salvage (Philomath).

The only place of my favorites I didn't get to go on Friday was Beekman's, which is such an awful shame because I really wanted to look for some turn of the century holiday photos. Everywhere else, thank you for the amazing items!

Buckingham Palace was my first stop. It's owned by an adorable English woman who really knows how to use every nook and cranny of that little shop (I must be missing you, Diane!). Earlier in the year, I got my wonderful 1960's atomic orange coffee canister there and this trip did not disappoint either. I allowed my inner bookie to come out and purchased 3 separate books. 2 are manuals from 1949, McCall's Dressmaking made Easy and Smart Sewing and a modern book of music, I'll be seeing you, of 50 songs from the years of World War II. I'm very excited to learn Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy solidly.

After checking at The Cat's Meow (great name, but never has anything worthwhile), I made it to the OSU Thrift Store for the first time when I wasn't in a hurry. I picked up and put down a letter holder and key rack with a fat little owl 4 or 5 times before leaving him there. Among the spoils of victory were a periwinkle blue satin and nylon (the new wonder fiber!) dressing gown and 1/2 inch wide navy blue leather belt. Also, I found a Christmas gift for a certain family member. I hope they will appreciate it, because I think buying items that are secondhand, vintage, or antique is a wonderful strategy not only to save money but also to limit your impact on the environment.

Next, I headed over to the small town of Philomath were I lived shortly as a child to check out shops there. I found The Arc Resale and was pleasantly surprised by their selection of shoes. I ended up with 2 pairs (neither black) that fit properly and had shapes indicative of the 1940's and 50's with medium heel heights to match. I'd love to be able to buy vintage shoes, but there are a few problems. Firstly, I have very large feet, secondly, I do a lot of walking throughout the week around campus. I think footwear is one modern thing I will stick with. Once again, I also found a present for another family member here, something that I've been on the lookout for. The scoreboard goes as follows: Philomath Arc-1, Corvallis Arc-0.

The last place I had the energy to visit was also a new joint to me. When one sees a large building with metal siding that has large signs saying "Vintage House Parts" and "Architectural Salvage" and has any sense, they will search for a parking spot and ignore a full bladder to make the pilgrimage. I didn't end up getting anything here, but only for the simple reason that I could not find a place I could make parts of old houses work in my tiny dorm room. I've decided that this is going to be a gift to my mother when she comes up to see me in the spring. It's exactly the place that she belongs.

Whoo! To anyone who actually kept up with me through my rambling about shopping adventures, I salute you! Now, on to the actual responsibilities in my life. Gosh darn it, why can't this be my full time job?

Rockabilly Baby!

A new area of interest has opened up to me in the last few days, and I've become a little bit obsessed. I have been hearing the term in different places since last summer, but I had never delved into the actual lifestyle behind the word. Thanks to MaryDeluxe of DeluxeVille and a long ago post I found in her archives, I'm so interested in rockabilly now!

Rockabilly, in a nutshell, is a subculture that bloomed from the music style of the same name that is based in both country and rock and roll. From the music, other elements like personal style, cars, and interior design develop as a way to completely immerse oneself into a different time and lifestyle than that which is typically found today.

I can't explain it all, but a great site to check out is Rockabilly Revival which is good for a quick overview and some articles about rockabilly in the news. There's also a documentary on YouTube under the same name, and it's really chock full of fun little tidbits, but I'm not actually sure if the videos and site are related.

Now, I have to mention that my favorite part of the rockabilly style so far is.... THE HAIR! Both the guys and gals just look impeccable. I'm quite sure that if I was a guy I'd be sporting a pompadour ala Elvis.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas.

Yes, I know that Halloween just happened and I should be focusing on Thanksgiving, which is far closer than Christmas, but that doesn't keep me from dreaming of snow all around and wearing my fabulous fox fur earmuffs.

I must apologize for the week and a half delay in posting. I will not go into details, but I'll say that I was in a funk that I could not get out of, and I stopped being true to myself. It was due to this pit of despair I was sinking in, I had closed out my normal everyday ideas. So Tuesday when I spent hours baking and re-colored my hair late that night, I had a sudden return to a more upbeat state of mind. Wednesday morning was the first in awhile that I put my hair into victory rolls, donned a colorful skirt, stockings, pumps, and my coral necklace and earring set. In other words, I dressed. There's really a difference between putting on clothes and dressing, and personally, the two activities affect my mindset in different ways. Yesterday I went one step further and actually took the time to put my hair in rollers and starch the collar of my shirt. It's a good thing that I felt so put together, because I was forced to go on a wild goose chase to find the one theater in this college town that is showing the midnight premiere of Harry Potter, which almost wrecked my sanity.

Now, today is Friday on this sleepy campus and I fully want to relax this weekend in an array of soft sweaters while curled up chatting and watching movies with newfound friends. Some crochet and tea in there might be nice too.

Another thing to do this weekend is to restrain myself from getting more Christmas decorations to put up in my room. I only have one up, which is a giant red bow that had a bell I needed for Rocky Horror. The poor guy was just laying in my drawer with the plastic wrap and trash bags, so I rescued him (again!). The deciding factor for me was the fact that I was beginning to make up a song for him a la Percy the Puny Poinsettia, which is one of my most favorite Christmas songs. Alas, I cannot find it to add to the Christmas playlist I've been putting together online. I suppose Percy will only survive on my Christmas TAPE from around 1996. 

Tis the season to watch the hilarious antics of Danny Kaye in White Christmas, not to mention the fabulously leggy Vera Ellen. Can't overlook crooners Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby though!