Procession of young girls, c. 1915

Procession on Water Street and Princess, c. 1925

Marching Band, c. 1913

Saint Mary’s Star of the Sea Church, c. 1900

Since I was a past queen back in 1997, I was invited along with all other past queens to be in the parade.  I only participated in the parade from the church to the hall and didn’t get a “Past Queen” sash until after the parade was over, so I think a lot of people were confused as to what I was doing there all dressed up.  How could I be in a parade and NOT dress up fancy!?!?  But it was a lot of fun and now I have a “Past Queen” sash for all my Halloween and parade crashing needs!

1940s white gown: ebay
1930s blue ostrich feather capelet: Vintage Expo
white heels: MIA via Bunny’s Shoes, Santa Cruz
1960s purse, white parasol: thrifted
1950s sunglasses: a vintage store in Sacrament that has since closed
blue gloves: We Love Colors, via a blog giveaway

The cape on the far left was the one I wore in 1997.

In the late 13th century during a severe famine throughout Portugal, a compassionate Queen Isabel was determined to help her starving subjects.  Legend has it that during her efforts she was confronted by the very harsh King Diniz while crossing the royal courtyard with crown jewels (in some versions of the story it was bread) hidden in her cape.  The King asked the Queen what she was carrying, and she responded “roses” although it was mid-winter and none were blooming.  But when her cape was opened for the King’s inspection, the jewels had been miraculously converted to roses.  The miracle allowed the Queen to continue to sell her jewelry to feed the starving Portuguese population.

I’m glad that my family introduced me to such vibrant and fun cultural tradition.  Plus, the food is so good!

It’s nice to know that there’s a girl who lives 10 minutes away who is as excited about getting dressed up and having a picnic as I am.  The lovely Tina of Vintage Lovin’ Gal and I took advantage of the fine weather we’ve been having and had ourselves a little picnic.

Tucked away in the Berkeley hills is a park and a rose garden with beautiful far-off views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and Mt. Tam.

1940s dress, 1950s wicker parasol purse, 1950s sunglasses, white espadrilles: ebay
1940s magenta scalloped hat: Vintage Expo via vendor Vintage Blue Moon

And I had to ask Tina to take a picture of me looking like my head was a flower, like one of the singing roses in Alice in Wonderland.

It’s been beautiful in the Bay Area lately, and Sacramento reached 88 degrees a couple days ago!  Summer is so close and I’m ready.  I happened to find both this top and the handpainted circle skirt at the the same store, same trip – instant summer outfit perfection!
I’ve always wanted a handpainted circle skirt, but never found one affordable and in my size.  Shows that if you wait it’ll come to you eventually!  Ben and I talked about some trips we might be taking this summer.  Here’s to hoping we follow through!  Are you going on any travels this summer?

I think it’s safe to say I got this 50s pageboy hair thing down!   Although there’s always room for improvement!  Now I’m itching to conquer some 40s styles.

80s red crop top, 50s handpainted Mexican circle skirt: Moon Zoom Vintage, Santa Cruz
Wood heel sandals: Miz Mooz from a friend
Red bakelite bangles: ebay
silver ring, black fakelite clamper: thrifted
Music clef ring: made it myself
purse: from a blog giveaway
Guess glasses: freebie from Coastal Contacts

It is without a doubt the most beautiful place I have ever seen.  Tina of Vintage Lovin’ Gal and I decided to feather it up this time around.  I think the drama of feathers matched the film choice of the evening:

Tina is looking gorgeous wearing a 1960s green maribou feather shrug borrowed from my etsy shop stock (it’s not yet listed).   Hanging with Tina has made me want to UP MY HAIR GAME!  Seriously!  I had very little time to get ready, and I was going for a 40s updo, but damn, I just winged it and you can totally tell.  Ha ha!   So please, if anyone knows of any great vintage hair tutorials on youtube please send me the links.  I feel there are so many tutorials on youtube now that it can kind of be hard to find the gems.

On me:
1930s blue ostrich feather capelet: Vintage Expo via Crimson & Clover Vintage
40s brown dress with gold cording applique: Vintage Expo
Black heels: Bunny’s Shoes, Santa Cruz a long time ago
1950s vintage leopard print bag: ebay
light blue gloves w/sewed on stars: Fashion Forestry giveaway
earrings: a gift
1950s vintage deadstock light blue stockings: ebay a long time ago

Yes, vintage light blue stockings exist! Had to wear them to match the capelet.  I love brown and blue combos!

I’m not religious, but I enjoy Cadbury eggs, dressing festive and my boyfriend’s mom’s ham and scrumptious potato salad.  It was a fun day.   I even got to go on a little egg hunt!

And via instagram:

1940s rayon novelty print dress: ebay (last seen in this post)
stripe heels by Poetic License: via Shabby Apple giveaway at Mermaidens
1940s tilt hat: ebay
vintage lucite shell and confetti clamper: Sacramento Antique Fair
Ben’s NOPE shirt: via one of my favorite podcasts Walking the Room

My big comedy show is a week away!  It’s crazy how much effort I’m putting into a Tuesday night show.  It really will be fun, so please come if you can!  You can even get in 2-for-1 if you call 415-397-7573, 3PM-6PM and mention the codeword “VINTAGE” OR you can snatch up $7.50 tickets on goldstar.com.

Sorry for the dorky post title.  And while I’m apologizing, I might as well say sorry for the indoor, not naturally lit photos in this one.  I haven’t gained the gumption to start taking photos around the building where I live.  I haven’t found that spot where I can set up a tripod and look ridiculous taking a gazillion photos of myself without my neighbors seeing.  So, yeah, standing in front of my armoire is just way too comfortable right now.

This 60s knit dress was given to me by the super stylish Nicole of Fashion Forestry and it’s been in my regular rotation ever since.   No defined waist combined with the stretchy/cozy knit means straight-up comfort y’all!

60s knit dress: from Fashion Forestry
60s bow blouse: found it on the street!
lacy white knee socks: H&M a few years ago
80s cat flats: ebay
coat: F21 a few years ago
vintage key and hearts wooden brooch: Alameda Antique Fair

I had fun at the SF Vintage Expo this past weekend, cruising the booths with the lovely Tina of Vintage Lovin’ Gal.  I of course managed to find some treasures.  Here’s a sneak peek of some of them:

40s novelty print blouse with musical instruments and ballerinas.

Sash at the hip and gold cord applique detail on a 40s dress.

40s straw tilt hat.

And not pictured, but what will probably get the most use of all is a casual 1940s sporty wool jacket.  It’s kind of what I went in hoping to find and it happened to be the first thing I found!  So, I’m a happy, happy girl.  Did any of you Bay Area gals go?  I think it’s safe to say that I will not be buying any more vintage for a while.

I have shows coming up in San Francisco and beyond.  Have a look-see at my calendar.  But mark YOUR calendar for April 9 because you’re coming to this show:

I’m super excited about this show.  It’s honestly the first comedy show I’ve produced in San Francisco in years!  Plus it combines everything I love: Comedy, Vintage, Fashion, and Drinks!  Comedians are asked to wear their favorite outfits and are brought on stage not by a list of their show biz credits, but with details on what they are wearing.  There will be costume changes!  Maybe a live makeover!  Come early (doors are at 7) and stay a bit late to shop vintage clothing from my private collection as seen here on this blog and in my etsy shop.  Please come!  You can buy tickets here.

(source)

The top photo definitely graced my wall, even on a purse that I had covered in pictures and held there with packing tape (oh how I wish I still had that gem of a time capsule).   There is something to those images that you had covering your walls in middle school and high school.  They become a solid part of your memory, maybe your consciousness, and in this case, part of my utmost desires.  My desire to have that rockin’ coat!

Yeah, it’s different than Drew’s – three-quarter length sleeves, round shawl collar – but damn, I found it.  I think what was memorable for me about that coat was the butterflies.  I always remembered Drew’s butterfly coat.

60s butterfly carpet coat: ebay
70s crochet dress: from a friend
boots: Aldo
necklace: thrifted
carved fakelite bangle: Alameda Antique Fair
bakelite chartreuse bangle: 57th St Antique Mall, Sacramento
green and yellow fakelite bangles: Picket Fence Antiques, Sacramento

I’ve definitely been collecting the bangles. Mostly fakelite because I just can’t shell out the absurd amount of money real bakelite usually goes for.

NOW FOR SOME IMPORTANT STUFFS:

Please mark your calendars APRIL 9, 8PM you are hanging out with me in San Francisco. JUST DEAL WITH IT! Seriously, if you live in the Bay Area you have to come out for this show/event I’m putting together. I’ll post more on that soon, I promise!

Next order of business: RIP Google Reader! Who else is as sad and as lost as I am with this news? I used Google Reader religiously (still do!), now I’m not sure what I’ll do. I guess this is where I tell you that you can follow me on Bloglovin’. Do you guys like Bloglovin’? I guess I’m looking for something I can transfer my google reader feeds to and can read on my computer and on my Android. If you have any tips for that, I’d love to hear them!

And last but not least, I am a full instagram convert, you guys. I’ll conclude this post with some highlights. Sorry to have been silent for so long here, but I’m happy to be back. Much love!

This Stop Staring! olive green houndstooth dress is a size 14 or 1X.  This is one of those I-got-it-off-ebay-and-it-didn’t-fit type of situations.   It’s a lovely dress, and in nice condition.

Recognize this baby?  You might remember it from this post.  It’s a lovely dress that I’ve literally worn only twice.  Size 10/12 from Shabby Apple.  Up for auction here.

I really do love me some Stop Staring! dresses.  They are so comfortable and flattering.  This one I loved with the sailor-style feminine collar.   I wore it once to a wedding and have since grown out of it.  Stop Staring Raileen dress, size M listed here.

Ah, the Stop Staring Lovespell dress, size Medium.  I wore it for NYE a few years ago.  Plus I gave it iconic YouTube status in my short Queen of Burlesque, which Dita Von Teese herself said she liked!

This Stop Staring beauty is a discontinued style, so someone had better snatch this baby up!  The Lolita dress is a halter, sweetheart bust, perfect black wiggle dress.   Size Medium, and oh how I wish it still fit.  I’m actually bummed to find out it’s been discontinued because I loved this dress so much.  Seen here back in ’09.

All these dresses are for sale on ebay RIGHT NOW! And I still have a lot of great vintage for sale in my etsy shop. I slashed a lot of prices recently, too!

I plan on getting back to regular blogging once life settles some more.  In the meantime, I’ve been really enjoying the micro-blogging satisfaction that I get from Instagram.  I thought I’d leave you with some instagram moments.

This is me on NYE:

#OOTD

#vintageporn

bathroom decor:

1.  It’s official Jon Dore and Rory Scovel have a solid piece of my comedy-loving heart.   They have been on my best of list in 2010 and 2011.   I think it’s about time someone gave them a TV show TOGETHER (yes, they have/had TV projects separately).   It’s easy to imagine a joint venture since this recent hilarious Conan set kind of foretold such a future:

2. Kevin Camia is a powerhouse.   I recently saw him perform one joke at Trevor Hill’s “Any Last Words” Pre-Apocalypse show and that one joke had the whole audience hooked and laughing until they got tears in their eyes.   He’s that good.

3. Chazz Hawkins is a Sacramento comic I’ve enjoyed watching over the years, but Sacramento will be losing him soon when he moves to Los Angeles.  So, take notice LA!   This guy is funny.

4. Now, I didn’t see Phoebe Robinson do stand-up live this year, as she resides in NYC, but I certainly enjoyed reading her hilarious blog Blaria.  She’s got a great point-of-view and is laugh-out-loud funny.   Seriously, watch this clip and add Blaria to your google reader.

Now, I may not have seen a lot of live comedy this year, but I did listen to a lot of podcasts.   So it feels right to give a couple shout-outs to some podcast gems:

5. Chris Garcia on the LIVE WTF, episode 342.   Chris Garcia relocated to LA, but I always enjoyed seeing him perform in the SF Bay Area.   Just how I found Louis CK to be more funny after his divorce, sometimes hard times in life can be the best fodder for comedy and Chris’ segment on this WTF is a testament to that.

6. Walking The Room has to be my podcast of the year.   Sometimes amidst all the talk of penis and balls I’m surprised I keep listening.  But that’s just it maybe, Dave Anthony and Greg Behrendt are just friends hanging out and their laughter is truly infectious.

7. On the opposite end of Walking the Room, Janet Varney‘s The JV Club found a place in my heart for being that nostalgic virtual sleepover with girlfriends.  Focusing on the adolescent years of Janet Varney’s female guests, The JV Club truly is a gem for being awesome-women-centric.

And that’s a wrap, folks.  I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of great comedy in 2013.  What were your favorite podcasts this year?  Who were your favorite comics?

50s red bow dress: Ray’s Ragtime, Portland, OR
40s fur coat: my grandmother’s
black polka dot tights: Uniqlo
black oxford heels: Payless
vintage 50s glasses: ebay/etsy
vintage velvet purse: thrifted

Even with sporadic blogging I managed to capture some great outfits this year:

JAN

FEB

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

MAY

JUNE

JULY

SEPT

SEPT

Here’s to styling a brand new year.  Best wishes to you all.  Let’s make 2013 the best year yet!