Retro Frou Frou

One of our Christmas card photos: circa 2007.



Happy Holidays!

Relapse

I had posted in one of the very first Frou Frou Shit blog posts about how I had a thrift store obsession that was previously out of control...that was now under control. I have been doing so well with keeping my junk-shopping in check, but today posed a bit of a relapse...that I'm totally thrilled to report.

I went to a thrift shoppe the day before last and managed to not buy the following items.

1. A VELVET Elvis painting (not one of the valuable ones, but a pretty sweet painting).
2. A three-foot tall framed embroidery of a myriad of forest animals including an owl and squirrel.
3. A fall coloured soup tureen.
4. A 1970s men's red, white and black "Kimono" still in the packaging!

After being incredibly upset with the treasures that I had to leave behind, I was set on a purpose on my day off today to find some mirrors for a wall hanging I'm making. I was on my way to another thrift shop when I passed a garage sale. Garage sales are fantastic because they mostly feature people that want rid of their wares for very little, instead of people that are trying to make a career of junk-hustling. Although I didn't find any mirrors, I did find this beauty for TWO DOLLARS!

Now, I know,  I'm not supposed to be buying any more lamps (so says Dustin), but the lampshade alone is worth way more than two dollars and the lamp is in perfect condition. The color is gorgeous and it fits incredibly well into my preexisting dream of an aqua living room. Lamps like these usually cost a lot more and as Gina so astutely pointed out...I'm losing money by not purchasing this piece of retro Americana.

When I finally did get to the thrift store, I found fifteen different shirts to try on! Now most of them didn't fit correctly, but I was thrilled to even find that many to try and managed to find this vintage lovely(try not to make fun of me too much for the myspace-style picture. I tried to get a photo of the shirt with it's sweet polyester tie and insane print. I also have no concept of the appropriate way to hold a camera to take a photo of myself that doesn't make me look like I'm fifteen years old posing for someone that has been featured on, "To Catch a Predator." You get the idea about the shirt, anyway). When I was in Charlotte visiting Laura last time, we went to this really great antique shoppe that featured a vintage clothing store inside. It was an amazing slice of decades of fashion change, but the prices were high and some of the clothing was shabby. I was thrilled to find that this shirt has been treated with care (and has probably been hanging in the back of a Nana's closet for forty years) and it was also a yellow ticket item! Yellow tickets were 50% off today, which made this shirt $1.50! Beyond awesome.

Although I did leave behind some sweet treasures, I managed to find a few lovelies to fit into my home. I guess we'll see if I'm still allowed to live in the apartment when Dustin gets home and finds another lamp.

PO Box 346

I was walking to the Post Office this morning, and I noticed not one...but TWO individuals with air conditioners ablaze. Really?

From what I heard, because I was trapped in the candle shoppe all day yesterday, it was an especially warm day (considering that two days before everyone was wearing sweaters and boots). The indication of warm weather was inside the mall as well...as the tramp-wear was out in full force. Today, though, it can't be more than seventy-two degrees outside and the breeze is blowing nicely. With ceiling fans, open windows and doors, it's actually quite comfortable and pleasant.

An air conditioner? Now? It is my personal mission this year to do my best not to use air conditioning all summer. It is an expensive electricity waster (waster?) that recycles dirty and air spits it back out into my lungs. Rant over.

Because it's such a nice day, I started arranging the pots for the balcony garden, and I've decided that I definitely need more. I should be more concerned about the porch completely ripping off the house, but I'm throwing caution to achieve a completely retro garden.

I've started looking up different retro plants that are coming back in fashion, and I found this interesting article/video featuring my gardening crush: P. Allen Smith.

                      

He's probably gay and into crazy latex-bondage, but his gardening persona is totally attractive, and he seems like the kind of guy that I could call up with my personal gardening problems and he would come over and help me out. That is, if he's not in the middle of whipping a gimp his personal dungeon.

Anyway, I have this idea of planting all of the things that were popular in the fifties and sixties, including but not limited to, zinnias, marigolds, and coleus. My grandmother always planted marigolds as a means to ward off a lot of unwanted garden pests, but I really enjoy the variety of oranges, yellows and reds these flowers can be found in, and also their completely full blooms.

More than just the flowers, I'm also a big fan of weird gardening tschotskes and windchimes. I really enjoy found objects that are broken or unidentifiable that serve no actual purpose, other than to take up space and make my dad say something like, "What the hell are you doing with that thing? It's just SITTING there!" ha.

In this photo:

1. An Old Vase that a wayward pigeon got stuck in last year and my neighbor rescued.

2. An old lamp harp in the vase. This really ticked my Dad off, so it definitely stays.

3. That metal thing that was Dustin's but I have no idea what it is.

4. The cat's old scratching-post that they completely lost interest in and turned to all of my furniture for their scratching needs instead.

I'm also gaining a bit of a windchime obsession that I'm sure really enchants my neighbors.

These are from a really awesome trip to The Palace of Gold in Wheeling, WV, where we spent an afternoon with the Hari Krishnas.

Although I'm sure it's nothing more than a really tacky souvenir, it's a nice reminder of something that Dustin and I did together that most couples don't do, because they're really busy spending their Saturday nights at the mall, annoying the flying fuck out of me.