The Little Black Dress

Natalie Wood sure does look amazing in her little black dress here. I love this picture. She looks like she's about to conquer the city, maybe even the world! I went on a hunt for a new little back dress (for an occasion to come), and found quite a few at Zara. Every gal need a little black dress, right? I have a few, but they're old-ish, and I'm just a little bored with them. So I decided to get a new one. I love Zara. Their color palate is, well, a little lacking in color--quite neutral, but I often love their clothes. Zara did not disappoint. They had so much to choose from. I tried on a handful of little blacks, and could have come home with a new black dress wardrobe, but I settled on two. And the prices are so reasonable, I think, for the quality. Here are a few little black dresses from Zara right now.

And these last two are the ones I bought. They both look much better on, I think, than in the pictures. I especially love the last one. It looks really good on, and I love the fabric. All of these are in the dresses section on the Zara web site. 

Liberty!

YAY, we have the internet again at our place!! You know what that means, right? That means I can catch up on blogs and spend entirely too much time online window shopping (uh, and paying bills and doing household stuff like that). Have you seen the new Liberty of London line for Target? I love it! It's probably been swirling around on blogs, but I had my first peek yesterday. I love Liberty fabric and the Liberty store here in London, but the real deal is a wee bit out of my price range, so I'm super excited to see some Liberty at Target. Looks promising, don't you think? Unfortunately almost everything is out of stock. Guess I'm not the only one who's into it. Liberty for him, her, baby and home! See it here at Target. 

Globe Shopping

Can you say dream job? I only wish I had the Sundance Channel so I could watch the full episodes. I first heard about Man Shops Globe the other day on Green and Pretty, and now I noticed it's all a-buzz in blogville. The show follows Anthropologie buyer Keith Johnson as he hunts for unique pieces for their stores. I always wondered where they got all those amazing fixtures for their merchandising (and ideas for a lot of the merchandise itself). How fun. You can watch clips here.

Greetings From The Plum Tree

Y'all know I always have to make a trip to The Plum Tree with my mom when I come home. It's one of my favorite antique shops in Atlanta, and it's always fun to see what Cindy is up to. She's so creative and has a great eye for display and is constantly updating and re-arranging the shop. It was so much fun to stop in. If we lived here, my wallet would be in big trouble. Here are a few pictures from around the shop. You can see pictures from past trips here and here.

For Keeps

Last week Caroline told me about an estate sale she thought I'd like to check out. When I looked at the pictures advertising the sale, like the one above, I knew I had to go (later I emailed Lisa about it, and of course she had already been and made quite a dent in her own wallet). I really wanted to see that little dress hanging from the bedpost in person and hoped it was still there. It was even better in person, and I bought it! At first I thought I might want to sell it in my etsy shop, but it's a keeper for sure. I don't think I'd actually have Lois wear it, but I thought it would look pretty in her room one day. I picture a little girl's room in shades of pale pink and ivory. I'm not really a pastel gal--neutral, bold and dark colors appeal to me more, but I can just picture this dress hanging on pale pink walls. It's silk and a perfect champagne color with a hint of shimmer to it. The hem is out, but that can be fixed.


I just got a few other little things at the sale, but earlier in the week, I found this dress, pictured below, at the Salvation Army and it's a keeper too. A soon as I saw it I hoped it would fit me, and it did! It's a great shape and knee length. I love the colors and the print. A lucky find for sure. With thrifting, I only get this lucky every once in a while--something great is either the wrong size, has a spot or tear, or something else is wrong with it. This one's close to perfect.


I'm at my mom's now in Atlanta and sooooo excited! I already went to the Goodwill near my mom's with my grandma (this thrifting, it's a family affair). I know, I have a shopping addiction. At least it's thrift shopping. I only spent $11 this morning. Oh, and I'll post Lois' 7 month birthday pictures soon.

Joli Jewelry

Lisa came over for dinner last night and of course we got to talking about the things we usually talk about--antiques and vintage goodies. She showed me some hotel silver on ebay that she has her eye on, and I showed her my latest thrift store scores (a round embroidered linen tablecloth and a cute white cotton crib skirt with navy pom poms, both for $1.50). One thing we both love that we talked about is jewelry. I don't wear much jewelry but I love it, especially antique and vintage jewelry. My favorite jewelry might be Joli Jewelry. They use vintage materials such as Bakelite and vintage glass, old metal findings, buttons, and even perfume bottle top crystals. What a beautiful way to recycle, don't you think? Check out the Joli selection at Clay Pot.

etsy Vintage

Listing a few pairs of vintage shoes that I love in my new etsy shop got me to wondering why I never wear so many vintage things that I have and love, so I removed my 3 pairs of vintage shoes and now just want to go hunt for more! I've found so much great vintage merchandise on etsy. I think my favorite shop that I've found so far is Allen Company Inc. I think what sets her shop apart from so many others is not only the style and quality of the vintage pieces, but her great photographs and photo styling. I look at her shop and think, yes, I'd like that; yes, I'd like those; oh and yes, that too! I hope my vintage shop will grow up to be as nice as hers--it's motivated me to re-take all my pictures when Andrew gets back in town with our camera. PS. Happy inauguration day! Speaking of vintage, did you see Aretha Franklin's hat? That was some bow!

Vintage Etsy Shop

I've opened a vintage etsy shop that I'll be running with my mom. It's just a start, but here it is, our shop: Lois and the Ladybug. Two people have already inquired about some of the fabric I listed, yippee!

Lois's Room

Here are some pictures of Lois's room. (Sorry they're a little dark. This room doesn't get much light.) I've been meaning to post a few more pictures of her room for what seems like forever. I can't believe she's already 3 months old! I love her room and thought I better take a few pictures before she grows out of it. Before I know it she'll be a teenager and want to paint her walls black or something. I wonder what my nursery looked like.  I'll have to ask my mom.  I wonder if it looked anything like one of these retro rooms?  For Lois' room, though, it's all white with splashes of bright colors. I'm not crazy about pastel colors, which is why I avoided the usual pale baby colors for her room. Above is what you see when you look to the right once you're in the door. We got the daybed (which I love) and cubby style shelf from Ikea. To the right of the bed is a metal side table that I got at The Pickled Hutch and to the left is a green, metal spinning rack that my mom gave me, which now holds all of Lois' old books.

This is what you see when you first look in the room. We got her crib at Ikea, the Gulliver Crib, and the bedding is Tadpoles yellow gingham check from Target. And the heart blanket that I love is draped on the far side of the crib. Both the chifferobe dresser and the metal cart that I use for a changing table came from The Pickled Hutch.

You might remember the clothes above her bed . . . the birdie onesie is from Old Navy, my mom gave me the kitty cat apron and the thrid outfit came from a vintage clothes vendor at the Inman Park festival in Atlanta.

My nephews did the artwork above the daybed, and I bought the three frames for them at Ikea (one red, one yellow, one blue) .

One of the first party hats I made is on her dresser. This one I wore on my 31st birthday.

I love this tea towel I got at Anthropologie--I just use it on the top of her dresser because it's bright and like it so much.

A picture of me and my mom at the Inman Park festival a few years ago in our southern gal hats. (My mom hates this picture!)

The humpty lamp I got for $10 at the flea market.

A bus painting by Mose Tolliver.

My favorite thing in her room might be the curtains that I got at a consignment store called Carla's Clutter, which is now closed.


I use this metal cart for her changing table and have an old white metal basket and yellow wood tool cart to hold her diapers and supplies. I got them all at The Pickled Hutch.

Beside the bed is some mommy / baby reading with Mr. Hedgehog looking over things.

On the bed are a bunch of pillows and stuffies. My sister gave me the little lamb above. And my mom gave me the fun round pillow that's next to it.

My aunt made this ruffle pillow with Amy Butler fabric. She also made me some fantastic curtains with the same fabric--the only reason I don't use them in here is they were made to fit a shorter window.

I got this tulip and birdie pillow at a thrift store.

Inside each cubby in the shelf above the bed are fun knick knacks and books.



I got this fabric pocket wall hanging from Anthropologie. I'm not sure what it was intended for, but I use it for magazines.

One of many vintage books along with ABC blocks on the cute yellow nightstand table I got at Carla's Clutter.

And there you have it! The only things not shown here are two things that acually mean a lot to me--the vintage fabric lion that Alex gave me and an illustration that Michelle gave me. (It's hanging above the lamp next to the daybed. I took a few pictures of it, but none of them came out very good.)