A Lovely Land

I am so very fortunately to reside in this lovely little city, full of adorable cottages and such from the 1930s. Among these quaint residences are also some of the finest Victorians I have laid eyes upon. These pictures are from last Autumn when the whole region was illuminated by the glory of turning leaves. Here is just a glimpse of the best of the best of my neighbor hood:

Today in California

It is cool and rainy (or at least overcast) and it is lovely! I get to wear pants and this cute little '60s-esque jacket that I too often forget. Today's weather also is allowing me to further appreciate the haircut I just gave myself. 

As with most of my haircuts, it started off as a trim. And then I decided to keep going, attempting to understand the techniques used by professionals to thin-out and shape my coarse locks. I also was constantly checking and re-checking my stash of hair-inspiration on Pinterest to reassure myself that shorter is better. I know that there is a lot left to be desired when it comes to my hair; the color is off and so poorly dyed (about 25% looks more grey than blonde because I have zero understanding of how bleach works,) and it really is just too thick to ever look exactly the way I want it to. But it's acceptable, by my standards, and I guess that's all the matters. 

I must admit, I was nice to wake up and NOT look like Gohan. 

Yay for ignorant hair dying/cutting and cool faux-mineral earrings (christmas gift from Emily)

Favorite non-heirloom ring  from Ann Taylor (I think)

 The jacket is from Old Navy, but I got it from Goodwill for 8 dollars about a year ago. I almost never wear it, but I think now that I don't have red hair I will be using it more often.

Pants... I love these. They are comfy and such a cute pattern. Plus I got them for like 6 or 7 bucks! (JC Penny)

Also, I find it hilarious that I actually thought I would blog over spring break.... My mom was in town the whole time and we went and saw so many places I didn't even have time to study for geology or german, let along compile pictures and thoughts for a post.

I hope you all are having a lovely final weekend of March! 

xGracie

Hello Strangers,

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve interacted with this sector of my cyber-life. I have dearly missed my days of (shared) blogging here. 

Since there has been a great chunk of time between the last time I or Emily have been around I suppose there is some catching up to do. Please friends,old and new, feel free to contact us with any news from this world. Or don’t. (But I hope you do, for the record.)

A brief summary:

Since last time I was on here I moved across the States to sunny California. For the first several months I was in SoCal and hella (a very Californian term for “very”) unhappy so I migrated north and now live about an hour away from San Francisco.
I cannot express how happy I am about this.

Now, I must admit I am no-longer part of the “true” vintage community. All I mean by that is that I no longer dress in my former full-on 1930s-40s garb, but rather I have a much more modern approach to my personal style. I still love my wardrobe from that part of my life and cherish what I gained from the experiences associated with it, but at some point it stopped feeling fun and started being a source of insecurity. I no longer felt like my aesthetic matched my personality. So, I have branched out a whooole lot. I still wear vintage styled clothes sometimes, but less intensely, but I stopped curling my hair last summer and have progressively gotten less and less ... vinatge-y?

That being said, I have also relieved my self of the burden of long, henna-dyed hair. That’s right, October 2013 I chopped off mid-back length hair and got a pixie cut. (I was watching A LOT of “Once Upon A Time” at this point... you can see where I might have gotten some more inspiration and finally the nerve to go for it.) I honestly am super-duper happy I did this and I’ll talk more about my hair changes in a later post, but I just wanted to update y’all since I look pretty different.

Anywho, So basically I recently decided I want to start documenting my fashion/hair styles once again because I always had fun with that part of it. Next week I have my spring break, so I’m hoping that’ll be a great chance to gather some images and such to queue up some posts!

I’m so happy to be back at this, but I’m not sure how thoroughly I’ll be able to maintain it till summer break... We’ll see.

Have a lovely Tuesday, folks!

1930's McCall's Designs to set you drooling!

... not that you need to be losing any more liquids during this atrocious heat! Thankfully I'm not in the South right now - I'm interning in LA over the summer - but the temperature in my hometown is 106 degrees today! Stay hydrated and cool if you are anywhere experiencing this heatwave.

And in the meantime, take a look at some of these gorgeous designs from a few different early & mid 1930's McCall's magazines! I apologize for the slightly dingy hue - I took them in a dimly lit library with my iPhone but even so, the incredible color palette shines through!

I want EVERY SINGLE ONE of these. And just look at the back detailing on the bottom far right one, with the strips - the way the back has been pieced together is just marvelous!

Hairy Pawter and the Curly Ginger Girl

Hey guys.
Hey.
It's me, Gracie.
Remember me?
Probably not.
That's cool.
I remember you though.
Mostly.
I'm sorry I haven't read any of your lovely blogs in well over a fortnight.
But I'm working on it.
no promises though.

In the mean time, I have hair. Lots of hair. And since I am so very sure you all want to look at it and pull the curls to watch them bounce (they don't so stop touching my hair, please) it and cut it off and keep it for a wig or two (or three) so I am going to post some very private, artsy photobooth pictures. You'll be totes jeal.

Try to not look directly at my face.
It'll burn your eyes out.

some rolly-bangs things.

More McCall's

More from an early 30s Spring edition of McCall's magazine to set you swooning and sighing!

BBC Sherlock Appreciation Post

Hiiii you all.

I know I've been.... absent, to say the least. And I know you all would much rather read about something 100% vintage/history related, but that's not what I'm here for. This is a post (one of many) that I've been wanting to do for a while now. It's about fashion, so you should like that. And it's about BBC's Sherlock series, so if you aren't aware of it listen up!
I am a massive Sherlock Holmes fan. Especially the newer BBC series, which is basically everything I love about SH but in modern London. It is really beautifully filmed and edited and styled and everything about it is really just perfect. And Martin Freeman. He is the best Watson. And frankly I like Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock way more than anyone I have seen. I think he fits the role really well.

Anyway, this isn't really about those guys (though a future post might be,) it is about The Woman. If you haven't watched the second season yet then you haven't had the honor of being introduced to this character. And since I believe season 2 is being aired sometime this weekend on TV in America, this is sort of a teaser.

"A Scandal in Belgravia", the first episode of the season as well as the one involving the Woman, is MY FAVORITE episode. Right up there with the last episode of season 2. I have watched it probably 8 times now. I love it. I do. I do. I do.

And the Woman.
She is styled in a very midcentury manner. But obviously with modern "twists", as they say.
So I wanted to show you. Because she really has lovely things. They all do on this show. If you don't believe me check out this blog (it's AMMMAAAAAAZING!)

Without further delay; The Woman:

Im going to go back to the island (where the internet is scarce) but I hope to read up on your lovely blogs soon.
OK BYE GUYS.
- Gracieieieieie