Viel Gluck

I'm on my way out the door to go see Eclipse (shut up), but I wanted to make sure I posted this.

These are my current favourite broochs. The one with the gnome and toadstool was a gift from my mom back around Easter. The phrase "Viel Gluck" is German for "good luck." I quite love it! The airplane I found at a thrift store near the Air Force base near my house (March Air Reserve now), so I'm assuming it's some sort of military pin. The other one says "Elsie." I found it at the Pilgrim's Place Festival back in November. It was $8 and from the 1920's. Bri and I have always fought over who get's to name their daughter Elsie and so when I found this I figured I should get it and save it for which ever little girl that ends up being (it will probably go to Bri since I have been cursed with only ever baring sons. Long story...), but it doesn't stop me from wearing it! It's just so pretty and it's not like I'm ever going to find an Ashley pin that doesn't come from the 1980's. sigh...


Cardigan- Target

Blouse- Thrifted, vintage

Skirt- Thrifted

Shoes- BC Footwear

Snood- Red dress shoppe

Earrings- F21

As for the outfit, well it's definately one of my recent favourites. The snood is a recent purchase which I am loving. I bought three from here for $5 a piece! I have this red, a navy, and a grey. They are great for keeping my hair up during rehearsals yet still keeping with my look. If you're in the market definatley check out this shop!



I had a real short rehearsal today, but thought I had to be there all night so I stopped to pick up some dinner at the grocery store on my way to rehearsal. There was a lady working there (her name was Ginger! I love that name!) who I ended up talking with for about twenty minutes! (good thing I left for rehearsal 45 mins. early!) She was the sweetest lady who told me that when she was a teenager in the 70's she wore 40's style clothes and back then she could go into our local Goodwill and Slavation Army and find 40's dresses around every corner! What I would give! She told me that she found a 40's Girl Scouts troop leader uniform and she hemmed shorter and wore for her senior photos, and how she regrets so much dropping her look when she had kids. She kept telling me to "never lose my style!" I had the most wonderful time talking to her! She even gave me her email address so she could buy tickets to my show! It just makes me so happy to talk to these women who appreciate old things instead of the young girls (who may or may not be in my show) who find it hilarious to call me "granny" and tell me that they just love that I have the time for crocheting and sewing. Because apparently if you bring crocheting to rehearsal it means you have a ton of time on your hands...?

My life right now

Too tired to talk (I am apparently very quiet today. Really I just have alot on my mind.) So here's what my life looks like right now.




After four hours of dance rehearsal. Yeah.

So

Much

Sheet Music.

I attempted standing pin curls. They came our pretty well-ish

Rehearsal reading.

One of the dance numbers I managed to escape from being in.

There's more sheet music where this came from

I need new Character shoes

So I've resorted to keds

Sigh. I needed a dress to wear to a wedding. I made one. I tried it on with the outfit and found that I looked waaaaay too casual. So I ran out to Joann's and bought new fabric and made a new dress. I had about 24 hours to do it. It was wearable... It was okay, but I think I bit off more than I could chew.

Don't judge my tired, ugly face. This was around 5:30p and I'd been sewing since 11:00a

Of course I didn't think to get a picture of me at the wedding, or even the finished product. There is a big satin bow at the waist by the way.

But all's well and I got to see my friend Lauren who I never get to see but once a year! We've seen each other twice so far!


The wedding was beautiful! These were the pretty center peices! Glittered candle holders! brilliant!

And the cake, which I never got a peice of. I was told it was excellent though!

I have rehearsal tonight. I'm tired and busy in the head. Should be interesting.

Dear Shop Ruche,

Dear Ruche,

Sometimes I go to Anthropologie. Whenever I do, I fall in love with something that is beyond my pocketbook and end up leaving with a low hung head. On occasion I find something in the sale section that is within my means and it brings joy to my little heart. I tell you this because until I discovered your little shop, I did not believe that there was a way for me to procure pretty, dainty, lovely things while maintaining my strict no credit card rule. But I can, infact, buy your lovely almost Anthropologie-esqu items and still have money for gas. It's is a win-win situation, and I am forever grateful.

Of course, this does mean that I need to be careful because I may just end up spending my entire paycheck in your shop before I know it. Especially since you have about 50 pairs of shoes that I want. But I'm going to be smart and only buy the things that I know are both practical and going to be used alot. Like these amazing bird/music note earrings that may be on their way to me.

Or this amazingly wonderful necklace.

Or this pretty necklace.

Or this necklace that I may have just bought.

Or this amazingly beautiful headband.

Or this beautiful bow that I didn't buy because I am going to make a knock-off.

Or these absolutely gorgeous sunglasses.

Or this bow that I am also going to totally knock off

Or these shoes that are totally out of my dreams (and that I didn't buy because my size is out of stock :-( ).

Or maybe these shoes that scream Roman Holiday. In short, I love your shop. I'm so very glad we've met. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

With all my love,

~Ashley~

Monday Inspiration # 38: Oh the 70's...

Remember a couple weeks ago when I was talking about how I was noticing a shift in the things that appealed to me? How usually I went for the ugly, but now I find myself craving softer, prettier, and quieter items? Well this is still true, but there are some of the ugly things that I still really like. I mean I really love the 70's. They were funky, junky, full of clashing colours, had great music, and there was this whole liberation thing that despite the fact that I might not agree with all of it, is very infectious. And I've always had a soft spot for those earthy, hippie types. A few years ago I did a show and met my very wonderful friend Lauren (who I see once a year. It's a joke, but a true fact nonetheless) who I was delighted to find had a love of the 60's and 70's like I did. Both of us were called hippies by our friends and families. We wore peace sign earrings, and toe rings, and bracelets, and liked batik and tie-dye. We loved bright colours and wore out hair long and wavy (until mid-show I lopped mine off, which was a really bad idea.) In high school I had somehow developed the nickname "The Clean Hippie," which i think came from a Mexico Mission Trip where I dressed like a hippie, but refused not to shower (I also became known as "Massive Butt" during this same trip because I jokingly claimed to break a stone step (I didn't actually do it) by sitting on it with my massive butt, and then the name stuck).



My two favourite decades are the 40's and the 70's which are polar opposits. I like to joke that I'm a contradiction of myself because I always like things that are the opposite of eachother and shouldn't fit. However I am learning that liking the ugly things in life are okay, in moderation. Clothing wise I look better in styles from the 40's, but that doesn't mean I can Earth Mother it every once in a while and where some peasanty hippie dress and comune with nature. It's all about balance.

So while I'm not latching onto so many ugly things these days, every once in a while I find a real ugly duckling of a gem Like this:



This box? Well the box is okay, but it's what's inside the box that is totally awesome in a really bad way.


Sewing patterns! What! Yes! I found this box at that big rummage sale I went to in March (and am just getting around to showing you!). I saw the box sitting on the crafting table after hunting through each basket for vintage patterns and figured I might as well see what was in it. I expected it was misplaced and was a recipe holder, or just filled with notions, but no. I had stumbled onto a treasure trove of ridiculousness. Are you ready for the patterns? They are kind of awesome!

Some of the patterns aren't so bad. They're basic styles and could be easily adapted to other eras. But they styling is pretty funny! I love how patterns from the 70's always feature exaggerated leg lengths.

I don't know what is up with the sea captain thing. I think these two piece outfits are the worst. Who wore them??

Each set of patterns comes with a booklet filled with helpful hints and tips for constructing the garmets. These are actually incredibly useful.

Hello culotts.

I really love the green dress, but what in the what is that purple thing? And that blue suit! Wowza!

And then there are these. I love that they are called "exotic" styles. My jr. high and high school self would have loved to sport these!

I am not going ti lie, I seriously want that trench! It's just a lovely, lovely cut!

And now we come to my favourite portion of the patterns: The men's wear. Holy Cow.

You will observe Starsky and Hutch talking with Fred of the Scooby Doo gang.

And here Starsky and Hutch are getting cozy with a pimp, while Clint Eastwood looks on. Amazing.

I will proably never use most of the patterns, but a few of them I'm sure will get lots of use. At the least they are great entertainment!

Uniforms

Vintage everything, save shoes from Target, and cardigan which is thrifted, but modern.

On Monday I went to rehearsal wearing a blue and white polka dot dress, blue shoes, and a red cardigan and earrings. My director made a comment that I looked like an American flag and I jokingly laughed and said something like, no, I'm actually channelling the Union Jack. We laughed and moved on. But then I realized that as far as colours go, this is pretty much my uniform. And as far as outfits go, this one is also a uniform of mine. Y'know those outfits that just feel so right you never want to take them off? Well this is one. I am in love.

I always wanted to go to a uniform wearing school as a kid, mostly because I actually think school uniforms are adorable. I remember a friend of mine and I trying to get our co-op (I was home-schooled, but we met in a co-op every Friday for group classes with other home-schoolers) to adopt a uniform (our efforts failed), right around the time we had to write some argumentative essays on uniforms. I was pro, and she was con and she was so mad that she had to be on the con side. I imagine if I'd actually had to wear a uniform it would have been annoying, but I still think the idea is a lovely one. I remember this same friend and I going to Disneyland together and seeing this group of school girls from China on a school trip to Disneyland and we kept complimenting their knee socks and plaid skirts. I'm sure they must have thought we were crazy (I don't think they spoke much English, and my Mandarin is non-existent), but I'll always remember how stinking cute they looked in those little Peter Pan collared shirts with bow ties.

So sorry for how late this is. I'm severely disorganized right now, and my brain is not in it's normal place, however I am trying to get back on track. I'm going to spend Saturday responding to comments. I haven't responded for about three weeks, and I'm really trying to get caught up! I'm also going to write up a bunch of scheduled posts for next week since all I seem to have time/energy for is working, rehearsing, and falling into bed totally pooped. Also I will stop talking about rehearsal so often. I'm starting to sound like a broken record!

Opera Girl Does Musicals

Just a quick note before I head to rehearsal! Last night was Orientation and song assignment (shockingly I got opera-ish songs! who'd have guessed? I do get to sing Phantom of the Opera too. I'm so shocked... that was sarcasm by the way) and tonight is our first dance rehearsal! The title of this post by the way refers to the fact that every time I do a musical everyone calls me Opera Girl, but every time I do an Opera they call me Musical Girl. I just can't win...

As I mentioned earlier, I found the solution to the whole rehearsal clothing dilemma. I went to American Apparel (not someplace I normally shop) and found two knit dance dresses, a leotard and skirt! I figure with tights and shorts they should be perfect for keeping cute, yet being functional! So from now on I'm going to try to do one post a week showing my day wear and rehearsal wear. I'm hoping to mix and match somewhat and try to keep it interesting. So here's what I wore today:

Dress-vintage
Belt- Torrid years ago
Shoes- Thrifted
Earrings, necklace, & watch- F21, Chinatown San Francisco, vintage

and here's what I'm wearing to rehearsal:

Dress- American Apparel
Cami- Costco
Tights- Target
Jacket- Target (theatres can get cold oddly enough)
Shoes- Rocket Dog via DSW
Scarf- Vintage

Now I would never normally sport anything like this as day wear, but for rehearsal it's pretty cute I think! And fits dress code (no bras, booty shorts)! I tried to keep a little vintage feel with the scarf and red lips. Which by the way I bought some new lipstick. It's Buxom (by bare essentials or whatever) Barcelona. It's a matte lipstick and stays pretty much all day. This is my second application today and I did it an hour ago! I highly recommend it!

Okay enough! I've got to scoot! I'm way more excited than I know what to do with myself! haha!