Playing house

Outfit Details:

Plaid vintage dress: eBay (Luxie Vintage)

Boater hat: River Island (similar here)

Spectators: BAIT Footwear (similar here)

Wishbone necklace: Forever 21 (similar here)

Short petticoat: Forever 21 (similar here)

Wooden happy house purse: eBay

Belt: ASOS (similar here)

eBay has recently become the source of some great vintage additions to my wardrobe.  This dress might be my favorite eBay find!  I have a penchant for plaid dresses, and the color scheme is so lovely.  Most importantly, the fit is absolutely perfect!  It feels almost as if it were made just for me, because there's so gaping in the bust, but tucks in nicely at the waist -- and the length is ideal!  I toyed with wearing a full petticoat underneath, which looked nice, but I opted instead to use a short tulle skirt that's been in my closet for years!  I had initially bought it for the sole purpose of a college themed party (of which we had many), but I never ended up using it.  Coincidentally, it's the same dark kelly green color that appears in this plaid dress, and it gave *just* the right amount of small volume.  This is why I always have such a hard time getting rid of clothes -- you never know when you'll need a piece!

Although most of my eBay searches are for 1950's vintage dresses, every once and a while, I'll search for novelty purses.  I already have a pretty sizable collection of fun (and impractical) bags, but when I came across this house purse at a very reasonable price, I knew it had to be added to my stash!  It was clearly hand-carved, and it has all sorts of sweet little details: a door, a window box, a little daffodil in the chimney, and a silly, happy face!  I love when I can see friendly "faces" in houses (especially older homes) when you look at the position of their windows and doors, and this purse reminded me of that.  When I'm finally at the point in my life where I can buy a real house of my own, you can bet that it'll have to be one with a lot of charm -- and a happy face.  :)  

Although there were a couple of things that happened over the last month or so that had me feeling a little discouraged (I wasn't cast in a show for which I auditioned, and I interviewed for a position at work that was filled by someone else), I'm feeling so much more positive these days!  I've been doing well on Weight Watchers so far, and even more than that, I feel better about myself because of the healthy choices I'm making.  In addition to that, I found out that my mom and I are going to be singing with my dad's band during the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival!  The Jazz Fest is kind of a big deal here; Rochester is definitely a city that loves its festivals, and the Jazz Fest is certainly one of the best attended and most highly anticipated.  My dad plays drums in a 10-piece funk band, and my mom and I sang on their newest CD and at the Jazz Fest with them two years ago.  They're playing a free show on a huge stage during the last night of the fest, and since there were thousands of people in attendance the last time they played, they're anticipating a pretty huge crowd.  So that's pretty exciting!  Wanting to sing in a band is in my blood, I guess (thanks, Mom!), so it'll be great to do that again.

Have a lovely Saturday!

xox Sammi

Friday Favorites #51

Happy Friday, everyone!  I hope you all had a nice week!  Here are some of the lovely little finds that recently caught my eye.  Lots of novelty purses, pretty dresses and kitsch ahead!

a // b // c // d // e

You can always depend on Nasty Gal and Aldo to provide some kooky novelty bags!  Aldo actually has a pastel rotary telephone clutch(!!!!) carried only at their accessories stores... the closest one to me is in Albany (though there's one on Staten Island - my old stomping grounds!).  I'm determined to make it mine, somehow.  I wonder if a regular store can order it from an accessories one?  I must find out.  The bags below are from Aldo, too -- they sometimes do knock-offs of other brands, I think (the license plate one reminds me of Kate Spade, and the telephone one I mentioned must be a Betsey influence), and these particular ones remind me a bit of Lulu Guinness, but they're too cute to not mention!

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Aren't these fruity sunnies the best??  I love Nasty Gal's collection of crazy shades.

This little apple ring is darling!  It's a perfect combination of delicate and silly.

I suppose these shoes are both delicate and silly, too... and they're so pretty!

These tops from Trollied Dolly are ideal for summer!  They have a sprinkle print (which is perfect for days that require ice cream), and I love the shape of them.  They come in great colors, too!

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I love how this dress has a high collar and frog closures but a sunny, stripy summertime look.  It's such an interesting combination.  It seems like it'd be a good hat-wearing dress, too.

And that's not the only yellow dress that tickled my fancy this week!  I have this dress in coral, but I think it might be even lovelier in this happy shade of yellow:

These scalloped heels are so cute!  (And they come in other colors, too!)

I'm glad this shape seems to be coming back in again.  It's much less severe than the peplum, and it's usually way more flattering across the board.  Plus, it doesn't scream "80s" like the peplum!  I love the particular color combination on this top.  I think I need more red in my life.

Chelsea Crew makes some of the most drool-worthy shoes I've ever seen.  They always have such a pleasing look to them.  I'm especially smitten with the red and white ones!

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This I Love Lucy brooch would be a great addition to any retro-loving gal's collection!

Lady V London makes such sweet retro dresses, and I'm especially enchanted with this floral one:

Speaking of sweet, this iPhone case from Mallory is simply scrumptious!

This welcome mat has me all starry-eyed!

And if you think that's out of this world, check out this solar system swimsuit:

(top // bottoms)

Fairies have always been my favorite mythological creatures (mermaids and unicorns are obviously my other favorites), and goodness, do I want this fairy book!  I love this dainty fairy necklace, too.

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Whether you're a Disney princess or one from Beverly Hills... you have to admit that these crop tops are kind of great.  I can't pull them off, but I know some of you can!

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How amazing are these dress sketches that incorporate flower petals?

(via)

Isn't it funny how you can never find the kind of thing you're looking for when you need it, but when you've stopped looking -- there it is?  I looked everywhere for green heels like these last year!  They're not really a priority anymore, but I love the silhouette of them!  And the cut-out flats are really fun, too.

a // b

This might be sort of sexist (on my part and the meme creator's part)... but this is very true for me:

(via)

For those who might not know, This Is Spinal Tap is my favorite movie of all time.  I gasped out loud when I saw this Spinal Tap tank for sale... and then gasped again at the price.  It's cool and everything, but there's no way I'd shell out that much unless it was signed by Christopher Guest himself!

And then I realized that you can get this Spinal Tap necklace for way less -- and support a small business in the process!  (The I Love Lucy brooch is from this same shop.)

Finally, I leave you with this video of the brilliant Uzo Aduba, auditioning for every role on OITNB.  Speaking of which, who's watching?  I'm five episodes in.  I planned on binging, but I realized I want to savor it!  I've managed to avoid social media spoilers so far!  I'm dumb and can't figure out how to imbed it (it's not up on YouTube yet), so click here!

Have a fantastic Friday!

xox Sammi

Mint chocolate chip

Outfit Details:

Vintage dress and petticoat: Cricket Capers

Mint ice cream brooch: sweet and lovely

Mary Janes: estate sale store

This is, I'm sad to say, not one of my favorite outfit posts.  Today's post is quite short -- an unfortunate result of not getting many good shots in this outfit.  I really love the color of this dress, but it's pretty clear that it's a "1980's does '50s" reproduction (as evidenced by the shoulder pads I had to remove and the synthetic material), and it's a little too big on me.  Although I love any dress that comes with a matching belt, I can't say that this dress is going to become a wardrobe staple for me.  I ordered it with this dress from the same shop, and I actually anticipated liking this mint one more, but that wasn't the case.  I can't decide whether I want to sell it, have it altered, or keep it as is and see if I change my mind.  I did want to post it though, because I loved pairing it with my ice cream brooch, and maybe because I'm not quite ready to give up on this dress yet.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

xox Sammi

Sideshow

Outfit Details:

Circus print dress: ModCloth (available here)

Pretzel necklace: ModCloth (similar here)

Black bolero: Forever 21

Black flats: jcpenney

I'd been watching a lot of this series called Freakshow on Netflix.  It originally premiered on AMC, but I'd never heard of it 'til recently.  It's pretty fascinating.  There's obviously some scripted material involved, but it centers around the performers involved in a freak show on the Venice Beach boardwalk.  The performers are pretty extraordinary, both in terms of what they can do and the kind of people they are.  There are some people who are hesitant to use the term "freak" because of its negative connotation, but I think it's sort of great that these people are taking back the term and making it into something positive.  They even decided to ban the word "normal," since they felt that was actually a negative term.  I'm sort of inclined to agree.  Kind of makes you wonder what "normal" actually is.  Boring, maybe.  I don't ever want to be boring.  What I've chosen for my career isn't "normal."  How I dress isn't "normal."  I don't want to fade into the background and settle for "normal" in most aspects of my life.  It's definitely not the easier route to go, but it's way more interesting.

I love the print on this dress!  ModCloth carried it only in this color (it also comes in a really pretty shade of blue), and actually carried a pair of high-waisted shorts in the same print.  I'd initially ordered the shorts (the back pockets were heart-shaped!), but the stretchy fabric was really unforgiving, and I loved them way more in theory than on me.  I'm so glad I ended up getting the dress version though, because even though it's tight-fitting (I'd recommend sizing up, even though it has stretch), it's really flattering.  I ended up wearing this to a little adventure to a casino (with my high school boyfriend, of all people), which was fun and interesting.  Next time I wear this dress, I definitely want to add a petticoat and some kind of retro up-do.  I seriously need to figure out how to do victory rolls.

Have a great Monday!

xox Sammi