In Honored Glory

Today, we remember those who gave all in their service to this country of ours.  Thank you.

I'm On A Boat

If you like filtered photographs, you'll love the The Rovinato Series.  This photo is just one of the series.

...Actually, not really.  In all honesty, I have a deep and abiding loathing of boats, mostly because they seem to have a habit of either breaking down/capsizing while I happen to be in them (with the exception of the Toronto Islands ferry; that one did stay afloat.)  This wouldn't be a problem if I was anywhere near a competent swimmer, but seeing as I can barely dog-paddle, this basically adds up to me and dry land being total BFFs.

And yet, I love boater hats.  Funny how that works out.

I particularly love the colored ones.  Nothing against the undyed boaters, but the colored ones tend to have a little more zing to them,  I think.  And seeing as I don't like to make such statements without evidence to back it up, let's get to today's post, shall we?

Exhibit A is this lovely basic black straw boater, which is beautifully set off by a vintage multicolored grosgrain ribbon.

For Exhibit B, there's this sage woven straw boater from the 1960s.  In my opinion, the things that really make it are the rust-and-olive ribbon and the rust-colored netting across the top.

As to why it's called an Election Day hat, I have no idea.  Did people like to dress up to go to the polls back then or something?

Getting back on track, Exhibits C and D both come from the same shop, and I just couldn't choose between the two of them. Can you?

 Do you prefer something in navy blue and a bit ruffly...

...Or perhaps something in a brown raffia with netting?  You make the call.

And for my last exhibit, here's a sky-blue boater from the 1950s:

My closing argument?  Colored boaters are rad, and you should totally give one a try sometime.  As to whether that's out on the open water or not is entirely up to you.

See you next week!

The Original Fandom

While I don't know much about Troy D. Eiffert's work, I am rather liking this particular photo.

Internets, I have no idea what's happening in your area, but it's been rather warm around here lately.  Or maybe it just feels that way after so much cool weather for so long.  It's possible, but seeing as the temperature has been hanging around the mid-80s and low-90s for the past few days and HH Central lacks A/C, I'm thinking it's just flippin' hot.

Needless to say, this has lead to me pulling every trick I've learned to keep cool: lots of water (with the occasional sweet tea,) flip-flops, shorts, you know the drill.  But when I had to run an errand that meant walking to the store, these things didn't really help that much.  As the sweat beaded up on my forehead, I found myself wishing I had a folding fan that I could keep in my purse or something.

Hey--it beats getting one of those little battery-operated doojobbers.  Besides, they look a lot less dorky than a miniature electric fan.  Just ask Karl Lagerfeld.

First up, there's this yellow and gold fan from Paloma Sia Designs, which is just one of a selection of original fans.  I would heartily recommend checking it out, if you're looking something different from the norm.

Of course, if you prefer something a little more along the lines of traditional, you really can't go wrong with a vintage Japanese fan like this from The Shop at Kevin O'Shea Designs.

Since there's always someone out there who likes things a bit more along the lines of understated and simple, there's fans like this wooden Spanish one from the appropriately-named Souvenirs of Spain.

Just because a fan is hand-painted doesn't mean that it has to have the usual sparrow/cherry blossom/something vaguely Asiatic painted on it.  You can choose one with a funky abstract design from Gilbea.

And just because I never knew there was a niche market for this sort of thing, here's a left-handed fan from Olelé: 

Because left-handed people need hand-held fans, too.

So keep cool, Internets, and see you Friday!

My Little Peony

I would like to take this moment to admit that I am deeply jealous of Lisa Elliott's watercolor skills.  I thought today's amuse-bouche was a photo print at first, but it's a freakin' painting.  Woman's got talent, Internets.

Hey--remember a while back when I said I wanted to make felt happen?  I've got a new mission: I want to make peonies happen.  Seriously.  Daisies and sunflowers are played out.  Now is the time for peonies to shine. Why do I say this?  Well, I was reminded Friday of exactly how awesome peonies truly are.

See, T.H's youngest sister and her husband just adopted a baby girl (who is hecka newborn--only two weeks old at the moment) and as they made their way back from the state of adoption to their state of residence (which is about seven states' worth of driving, I think) they dropped into town this weekend.  Which was great, because an aunt of both T.H. and said sister threw a baby shower for this same weekend, so not only did I get to meet my newest niece but I also got to help set up the baby shower and stuff.  And part of that was getting the peonies for the table decorations.

Internets, I don't know if you've ever seen a peony in real life, but these things are gorgeous.  They're also perennials, so they just keep coming back year after year, which is great if you want pretty flowers well into perpetuity.  And if you like fragrant flowers, these suckers are right up your alley.  I speak from experience when I say that a carful of these bad boys will make driving a sun-warmed car at high noon far more pleasant than you could ever imagine.  By the time we arrived at our destination, I was wondering if there were any peony-scented perfumes on the market, because I would totally buy a bottle.

But until I find some, you know what this means: peony hats.  Because that's how this blog works.

First up, there's this peony-and-plume fascinator I found, which is making me think of old-timey saloon showgirls back in the Wild West.  I'm thinking it's the way the feather juts up from the bloom.  What do you think?

Peonies tend to come in pink, white, coral and red.  However, peony fascinators can be any color they like, as this orange one amply proves.

Keeping that in mind, peony fascinators can also come with a veil attached if they so choose.  Like this one, for instance.

Personally, though, I am loving the gauzy look of this fascinator.  It almost looks like something from a dream, or failing that, something from a Pre-Raphaelite painting.

And just because I like to save the best for last, here's an unapologetically ginormous peony fascinator:

I'm not sure what it is I like best; the sheer size of this thing, or the fact that the lace underneath looks kind of like a doily.

See you Wednesday!

Seeing Green

Okay--my lawn doesn't look as nice as this print by Point. Jump. Shoot.  But it does look nicer now.

Internets, I am not in a good way right now.  And you can thank my yard for that.

You see, my yard needed mowing.  Badly.  I had started mowing it last week but my main piece of lawn maintenance equipment broke down, leaving half of the grass unmowed.  So when I finally got things fixed, it had rained several times, and my yard had gone beyond looking merely unkempt to full-on Returned To Nature.  So seeing as I'm an adult and all, I decided to get my butt out there today and take back the lawn, no matter who or what got hurt.

Long story short?  I lost ten pounds in sweat, my weed-whacker may be dead and my hands are little more than a collection of Band-Aid-covered blisters.  But dang it, my yard looks like a yard again.  And Internets, I need a reward.

So until someone rewards my efforts with ice cream, this post of green-colored hats will have to suffice.  Here's hoping you like 'em, too.

Green Trunk Designs turns up a fair bit on this blog.  My justification for that is that they make a variety of great hats, as this lovely lacy beret proves.

I kinda wish I had found this pretty paper headband back when I did the paper hat post, but hey, it could be worse; I could never have found it at all, and we'd all be the poorer for it.

And just because I seem to be on a bit of a vintage kick lately, here's a woven hat from the 1950s.

And just to wrap this post up with all my favorite things--fascinators, felt and fabulousness--here's a peacock-themed fascinator:

And now, unless it's to spoon ice cream into my mouth, I'm going to avoid moving my fingers for a while.  Ow.

See you next week!

Fruit Punch

Giovanni Lucifero has one of the coolest names I've ever heard.  He also paints pictures.  This still life of fruit is one of them.

For the past few days, I've been helping out T.H.'s aunt and uncle by watching their two boys for a few hours in the afternoon.  This is actually pretty cool as that I rather like both of the kids, and they seem pretty fond of me too, so it's all working out pretty well.  At least, it keeps working as long as I play soccer a lot.

Also, this has proven to be a bit of a learning experience for me.  Growing up with four sisters and not having any children of my own means that pretty much what I know of kids is pretty much of the girly variety, so it's been interesting to find out what little boys will have absolutely no truck with whatsoever (singing rounds is out, just so you know.)  But there's other differences too, and this is chiefly seen around snack time.

Case in point:  My dad often joked that he was glad to have five daughters instead of five sons, because five girls collectively ate as much as one boy.  What I have discovered in the past two days is that he was not exaggerating when he made this crack.  In the past two days, I think these two have put away more food than I did back in the entirety of 1989.  These kids can eat.  Particularly the younger one, who I think may be gearing up for a growth spurt or seven, because he's packing food away like he's going to wake up two feet taller tomorrow morning.

Luckily, the younger kid is easily steered towards fresh fruit and yogurt, so his snacking has been of the healthy variety, but still.  Kid ate so many strawberries and bananas today that I was nearly convinced he was going to explode into fruit-stuffed bits all over creation and was rather surprised when he didn't.  But it did give me an idea for today's post: fruit-themed hats.

Hey--I gotta go with my muse.

First up is this strawberry-and-cream themed summer hat, which while it may be lacking in actual strawberries, it certainly makes up for in fabulous color.

Keeping with the "and cream" theme for the moment, next there's this buoyant blueberry fascinator, complete with little blueberries sprinkled on top.

And just because I like things in threes, here's a peaches-and-cream themed fascinator.

And that's it for the "and cream" stuff, I swear.

...Okay, yeah, this cherry fascinator does look like it follows the "and cream" thing too, doesn't it.  Well, that wasn't intentional; I just thought it looked pretty nifty, what with the black netting and all.

But seriously now, this last hat?  Has absolutely nothing cream-like about it:

After all, Prince never sang about a raspberry-with-cream beret, now did he?

...And now I've got that song stuck in my head.  Hopefully you do, too, so I won't have to suffer alone.

See you Friday!

Mod It

The artist over at polymorphia says she had a lot of fun with her series of mod swirls, and it shows.  This one is my favorite.

With the exception of my good buddy Stina's blog, I think it's pretty safe to say that it's not often that I shamelessly plug things run by people I know.   Which is why I'm feeling pretty good about what I'm about to post, because I think this totally worth sharing with the world at large.

See, there's this fantastic lady that I know that--for the sake of Internet anonymity--I'm going to call D.Fun.  She runs this vintage shop called Mod Closet, and it's frickin' rad.  It's a vintage shop that caters to a wide range of styles but definitely has a very mod feel to it, which is unassailably cool.  So whether you're based in the Michiana area or going to be there for a few days, you should definitely stop in and check it out.  It'll be worth it.

And just to get you in the mood, here's some mod hats I found around the Internet.  Besides, it'll help tide you over until the next season of Mad Men gets rolling.

First up, we've got this cream-colored beanie that I think is perfectly sweet and adorable.  I almost want to take it out for a milkshake, except, y'know, for the fact that taking hats out for milkshakes is rather silly.

Still, it's really cute.

Speaking of sweet, how about this white cap, replete with a bow?  It's sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, which would make it perfect for a warm night out on the town.

Admittedly, this powder blue wool mod cloche is probably a bit too warm for this time of year.  Even so, it's freakin' pretty and I would totally try to rock it if given the chance.

And just because--once again--Poppycock! Vintage reminds me of why they are my online go-to for vintage hats, here's a fabulous buttercream bubble toque:

Seriously--if you have not checked out this store before, do it now.  Ditto that for Mod Closet.

See you Wednesday!

With A Side Of Lemons

When it comes to this print from Dear Colleen, it is physically impossible for me to agree more.  Particularly today.

As some of you might have noticed, this post is going up rather late in the day as opposed to the morning hours.  The reason for that is actually not my fault, as that I tend to schedule posts in advance; meaning, I write these things anywhere between the day  before to three days before posting.  No, the  reason why today's post is going up late is because Blogger apparently had a bug, and said bug has temporarily eaten today's post.

Yeah.  If I were the type of person who believed in the superstitions surrounding Friday the 13th, I'd chalk it up to that.  Instead, I'm just frustrated with no one to be frustrated at, because the Blogger elves are working hard at fixing said bug and restoring stuff.  Also, since I have no idea when today's original post is going to be spat back out of the bowels of Blogger, that means you've got nothing to read.  And Internets, that ain't right.

So in short, I am trying to follow the old idiom about being handed a certain kind of citrus fruit and making it into a palatable drink.  Or, in this case, a post for the blog.

First up, we've got this vintage hat, complete with veil and an honest-to-goodness fake mini lemon sitting right up front and center.

Next up, we've got this sweet little lemon-colored mini-beret, complete with crocheted-in bow.

And just because it's awesome, here's a felt lemoncake fascinator, complete with a little raspberry on top:

Because if lemonade or gin and tonics aren't up your alley, lemon cake is always a good way to go.

Well, that's it for today.  Again.  Here's hoping that whatever lemons life hands you comes paired with a bottle of Tanqueray.  Or as a cake.  Whichever's clever.

See you next week!

Tentacular

Yeah, today's post is kinda like this.

In a world where things often seem somewhat driven to extremes, it makes sense that many put a lot of effort into finding some sort of balance.  Be it balance between such mundane things as work and play or as metaphysical as order and chaos, the struggle to find the middle way that doesn't veer off too far in either direction takes a lot of discipline and effort in order to achieve.  Which is why, on the those rare, rare occasions when life seems to balance out itself, it can feel pretty flippin' sweet.

Case in point:  Remember Monday's post?  Yeah.  I do too, and was not looking forward to another day of staring alternately at the computer screen/out the window for several hours while waiting for something  even remotely approaching inspiration to stricke.  Luckily, when I loaded up Etsy's home page, the very first thing I saw was today's amuse-bouche by Ruby Submarine.  And Internets, from that moment on, The Day Was SAVED.

Why?  Because when I clicked over to check out the shop, I was greeted by this:

Now, to be honest, that scarf looks a little complicated for me (seriously; I can easily imagine me getting hopelessly tangled up in the dratted thing, much to both T.H.'s and Rufus's amusement,) but it did get me thinking about how tentacley it looked, which lead to me wondering if there were more scarves like it out there.

And seeing as you're reading this, you can safely assume that the answer was "there are."  So let's look at them, shall we?

In a spectacular feat of dovetailing interests, underthemountain combined her love of octopodes with her desire to keep her daughter from misplacing her hat and scarf by combining them into this fantastic tentacle hat-scarf.

This tentacle scarf looks a little less octopus-like and a bit more squid-like to me.  I think it's the little grippy bits at the end of the tentacle, which also makes it the one I like the best, natch.

And finally, just because this needs to be seen to be believed, a plush tentacle scarf:

My prediction?  This is the tentacle scarf that is most likely to be used as part of a prank.  Don't ask me how I know--I just do.  That is its destiny, and no human being can alter it.

And on that note, see you Friday!

Lace It Up

Yeah, this amuse-bouche may be a bad visual pun (Queen Anne's lace, heh, heh,) but the print itself is rather pretty, isn't it? 

Internets, I just spent eight--count 'em, eight--freakin' hours trying to come up with a post for today.  And after much staring at the screen so hard that I am surprised that I did not start sweating blood/had smoke pouring out of my ears/pick a cliché that covers overworking the brain meats, I finally came up with one.

Unfortunately, now my brain is a bit too fried to think of something entertaining to kick this post off with, so how's about we just pretend that this bit was something interesting and get right down to today's post, shall we?

Oh, and today's post is about lace headbands.  Why?  Because I think they're pretty, and hopefully you will, too.

To start off with, we've got this swoosh-like lace headband, complete with olive velvet ribbon.

For those out there who are in the market for weddingy-type prettiness, might I suggest this sweet antique lace headband?  It comes with a blusher veil.

However, if you're looking for something a little more appropriate for everyday wear, then perhaps this stretchy lace number would be a bit more up your alley.

...But then again, who wants to be simple when you can rock a sparkly, satiny, lacy headband like this?

And just because I like to save the best for last, here's the best of the lot:

And I think you'll totally agree.

And on that note, I am going to give my grey matter a break.  See you Wednesday!