Photos by Drew
Dress: Madewell
Tights: Target
Ring: garage sale
Boots: Etsy
This weekend was a wholesome weekend, and I think wholesome weekends are the best kind. Well we socialized Friday night at a karaoke party for our friend’s birthday, but after that we were lazy, doing lazy day things like going to the library, a few thrift stores, and the farmer’s market. I made bread yesterday and cinnamon-apple scones tonight and then I worked on some Etsy stuff while we watched Boardwalk Empire, which I really like, but maybe especially because it takes place during the ’20s (or around the ’20s) and because I like the costumes and settings and silent film star name-dropping.
Speaking of silent films I watched Show People for the first time last night and fell more in love with Marion Davies, if it was possible to. She is so silly and irreverent, and watching her make funny faces and goof around with Billy Haines is just perfect. So thanks to those things and the Hemingway book A Moveable Feast which I just re-read I’m really into the 1920s right now. This dress I’m wearing is brand new but it kind of reminds me of the ’20s. I’d been eyeing it forever at Madewell, and I found it on the sale rack a few weeks back for $29.00, which is crazy for a Madewell dress, especially one made of silk. It has kind of a funny loose fit which might be why it ended up on the sale rack, but when I put it on I just imagined it looked like something Marion Davies would wear and then I liked it.
When I first found out we were going on a cruise I thought I’d take a good week away from blog photos, but Drew convinced me that maybe that would be silly, and plus I knew I wanted to get a good blog post’s worth of photos from Key West. For the rest of the cruise I was pretty lazy. It was my first cruise so I was a little bit nervous when we boarded in Charleston, maybe especially after Drew told me about the poor people in California who were stranded on a Carnival ship. We were on a Carnival ship and I already worry about just about everything as it is. But it wasn’t as scary as flying on a plane (I’m terrified every time) and I only got sea sick one day, and I was amazed at how you just get used to being on a big old boat in the ocean. And all the funny cruise ship activities too . . . formal nights, creepy-but-funny musical shows, photo ops everywhere, the casino, random dance clubs, karaoke (I didn’t sing, but my sister Ashley rapped and my nephew Jack (Peach) sang a Michael Jackson song). But then you can do normal things too like eat chocolate and run on the track and read, which I did lots of. I was really lazy. I ate chocolate more than I ran.
Going on day trips at our stops was the most fun though, and I was glad that Drew brought his little camera along for random photos. Before we went to Key West we went to Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas. Both cities were warm and full of tourists and lizards and people selling you strange things–we didn’t buy anything except for conch fritters and a pina colada for me and Bahamian beer for Drew. Fantastic. We mostly sat on the beach–I wasn’t adventurous enough for snorkeling or anything. But in Nassau Drew and I managed to sneak into Atlantis for twenty minutes, and we swam in the pool and found a hermit crab before sneaking back out onto the beach.
What I liked best was getting to spend so much time with my family and eating with them every single evening, just like in the old days. It was my mom’s birthday, and we had chocolate cake for dessert every night. I even ate it when I was seasick.
1. 1990s Red Babydoll Mini Dress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. Cream Wool Fisherman Knit Sweater and Burgundy Plaid Wool Shorts . . . . . . . . . 3. 1990s Black Floral Party Dress . . . . . . . . 4. 1990s Black Mini Skirt .
5. Navy Polka Dot Maxi Skirt . . . . . . . . . .6. 1960s White Day Dress . . . . . . . . . . 7. 1960s Black Velvet Cut-out Dress . . . . . . . . 8. 1960s Green Wool Cape.
Model: Sarah W. at Click.
Since the blog’s still in tropical mode I thought it would be a good time to post this little summer collection by New Zealand’s Kate Sylvester. I love all the leather and lace, and those ’50s style sun dresses would be so perfect to wear in little coastal cities on 80 degree days. And you know how a lot of times when I post these collections I’ll end up loving everything but the shoes? Well, that’s not the case with this one. Actually I think I may like the shoes best of all.
Photos by Drew
Navy pleated skirt: gift from Juliette Hogan
Cropped shirt (and biker shorts): American Apparel
Shoes: Madewell
’90s Coach bag: thrift store
Sunglasses: Karen Walker
Necklace: Corvus Noir (it’s the one I always wear that was made from a ’30s charm, and the morning I wore it I noticed it said “Florida Keys!” Strange.)
Today we got back from our cruise, and while I was away I missed blogging so much that I’m doing a post on my favorite day of our trip first, even if it did happen towards the end of it. We went to tropical places like Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas, but my favorite town had to be Key West in the good old USA, if only because it reminded me of all the southern coastal cities I love. Sometimes it reminded me of Charleston, but that might have been only because I’d just been there a few days before. Really it was pretty different–a lot more tropical and colorful, sometimes kitschy, more daytime drinking and more drag shows (I didn’t go but I wanted to). I liked how whenever the place got too loud and touristy you could just dip off onto a little side street and it’d be good and quiet, except for the random roosters that run all around the city. Cats too. We saw lots of six-toed cats at Hemingway’s house when we went. Drew and I took a tour and walked all over the place and I got reminded of how I don’t like Hemingway as a person, and spent too much time wondering if Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald had ever visited or if any 1930s celebrities swam in the little pool in back. I swore I heard a tour guide bring up Ginger Rogers when he drove his trolley past the house, but that could have just been my selective hearing.
Other things I loved about Key West? Walking around with my family (including the cutest kids in the world, Jack–”Peach”–and Stella), old ’30s buildings, the lighthouse, and lunch at this place called Blue Heaven that made the best strawberry daiquiri I’ve ever had and Key Lime pie, of course.
