A New Face

I've been sponsoring the Vixen Vintage Blog for quite a few months and before that was a loyal follower. I used to drool over the items she had in her shop (which has since, closed) and on her blog, wishing I could look that fab. Well as you may remember I finally got to meet Miss Solanah when I was on vacation and she was super cute and so down to earth. It just makes you love her even more. I think I at one point told her she was so cute and tiny I wanted to put her in my pocket. ;)
Well one of the perks to sponsoring her blog is that I can send her things and she will look fab in them and send them back. WOOT! I sent her 3 (of my favorite) dresses from my shop and she snapped some gorg pics and shipped them back. Super easy and now I've got 3 items up in the shop with her fab-ness all over it!
Going Green
Floral Forties
Caught in her Net

Here is Solanah looking a-darn-dorable in some of the dresses from my shop. Don't you just love her? Yeah, I know you do.

BTW: Tons of amazing pieces up right now I have nearly 165 pieces available...and another purchase for me...that I'm hoping to get some sales and pay off ASAP so I can wear it on my B-day! :D

Oh..and one more thing...GIVEAWAYS START SUNDAY!!!!

A Ride on Carousel

I live in what I call "The Smallest City in the World". Everyone knows everyone here. We don't really follow trends, I noticed we were about a year or 2 behind the main stream, if we got them at all. People around here are still sagging their pants down their knees and wearing 4x shirts..when they should be wearing a Small..yes, I'm talking about the guys. Most of the girls here wear stretch jeans that are too tight. There is more muffin top in Spokane than I care to notice, but how do you NOT? One day I actually went around and counted all the muffin tops I saw...it was in the 100s...just from the mall.

Anyway...back to what I was saying. We don't get a lot of trendy shops..never mind a good vintage shop. We have 2 or 3 second hand shops, mostly furniture..and PLENTY of antique stores..this is a retirement town after all. I KNOW there is good vintage out there (Something has to keep me in business right?) Well, I discovered a shop (everyone else knew about of course) called "Finders Keepers" they specialized in vintage and handmade jewelry and had a small vintage clothing section as well. Well the more I went there, the more I realized nothing changed, they hardly ever got new pieces and all the prices were....well, overpriced. So when all of a sudden they moved to a new location I was puzzled...the building was smaller..and when I went in there was no clothing...WHA?? Where did it all go? I was pretty excited for a bit because I thought maybe they were selling it trunk sale style...but no, another person bought it and was going to continue the business. As you can guess this had me worried...what is going to happen to the inventory, who is the seller? what will the prices be?! EEEEK!

Well after a couple of months of waiting. I got my answer...Jenny, a spunky little red-head had bought the clothes and the old location and turned it into CAROUSEL a vintage boutique filled with TONS of clothing, shoes, hats and handmade accessories.
Jenny is a vintage wearing cutie who is just as passionate about vintage as I am..the first time I went in to the new shop I talked to her for about 2 hours about..well vintage. She is a delight, she told me how she had adjusted the prices and more than doubled the inventory out of her own vintage collection. As terrible as it sounds I used to call her my "arch enemy" because I would try to get to the vintage at shops and sales before she could, she was always a step ahead of me though ;)..which is why she had 600 pieces to add to the shop! She is also doing what all successful clothing businesses do..changing inventory to fit the season. As much as I love that sun dress...when there is 3 feet of snow outside..I'm not exactly thinking of summer.
I was stoked to find out she was having and
GRAND OPENING TODAY (Friday 9/3/10) and she the shop is open from 10am-8pm!!!
Check out her Facebook Page for the address! If you live close make the journey, its worth it....And everything in the store is 30% off...well you know I can't resist a good deal so I was there 10 mins before the shop opened all antsy in my pantsy to get in there and grab some vintage gold..literally, I had a gold lame party dress in mind that I wanted to buy since the last time I went in.
Well of course I grabbed the dress, then I found another dress I wanted and another and another..well I had to put some back so I wasn't spending all of my hubs "new phone" fund. He was such a sweetheart to let me though. The pieces I got are SO worth it.
I tried not to take pictures of everything in the store, but every time I turned around there was something else fab. Here is the front desk, LOVE this rack of hats and the banner above the register!
I'm sad I didn't get a better picture of the hat behind the green hat..its AMAZING!

The "Just In Today" rack, coolest idea ever! Every day she fills the rack with new items. Since I got there so early it was just me and 2 other people in the store and one of them wanted to sell her more clothing! (I bought one of the pieces off this rack today)
Here is that fab Gold dress, lame top with chiffon skirt. I didn't end up buying it...although I still wish I had. Its crazy cheap at just $49! PLUS 30% off today...so..maybe I'll go back before work...hehehe
PARTY DRESSES!! This Emma Domb Tulle and Sequin gown will knock you off your feet!
Gorgeous suit with beading and ribbon neckline
40s taffeta party dress in grayish pink..one of those "only from the 40s" colors I love so much.
Tomato red suit! Love the stitched details around the edges.
Lilli Ann!!
If you don't love this suit, you don't love vintage...period!
40s colored sequin blouse...I love these!
Just a FEW of the beaded shells she has
Floor length 60s sequin party dress
More frilly goodness!
Oh and she also mentioned to me she is in the process of buying some 1900s-1930s stuff!

Overall-I LOVE this store. The only thing I would improve is if there were Era signs on the racks..but the shop is still new so she is probably in the process ;) Anyway. Stop by, you'll be impressed. Tons of suits, tons of lingerie, shoes, a sale rack in the front..and I thought I got a picture of the wall-o-purses but I guess I didn't. Yeah..If you're driving through Spokane WA (or you already live here) you need to stop at Carousel.
Oh, I'm sorry, did you want previews of what I bought today?



yeah....I know!

Vacation Day Four, Meet up and more thrift

Can you tell I did a lot of thrifting? Here is the post you've (probably) been waiting for. My meet and greet with Solonah of Vixen Vintage it was a little out of the way but I don't often get over to the other side of the state and I really wanted to see her in person since she is always so fab in her pics. I thought oh, I had better dress up because whatever I'm wearing she's going to look like a billion times more fab (and she did, she's so bleeping cute) We pulled in to town and turned a corner after a skinny little thing wearing a vintage skirt, cropped jacket and tall leather boots walked across the street...I told my hubs "I bet that was her" and later I would find that yes, it was.
But she and I were a texting and she was currently on her way to have breakfast with her mommy so we thrifted more while we waited. I found a cute top and skirt set and 2 patterns (one i'll be listing) and I wish I had bought all the patterns because they were on sale for $1 a piece! Still kicking myself for that one.Rosebud skirt and top set I picked up at the Antique Mall

We went to a couple smaller thrift stores as well and were going to head back to the salvation army but then Solonah texted to say she was ready and to meet her at this little coffee shop in town. So I'm there all super nervous thinking "she's probably going to think I'm a loser and a phony and hate me in person..boo hoo hoo" i get myself worked up sometimes. And we got out of the car and her she comes all adorable walking across the street and she gives me that huge way too cute smile of hers and I feel much better. She gave me a little hug and we went inside for some coffee...well she had tea, I had a latte with a foam leaf (that would not go away!) and my hubs had a banana, orange and something else smoothie (no thanks, it was kinda yuckers with my coffee) and of course she was too quick for me and paid for my drinks as well...she is such a shitter!
So we sat down awkwardly on the little chairs and couches they had, me in my jumblelaya dress my crinnie with my favorite red cropped cardigan and my nautical brooch set. (I still think my outfit was missing a butter yellow tie)
before lipstick (I always forget until i'm in the car already)
after, in car with lipstick
my nautical brooches anchor and boat from ebay seagull from Art*Deco*Dame on etsy
My crinnie larger shot of my dress
I remember thinking "OMG SHE'S SO TINY..and YOUNG" and then I started feeling old even though I think I'm only two years older than her. I just feel so old..at 24 I feel like I should be 34 or even 44...I'm married, with a house and a mostly successful business and a "career-like" job. I'm so boring...anyway..
We sat there and made small talk and sipped our respective drinks I got lipstick all over the place on that mug... I got lipstick nearly half way around it before I was done...how I'm not quite sure...
She asked me about my hubs and said I was sweet like a billion times and told me how cute I looked (she must've known I was practically a scared kitten). I don't think I asked her anything, I'm not very good in social situations and I didn't want her to feel like its an interview I'm her friend not a reporter. She did ask me about my regular job, the one where I'm not buying pretty things and enjoying myself..and I told her what most people say about their jobs...it sucks. HA!
She suggested we hit up the big antique store down the street so we finished up our drinks (I finally got that damn foam leaf!) and we headed out to our unclean, practically lived in car and headed down to the store. It was huge, 3 stories lots of shiny cases for me to look through. I took my favorite kind of stalker like pics of Solonah walking around.
Me in "Elvis's" sun glasses
Solanah walking around looking at things
Neat little hat box..and hey there is Solanah again.
Looking at the rack where she picked up the black wool sweater, which I almost picked up..
An amazing lamp that I wanted
cute little picture
orange you glad I didn't buy this shirt...well I kinda liked it.
Here is my tea cup...which matches the set below..I found out I have a lot of sets of one.

Solanah's outfit and the black sweater she bought.
She and I posing outside the mall...she said "sorry I look drunk in your pics" I'm like..well I think I look high so we're even...HA. We're a mess. Here is Solanah's Post for better (aka more embarrassing) pics. :)
She headed out to watch TV...I mean very important things that prevented her from going to a reunion and we went out for more thrifting. I came back to town later that day and picked up things from Urban Eccentric since they didn't open until noon I had some time to kill.
I bought this adorable catalina swimsuit with smocked back
love this kelly green blouse
and this flocked circle skirt dress at a steal of a price! Everything you've seen is up in my Etsy store