Happy New Year!!!

2010 will be the best year yet!

Happy Holidays and Peacock Lane

Every Christmas we take a little drive across the river to check out Peacock Lane. It is a block of the cutest houses decorated to beat the band for Christmas. You can walk down the street or drive it (you have to turn your headlights off). We have been going there as long as I remember. My favorite decorations are the Grinch house and the Peanuts gang. One year someone knocked the head off of the Grinch and there was such an uproar, but as you can see, they put it back on. It is a really cool old Portland tradition.

Thanksgiving!

Vintage Portrait Photo Picture of two Girls Feeding Seeds to a Turkey Bird
Originally uploaded by BL1961

Wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving!!!

Super Sale in the shop!

Mea culpa.
I promised to be a better conversational partner and hold more regular blog updates. But, my 9-5 has been keeping me away from you. Again, I promise I will be more diligent!
I am having a huge blowout sale in the Festooned Pontoon etsy shop, starting now! Some cuter than cute lovelies are on sale, at more than reasonable prices. Please stop by and, more importantly, let me know what you think! Above are a few items up for grabs....

I am a horrible blogger

I am sorry I am a horrible blogger. I am going to try to get better!
I have been very busy and gone most of the summer. Now I am back on track and ready to go! I leave you with this awesome dress we saw on our summer travels through Cali. Fab.

What to sell

I am not the first to bemoan this dilemma: I buy something with the intention of selling it, put it on and then decide to keep it. This happened to me just now, with this jacket. It is awesome and I looked up the brand, Davidow, and it is worth some money. I love it. I did not have that problem with the pink fluffy cloud of Glinda goodness above, however, because it is literally a size teeny tiny. I put this in the shop and hope and pray someone buys it. It is also worth something, as this is from the very collectible label Lorrie Deb. I saw some similar dresses on sale for up to $500. So, if you know any prom going, debutantes, send them my way!

Bacon

Tonight I made plastic bacon for my daughter for her skit at school. I still don't understand what the bacon is for. This picture is not related to bacon, however, it was taken with my daughter at the coast and I like it.

Shoes in miniature- can you relate?

still more Maryhill

This diaroma wasn't ready, but still, fabu.

Theatre de la mode part deux

A few more post WWII haute couture fashion from the dolls at the Maryhill Museum. No words.

garden party maryjanes

I sold these sweetly demure shoes on my etsy shop the other day. They were quite popular.

Alas, they weren't my size, otherwise...

Friendship

As promised, a few more pictures from my trip to the Maryhill Museum of Art across the Columbia river in Goldendale, Washington. This place is so random and so amazing; it would take me all day to describe it. Imagine, in really the middle of no where in the high desert, is a stately mansion holding so many impressive private works of art. It is really random. The founder, Sam Hill (I think the phrase "What in Sam Hill ..." came from) built this very institutional building overlooking the Columbia with the intention of living there. This place is a testament to his friends, who happened to be very famous and very wealthy. There must be over 30 pieces by Rodin. There is a section devoted to Loie (there should be umlauts over the e) Fuller; a world reknowned cabaret dancer with Folies Bergeres at the turn of the century. Finally, there is a whole floor dedicated to Queen Marie of Rumania. Queen Marie contributed a bunch of fine furniture, sculpture, knick nacks (if you call Faberge knick nacky!) and paintings. The painting I posted previously was there and a pretty amazing example of American Classical Realism. I just couldn't believe that in the middle of this desert was this amazing collection of art. That is not all. There was an incredibly large collection of Native American art. And, finally, my favorite part of the museum was called the Theatre de la Mode. Apparently, right after WWII they made these diaramas of Parisian fashion which traveled the world. This museum has a bunch of these and they change them out yearly to showcase three diaramas. The picture above has a dress by Balmain. The models, made of wire, are about 1 foot tall! Insane.

I will post more about this amazing place later.

Amazing day

I will explain this image shortly. However, I will leave you with this: this is a snippet of a painting hanging at the Maryhill Museum, which we visited yesterday. I can't begin to tell you how amazing it was. But you will have to wait.

really ...

My mom came over to my house the other night. When she walked in the door she asked if I was playing Celtic Woman.
Really ....????

the reason why

There are many reasons why I started this blog. The absolute necessity to document my vintage finds has recently become apparent. The vintage gods really are smiling on me. I opened a little vintage etsy shop and many items I find cannot be sold there because they are not vintage. So I need a forum and here it is. First, I think it is more important to tell you why I opened a vintage shop on etsy, as these reasons are real important for why I started this blog.
1) I really don't want to sound cliche, but I have thrifted all of my life and have a pretty lovely collection of stuff I think others might enjoy. I wore a beautiful 40's off white dress with black polka dots and big shell buttons to my high school graduation. To my college graduation, I wore a wonderful silk 40s dress with an almost zebra print. I love to thrift and I love vintage dresses. 2) I want to have a place to showcase items I probably won't sell. I have a 3 tiered system when I shop. I look for regular, unnamed vintage, designer clothing (not vintage) and the ultimate find is vintage designer. I found a vintage Givenchy jacket (I didn't buy it) a little while back and could kick myself for not buying it, but this is the ultimate tier I look for. I have found some doozies recently, but I will dole these out in bits, with pictures! And finally, 3) like many, this financial crisis has forced me to step outside of the box and think harder about how to meld my passion for thrifting (really, an addiction) with a way to make a little more money, hopefully. So, there you have it. I promise to keep up with this blog and showcase my lovelies.

Welcome Aboard

Welcome aboard the maiden voyage of the Festooned Pontoon's new blog. I am really excited to get going and use this blog to show you new things in my closet and on my mind. Believe me, it's going to be quite a trip!