Viva Las Vegas 19 Recap

Ahhh, Viva.  I know its been 2 months since Viva ended, but sometimes it takes that long to recoup.  Forgive me for my tardiness.

My favorite part of Viva this year was definitely seeing friends.  I get to see most of these people once a year and while Viva is a complete whirlwind we try to  make the best of our short time together.

We started off Viva by trying out a new Tiki bar in the area – The Golden Tiki Room.  It’s in an unassuming strip mall just down the road from the Orleans.  *Tip – sign up for their text message alerts before Viva.  Often times they text out deals/coupons.  I got a free Pineapple Dole Whip with Rum (think alcoholic Disneyland drink).  I have to be honest – I wasn’t blown away by their customer service (it took the bartender 20 min to even acknowledge us and it wasn’t busy) but their drinks and atmosphere were great.

We also tried out a new restaurant in Vegas (we try to make it a point to leave the Orleans for one nice dinner before Viva winds up) called The Golden Steer.  Again, like the tiki place, it is in an unassuming strip mall just off the main strip.  But you walk inside and its like going back to 1958.  The Golden Steer opened in 1958.  It’s Las Vegas’ oldest steakhouse and hosted the likes of Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack and Elvis.  The leather tufted round booths are named after celebrities who sat in them.  We were appropriately seated in the Betty Grable booth.

The service is impeccable.  The food is amazing.  I highly recommend it and we will be returning next year with our eyes set on the Frank Sinatra booth!

The rest of Viva was the usual blur of music, dancing, cars, fashion, vendors, Charles Phoenix and socializing. We were incredibly lucky and got a cabana for the 2nd year in a row (we are completely spoiled now).   We’re looking forward to Viva 20.  Until next year!

Photos used with permission from the talented Julie Abnet (jabnetphotography.com)

Fall Recap

Tags

Buick, fashion, Halloween, Hangar dance, Minnefabulous Vintage Lovers, Vera, vintage

And just like that Fall is over and winter is here!  Let me catch you up on some of our Fall activities.

Most importantly we have a new member of our family!  Her name is Vera and she is a 1948 Buick Super 8.  We are looking forward to driving her this summer!  We got  a few short cruises in thanks to our extended nice fall weather.  Thank you Julie for the family photos.

And of course we can’t have Fall without Halloween!!  My theme this year was “Literature”.  As always my amazing friends came through with great costumes!  All photos by Julie. Can you guess all the characters?

The Fantastic Mr Fox

Snow White

Sherlock Holmes

Medusa

Mrs. Havisham

Bellatrix LeStrange

Fagin

Bill Sikes

Hester Prynne

Jack Torrens

Juliet Capulet

Our work group costume this year was the gang from Clue!

And our last Fall activity included a trip in September to the hangar in St. Paul for their yearly Commemorative Air Force hangar dance.  Again, props to Julie for the awesome photos.

1940’s dress, corded bag, fur stole and gloves

 

 

Minnesota Transportation Museum

Tags

fashion, Minneapolis, Minnefabulous Vintage Lovers, vintage

Our MN Fab Vintage group recently took a field trip to the Minnesota Transportation Museum (http://www.transportationmuseum.org/).  If you haven’t been I definitely recommend it – especially if you have a soft spot for old trains.  The museum is entirely volunteer run from giving tours to repairing the trains (or in many cases actually forging the parts in the museum – they don’t exactly make parts for trains from the 40’s anymore).   Keep an eye on their website.  They have great events throughout the year and they also have train rides in the Fall near Stillwater.  These book up quickly so plan ahead.

Enjoy some photos taken by Julie.

Jessica comes to Minnesota!

Tags

Minnefabulous Vintage Lovers, state fair, vintage

My Canadian bestie Jessica (also known as Pin Up Persuasion http://pinuppersuasion.com/) came to Minneapolis for a visit!  I had a full schedule planned for her.

About an hour after she hopped off her plane my tiki party was underway! I wanted her to meet some of my MN Vintage friends.

We spent much of our week antiquing (Jessica found a few things on the first day but otherwise we didn’t find a thing – boo!)  We went out to Jax for a nice dinner – Jessica loves some steak.

The weather wasn’t super hot for August either (lame!) – we even had to wear pants one day (gasp!)

We took her to the Mill City Museum to learn some Minneapolis history and listen to my girl Davina sing with her band in the ruins (so cool!).  For dinner we took her to a Minnesota staple that is sadly closing at the end of the year – Nye’s!  Jessica tried Polish food and laughed along while listening to the interesting piano bar renditions.

We also took her out on the lake even though it was freezing.  She was a trooper.

Friday we took her to the Great Minnesota Get Together… also known as the MN State Fair!  114,000 people attended that day.  Jessica dove right in and tried all the classics – pronto pup, Sweet Martha’s cookies, french fries, cheese curds and Tom Thumb Mini Donuts!  Go Jessica!

We loved having Jessica with us for the week.  We’re looking forward to her coming back next year.. in July… when it’s warm.  😉

Where did summer go!?

Tags

fashion, Minnefabulous Vintage Lovers, vintage

And just like that it’s September 1st.  When we last spoke it was July 4th and we were fresh off our Gatsby picnic.  Here’s a little tour on what we’ve been doing lately:

We took a vintage bus tour of Minneapolis – we rode on a 1950 something city bus.  Very cool!

We went to Back to the 50’s!

The MNFabulous Vintage group went to Psycho Suzi’s for brunch and I finally got a ride in Noah’s 53 Ford.

And of course music at Lee’s!

Stay tuned!  I’ll tell you about my visit with my Canadian friend Jessica!

My Dressing Room!

Tags

vintage

As my vintage collection has been expanding my closet space has been decreasing.  We have 3 bedrooms in our house and I had 2 of those 3 closets full of stuff.  Our guest room was a potpourri – dog room, “office” when we actually had a computer in there, and general storage.  We decided to relocate the dogs to our room (they sleep in a crate while we’re away during the day) and transform the office into my dressing room.

I can thank my talented husband for doing most of this transformation.  He put up a clothing rod and shelf for my clothes and (some of) my vintage purses.  I do still have some clothes (separates mostly) in the closet.  I hung my dresses.

He then went to the clearance warehouse sale at Find Furnish in NE Minneapolis and bought a dresser – it had marker on it, glitter on it, water rings, you name it.  He sanded it down and refinished it.  It’s so gorgeous!

I found some matching pink lamps at an antique shop for a steal!  I got my little retro looking radio at Target.

I’ve got my bracelets displayed and I still need more displays (someone has a bracelet problem….)

My dresser drawers hold my earrings and misc other jewels…

My awesome friend Roxanne made me some brooch holders.

Lucas made me this necklace display awhile back and I use the closet door for hair flowers.

My small vintage hat collection hangs on the wall….

I searched all over for a vanity.  I wanted one that was more 50’s/MCM than the classic 40’s waterfall styles.  I finally found this one via a Minneapolis MCM Facebook page.  I have a teal velvet ottoman to sit on now (pic below but it’s a little dark).

On my vanity I have my vintage ladies head vases, retro clock from Target, autographed Dita photo, mirror from Amazon, perfume and vintage vase from Julie.

And hello Paris/poodle trash can! (And matching kleenex box).

I love it!  HUGE thank you to my darling husband for helping me make it a reality!  Love you to the moon!

Gatsby Picnic

Tags

fashion, gatsby, Minnefabulous Vintage Lovers, vintage

I’ve always been so jealous of the East Coast kids who get to attend the Jazz Age Lawn Party every summer in NY.  So I decided to have my own Gatsby event.  While I was disappointed that not many people came, the few of us who did had fun.  We ate food from a 1920’s menu and played a round of croquet.  Enjoy some photos from Julie!

And a couple photos by me. 🙂

I have to thank Jamie from Chatterblossoms (on etsy and Instagram) for the awesome star headpiece.

The End of an Era

Tags

mad men, Minneapolis, vintage

When people ask me why I started dressing in a vintage style I answer with 2 words – Mad Men.  I was mesmerized by the fashion and hairstyles.  I immediately started scouring the internet for dresses like Betty’s.  And eventually I started dressing in vintage styles 99% of the time.  Sure,  I was a little behind – Mad Men premiered in July 2007 and I think I got into it around 2010.  We binge watched the first few seasons to get caught up and I was hooked.  Not only is the fashion to die for but the show really is one of the best on television – well written, well directed, well acted.  The costume and set designers are sticklers for keeping everything era appropriate from the furniture in Don’s apartment to the costumes/hairstyles to the events of the day (many historical events were worked into Mad Men’s storylines including the death of Marilyn, JFK’s assassination and the moon landing to name a few).

I won’t get into too many details of the show because I want YOU to watch it.  It’s on Netflix Instant (I think all the seasons but the most current one which I’m sure will follow).  I am going to re-watch again too.  Not only because I miss the fashion of the early days (the show begins in 1960 and now we’re in 1970 – so not my jam) but I’ve forgotten quite a few of the early storylines.  And, well, I’m going to miss Don and Betty, and Peggy and Pete, and Joan and Roger….

Last night we watched Mad Men go out in style with about 120 of our closest friends at Jax Cafe in NE Minneapolis.  Jax, Vita.MN and Jake Rudh have hosted a premiere party for the last 6 years and this year they hosted a finale party (seemed fitting we all watch it end together).  There were tears and there were cheers.  I won’t go into details about the finale (I don’t want to spoil it for you) but I think it ended the best way it could.

Most people dress for the year the show is in – 1970, almost 1971 – but I couldn’t do it.  I tried.  70’s are NOT my jam…. so 60’s it is.  I wore a vintage Emma Domb gown and did my best to “60’s” my hair.

PS: don’t leave your camera around us….

Our table – we won the Mad Men trivia contest!  Thanks to Julie and the guy in the front on the left who does television show podcasts on NPR….

To close, here is a look back at some of the previous Mad Men premiere parties.  The first one we went to was in 2012.

2013 Premiere

2014 Premiere

*various photos by Julie

Viva Las Vegas Weekend edition

Saturday is THE day at Viva Las Vegas.  20,000 + people come to the car show.   And Saturday night is the night where allllll the fancy dresses (and suits) come out.

Saturday morning we took a quick spin of the car show and walked the vendors.  I grabbed a couple things at the PinUp Girl Clothing booth.

Saturday afternoon we spent at the pool.  This time my friend Julie won a cabana.  We enjoyed the company of our friends Monique, Noah, Kevin, Julie, Lisa, Andrea, Deb, and Courtney for the afternoon.  Julie didn’t leave her cabana for the 7 hours she had it!  It was the best day weatherwise too.   Lucas and I went in around 530-6 to take a rest before gearing up for Saturday night.

Missy was a doll and did my hair again for Saturday night.  We went to Deke’s Guitar Geek show for a bit and then headed upstairs to see Furious play.  We saw them last year and really enjoyed their teddy boy rock from England.

Sunday (Easter) we woke up at 1230 pm (!!!!!) – both of us were like “OMG!” when we saw the clock.  Obviously going to bed at 3am (5 am our time) did us in.  We hurried to get ready and headed out for Easter “breakfast” at 2 pm…..

After breakfast we walked the vendor rooms for a bit, bought a few things and went to see part 2 of the Charles Phoenix slide show!

Sunday night we got all dressed up and went out for a final fancy dinner with our Canadian friends and headed up to listen to more bands play.  We made sure to go to bed early (12-1 am) since we had to be up early (10) to check out by noon.

Monday we had one last lunch with Jessica, Darren, Mae, Shawn and Julie and we were off to the airport.  Another Viva in the books!

*photos courtesy of Julie Abnet (www.jabnetphotography.com)

Viva Shopping Spoils

Historically we haven’t done much shopping at Viva.  The vendors prices are often quite high.  This year was an exception.

I finally picked up my first pair of Remix shoes – while they need a little breaking in I really like them so far.  They are not cheap (nearly $200) but everyone I know says they are worth every penny.

I also picked up jewelry (earrings and a necklace) and 2 dresses from Donnaland Vintage and a cocktail jacket from Glam Factory.  Lucas found the green print dress.  Go Lucas!  I picked up to dresses from PinUp Girl at the car show at yard sale prices ($60 each versus $144).  WIN!

Speaking of Lucas – he picked up a plaid blazer from Boss Vintage and 2 shirts from AmberJoy Vintage.  He also found a couple of records at the antique mall and a souvenir tiki mug from Frankies.  Not a bad shopping haul.