that thing I do

Hello, you wild beasts.

Behold, a little weekend recap:

Here are some clothes and jewelry and my face and stuff.

 I'm wearing a recently thrifted dress over a skirt because the dress is oddly very short in the back. I never have that problem. My dresses are always too short in the front.... you know... the boobs and the fact that I have no rear. No butt at all - well, at least for a black woman. 

 

So check out these huge Afghani glass bead beauties I scored on Etsy. Two for $10! Not bad, eh???
They were marked down because they're a little damaged but nothing that can't be fixed.

After last year's jewelry mishap at the faire, I swore off dancing in metal jewelry.

In case you don't remember, I danced for two days in the sweltering Southern heat and my sweat and cheap jewlery did not get along very well. 

I had a rash on my left boob that got so bad, it split open. I had terrible rashes on my upper chest and behind my ears and down the sides of my neck from my earrings.

These necklaces are so fabulous, I can't see myself only wearing them for the faire. Look at these! I wanna sleep in them! 

Sunday afternoon, I joined some friends in the park for some drumming and music like we used to do  way back many years ago. Eh, hardly anyone showed up so it turned out to be more of just a hang out session instead of a jam out session. Oh, well. The weather was nice.

And here's me with a tambourine on my head showing off... my balls.

The aslatua is a percussion shaker instrument from Ghana. It's two little gourds filled with seeds or pebbles, tied to a string. I got these weeks ago and I love them. They're a serious challenge. You hold one ball in your hand with the string between your fingers. Then swing the other ball around your hand, over your thumb to make it hit the other ball in your hand. Swing it back around to catch it in your hand. 

Ok, I'm no good at explaining stuff.

I'll post a little demo video at the bottom.

Where does the sound come from?

Oh, and I finally got a pink ukulele! I had not idea how cheap these were! Er, well for a beginner one to just fiddle around with, anyway. Wanna come over and rock out with me, Emmy?

gone cross eyed

Howdy ya'll!! You guys ready for some pics from the week? No? Well, TOO BAD! Here they are coming atcha. But first: me. You likey? Yes? Awesome. Wanna go out later? Me and you. Maybe we could have a few beers and play some golf and see where the evening takes us? No? Fine. You're not my type anyway.

So, it's cold as heck here and I'm lovin' it. It was so cold (and rainy) today that I wore two dresses. Stripes and plaids, yo. My favorite combo. Well, the plaid dress is a cheapo online find that shrank several sizes after the first washing, so now it's really just a shirt. I haven't had a chance to get any warmer clothes for my still blubbery post-pregnancy body. I'm broke and car-less anyway so I'll probably be double layering dresses a lot this season.

Outfit Under $20

Plaid dress - www.599fashion.com

Striped dress and boots - handmedowns

Leggings - Walmart

Authentic Kuchi tribal earrings -www.tribalbazaar.com

Crochet flower brooch - made by Lou Lou! (Cedar's matching sweater below)

 I found these records today digging through some leftover stuff from our Church's rummage sale they hosted last weekend. Ten cents each! YEAH!

 Beers of the week:

 River's new favorite "toys".

What a nerd.

  I've been pretty unhappy with the thinness of my brows lately. I've never had a problem with them before and all of a sudden I felt that I needed to do something about them - I blame Pinterest. I suck at filling them in - I do it everyday and I still can't get it right so I browsed the web to see if there was such a thing as eyebrow stencils. And sure enough! 

Look! I got suckbrows! 

I think this whole eyebrow stencil thing would be better for me if the stencils were adhesive and if I had a darker brow pencil.. and friggin' knew what I was doing. 

So anywaaaaays... River wore polka dots and skinny jeans to church today. I had no idea how skinny those darn pants were when I got them. They look like dude leggings.

 And all in hot pink is Miss Cedar. Along with her thrifted $2 dress she's sporting a pair of 99 cent ruffle bloomers bought from China on Ebay. Thank you China for always being there for me. 

The dress is so fluffy! Doesn't her dress remind you of those dolls old ladies crochet to cover toilet paper rolls? 

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Ummm... sometimes this happens.

Bye!

LINKED UP HERE!

pop pop pop

For the past few days I've been obsessing over putting together the perfect playlist for my upcoming Valentines Day Ball fundraiser. 

I had no idea how out of touch with today's pop music I am until I started sniffing around for other dance tunes besides the B-52s Love Shack.

While looking through today's Top 40s hits to add to the playlist I found myself scratching my head trying to figure out: "What's a Bruno Mars?? Lady Googoo?  Beyonce is still alive? Kanye Who?" 

I hate today's pop music - for obvious reasons. It sucks Let's face it. It's pretty terrible. 

So to show you my frustration - I'm going to do a costume change mid-blog post.

 I stopped listening to the radio over ten years ago, only tuning in once a year to hear some Christmas tunes during the holiday season.... maybe a bit of NPR if I'm feeling bold... or if I left my CDs at home and have nothing else to listen to while driving.

I gave up on keeping up with popular music over ten years ago and starting looking into what's going on in the world. No, I don't mean like political United Nations superhero-ish, I mean what's going on in the world musically. What do those other cats have to offer? Goodness, that's what. And it's not just the ethnic sounds from other countries that tickle my fancy, there are plenty of bands here in America that like to dabble in ethnic spices: Gogol Bordello and A Hawk and a Hacksaw are the top two on my list right now.

So how do you feel about the pop music where you live? Are you still in tune or have you moved on?

Don't ignore this video. You'll hate yourself for doing so.

and the marching band was there too

Wow. I think this is the longest I've ever gone in between posts. What has it been? Seven, eight days?

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Unlike most of you lucky duckies, I don't get to go to festivals, concerts and museums. Going out to eat is a once-a-month occurrence, thrift shopping is an often painful and frustrating ordeal, I don't have any outgoing friends so I have no parties to go to and no parties to throw and I'm not a fan of dressing up in my best silks and lipstick just to sit around the house changing diapers and watching the Munsters on Netflix.

So, in summation:  I don't always have something worth blogging about.

But I do today.

My hat. It is. Fabulous.

 In junior high and high school I was a hardcore marching band nerd. I played the euphonium (or baritone, AKA little tuba). I loved playing the music, I loved marching, I loved the uniforms, even the way they smelled... before, during and after a show.

I was obsessed with band and I was one of the top band students in the school. 

I wanted to continue band in college but my fist year of college was at a small school with no band or music program. I moved to a bigger city to go to a better college and join the band... but I lost sight of why I was even going to college in the first place and never went back.

(I don't regret it.)

When I found this helmet in the toy bin at Salvation Army Friday, I immediately knew that this hat was no toy. This was no dress up thing. This is the real deal.

I knew I had save this poor fellow from the sticky hands of some drooling toddler with a plastic glitter-filled twirling baton. I had to rescue it and give it a home and for $2.99 that wasn't a very hard decision to make.

What was your passion in school?

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16-year-old me at a marching competition. 

Double bonus:

I was also on the drill team and about six other clubs and activities. Boy was I zealous.

walk like an Egyptian

"All the old paintings on the tomb 

They do the sand dance, don'cha know? 

If they move too quick (Oh-Way-Oh) 

They're falling down like a domino "

"And the bazaar man by the Nile 

He got the money on a bet 

GOLD crocodiles (Oh-Way-Oh) 

They snap their teeth on a cigarette "

"Foreign types with their hookah pipes sing: 
Way-oh-way-oh-way-ooo-aaa-ooo... 
Walk like an Egyptian."

I was only a five months old when that song was first released in the UK in 1985  but I was a spry two years old when it hit the top of the charts here in the US... yeah, yeah I'm young.

I know you all know that song but did you know what the heck they were saying?

I didn't until now and I've heard it a million times!

Check out the lyrics here. It's um... pretty crazy.

I found this Egyptian souvenir tunic at a flea market a couple of years ago for $5. It still had the tag on it. Fresh! There was another one in red but I talked myself out of getting it because I probably wanted to use that other $5 to buy a hamburger or a corndog or something greasy and delicious like that...

I like food.

Honestly if someone gave me $100 to go shopping or go out to eat I'd ask:

"What place has the best tiramisu?!"

I got this massive spider necklace from Listia.com. Listia is like Ebay but with points instead of money. You sell stuff for points and then buy stuff with points. It's so simple. I love it.

"All the cops in the donut shops say: 

Way-oh-way-oh-way-ooo-aaa-ooo... 

Walk like an Egyptian "

Etsy pimpin'

I've had this blog for almost a year now and I don't think I've ever shared with you what's in my Etsy shop. I launched my Etsy shop in 2008 (under the name Dang Special's Vintage) with the intentions of thinning out my extensive vintage dress collection. Years ago whenever I would go thrift shopping I would compulsively buy vintage gowns whether they fit or not. I lived with my parents at the time and I was running out of closet space as I was staying in the guest bedroom so I decided to let some go. Last year I began experimenting with jewelry making- I decided to sell some of my creations and relaunched the store as Modern Colors Vintage and Jewelry. So here's a wee bit of what's listed at the moment:

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Named after my mother (Linda) this simple necklace is made from a broken bracelet and necklace. That's my mom and grandmother in the photo in the background ca. early 70s.

 This is a super rare book of poems by James Russell Lowell from the 1800s. I found this rare gem in my husbands enormous antique book collection.

Another upcycled necklace made from a broken necklace, bracelet and earring.

Sketch Book by Washington Irving. (1887). Includes Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This is for sure one of the most valuable items in the shop. Another find from my husband's book collection

Vintage Polish milk pans (each sold separately)

I'm having to say goodbye to my favorite vintage blue slip- it's waaaay to small for me now and I never even had a chance to wear it. Sad face.

And I'll end with one of my faves. An original print of the 1961 piano music of the opening song from Breakfast at Tiffany's. Believe it or not, this is from my husband's collection.