Outfits: Spring Jacket, No Socks!

Hello again! I'm back!

I'm really loving stage managing again. Coming back to theatre was definatly the right choice. :) It does keep me really busy though. I'm working 6 days a week now. And even on my days off I seem to end up at a theatre. Sundays are my day off and I went to show the new stage manager for Gilbert and Sullivan the ropes around the theatre today. That's what work is like when you love it! You live it.

So here's what I wore today. I do tend to dress down a little when I'm stage managing. Actors come to rehearsals in sweats and casual clothes to work and move in, so dressing to the nines makes me feel out of place. Stage managing can be really hands on and sometimes I'm lifting furniture and doing any number of tasks, so flexiblility in my outfit is essential. I do try to bling it up with vintage jewelry though. I'm trying to look for new ways to satisfy my want of a vintage look with the needs of my new job.

Spring has sprung in Winnipeg and the weather today was delightlful. I've been wearing my leather jacket every day for a week or so now. It's got a nice lining so it's warm enough for the cool mornings. Today is the first day I have not worn socks. I really hate socks. They make my toes feel all constricted.

I've been wearing my hair like this almost everyday. I'm trying to grow it out and I don't want to destroy it by straightening it or curling it everyday. I can put it in a braid wet after I wash it and it still looks cute, styled with a nod to a vintage look. Win, win, win. I have a feeling this may be my go-to style this summer.

Sunglasses: Le Chateau

Leopard Print Scarf: Ricki's

Vintage Leather Jacket: Vintage Glory

Gold Locket: Thrifted

Cameo Brooch: Thrifted

Grey Striped Tee & Navy Cardigan: Joe Fresh

Jeans: Bootlegger

Heels: Calvin Klein

Vintage Red Velvet Purse: Thrifted

Lippy: VIVA Glam, Cyndi Lauper

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Lisa.xo

Outfits: More Green

Is it just me or am I wearing a lot of green lately?

Maybe I'm yearning for spring...

Here is another green outfit for you. This is another work outfit.

I didn't feel like drying my hair today. Wearing it in a simple braid was the perfect solution. And I can still wear a hat when I go outside.
I've also been wearing these boots a lot since I bought them last week. I just love them. They're perfect for winter wearing.

Green Polka Dot Dress: D.E.P.T.

Green Open Cardigan: Ricki's

Purple Flower Brooch: Ricki's

Vintage Slip (unseen): Thrifted

Belt: Laura

Boots: Thrifted

Lisa.xo

Outfits: A Cardigan Was in Order

Holy Cow is it cold here right now!!! Winter prairie winds are brutally cold!! Wearing something warm was in order. Today it was a cardigan, boots and my favorite jeans.
Curling my hair gave my outfit retro flair. Which you know I love.

Vintage Necklace: Ragpickers

Black Lace : Smart Set

Green Cardigan: Smart Set

Black Patent Belt: Laura

Grey Jeans: Ricki's

Boots: Le Chateau

Purse: Ricki's

If you have warm weather where you are please send it my way!!

And welcome to all my new readers!! :) (could this post be filled with more exclamation points? !)

Lisa.xo

Outfits: 60's Teal Cocktail Dress

Last night was the Christmas party for Urban Barn (my place of work!). We booked a room at Chop and had a fabulous dinner followed by a little dancing!
It was a lot of fun! The head buyer flew out to join us at the party which was awesome!

But most importantly, here's what I wore:

 

This is my friend Russel who the the Store Admin at another location (Russel trained me when I got my Admin job at UB!). Notice we're both wearing silver shoes! We were a pair last night!

My setting lotion worked really well! I cooked it up on the stove in the afternoon and let it cool. When I set my hair I spritzed it on lightly before I pincurled the bottom of my hair under my ears (all of my hair generally curls well, except the bottom so a wet set is usually the best bet for staying power!) then I curled the rest of my hair with Hot Sticks. It worked great! My hair had beautiful shine and I didn't have to use a bunch of hairspray to get it to stay in place! I'll use it again for sure!

Flower Brooch (worn as facinator): Ricki's

60's Teal Cocktail Dress: Vintage Glory

Seafoam Snowflake Crinoline (unseen): Gifted

White Stretch Belt: Le Chateau

Vintage Pearl Bracelet: was The Boy's Great Aunt Mary's

Silver Peep Toe Shes: JLo

Lisa.xo

Setting Lotion Part 2!

Photo found here.

After I posted my new Setting Lotion recipe yesterday, Katie from Vintage in a Modern World offered up this recipe that she uses! (The original comment is in the last post, but I thought it deserved it's own shout out!) I'm still going to try the citrus recipe from yesterday as I don't have any flax seeds in my cupboard, but now I'm curious to give this one a try too!

Flax Seed Recipe
1)Add 1/4 cup of flax seeds to about 1 cup of water



2)Boil on the stove until it forms a gel (normally takes just a few minutes)


3)Strain to get the seeds out.


Then I just put it in a spray bottle. It is a little thick so sometimes adding water is needed. Adding some essential oil also helps preserve it (but keep it in the fridge) and makes it smell nice.

Thanks Katie!!

Lisa.xo

Outfits: Just a Peek

This is actually a partial outfit post. I didn't have time for a full photo of my outfit today, but you get the idea regardless.

By the Way: I love my hair todaty!!



 I've been researching homemade setting lotion this evening. There are a lot of them out there! I ruled out stale beer right away (I'm worried about the smell). I also don't want anything that needs to be applied, left, then washed out. I wanted something light, that smelled nice that I could spray into my hair, then set it.
 I found the perfect recipe here:

Ingredients
large lemon or 2 limes
2 cups water
1 spray/mist bottle (available at most grocery stores)
1 strainer or small colander
1 saucepan


Steps
Step 1: Cut the lemon or limes (or use an orange – any citrus fruit will work) into quarters and squeeze the juice into a saucepan.


Step 2: Add water and bring the mixture to a boil. Let boil for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.


Step 3: Pour the cooled solution through the strainer or colander into a bowl or directly into the spray bottle; this will remove any seeds or bits of fruit flesh. Store in a cool, dry place.

Sounds pretty straight-forward to me!

 The Christmas party for work is this Saturday and it's cocktail attire, so you can imagine that I've got a super cute vintage outfit all picked out and ready to go!! I'm planning on trying out this setting lotion for the party. I hope it works!! It would have been smart to test it first, but what's the worst that can happen? It doesn't work and my hair falls halfway through the night. I've learned that having some bobby pins in my clutch will always help me out in an emergency! We'll see what happens!
 I'll post my outfit (and some party pics!) after the party!

Vintage Crystal Necklace: Ragpickers

Sequin Tank Top: Ricki's Sample Sale

Chanel Style Blazer: Ricki's

Jeans: Bootlegger

Lisa.xo

Outfits: Addicted to Polka-Dots

I just can't help myself. I bought this dress from Goodwill a couple days ago. I couldn't resist the combination of navy, pearlized buttons and of course, polka-dots.
All I could think today while I wore it was "Just add Doc Martens, remove the belt and Hello 1994!!" haha!

I do love to wear a summer dress layered for fall and winter though. I love to stretch my wardrobe like that. I feel like it's a super power of mine.

White Trench: Joe

Rhinestone Necklace: Thrifted

Grey Blazer: Jolt

Navy Polka-Dotted Dress: Thrifted

White Long Sleeve Tee: Ricki's

White Skinny Belt: Thrifted

Grey Tights: Joe

Grey Mary Janes: Aldo

Recycled Seat Belt Shoulder Bag: U.S.E.D

I think Mad Men is officially invading my life. My hair feels like it's got a bit of a 60's vibe today. Happy Wednesday!

Lisa.xo

I Wish My Hair Was Longer!

Ok, so the title of this post is a little random, but after looking at the photos from the day it is glaringly obvious to me that my hair looked better in my mind than it did in real life. My pony tail is just a little stumpy and spikey looking for my liking. I was trying to replicate this hairstyle from LisaFreemontStreet. I guess I did pretty good...it's really just the length that bugs me...

Oh well...it'll grow.

Anyway...thank you for listening to my vanity related rambling..back to the post.

I have Mondays off, so this afternoon my brother and I headed downtown to The Forks Market. We sat on a patio, had a drink and went for a walk to the Legistlative Building. It was gorgeous out today!

 On top of the lookout at The Forks Market.

 You wish you could ride the lion...I know you do...

 We saw this spikey little catipillar while we were taking photos.

I also enjoyed this mushroom patch. I just had to take a picture!

White Flower: Claires

Sunglasses, Blouse, Skirt: Ricki's

Wicker Purse: Vintage

White Peep Toe Wedges: Damita K 

 

Oh!! I almost forgot to tell you! I bought an amazing vintage pillbox hat at Johnson Terminal Antique this afternoon! I couldn't resist it! The sequin, the bright pink flower! The velvet bow! Now I just need somewhere to wear it! There were other great vintage clothes there too....I may have to go back on the weekend. There was another navy hat that I'm sure had my name on it...

Sorry for the mediocre picture, it's getting kinda dark out here...you get the idea...

I'm sure glad I got to spend some time outside today, it lookes like it might rain right now. The sky is all clouded over. The weather channel is calling for rain tomorrow. Yuck.

Well I hope you all had a great weekend! I'm back to work tomorrow. 

Lisa.xo 

Tutorial/Outfits: Girl's Night Out!

My girlfriend Jenn is getting married in two weeks and tonight is her bachlorette! I'm pretty excited! I look forward to any excuse to dress up, but tonight is going to rock! Jenn is one of my closest friends and her friends are a blast! It should be a fun night (I'll post photos tomorrow where appropriate!)!

So not only have I included tonights outfit, but I thought it might be fun to show you how I do my hair when going out.

 My retro obssession started with a show I did a few years back where the director wanted me to be a cutesy pin-up girl. So of course I did some research on a 40s look, which naturally lead me to pincurls. We ran the show for a month outdoors, so I became a bit of a master at them.

Well, if you've tried pincurls before you know they can be a bit of a pain. Patience is key as well. Nothing is worse than taking out wet pincurls. So this is where I came up with this method of "pincurling" my hair with a curling iron.

Here's my before hair. As you've seen before, it's a modern cut:

Here's my hair post "pincurling" and setting:

This is how I got to this stage:

1.To get to this stage start with day two hair. Washing your hair before a set will never work. Hair needs to be a bit "dirty". If I feel like my hair is still too clean I put some product in it. Lots of girls use Lottabody for staying power, I have yet to find a place in Winnipeg that sells it. So I use a combination of Dippity-Do and mouse on dry hair. This makes my hair a little wet, so I brush it and let it dry out a bit (note: this can tend to make my hair a little crunchy after I take out my curls. I just brush this out a little to soften the hair).

2. I then curl 1-2" sections of my hair with my 1" barrel curling iron. Starting at the top of my head. Curl the iron as if you were curling it onto a hot roller, rolling the hair over itself.  Like this:

3. Curl the section of hair all the way to the base of the hair shaft and let it sit until the hair is hot. Unroll the hair and then pincurl it while it's still hot and pin it to your head with a bobby pin.

4. Curl your whole head this way. This is a great method to use if you like to duplicate 40's hairstyles. It really lends itself to all those fancy setting patterns. I prefer this method to hot rollers because you can control how big or small you make your curls (like those pesky short hairs around the side and back of your head!).

5. Let your hair cool completely. I usually leave it for at least half an hour. If I have time I leave it for 1 hour.

6. Take out your curls. You'll probably look like Shirley Temple! Like this:

7. Style your hair as you choose! Brush your hair into rolls, let it be free and curly, or any combination! I usually just start brushing, see where my hair lies and go with it. Here's both sides before I put makeup on:

So without furthur adieu, here's what I'm wearing tonight. The full effect!:

Flower: Claire's

Necklace: Vintage

Jacket: Ricki's

Embroidered Busiter: Suzy Shier

High Waisted Skirt and Belt: Le Chateau

Shoes: Le Chateau

Bag: Ricki's

Hope you have a great Saturday night! Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures of my night!

Lisa.xo