sunset

Siesta Key, FL

little red hat on a big vacation

About a year ago I was invitied by Shan Shan of Tiny Toadstool to participate in her traveling beret project. Shan Shan lives in Japan and makes outstanding hats and accessories from wool felting and countless hours of hand-stitching. She decided it would be fun to send one of her berets on a trans-continental adventure and asked some flickr friends to take photographs of the hat in their cities. So far it's been to Paris, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, UK and Canada. There is still Australia, Taiwan, China and Japan to go. Rebecca of The Clothes Horse had it in Virginia before it came to me here in Philadelphia.

I had a few more 'blogger-y' outfits in mind for this project, but yesterday turned into such a nice day that I just grabbed the hat and some friends and we went walking in the city casual-like. We did touristy things I hadn't managed to do here before.



The assignment was to take a picture with the beret in front of a symbol of the city. The Liberty Bell is great and all, but the Robert Indiana Love sculpture goes so much better with the hat!





Kelly and Hickey said I had to do the Rocky thing...

And here we are at the Frank Rizzo statue (for non-Philadelphians, he was one of our more controversial mayors)





I was directed to be 'more cutesy'...

The Lipschitz statue






That's not a church, it's a Freemason building. And that's Johannes Gutenberg and his printing press.

We also went to Reading Terminal Market, which I hadn't been to since I was a kid. We ignored the food and went right to the wall of books



They had a copy of Buddenbrooks - I've been 25 pages from finishing this book for 10 years.. I don't want it to end. It's the rise and fall of a family and I just can't bear to see it all go wrong.



The windows at the Fabric Workshop and Museum were so good, and since Shan is a fiber artist it seemed appropriate. Not only did it all go with the hat so nicely, but I wanted 98% of what was on display.





We continued on to Chinatown (Shan Shan is from Quingdao, China) and got soft pretzels along the way.




haha there's Hickey looking like he's going to go rob a bank



This shop has at least a hundred crystal chandeliers hanging inside, all fully lit. I love this picture. (Thanks Kelly for shooting all of these!)
I also love these dragon sculptures that went up at a parking lot on Arch St. in Chinatown last year.



They put little spikes on this wall so's you don't do exactly what I am doing here. Plus it's been windy and my balance isn't great..



What am I wearing? Vintage everything - Cowichan wolf sweater, 70s Navy issue bell bottom jeans, 70s western shirt, Doc Martens oxfords

You can see all the rest of "Hello Tiny Toadstool!", as well as more pics from yesterday's adventure, in our flickr pool. Enjoy!

'don't let the turnpike hit you on the way out'

Anna and Ariel threw me a Florida-themed going away party last night. I didn't take near enough pictures..



Margarita pie (w tequila!) - I think the bunny represents me.
and a sea of other booze




They made Florida punches w fruit juices and bourbon and rum.
Anna made a banner, but I never got a pic of it hanging up..




aww me and Jay and at least 1 beer too many



I wore my giant fuzzy jcs and a 70s polyester jumpsuit.
Kelly wore an awesome green and gold double-weave polyester dress




It has jangling coins.
And some severe earrings



Dave and Anna



David really knows how to pose for a picture!

Wish I had gotten so many more pictures of everyone and all the delicious food they brought (sweet&sour buffalo meatballs, Polish stuffed cabbage, dumpling stew, Peeps) but partying took over. You know, at some point you have to choose to observe or partake.
Golly I'll miss you guys! But I'll see you all soon too.

movie inspiration: Love Happy

More Marx Brothers! Plus Raymond Burr and a little dose of Marilyn, ca. 1949.











What a dress! She's 23 here.

movie inspiration: Mae West in pants

I'm No Angel (1933) - Mae West rocking some early flared spandex pants. Seriously what could these have been made of?

1883 insane hospital

One amongst the many bizarre little treasures I've collected -




I can't find any info about currency marked "insane hospital" online. Any numismatists out there can help me out? It's stamped the same on the reverse too.

movie inspiration: The Dark Corner (1946)

This is my all-time favorite film noir. My top three are The Dark Corner, Scarlet Street, and Kiss Me Deadly. Mark Stevens is a really lovable iteration of the gritty detective, and Lucille Ball is absolutely gorgeous and steals every scene she's in. She's 25 in this and had already been in 15 films. The story here too is good classic stuff - it hits all the the right notes and is a perfect example of the genre.










Love the formal teddybear hair on this lady








These needlepoint chairs are my favorite



That's Clifton Webb. If you are a big Twin Peaks fan you may recognize him as Waldo Lydecker from the film Laura. He was in tons of movies actually, and you can pretty much bet it'll be good if he's in it.










Oh and guys - this is where your waist is, in case you forgot.