NOTICE: March 20-28 is VMTEAM sale time! Search for vacation-themed items with the ‘vmteamgetaway’ tag by clicking here.
Each participating VMTEAM store has their own special offer for this sale. Please be sure to visit a shop’s main page for that store’s specific details. Here at Tiddleywink, any item tagged ‘vmteamgetaway’ is 20% off the listed price through March 28, 2010.
AAAAAAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAA!
Whew. Okay. As many of you know, my Biggest Event of the Year is the annual Viva Las Vegas rockabilly weekender. I first attended VLV10 in 2007 at the urging of (and spending all of my time with) my friends at Peek Photo and a mutual friend of ours. They were absolutely sure that VLV was my bag, Baby, and boy were they ever right. I live a relatively sheltered life, and I did not know that there were people out there, hundreds of no thousands no TENS OF THOUSANDS of people out there who listen to really great music and dress the way I wanted to dress. I was hooked!
VLV10 was a pivotal event in my life. For one thing, I met my now-boyfriend, although I didn’t run into him again (and learn his name) for another 6 months. For another thing, spending an entire weekend with my friends brought us that much closer, and they are just about the only ex-coworkers with whom I still hang out (I am historically bad at keeping in touch with people). And finally, I felt free to dress in my beloved mid-century silhouettes without worrying about what people might think, because I knew that scattered around the globe were more people like me who supported my style. To be truthful, I did get some funny looks. I worked at that time within very close proximity to a semi-upscale shopping mall, where I would frequently head for lunch. I was occasionally aware of someone staring, but for the most part I went surprisingly unnoticed. The only time anyone ever approached me directly was to tell me how nice I looked. This was unexpected!
I bought my first vintage dress during my freshman year of college (boy do I ever wish I still had that dress, let alone the 22″ waist that once fit into it) and I’ve been casually collecting ever since. Those of you who know my age know that references a long time. Now it was my goal to make sure that I had enough vintage and repro clothing in my closet to support another year at VLV! I began to collect more aggressively, spending hours lurking around eBay and diving deeper during thrift store excursions with my similarly-afflicted Bestest Friend In The Whole Wide World. As my collection grew, I also had more to wear on a daily basis. And wear it I did. A different-yet-similar group of friends got together for VLV11, and as we prepared we would hunt in packs for dark-rinse high-waisted jeans and era-appropriate shoes. We studied the events schedule and planned our outfits weeks (months) in advance so that we could pack as efficiently as possible. I managed, after months-months-months of looking, to buy for myself a coveted deadstock-with-tags 1960/61 gold lamé DeWeese swimsuit, lightly embroidered and studded with rhinestones. A swimsuit so stellar that I dared to wear it two years in a row. Of course, I can’t get away with wearing it three years running, so the hunt is on for this year’s swimsuit.
Oh yeah, did I mention the swimsuits?
The weekender is held in early April, but it’s held in April in Las Vegas. 100-degree days are not uncommon. And so the weekend winds down on Sunday with a pool party. While this pool party is the first time that us revelers have a chance to slow down, it is also a veritable gallery of vintage swimwear. People are there to see, and to be seen. In swimsuits. In April. Pasty-white April. Only-three-short-months-from-holiday-excess April. So, when VLV attendees say that they’re starting their diet on January 1, this is no empty New Year’s resolution. This is an Emergency Situation.
Nick’s diet plan included being a complete glutton over the holidays, eating himself sick so that by January 1st, he wanted nothing but juice and salad. And of course, the extra pounds that he had packed on melted right off, because his body never adjusted to that artificially high caloric level in the first place. But from a mental standpoint, those pounds dropping encouraged him to keep going and he has been eating an almost-entirely-raw diet (exceptions made for coffee and Monday night dinner with friends) and he feels fantastic and looks better than I’ve seen him in months.
My own diet is less extreme and less effective, but more realistic for a foodie. On a recommendation from Erin, I downloaded an iPhone app called LoseIt. It’s helped to keep me on track, and as of this morning I am 2/3 of the way to my goal weight (and halfway to the weight I was when I had that 22″ waist). Jeans that fit a year ago once again fit properly. I very much look forward to them being a little too big. I’ve started my flickr album of outfit planning, which for the first time is overloaded with options. I have an increasing pile of “needs sewing for Viva.”
I have two months to get everything done. Let the countdown begin!
The dress, now relisted
I sold a dress from my shop!
Oh, but I’m out of town and the buyer needs it by Thursday.
But I can actually be home in time to meet the Express shipping deadline!
But that will cost $15 more.
But the customer is willing to pay it!
And my flight isn’t delayed!
And my car isn’t buried under snow in the long-term parking lot!
And while it’s -9, it’s sunny!
And my car starts right up!
And it doesn’t take too long to clean it off and scrape off the ice!
And I’ll be home in time to ship that dress!
Until my engine cuts out at mile marker 8 on Peña Blvd.
And I spend 29 minutes (TWENTY-NINE MINUTES) on the phone with Roadside Assistance (Did I mention that it was 9 below? And do you realize that THERE IS NO HEAT in a car with no running engine? Because the operator seemed clueless to this phenomenon). And then wait for a tow to the nearest garage. And then wait for a gloriously kind friend to drive out TO THE AIRPORT to fetch me. And finally get home, cold and hungry, 3 hours late and 30 minutes AFTER the Express dropoff deadline.
So I had to cancel the sale.
The sale which would have taken a bite out of the $460 repair bill I’m currently faced with to get my car running again.
And I’m car-less until the repairs are done.
My car, about 14 minutes before passing out cold.
But, on the positive side: I managed to get my car off to the the side of the road. The problem is a distributor, not something even more expensive. I have WONDERFUL friends who came to fetch me at the airport–during rush hour–(Alison) and who used their wily in-the-business skills to find me a new distributor for less $$$ than the mechanic could locally (Rob). And the many people who kept me company via Twitter and text messages while I waited, and waited, and waited at various times during the escapade.
For now, it’s warmed “up” to -6° and I’m stuck at home with no car. But I have food and heat and kittehs and a call in to my insurance agent to find out if I can get a rental car for a few days. There’s a kitteh a couple of miles away who needs looking after while her folks are in Italy, and I’m not walking it unless the weather improves dramatically.
Warning: The following post has nothing to do with sewing, cooking, or vintage shopping. I took the weekend OFF, yo. :)
If you read me regularly, you know that my darling boyfriend lives in Sacramento, while I reside in Denver. This, as you might imagine, leads to a lot of travel back and forth. This past weekend was my most recent trip out, and we “accomplished” a bit more than usual. I thought I would share with you all a potentially dull breakdown:
FRIDAY
I arrived in the evening, feeling tired and somewhat unwell, but antsy to go to the Starbucks where Nick and I always hang out with friends. We were lucky enough to see a favorite friend-who-is-a-barista on her break, enjoy our drinks, and as I grew more tired and more unwell, Nick kindly took me home, where I sacked out almost instantly. Fun times.
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SATURDAY
I woke up feeling much better, but Nick now felt sluggish and cranky. We took our time getting ready for the day, and finally headed out to Starbucks (of course) to meet up with our friend Ally who was honoring Nick and me by spending her last day in town with us. The three of us spent a little time playing around in Old Sacramento, reading Christmas cards and looking for t-shirts and trying on amusing hats. Eventually it was time for Ally to go, and we hugged and wished her good luck in her new life in Virginia, with no shortage of watery eyes. Nick and I drowned our sorrows in fried goodness from the Spud Shack (poutine for him, France-style fries for me, fried zucchini sticks to share). We later welcomed our friend Rob over for a dinner of grilled London Broil, potatoes, garlic bread, salad, and still-warm Toll House cookies. Classic comfort food!
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SUNDAY
Nick and I both woke up feeling healthy, but a minor, nagging headache I had kept getting worse and worse. Thank goodness for Advil, and lots of it! After stopping for coffee (at a DIFFERENT Starbucks!) we drove down to San Francisco to meet our friends Rich and Patricia for a dim sum lunch at Yank Sing. It was, as to be expected, absolutely delicious. It was Nick’s first dim sum experience, and he seemed to enjoy it. We practically rolled out on our tubby bellies! Neither of us realized at the time that we were mere blocks away from Miette macarons and Cowgirl Creamery cheese over at the Ferry Building, but I doubt that either of us could have stood to look at MORE FOOD at that point. Instead, we drove a short way to Fisherman’s Wharf, which Nick warned me would be touristy, but hey, I’m a tourist. We squished a few pennies, tried on more amusing hats, watched the sea lions bark and fight and mostly sleep, bought a couple of snowglobes, and decided to head home once darkness descended upon us. On the drive home, I finally got to taste my first In-n-Out burger, ‘animal style’ as instructed by a now-Colorado-once-California friend.
MONDAY
Nick was back to work on Monday so I washed some dishes, read a little Steven King, watched the season finale of Mad Men, blah blah blah. The treat of the day was dinner with Nick at a Mexican restaurant called Kico’s. Mmmmm, was their salsa ever tasty! Full of cilantro, and so fresh. House-made flour tortillas. Deep-fried tacos. The biggest bottle of TapatÃa I’ve ever seen (above, photo by Nick). Our dinner platters were overflowing with food, so the Big Yellow Dog had quite a treat ahead of him on Tuesday!
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TUESDAY
My flight wasn’t until 3, so while Nick was toiling at work our friend Rob kept me company and we hung out, enjoyed a delicious lunch at the old service station which is now Suzie Burger, talked over coffee, and finally parted ways at the Sacramento airport. Time to plan my next trip out!
Snippets of information that WOULD be tweets if I could squeeze them into 140 characters. But I talk too much.
I need a nap. I’m cranky. I hope you all are doing well, please drop by and visit!
shoes and pie 