Saturday, August 01, 2015

Mono(tonous)Chrome

I'm like a stuck record of late-black, white, repeat. Which reminds me of my favourite joke:

Q:  Pete, and Re-Pete are sitting on a fence. Pete falls off, so who is left?
A:  Re-Pete.
Q: OK. Pete and Re-Pete are sitting on a fence...

Damn, I love that joke. Anyhoo, here I am with Re-Pete, doing more variations on the monochrome. Partly it is out of my desire to wear my white shoes and bags as much as possible before the season is over. I'll happily wear white trousers after Labour Day, but shoes and a bag are pushing it. In Nebraska anyway-it might be easier to pull off in a warm climate.

We're in full-Fair mode around here as the days tick down. This weekend is the Lancaster County Fair in Lincoln, as well as the final days of the Sarpy County Fair. I like to check out the smaller county fairs so I can size-up the potential competition for the State Fair in Grand Island. The Lancaster County Fair is a rather nice one, held at the Events Centre with adequate parking in a paved lot. That might not sound like a big deal until you ruin a pair of shoes trudging through a muddy field. Danny has finished his canning for the fair this week with a pickled mushroom and onion salad with malt vinegar and brown sugar. He's perfected his breads, cinnamon rolls, and tonight treated us to a white cake that was a bit like an angel food crossed with a butter pound cake. I'd give it a blue ribbon, but I guess that's why they don't let your mother award the ribbons. Anyway, I have one final batch of cherry vinegar to bottle up for the year and then the canner can go back into storage until I'm up to my ears in green tomatoes at the end of the growing season. That's typically about October for us.
Perhaps if there were a prize for drawing on my eyebrows evenly I could feel motivated to at least, try. I don't know...by the time I get finished pulling hairs off my chin, drawing on lips that don't make me look like the Joker, and wiping off all the mascara that managed to get on my eyelid rather than the lashes...well I just can't spend another 30 seconds screwing around with eyebrows. I am very seriously considering having them tattooed on. If I do, I'm having" DNR" tattooed to my chest at the same time. When you're young you get inked to be fashionable. At my age, you do it to avoid eyepencil and heroic measures to resuscitate you.

I mean, I have a lot of chest to work with. Maybe something like,
                                                          Do NOT Resuscitate
                                                                       and
                                                     Get the hell off my lawn tits.

Something to think about anyway.
Outfit Particulars:
Jersey knit dress-Goodwill
Vintage Naturalizer shoes-Thrift World
Vintage handbag-Goodwill
Hat-K Mart
Vintage milk glass bracelet-Hand-Me-Ups
Earrings-Hand-Me-Ups
Flower-Tiff and Tam
Fragrance-Mademoiselle Guerlain (This shit is so sweet I'm probably developing diabetes just wearing it).
 This bracelet has matching ear-climber earrings which I've yet to wear.
What I can't capture trying to photograph this bag is how opalescent the vinyl is. It practically glimmers in the sun. I paid $3.99 for it, which is an absurdly good steal. It was dingy, but nothing that some dishsoap and water couldn't fix. It blows my mind how people will pass by a perfectly good bag because it looks a little scuffed or dirty. If the interior looks OK, I'm happy enough to give a few minutes of my time to a bag that would sell for much more in a vintage shop (after someone else cleaned it up). 



Another day, another monochrome outfit. The bow came undone and is hanging loose, so if you're thinking that looks stupid-you're correct. Why do I only notice these things days after the fact when I go to load photos? 

Outfit Particulars:
80's Esprit dress-bought it new, can't remember where (probably Field's)
Vintage Naturalizer shoes-Thrift World
Vintage handbag-Goodwill
Black bangle-Imaginarium
Brooch-Hand-Me-Ups
Earrings-Hand-Me-Ups
Fragrance-Apres l'Ondee (kinda "meh" but Danny was happy to have it-it smells better on him),



I won't bother asking you to guess at what this is. When I went to can the cherry vinegar, I found a fully grown vinegar "Mother" floating on top. Bonus! I quickly threw it into a bowl with white wine and some water and in a few weeks I should have homemade vinegar. Like a sourdough starter, it can be used indefinitely unless you kill it. I'm rather excited by this. 
I hope this isn't the start of something sci-fi-ish where it grows a brain and then climbs out of the bowl to try and kill us. I could probably out-run it, seeing as it would be quite drunk sitting in all that wine. 

 We spotted these at the library garden. How can such a pretty little bug be so destructive?
 I livened-up the monochrome with a pale pink shawl. I don't think it helped. Sigh. This is a pretty eyelet dress, but the light just wasn't cooperating.


 I'd smile, but I'm busy holding up this wall. Gosh, I'm exhausted.

Outfit Particulars:
Eyelet dress-Goodwill
Shoes-K Mart
Vintage Corocraft earrings-Thrift World
Bracelet-Hand-Me-Ups
Beaded purse-Thrift World
Shawl-Goodwill
Ring-Goodwill
Fragrance-Boucheron Place Vendome perfume and body lotion


Uh oh...I let go of the wall. I'd better get out of here before it comes crashing down. 



I'll leave you with an action shot of the jersey dress in motion. 

I hope you're having a lovely weekend. 

7 comments:

Connie said...

Oh My. You look like a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. Lovely summer outfits. Black and White are my favorite colors. I would wear that combo all the time if it didn't make me look like I was maybe the crazy black and white lady. And I love your idea for a chest tattoo. If I weren't afraid of needles I'd go for it immediately. It might distract people from my freckly décolletage. Girl grooming is soooo time consuming. I've already instructed my family to keep my chin plucked if I ever slip into a coma.

Bibi said...

I am in serious LOVE with that black & white polka dot dress.
That would be my summer weekend uniform if I still lived in California.
I have a vintage sheer black hat with a huge brim & a white velvet band that would be 'to die for' with that dress, not to mention a pair of black grosgrain platform sandals I still have wrapped in tissue paper, boxed, & secreted away under my bed.
Unfortunately wearing anything like that here in south Asia would be deemed some sort of harlotry, (although wearing a sari that bares everything from slightly above your pubic hair to just a smidge below your bosom is perfectly ok).
Sigh.
It's always a'somethin', as Rosanna Rosanna Danna would say.
I had permanent eye liner & full lip color done by a lady in Abu Dhabi 5 yrs ago. Permanent make up is very popular in the middle east. The eyeliner is quite fancy but not harsh looking at all- mine is a charcoal gray along the top lash line with a slight wing to it which fades to lavender then pale pink on the top lid & the bottom lash line is a lighter gray which is a bit smudgy. The eye liner healed in about a week & was practically painless. The lips I would NEVER have done again- the pain was unbearable & it took 8 months of miserable cracking, bleeding & peeling for them to heal. I've seen some gorgeous permanent eyebrows around the UAE also.

Goody said...

@Connie
Chin-plucking duties when in hospital are important! Danny's been instructed as well.

@Bibi
I'm starting to think getting permanent makeup done that doesn't look stupid (like what I've seen around here)might require a trip to the Middle East. I'm going to stick with that line of argument so I can get a perfume shopping holiday out of it ;) I think Mr. ETB knows better than to let me loose in a Dubai department store with his credit card, unfortunately.

Sue said...

I love black and white, together or alone, and of course polka dots, but you already know this. Good luck to Danny for his potential Blue Ribbon winnings.

Mim said...

Oooh, nice outfits. I'm intrigued that you didn't like Apres L'Ondee so much, as I've often heard it described as a simpler, sunnier L'Heure Bleu. I've never tried it but love LHB...

Beth Waltz said...

I'd add the jersey polka-dot and black Esprit to my wardrobe the moment your back was turned -- I've some sling back sandals that would work with each. The white dress would be spared only because whenever I've attempted to wear white eyelet or even white pique, I exert some weird attraction to spaghetti sauce, BBQ sauce, red wine, etc. Very annoying, really.

Yes, I've also made arrangements in advance of need for chin-plucking.

Goody said...

@Sue
No one does black and white as well as you do!

@Mim
Yeah, I know. On paper I should love both of those, but on my person they're kinda dull. I really like violets and iris, but sometimes they just don't work on me.

@Beth Waltz
What IS it with white being such a mess-magnet? I didn't wear white for years on the farm because if the dirt didn't get it, the hard water stains would.