Pumpkin patch

This year I joined family at  The Pomeroy Farm pumpkin patch, a living history farm depicting life on the farm in the 1920s. When I was little we would go to themed teas there, in fact it was the first place I ever wore a vintage hat, a little black pillbox with a veil. 
I wore a deco farmgirl outfit, and made two of my cousins 20s feedsack dresses they completely designed themselves, piecing together elements of deco dresses they saw in old pictures. 
Dress-Handmade by me using a vintage pattern
Cardigan-Stole it from Sam
Boots and hat-Thrifted

Industrial lamp D.I.Y.

I've had this lamp for years. I think it was part of Targets dorm line, and it's just stuck around as a cheap ($19.99) floor lamp since then. Functionally its awesome, you can bend the lights individually any which way, and adjust settings to have less or more lights on at once. 
But it totally looks like a dorm lamp. 
For about a year I've been casually looking for a good replacement, but guess what? 
Floor lamps are crazy expensive. 
Who knew?
Such as this guy from Restoration Hardware. 

Rather than fret about it anymore, I thought "hey, take off the shades of my lamp, paint it black: voila! Cool lamp"
So that's what I did.       
{You will need}
Mask Masking tape Matte black spray paint Sandpaper

Take off the shades (aka dust catching cones of fury) by unscrewing the black ring in the middle.  Set rings aside, give cones to bored children. 

Tape up the sockets. I'm not sure what would happen if you spray paint a light socket, but it's probably not great...
Lay down some newspaper under the rings and base of lamp. After following directions on paint can (shake*shake*shake*), start painting! 

Wait an hour after your first coat and apply a second. After that dries, un-tape the sockets, screw on the rings, and sand down a bit of the edges for an antiqued look. After some use the paint is wearing off on it's own in places, so if you don't want that to happen look into a finishing spray. 
Add bulbs (I used 25 watt vanity bulbs), or you can even buy the vintage filament bulbs from Restoration, but I think I like these better! 
And there you have it! Took me a single morning, cost under $30 (including a few bulbs), and I even like it more than the $600 one. 
If your decor is more of a glamorous nature, this would be great in a shiny gold, just skip the sanding. Or colors! Really once you take the shades off it's a blank canvas. 
Happy decorating! 

Meetup with Mary Van Note!

Today I was so excited to see Mary Van Notes again, we met for the first time earlier this year, and she took some time out of her schedule to come see me while I was down in California. 
We had lunch outside and did a little thrifting, where she got this really cute hearts necklace, and I found a pretty plate and bracelet. 
It was so nice to see her again and catch up, hopefully it won't be too long till we meet again! 
{My outfit}
Blouse-Levi's
Skirt-Magpie
Shoes-Thrifted
Hair flowers-H&M

Little flowers

I picked up these little flower clips at H&M last night, and they are the perfect thing to hide my messy loops when I do rolls. 
$8=good hair day.

Tumblr blogs you should be following

Cool Chicks From History
{You won't find these ladies in history books, but you should know who they are.}

From Me To You
{For those special times you want to feel simultaneously inspired and envious.}

Giant Pants of the 30s
{Because giant pants. Of the 30s.}

Matchbook Mag
{If I were married to Chuck Bass this is what my life would look like.}

La Mariniere
{If you have too many striped shirts in your closet: No you don't.}

Cats That Look Like Pin Up Girls {I cried from both laughter and the fact that I didn't think of this first.}

Trip so far

We arrived in Folsom California last night, the historic district is really cute! A few antique shops, most of which are of course closed Mondays. I did find one antique mall, and what I found there was worth the whole trip:


I have been searching for these for years, they are near impossible to find. I think the mugs were always the first to break. I thought I couldn't get any happier, then I saw a little sign that said they're from an ice cream parlor. 
Shut. up. 
So now I have perfect little ice cream parlor mugs to go with my other diner dishes.


Half the way down here was oddly foggy, and creepy, it was great. We saw lots of birdies flying south for winter, but once in California it became magically sunny and bright as ever.


And we brought the gang along ;)

Oh hello! 
I'm back, though I never really left, but it was nice to have a break from blogging, it no longer feels like an obligation, I was eager to get back to it! 
Thank you everyone for your wonderfully supportive comments, I really appreciate you guys, you're the reason I've been able to do this for so long! 
In the past two weeks I went to the pumpkin patch, did some projects, and got the hang of pinterest (someone needs to take it away from me, I can spend hours on there). 
And best of all it's finally autumn here! 
Jackets, and boots, and felt hats, and-
oh. Tomorrow I'm going to California, where the sun still shines and it's hot. 
....yaaaayyy....
So up early tomorrow to hit the road, and dive back into summer. 
See you all in California ;)