The Beautybug: Cutest. Hair Dryer. Ever.

 The Beautybug: found in an advertisement from one of my vintage (1967) Seventeen magazines:

Come on - have you ever seen a portable hair dryer as cute as this?

I think it's adorable:

I also found one of them in a decorated room from the same year (also from Seventeen Magazine). You have no idea how tickled I was when I spied it sitting on the floor there:

 I just had to show it to you.
(I am also completely in LOVE with the bird "fabric hanging" on the wall, among other things!)

What's Penny Wearing? #102 Bright And Pretty Aprons

Today, Penny is showing off some colorful aprons I found recently at the local thrift shops.
First up, red calico:

Handmade - and very well, I might add!
Here's a close-up:

This one is darned cute, too.

A bright fabric with flowers and ladybugs:

And next is a pink one made with a gorgeous batik-style print:

With butterflies - at least, they look like butterflies to me:

Vintage aprons: a wonderful way to protect your outfit while you cook.
And it's just a bonus that you will also look pretty great, vintage style!

And The Sofa Was Loud, But They Liked It

Sofas are the subject today. Whether it be a vibrant floral like the one above, or stripes like you see below:

All of these bold and bright - "loud", if you will - sofas were found in vintage decorating books from Family Circle and Better Homes And Gardens.

These may not be to everybody's taste, but I, for one, rather like the bright colors and prints on most of them! Like the one below, for instance - it totally works for me with the rest of the room's decor:

This next one in a colorful plaid looks like a cozy spot to play that guitar, take a break from your typing, or talk on that pink telephone:

And below, they even coordinated the magazine on display to match the orange flowers, and tied in some blue with the pretty dish on the coffee table. The shag rug cozies things up a bit:

If these loud sofas were in somebody's house back in the 1960's and 1970's, it stands to reason that they liked it, right?
It was THEIR home, and that's all that matters.

"Thrifty" Vintage Wrapping Paper

I love finding vintage wrapping paper.
This one for Mother's Day may be my favorite:

There's one for Dad, too, which is also pretty great:

When I spied this one, below, it inspired me to dig a little further down:

Some of those in this next next assortment aren't quite as old, but I liked them all, and they were cheap.
 Who am I to quibble?

And I couldn't pass up this adorable wrap for a baby shower, either:

Would you have?
Didn't think so.

Colorful And Bright: Vintage Fashions From Seventeen

I was looking through some of my vintage Seventeen magazines the other day, and I just started snapping photos of some of the pages:

 

Sorry, but I didn't take the time to write down any dates or anything about them.

I just took pictures of cute and colorful outfits that caught my eye.
That's Bonnie Lysohir on the right, below:

And Colleen Corby on the left in this one:

Cute blue calico dress and a fabulous suede lace-up belt:

Old fashioned brightness on the beach:

More great colors:

And a cigar store Indian to pose with!

Lively fashions, a little blast from the past.

Throwback Thursday - Twenty-One Years Ago Today......

.....I was lucky enough to be in attendance at the first-ever meeting of the Michael Feinstein Fan Club, held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. I flew down with my niece Amber to southern California, and mother and Grandma picked us up at the airport. They took us to Anaheim, where we stayed for a couple of days and went to Disneyland (!), and then Mother came back and picked us up and we got to go to the Fan Club event.
I am a HUGE Michael Feinstein fan; I have been ever since the first time I heard of him, and I have gotten to see him in concert four times, plus meet him in person at this event in 1993.
Do I look excited?

That's because I WAS.
As I recall, I didn't have a camera that day - not sure why, but a super-nice lady  was kind enough to take this picture and mail it to me. Wasn't that sweet?
Michael is a FABULOUS pianist, singer and entertainer extraordinaire, and if you ever have the chance to see him perform, you should try to do so. He is extremely entertaining, and knows more about American popular songs than probably anybody else alive. He is truly one of a kind. I've been collecting and listening to his albums for years. I never tire of them. I have his books, as well. He has an entertainment venue in San Francisco now, a nightclub at the Hotel Nikko (Feinstein's At The Nikko.) Maybe some day I will be able to go there and see him in another show. I hope so.
And that, my friends, is my "Throwback Thursday" photo. (I keep seeing friends and family post TT pics on Facebook, so I decided I may as well join in, so I'm doing it here on my blog as well as on FB.)

Fleeting Spring...

Here in Kelsey the poppies and the lilacs are fading fast...

The shot above is the South Fork of the American River which flows past us on our west side. I thought this picture was interesting, it was taken in the morning and you can see the hillside of poppies reflected in the river. The sun has not hit the poppies yet, as it rises in the east. I have never caught this particular reflection before.

Our two lilac bushes on the west side of our house bloomed with abandon, but it was hot last week, and they did not last very long.

We planted these bushes when we moved here fifteen years ago and they grew very slowly.

The first herbaceous peonies are now blooming.

To the northwest of us is a piece of property where they hold "poppy walks". The shot above and the shot below were from facebook.

This shot from the "poppy walk" in early April looks back toward our house, which sits at the top of the ridge on the far right. You can see it if you squint.

For Earth Day

I put together a little Treasury List on Etsy to celebrate Earth Day.
Click Here to see it.
And here are some great Disney pins to brighten your day:

Happy Earth Day!
Hopefully, we've all got some of Disney's "Environmentality"  just like Jiminy Cricket....
"Every Little Bit Makes A Big Difference".

..... by "Jiminy", let's use it!
We should all be trying to do our part, in order to keep our planet healthy and beautiful.

New Pots And Pans - The Better To Fix Dinner With, My Dear....

We needed new pots and pans, we really did.
These were on sale at Kohl's, and I also had a credit for a returned item , AND a 30% off coupon, and I even earned $20 in "Kohl's Cash" to spend on something else (on my next visit) when I bought them.
 It was a good deal.
 I'm all about good deals.
And they're really nice:

We had used this green set for more than twenty years, and, while they had served us well, the non-stick finish on the inside had begun to "chip" away.
 Nobody wants that stuff in their food. Bye- bye, old green set.......

And hello, new Food Network brand hard-anodized aluminum, dishwasher safe, with riveted handles and nice see-through tempered glass lids:

I like them very much, but I had neglected to realize the importance of the fact that the old green set had plastic handles and I never needed to use pot holders with them.
 Shoot. Didn't even really think about that!
 On this new set, the handles can get hot  -  so I really needed some of these:

 Good old "pan handlers" - not the annoying kind that you might meet on the street - but the good , helpful kind!
Luckily, I happened to have two of them already on hand that I had never even used.
One of them was this one, below. It's been kicking around in this house for, oh - probably about 55 years or more! It was a giveaway when you purchased a Frigidaire appliance back in the 1950s.
Now it is actually going to see some use!

I admired this pair when I saw them on eBay, and surprise!

 Hubby bid on them and bought them for me.
"Gives complete protection from burns". Yep, that's what I need:

 Brand new pots and pans, and cute vintage "pan handler" pot holders.
Perfect.
Now I do believe that I am not in any danger of burning my little hands.
As long as I am careful.
Thank goodness.

Family Circle Easter Issue - April 1968

Just popping (or maybe that should be hopping?) in to wish everyone a Happy Easter today!
And I'm also sharing this great vintage issue of Family Circle Magazine.
It's not just the cover that was fabulous:

It also has quits a few great ideas and crafts, recipes, etc. inside - just like always!

I seriously need to try and make some of these gorgeous beaded eggs next year:

And here are some more lovely eggs, this time decorated with colorful felt and embroidery. I love these:

 More crafty goodness:

 And how about a recipe to use up some of your hard-boiled eggs?
They've got that, too:

My husband requested peanut butter cookies last week "for Easter".
I hadn't made any cookies in a while, so I baked them for him.
 (Who are we kidding? They're for me, too, even though I shouldn't be eating this stuff!)
I decided I needed to "Easter them up" a bit, so I added some Peanut Butter M&M's "Speck-Tacular Eggs",  which are really cute little pastel speckled Easter egg-shaped candies.
 I really like the way they look....

...and they don't taste too bad, either!
Have a wonderful holiday, everybody!