Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Don the Beachcomber

Earlier this month, January 1st to be exact, Dave and I decided to venture up to Long Beach for a mini day road trip.  We ended up spending more than two hours in the Long Beach Antiques Mall that had tons of good items that were also priced low.  We could have surely spent another hour or more in the store but we had plans to meet up with my cousin in Huntington Beach at Don the Beachcomber. 

Don the Beachcomber was originally established in the 1930's by Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt.  His motto was "If you can't get to paradise; I'll bring it to you".  The original Don's was actually located on Hollywood Boulevard and was frequented by several Hollywood and movie celebrities such as Charlie Chaplin and Howard Hughes just to name a few.  The popularity of the restaurant and bar caught on and many other Don the Beachcomber's began to spring up throughout the country. 

 
You must visit Don's if you are a fan of tiki decor. There are waterfalls, tropical flowers and plants, and many tiki gods throughout. 



They also host several tiki events including the International Tiki Marketplace (held at various times throughout the year) as well as Tiki Highway (held in August).  This time we were just stopping in for some appetizers, drinks, and good conversation.  We sat in the Dagger Bar.


My cousin Jill and I opted to have "Tidal Waves".  They were so yummy!!




Don's Ohana is a storing case reserved for those guests that frequent the bar and have consumed several of offered the tiki drinks.

 
We decided to venture through the rest of the building after finishing off our drinks and bites.




Wouldn't this make for an ideal tiki themed wedding location, (wink wink).



 
I hope you are all having a good week!  Several more blogs to follow and hopefully another very exciting announcement regarding Viva Las Vegas!
 
Till' Next Time,
 
Suz

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

New and Exciting Beginnings!!

So far, this has been a fantastic start to a new year.  My friend Rosalynn, of Modern Love Vintage, has invited me to join her store.  I have several items I have come across in my thrifting that I'd be happy to list for sale.  I took part in a photo shoot and will have some items up soon.  I'm excited to be a part of the store and look forward to having even more of an excuse to thrift shop.  Please be sure to check out our etsy store here! 


The next exciting bit of news is that my time off request for March was approved! I am so excited to share that I will be attending Viva Las Vegas car show for very my first year.  Dave will be performing with Jonny B and the Avenues this year.  I'm just as excited, if not more, to see him take the stage.  I need to start planning what I'm going to wear!!  Any suggestions or helpful tips for a newbie like me?


Next in the exciting news is....I got engaged over the weekend!!!! Dave took me out to dinner at The Bali Hai Restaurant Saturday night.  I truly didn't think anything of it.  In fact I wasn't even dressed or ready to go when he showed up to pick me up.  The restaurant was packed but not horrible.  There was live Hawaiian music (which I'm always a fan of). A few minutes into dinner I noticed a couple that looked familiar sat right next to us.  It was my friend Angie.  She was out to dinner with a friend who was visiting from out of town and it was entirely a true coincident that she picked that very same restaurant and ended up seated next to us.  We ate dinner and told them we would meet them at the bar when they were done with dinner.  Dave opted to step outside to get some air.  Again I thought nothing of it.

Dave said something like "let's walk down to that statue". My response "it's too far"...hehe I nearly blew it for him.  So he distracted me by asking me how many days had we been together.  It took me much longer than it should have to do the math (take in mind I had just had some awesome tiki drinks with dinner).  Once I gave him the number he lightly grabbed me by the arm as to stop me from walking and said "I couldn't imagine anyone else in the world that I'd rather spend the rest of my days with".  He then got on his knee pulled out a jewelry box to show me the beautiful 1930's white gold diamond ring he had picked out for me a week prior.  I was shocked!!  Said yes, pretty quickly and repeatedly, and laid a big kiss on my now fiance'!

We went back to the restaurant and I approached Angie at the bar.  I told her I had an important question for her.  I said to her "since you have been there at the start of Dave and my relationship, and basically pushed me to talk to him the night we met; that I couldn't think of someone better to marry us.  Will you marry us?".  I then showed her the ring and she screamed with joy!  We toasted with glasses of champagne and the phone calls to family shortly began afterwards.

We are hoping for a wedding around June of 2014.  This will give us ample time to plan the wedding allowing for me to stay focused on work with up coming tax deadlines and he with school.  We will likely be moving in together this summer.  I'm so excited to plan and already have a good idea about what venues we want to look at, theme, color.  Whew....lots of planning ahead of us. 


Here is a detailed picture of the ring.  I love it.  He did such a good job.  Now to shop for a wedding bands next!  I'm hoping not to inundate this page with wedding talk, but it will be hard not to as I'm pretty sure the planning will consume my life for the next year and a half.  I've already purchased a vintage wedding hat at the Long Beach Vintage Flea Market over the weekend (blog to follow soon).

 
I hope you are all having a good start to the year as well. Plenty of more blogs to follow soon!
 
Till' Next Time,
 
Suz

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Mooneyes Car Show 2012

Last month Dave  and I attended the Annual Mooneyes Car Show held in Irwindale, CA.  It's a mixture of custom rods, original classics, hot rods, rat rods, muscle cars, you name it!  Here are a few photos I snapped from the day.  These were actually was my first time out snapping pictures away using my brand new camera!

It was a beautiful day!  I'm glad it turned out that way as were parked a 30 minute walk away from the venue.



I've learned that I am drawn towards blue and green cars.  Doesn't matter the make, model, year! 



Dave said this one was picture worthy in his eyes.  He sure does love those Packards.



Candy Clark (aka Debbie from the 1973 classic film "American Graffiti") was there at a booth signing autographs and posing for pictures.  This movie was a staple growing up in my house.  I grew up in a town near Modesto, CA (where the film takes place), cruised down McHenry Blvd., like the characters do in the movie, and ate the A&W drive in restaurant (Mel's diner was used in the movie for copyright reasons and because the movie wasn't even shot in Modesto but rather Petaluma, CA). I can safely say I probably watch this movie at least once a year.








 
The was also drag racing at the event.  Pretty exciting to watch.

 
Dave and Paul next to a classic ambulance.  Very befitting as they both work in the medical field.


 
I love, love, love these fins and tale lights!


Pretty cool pinstriped artwork.


We ended the day walking out with this spectacular sunset in view.


Till' Next Time,
 
Suz

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Thrift Blog: December 2012

Well 2012 has come and gone and we are unbelievably already into the start of the new year.  I'm so thankful for such an awesome year.  There were definitely some sad moments this year but were counterbalanced by some really fantastic moments.  The number one fantastic moment was becoming an Auntie!

Here are my last purchases for the year.  I found these on various thrifting trips throughout the month of December.

I picked up this figurine at a store in Turlock, CA when I was driving through recently.  I knew it was a must have.  Who doesn't love the black and gold combo.


Some more records to add to my ever growing album collection. I love compliation records the best.


I'm so lucky, once again, to come across some of the fantastic Tiki finds I encounter.  The one below was a gift from Dave picked up for me at the Annual Moon Eyes car show.



It thought this was a good find and will be a fun read.  It's actually a couple different Bond stories in one.  "A View to a Kill, For Your Eyes Only, Casino Royal" and I forget the fourth chapter.  I guess the movies, which were based on the Ian Fleming novels, were elongated versions of the short stories.  I think the "Bond" on the cover resembles past Bond actor Pierce Brosnan.


These cute Pendleton bows were my souvenir from Moon Eyes car show.
 


Dave came across this nifty serving dish. I was sold on the fact that it was made in Portugal.


As I have stated before in past posts, any time around a holiday is a good time to seek out vintage decorations.  I came across these little guys and couldn't pass them up.


I love baby blue and thought this 50's acrylic sweater would be an excellent addition to my sweater collection.


This is my favorite clothing find.  I love the bow on the front as well as the polka dots accented by the white beading.  This was one of the items I was worried about when I found out my luggage was lost on my way to my folks house.  Luckily my luggage was tracked down and was delivered on day four of day seven.  It truly would have been tragic if I didn't see this piece again.



I thought this shirt was so fun!  Couldn't pass it up.  Now I need a good excuse to wear it.  I especially love that the pin up gal on the back is a redhead.



 
I had some very successful luck in finding the following bangles.  The middle one is a mod 60's styled Lucite bangle and the other two tested positive for Bakelite.  I believe the third one shown is an apple juice prystal Bakelite bangle.  So pretty!
 


 
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years.  Dave and I stayed in, watched a few movies, rung in the new year at midnight and called it a day.  It was truly a nice evening in.
 
Till' Next Time,
 
Suz