Thrift Blog: December 2013 Continued

Hi Folks!  I'm so sorry for yet again dropping the ball on my blogs.  December was a busy and stressful month to say the least. It also ended up being a month of recovery as Dave and I got sick three different times!  I decided I'm taking a clean break from the blogs I had hoped to finish from December (thrift blogs) and instead doing a quick wrap of the month events with a few "have to share" thrift finds thrown into the mix as well.

As I previously posted I had a fantastic birthday with friends.  Shortly following my birthday Dave and I were saddened to hear the news that my sister's beloved doggie Kelly had passed away.  She is truly the first family dog we have had and will be greatly missed. This sadly is one of our last pictures together.

Dave and I officially began our Christmas break by attending a San Diego Ballet performance of the "The Nutcracker". We got all dolled up and were a bit thrown off by the hoards of people that showed up the watch the performance in jeans or in some cases sweat pants!!  This societal dumbing down of fashion do's and don'ts seriously confuses me.  Oh well!  We looked stellar!  And I finally got to wear a dress that I bought three years ago!

Christmas was to follow and included many of my family members coming to San Diego to celebrate together.  This included a visit from Dave's family which be the very first time our two sides of the family have come together.  It was a splendid meeting!  We also had the fun of celebrating Christmas with my niece who started walking a week before the event.  Christmas is so much more fun with little ones around.

There were seriously some cute moments this year!  Here is Paige and my dad playing in her favorite Christmas gift, a cardboard box.

Seriously how can you not smile back at that munchkin!

So here are my favorite finds of last month.  This was going to be a white elephant exchange gift but I liked it too much!  It looks great on Dave's bar.

I wore the heck out of this red wool coat upon its purchase. 

It's actually an official women's Boy Scout leader coat from the 50's.  It had a felt bull stitched to the front of the coat which I very carefully removed.  It was already very loose and not in the best condition.  I do have plans to restore the coat but it works just fine as it is for now.

 I have been wanting to add a pole lamp to this corner of the living room for months after seeing how awesome looking one was in a friend's house.  I purchased this on eBay for a good price.

All i need to find now is a whip fabric glass shade to replace the black one that presently sits on my Carmen Miranda moss lamp.

I found a bevy of wonderful vintage Christmas decorations including this wonderfully stain free vintage table cloth.

In the midst of all the chaos I even managed to make my own little DIY tiki twist on a Christmas wreath which was perched on our front door.

But here is the mother-load of my favorites for the month.  I let out a pretty loud laugh when I happened to come across this find.  I find this funny on so  many levels.  The fact that someone took the time to hand make needlepoint this creation, the roses next to her signify her sh*t don't stink, and the mess she has created underneath her dress stating not all is what is seems!  I have it hanging in the bathroom presently which is the only place I deemed it appropriate to sit.  Again, this was meant to be a white elephant gift but I was unable to give it up.

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe winter break!  I'll have a blog to follow soon from of our quick trip to Palm Springs we manage to take this month.

Till' Next Time,

Suz

Thrift Blog: November 2013 Jewelry

I know I'm later than normal with my November thrift blogs this month.  To be truthfully honest, it's because I bought way too much stuff and have had to break them down into three separate blogs.  This, being the first, is an accumulation of gifts and purchases I made of vintage jewelry this last month. Let's dive in, shall we.

My cousin Sarah recently gifted me these first five beautiful items.  They belonged to her grandmother and she felt they would be going to a good home by passing them onto me.  They are of the Florenza brand (which was produced between 1941 and 1981).  We believe that these pieces are from the 1950's if not earlier.  I've worn the pieces already on several occasions.

This is a black glass bead choker which I believe could be from the 1920s-1930s.

I love rhinestone anything to be perfectly honest.  This picture doesn't capture their sparkle.

Dave and I were at a local thrift store and ran into my friend Belinda.  She was actually at the store shopping for some clothing items to be worn at our engagement party.  With that being said these probably should have been part of the October thrift blog.  Anyways....Belinda approached me when I was in line to show me this vintage Disney earring and broach set.  She thought I might be interested in it.  Of course I was!  I've worn the broach on every trip to the park since.  I'm weary of wearing the earrings for a long day at the park as I have the worst luck with losing earrings.  I would be heart broken if I were to lose these.

These were my very beautiful anniversary gift from Dave.  He knows my taste so well!

I bought this Weiss rhinestone necklace for a measly $2.  It's in pristine shape.  The rhinestones are all intact and there is no off coloring of the stones. 

I bought this chunky celluloid bracelet while I was in Los Angeles for my first wedding dress fitting.  I had an hour to spare so guess what I did.....went thrift store shopping.

Dave and I discovered a new to us local thrift store and to say I went a little crazy rummaging through that store is really an understatement.  Here are my jewelry finds from my first trip to the store.  I believe I spent less than $5 total on all on the below items.

More thrift blogs to follow soon.

Till' Next Time,

Suz

One Lucky Gal

I have been doing my best to keep up with the blog but truthfully it has been hard the past couple of months.  Dave and I have had such a busy year and I don't see it stopping anytime soon.  If anything it's a sign that we are truly blessed to have so many fantastic friends and family!  I celebrated my birthday last week with friends and couldn't have felt more special.  Seriously, what did I do to deserve such awesome friends!

We went to dinner at Anthony's Fish Grotto in La Mesa.  Dave and I have had this restaurant on our wish list for quite a while and we finally got there for my birthday dinner.

It's a truly fantastic relic.  Check out that entrance alone!

The restaurant staff was very friendly and very accommodating.  We had a nice little nook all to ourselves.

My friends know me so well.  I was showered with such great gifts!  Their presence alone was truthfully the best gift.

Here are a few pictures I took of the restaurant as we were leaving.  There are various underwater mosaics throughout the restaurant such as these two below.

What a fantastic bar!  Dave and I plan on going back just for drinks sometime as they had a good drink menu filled with many specialized drink concoctions.

I wore my newly purchased tropical Hell Bunny circle skirt which I purchased online through Unique Vintage as part of their black Friday sales.  It's a new favorite for sure.

Look at those octopus lamps!!

A few days later Dave and I went to Disneyland as an extension of my birthday weekend.  We met up with some friends and wandered through the park taking in their festive holiday decorations.  This is hands down my favorite time to visit the park.

We also made sure to check out a performance by Billy Hill and the Hillbillies as it was recently announced that they will no longer be performing at the park at the end of the year.  It's truly a sad decision on Disney's part as it seems these guys always have a packed house and definitely know how to put on a good show.  They will be missed.

We made a point to ride the Jungle Cruise which has been transformed into the Jingle Cruise for the holiday season.  The added decorations through the line queue were fantastic as well as some changes on the ride.  (I won't give anything away, but it's truly worth the wait if you come to the park as we ended up waiting in line for 30 minutes which is pretty uncommon for this attraction).

Dave and I stopped in Carthy's Circle for a drink and snack.  This place is so gorgeous and opulent.

Dave spotted this great picture of Walt and Lillian on display in the restaurant.

I love the Grand Californian hotel but love it even better when it has a big Christmas tree on display as well as a live pianist playing Christmas tunes for the guests.  

We ended the day by riding the Holiday version of the It's A Small World attraction.  I look forward to these lights every year.

I have several thrift blogs headed your way as I found a ton last month.  Hope you are all having a warm and safe winter!

Till' Next Time,

Suz

Fanny and the Atta Boys

November was a fun month and once again I'm in shock how close we are to the closing of the year.  Dave and I had some fun nights out with friends this month.  We made it to a performance by one of our local favorites The Palominos who were performing at The Riviera Supper Club.

They never fail to put on a good show.  They played some of my favs as well as some new songs.  Their latest album goes on sale soon and I couldn't be happier to support these guys!

Be sure to check out their band facebook page here.

Here's a better look at my outfit that night.  I finally got to wear my squaw dress which I purchased at Viva this last March.  I paired it up with my nickel leather tooled belt and cactus bolo.  I loved this outfit so much that I wore it again a couple weeks later for Thanksgiving with my family.

We also had finally had the chance to see Jason Lee perform with the Black Tides at the Black Cat Bar.  This place was too cool as they have a house cat that roams around the place.  Jason was amazing.  Think surf guitar exotica.  I hope to see them perform again real soon! 

Picture Source

Now I come to point of this blog!  Dave and I had the chance to check out a new band in town, Fanny and the Atta Boys.  They are fantastic to say the least!  Lead guitar is our friend Natt, Dave's former band buddy.  This was not only the celebration of the bass player Eddie's birthday, but also their band debut.  

Fanny is an excellent singer and has the type of voice that conjures up similarities to such artists as Patsy Cline, June Carter, and Brenda Lee. She could sure belt them out!

Dave and I are hoping they will be available come June to possibly play at our wedding.  We would truly be honored to have them be a part of our big day.

Please be sure to check our their facebook page here.  They are playing their next show here in San Diego tomorrow, Wednesday night (December the 4th), at the Shakedown Bar at 9pm.  If you are local and available come on down and check them out!

Till' Next Time,

Suz