Pippin Accessories

Another New York vintage find was the wonderful Pippin Vintage Jewelry on 17th Street. A vintage store with a difference, and that's really a hard concept. But this store only has vintage accessories, jewelry/bags/hats lovely little trinkets and statement pieces. I was there for ages as there's so much to see and I was convinced I'd missed things. In the end I came away with a gold chain mail cigarette purse which I am of course using as a coin purse.

One man's rubbish...

I have always wanted one of those french style love seats. It's one of those pieces of furniture that always looks exquisite, and makes any living room look dreamy, romantic and vintage. Unfortunately they are also incredibly expensive. The reason they look so good is that they are so often unattainable, you just can't justify the expense.

Imagine my utter joy then when one of my neighbors was simply throwing his out! I immediately asked the super to bring it to our apartment. It's a little dirty but the material is completely intact, no rips or damage at all. So the question now is do we get it industrially cleaned, or reupholster it? Maybe clean it for now and then take our time to find new material that will suit our house in a few years time!

Come out to play-ay

Yesterday we ventured out to Coney Island before the end of the season, the park closes for the summer at the end of October. I knew EXACTLY what I needed to do. Grab my vintage SX-70 folding camera and test out their new colour protection film. This is the film that finally behaves like the old polaroid films. No need for careful planning of how to immediately cover the film so it's not exposed to light. Simply take the picture, place it inside a pocket/bag and let it develop. Then 30 minutes later see what you've created.

I didn't even need to try very hard, every corner was another great potential shot. The camera really captures the vintage essence of the rides too. From the Wonder Wheel with it's swinging carts (very scary actually) to the rickety wooden Cyclone roller coaster. Only the second highest wooden roller coaster in the world I was told. Hipster Dufus somehow managed to convince me to give it a try and...
Well, let's just say that after the third surprisingly steep dip I was so scared I stopped screaming. My mouth remained opened but nothing came out.

So much inspiration to be had that even the iPhone was a usful tool, these pictures were all taken with the phone's native camera and have not been edited at all.

I'm Loving Angels...

In London we're absolutely spoilt for vintage shopping. One of my favorite things to do was knowing exactly where I needed to go depending on what I wanted to buy. At least 50% of my wardrobe is vintage. Now I have a whole new city to discover vintage shopping in, and my first discovery was Angel Street Thrift shop in Chelsea. I literally just found this place while on my way to somewhere else. This is not the type of vintage that I myself like but I was impressed by their vast array of designer labels. It also has a large selection of furniture and trinkets for the home.

What really attracted me and made it post worthy is their amazing collection of vinyls. At first glance it consists of only operatic performances and classical music. But on both trips I found some great albums including the wonderful soundtrack to Funny Face, Louis Armstrong and my personal favorite The Beatles Abbey Road album for $1!!!! Nothing like lying around and listening to original vinyls that crackle all the way through the album.

BestShots

Flying the Flag: I've had a great idea for a new feature. I loose some of my favorite shots on Instagram and always have to alter them to fit the site's format. So I'll start showcasing them here, while explaining how I created them. First up this amazing shot of the Flatiron building taken on the iPhone's native camera and edited using Instagram with the Rise filter.

Why Ambassador...

Hello everyone, I survived my Ferrero Rocher lunch. Thank you all so much for your input on the dress dilemma, I'm such a big girl! In the end the burnt peach and lace dress had equal nominations so Hipster Dufus had the deciding vote. He decided on the lace. As for the lunch, it was lovely and just really confirmed that my analysis of the diplomatic life is accurate. It's basically networking at a government level. I was sat at the same table as the Ambassadors wife who was lovely and told us many stories about meetings with the PM and the Ambassador's upcoming meeting with none other than our Majesty the Queen.

Their house was gorgeous, priceless art hanging on all the walls, the furniture was spotless with not so much as a crease on anything. At one point Hipster Dufus put his coffee cup on their spotless white window sill and my heart literally stopped. I found myself uttering the most alien words to come out of my mouth "darling perhaps let's not be the ones responsible for staining the Ambassador's house..." That was it, my transition into fully fledged diplomats wife is well and truly underway. All I need is to host an dinner/afternoon tea while wearing some floral concoction and I'm there. And I swear I feel it coming. Now I would have loved to have taken some photos inside their amazing apartment with its sweeping views across the river, but it would have been highly unacceptable to have whipped out a camera and start snapping away. The only memento I brought back was my place name which included this lovely gold embossed crest.