Goodbye Bluebell Dreamer…

I really hate to say this, but I think I might have to put Depict This! on a permanent hiatus…

I don’t want to, but a part of me does, and I am really confused as to what to do.

I want to keep blogging ~ I love taking photos {outfit or otherwise}, I love sharing things about a vintage lifestyle, mine or other fabulous vintageistas I know.  I love writing, I love the community, and I love having a space to express myself where other people actually get it.  

But here’s the thing ~ I am tired.  It’s hard to keep up with the house, the toddler, and the horse {of which I now have two, thanks to number one’s lease ending suddenly!}.  It’s hard to have to time to just enjoy family life.  I want to be able to sit down and paint my nails without stressing about all the things I am currently not doing.  I want to be able to work on my novel.  Blogging just seems to drain all my writing juice clear away.  

Not to mention baby number two on the way…  We’re 16 weeks along and that magical second trimester energy they keep going on about?  Yah, not happening so much here.

*sigh*  I am sorry to be such a blue blogger over here, but I guess I need to talk this out. 

I kind of want to keep DT! going and just post whenever I feel like it, but at the moment I don’t know if that’d be even once a week and that kind of just bums me out.  I personally dislike it when I find an awesome blog {NOT saying that DT! is awesome ~ just citing some real-live examples} and it’s hardly EVER updated.  If I really like it, I might follow/keep reading anyway, but otherwise I feel like there’s no point.  So I don’t want to let any of my readers down, but I don’t think I want to shut down altogether either….

Although, if it came to it, I probably would close DT! if only to get rid of one more commitment I feel I can’t keep up with.

What say you?  Have you guys ever been through this kind of dilemma?

xox,

bonita

P.S. ~  On a happier note, I have been calling those flowers “bluebells” forever, but apparently they are Grape Hyacinths.  Aren’t they cute though?  I have them running wild in my lawn and I love it…  ^ u ^

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50’s Vintage Bluebell Butter Dress ~  Ebay    Carved Rose Bracelet  ~  Dotti   Vintage Creamy Drop Belt  ~  Etsy  Santa Cruz Beach Heel  ~  Modcloth

The thrill of the thrift

I was so excited to find these vintage items while I was out thrifting the other day ~  it was really a case of hidden treasure!  There aren’t big baskets of fabulous sewing notions, or the $1.00 Bakelite bangles casually hiding amongst the plastic junk ~ no, true vintage pickings in Aussie thrift store are very slim to say the least. 

Actually, I’ve noticed that this seems to becoming an rather alarming trend.  Less vintage & poorer quality items + inflated prices seems to be hitting other charity shops overseas, not just here on my home turf.  A couple of UK and American blogs I read have commented on the increasing difficulty in finding decent stuff for a reasonable price at the local thrift store.  I don’t know whether it’s all the vintage sellers to blame; are they scooping up anything and everything remotely saleable and leaving us with the scraps?  Or is it the vintage trend, meaning that more Jo Blowettes are shopping around leaving less merchandise to browse from?

Either way, it’s rather hard on those with vintage style aspirations and slender pocket books, and I really wish things would change, but I hardly think that that is going to happen anytime soon.  So in the mean time, I will enjoy what treasures I do manage to dig up. 

And to be fair, I suppose that’s part of the thrill of the chase!  It does make thrifting a lot more interesting when you never know if you are going to find anything good or not. 

What do you think m’dears?  Can you still discover good finds?  Any tricks for hunting down the best bargains?  I am always on the look out for a good thrift tip!

xox,

bonita

Cryin’ at the Discotech ~ Outfit Fifty Eight

Bow Hair Clip  ~  ??     Aqua and Pink Flower Sprinkle Dress  ~  Ebay   Stag Broach  ~  Acorn and Will    Rose Bracelet  ~  Diva   Lacy Party Socks  ~  Best&Less{I added the lace to the existing ruffle}   Tuxedo T-bar Heels   ~  Payless 

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I like this dress, but unfortunately I think it’s far too 70’s for me to feel comfortable wearing it that much.  I bought it off Ebay and I can’t remember what era I thought it was from, but I probably wouldn’t have got it if I had of realised it was from 1970-something. 

However, I have plans to fix that problem.  The main issue for me is the sleeves.  I just don’t like the loose, bloomer-type sleeve that much and it really doesn’t work for me with this dress.  I also want to change the collar, so I am going to commit that terrible crime that I rant against and chop up vintage.   Mind you, I hardly count the 70s as vintage – it’s more retro to me, which is not really my cup of tea.

Still, what do you think about upcycling/remaking vintage clothes?  In my case, I’m sort of downcycling the dress to look more old fashioned, but I am not sure that’s a good enough excuse!  Particularly as I have been known to get really hoppin’ mad when I see gorgeous 40s or 50s frocks getting chopped off at the same, barely-there length that most retail wear seems to be at these days.  Warning – rant ahead/   I mean, since when is an oversized shirt classified as a dress?  Why would you bother to cut the dress up to look like something modern and off the racks?  What’s the point?  Is it just so that you can say that you wear vintage?  How does that even count when the only thing left that looks even remotely vintage any more is the fabric and even that’s in tatters??   *sigh*  /end rant….

I guess the reason I feel so strongly about this is that hems don’t actually need to be cut to be taken up, and all these once-gorgeous, “remade” dresses will only get worn for as long as vintage is in fashion, then tossed out in the rubbish heap.  Whereas if they were left mostly intact, they could probably get passed onto someone who doesn’t care what’s in fashion but just wants to wear a pretty, well-made frock.  

But all that said, I will still make over the sleeves on my dress, because hopefully I’ll end up wearing it more often then what I have been!  Especially as I do like the bright, cheery aqua and pink colours of the fabric.  I think it makes it a lovely spring/Easter dress ~ don’t you?  Also, yay or nay to making over vintage?  Feel free to tell me that I am completely wrong and there is nothing better than modernized vintage; I’ll be happy to agree to disagree.  ; )

xox,

bonita

Where we are at

La,de,dum,de,da…..  I know I do not do a lot of really personal posts on Depict This! but I just have to get this off my chest.  I hope you do not mind.  If you do, well, you can always come back later when we are back to normal if you like!  The topic is pretty predictable anyway. 

It’s all about Baby at the moment. 

Baby was due Friday, 20th of May 2011.  But Baby has decided that it is too predictable to be born on his/her due date so at the moment we are essentially over baking! 

It’s funny because my midwife thought from very early on that we’d never make it to our due date.  There were a lot of signs that we wouldn’t!  Practise contractions were happening regularly from 24 weeks onwards {I would have five days without them, and then five nights in a row with them}.   The baby dropped into my pelvis at 34 weeks which is early for a first time baby.  And then of course there’s been all the fluid scares. 

Four incidents  ~ three visits to the hospital {one while we were in Perth!!  0 . 0 } to check that everything is alright.   My midwife thinks that my hind waters have been leaking.  It’s a good thing that it isn’t the main waters, or the baby might have been too early/induced.   But the last time was last week and well, it would have been great if it had of been the real deal.  At 39 weeks we were so ready for it be!

I think poor Husband and I are getting worse sleep at the moment than we would be if the baby was actually  here.  The reason for that being that most of the false alarms are occurring in the wee hours of the early morning and lasting for up to three hours or more.  Add that to the fact that they are occurring every two or so days and it just equals tiredness.  Oh, and healthy dose of “meh”.

Example:  Saturday night was another false alarm with fluid leaking, but I didn’t bother to tell my midwife because a).  it was much less than the last two times and b). it was 3:00am in the morning.  She would only tell me to try and get some sleep.  So that’s what I did.  Although I had to be in the bath for a few hours before I could get said sleep!  Husband kept me company {amazing, darling man that he is} and we had a late night chemistry lesson. 

~ * ♥   Chemistry for Bonita….  Ka~BOOM!  ♥ * ~

I learnt that chlorine in solid form is salt, and in it’s natural state is gas.  I also learnt that rust and tarnish is always caused by oxidisation, and that hydro fluoric acid is so dangerous that if you get any on your hand or something the safety procedure for dealing with that is to chop your arm off…. 

Mmm.  Fun times.  

So that is where we are at at the moment.  Playing the waiting game.  Of course, I am ever so glad that Baby is healthy and happy and really, I would put up with all of this and a thousand times worse to keep it that way.  But it does mean that my mind is sort of AWOL; hence the random blog post.  

In the mean time, I will go eat a pineapple.  I hear that’s supposed to bring on labour!  

xox,

bonita

P.S.  ~  Here’s a random picture of Spongebob Squarepants.  Because I can.  

…. And because it made me smile.   ^ u ^ 

3 Things they don’t tell you…

Until you are actually already pregnant!

1.  Your hips will hurt.  All the time.  Apparently as the baby grows and your body is constantly shifting, your hips, and most likely your back, will bear the brunt of the changes, making them permanently sore and tender.  And speaking of tender ~ the chest area?  It’s a no go zone.

2.  Morning sickness.  Some women are blessed and never get it, some women can’t get out of bed because the nausea makes them feel like they’re on a boat….  Oh, and the name is a fallacy.   Morning sickness can visit you morning, noon or night, and sometimes decides to hang around for all three!

3.  You will feel like you have been hit by a steam roller, a cargo train, and a tanker ~ everyday.   Energy?  What’s that?

And basically that’s the summary of how my pregnancy is progressing.  Yay.   : |    But to end this mini rant on a positive note, all though I might be putting up with a host of uncomfortable sensations, it’s totally worth it.  

When you feel the baby move and kick inside of you, you conveniently forget about all the other things ~ there is a baby growing!  How cool is that?  And I am so grateful that I have the chance to be a mother.  Finally, I think I am growing up. 

xox,

bonita

Quick Share ~ The wrong era?

Please visit this link to read an excellent post on the merits of being vintage in 2o1o.  I found it an excellent read ~ very thought provoking for the vintage lover. 

Snoodlebug: Born in the wrong era? A vintage rant.: "I am a tad (read hellishly) hungover and so I apologise for the rant but this blog is about something that really bugs me.

What is it that causes me such rage? It is when perfectly intelligent, reasonable, adult women state that they were "born in the wrong era." So many vintage aficionados seem to do this and it is something I'm seeing mentioned more and more. Personally I find this sort of comment incredibly naive and shortsighted...."

xox,

bonita

Feature ~ The Paradoxes of Blogging

When getting dressed these days I often wonder at how much harder it seems to be.  Before I would just throw on the clothes and be done with it. 

But now I find myself fussing over the outfit ~ am I wearing too much RTW?  Will readers out there shun my blog for my outfits not being vintage enough?  If I do crazy outfits all the time will I scare people away or attract them to Depict This!? 

All this thinking was intensified by this post from Rebecca of The Clothes Horse.

 

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The Paradoxes of Blogging 

by The Clothes Horse

I wanted to clarify (or perhaps continue) the points I mentioned in my post Paradoxes of Blogging.  The main point today is: wearing an outfit for the sake of a photograph….

…More often, I will have my "style experiments" which I wear all day, but my point is: I wouldn't have worn them all day if I didn't have this old fashion blog and the thought of pictures in the back of my head. That is what I meant by "the process of recording alters the record." In the conscious act of deciding to record things we begin to construct items to record and alter what we are recording; if we hadn't decided to write blogs then the day, outfits, and ourselves would be different (although possibly this difference is minor). My outfits are definitely being worn, but in a "normal" world they probably wouldn't have been outfits I tried out. My blog has given me some sartorial courage and a reason to exercise it. If you came upon me on the street (or path in the woods), they are what I would be wearing that day.

There is the inherent staging effect of taking pictures; particularly when you take them of yourself. I mentioned this way back in 2008 and with photographic illustration. In that post slightly clashing elements of a tote bag and leopard print headphones were highlighted when they normally would have been removed for the sake of blog images. Such edits happen frequently and not always by conscious choice (often I merely forget to photograph my purse rather than purposely leave it out). Many other factors lead to the staging of outfit shots as well. Most of the winter I removed my coats in order to photograph the outfits I was wearing underneath them, misleading some people to think I lived in a warmer climate than I do. I also spend more time every day barefoot than I do in heels; one of the joys of working from home, no?

Truthfully, even if I could paint a perfectly accurate and realistic image of my life and my outfits: I doubt I would.  This blog is escapism as much for me as it might be for others visiting; so if only idealized images of this period in time remain to jog my memory later, I'm content with that.

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I started doing outfit posts because occasionally I would put on a cute outfit and think, “Gee, I wish I was going somewhere that I would get a photo taken in this outfit!  I really like it!”  but now I find that outfit posts are determining a great portion of what I wear.

It is the process that Rebecca calls “recording altering the record”.   I find that an interesting concept in its truth because you can not escape from the fact that when you start thinking about writing something down, or recording your efforts permanently there seems to be a sort of automatic staging, or self censorship ~ much like how you censor yourself before you say something.  {At least, if you are me you do!}

I find it very intriguing how it can be just as much of what we do than who we are that influences what we wear.  I used to think that I was a “This is who I am” only dresser, but I have realised that particularly now that I am outfit posting that I am just as much a “This is what I do” dresser too.

How do you dress?  By what you do or by who you are?

xox,

b.