Memorial Day

1. Clyde Queen - USN - VIntage Photo, 2. Vintage Woman Soldier Veteran Bugler, WAF U.S, Air Force 1950s, 3. Group Photo including WWI Canadian Soldiers, 4. Women in WW I Military (?)

Let's not forget those who have given their life for our country! These are vintage military photos. I hope they all lived a long life, but if any of them lost their lives in war, I thank them for their service, and thanks to all those currently serving.

And a little red, white and blue:

1. sailor polka dot drop waist, 2. Red and White, 3. Red, White and Blue, 4. what I wore today -042210

Weekend Plans

Clearwater Beach Lightning

Originally uploaded by rocketman 2007

We were thinking of going to Clearwater Beach yesterday to go swimming. We have not gone swimming in the ocean in a really long time. Kavi never has. He has walked knee deep in the ocean when we went to see sunsets at a local beach, but we didn't swim.

But the weather didn't cooperate! There was a high chance of rain in the afternoon, so we decided not to risk making the hour and half long drive to the beach. This picture above I found on Flickr of the beach I am talking about, during a storm. This beach is on the Gulf of Mexico(we live on the west coast of Florida).

A little side story...when I was a teenager we would make the drive down to this beach once in awhile. One time we went down, it was sunny for part of the day and then the afternoon storm clouds rolled in. We ran for cover, which is sort of funny since you are still in a bathing suit that is meant to get wet, but the lightning can be dangerous. We sought cover for a short while before leaving. In the water in the distance there was a water spout. Scary! A distant column of spinning water going from the ocean to the clouds. I am glad it didn't get too close to the beach.

Back to yesterday - since we couldn't go to the beach we drove to Tampa instead and went to a mall and ate at Johnny Rocket's burger place. Today I don't think we are doing anything. Tomorrow, I plan to check out some stores.

Anyone have plans for this weekend they'd like to share?

Flashback Friday: me & my sister

This picture is from Christmas Day 2009. Me on the left, my younger sister Jenny on the right. Me, my hubby and son drove up to Alabama for Christmas. I had written about it here. It was my first time being out of Florida for a Christmas since moving to Florida as a toddler. It's just us two kids in the family. Two girls, I am 21 months older. I am also a lot taller! hehe My mom and sister are both...short. (shhh!)

I picked this photo because my sister is nice! Anyone remember last week when I mentioned things I wanted to buy?? One of them was this adorable magnet:
So two days ago my husband brings in the mail and says there is something here for you from such and such. I said, hmm that's weird, I didn't order anything from that place. So I open it and the magnet is in there! Along with some freebies. But no note. But then I figured it had to be sent by a family member or really close friend because they all call me Stina (instead of Christina) and it was addressed to Stina. I called my mom and found out that my lovely sister saw my blog post and wanted to surprise order it for me. Now isn't that sweet? :) Thank you Jenny!!

Share a picture story/flashback! Join in here:

Vintage Thursday: A dress, shoes, and thanks

I love the image above. It is part of a listing for a vintage dress: Meadow Flower Dress from BuffaloHeart. Such a cute dress!

So I decided to share a bunch of vintage shoes today too. I think the ankle strap sandals would probably go the best with the above dress, for a casual earthy look.



Also I want to say thank you to everyone who stops by and leaves encouragement here! I always appreciate it! And if you just stop by to read, I still appreciate you! Thanks so much everyone for your kind words from yesterday and many other days!

Back on track

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned my goal for losing weight this year before I turn 30 years old. It's not an unattainable, outrageous goal. I would just need to lose about 6 lbs a month to reach it now, because my birthday is exactly 5 months from today! I got out of the exercise routine because of going to India, coming home exhausted, and then being busy for a couple weeks after that. I had actually lost a little more weight while in India because the meals are just healthier in general. But once back here, it balanced back out(or up perhaps? hehe).

I finally added more exercise to my life again last week and have done it this week so far as well. I plan to do it at least 5 days a week. That is what really helped me in the past.
Two days down this week. Three to go! I go on my exercise bike and sometimes do a couple other things after that like random jumping jacks and squats. I also wrote down what I ate the past two days and the calories if they were available.

Last night I wasn't sure if I was going to exercise. I didn't feel like it and felt like my night was too busy already. We watched the movie Avatar finally!! We kept having to pause it though, then put our son to bed, then he woke up later on, and it was just a big thing with trying to get him to sleep again. Then I also wanted to watch American Idol and see the last hour of The Biggest Loser. I tell ya it's too many things to watch at once, and I don't have DVR!! I decided while watching The Biggest Loser that I needed to exercise afterall, so I did while watching some of it. I just couldn't hear it well because my exdercise bike is loud and old and could die at any time. I had gotten it off of Craigslist a few years ago for like $10. Anyway, we finally finished watching Avatar around 10:30pm(we had started it at around 5:20pm!!!). And I felt happy that I exercised too. I liked the movie a lot by the way! I wish I could have seen it in a theater and in 3D.

Oh check out this vintage ad!! I love it! hahaha

Yeah, that's right!

Another Challenge

I entered the "bride to be" challenge that I mentioned Saturday, and today is voting day! I put together outfit #6. It's the top *left* outfit in the collage below(oops I had written *right* ack!). V-neck vintage style dress. But so many submissions were gorgeous, I added a couple more to look at that I loved. I almost was going to use the dress in the bottom right corner as part of my outfit and I am glad I didn't since it would have been in there twice! But I love that dress too.

1. Bride to Be 6, 2. Bride to Be 14, 3. Bride to Be 15, 4. Bride to Be 5

You can see them all here.
And then you can vote here.

If you want to vote for me, awesome! But I won last month's challenge and would like someone else to have the chance, so just vote for your true favorite! There are some lovely looks.

Cutely holding an umbrella

1. calivintage: a rainy walk, 2. Oct 16, 3. June 15th., 4. Untitled, 5. Summertime..., 6. Greeny, 7. June 12, 8. Family stuff, 9. New fashions (1937)

Lots of cute, pretty fashion inspiration mixed with umbrella holding! Man, we still really want rain here! It has hardly rained for a few weeks, and I miss it! I guess there is a reason we are called the Sunshine state! But I know soon when the real summer comes, we will get those often thunderstorms again...or at least I hope! It's gotten so hot here too.

Well, rain, I am anticipating your arrival! I have a big ikea umbrella even.

On another subject... I just need to ponder in writing a little bit. My sales on Etsy have been really bad the past two weeks. I haven't sold anything in those two weeks. I have relisted things to put them back near the front of searches, added some new things, have seen new views and sometimes new hearts, but no selling. I am really hoping this changes soon! Sometimes I don't know if I need to change my prices. Higher? Lower? Or really it's just not a good time in general? Just thinking about it.

Well, I actually made another polyvore set myself again! And with the rain theme. So instead of posting other people's creations, here is mine.

let it rain by ChristinaD featuring Hunter boots

To click

Just thought I'd leave some things for clicking, if you want some stuff to look at over the weekend!
I have made some treasuries in the newer treasury east lately. Some items you might have already seen on the blog, but there are even more in the treasuries since they consist of 16 items!

The two vintage themed treasuries:
Purely Vintage B&W check it out! more items than what was on the blog Thursday

Vintage Kitchen Kitschy this one could use some love! I even spelled out "cook" in the treasury. ;) You'll have to go see how!

And also, a Father's Day/Mens' items treasury!
Your Father's Mustache and other goodies

Recently more of my outfit submissions have been featured on Lillyella.
You can visit some here:
Green Blouse/Jeans Outfit
Summery Shorts Outfit
Pretty Blue Dress/Heels Outfit plus read for how you can submit outfits yourself!

Want to enter this month's Challenge over at Lillyella? Click here to read how! It's a bride to be challenge. I already submitted mine! You have until Monday, May 24th to submit. Winner gets a piece of jewelry.

Flashback Friday: Weird

A few months ago our son was playing with these bigger sunglasses and the lenses were falling out. So they were soon lense-less, but still fun for him to play with. One day I noticed how funny he looked and took a picture before we were heading out to a store. Then I made my husband wear them too and make a face, and then I did it too. The looks we were going for was weird, dorky, and strange. Mission accomplished I think! Of course our son looks like a cool hipster them! hehe ;)

Play along, post a memory! Visit here:

Vintage Thursday: Black&White

B&W Portrait

Well, I think we need some color today too! I adore these retro inspired kitchens.

1. caffeinated*kitchen, 2. Light Green kitchen, 3. Retro kitchen, minimal

What I want to buy!

So yesterday I talked about some things I bought. Now I want to talk about things I'd like to buy! I don't know if I will buy them all, but they are on my "I want" list!

Ikea recently added more fabric designs in their fabric section. I'd have to go to Ikea to get them, and I guess I haven't been there in a few months now. I need to go there again! Maybe one Saturday soon.

Fun designs!! I'd love to make pillow covers from them and who knows what else.


Also is a cute curtain panel on the bottom right. $14.99 for a pair! I don't know if I would actually need them but they are pretty.

And look at this sweet magnet!

"Laundry Day" magnet $3.95 from bluedogrose.

I have much more but that's all I will post for now.

What have you bought lately?

From Etsy, I bought a pretty felt flower pin. I got it in the mail yesterday, yay! I love it. It was $8 from LoveOwlEyes.

It was hard to get a good picture, it's more of a rich turquoise in person, and even more pretty! It's made from eco felt. My mom had ordered a different pin in the past from this shop. I saw it and loved it, and knew I needed to order from them myself.

Recently at Target I bought myself a pretty, spring looking ruffley blouse for $9 and some cute brown flat shoes on sale for about $14. I looked on Target's website and the shoes aren't on clearance there yet like they were in the store. I have a hard time finding shoes that feel comfortable enough to wear around. I can't do heels at all. I have some issues with my ankles, and I need to have at least a little padding in the bottom of the shoe to be able to go out walking around in them and they need to be pretty much flat. Otherwise, my ankles get very sore.
I think these are cuter in person too!

This past weekend I also got a Liberty of London stationary set for 50% off ($4.98), and some other housewares on clearance.
I usually buy things when they are marked down, I am cheap! :) I have read about the Liberty of London items being sold out in some Target stores around the country, soon after it was released. Well, we still have many of the items in our stores and now they are starting to get marked down. I had already bought myself two items, not marked down, because I did think the prices were great: a beautiful fabric covered bin and a round "gift" box that to me is great decor!! I will take pictures.

Fashion inspiration

1. 6.20.08 happy summer solstice!, 2. Summer Braids, 3. Folk Singer Joins the Circus, 4. Wrapped up in Flowers

I picked photos that were taken outside and have something to do with nature. With warm weather here for some already(like me) or coming soon for others, these would be good out and about looks if you need to look a little more fancy than wearing jeans.

And nature inspired from polyvore:

Untitled by sugarsugar featuring Tory Burch shoes

deuxième vert by katmorphos featuring Roxy shoes

This Weekend

1. Untitled, 2. cleaning up, 3. old things, 4. Bouquet of Popcorn

A weekend in pictures...

It's supposed to get rainy here tomorrow, and I hope it does. I miss rain. I don't know when it last rained, probably not really long ago but it feels long ago. During summer we usually get a quick thunderstorm every day in the afternoon. As long as I am not out driving in them or stuck outside, I like them!

I also need to do cleaning and organizing of neglected areas of the house. Maybe I'll do some sewing too over the weekend(or maybe not). Tomorrow we are going out to lunch for a friend's birthday. That should be fun!

I am sure we will be watching a movie or two as well (at home). And yes I have popcorn!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Any plans you want to share? Comment!

Flashback Friday: 2005

This picture is from 2005. (we got married in 2004). It used to be one of my favorite pictures of us together. I remember taking this picture(and others along with it) very well. I wanted some pictures of us, threw on some make up and earrings(I was just at home, hadn't gotten ready for going out) and we took the pictures. My face looks too pale in the shot and bigger. Sigh...The good news for me is that I weigh at least 20lbs less since this was taken. And you know what, when I lose more weight(yeah I am going to!), looking back on pictures taken right now will look different to me too.

But overall I still like this picture above, just the two of us, newly married! :) I know I shouldn't be negative about myself and if my mom reads this she is sure to say "don't say that Christina!!" because she is always very uplifting and encouraging. :) I am just keeping it real, yo!! ;) It's good to at least know that I am not at my highest weight anymore! And never going back.

Play along, post a Flashback! Read more Flashbacks here:

Vintage Thursday: Paper goods, odds and ends

Vintage "Ex Libris" Ship bookplates. I think they are awesome! $12 from twoartdirectors

The other items below are vintage buttons, ephemera(I didn't know that that meant until last year), and photographs. I also really like the old booklet with the hot air balloons on it.

Wasting time...on pictures

Don't you hate when you waste your time on something that you have to do all over again? That happened to me today.

I am often on a quest for better pictures of my jewelry for my shop. I don't have a fancy digital camera, it's just a mediocre one. I can't do some of the neat tricks with focusing that I've seen, but it's good enough for my pictures. (for now) I'd like us to get a better camera eventually - again nothing fancy but just with more options than the one we have.

My son was playing with the camera recently, he learned how to take pictures with it, and accidentally set it to 1 mega pixel. I didn't know that. Today I spent about 40 mins outside taking nicer pictures of some jewelry items, excited with how they seemed to have turned out. I downloaded them all, and after editing the light/colors I go to resize them and find out how small the pictures were on the screen. I finally checked the camera and saw it was set to 1 mega pixel. That means everything was not as big or as up close as I needed it to be, and I had wasted another 20 mins at least editing unusable pictures. They would have just been similar to the pictures I already had and wasn't happy with. The problem for me is getting close enough with the camera. I use the macro button(flower symbol) but even then, my camera doesn't let me get very close in - it just gets blurry if I am too close no matter how much daylight I have. But today, I was determined to get better pictures somehow!

So after being very frustrated about all the time I wasted, I got the chance before sunset to snap a bunch of redo pictures outside, this time setting the camera back to a higher 5 mega pixels(it goes to 7 but I didn't think I needed it - I bet I do).

Do you wonder what I am rambling about? There's a clarity/size difference. For Etsy search results it makes a big difference if people can see the item closer up in the small boxes that show up. They might be more likely to click instead of overlook. *I hope I hope I hope*

Here are differences for you to see...what I had(further away view of jewelry) compared to new. Before, I wasn't able to get as close up to the item. I don't know how I did it this time but I am happy I got some decent pictures.

(first doesn't take up as much of the box, second is a much better "up close" view)

See what I mean now? :)

Favorites and New Projects

First, a new favorite of mine from Etsy. A vintage glass jar filled with old thread on wooden spools! I think it's all so cute together. It's $14.5o from CherryStreetVintage, a newer shop.

I also want to talk about my mom's shops. In case anyone visiting the blog hasn't seen her shops yet, you should go take a visit! You'll find items like below.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/considerthelillies &
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thelillyofthevalley

And finally, some of my recently completed projects:
At the end of April I also had the chance to do a custom order. I had looked around the Alchemy section Etsy, something I hadn't done in a very long time. I came across something that sounded perfect for me to bid on. Make a pillow from a dress. The dress had sentimental value and was too big on her now. A great upcycled project. So I bid to make it for her, and there were already 12 other bids by that point. But, she picked me! And after talking more, we decided on two pillow covers with plain white backings, instead of just one pillow.

Here are some pictures of the before, during, and after!

I got nervous before the first cut into the fabric. This dress was special to someone and I had to cut it up! I literally prayed before the first cut that it would turn out just as she wanted.



When she saw the pictures of the completed pillow covers, she said they were fabulous, so I hope she likes them as much in person! I hope she will give me some feedback. :)