1950's Birthday Bash

We attended a friend's Birthday Do up in London a few weeks back, and I've been meaning to post up the pictures for some time!

The beautiful Helena held her celebration in the old Bowling Clubhouse in Balham, and had spent all day meticulously decorating the place up. Little did I know how much of the place retained it's original features, the whole clubhouse has been kept as was, and has a brilliant vibe about it. No wonder Helena picked this place, she does have fabulous taste after all!

The majority of the guests joined in the fun and dragged their finest 50s styled garbs out the closet. Dancing ensued later in the evening, but a great deal of catching up, drinking and cake eating was also done. 

Thank you again Helena for a brilliant night!

The Birthday Girl in a gorgeous green Vivien of Holloway dress, jealous!

I've noticed a trend forming recently of vintage themed parties on the increase. And many fellow bloggers have been attending them and talking about how fab they are. So my question is: where do you all find out about these? Most seem to be up on London, but is there somewhere that has a list of events coming up so I don't keep missing them?

Any help much appreciated :)

Much Love from Brighton,

Found this kid's ride parked next door to the clubhouse, couldn't resist a quick snap!

L.J.

xxx

Fun times with the Beagles

We've been dog sitting the Beagles again. I love those boys! And they don't mind me doing silly things to them either, heheh ;)

Buster, the lord of the Manor:

and his brother Charlie:

I am so cruel! heheh but they do love it!

L.J.

xxx

My very 1st Blog Award!

The beautiful Wendy from The Butterfly Balcony has kindly awarded me with my very first Blog Award! Woop Woop!

Please go pay her a visit, her blog is full of reference material and her own trials of trying out all things vintage. Always an interesting read and one of the blogs I visit the most. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for her next instalment on Vintage Beauty from 'The Modern Girls Beauty Book' from 1938 :)

So, as tradition states, here are 5 things about me you might not know:

1. I too wear glasses. I love my vintage 1940's glasses, but I don't tend to wear them much, so it is very unlikely you will catch me wearing them in any posts, but here's a little peak for those who want to see them:

2. I am a dirty smoker. Yes I am. No excuses, I know it's bad for me, but I do enjoy a Cider in the sunshine with a dirty fag in hand. 

3. I burn with Factor 50 sun-cream. Yes, very sensitive skin, and I shall never tan, but I'm pleased with the idea of growing old the graceful way :)

4. I love cheese. Really, really love cheese. It's a bit of an ongoing joke amongst my circle of friends. Whenever I invite them around for dinner, it is guaranteed to include cheese. Most likely in the form of a Cheese Fondue or Raclette. For someone who is supposedly lactose intolerant, I can stuff cheese down my throat til the cows come home (get it, get it?!?) Evidence below:

5. I take Crazy Golf VERY seriously. I think I may have scared the Mister a little the first time I dragged him out to the course along the seafront. On our recent trip to the Isle of Wight, we managed to squeeze in no less than 6 games of Crazy Golf. Love love love!!!

I now get to pick my current top 5 blogs to pass this honour on to :) as Wendy mentioned in her post, you do not have to accept them if you do not wish to, but I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading all your blogs and how much I learn from you all, so thank you thank you thank you!

Chrissie at Curve Couture Corstes

Lisa at Butterflies and Daisys Vintage

Bombshell Bettie's Vintage

Landgirl 1980

Tami at My Moving Finger Writes

Thank you all, you brighten up my day every time you post something new and exciting up :)

If you wish, share the love with your top 5 bloggers and pas it on! 

Much Love and happy blogging,

L.J.

xxx

Jungle Jane

We've been house and dog sitting again for the Mister's boss, and just around the corner is a lush untouched haven of woodland forest. How could I resist but put on my jungle dress and wellingtons, and take a stroll down the river with the dogs in tow!

I love a good tumble round the forest, and look forward to house sitting every time we're asked too :) what better way to spend a weekend than strolling through the sunshine in the middle of nowhere with two crazy dogs and nothing else?

Much Love from Brighton

L.J.

xxx

Sunglasses

Can one own too many??

I think not! I feel an urge for more coming on...

L.J.

xxx

THAT Dress and THAT Location....

A few weeks ago I posted up about a 30's inspired belt I was crafting together to go with a 30's royal blue dinner dress for a very special event I was asked to attend for work.

Now I very rarely get to go to such events, so when I was invited by the Boss to tag along, I couldn't wait to go dress shopping. I realised after rummaging through my wardrobe that I actually had no evening dresses, apart from the obligatory big ball gowns, which wouldn't be very suitable for a sit down dinner and awards ceremony so I decided it was time to invest in something a little more appropriate, that I could drag out for future events (should I be lucky enough to be invited again!).

That is when I found the dress. Sadly it needs a little TLC, but my Mum has promised she will do the best she can, which is better than anything I can currently muster, stupid hands. It looks as if there used to be some sort of decoration on the front, a bit of 'bling' perhaps? And in order to bring it back to its former glory, I was in charge of creating the gold belt et accessories. And boy was I chuffed when I finally got to put it all altogether :) I even managed to reuse the shoes I wore to my sisters wedding last year which was great!

So enough waffle, on to the evening. To my delight, we were picked up by Limo and driven up to London to Park Lane Hotel. Little did I know, but this was a 1930's Art Deco palace, and we were seated in the old Ballroom!!!! How perfect??? I didn't even know where we were going, so you can imagine what I was like when I stepped out of the Limo and my jaw dropped to the pavement....heaven!!!

Sadly as I didn't get home until 3.30am, the Mister was fast asleep so I have no proper photo's of THE DRESS, but I promise as soon as Mum has finished doing the last little repairs, and once the mammoth move has been  completed, I will slip everything back on again so I can show it off to you all :) So yes, this post is mostly pictures of pretty Art Deco design, but I really wanted to show you what it was like! And how it felt to be in an Art Deco dress, surrounded by Art Deco interiors....if only everyone else was dressed in period too!! 

The closest I could get to showing you what the dress was like was by pinching this photo from the Trade Finance website, when our group went up to collect our award (I wont go into detail about the actual awards ceremony as I make I point to keep pleasure and business as separate as possible!) but if you want more pictures of the night, you can find them HERE. I'm pretty hard to miss, as I seem to be the only woman wearing a bright blue dress.

Much Love from Brighton,

L.J.

xxx

Vintage Vacation to the Isle of Wight

Last week, the Mister whisked me off on a surprise holiday to the Isle of Wight. I had never been before, and we had talked about it, but little did I know that the Mister would remember a website I had stumbled upon a few years back. Off we drove to Portsmouth to catch the Ferry to Fishbourne. I felt like a little kid again, and we were lucky enough to be blessed with a few hours of sunshine on the journey :)

After soaking up some rays on the beach at Sandown, the Mister informed me we had to be at our home for the weekend by 3.30pm, so we trundled along in Tilly, to a farm in the middle of nowhere....where were we???

At the Vintage Vacations Camp-site no less!!!!!

Helen and Frazer created Vintage Vacations in 2004 when they bought their very first Airstream trailer, and quickly got addicted and now they have filled an entire field full of them, restored them all, and brought them back to life.

 So I finally got to stay in a vintage trailer! And it was the 1951 Spartanette!!! I was squealing for about an hour, investigating and playing with all the buttons and switches, and was amazed by all the finishing touches the owners had added! Frazer and Helen are true geniuses. They have thought of everything, even down to the hand sewn guest book and original cup dispencers, and there was even a mini bottle of Babycham with original Babycham glasses waiting for us upon arrival!

The Mister really did good. Just what I needed after a rather crappy week (my hands don't seem to want to get any better and the NHS was being a bit rubbish). I have never had such a relaxing holiday or felt more at home. If I could live here forever I really would.

So on to the Tour of the Trailer:

Tilly looked truly in place with the Trailer. I could see her pulling her along the road (if that was even possible...I don't think even Tilly has that sort of pulling power). Also provided were BBQ equipment, log burners, deck chairs, little bench, and even parasols so the field could be turned into your front room :)

Trailer Sweet Trailer!

Welcome to our living room for the duration of our stay:

I spent the majority of the first evening sitting and reading all the vintage books and magazines, while the Mister serenaded me on his guitar, heh.

This ticked every single box for a holiday from heaven. I have never had such a relaxing holiday, out in the middle of nowhere but still only 10mins drive from civilisation, although I could have quite easily stayed indoors all weekend (the weather made the thought of that much more appealing, stupid British weather!). We spent the days wandering around the seaside towns, dipping our feet into the freezing sea, and playing no less than 6 games of crazy golf (pics etc to follow!). I cannot wait to go back again, and next time I think I'll book us in to the Shack on its own bit of beach :)

Keep your eyes peeled for a more in depth discussion with Vintage Vacations! I couldn't wait any longer to show you our lovely trailer, but hopefully I will be able to show you some of the others on the suite very soon :) In the mean time, if you now have the itch to hop on a ferry and make your way over to the Isle of Wight, go give Helen and Frazer a visit on their site, I'm glad the Mister booked us in as a surprise, because I don't think I would have been able to pick out my favourite to stay in!!

Much Love From The Isle of Wight,

Night Night!

L.J.

xxx