Peonies from Mumsie's garden

{pink peonies, originally uploaded by robinsegg0523}

You know you are old when your prom dress is "vintage"

{Vintage '80s Gunne Sax taffeta dress, photo from Midnight Glamour}

When I think "Vintage Prom Dress", I imagine a spiffy little number from the 40s, a Dior "New Look" full-skirted, wasp-waist frock from the 50s, or a something mod or Jackie-esque from the 60s. So I am a little disturbed today to learn that my prom dress is considered "vintage". I sported the lovely black & white number above to my high school prom, only 24 years ago. While everyone else was wearing pastel prairie dresses and lace, I was pushing the ol' fashion envelope. Well, as much as one could push it, back then in the 80's, when it was already pushed pretty far. We had our prom at a very grown-up catering hall. Our theme was the power ballad of the decade, "Heaven" by Bryan Adams. The DJ used a turntable, and played records (I was tempted to link that to a wikipedia entry for all you young'uns).

Midnight Glamour sold the above dress (and no I did not buy it) for $135, pretty close to what Mumsie shelled out in 1984 at the Jordan Marsh Department Store. But let me tell you, we sure got her money's worth:

1. Wore it to my Junior Prom in 1984.
2. Update (June 7) Wore it to emcee "Mr. Advocate" high school pageant*
3. Wore it to someone else's Junior Prom in 1985.
4. Had my grandmother (a seamstress) shorten it to "tea length" and wore it to some guy's college formal at SUNY Maritime in 1986.
5. Had grandma deconstruct it and sew the knee-length skirt to a drop waist black taffeta bodice with big puffy sleeves (please try to remember this was the 80s, people) and wore it to a formal at my college in 1987 with some guy from SUNY Maritime.
6. Wore it to yet some other guy's college formal at SUNY Maritime in 1987 (what can I say, I liked a man in uniform).

Stopped short of a Molly Ringwald/Pretty in Pink New Wave redesign of the dress. I think it went to Goodwill after that. Adding in the cost of the additional fabric (but not for labor -- for that was priceless) and dry cleaning, the average cost per wear was about $29. Not bad, eh?

I almost wish I still had it in its original incarnation, because I still think it is pretty cute. I have no idea where the heck I would wear it though!

*The Advocate was our HS newspaper and every year we did a "pageant" as a fundraiser. The contestants were all boys. It was a lot of fun, especially the big opening dance number. We had some good sports at our school.

New bird on the blah-blah-block No. 21

{a lot of words, nothing to say, by corid}

I love this chatty bird, he reminds me of ME! I am always talking. I remember getting in trouble as early as kindergarten for too much talking (sorry Mrs. Massaro!). All my grammar school report cards said "Excellent work, talks too much in class".

You can buy a print of this birdy or some of his friends in Corid's Etsy shop. Thanks to Suzanne for introducing me to Corid via her blog S.HOPtalk.

I love my DVR, and Sarah Richardson

I have been battling The Mother of All Colds since Tuesday night, hence the lack of posts. Between fits of coughing and being in a coma sleeping, I have been learning how to program my new DVR (yes, I am late to the game). Now that I have this newfangled toy, I can catch all the design shows that I can never remember when they are on, including one of my favorite Canadian designers, Sarah Richardson. I had my own mini-marathon of her yesterday. I love her style, her sass (in the episode with the LR/DR combo (pics below) she kept replaying the tape of the client saying "I defer to you" every time the client disagreed!) and that she is not afraid to show her clients used furniture that can be reupholstered vs the "all new all the time" approach that others have.

{client kitchen before}

{client kitchen after}

{client living/dining room before}

{and after. ALL photos from Fine Living Network site}

I also like that she shows the sometimes tedious and non-glamorous side of the all the details and time that go into a design project. Things like having furniture delivered, taken away, redelivered, etc. so the client can see it in the space. Or waiting around for the client to meet them on the shopping trip, or going to ten different shops to find the right sofa, or finding out that because of one delay, the whole project is on hold until the carpenter is available again. Too many design shows, in an effort to keep up with the pacing and presto-chango that viewers expect after seeing "reality" design shows like While You Were Out, Trading Spaces and the completely unrealistic Extreme Makeover, make it seem like the Magic Decor Fairies come in and do everything overnight.

A-M over at The House that A-M Built, is chronicling the long process of having a house built from the ground up, and the millions of tiny decisions that go along with it. She started on April 1 when they acquired the land. The first hole wasn't dug until May 28. Where are those magic overnight fairies when you need them?

When I win the lottery #854

{Arcadia in Cape Cod. Photo by Goodheart Properties}

Out of curiosity I clicked on one of my Google ads and this was what came up. The house is gorgeous in its simplicity, and not your typical beach cottage at all. There are multiple buildings, including a guest house with two bedrooms, and the Master Suite (check out the bathroom, I could fit my whole bathroom in just the shower area) is connected to the main house via a breezeway (that must be fun in the winter). I wonder if there is a helipad to make that commute to Boston a bit easier. Oh, and it is only $3.6 million!