Smells Like Rick Astley

This has absolutely nothing to do with vintage or anything else I usually write about, but this video is made of pure awesome. For your Saturday pleasure, I give you the Rick Astley "Never Gonna Give You Up VS. Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit" smackdown. Brilliant! You know, if you like that sort of thing.

My Aqua Blue Heaven Friday- Take A Letter Maria

Welcome to this week's edition of My Aqua Blue Heaven! I was talking with a friend this week about the good old days when people took the time to write letters, when girls took typing class with actual typewriters and those archaic green-screened computers with floppy disks. Being an old fashioned kind of gal, technology has never interested me much. My cell phone is nearly 4 years old-gasp!-in a time when people replace their cell phones as often as they replace rolls of toilet paper, this probably seems I'm stuck in the stone age. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it, I say. A phone is supposed to be a phone- you make a call, period. Since when is a phone that plays games and goes online to look up recipes and shows you YouTube videos of turtles dry humping sneakers a necessity? And lord have mercy if your phone doesn't have instant access to Twitter, so you can let the world know you're drinking coffee. That's important. Just another tool for humans to get even more narcissistic about their lives, isn't it? Sorry, but I'm not impressed with your iPhone or GPS or whatever one-uppers think is important in life. Give me family, friends, food and I'm a happy camper. I miss the days when you bought matching paper and envelopes and stickers and these old things called stamps. It's so much more personal and lovely to send someone a note on your unicorn and rainbow-themed stationary than it is to send a text. I miss the typewriter's electric hum- "whiirrrrrr"-that would put me to sleep when trying to type a boring-as-balls paper. I miss the "clackity clackity clack" of the raised keys. I miss the "ding!" when you got to the end of a line.

Today's theme may be heavy with longing for a simpler time, yes I know you can never go home again, yada yada yada, but I don't care. You can keep your Facebook profiles with pictures you took of yourself pouting in the bathroom mirror, give me typewriter ribbon-stained fingers or give me death! (No, please don't. That was just a dramatic ending for effect. Like jazz hands.) In searching for vintage typewriters, I found that they used to come in all colors, something I never paid attention to before: girlie pastels in the 50's and 60's (don't even get me started on the PINK typewriters. I can't even speak, I just can't...too verklempt...I will give you yet another topic: the Cold War. It was neither cold, not a war. Discuss....There. I'm better now.) to the classic gold and avocado models in the 70's. But as you know, today is Friday and that means the typewriters can only be in that delicious hue that we've made our bitch: aqua. Enjoy!




Vintage 50's Underwood Universal Typewriter w/Tweed Case.





Vintage Smith-Corona Corsair Deluxe Typewriter. How can you not love something with a name like the "Corsaire Deluxe"?




Vintage 50's Royal Quiet DeLuxe Typewriter. I love the keys on this one, for some reason. You can just tell they make a marvelous "clackety clackety" sound.




"Take a Letter Maria" by R.B. Greaves.

Way-Out Wednesday: There's a Tear in My Beer

Welcome to this week's Way-Out Wednesday, where it's beer o' clock all the time! I decided to class up the joint this week with a vintage beer theme. Oh, but that's not all. This is not just any beer theme, this is a beer theme you can wear. And lo, it was then that the clouds parted, and from the heavens a chorus of Nascar fans sang, "Beeeeer-allelujah!"








Vintage 70's Alpine Beer Tee Shirt.





Shirts are not to be worn with this pair of
Miller Genuine Draft Capris.





Hey! You'll look just like a swanky Sinatra in this Vintage 60's Stag Beer Straw Porkpie Hat, on your way to the swap meet!





A hat that combines crochet and Coors cans? Hot damn! And the color of this Vintage 70's Coors Beer Can Hat matches the mud on my Yosemite Sam "Back Off!" mudflaps. Joy!






What joy! Another one?! Well, smack my ass and call me a beaver! Wait 'til the ladies down at the bingo hall get a load of this Vintage 70's Coors Beer Can Sun Hat! You'll feel just like a young Sophia Loren soaking up the sun, as you wrassle gators.




"There's a Tear in My Beer" by Hank Williams.

Atomic Tuesday: Little Star

Welcome to this week's Atomic Tuesday! I haven't featured anything very glitzy or girlie or glam-ish in a while, so today's atomic theme is all about...well...glitzy, girlie, glam-ish things. How's that for descriptive? (Sigh. I'm not so creative with the words this morning, apparently.) Today's feature is the vintage 50's/60's starburst-y pin. Or "brooch" if you're of the fancy persuasion, which I am not. It's a pin. And fab ones, at that! So let's get this party bus on the road, shall we?
(What?! Sigh. I'm going back to bed.)




vintage enamel gold swirly starburst pin.





She wore bluuuuuue....rhinestones vintage atomic pin. (Was that too heavy on the cheese? I bet you're singing it in your head now, aren't you? That is my gift to you.)





vintage gold sputnik-y starburst pin.





vintage rhinestone highly atomic pin. Now that looks like the closest thing to an atomic symbol I've seen in a long time! Swell!





vintage asymmetrical rhinestone starburst pin. Oh man. This one's my favorite of the bunch! "Meet George Jetson..." is stuck in my head now. Yours too? You're welcome.






vintage big ol' explosion of rhinestones pin, in my current favorite color combo of aqua and green! Plus, it looks like one of those poisonous, under-the-ocean plants that tricks fish into thinking it's just a pretty plant and then-POW!-it eats it. I'm not sure if it's healthy that I think that way.





Speaking of poisonous sea critters, this vintage beaded spikey earring & pin set also looks like some demonic sea creature. Sea urchin? Deadly pufferfish? Undersea mines? All this talk of explosives and venomous spikey death fish has made me randy. Paging Dr. Freud.




"Little Star" by the Elegants.

July's Vintage Giveaway~ Shaken, Not Stirred

Welcome to July's Vintage Giveaway! All summer long I'm rockin' a cocktail theme! Why, you ask? Why not? Isn't it always a good time for a drinkiepoo of some sort? And you know what they say: It's 5 O'Clock...blah blah blah, you get the point. So this month's giveaway is a vintage 50's/60's cocktail shaker...





...And a handful of swizzle sticks, just for the hellofit!





The shaker stands about 8" tall, with a built-in strainer and removable lid. Made of matte, silver aluminum...





...with contrasting olive green polka dot-y holey cutouts showing through!



(Please excuse today's less-than-stellar pics. The shaker and stirrers are in perfect condition, showing almost zero wear, just so's you know. The crappy pictures may make it look otherwise. Damn you, cloudy day!)



Everyone is welcome to enter the contest, even if you're new around these parts! Just leave a comment that you want to be entered in the contest, or email me if you'd rather. I'll draw a name and announce the winner in one week from now, on July 27. Remember, the Vintage Giveaway is totally free to the winner and your personal info is kept completely private. Good luck to everyone and enjoy a drink on me!

Tag, I'm It!

I've been tagged by my wonderful friend Ms De Vil and given this blog badge of honor! No one seems to know what the deal is with the Honest Scrap sign or what it means exactly. Other than if you get tagged with it, it means you're awesome. (I made that part up, but seems pretty spot-on.)


Now that I've been tagged, I have to link back to the person who gave it me and list 10 facts about myself. Then I pass it along (ie: tag!) to 5 fellow bloggers who continue onward, copying the badge to their blog, linking back to me, posting 10 things about themselves, so on and so forth, if they want to join the fun! (And they WILL, if they know what's good for 'em.) Hopefully one or 2 of you will play.

So. 10 especially random things about me:

1.) My fingertips are "double jointed" and I can bend the tips up almost 90 degrees while my hands are flat on the table.

2.) I was born with deep brown eyes but they've been continually fading over the years to dark green now, with no explanation from doctors.

3.) I wear vintage clothing and/or accessories every day and own more vintage cardigans than god. (Assuming he's a sweater man.)

4.) I have no middle name. Crazy hippie parents.

5.) I collect many things, but obsessively collect anything that's vintage 50's original pink. My prize possession is my 50's pink Sylvania Duelette TV!

5.) I've never won anything, not even a scratch-off lottery ticket.

6.) I lived in England by myself for months while I took art history classes.

7.) Swedish fish make me leap with joy.

7.) I hate the word "goodies" and "sleuthing". Like fingers on a chalkboard.

8.) I'm happiest when it's grey and cloudy outside.

9.) I'm an anglophile at heart and love all things Celtic/Irish/UK/Medieval, etc.

10.) I hate cats. Sorry, but I do.


Here are 5 blogs I recommend, all great for different reasons, and let me say picking only 5 was not easy! If you're not on the list this time around, please don't be hurt or offended! I hope to give everyone a shout-out at some point. So in no particular order, I suggest:

*Sugar & Spice

*Radiation Cinema

*Welcome to Deluxeville

*All She Wants To Do Is Rock

*97 Things To Do Before I Turn 97

My (Aqua) Blue Heaven Friday- Do You Remember Rock 'N' Roll Radio?

Welcome, my delicious peeps, to another (Aqua) Blue Heaven Friday! This week's theme is the vintage 50's/60's aqua blue radio! Normally I'd be all "sweet!" and "fark yeah!" and "zounds!" ("zounds"? I dunno, just roll with it) only because I thought fer sure that finding aqua radios would be as easy as falling off a log (apparently I'm 80 and a cast member of Little House on the Prairie today), but no! Would you believe that throughout all of the internets there are but a few aqua radios? What's the dealio? Just a few years/months/weeks ago (I can't be specific, sorry, but I can't even remember what I did yesterday, so how can you expect me to recall when and where I saw a vintage radio in the past year?) it seemed like you couldn't swing a bag full of cats without running into one. Now, the pickin's are gettin' slim. Like finding a good man. Or a good pair of stretchy pants.

So it is with a great sadness and heavy heart (not really, I'm just hungry and it makes me dramatic and carry on with inner dialogues like this one right here) that I could only present 3 aqua radios, however they do kick much ass. If you're in the market for a vintage aqua radio, may I suggest you hop on it soon, because for some reason they're not an easy find. Or maybe it's just a bad week for them and there's really a plethora of them out there still and I don't know what I'm talking about, which could very well be, but let's just pretend there's an Aqua Radio Pandemic anyway, for dramatic effect.




Vintage 60's Realtone Clock Radio. It has "Telechron Movement" and is called a "Realtone Solid State"- I have no idea what it all means but the atomic age sure had a way of making things sound important. Also I should mention that the radio is only AM. No FM for you!





Vintage 50's Random Aqua Radio. There's no mention of a maker and this might be vital information: the cord's been cut off, which may be slightly important. It's still way rad looking, though. Broken crap needs love too, you know. So unless you know how to fix it (you tech nerd!), it's pretty much only good for sitting around like eye candy, looking cool and being awesome. You know, like moi. (Super nerd!)






Vintage 50's Emerson Restored Clock Radio. Also no FM for you! But it does have an external timer so you can plug in your coffee pot to the radio, which is kinda weird, come to think of it...or set the timer to...well, I can't really think of anything else that would necessitate a timer. Use your imagination.





"Do You Remember Rock 'N' Roll Radio? by the Ramones.