On Friday night, as part of the celebrating my new job, Ian and my friend Heather took me out for dinner and to the launch of Edmonton's Neon Sign Museum.


The museum is a collection of restored vintage signs from Edmonton's neon age, all installed outside the Telus building at the corner of 104 Ave and 104 Street. While only eight are up right now, there will be 12 (or hopefully even more!) in the future.






It's such an innovative use of spacing on an otherwise unremarkable building (sorry Telus), in one of Edmonton's up-and-coming historical neighbourhoods, and will hopefully inspire new neon ventures in the future.



To see some photos from the installation, check out Ian's photos for the Edmonton Sun. All photos above copyright Ian Kucerak / IK Creative.

Firstly, an apology.

I've been feeling down in the dumps lately - basically fed up with cliques and drama, and feeling like defaulting to my teenage coping strategies: avoid social interactions at all costs and keep my nose stuck in books. I didn't feel like doing vintage-related things or blogging. I didn't even feel like getting out of bed, in all honesty.

Even when I had stuff to blog about, I didn't put my heart into it, and instead just slapped the words onto the page. Sorry for that - I always believe that if I don't enjoy writing something, people won't enjoy reading it, but I was writing just to keep content on the pages.

Luckily, my bestie Miss Bee helped pull me out of my funk, and we resolved to dress up, treat ourselves to a date and have some fun. So over the weekend we went to the market, went shopping, had cocktails and basically got up to our old antics. It was a grand ole time, and just what I needed to get out of my funk.

First we hit up the South Edmonton Common Farmers Market to get a swack-load of produce. The market was nice and small, meaning we didn't have to wander with our beets and carrots breaking our arms for too long. The food was so cheap and SO TASTY. I love autumn veggies. Bring on the brussel sprouts!

Shortly after, Miss Bee and I hit up Value Village. We both had gift certificates thanks to my little stint on CityTV, and they were just burning a hole in my pocket. I got a few blouses, a sweater and wool skirt, but the piece-de-la-resistance was my new dome dryer!



Check out these dishes Bee found!


And here's my dome dryer. It's not the prettiest (and it reeked like cigarette smoke) but it's better than nothing.


Note to self: stop going through the housewares section first, or else be doomed to wander VV with atomic dishware and very heavy dome dryers. Like the time we wandered around the store with a coffee table. WE NEVER LEARN.

After taking forever to check out at VV due to carefully wrapping 49 pieces of atomic dishware (sorry everyone behind us) we hustled over to the newly opened Tavern 1903 at the Alberta Hotel. Built in 1903, the Alberta Hotel was taken down brick-by-brick to make way for Canada Place in the 1980s. I worked beside the hotel while it was under renovations, and is also the new home for my favourite radio station, CKUA. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!




Alas, I forgot to take photos of the interior. Sorry!

Following our lunch, we took some outfit photos. I got some of my outfit, but I want to save them for a review post, so I'm only going to share Bee's. Spoiler alert: she's beautiful.

We all know that "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" - well, I can say that this gal is MY diamond. She's brilliant, dazzling, and tough! She can help get me through anything, and I honestly don't know where I would be without her.





Also - we both (unknowingly) bought that dress at the Bettie Page store in Caesar's Palace (also - not the first time this has happened).

We also grabbed some photos of the beautiful Edmonton river valley. Oh how I wish fall wasn't so short here!



And then, on our way home, we grabbed a shot of Edmonton's skyline to get a photo of where we were taking the previous photos.


What a beautiful day!

I was very excited to head down to Calgary earlier this month for a very special vintage blogger meet-up. Jessica of Chronically Vintage was visiting Calgary from her home in British Columbia, so I asked her if she'd mind if I popped down to meet her & her husband Tony - luckily for me, she didn't mind my hijacking of her holiday!

Photos by Antonio Cangiano

We had a lovely day, having lunch and visiting vintage and antique stores, including the always wonderful A Vintage Affair. I was pleasant surprised that Bonnie, one of the owners, recognized me (we've done some messaging back and forth) and invited me back to check out their bridal collection. I can't wait! Despite finding some GORGEOUS things, nothing fit (I blame the giant rueben I devoured at Gruman's Deli) so I went home empty handed. Le sigh!

I had such a fabulous time with Jessica and Tony - it was such a delight to meet them. They are both just so sweet and kind. Tony even took some outfit photos for me.

Charles Hymen dress: vintage, gift from Miss Bee Vintage

Shoes: Vintage, thrifted

Bracelet: Vintage,  The Pretty Secrets

Tooled leather handbag: vintage, gift from Miss Bee Vintage

Despite Edmonton's Fringe Festival being the second largest in the world (after Edinburgh's), I've never been to the festival before this year, when I got a chance to see Never Let The Crew See You Cry, courtesy of Bottom Line Productions.

Photo by Edward Allen

The play, written by Linda Wood Edwards, details the life of the playwright's mother Ethel as a young Flight Line Mechanic for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan at 31 Elementary Flying Training School 31 at RCAF De Winton, south of Calgary, during WWII.

Never Let The Crew See You Cry made me cry, but it probably wouldn't make everyone cry. I cried because it made me happy to know that there are still people out there interested in preserving Alberta's rich aviation history through storytelling. I also cried because it made me miss my grandparents. They met at RCAF Edmonton at a dance during the war, and I will always regret not asking enough questions about what it was like.

But I feel like this play would have had more impact if it could have been expanded. There were only three actors, but a plethora of characters, and I found the shifts between characters sometimes jarring, as there were no costume changes. I found it hard to connect with the characters and it left me with several unanswered questions: why was Ethel drawn to the skies? Were there any clashes between her and the   other girls? What about the women and the men? Did she ever get a chance to fly?

I felt like there was too much girly gossip, not enough of the nitty-gritty of war. The most gripping part was a re-enacment of Ethel being honoured in 2001 with a BCATP Pennant (which you can find hanging at the Alberta Aviation Museum), complete with a poem she wrote, "To A War Ace".

However, I did feel the the dialogue was wonderfully written, with plenty of laughs and plenty of singing along from the audience.

I truly hope that this play can be expanded - if not for the Fringe, then for some sort of tribute at the Alberta Aviation Museum - or turned into a memoir (I know a great writer/editor who's always looking for freelance work).

 I don't think that there's enough knowledge, especially in Edmonton, of the vital role this city played in the war. Did you know that Edmonton was the busiest airport in the world during WWII? Why isn't this part of our history celebrated throughout the city?



I was truly honoured after the play to meet both Linda and Ethel and chat with them some more (this is when the crying happened. I sure know how to make things awkward!) and thank them both for sharing their family history with Fringe goers.

If you're interested in seeing Never Let The Crew See You Cry, you can see it at the following times:
Mon Aug 19 - 3:30pm
Tue Aug 20 - 2:15pm
Wed Aug 21 - 8:15pm
Fri Aug 23 - 6:45pm
Sat Aug 24 - 11:45am
Sun Aug 25 - 1:00pm

I was incredibly excited/nervous when an email landed in my inbox from the good folks at Breakfast Television Edmonton asking me to participate in a style challenge to mark the grand opening of Value Village in Sherwood Park (Big thanks to Marie for the name drop!).



I loved getting a sneak peek of the new store. Sherwood Park thrift shops usually have some gems (I can't believe they had gloves!) and this Value Village is no exception. They also had some really great jewellery, shoes and accessories. I wish I had been able to spend more time browsing, but of course, we were being timed!
I had such a blast with Sandy Joe and Lébassé - it seemed so much more like 6 gals shopping than a competition. Both of them have great style, and I really liked they outfits they came up with too.

The segment aired today on BT, but of course I have the hookup for you good people who don't live in Edmonton to watch it. I can't embed it (urgh) but here's where you can watch part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.

Photo by my darling friend Funmi. I look like a monkey.

 To tell you the truth, I didn't watch it. I'm very hard on myself and I know that I would just cringe and fret over every little thing that came out of my mouth and every style choice I made (and am anyway - I am good at remember what makes me feel like crap) so I'm just putting it here for other people to "enjoy".

Best screen grab I could find of the outfit

If you like my outfit, please vote for me - voters could win a $50 gift card to Value Village. Sadly, the contest is only open to residents of Alberta :( Sorry non-locals!

If I win, I will get a $500 gift card to Value Village - can you imagine!?

I'd also like to thank the folks at Value Village for letting me take the dress home with me! I fell in love with the gorgeous print and was heartbroken to think I'd have to leave it behind.

A few weeks ago, I met Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail at the SMBYEG; I had been meaning to talk to her because I heard that she was a local writer interested in Canadian aviation history. We got to talking, and when I mentioned Retro Reporter she remarked that she should introduce me to another of her author friends who wrote a novel about an alternate 1930s world where the Chinese developed the west coast, everyone had a ghost and the lead character was a femme fatale detective.

Well, I was hooked.  As soon as I could, I sent SG Wong an email to ask if I could feature her novel on my blog. I rambled on about how much I love vintage, writing, and sci-fi/diesel punk and instead of thinking that I was a loon we made a date to meet up over gelato (which was the preferred outcome, of course).


First, a little more on the novel from Wong's website:

First in the Lola Starke series, Die On Your Feet introduces us to the world of Crescent City, where the Chinese are the dominant cultural force and Ghosts are very real. Lola Starke isn’t your normal gumshoe—unless normal includes a trust fund, a glamourous actress mother and a ghostly smart–mouth with illusions of investigative genius. But it’s not all fast talk and mah–jongg games for our prickly private eye, as she’s drawn into the slums of the City on the tail of a missing heroin addict and into the clutches of an old enemy. It’s every woman for herself in this story of broken dreams, hidden agendas and ghostly vengeance.

Wong was born in Hong Kong, moved to Vancouver and then Edmonton as a small child and lived here until she completed her BA (Honours) in English at the University of Alberta before moving to Japan - where she met and fell in love with a man from Kansas. They have two kids, and the idea of Lola Starke first came to her when she was nursing her oldest in the middle of the night, by the light of a small lamp.

The author

Wong created her seedy and paranormal 1930s Los Angeles partially because she loved film noir and sci-fi, but also because she knew she couldn't showcase a historically accurate LA.
"I wanted the same glamour and aesthetic with the juxtaposition of the underbelly, but I wanted there to be a Chinese ethnicity," she said, adding that as someone who is a visible minority, she wanted Starke to be one too, which she writes about here.
(Wong also noted that she created her character's name in 2003, long before the Iron Man movies came out and re-popularized the Starke name.)

It took Wong eight years to get Die On Your Feet published, and struggled to find a print publisher that had a pre-existing list of books it fit in with. Finally, she took the digital-publishing approach, and published through Carina Press. "I just want people to read it and enjoy it," she said.

Die On Your Feet is available through Carina | Amazon.ca | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Amazon | Amazon UK

BUT I am also excited to host a give way for Die On Your Feet in honour of reaching over 300 subscribers from Blogger, Bloglovin & RSS subscription.
Enter the giveaway below! Winners will be notified and have the book emailed to them. Even if you don't have an e-reader, you can download Adobe's free e-reader onto your computer.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

First things first, a big thank you to everyone on my last post about my FO Photography experience! I feel so loved.

If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook you'll already know about my exciting news, but since I am so excited (and still shocked) I want to continue to shout it from the electronic rooftops.

Around midnight on July 13, Ian proposed - and I happily said yes, of course! It was so spontaneous and so unplanned that he didn't even have the ring yet. So here's my naked finger.



Ian has been dropping hints for the few months that he's been researching rings, and we got on the subject when we were down at my family's farm in Saskatchewan for the Little Valley Jamboree. It was around midnight Saturday morning, and we were standing on the deck drinking gin and listening to music. Jokingly, I asked Ian when he was going to propose.
His response: "Well, I guess I'll do it right now."

I will be the first to admit that Ian and I haven't been together for long. A year ago, he was the nice (tall!) Sun photog I occasionally chatted with on assignment. Now, he's my future husband (man, that is going to take some getting used to).

Our first date was Sept. 2. The day before I swore off men for a while and wanted to rediscover myself. But Ian and I had been chatting on Twitter back and forth and we met up for a concert celebrating the 100th birthday of the legislature. I wasn't wearing any make-up, had my hair up in a scarf and had spent the day with Bee at Ikea. Ian and I talked through the whole concert.... and then for several hours at the pub, and then my house... and finally we parted ways around 3 a.m. (and he had to work the next day!).

The following day we went to see the B-17 to take some photos, and have been inseparable ever since. We moved in together in December, and honestly I feel like I've known him my whole life and yet at the same time everything is still so warm and fuzzy.

A previously unseen photo,  released from the vaults! Please note that I'm wearing heels and he's slouching and he's still towering over me.

I can't imagine my life without Ian, his family, his wonderful friends and of course Daisy & Gizmo. I'm so excited to start the next chapter of our lives together.

Stay tuned for wedding blogging - a tentative date has been set for November 2014!

I had the great pleasure of spending my Saturday with Erin and Jill at the History Road Car Show at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskinwin, followed by lunch and shopping at Imagine Vintage in Camrose.

The skies were sunny, but boy was it windy! I apologize for these photos - my hair was a mess, my petticoat was showing AND I spilled coffee down my front during the drive. What a wreck.












We all found cars that we matched our outfits!





 And, of course, we also took a tour inside the museum.



It was so great to show my friends around the ole stomping grounds of Camrose and Wetaskiwin! I bought a new outfit in Camrose - but that's another post for another day. I really miss Camrose - it was a wonderful city filled with wonderful people.

XO Laurie

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the lovely comments on my last post! They certainly helped brighten my week. 

Us Edmontonian AVR members Jill, Erin, Bailey and I had a lovely picnic in the park last Saturday at MacKay Avenue school, which was one of the first schools in Edmonton as well as the home to the first legislature, and now houses the Edmonton Public School archives. The archives weren't open on Saturday, but we made due with the bright sun, hot temperatures and the perfect grounds for croquet.

1980s does 1940s does Edwardian sailor dress from Cat's Eye Vintage in Calgary Shoes by BAIT Hat from Imagine Vintage in Camrose