A week and a bit ago, I was delighted to discover that there is a 1940s close harmony group in Edmonton called The Jivin' Belles - and I was even more delighted to meet up with them for a quick chat about their upcoming benefit concert for the Edmonton Humane Society.



The trio - Emily, Kate and Mallory - have known each other for the past three years, as students at Grant MacEwan University's music program, but have only been singing as the Jivin' Belles for a few weeks. They're accompanied by a piano, stand-up bass, guitar and drums, played by fellow MacEwan students.

All three say they have an appreciation of close harmony and music of days gone by, and their Christmas repertoire is heavily influenced by Bing Crosby's tunes with the Andrews Sisters from the White Christmas album.

"I grew up listening to 'White Christmas', and as a vocalist especially I think we're drawn to that tight,synchronized harmony. It's funny, because I'll show that record to some people and they're just like 'meh.' How do you not love this?!" said Mallory.
"I think there is more precision in having to be in sync with two other people. It's that much more of a challenge, because it is completely synchronized to the millisecond. It's so admirable of the Andrews Sisters, that they were able to get it so exact."

If you're heading to the December 15th concert, expect a wide open dance floor - the ladies hope that all attendees take advantage of the swinging tunes and get the dance floor hopping. And YES, a 1940s dress code is strictly encouraged (if you need to go shopping, you know who to call).

The concert is December 15 at 7 pm at the Sawmill Banquet Hall. Check out details, including ticket information, here.

On November 1 & 2, the Edmonton Heritage Council and Edmonton Historical Society are presenting a symposium on Edmonton's history called City & Memory and for some reason still unknown to me they've asked me to be on one of the panels.



I am super excited to be partaking in the panel "Hepcats to Hipsters: Throwback Fashion in Edmonton", alongside Angela from Swish Vintage and Joy, a clothing and textiles curator for the provincial historic sites. We'll be talking about vintage and the unique (or not so unique) challenges and opportunities Edmonton presents to those who dress vintage or have an interest in historical fashion.

Have I mentioned that I'm super excited? Not only do I get to partake in the symposium as a panel member, I also get to sit in the other discussions happening during the symposium. If you're interested, the full program is here. I'm particularly looking forward to Ken Brown's keynote on Friday night, as well as a few others. Of course, some that I really want to go to are happening at the same time. Where did I put that time turner....

I hope to see some locals at the symposium! Feel free to RSVP on Facebook, and tweet with #yegheritage and #yegvintage.

Now, what to wear?!

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!

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

I PROMISE that my blog isn't going to get too crazy wedding on you, but I did want to share the story of finding my engagement ring.

On Saturday, after having brunch with one of my bridesmaids, Ian and I toodled on over to Black Swan on Whyte Ave. Black Swan specialized in vintage jewellery. Despite having a beautiful selection, nothing there really tickled my fancy. We then hopped over to Decade to Decade, who really focus on vintage furniture and had a small collection of vintage rings that I felt just didn't fit with me.

We were on the hunt for a simple but unique ring, preferably from the 1930s-1950s. We were open to any stone and setting, but since I have very small hands and rarely wear jewellery, it had to be simple, understated and classic (not to mention affordable!).

On Sunday, we were prepared to spend the entire day at antique stores like Beck Antiques & Jewellery, Old Strathcona Antique Mall, and Rocky Mountain Antique Mall, hunting for the perfect ring.

Our first stop was Beck's, which is not only an antiques store but also offers repairing services, as well as an on-staff gemologist. It was our first visit, and as soon as we walked in we got a good vibe. The store was well organized, we were greeted right away by Clinton and were left to browse while he helped another customer.

Once we were ready to look at rings, we noticed that their engagement rings are sorted and labeled in the display case by price, meaning that you won't put on a ring and fall in love and realize that it's out of your budget. Clinton also mentioned that all diamonds are sold wholesale - meaning you pay what other jewellers in Edmonton pay - and that if we had a stone that we liked but no band, one could be made for us. He also gave us a brief history of engagement ring styles during the 30s & 40s. There were no hard sales and no pressure: just straight up education.

Well I put on one ring and fell in love. I'd describe it to you, but a photo is worth a thousand words. Clinton told us to take it outside and look at it in the sun, and I actually blinded Ian with it.

Laser Ring!

We agreed that this was "The One", and while we (ok, Ian) set up an account and paid, my ring went through the polisher. The creme-de-la-creme? Clinton threw in a beautiful 1920s ring box because he "knew we'd appreciate it." Um, yeah! Oh, and did I mention that they will make a matching band for me when the time comes? How awesome is that?



We also went ahead a booked a sit-down appointment with Carla, who will appraise our ring, next week. Less than an hour later we were out the door and on our way, and we extremely happy with our experience.

Then Ian was all like "Oh hey, let's go to Fort Edmonton Park and hang out", since we both had the day off and there wasn't much to do. I suspected he had ulterior motives but played dumb (he is TERRIBLE at keeping secrets, which is a good trait for a fiance to have).

As we went through the park Ian kept asking me what my favourite part of the Park was, and nervously checking his pocket. I mentioned that 1920 street was my favourite, and he took this photo from the jewellery shop beside the Capitol Theatre. Talk about foreshadowing.


Then we had drinks & dinner at the lovely Hotel Selkirk. It's pricy, but the Pimms was cold, the service was excellent and supper was delicious.



By the time we were done dinner, the park was closed. We made our way to the entrance/exit as the sun was about to set. Right before the exit is the midway, which was empty. Ian wanted to stop and take some more photos - but you can imagine what happened next.




He got down on one knee and said all these amazingly sweet things and almost made me bawl, and then slipped the ring on my finger. Ian said he was really nervous, even though he had already technically proposed to me last week.

Very relieved I said yes

Now that I have the ring everything feels so real and official, and I can start doing some planning! I know I want a small, humble wedding & reception - all that matters is that I marry the love of my life and we start a happy life together. A big party is fun, but it doesn't make you any more married.

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!

So I'm not a huge video person, but I think there's a lot of awesome to come out of Instagram's video capabilities. I wasn't an early Vine adopter (and only got it for work, and haven't used it yet) but I already see huge benefits for vintage bloggers to use Instagram's new video feature.

1) Post quick hair, make-up tutorials, how-tos, 
Sometimes it seems like such an investment to sit down and watch a full YouTube video, and it requires going to an external site. Blah. I'm lazy. If I'm already scrolling through your feed on Instagram when I'm bored, I'll probably watch your 15 second tutorial on victory rolls. PLUS, as a blogger, I'm more likely to post a quick 15 second video of how I do my hair rather than setting up the tripod and doing a full one. I've already noticed people using Instagram instead of DSLRs for their outfit posts - I suspect video tutorials will soon follow.

The best thing is if you use something like FollowGram.me, you can embed your video in your blog. See my poor example below.




2) Bye-bye long-winded descriptions, hello talkies
I'm sorry, but sometimes I don't want to read your 100-word description on Instagram on the story of how you bought your shoes or found the love of your life or your latest cooking concoction. Use your voice to tell the story instead, and use the description for #allthehashtags.

3) Time-lapses
Show a video of taking that super-cute fabric and turning it into a circle skirt (Instagram allows you to upload videos you already took), or, more practically, a time-lapse of muffins from flour and batter to delicious crumbs.
4) Cross-platform sharing
You already use Instagram, so you'll probably use the video features. Chances are you're also more active on Facebook than on Twitter.
This is one way Instagram already has a leg up on Vine. Although Vine is made by the folks at Twitter, the apps are still separate.  Instagram also has much better integration with Facebook (it embeds the video) than Vine does (you have to link to your tweet, and it opens up in a separate window).

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

So I think I may have forgotten to mention an important little fact here on the blog (but it's been on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram) - I have a brand new spanking job.



(in case you can't see the embedded video - which is basically Donald Duck at his new job with Dolly Parton singing over it - click here. If the video is there, just skip ahead to 5:15. My sister and I used to watch this duckumentary all the time, which is why this is probably only funny to me.)

I went in for a job interview on May 16, was hired right after my interview (seriously - my now-boss pretty much had my now-co-worker distract me with a tour while he thought the interview over) and started at work May 21. I've officially been the social media coordinator with Koch Ford Lincoln for two working weeks, and I love it!



It's so great being back at work (although I miss all the extra knitting, sewing and reading time). I get up every morning (at the crack of dawn) with a smile on my face and leave work feeling accomplished. I'm busy putting together a social media strategy for the company, so it's been a lot of research, reading and learning - all things I really love. The people here so far have been phenomenal, and I am so happy to be here.

Hello dear readers!

I am very excited to announce that I will be part of Edmonton's Next Gen DIYalogue Talks Fashion event on June 25 here in Edmonton. Tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door, and here you can find the Facebook event.


The event is described as "speed dating for mentorship", and involves groups going to each table for 15 minutes and talking with each mentor. I've been assured that it's very casual and I don't need to prepare, but I'm not so sure what I'm going to talk about. Hopefully people are interested in my tales of being the victim of semi-voyeristic photos and how to control circle skirts on Edmonton's windy days ;)

I'm billed along with some big names in Edmonton's fashion scene — including Janis of Dress Me Dearly, the ladies behind the custom footwear company Poppy Barley (think eShakti, but for shoes) and Caroline Gault, FASHION magazine editor for Alberta — so I hope I get a chance to pick their brains during the break.

I hope any readers I have in the area can come, especially if I haven't met you yet! I'll be tossing in some goodies for a door prize, and hopefully can find some things for the clothing swap.

Bye for now!

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

This post has been so long in coming. I took the outfit photos for it last month after a job interview with plans of using it as an announcement post if I got the job. I didn't, but I don't want the photos to go to waste!

Yes, I wear full-on vintage for job interviews. For some interviews I don't go as all out as others, but this was for a heritage-related job, so I figured I could get away with it. But wearing vintage for job interviews is a topic for another day (probably once I'm employed again).

1940s peplum dress: C/O Adeline's Attic Seamed stockings: What Katie Did 1960s Shoes: C/O Adeline's Attic

This black peplum dress was an incredible, way too sweet gift from Jill of Adeline's Attic Vintage. Jill hosted a trunk show at her house, and when I tried on this 1940s suit dress it was love at first sight, but I knew that I shouldn't be spending money on unessential items while unemployed. So instead Jill just gave it to me, in part for helping her with her look-book photoshoot and part because she's just an amazing person. I actually started to cry in her kitchen (I'm a big sap).



But this dress is so much more than something to wear. It's a symbol that I have great friends who believe in me. Being unemployed, even when it's no fault of your own, can be really wearing on your nerves and confidence. Sometimes you need a little pick-me-up, whether it's a great dress, red lips or friends to rant with - or in my case, all of the above.



The shoes I'm wearing are my house shoes, and also a gift from Jill. I believe they came to her by way of a costumer who worked on Chicago and she bought them somewhere in the US, but believe it or not they were made in Edmonton - what serendipity!



Other than that, the job hunt is going reasonably well, for someone in my field. I've had two unsuccessful interviews and another on the horizon that I'm feeling very positive about. Feel free to send any extra good vibes you have lying around the house to me!

XO Laurie