Living Happily Ever After

It is possible.  But, let's get one thing straight - it doesn't happen like a Disney movie.  There will be good times and hard times.  Your Prince Charming will fart on occasion.  Your infant princess will scream her lungs out in Wal-Mart.  Your little prince will hand you his poo.

Exhibit A:   Grace Kelly

Beautiful American actress.  Married a real prince, but I wouldn't call him handsome.  Had three beautiful children, each of whom grew up and old surrounded by gossip and tragedy.  And, like another famous modern, real-life princess, she was killed in a car wreck.  Did she live happily ever after?  I'd say so.  There was nothing unusual about the heartaches she endured and, by all accounts, her prince did love her.  I have no doubt she's looking down from heaven with pride on her children and adorable grandchildren too.  (Prince Albert, Princess Charlotte, and their little Heirs to the Throne)

The point is, living happily ever after takes work, hard work.  There are no fairy godmothers in real life.  Sorry.  It can be especially hard when you've gone through times that made you feel like you were run over by a truck.  How do you pull yourself up, brush yourself off, and get back to Happily Ever After?  I don't know all the answers.  I'm still a work in progress.  Faith is a big one for me.  A bunch of ladies have inspired me, one of them was the Glamorous Housewife

She has a video on YouTube called How to Create the Life of Your Dreams   and I found it a great spring board for figuring this stuff out.  It's a frequent probably for moms who've totally devoted themselves to childrearing.  The little darlings draw on every ounce of us so that we forget what even got us started down that road.

I created a list of things which make me happy:

1)   The Wilderness

2)   Backyard Farming

3)   Babies

4)   Storytelling

5)   Vintage Living

6)   Everyday History

And then I came up with two personal character traits I need to work on to bring those happy things back into my life.

Proactive

Diligence

There are several other ladies who've inspired and encouraged me and I'll be sharing about them in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, you can look to the left side of this blog to find links to their sites.

Now, get back to work on your Happy.  ;)

Vintage Purists

Good morning, Guys & Dolls!*

 *My Dream Kitchen, this one by   http://www.directkitchencabinets.com/blog/kitchen-cabinet_design/have-some-decorating-fun-with-retro-kitchen-cabinets/   *

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

I would define a purist as someone who lives it at least 75% of the time.  I have a husband and children who, for reasons beyond my comprehension, prefer the 21^st century.  Plus, I’m a writer and it’s just a whole lot easier and less painful to work on a computer than one of these old klunkers-

Believe me, I know.  I started out on one my mother bought for me at a yard sale.  I bandaged my fingers with toilet paper and masking tape to bang on those keys.  Not fun.

I know of several Purists now.  If you watch Time Warp Wives you’ll notice the 1930s gal has a day job and a microwave oven, the 1940s one is only a year into it and has mostly modern household items still, and the 1950s chick has a tiny laptop hidden away.  I’d say these ladies are 90 to 98%!  It took the two ladies about ten years each to get there though and the third had the attitude but had just gotten into it. 

Lesson Learned:   Lifestyles changes take time.

Those are British dolls.  On this side of the Atlantic, I know of  Doris Mayday  and Dollie DeVille, the Rockabilly Socialite.   I see they venture out into the modern world all the time, but I can’t see where they waiver from the purist lifestyle at home.  Oh, wait, Doris wears plastic bags over her high heels in the winter because she can’t find vintage boots that fit.  I don’t think they had plastic garbage bags in the 1950s, did they?  Did I mention what a fabulous imagination purists have?

Lesson Learned:   You can't really Time Travel (at least not yet) so you gotta adapt!

These ladies have all been so inspirational for me.

Hopefully, I’ll be sharing a picture of myself in my very first retro outfit soon.  ;) 

 * 'Guys & Dolls' is the title of a 1955 Frank Sinatra movie.   Guys & Dolls  

 

Fire King Jadeite

Jadeite on Etsy
There's a virtually indestructible plastic version of this and then there's the real thing.  I'd like to have both in a variety of colors, one for everyday and one for the display case and special occasions.  Here is a link to an Etsy video tour of a renovated home in which she has these kinds of dishes.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E1uYpuXJIs
.
And here's Melmac   at Retro Chalet

I think I'm drawn to simple beauty.

OMGoodness! Kasidy Yates' Dress!

Actually, the flowers are a different kind, but otherwise this dress from Unique Vintage looks exactly like the one Captain Kasidy Yates wore in the Star Trek Deep Space Nine episode 'Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang!'   http://www.unique-vintage.com/1950s-style-fantasy-monique-swing-dress.html

Only a Trekker would notice such things, you know.  ;)  But, turns out, there's a lot of 'em into Retro.

Now, I must watch the episode.  Again.

Yeah, I was supposed to post about a book.  My first order from Unique Vintage came in and I got a little distracted, okay?  It's my birthday dress, after all.  ;)

The Vintage Village and Star Trek Deep Space Nine

Yesterday, January 3, was the birthday of  J. R. R. Tolkien    He was a veteran of World War I and some say his stories were his therapy for that trauma.
***
Yeah, I know what you’re thinkin’.  How does all that go together?

I’m a storyteller myself, although I won’t be talking about that on this blog.  Storytellers are driven to constantly research and wonder how things work, how one event sparks another, and how humans adapt and cope with it all.  That’s how we figure out stories.  But, as Tom Clancy once said,

 

“The difference between Reality and Fiction?  Fiction must make sense.”

In any case, I look around and I notice that modern living is making a lot of people crazy.  The noise, the chaos, the violence, the general bad manners and obscenities are crowding around us almost all the time.

 

Did you know the population of the United States has doubled since World War II?

We all develop ways to cope.  I prefer the small town life in which the community - the village - is all around you and the big, bad city is so far away it doesn’t even seem real.  Everyone knows everyone and you can trade for just about anything you need.  If someone’s house burns down, neighbors step right up and help the family find or build a new one.  Awesome.

That’s an ideal which is very hard to find these days.

Instead, I’ve noticed since moving to a heavily populated area near a big city that people create  micro-villages for themselves, usually centered on a shared religious belief or favorite activity.  This is good, of course, and the Retro, Vintage, Rockabilly lifestyle seems to be a part of that.  So far, I’ve encountered a lot of really nice, super imaginative, unbeatably optimistic people in it.

As an example, here is Cherry Dollface’s New Year 2015 Message of Lady Love and Positivity

And sometimes people lose touch with reality completely online.  This brought an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine "It's Only a Paper Moon" to mind.  Nog loses a leg in the Dominion War.  He’s physically healed, but still suffering emotional trauma.  He decides to spend time in a holographic recreation of 1962 Las Vegas as part of his therapy, but then doesn’t want to leave.  It’s a heart-wrenching episode and one of my favorites.

So, modern living gets on our nerves and we want to protect ourselves and our families from it.  Good.  But, it brings to mind a truth brought out in the movie  The Village  by M. Night Shyamalan.  As the grieving father, August Nicholson, states, “You know, like a dog can smell you.  You may run from sorrow, as we have.  Sorrow will find you.  It can smell you.”  In this story, a group of people create a village to shut themselves away from the world’s monsters.  As good as these people are, they cannot completely shut out one monster – the human potential for evil.

 

This is why I say build your village; make it vintage if you like.  At the same time, remember the morals of all the great stories and stay aware that evil lurks in every heart. 

"Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay... small acts of kindness and love." -Gandalf, from The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey

 

By the way, the new Hobbit movie is the most popular movie in the world right now and in theaters, thank you Mr. Tolkien.   The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies