Diana Mini double exposures

I got the most recent roll of film used in my Diana Mini developed the other day. Toward the end of the roll I finally got the hang of advancing the film properly (remember this post?) and was planning on sharing some of those photos... but! they got transferred to the photo disc all wrong. Grr. It's weird because the actual photos printed fine, but on the disc they're all split down the middle (half in one frame, the other half in the next). Oh well. I did end up with a few more happy accidents to share. The one of the pup is my favorite.

Camera: Diana Mini
Film: Fujifilm 200

Edwardian dreamland

There are times I walk into antique stores and become completely enamored with any and all 1910's garments on display. Ever-gorgeous and oh-so-delicate, I always feel that they would disappear if I were to touch them. For years I've wanted to wear, if even for a moment, a pristine-white lawn dress or a blouse with perfectly tatted lace details. Alas, I am always too nervous to buy these things when I happen upon them. I don't have the space to display them at the moment and I'm always in a quandary over whether to wear and risk ruining them. For the time being, my quandary has been soothed over by a particular J.Crew dress that I first saw on All This Happiness.

Oh my goodness. Could it be? A wearable Edwardian-inspired frock that's so incredibly lovely it's hard to believe it's actually real? Yes! Is anyone else a little envious that their great-grandmothers, when girls and young women, wore such bona fide things? (Well, with exception to corsets. I like my natural waist and all of my ribs, thank you.) When I look through my great-grandmothers' (two in particular, Elsie and M's) photographs I am overcome with a sense of wonderment at the intricate beauty of it all. For me, three generations removed, their world seems almost like a dreamland. I may be able to read their books, peruse their scrapbooks and photographs, wear their brooches and hear stories about them, but wearing something similar to what they would have worn (at roughly my current age) is connection on a whole other level.

Dress: J.Crew, Sunglasses: TJ Maxx, Sandals: Delia's

I was very fortunate to find this dress on super sale a few weeks ago. That in itself is almost unbelievable. It's still selling online for 3-times what I paid for it. Yikes!

Hidden in plain sight

Over the weekend my dad pulled out my great-grandmother Elsie's scrapbook. While I had looked through several of Elsie's photo albums before, I'd never seen the impressive collection of life-memorabilia she had put together (apparently it's been on one of the bookshelves all this time). Newspaper clippings, photographs, dance posters, dance cards, marriage announcements, invitations, valentines - it's all in there. The sweetness of everything made my heart swell! I couldn't help but photograph some of my favorite pages and snippets to share. And I'm excited to say (in a sharing things via blogging kind of way) that this post is the perfect prelude to one I plan on putting up later in the week!

E.M.H. Christmas 1908, 25 years old

This is my favorite hodge-podge page.
Notice the sweet little dance card (from 1901) front and center. Aww!

Game/dance (?) card from April 1899

Family portrait, July 4, 1899.
Elsie (I want your boater hat) is seated on the far right.

Should you ask a corset model if
Her figure without it would be good,
She'[s] give a most contemptuous sniff
And answer you: "Of corset would!"

The scrapbook continues with bits and bobs past World War I, but I thought that a good place to conclude. Tell me, is your family in possession of any sweet little treasures?

Finger Lakes Lavender Festival

On a whim one night about a month or so ago, I Googled ''lavender festival new york'' curious as to whether such an event existed in my home state. Much to my surprise there was one slated for this past weekend out in the Finger Lakes region. The Finger Lakes are long, thin lakes stretching out across the old Iroquois tribal lands in the west-central portion of New York State. The lavender festival was held at Lockwood Farm in Skaneateles, NY along the northern shore of Skaneateles Lake. An Iroquois term, Skaneateles is pronoucned ''skan-ee-AT-las'' (or ''skinny-at-las,'' by some) and means, appropriately enough, "long lake."

A friend and I left town early Sunday morning and drove the 3.5 hours out to the festival. We got there before the crowds and were able to wander through the rows of lavender without bumping into too many people. A small number of vendors were set up selling paintings, photographs, jewelry, pottery and the like. The farm has its own shop selling a wide range of all-natural lavender products. I treated myself to a bar of lavender & tea tree soap, a bottle of lavender spritzer and a jar of lavender fudge sauce (delicious!). I also bought a lovely watercolor print and matching greeting card set from one of the vendors. Oh! and I suppose I should mention the crêpe. I had the most incredibly decadent honey lemon lavender crêpe which I washed down with a refreshing iced coffee. It was by far the best lunch in recent memory.

Before leaving, I picked a bundle of Royal Velvet lavender. Royal Velvet is one of the culinary varieties and I'm already scheming up a list of treats to make with it!

We were also shown how to make a lavender wand (a sachet/decorative creation). The process was rather fun and easy. I wanted to do a tutorial for the blog with the lavender we have in our own garden, but the stems aren't long enough. Maybe someday!

It was truly a day well spent. The farm was beautiful, the lavender was deliciously fragrant and the atomosphere was one of both tranquility and fun. I took a wee video, complete with rustling wind and faint sounds of laughter, to share. Enjoy!




For more photos from the lavender festival, visit my Flickr.

Simple Summer Layers

Cardigan: Target, Dress: J.Crew, Necklace: vintage shop, Sandals: Seychelles

I made a trip out to the J.Crew factory outlet one day last week to exchange an item I received for my birthday. Said item was no longer available in the size that I needed, so I put the credit toward this lovely cotton-linen blend dress. It was on sale, too. J.Crew, that's how I like to shop you: at the outlet and/or on sale. Speaking of sales, I got the deal of the day year today at the nearby J.Crew retail store, but more on that another time!

I kept the styling simple for this frock's first outing. I knew that my trusty white cardi would be perfect with it (along with a layering tank for modesty). Let's just ignore the fact that it was 80 some odd degrees out today. I tend to wear cardigans when it's humid out, too. I can't help it! Hehe, anyway. I thought about switching the chain on this I-don't-know-if-it's-scrimshaw-or-celluloid necklace, but decided that I rather like it as is. And not to put a rush on things, but I've already thought of a few ways to style this dress for Autumn. Exciting stuff ;)