Where I have been

We suffered a traumatic loss this week in our family. My father in law passed away. I was at the hospital all weekend and cleaning my mother-in-law's home, because she's a bit of a hoarder. I still have so many blogs I want to post, but family and work are requiring my attention right now.

Smart bidding...

I'm no huge ebay veteran, I've bought about 50 items, total, from ebay, but for those that are new to it, do us all a favor and don't start bidding wars and run up the prices when there is more than a half hour left on the auction! I know the sellers like a frenzy and bidding war early on, but as a shopper who is always looking for deals and doesn't want to pay more than I think it's worth, the early birds are driving up the prices. Because of them, certain sellers over at Etsy and others on Ebay are charging hundreds of dollars for regular vintage dresses just because it has a full circle skirt. When I get a free hour or two, I'll write a blog about what my opinion is when determining the price of vintage and what people SHOULD be paying for vintage.

Enough of my rant...I have so much to write, but I'm still waiting on some pics, and have another night of social activities. I'll be blogging about the Time Zone Vintage photo shoot for the website that I styled and co-produced on Sunday, about seeing the Head Cat (picture with Lxxxx) and the Kim Lenz show tonight. Hopefully I'll get it all out here by the weekend.

To many parties and not enough time to document them!

Last weekend was Labor Day weekend and Frank and I did some morning chores before getting ready, packing Mason and the new baby up to go to my friend Vanessa's home for her BBQ Pool Party.

Vanessa and her husband Johnny have a fabulous Eichler Home with a pool in back. They have a few classic cars, including a deuce hot rod being worked on by another friend of ours, Johnny. Their home is so full of vintage Hawaiiana and 1950s Kitsch, she almost doesn't have room to display it all. Vanessa is a new blogger, like me and you can see her blog which documents some of the great finds she gets. Visit her at Adventures in Serendipity .

Here is a photo of Vanessa in front of the giant fish on their living room wall

Frank and Buddy in the shirt I bought Frank for $1 in Vegas

Bad Social Blogger that I am, I failed to take many photos of the party, which is a shame. There were 2 other Chihuahua guests, as well as Vanessa's own Moose and Dollie. 

Rachelle arrived after just finding out she is going to have a baby boy in February. You can follow her blog here at La Dolce Vita. It was also her 30th birthday so I brought a large burnt almond cake from a local bakery called "Dick's." 

For anyone who is outside of the Santa Clara Valley, I need to explain about Dick's burnt almond cake. Dick's is a family owned bakery, and the owner, Dick, learned how to make burnt almond cake from his brother Peter. Peter owns a bakery on the east side of San Jose, called Peter's. I know...the pun is inescapable...Dick and Peter. Dick opened Dick's on the west side, and both bakeries are known for their Burnt Almond cakes.  Living in San Jose, you are either a Peter's or a Dick's person. I prefer Dick's because he uses slivered almonds instead of finely chopped almonds that Peter uses on the outside of his cakes.

There were a few Dick's virgins who were from outside of the area. I love watching people taste these cakes for the first time. 

Back to the party...I brought the cake primarily as a decoy. Tanya and I had planned a surprise party for Rachelle the next day!

Before I talk about the surprise party...here is a quick photo of my outfit for the party. I love this dress, classic new look with a nipped waist and I love the scalloped neckline, pockets and edge of the matching bolero. I bought it from the shop I still work part time at, Time Zone Vintage in San Jose

The surprise party was something Tanya and I had been planning for over a month. We asked our friend Johnny of Kool Cats Kustoms if we could have it at his shop. Johnny, being a nice guy said of course! 

These had to be moved out of the shop for the party

 

 Tanya with balloons next to the big sign

The tables

 

I ordered a chocolate cake with a leopard pattern design in the frosting

 

 For a little background, Rachelle is a HUGE planner. She is very organized and does not like surprises. Tanya and I took full advantage of her being "Momtarded" during her pregnancy to pull this off. She thought she was going to see her parents but was stopping by a BBQ at Johnny's just to say "hi" before going to her parents. She didn't have a clue!

Rachelle when we opened the door to the Garage

Rachelle didn't like her hat

I still have a sucky camera, so here is the best photo of Rachelle about to blow out 30 candles

For someone who doesn't like surprises, she didn't seem to mind this one and was really touched that we went to the effort to coordinate and have this party. We had BBQ chicken, burgers, hot dogs, chips and nacho cheese, salsa, all kinds of salads, etc. The food was set up on Johnny's car lift. I wish I'd gotten a photo of that, too. Next time!

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. ...

Sorry I have not been around much. I was hit a little hard by my grandmother's death, and have been keeping busy. I had a BUSY holiday weekend which included a BBQ swim party, a surprise party, sold merchandise for Southern Culture on the Skids Tuesday night, and a record hop last night. Oh yeah, and I have a full time job and new puppy. All excuses that have kept me from writing in my blog.

I want to thank all of you who commented on my blog about my Tutu. I appreciate it.

Since it's late and I have to go to sleep, here is an interesting documentary about Vivian Leigh for your viewing pleasure. I think she was the most beautiful and tragic woman to grace the silver screen. I promise to come back with tales of my adventures and photos by this weekend.

Katherine Marie Stockoff Maestre, 12/28/16-9/1/10

Yesterday my grandmother died. I want to celebrate and share with you my "Tutu"'s life and how she contributed to making me the person I am today.

It's funny, because I never really realized how much she had influence me until the last couple years. I feel fortunate that I had the opportunity to tell her how grateful I am that she was my grandmother last year on my birthday. Here is a photo of us on my 43rd birthday

Tutu and I on my 43rd birthday in Las Vegas. She didn't want to take the photo because she told me "I look a mess, I wasn't expecting pictures."

I grew up calling my grandmother "Tutu". "Tutu" is Hawaiian for "grandmother." My grandmother was obsessed with Polynesian culture, like many post WW2 women. Before I was born, she took up Polynesian dancing as a hobby. Growing up, it was tradition for us to drive up to Walnut Creek to attend her dance recital in a large school gymnasium. My father said he was always a bit ashamed that my grandmother was a bit larger than the other women, but I always admired the fact she didn't care. She was having fun and that was all that mattered. She did the dancing for over 30 years. 

Tutu always had her eyebrows, lipstick and fingernails done. She told a great story about how when she was first dating my grandfather, she had purchased a fingernail polish called "Dragon's Blood." My grandfather told her "My mother would NEVER wear nail polish like that!" His mother was a St. Louis society woman, and very conservative. Well, when my grandmother was introduced to her future mother-in-law, of course the mother-in-law was wearing Dragon's Blood!

 

Travelling the world was one of Tutu's favorite things. She would make good friends and maintain those relationships. She would have visitors from all over and she would travel to different places and visit people. Her example is a big contributor to why my house is open to visitors from everywhere, that I have met at weekenders and shows I have attended. 

Tutu also shared with me her love of Elvis. When most parents of her generation thought Elvis would corrupt their children, my grandmother was running out and buying up all the new rock and roll records she could find. She didn't stay with the current music after the 1960s, but she always loved Elvis. When my father had told her that her 7 year old granddaughter had discovered his Elvis LP and wanted to listen to it all the time, she made me cassette tapes and gave me a cassette tape player to listen to Elvis. I spend hours dancing around and singing to those tapes when I was 7 and 8. She also promised to take me to see Elvis at one of his Vegas dinner shows when I was 12. I was riding in the car with her in San Diego, during one of our summer trips together when we heard on the radio Elvis had died. I can think of no other person in my 10 year old life that I would rather be with to hear that news.

Up until the end Tutu kept up her traveling and friendships. 2 weeks ago she visited a friend in San Diego, and had a trip to Hawaii planned in October to visit a friend. I am not sure, but I think that would have been her 39th or 40th trip to Hawaii.

I wanted to scan some pictures of Tutu, but I don't have a scanner. Maybe I will do that this weekend. Thanks for reading this. 

The last photo of Tutu with the Family