Local boy doing well...

Tonight I'm going to see my old buddy, Joe Sib, do his one man show at the Improv.

I first met Joe, at a party my sister's boy friend was having, sometime in the 80s. We got into an argument because he told my sister to shut up and I yelled at him. He promptly apologized and we have been friends since.

He's done quite well for himself, first as a punk musician/frontman for the band Wax (they had a hit in the 90s "Southern California" and one of their songs is in the movie "Mallrats."). He then went on to start a record label for punk/indie bands called "Side-One Dummy." The biggest band on that label is probably Flogging Molly. He's also a popular alternative music DJ. Now, he's a one man show talking about growing up Punk.

I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of old buddies tonight at the show, and if he's coming through your town, go to his show, you'll hear funny stories about what it was like to be punk in the 80s where I live. Frank can't go because he has to attend a City of San Jose Chamber of Commerce Dinner and the key speaker is James Carville. Now turn off the music in my sidebar and check out a clip from his show.

"Kidsaredumb9"

My senseless son, who we told over and over again NOT to give personal information to people on Xbox Live got his account hacked. Some guy told him he would add modifications to his account if Mason would give him his account password. My gullible son did, and the dickwad hacker promptly changed the password and the user ID to "kidsaredumb9". Dickwad hacker charged 3 2 year memberships to our credit card, and my husband is sorting it out with Xbox and the bank.

Mason should stick to real guns. It's a lot safer.

My new favorite blog

She cracks me up. Says what I think and lives in a parallel world, although without the busy rockabilly socializing. Her rants about her in-laws-make me wince, since I, too, have hillbilly crazy white trash relatives. She loves and wears vintage, and I discovered a dress I'd been coveting on etsy, but was sold before I had gotten my first paycheck to pay for it, belonged to her!  One other thing, I think she lives somewhat close to me.

I am certain she is now fearful that I am a dangerous stalker who is going to kidnap her dog, but I know enough of my followers in person to quell those fears, I hope.

Meet Trixie "That's Just Stupid What You Said"

Bombshell Bettie's awesome giveaway!

I love, love those sunglasses! Bombshell Bettie

Who says you have to age gracefully?

I'm going kicking and screaming! 

From the left, me, age 44, Dorian, age 38, Julie, age 40

I love to dance...can't wait for the Bombshell Bop!

My favorite Etsy shop! Bigger girls, you will love it!

I found Vintagecurve Etsy store, doing a search for "Vintage 1950s Dress L" and stumbled upon the kind of seller I can really support and return for more.

Denise Green, the seller has been wearing and still wears vintage daily for possibly decades now, and has recently decided to let go of some of her treasures that she doesn't wear anymore. The best part, aside from this being from her personal collection, is that she prices her stuff at the rate I value vintage. I just hope some of the gleaners that buy online to resell at 3 times the price don't discover her shop.

Here are two recent purchases

I love pink and black together and I am wearing the first one to work today.

Hope all you 30-35 inch waist girls take advantage of the great selection and reasonable prices.

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!