Dressember

The purpose of Dressemeber, besides showing off pretty dresses, is to raise awareness for issues.  I have started a donation page that I will put a link to at the end of this post, the donations go to support the Sub-Saharan Children’s Hope Trust http://www.subsaharanchildrenshope.org/

They are an organization that helps provide education, health care, and life skills training to orphans and other impoverished children in sub-Saharan Africa.  I have put up a link to the charity’s website as well as the link to my Just Giving page that allows secure donations to the charity. Let’s enjoy the month, the fun of dressing up. But at the same time, think about the little kids who lost their parts to AIDS. While we are running around getting all our Christmas shopping done, they are wondering where their next meal is coming from and if they will have a future, things that we take for granted. So instead of spending more money at the mall or the toy store on stuff we dont need, lets give these kids a meal, an education, and ultimately a future!

Rain, rain go away!

I was very excited for the beginning of Dressember, until I woke up this morning to very heavy rain! The forecast says that we will have rain through Monday, I live in the desert so rain is uncommon and therefore causes all sorts of problems. Mostly people who are unable to drive on wet roads! I don’t mind the rain when I’m prepared for it, but today with the rain and the cold I had no motivation to look nice 😦 I didn’t even do my hair this morning, I threw on a pair of jeans and a sweater and my trusty converse sneakers. 

I have committed myself to the month of Dressember. So I will be dressing up all month, rain or shine or snow or Mayan apocalypse! I’m pretty excited to share with everyone.

Have you heard of Dressember or participated before? Will you do it this year? Do you ever wear dresses/skirts in winter, or does the cold weather confine you to pants?  I would love to hear about your pretty dresses over the course of the month too, I’m not sure if you can post pictures in the comments but I will check.  If you want to share your Dressember outfits and are unable to post pictures in the comments section, you can email them to me 🙂

Post-thanksgiving relaxation

How was everybody’s Thanksgiving? We went to my husband’s brother’s house, I’m glad that I wasn’t hosting this year since I’m sick 😦 My brother is visiting from Houston, TX.  Thanksgiving is a good holiday for him to visit, it is always within a couple days of my mom’s birthday too.  My kids are so excited to be hanging out with their uncle, he doesn’t come to visit very often so it nice to see him.  I hate being sick though, blah!

It has been unseasonably warm this year so I have had to really break out the winter clothes yet, makes posting winter outfits kinda hard 🙂

I wore a lime green cami, a blue cardigan, and jeans.  I wore my favorite rainbow sequined heels, you can’t go wrong with sparkly rainbows they go with everything!  I always get a bunch of colors of “lace” camisoles when they are on sale at various stores at the mall.  I got the cardigan at a thrift store.

I did “bumper bangs” today, the rest of my hair was in a ponytail.  Then I tied a bandana as a headband to hide the bobby-pins. It is pretty easy to do, I use a rat (a foam cylinder) that I got at Sally‘s so I don’t have to tease my hair to death.  Section off the amount of hair desired and curl it under to make rolling easier, then roll the hair around the rat, spread the hair to cover the foam, then pin in place.  It may take a couple times to get it perfect, but it is pretty quick.

I have decided to participate in Dressember this year, the event where we wear a dress or skirt every day for the month of december.  I will be posting more about it as it gets closer.  So that is something fun to look forward too.  Have you ever done the Dressember thing? Do you wear dresses/skirt in winter?

Now I’m watching Return of the Jedi with my girls, it’s a good way to end the day 🙂

As the holidays are upon us, I know that a lot of people become preoccupied with food and therefore weight.  Thanksgiving and Christmas are filled with yummy (very fattening) treats, I love sweets; my Pinterest is filled with cake, pies, candy, and cupcake recipes! I am, however, about to finish my first year of getting healthy, so it will also be the first holiday season that I will be limiting myself in my indulgences.

About a year and a half ago, I was at the heaviest I had ever been.  I weighed as much and more as when I was 2 weeks overdue with my first baby!  I topped out at 195 lbs, I am 5’3″ so it was pretty obvious.  That much extra weight on my frame was substantial.  I was miserable and tired all the time, I got winded walking from the car to the front door carrying groceries.  It was effecting my life in a big way, my relationship was suffering, I didn’t have any energy to play with my kids, my husband was unhappy.  I decided that I was going to do something about it finally, my man deserved someone who took care of herself, my kids deserved to have a mom who was able to play with soccer or go on hikes with them, and above all I deserved to be healthy and happy, I deserved to feel sexy!

I’m pretty embarrassed of the before pictures, I didn’t realise how big I was until I actually looked at pictures of me in a bathing suit.

As you can see, the misery showed on my face! I was 195 lbs, my measurements were 44/37/46 and I was about to go up to a size 16.

I started with p90x, I bought the dvd set, I started at least once a month but it would never last more than a week or two.  I was always finding an excuse to not work out; I have finals or its Thanksgiving, blah blah blah! I did lose about 10 lbs in the first 4 months.  It wasn’t until February of 2012 that I really got fed up with it and made the commitment.  I signed up for the gym at my school and I scheduled gym time into my day.  I discovered Crossfit, which is an amazing workout.  I highly reccommend it, it combines weightlifting with intense cardio.  I did Crossfit two days a week and Pilates two days a week, I also started running.  I changed my diet habits, changed my portion sizes (I didn’t need to be eating as much as my husband), stopped buying energy drinks.

Now 9 months later, I am down 50 lbs! I weigh 145 lbs, and my measurements are 40/27/38; that is a 10 inch reduction on my waist and 6 inches on my bust and hips! I also lost about 5 inches on my thighs and now they are like rocks!  The best part is not the weight loss itself, though that is pretty awesome, but how much better I feel about myself.  I am strong and I love to do something in a workout that I had previously not been able to do.  I have so much more energy now, I don’t need caffeine, I can even wake up in the morning without an alarm clock.  I love that I can be a good role model to my girls, to show them how important being healthy and active is.  I need to take some real “after” pictures, to better compare.

I feel like there is a lot of pressure put on women to be “skinny”, when the goal should always to be healthy.  I will never be a size 0, nor would I want to be.  I will always be curvy, I have a large bust, a small waist and big hips.  I love my Pinup shape!

So this year, when all the yummy food is being passed around, I will indulge a little (that’s why its called an indulgence) but I will limit myself to one piece of pie.  I feel that it is one of those “all things in moderation” instances, I wouldn’t want to undo all of my hard work 🙂

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!  What are your Thanksgiving/holiday plans? Do you feel like there is pressure to eat when celebrating the Holidays? How do these massive eating holidays contradict with our societal expectations of how a woman should look and behave? I know, the questions are deep 😉

Fashion Show

Last night was the “Dressed Like That” fashion show, it was so much fun! There were a bunch of people there, I’m really happy for the owner Cynthia that we had such a good turnout.  Most of the folks had never been to the store before, most had never heard of the brands of clothing before! It was so awesome to see all these ladies trying on clothes they would have never thought of before and being so amazed at how great they looked! The best thing about dresses like the ones made by Pinup Girl Clothing, Bettie Page, or Stop Staring is that they are made for every body.  I know that a lot of the ladies that came last night will be return customers.  After the Pinup bug bites, there is no going back!

 

This is called Iced Coffee by Bettie Page, I wasn’t a fan of this dress when I saw it on the rack but after I tried it on I was surprised at how flattering it was.  I wasn’t a fan of the color, I thought it was an odd one.  Again I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it looked against my skin.  This is a perfect example of why trying things on is beneficial, something may lack hanger appeal but may look great on.

I don’t remember who makes this one, it was cute though.

This is the Military Secretary dress by Pinup Couture.  This one got some serious OOOHHHs and AAAHHHs when I came out, this is a very sexy dress.  I think this is great, my husband’s jaw dropped when I walked out so that is a good sign 😉  So many people came up to me after to ask where it was hanging up, I had to go and change out of it because so many people wanted to try it on!

It was great that so many people were introduced to this fabulous style that I love so much, and to the store that carries them.  Cynthia, the owner, is one of the nicest and most deserving ladies I have met.  She deserves all the success that is going to come her way.  So if you are ever in Reno, NV come by “Dressed Like That”.

 

Dressed like what?

If your town is anything like mine, there are very few stores that cater to the pinup girl.  We must content ourselves to scouring the internet and hoping that what we order will fit.  How many times have we placed an order and then been heartbroken when the things we love don’t fit.  I have often wished that there were more brick and mortar stores that carried my favorite vintage reproduction brands.  Thankfully my pinup prayers have been answered! I live in Reno, NV.  We have a pretty large rockabilly scene so it is about time that someone decided to open a store that sold brands like Pinup Couture and Bettie Page.

“Dressed Like That” was opened by the lovely Cynthia Lewis to have a palce where women can find options to embrace their feminine side.  I have volunteered to be a model in her first ever fashion show this friday.  We had a run through last night, and it was so much fun to see all the girls in all the different clothes.  The best part was that all of the girls were different ages and body types, which just goes to show that this style looks great on everybody! I took a couple pictures to give a taste of what is to come this friday!

http://www.dressedlikethat.com/

This is the outfit that I wore yesterday, it was nice out yesterday but a little chilly when it got dark.  So I chose a blue short sleeve turtleneck and a grey pencil skirt.  It was very simple yet sexy.  Especially when paired with a pair of sky high heels.

I will post some pictures of the fashion show on friday, it should be fun.

I hope that you can all have the opportunity to visit a store in your area that sells clothes like this, it is such a fun experience to be able to go and try on a bunch of different dresses and find the best for your body and style.

As the weather outside gets frightful….

So I have seen a number of threads on various pinup lifestlye sites regarding winter wear.  It is so easy to dress in a pinup style in the summer, you can’t go wrong with cute sundresses and wedge sandals.  But as the weather gets colder, we start to wonder how we can keep up the awesome vintage style when all we want to do it cozy up in a huge sweater and functional boots!  Well I assure you, my lovely ladies, that it is possible to embrace our inner Betty rear round.  After all, women of yesteryear did it.

I have put together my comprehenisve list of garmets that help us attain our glamorous look even when the weather is frightful.

First: Long underwear, an extra layer between skin and cold is always a plus.   You can find long under wear online or in some outdoor activity specialty store (ie REI, Cabbella’s, etc.).  Silk is especially luxurious and the material is very thin which allows layering without bulk.

This website is one I found that carries a wide variety, and they group by “warmth factor” which is very helpful.  Not all climates require super heavy thermals.  This is a good place to start. http://wintersilks.blair.com/home.jsp

Second: footwear! Invest is some good  boots, depending on the climate where you live this may mean snowboots, rainboots, or just some nice leather boots to prevent the wind from licking at your calves.  I have had my eye on this pair my Miss L Fire, I think this may be my Christmas present to myself 😉 http://shop.misslfire.com/shoes/product/Havana They are beautiful and have a lower, sturdy heel (very important) to prevent slipping on ice.

I recommend stocking up on stockings and tights, especcially thick cable knit.  They will help keep your legs warm, as well as hide the longjohns.

I like to wear a lot of wool, wool skirts are great in winter.  I love cardigans and sweaters.  I bought a bunch of long sleeve t-shirts in various colors to add a neutral to all of my skirts.  I’m really bad at dressing in neutrals, I’m drawn to bright colors but sometimes nothing brings an outfit together better than a white t-shirt.

If you can find a good vintage coat, it is a great investment for maintaining the pinup look in winter.  I found mine at a secondhand furniture store that happened to have  a little clothing section in the back.  Gloves and hats are a great way to add style and glamour while being functional.

I love this picture, I think that this is the ideal winter look.  She looks amazing, and look how warm she looks! I’ve always wanted a fur muff too.

Of course, if you just can’t convince yourself that dresses in winter is a good idea there are always pants.  Highwaisted trousers are great for a ’40s wartime vibe and highwaisted skinny/cigarette pants give off a bad-girl rockabilly thing.

The best bet for inspiration is found from old pictures of your grandma, or the internet in a pinch!  Look back at what women were actually wearing at the time and chances are it isn’t much different than today.  Have some fashion fun! I will post pictures in the weeks to come of what I put together to stay warm and fabulous.

One Saturday Morning

Today I’m enjoying a quiet morning at home with my kiddos.  We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and watched the snow fall.  In a couple hours we have ballet practice, grocery shopping (story of my life), then home to play in the snow after lunch.

I got my tattoo finished yesterday, I’m super happy with it.

This is a semi-before picture, this was what it looked like yesterday

And after:

I didn’t dress very nicely yesterday, I didn’t want to get ink al over my nice clothes.  But I still wanted to maintain my vintage style.  It is possible to look like a pinup even when dressed casual! I wore a black tank top, blue cardigan, and skinny jeans, with black flats.  This by itself doesn’t scream pinup, but add a rocking hairstyle and even the most modern of outfits can look pinup or rockabilly.

this is a better view of the front.  I set my hair in hot rollers, in a alternating waves pattern (one row rolled under and the next row rolled up, if that makes sense).  then brushed it until it looked the way I wanted.

I also wore my favorite fuschia lipstick, but I hadn’t put it on yet in the pictures.

That’s all for now, time to get ready for Ballet!

Allow me to introduce myself…..

       My name is Cela and I am a 24 year old mother of two beautiful little girls.  I am a full time student, I am studying Neuroscience, I am going to be graduating next fall (yay!!!) then I will be going to medical school (fingers crossed) to specialize in Psychiatry.  I am also a stay at home mom. 

Oh and I like to think of myself as a Pinup 😉 I have been into vintage fashion for a few years, but I always thought that I was born in the wrong decade.  I love music and movies from the 40s and 50s, the glamour, the beauty, and the femininity of the era. 

I want to have this blog to discuss all the things that I love.  I want to talk about family and how I tackle the modern challanges while staying true to my vintage lifestyle. 

Of course I will talk about clothes, hair and beauty! I buy most of my wardrobe at thift stores, as a stay at home mom and a student, my family has to stay within a budget.  I want to let people know that we can look great and obtain the Pinup look on a budget.  As well as tips on hair, makeup and skin care to have that perfect pinup look.