Fish and Chips, Flowers and Fun in San Francisco!

This past weekend my mom and I spent a lovely Saturday in San Francisco celebrating Mother's Day. Other than a lot of Toms shoes, there was lots of beautiful scenery to be seen and amazing food to be had.

First we stopped off to look at some flowers and patio furniture at Flora Grubb Gardens, a gorgeous nursery/pottery/outdoor furniture oasis in the middle of the ghetto. Like people selling dodgy pies on the corner ghetto. Combination laundromat and car wash ghetto. Anyway, I digress. Flora Grubb seems to be the place to stock up, none other than Martha Stewart made an appearance last month (apparently her people called ahead of time to warn she'd be there) and everybody's favorite scoundrel President-Bill Clinton was there earlier in the week! Sadly mom and I missed them both, but at least mom can take comfort in knowing her taste in patio furniture is in good company. 

This was the most interesting part of the nursery to me:

This awesome old car (possibly a Ford Edsel?) converted into a massive planter box! 

Now of course I'd rather see it up and running, but I guess not being in a dumpster is a plus.

                 ^That's me and my always stylish Mom!^

After Flora Grubb, we did some shopping at The Gift Center (a bunch of little indoor shops selling jewelry), nothing vintage-y to see there aside from this leftover sign painted on the side of an unrelated building (no idea what it used to be!) down the same street (Brennan).





Our next stop was The Cliff House for an early bird dinner! A couple of nifty sights along the way:

Now abandoned cinema but the building still stands and some New York looking apartments

Mel's Drive-In! (Holy fog Batman)

The parking lot for The Cliff House is directly across from the once happening Sutro Baths:

Sadly today as you peer over the side of the cliff this is all you'll see:

 Aaaand after a little windy walk uphill and a quick photo-op stop...

We'd arrived!

How could you not love this building from the get-go!? The surrounding scenery, the architecture, the history, even those palms! Just divine.

Inside did not disappoint either, it splits into two restaurants, one more traditional and the other some fru-fru place charging God-knows-what for about two tablespoons of food. Luckily we ate in the older restaurant, the "Cliff House Dining Room":

There were gorgeous details everywhere-

From beautiful woodwork above the bar, to fab tile patterns on the floor!

 Even the bathroom doors were cute!

This incredible "ceramic muse"was once a feature in the Sutro Baths, created early 1890's.

Our table had some fantastic views as well:

 The walls inside were lined with pictures of their celebrity patrons! I sat next to Judy and Bob!







After and delicious portion of Fish and Chips, we headed on our way, but not before a quick photo with a cowboy that once resided in Playland !

Alright, and now for the major highlight of the day, I got to see where Marilyn Monroe got married!! San Francisco City Hall! And holy moly what a stunning building it is!

Marilyn and Joe leaving just after being married there on January 14, 1954:

Another of the couple on their happy day!

I hope to see the inside someday!

Well after a full day it was time to head home, a few parting views of the city:

 Hope you enjoyed my mini tour of San Francisco, till next time darlings!

Miss Doris MayDay

As I was having a typical lazy evening, avoiding doing any and everything productive-I browsed through the TV listings and stopped on TLC's "MyCrazy Obsession" after seeing the following description: "Flashback to the 50's; Everything about Doris is from 1950." Of course my thought was "Well that doesn't sound "crazy"!! Poppycock!" (because obviously I love to use old timey swear words) Too bad I had to sit through the first half of the show to get to Doris (a husband AND wife who collect "love dolls", use your imagination, or don't, at any rate-EW), but the last 15 minutes I sat there in awe. She deserved the whole episode if you ask me!

Major kudos to this girl. How much work goes into her make up/hair/outfits!? I mean sweet holy moly. Don't even get me started on that breathtaking house of hers. Immediately I had to google this 50's goddess, turns out she's very well known as a model and all over the Pin Up Girl Clothing site. And what a glorious discovery that site was, now if only I had more money, le sigh. This girl gets paid to look fabulous and wear vintage or vintage inspired/reproduction clothing, and/or be a vintage ambassador of sorts at conventions and fairs. 

Beyond jealous. That is all.

50's Movie Review...It Came From Outer Space!

Circa 1953...It Came From Outer Space!

This is one of those classics I have been meaning to see for ages but never got around to, lucky for me it was on TCM not too long ago! I'm not big on science fiction films but 50's sci-fi has something extra that today's movies of the same genre just seem to lack-the mystery. They didn't have fancy CGI or effects, so it was left up to your mind to imagine the worst possible scenario, which is often far more frightening then anything they could show you! 

And can you imagine seeing it in 3-D as advertised in the trailer? How fun would that have been?!

I'm not sure if it's leading lady Ellen's (played by the beautiful Barbara Rush) perfect hair and outfits, or the chemistry between her and love-interest, leading man John (Richard Carlson), but this movie is just a kick, I loved it!

Ellen and John are the only ones clued into the fact that some of the townspeople are acting a little... strange lately (could it have anything to do with that "meteor" they saw the other night?). Problem is, no one will believe them! Could it really be that aliens have taken over? Will they be able to convince the sheriff before it's too late?

Guess you'll just have to watch for yourselves and find out! ;) 

Till next time darlings!

Amy's 50's Housewife Experiment!

Oh yeah, it's a two-post-kind-of-day. Why you ask? Because my friend Amy revived her blog with her own take on the 50's Housewife Experiment! 
                               Check her out! 

This lady has two little ones, a husband, a cat, one hamster, a house to take care of, and still finds time to be awesome!  Go on and give it a read!

                               
                                                         

 (The original experiment by the lovely Jen can be seen here!)

Falsies Review/Quick Tutorial...Revlon Beyond Natural Lashes!

I went out like the above once in public, and it didn't go so well. I got a massive ear-full from the woman who was giving me a facial, she took it upon herself to tell me what men like (she looked like this by the way), and what make up was appropriate for night and for day. I didn't even bother to try and explain to her that I was just testing out my Twiggy make up, that I didn't think I would be going out at all etc, (not to mention the fact that I am a grown woman and it is none of her business whatsoever). I adore Twiggy and the make up look she made popular, I even bought a vintage pair of "Twiggy Lashes" that were sold in 1967:

In this whole ensemble I was not wearing an false lashes however (this may have thrown babushka over the edge). The allure of falsies is such a mythical, magical one, they are so glamorous and finding just the right thickness and length for your eyes can be an art form. I don't wear them daily, but I love having them as an option for a special occasion.

Here's what we're working with in today's review:

FYI - these lashes do not come with adhesive, so I used Duo, which I had around and have always had good luck with. I got a set of the "Double Wink" lashes (the thickness of two sets, mid 60's style) and they are very soft and nice feeling. So after grabbing the lashes with my tweezers, I applied a thin layer of the adhesive like so:

Wait 30 seconds (for the glue to get sticky), bend them gently between your thumbs to loosen them up, then grab your tweezers again and apply:

(Use the tweezers to help push the lashes into your natural lash line!)

                                                              

With the lashes:                                   Without:                                                    

Now as you can see they are a bit much for a normal day at the office (depending on your place of work!) 

If I were going to wear these out (at night) I would have 

trimmed them to start about there --->

You want them to start where your normal lashes do, but for the purposes of pictures and a review I just left them as is. They have a wide variety of sizes that would also be perfect for day/work wear, as well as sets of smaller lashes to customize to your liking:

All are relatively cheap (about $4 at Target) too, so not much to dislike really, it's definitely something I would buy again. Duo also makes falsies which are not bad either, but I found the Revlon ones to be a bit softer.

Thanks for reading and hope this helps saves ya a bit of time/money, till next time darlings!