dolin bliss

Interview with the Mad Men costume designer

Swoon!  I am sure many of you are big Mad Men fans, like me.  I love most everything about that show, but the costumes are to die for. 

Here is a link to an interview with the costume designer from the show, Janie Bryant.  Please enjoy!

Thrifting fun stuff and book reading

I have recently found some fun housewares at thrift stores and wanted to share them with you.  

- Matthew found this one for me and I snatch it up so quickly... A Le Creuset 8" covered skillet!  It was marked $9.99, but I had a coupon so it was only $5.  This is one thing I am keeping for myself.

- Two Monterey Jade mugs.  I just love the colors in these.  I am not sure what I am going to do with these, I really don't need them.

- A Franciscan vegetable split serving dish, in the Tulip Time pattern.  I will be putting this in my Etsy store later today.

- A DeForest of California wise old owl decorative plate.  

- And of course more Vera Neumann... two vinyl placemats which are so bright and cheery.  This to, will be in my store later today.

Now that I don't commute 3-4 hours a day, my reading has suffered.  I love to read, but it is hard to find time to do it.  I usually read every night in bed, but depending on how tired I am, I get at the most 30 minutes of reading done (but, lets be serious... most days it is about 10 minutes).  So now it takes me forever to finish a book and if the book totally doesn't capture my attention I don't usually finish it at all.  I was reading my friend Karens' blog and she mentioned a book that I have read before but it has been at least 15 years, "Talking Through my Hats" by Lilly Dache.  I remember loving that book and really wanting to read it, but I don't own a copy and when I looked it up on Amazon and Ebay it was a bit pricey for my budget right now.  I thought I would check my local library but thought there is no way they would have a obscure 1946 autobiography by a milliner.  I also wanted to see if they had any out of print needlepoint/embroidery books, so I gave it a shot.  Well, I hit the jackpot!  Not only did they have "Talking Through my Hats", a whole bunch of vintage needlepoint books, I also discovered "In my Fashion" by Bettina Ballard.  I checked out way too much stuff, but there were still tons of vintage sewing and tailoring books I need to look through.  I love my library!  It is a combination city and university library, so they and 3 floors of research books (which is where I found all this great stuff).  

Playing the Ponies!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Last Sunday a big group of us went to Golden Gate Fields to celebrate Irenes' birthday and it was a blast.  Plus it was dollar day at the track which means admission, parking, programs, hot dogs and beers are all only $1!  You can have a lot of fun for less than 10 or 20 bucks.   

- The girls with there bets... from left to right: Andy, me, Carrie, Maya, Irene and Sarah.

I have never been to the horse races before and definitely want to go back.  I did end up betting on some races, which is a lot of fun.  Didn't win a whole lot of money (I don't like to bet to much, $2 is the minimum), but I did end up winning enough to keep me going with the betting for most of the day.  

- Trumpeter announcing the next race. 

On another note, I have added lots of accessories to my Etsy store.  There are some great shoes and scarves.  Check it out if you have a chance.

It's a little late for this...

But Happy New Year!  Better late than never, is what I say.  I hope all of you had a fabulous time welcoming in the new year.  We sure did.  It was perfect, very quiet night at home with my husband, our pups and some champagne!  

What we did on December 30th and 31st was the real excitement for me.  As part of my Christmas gift, Matthew had got me an overnight stay in Monterey (at a dog friendly hotel, so the boys could join us) and an Elkhorn Slough Safari.  

We drove down the Carmel on the 30th (Dominos first road trip), walked around the village and took the dogs to the beach.  Growing up along the Central Coast and living in the Bay Area for all these years and I had never really been to Carmel!  Oh what a beautiful place.  We want to go back there and stay at Doris Days' Cypress Inn (they also allow dogs).  The dogs had a great time at Carmel Beach, Domino had never seen the ocean before.  He wasn't that impressed, but he was really into all the other dogs playing at the beach.

Then off to Monterey.  We checked into our motel and decided to go the touristy route and have dinner at the Old Fisherman's Wharf.  It actually turned out to be a great meal.  The next morning we drove up to Moss Landing for our Elkhorn Slough Safari.  I couldn't recommend this enough.  If you love sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals and ocean birds, this is a fun way to see them.  Next time I want to try kayaking in the Elkhorn Slough.  Here are some pictures of just a few of the many animals we saw on our safari.

- Raise your flipper if you want your picture taken.  Sea lions hanging out.

- Harbor seals sunning themselves.

- Otter posing for me.  

- Look otters!  Oh, did I mention I was the otter counter on our safari... Such an honor.