Five random things that caught my eye this week

There are few times of the week more serene or beautiful than Sunday morning, especially come the merry days of spring. After a week that felt rather long at points, I'm especially grateful for the sense of tranquility this lovely early May morn brings with it. Time to unwind, work on blog posts, and tuck into a large bowl of fresh strawberries with lashing of vanilla yogurt for breakfast.

In the earlier days of this blog, I sometimes used to write a post on Fridays called "Five for Friday", which was a roundup of five links and/or images that had been captivating, inspiring, entertaining, or otherwise engaging me that week. It was a fun series and I miss it at times, so while today is Sunday, not Friday, I thought I'd share a quintet of things that have been on my radar throughout these early days of May.

-Casual 1950s summertime footwear: You may recall that amongst the four fun goals I had for 2012, was the desire to buy more shoes (scarcely alone on that one, I know) this year. A task that is easier said than done (I have very high arches and slightly uneven sized feet which can make shoe shopping a substantial uphill battle), it's been hit and miss so far this year. Though, I happy to say that I've added a few new pairs, nearly (no joke) doubling the size of my shoe wardrobe.

Most of those shoes though are best suited to spring and fall however, so I'm certainly still on the prowl for some vintage appropriate footwear to frolic through the next few months in.

To help inspire me as I hit my favourite local shoe and second hand stores, I'll be turning to fabulous mid-century images such as this 1959 Montgomery Ward catalog page (which comes by way of CapricornOneVintage on Flickr) to steer my style preferences. (I especially love the red pair with the little white bow in the first group of shoes on top left hand side. Which ones are your faves?)

-My City Antiquing: As someone who firmly believes that the world needs as many quality antique shops as it can get, and who loves to support my local antique and second hand dealers whenever possible, my attention was instantly piqued when I heard about a newly launched website called My City Antiquing.

Launched with the goal of building a worldwide database of antique stores, this site is built on a wiki platform that allows visitors to add addition listings for antique shops in their own cities (or really any city they desire) or simply pursue those that are already in the database. If you have a favourite antique shop in your neck of the woods, why not pop over and add it there so that other site visitors can discover your favourite second hand haunts, too?

 

-Vintage Seaside Flickr group: You gals know how much I adore Flickr groups devoted to the past, so it should come as to surprise to anyone that I'm more than a little smitten - especially as we head into the toastier months of the year - with the Vintage Seaside Flickr group.

Devoted, as it's name implies, to vintage images of the beach and sea, this group is a treasure trove of summertime inspiration for everything from swimsuits to actual vacation destinations you may want to visit in person some time. I could easily (and happily) blog just about every image in this group, but for today, I'll stop a bit short of that and instead share thirteen images from the group's pool that will definitely be inspiring this summer - and well beyond!

{1. badmode 1931, 2. badmode 1928, 3. At Boscombe. "I wish someone would snap me!", 4. 5 badmodemodellen, het leven juni 1928, 5. Belles of the beach, 6. 200 Beach at Tyndall Field, Florida WWII, 7. 1931-Beach Splits, 8. pc oostvoorne 1960, 9. Bathing Beauty 1950s, 10. charlston dansen op strand met draagbare radio 1925, 11. Bournemouth - Guess which is me?, 12. Interesting cut-out donkey, 13. engeland Broadstairs vrouwelijke surfers 1928}

-Bloglovin: I know, I'm scarcely ahead of the trend on this one, but after years of failing to find a feedreader that I even remotely enjoyed using (trust me, I tried tons!), it dawned on me that I should investigate Bloglovin (I'd joined up about three years ago and pretty much, somehow, forgot about it ever since - silly me!!!).

Well, goodness gracious, am I glad that I did. At long last I've discovered a streamlined, wonderfully easy to navigate and use feedreader that is proving thoroughly enjoyable to use. Yay!

 

-Vintage picnic baskets: With the long anticipated return of snow-free weather, it's high time we got back into the swing of eating outdoors once more. Whether on the patio, in the backyard, at the beach, or in an idyllically pretty field on the outskirts of town, picnics are the name of the game again and I couldn't me more pleased about that fact.

Lacking a picnic basket at the moment however, I've been honing in on vintage ones lately, and especially like the colourful metal example below, which is available for $22.00 from etsy seller Christy's Cottage. Just image all the fun summertime meals you could pull of of this charmer!

♥ ♥ ♥

 

As some of the links and images above clearly demonstrate, it's plain to see that my mind is already geared towards summer. Spring was rather late in arriving to our area this year, a point which has only made me pine even more strongly for the sizzling hot, gorgeously sun-kissed days that (Mother Nature) willing lie ahead for us as we enjoy our first (as a couple - and Tony's first point blank) summer together in the Okanagan.

While I don't foresee bringing back a roundup like today's on a weekly basis right this moment, I do very much enjoy creating such posts and sharing a few of websites and images that have been on my mind lately in one concise spot, and will likely do so again from time-to-time from now on.

I hope that each of you has the most gorgeous, restful Sunday possible, and would love to hear about some of things that you've been loving online lately, too.