By definition, I’m classified as vintage. Not antique. And not because of my gray hair. That’s only officially been completely uncovered sparkles of glitter all over my head for just 2 years.
Not the spray can kind either. The real deal.
Well, isn’t that just special?
Yeah…it is.
It means, I’m old enough to be able to look back 20 years or so more and compare those years to who I am now to the treasure I was back then.
And to seriously strategically ruthlessly evaluate the vintage stash I have surrounding me. You know, to evaluate the intrinsic value and importance to me in my life.
Should it stay or should it go?
I have a stash of some cash, not a lot. The little pocket purse would clash with my new purse. Except the pine cone is kinda cute…genuine cowhide, not so much?! It’s durable, though, and standing up against the test of time.
I have an eclectic weird combination of a stash of stuff collectibles I’ve kept since high school.
One of those things is a coffee table that was handed down to me by my mom, who had it handed down to her by my grandparents. It’s antique, not just vintage. I also have two vintage copies of Dale Carnegie book “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”.
The Thirtieth Printing cover printed in 1948 has a list of Sixteen Ways This Book Will Help You –
#7 Shows how the housewife can avoid fatigue – and keep looking young.
Interestingly enough, the 1984 copy had omitted that list. Special, eh?
I wrote a very touching post (if I must do say so myself) about the table way back in 2017. Check it out here if you’re so inclined to learn about my advice for teaching intrinsic motivation in your child.
The Vulnerability Armory – As children we found ways to protect ourselves from vulnerability, from being hurt, diminished, and disappointed. We put on armor; we used our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors as weapons; and we learned how to make ourselves scarce, even to disappear. Now as adults we realize that to live with courage, purpose, and connection – to be the person who we long to be – we must again be vulnerable. We must take off the armor, put down the weapons, show up, and let ourselves be seen. – Daring Greatly by Brene’ Brown
I poured my vintage heart into it and not a soul saw it, except for my daughter. It was back when I didn’t understand sharing settings in WordPress. She, by the way, loved the post.
And come to think of it, she has been with me in my life for the qualifying 20 + years to classify her as a vintage collectible, too. Our relationship is smitten with a bit of vintage love as well. She mostly adores the things I’ve hung on to.
Mostly.
The funny thing that strikes me about her age group. The Millenials through Generation Z group that is, they shop at thrift shops and vintage shops to pick up the stuff that Boomers (aka, my generation) discard. Even clothes my daughter wouldn’t let me be caught dead in. Their age group buys them, remodels them, and revives them to look hip.
One of these years, I’m convinced she’ll ask me, “Hey, Mom, do you still have the royal blue blazer?”
Oh, yes, I do! It’s a treasure for sure. Buried in the back of my closet, safely stored in a covered garment bag. For that special day.
I’ll be able to pull it out and hand it over with a smile, “Yes, dear, isn’t it special, I bought it the year you were born.”
Post Inspiration – A-Z Blogging Challenge – V
PS – How about you, do you still have a clothing treasure 20 + years old? Do you like vintage items? Would you toss the coin purse or keep it too? What do you think Dale’s advice consisted of for the housewife? Do tell…
Your collections of vintage items are lovely and must bring you joy. I like a variety of things, too– never feeling the need to lock into one specific era. Although when it comes to clothing, I don’t keep old items. Except for my wedding dress which is hanging in the back of a closet somewhere, probably slowly deteriorating.
Thank you, Ally. I need to be more ruthless with clothing. Sigh…I have my wedding dress in the closet too. It’s in its dry-cleaned professionally storage tomb. I’ve heard rumors that neither daughter desires to wear it for their weddings. LOL!
Vintage items are an important part of our personal history, That said, I don’t think I’d have the nerve to classify and living woman as a “vintage collectible” of mine 😉
LOL – as I’ve mentioned to you before, you’re brilliant, Dan! 🙂
I love vintage and even made The Vintage Corner a sub menu on my home page. I have an 80’s clothes closet and intended to sell some of them but abandoned it as too much work. I could dress an 80’s sitcom with no problem! I love the material of older clothes, as the quality was so much better back when people dressed up more. We have a vintage store here in town, favoured mostly by young people because who would want all that furniture and stuff from the 60’s & 70’s – if you’ve lived through it once you consider it junk, but it’s new and refreshing to them. PS. I remember those tooled leather purses for women being in style in high school.
Aw, Joni, that is special that you’ve found a way to share and grow with your passion for vintage. LOL on the 80’s sitcom wardrobe. I’d be close behind you! My 80’s jean jacket was swooped up by my youngest and she still wears it and loves it. Those little purses are cute – I may have even carried it at one point, but my dad needed it so he took it? I’ll be by your blog again to check out your Vintage Corner! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!!
I love the look of vintage but not the price tag! The table with your collectibles is very nice. Cute coin purse. I can see why you keep it.
Thank you, Janet. Yes, it can end up being pricey. We have so many shops around here, I just admire instead of add to my stuff. 😉 I’ve got enough I say…to convince myself. LOL
I do have some vintage clothing. Last weekend, I donned an ancient pair of black jeans. The Girl said, “Wow, Dad, those look good on you. Are those new?” “No, Sweetie,” I laughed, “these are older than you. I used to wear these when I was bartending 20 years ago, along with cowboy boots, a starched white tuxedo shirt, and a black Stetson cowboy hat. I looked even better then and got good tips.”
Another vintage item I saved is a full-length heavy stonewashed denim belted trenchcoat with leather collar. The Girl wore that to school last year for 80s day.
As to what ol’ Dale might’ve had to say about housewives, no comment other than Grrrr…
LMAO – that’s awesome Denny! I bet you did get lots of tips. It’s also awesome that you still fit into them. I bet you were glowing, too – what face did The Girl make when you told her? Priceless, right? Maybe not as priceless as the black jeans you could sell on Ebay now!? So glad she appreciated and was able to use the trenchcoat. I bet she had lots of jealous friends that day at school. Yeah, Dale…those were the days, though. It was my husband’s grandmother’s copy of the book. I can only imagine what she thought of it.
She had that awe-struck, adoring face that parents covet so much, it was great! Priceless about covers it.
AWEsome :-)!
“Vintage” is how I sold so much old vintage stuff on Craig’s List before we downsized and moved. The best marketing tool ever. Truth in marketing. As in vintage sleds, shelves, lamps, tools and such. As years go by, more and more stuff will qualify! In the 1990’s, my daughter wore some of my high school vintage clothes for Halloween. As a hippie.
Nice photos of your vintage collection 🙂
Yes, it is a selling tool, that’s for sure! Isn’t it nice we can fill the ‘hippie’ look so easily for our kids?! Thank you for sharing your contributions to the world of vintage love!
I really love that table! Vintage finds are always some of the best in my opinion, they bring a character that your traditional furniture store isn’t going to deliver 🙂
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http://www.areweadultsyet.com
Thank you! It does have a special charm to it. I agree that you can’t find the craftmanship like it in the stores nowadays. 🙂
I love vintage. Have sparkles of it throughout my own home too! My mother’s art-deco cigarette case. Some glassware for highball cocktails, embossed in gold trim. priceless. I also utilize her china closet. It’s been valued at over $10,000. But I’d never part with it. I keep all my own personal china and keepsakes inside it. Having little dots of vintage mixed with my modern farmhouse touches, looks, to me, to be the perfect blend of the old and the new. It brings me joy and a comfort to be surrounded by such beautiful things.
I love your description of what you’ve kept as treasures. You’ve got a minimalist approach from what I’ve read on your posts so I can imagine everything goes well together and looks as beautiful as you described. I adore blending the old with the new. Like you, it brings me joy, too! Thank you for sharing. Sorry, it took so long to respond, your comment somehow went to the spam folder!?! UGH!
I have many clothes over 20 years old because I always favored a more traditional or classic look for work clothes, timeless items that would always be in style. Then when my boss and I moved out on our own, there was no dress code, so pretty much anything would go, then I started collecting some fun stuff like capris and perky flats or colorful lightweight pants paired with unusual colored tops and fun jewelry, and I loved the look of long flowy skirts and ballet-type tops with flats or boots … but I can’t let go of the skirt suits and blazers though it is doubtful I will ever wear them again. My grandmother gave me some loonies and toonies (Canadian coins) and I still have them. 🙂
Thank you for sharing, Linda. You’re prepared for any situation then, as long as they all still fit, right? I bet they do with your dedication to walking. 🙂
No, I’m not sure they all fit, so sometimes I think it is silly to keep all the tailored skirt suits – the pant suits still fit, so whew to that, but I don’t know where I will go that dressed up again. I am sorry to say that I don’t get dressed up in the least during the day for work.
I have many clothes that don’t fit too, should probably do something about that soon! Somedays I just get dressed up and go to work in my office to feel differently from the sweatpants kind of day before. Try it, you might find it is ‘inspirational’ for a blog post. ;-)!
Maybe I should do that Shelley. No one comes to the house, unless I have a contractor in for some reason. I talk to my boss usually once a day, but there has been times when we don’t speak to one another in an entire work week, just e-mail back-and-forth all the time. I’ve not seen Robb since the Fall of 2012.
Wow – you do have the dream job, especially for a person who is responsible and enjoys autonomy! Your boss, no doubt, trusts you highly. Dress up for the squirrels one day and see if they notice you?! Might be a funny blog post?! 😉
But it has caused me to be a bit of a slob – no one here, so no need to dress up. put on makeup, just throw my hair into a messy topknot. My mother would be horrified because when she was still here, on Saturdays it was errand day when I worked full time and Sundays I usually stayed home, and weather permitting worked outside, or there was always something to do inside and the rest of the day was “me time” … so I never dressed up and left my contacts out to give my eyes a rest, no makeup, hair in a bun. My mom said “you should respect yourself 7 days a week and get dressed up, if not for yourself, than for me too.” Hmm. I did a 5k at Council Point Park and put on makeup and did not have my hair in the usual topknot, messy bun, etc., but had it pulled back and a hat/visor thing on instead. This was because I had decided to ask someone to take a picture of me as people said “what do you look like – take a picture sometime?” I am not comfortable turning over the camera to a stranger, but I know they take pics at events, so I decided to look presentable. So funny … the regular walkers looked at me twice – not sure who I was and what do you think happened with the squirrels? They came running right over … so do they have a sense of smell like a dog does or do they do better than humans? Actually squirrels have poor eyesight despite the fact they run down a tall tree to get peanuts when they see me. So go figure. I have not had a picture taken since 1999 and this year I thought for the 20th “anniversary” maybe it would be nice to do this. Now I’m going to check in at work and get ready to go – I prefer walking in the morning and it is beautiful out – last time I listen to them. I always say that – this time I mean it.
I’ve enjoyed not having to ‘look’ a certain way. It’s a nice break from the corporate work environment. I do find I feel better the days I do get dressed and ready to go out at a moments notice. YES, you should totally do the picture this year! I’m guessing squirrels must have a great sense of smell. But you’re more of an expert on them than I am! Don’t work too long today – it’s nice out, toss on that hat and hit the road with the “I mean business attitude!” 🙂
When Robb and I were at the Firm, I loved getting dressed up … the skirt suits likely don’t fit as I gravitated more to pant suits after finding styles/brands that were long enough in the pants. I am 5′ 9″ tall and long inseam. So once I found more trouser style pantsuits, I wore them.
They still fit … tried them all on in 2017.
But the flats I wore with them do not! When we went to casual at the office, I rarely got real dressed up anymore … Robb has never been in the office much.
He says a good management labor attorney is with his client or walking the picket line with the strikers or at the NLRB trying cases. There were days when he was onsite with clients in negotiations and caucuses and I didn’t see him or we have out-of-town clients. It was just me there by myself. It got to be boring to be honest. But he would call me many times a day and I patched through all the calls and did them as a three-way when he was on the road, so clients liked that but I had times when I fell asleep at the office.
Very quiet, or had boring work and no one to talk to. Even music did not always help so anyway, I got used to being and working on my own so working from home and him not being around does work out okay. Not seen him face-to-face since October 2012 and only because he was dropping off a tape and I had a large spider in back of the mailbox and I asked him to bring papertowels and a hammer or something hard to whack him with, so I came out of the house.
It rained and the spider went into a hidey hole out of sight. He often drops off things and just e-mails me that he dropped off something so I go get it. Or mails me tapes too.
You’ve made the absence of a boss work, despite the loneliness. I bet you looked very sharp in your outfits. I wonder if you dressed up one day again just to see if you feel different? I would go crazy if there wasn’t any live human interaction in the workplace. I volunteer and also go to the buildings I work for to see the staff and the residents. I’m also a fan of GoToMeeting or Slack to chat with co-workers who are in different offices. You’ve definitely found a groove for what works for your boss and your responsibilities at work. 7 years and not seeing him seems extraordinarily long?!
When we first moved out on our own, I quickly realized that despite the bickering and pettiness of working in a regular office (we had 75 employees at the Firm), that having no one to chat with as I walked down the hall, to the xerox machine or ladies room, was not fun. I e-mailed my friend who was a legal secretary in Virginia but now that she is in grad school, we have lost some of our camaraderie as she quit work to go to school full time (her mom died and left money and she used the inheritance to go to grad school). Plus, I was not using the skills I had at the Firm – no need to do things like linking up to other offices (we merged with a large firm in Virginia … that’s why we left, Robb was no longer permitted to be of counsel and to join the Firm as a non-equity partner). So, no more skills needed … that part is not so good either. We had mandatory training to learn new software so my skills are limited now as Robb is not into bells-and-whistles, just getting the work done. So it is a different job completely. I do often wonder about my decision to do this gig sometimes … I have my moments. Yes 7 years is a long time indeed. He asked me if I wanted to go to the building party at Christmas but we went every year and it was nothing special and I only spoke to the other tenants if I saw them in the building, or going down to get the mail or in the elevator. We forged no friendships at all. Gradually I lost contact with coworkers too because we moved one mile out of the downtown Detroit area, so too far to “do lunch” or really get together. Just e-mails occasionally and they dropped off through the years as well.
As I read your words, I feel sad for you. I read once that one of our needs as humans in the workplace is to have a close friend. I’m like you in the feeling that it is hard to form that when you work from home. Brene’ Brown wrote words that touched me, when we’re feeling exhausted or frustrated at work, it really may just be loneliness. I think that is true. Sounds like you maybe considering it is time for you to find a new gig?
We went through a merger at our law firm in 2000 – we merged with a firm in Richmond, Virginia and suddenly went from 75 people to being part of around 300 and subject to their rules and regs, they even ordered new computers for everyone (we knew they tracked our every move but it became very regimented) – I had no issue with that in many ways – Robb did not like being told he had to lose his of counsel status and wanted to go … there were no other positions there for me if I stayed behind and I already had many years with the Firm. The Firm went out of business less than 2 years after we left as they thought the Detroit branch was not productive … everyone was given 2 weeks’ notice on 12/15/2004. I felt badly for them.
But yes, I would have had to get a new job anyway, had I not gone with Robb. I brought my seniority with me so I didn’t lose that, and it was nice, no restrictions, more flex time, etc., but yes, no one to talk to and Robb never around. Since I have no family and when my mom was still alive, it was her and me so pretty well used to not a lot of interaction anyway, I figured it was not a big deal. Sometimes it bothers me more than other times. I am not going to look for another job now – I’ve worked at home now all these years and Robb just bought all new computer equipment and xerox machine intending to stay in business another three years. I turned 63 a couple of weeks ago. I am not sure I want to embark on a new job, and if I did, not an office job as I’ve been doing this type of work since 1978. Going to go and see how the weather is – it was ugly earlier, raining but I believe it stopped. I have killed two ants in the last few minutes, one on my blanket and one walking on the laptop, contrary to what I said a few minutes ago. I am so done with the bugs and the rain. I’m going to assume an ant big me, not a spider – it is easier for me to get past it. 🙂
Nice of Robb to keep your technology up to date. Oh, dear, please know you’re in my thoughts. I hope the walk helps and that it was just an ant bite too!
Yes, it is good and I kind of was surprised – I did tell him that only needed to upgrade our desktops and laptops to Windows 10 and didn’t necessarily need new equipment (not that I mind, as it will be a larger screen). And getting a refurbished xerox machine shortly too – ours was purchased, not leased, in over 15 years ago. Robb just turned 72 years ago in March and is counting on staying in business three more years. His father was still practicing probate law at age 82 and had no intention of shutting down the practice – he fell ill and died and Robb had to close his practice for him. Not easy as it was in Saginaw, a 200-mile round trip from home/office. He often just stayed up there and we communicated by fax – in those days he was not using e-mail, nor a smartphone … just fax.
Yay – new equipment and a bigger monitor and a boss that lets you work independently – all good stuff! It’s amazing what technology has done for us and our flexibility in work environments. Somedays those pluses outweigh the loneliness. Robe and jammies kind of days especially. But that’s just me ;-)!
Yes, for sure Shelley. I was thinking with all this torrential rain, that I am grateful more than ever for working at home – this erratic weather we have now will only intensify. If climate change makes Winter start earlier, this incessant rain, and the wicked heat and humidity like last Summer, then I am happy to be sitting here in my not-ready-for-prime time outfit. The flooding just a mile away from here on the main drag was just incredible to see and I would need to go that way if I still worked on site. It is still flooded as of the 7:00 p.m. news. I think the days that I wish I had returned to a regular job after my mom died, as I was laid off anyway and could make a new and fresh start, fall short of the days that I am content with life just as it is. I just passed the 10-year anniversary since I worked on site.
The weather has the gift of unpredictability. For that we can always count on. Congratulations for making the change and lasting for 10 years. That’s a major accomplishment you should be very proud of. 🙂