Monday, July 20, 2026
Realistic Maintenence
Thursday, July 16, 2026
New Bernie? Bingo!
Monday, July 13, 2026
Palava, Please
Thursday, July 9, 2026
Illuminating Crafts: A Little Lamp
Another micro renovation in today's post. In between the big-big projects, there are lots of little details to make and bring together to create a cohesive design to each room. I wanted a cute little lamp for my loft and I found this interesting antique in the chuck bin while settling a family member's estate last year. It needed work, and no one else really looked at it twice, but since I'd become interested in making lampshades, I thought I could do something with this little piece, so I added it to my TLC treasure trove and brought it home.
The cord was crumbling and needed to be replaced and the base needed a good scrub down, but it was soon shiny and nice. I bought a replacement wiring kit and got that installed with a little help from Mr. Bleu since somewhere in the process I lost the internal bar and we had to rig up a new system, but he made it work
Monday, July 6, 2026
Roman Holiday Recreation
I'm not exactly sure why, but I decided to try to create my own, inexpensive version of this outfit and I think I made out pretty well. I forgot to roll up my sleeve--oof!--but it was the last of about two dozen outfits that I did on that particular evening and I was rapidly losing the last rays of sunlight, so I goofed. I always make my priority finding clothes made of natural fibers, but it's just not always possible. So, the top is cotton, the skirt is linen, and the scarf claims to be silk but feels more like polyester, but I love the final result and the entire outfit cost me less than $75.
Thursday, July 2, 2026
Hot Off The Frill
Summer is here and it's time for all those lovely traditional pastimes that I enjoy so much. I hesitate to label them as American because so many places in the world do these same things in warmer weather such as cooking outdoors. One of my favorite summer recipes is something I picked up while we were living in Japan. Fire up the grill and toss on some sukiyaki (thin sliced marbled ribeye), let it cook just a minute or two on each side until crisp and then serve with raw cabbage leaves cut into pieces and drizzled with a soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, crushed red pepper, and sesame oil sauce. That's it. So simple, so light and delicious, and perfect for summer.
In honor of grilling season, I thought today's outfit should be this Bernie Dexter On the Grill dress that I thrifted last year. I didn't see too many dresses come out in this style during Bernie's heyday, but I wish I had because it's so flattering!
Outfit info: Bernie Dexter Dress and petticoat are Thrifted, Heels by BAIT
















































