Another California Christmas

This year Christmas was at the Beach again. 

Usually I'd love a chance to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous fews days of 80 degree weather without a single cloud in the sky ( in the middle of December ) However, I'd been suffering from tension headaches for almost two weeks so I wasn't exactly in the mood for time in the sun.

My aunt and uncle's home is an absolute dream, and staying over for even a night is like being in a hotel. Everything is beautiful and clean and new and it makes me want to clean like crazy the second i get home and back to reality. 

We always have this crazy cousin activity of sorts that one of my aunt and uncle's send us on to get our presents, and it's always some sort of fantastic activity with them. My younger, more sporty cousins tend to choose things like sports games or skiing, and I am more then eager to choose something more along the lines of art and culture. This year my cousin and I both chose to see the Book of Mormon, which is on my Tony winners list of shame and I can't wait to go see it with them! Finding out what activity I get to go on each year is always the thing I look the most forward to, and this year was a doozy without a doubt. 

I didn't take too many photos of the actual Christmas festivities this year, so you'll just have to settle for some of the beautiful surroundings. 

    

Necklace: Taxco Silver Pyramid Necklace by ElDorado Club (Pinup Girl Clothing) Dress: Vintage

Happy New Year! A new year, a whole new blog.

well, not a whole new blog.

But with a new year, and the resolutions I hope to hold along with it, my blog is something I am aiming to improve this year.

Although I've still got a dead computer working against me I am going to do my best to bring so much more to 'Wishing will make it so' and the ideas in my head are absolutely boundless.

So, I'll keep it brief because it's late and I'm sure I am starting to get that 'burning the midnight oil' kind of crazy look in my eyes.. however good things are to come.

I have a belated Christmas post to come and after that some different posts that will blend my love of vintage along with modern fashion, films and even some DIY.

I am looking forward to seeing what 2014 will bring and I hope you'll come along on the journey with me.

xx

A very pink christmas

Last night Mickey's Pink Ladies held our first Secret Santa exchange and Pink Christmas evening at the Grand Hotel lobby in Downtown Disney. 

The Lobby of the Grand is always gorgeous but especially so during the holidays, I can't say it enough it's just beautiful. We were even interrupted by caroler's during our secret santa who gave us a front row seat for some fantastic renditions of holiday songs. 

My outfit was inspired by my new favorite movie Frozen, so I was feeling extra winter-y and festive.

The people sitting across from us said I looked like a Disney star, I am not sure what that means but it kind of made my night. 

I am so thankful for a wonderful evening with all these fantastic ladies. 

Lunch at the Orange Circle

Had another day trip to one of my favorite local areas, the Orange Circle. I had bought one of my beloved Groupon deals for an extra discount at Watson's Drugstore. Since my mother had the week off thanks to Thanksgiving I figured what a better time then to enjoy a few hours pretending it's the 1950's.

We split an amazing chef salad and curly fries, accompanied by cream soda... one of my favorite diner indulgences. She treated herself to some pumpkin ice cream for dessert, unfortunately I was too stuffed to partake but I did manage a bite or two...

After eating we hit a few of the regular antique malls and I even found a lovely Elvis record to add to the collection and a pink wicker purse, which happens to be one of my obsessions at the moment and for less then $20 and on sale I couldn't say no.

I still have to make time to make one more trip before the year's end to enjoy all the lovely Christmas decorations. It really is so quaint and beautiful around there.

Outfit Details:

Top: Savers $3

Skirt: Elle, Kohls $24

Sunglasses: Amazon $7

Bag: Peace Ribbon Project, Goodwill $5

Winter Fashion Inspirations

One of the unfortunate things about living in Southern California is our lack of seasons. Yes, it's true the weather is lovely most of the year which is a blessing, but I love the changing of seasons, especially when it comes to Autumn and Winter.

So even if it's just wishful thinking I've been googling some vintage ads of colder weather clothing just to torture myself. And then you look at the prices and you die all over again.

I want every single one of these, I still want a personal seamstress.

I guess for now I'll just have to settle with throwing on a stole and hat on particularly chilly days.

My personal vendetta against the pre-bought wall of Halloween costumes

I love Halloween. It's been my favorite holiday for as long as I can remember. I'm not a huge fan of horror or being too scared but I love the theatricality of it all. I love the dressing up, I love carving pumpkins, I love watching Thriller every single Halloween without fail. There is one thing however about Halloween I just cannot stand for and that is buying a pre-made costume in a bag.

I took my annual trip to 'Party City' yesterday. I needed a wig last minute, and synthetic or not I didn't have the time for any other option. To be honest the quality of the one I purchased is better then I thought it would be which was a surprise but that's neither here nor there.

Back to my vendetta. When I was a child my mother made all my costumes till about grade 4 when I cried and complained about wanting a 'real costume' from the store and not something my mommy had made me. I suppose the rebellion had already hit me and I thought a store costume would be more adult or more cute, who knows how a 12 year old's mind works.  So I picked out a southern belle dress that never looked even slightly similar to the photo on the bag and was more then unflattering on my not exactly ideal frame. We bought my costumes from a party store wall the next few years. A jester, a teen witch(with a bare stomach! Yikes) and freshman year of high school a 'sexy nurse'. Every years' costume had a dilemma that came with it. The fabric was see through or snagged before even getting it on, rips and holes and just shoddy craftsmanship that we payed right through the nose for.  And to boot every year there were other girls with my same exact costume, accessorized identically like a handful of Halloween clones.

Then sophomore year of high school I discovered my love for vintage and the thrift store and I found my costume that year for only $10. An authentic 1970's flower print jumpsuit. I still have it in my costume trunk, I couldn't bare to part with it. All I bought from the party store that year was a cheap pair of plastic peace sign earrings, and I'd never been prouder of a costume. I had no wardrobe malfunctions and no costume clones- I had been converted. 

Now when I posted the photo above on my Instagram and commented slightly on my distaste for the 'wall of costumes' I lost a few followers and was reminded a few times about the fact that a lot of people don't have the money to spend on more elaborate costumes and such and all they can do is get an inexpensive costume and try to accessorize it better then others might conceive possible. But that's the thing that really gets me, because all those costumes are far too expensive for what you actually receive. 

The companies who manufacture these cheap, flimsy costumes prey on people as if they have no better option then to buy what they can offer and people should not accept that. If money is tight and you have a family with children you should not be shelling out $50 a kid on a crummy polyester suit that can't even sufficiently cover their bodies and ultimately just allows them to conform. 

Instead we should garner creativity and being thrifty and smart on Halloween. Learn to sew, or scrounge through vintage second-hand or thrift stores, go through your closets and find or create your own characters to dress up as. The costumes you remember each year are the ones off the beaten path that remind you of the imaginations of the people around you. And that's what I try to remember every Halloween, not to buy into the costume but to commit to who or what I want to be and make it the way that only I could.

Disneybounding Snow White: 1950's Style

For our October meet and greet the fellow Mickey's Pink Leaders and myself thought it would be fun to ask the girls to come to Disneyland in our Disneybounding best. (For more on Disneybounding check out disneybound.tumblr.com - they reblogged my post which is so flattering!)

I had to be my favorite princess Snow White, I didn't even have a choice.  She's always my first choice, although I do have a few characters in mind for the future...it really was so much fun, I want to do it every week! ;)