It’s been a whirlwind two weeks since my last Calico post! I hosted two separate tasting events for my ice cream and went back to work full time at the toy store. Last Thursday I handed out nearly 300 vegan root beer floats at an art show and on Sunday I hosted a vegan milkshake tasting event in the cafe.
Special things from the past two weeks:

• Shower picnics. Eating grapefruit and drinking iced green tea while in the shower is the greatest way to wake the senses and get ready for a long day. I get a little peppermint essential oil in there to wake me up and then watch out, cause it’s really a party!
• Getting a library card for the first time since moving to Texas and promptly checking out 40lbs of library books.
• Buying a skimpy bathing suit because I’m getting toned from riding my bicycle so much every day! Now I just need to make time to go to the springs to swim a few times a week. Summer will be over before I know it.
• Working at two vegan jobs in one day! Counter Culture celebrated one year and I helped out making sandwiches and corndogs.
• Austin unpredictableness. Last night I went to a Brizm Nation dance party, full expecting a typical bar set up with dance party. WRONG! What I found was a automotive warehouse that had been converted to a dance floor, with a waster mister system from the ceiling and spacious open courtyard. Everyone was (un)dressed in their birthday best, & in a best case scenario, it looked like a pool party rap video gone awry. I went alone, but was so happy to see so many friends from different pockets of Austin: I was dancing with my celestial birthday twin, Tony, astronomer friend Gully, floppy mohawk dancer Sam who I know from co-op dances, and the ever loverly Angeliska.
• Austin Texas, I think we were meant to be.

Marion Davies-1928-The Cardboard Lover

With summertime comes yearning for ice cream. When I wake up, I have frozen treats on the brain, which leads me down avenues of tasty research on my days off. This is one tidbit I found from the brothers who run the Franklin Fountain in Philadelphia, a true-to-life soda fountain revival shoppe. Emphasis on the shoppe, and emphasis on the living history, as even their 1920s phone is wired and functional and the fan blades are authentic. As a fellow anachronistic history lover with a penchant for time travel, I have a predilection for their wares. If I’m ever in Philly I want to stop by – but I’m afraid I’ll only be able to admire. Curse you, dairy!

1. luncheon old fashioned sundae, 2. Sundae at Lula Sweet, 3. The “When in the Course of Human Events” Sundae,
4. Saveur, 5. Stocking the Shelves at The Franklin Fountain, 6. Rose Nylund’s World Famous Ice Cream Clown Sundaes,
7. Ice Cream & Sailor Shorts, 8. Strawberry Vanilla Twist Soft Serve from Toy Joy, 9. Blythe – Crocheted Sundae Hat – Vanilla

Here are a few scenes of my new home:

I have been living in collective houses of 15-25 people since 2005, so the only thing I really own kitchen-wise is a tea strainer and a few errant tea cups. I don’t even own a knife! The task of stocking a kitchen from the ground-up when I’ve been so spoiled on restaurant grade equipment was a bit scary. Thankfully, the thrift gods were kind to me and I was able to furnish my kitchen for about $100. 99 cents for a can opener? $1 teacups! And, an apple peeler/corer/slicer (seen in the top left of the photo) was my favorite find. ALSO!!!! I have been looking at bonnet dryers on Amazon.com, but I found a tabletop folding model for $9. Who wants to come over for front porch beauty parlor?
Our house was built in the mid-late 1940s for the troops coming back from WWII, and lots of the fixtures are original. The counters and sinks are a little short and the shower nozzle doesn’t even hit me mid-chest, it’s so far down! The back of this little medicine cabinet was spiffed up by cut outs from a book of 1920s French women who guard my toothpaste and face lotions. The book was bought for relatively no money at The Blue Hanger, a Goodwill outlet warehouse. Hello little beauties!

Last year I organized a swan boat outing on Town Lake for when Gala Darling was coming to SXSW. It was a grand time paddling about in afternoon finery, and I wasn’t sure if this year I could top it … but a few months ago I was brainstorming events and I thought a tea party, perfect!

Using my new tattoo by Sunny Buick as a jumping off point for decor, I gathered some sweet tea party supplies in Paris, including …
Little bird-shaped sugars that are meant to perch on the edge of cups!
At the Bon Marche where I got these sugars, there were so many different kinds to choose from: little lips, puppies, hearts and even the male symbol… I guess for a Prince themed tea party? Which gives me a great idea for a future party… a Royal Purple tea party!
Spicy vanilla tea and sugar cubes in the shape of cards: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spade.
My collection of mix-match teacups, gathered from estate sales and antique stores over the years. Most of them I got for just $1 each, and when I’m not drinking whiskey or tea out of them, they hold my lipsticks and eye pencils at my boudoir table. I love how none are a complete set but all mismatch in just the right way. Underneath is antique pillow ticking fabric that I’m just crazy over.
The tree in my front yard is blooming and I stood on a stool on tip toe and cut little pieces off while the dew fell all over my face. It made the room smell lovely. I placed them in old juice bottles and a sundae cup. On the table I sprinkled little tea roses and lavender essential oils.
The roses are from my Valentine’s day bouquet that I hung upside down to dry out. These gum drops were dumpstered by one of my roommates and taste like pomegranate, black cherry, and sunny citrus.

The menu: vegan waffles with apricot jam, ginger snap cookies, lavender & blueberry chocolates, and bellinis.
Strawberry scented bubbles from Toy Joy were provided for all to use at their leisure. I also had chinese checkers.
My outfit was centered around this sparkly silver feather. I hadn’t worn silver makeup since high school!
Angel told us fantastic stories!
Gala Darling and Molly Crabapple had an adventure that morning involving put put clubs and a giant bunny!
I didn’t get a photo of the lovely Tina from Violetville Vintage, but she was wearing a lime green print dress with tiny goats on it!

Happy SXSW everyone!

Hooray for Valentines! With all of the Christmas decor abound, it makes me realize that my favorite holiday is right around the corner. This is a card from Laughing Elephant in Seattle. I have collected 1930s valentines for the past 5 or so years, and I always make a point to seek them out in antique stores. Some of them are so sweet, especially the handmade ones that are made out of construction paper, lace and cotton balls!

“A History of Valentines,” a book by Ruth Web Lee traces the tradition of giving cards on St. Valentine’s day from it’s beginnings as hand crafted communication by lovers through it’s transformation to a heavily marketed quintessential holiday of the early 1900s. The craft and social constructs behind generations of Valentines are discussed, including early American hand-made Valentines, American Lithograph Valentines, Late Victorian Valentines and Comic Valentines. Many exquisite photographs of hand cut and hand worked cards are shown throughout the book as examples of the craft. Esther Howland,in 1847, became the mother of the modern-day Valentine.

Esther Howland (1828-1904) lived in Worcester, Massachusetts When she graduated from college in 1847, she received her first Valentine card. She was so touched by it that she decided to start making her own Valentine cards. Because she could not find the supplies in America, she imported paper lace and embossed, die cut paper from England and began making the cards by hand. In 1850, the demand for her cards increased, so she recruited her friends to help keep up the supply. Together, they formed an assembly line: one cut paper, one cut lace, one glued, one chose text and assembled. Her successful company expanded and when she retired, in 1881, it was making nearly $100,000 per year. And you thought Henry Ford pioneered the assembly line!

I love swallows, roses, little umbrellas, gold, pink and flapper girls. My “wall paper” in my entry way is a spraypainted damask stencil. OH MY GOD. There is a reason that my walls are only half done. It took me 4 cans of gold spraypaint and many hours of messy patience to get this far. This involved taping the stencil, “masking” different parts with a dust pan, and spraying, spraying, spraying. Plus, the fumes made me really dizzy and all of my housemates got mad at me!

Part of my collection is pinned above my boudoir table around my mirror.

All of my berets and all of my headbands and garters. You can see my makeup stored in little teacups near my jewelry case.

I love this little guy in the bigger heart, but lookout, he has a gun!! I also have a boy with a baseball bat but he is MIA.
Underneath in blue is a handmade construction paper card with “Love Norma” written in child’s scrawl inside.

My house (a co-op house) is a giant and from the 1930s. I live in the second floor in what was formally the “sleeping porch.” There are two giant arches in my room, and the teal part is just concrete, so I can’t hang anything from that part. The valentines are pinned in the arches above my windows.

One of the Valentines is a girl inside a head of lettuce!





Some little valentines in a frame. These frames were originally from goodwill and were gold! I spraypainted them teal and lined the background with heart fabric that I got forever ago. I thought these were very sweet.

Anatomical Heart Embroidery (by me) & Heart Tin

My birdie tattoo by Jason Donahue from Idle Hand in San Francisco. I saw his work on flickr about a year ago and made an appointment with him over the phone. He asked what I wanted and I said, “Some kind of black bird sitting on a lacy vintage glove with a Valentine in it’s beak.” He did not disappoint!!

My Valentine Tattoos! Also by Annie Mess, who did my vegan back piece. This photo was taken back when my walls were an ocean blue. I painted them and within a week I hated them! I did lots of research on old Westerns and their decor for the way my room looks now… but that is for another post!

Vintage Valentine typewriter on etsy. Oh, to spend $600 on a typewriter! I remember seeing this typewriter on display at SF MOMA a few years ago and just gasping with delight. Maybe in my future life…

This is cute! It’s from Jitterbuggin on etsy. Her whole shop is adorable, it’s all remade from vintage patterns.

Red heart shaped hand bag by Minna Parikka.