Monday, May 19, 2014

A Tropical Twenty-ninth

Last weekend I had some friends over at my place to help me celebrate my 29th birthday which fell during the week on May 13th. I decided it needed a theme, so it had to be TROPICAL!




It gave me the perfect excuse to use one of my 1950's Alfred Shaheen dresses. I can't get enough of them! To me, they're meant to be for me. They are colorful, beautiful, and made in and inspired by Hawaiʻi.



 This one has a design that looks a lot like ʻōhiʻa lehua, a flower (and tree) native to Hawaiʻi. 



And I finally got the chance to use my beautiful feather hat i got from Vintage From Paris in Malmö. Unfortunately I didn't have a photographer handy at the time to help me take pictures of my hat, so I did the best I could. 


My hair looks blue-black!


As an aside, I wanted to be careful not to make it a bogus, aloha-tiki-hula-hula party, though, because that stuff just gets tired and offensive for someone who is interested in 1950's kitsch but also happens to be a real live actual Native Hawaiian. That said, I think the idea of "tropical" is fun and doesn't have to offend someone's culture.

So I went with bright colours, flamingos, and tropical fruits incorporated into the meal.  Whenever I have parties, I'm so focused on getting food out and making sure everyone is all set that I almost always forget to take party pictures! So the coconut candle and flamingo table decorations didn't get to make it onto the blog. But of course I managed to take pictures of the food!


I also got this joker to take a picture with me. He was a big help throughout the day!


I was serenaded by my friends - accompanied by guitar even!- as I blew out the candles on the lilikoʻi (passionfruit) cake I baked.



All in all, it was a lovely (early) birthday weekend filled with friends, food, and fun. It can't get better than that! 

Friday, May 2, 2014

Ready for picnicking!



Last weekend I went to Mitt Möllans spring market, where I picked up some great things from Emmaus Björka, a charity thrift store chain.

One of the things I couldn’t leave without was this fabulous picnic set for two!


My guess is that it’s late 50’s or early 60’s. It’s made by Brexton, an English picnic hamper manufacturer. 


I’m not sure what else Brexton has made as a quick Google search turns up exclusively vintage picnic sets. If you’re looking for a cute vintage picnic set, have a look at Brexton’s!


I love the orange red / white rose combination on the porcelain.



Authentic Thermos brand thermoses! 



And it even comes with a Brexton plastic container for some picnic food, along with two small screw top jugs for holding cream and sugar. Mine even came with some, um, “vintage” sugar cubes! Eh, maybe I don’t like everything vintage after all…

While there are many Brexton picnic hampers available on Ebay, I haven’t found one that has a wicker case like mine. I just love that about it! It feels so summery and outdoorsy.


I can’t wait to head out into the park for a picnic with this beauty!