Mele Kalikimaka & God Jul!

Mele Kalikimaka and God Jul from Hawaii!

I've been enjoying a warm, tropical Christmas here in Hawaii filled with family, food, and friends.

I didn't go all out on decorating my place since I knew that I would be traveling home to Hawaii for the holidays, but I did manage to add some festive touches. 

Like this mini Christmas tree!

And this little gnome pot we inherited from the lady who moved into our apartment when it was first built in the late 1940's. 

Just check out this little gnome. He's full of attitude!

Here in Hawaii, I decorated for the holidays in a slightly different way:

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

My first Kamehameha dress

Of all the vintage I collect, my number one favorite vintage item to collect is, of course, Hawaiian dresses. And I'm excited to share with you my very first Kamehameha dress!

This gorgeous 1950's dress that I bought from Xtabay Vintage features a Hawaiian kapa (traditional barkcloth) print with hibiscus flowers, all done in hot pink! 

I wore this dress to my friend Michelle and her husband Chris' wedding this past summer when I was back home on Oahu. 

My friend Danielle (aka the other half of the Big Pink Titas) was the skilled eye behind the camera for my little pink Kamehameha photoshoot. Mahalo nui Dano for the fierce photoshoot!

The bartender, an older Hawaiian auntie, told me that I reminded her of her aunties and the aloha wear they wore when back in the 50's. 

Compliments like that from older people are always so lovely to hear...then you know you're doing vintage right!

As the Big Pink Titas, Danielle and I were so intimidating glamorous that Ryan Hung, the photographer asked us to pose with the bridal couple.



And did we ever!

Thank you Michelle and Chris for letting us share in your special day!

The Colors of Fall

If you ask me, I'm a summer girl through and through. But there's still something about fall that is really special, perhaps particularly so for a girl who grew up without this season for much of her life.

I love the changing colors, the palette of pale green, golden yellow, burnt orange, ruby red, and toasty brown. I love the seasonal foods, like pumpkins, wild mushrooms, and nuts.

Plus I get to bust out my favorite seasonal vintage pieces, like my nut dress (completed with a perfect mustard yellow wool sweater from Emmy Design) and my favorite nut brooch.

Even though the days are getting shorter and the sky is getting grayer, it's exciting to see nature showing off. So we bundle ourselves up and head out into the forest.

Whether in town or out in the countryside, fall really does have something special to offer.

Happy Halloween!

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! 

We went to a Halloween party dressed as Victorian vampires. Halloween celebrations and trick-or-treating are new but getting more and more popular by the year here in Sweden. Even still, we definitely got a few stares while walking home!

Crayfish Party for Two

We're a regular couple of rebels, we are.

You see, traditional Swedish crayfish parties take place in August or possibly September. 

But the summer just flew by for my guy and me and we just didn't have the chance to gather some friends and eat some crustaceans as we usually do this time of year.

We both love crayfish and couldn't wait for a whole year, so we bought ourselves a box of crays and had our own little party!

Waltah Clarke's Hawaiian Shops

That summer afternoon I spent in Copenhagen gave me the perfect excuse to wear my new 1950's Waltah Clarke's Hawaiian Shops kapa print dress.

Now, you may ask, "who is Waltah Clarke?" Fair enough...unless you're a nut for vintage Hawaiian dresses like I am, I don't expect that brand to ring a bell. Well, here's a little bit of Hawaii fashion history!

Walter Clarke was a transplant (as we from Hawai'i call them) from Los Angeles who came to Hawai'i in 1938 and later opened aloha wear shops in the United States in the 1950's. At the time Hawai'i was a trendy theme, and Waltah's shops brought Americans the aloha wear that they would usually buy while on vacation in Hawai'i right to them, no cruise ship tickets required!

Walter got his Hawaiian-style name thanks to the Hawaiian Pidgin-speaking beachboys of Wakiki who pronounced his name as "Waltah." Those beachboys he befriended were musicians as well, and in 1963 he, along with Hawaii's most famous beachboy, olympic medalist, and founder of modern surfing, Duke Kahanamoku released an album, Beachboy Party with Waltah Clarke. If you're curious, you can listen to the album on Spotify!

He met his wife Gretchen while she was on vacation, and together they built up the company he founded to include a total of 31 stores from Hawai'i to Chicago. Gretchen was responsible for the designs, and she introduced mini mu'umu'us in the 1960s, keeping aloha wear relevant to contemporary fashions. Waltah Clarke's Hawaiian Shops closed down in the 1980's.

But Waltah's still lives on in the amazing pieces still available. Here are some of the amazing pieces I've been lusting after on Etsy!

Do you have an awesome piece from Waltah's? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

So long, Summer...

...So I guess this is fall.

This is hard for me to accept. I'm starting to think that a few weekends ago was the last real warm, wonderful summer weekend here in southern Sweden. I always find myself in denial about this, year after year, as though it's some kind of surprise that the cold is returning once again.

One consolation is that I spent that weekend enjoying the sun and the sea, catching up with a friend, and exploring a new (to me) area of Copenhagen. And I got to take out one of my newest vintage Hawaiian dresses! This one's from Waltah Clarke's Hawaiian Shop.

Miss Pia as gorgeous as ever with little Pontus in his stylish pram.

And then I rounded off my day with a solo sunset dip in the ocean. Just me and the seagulls. So wonderfully peaceful.

     

I'm trying to spend as much time out on my balcony as I can. Gardening, grilling (we have an electric grill!), after work cocktails, bird watching...I love living outside. And my gardening efforts are paying off - I'm growing some cherry tomatoes and tomatillos I'm just beginning to harvest now!

And I'm using all my beloved Trashy Diva rompers and separates while the weather allows. These are my number one favorite warm weather outfit. Retro cute yet so cool and comfortable!

One day we managed to make it to the beach in the morning and had a picnic brunch. The weather was great so we hoped we could make it a full beach day, but it wasn't that warm.

At least I caught a bit of a warm, summery sunset while in Landskrona last week.

I'll take every bit of sunshine I can get.