Inspiration: Brownies circa 1961

These past two days, I spent every free moment I had at McGill annual charity drive Book Fair. Room after room of dusty old books ranging from subjects like "Girlhood in the 1920s" to Frank Capra's autobiography with just about anything you can imagine in between! I'm still sore from carting my first load of books with me on the subway all the way home, and while my second load was smaller, it was none the less packed with treasures! The lady I was paying at the end of my spree was quick to figure out I was "some kind of an old fashioned girl" when she saw most of my books were about things like "The joys of Girlhood", "Recipes of Quality", Ginger Rogers' autobiography and a pretty great silent film book with fantastic pictures I'll be scanning in next time I visit my parents!

While I can't pick a favourite of all the gems I came home with, the Brownie Annual handbook from 1961 that I came across has to be a contender for greatest find! Not only does it have instructions on how to acquire certain Brownie badges, but it also has the most wonderful illustrations, and reminded me how inspired I was by the Dear Creatures collection for this Autumn!
Well the new kitten and Lola and I asked my sis if she'd be willing to do a silly little photoshoot of me in my most Brownie inspired outfit! I was working with what I already have in my closet, but this is what I came up with! The dress is something I found in the kids section at Value Village. It's totally strange and sort of unflattering, and just the tiniest bit too short to actually wear out of the house, even with tights on....but I love it too much because of the little tie and the peter pan collar, so sometimes I put it on with a skirt over as a little blouse...The hat was on sale at Urban Outfitters this week, and while I'm still not sure about the stud-like things, I like how it fits and it's keepin' me head warm! The shoes were thrifted by my Mom for me not too long ago and I love them to death. It's too bad in less than a month it'll be too snowy here to wear them out of the house...so I'm getting all the use I can out of them for now...

**I'm sorry if I've been horrible at responding to comments recently. I take the time to read all of your blogs, I'm usually just so rushed with school and essays and the new job that I have to close the computer before I get the chance to comment back! But I appreciate all your comments all the time, and I promise to catch up on all that I've missed as soon as things slow down!**

***Anyone have suggestions as to what we should name kitty? We aren't sure yet if it's a boy or a girl (gonna have to get the vet's opinion...though I'm thinking boy?) and we can't figure out what to name him/her!***