The Great Shopping Caper

[auntiemeesh]

Today, lyda_pearl and I went shopping for murder mystery costumes. We both needed something reminiscent of the late thirties/early forties, glam enough for Hollywood stars to wear to a party. An online search found us tons of really cool things, each of which cost an arm and a leg.

First we went to the local thrift store, affectionately known to locals as the East Side Mall. There we found a very pretty skirt for Lyda Pearl, not at all the 'right' style, but pretty and partyish. I also got a really hideously ugly dress that seemed to be cut sort of right for the time, and so would do as backup if we couldn't find anything better.

After a brief stop at home, we headed off for the Potato Barn, an antique store in Lancaster. What a great place! I'd been there once before, several years ago, and had forgotten all about it (that trip involved *many* antique stores) but I recognized it as soon as we got there. Along with all the usual junk to be found in such places, it also has a great collection of jewelry, and a room full of vintage clothing, shoes, hats, purses, etc. We met a friend there, who is also involved in the murder mystery, and went on a search.

I only tried on one outfit, a fab black pantsuit that N had put aside for me before Lyda Pearl and I got there. Oddly enough, it's a seventies outfit, but it's cut close enough to the right style that it works. It's pretty cool, with feather-boa type sleeve cuffs, and a high neck with some sort of feathery, somethingy something on it. I also got two pairs of shoes. A husband and wife own the place and the wife sells the clothing. She has a fantastic collection of shoes, and lots of them are tiny enough to fit my size five feet. I bought one fairly sensible pair of black heels to wear with the pantsuit, and another higher heeled green shoe that looks absolutely fabulous with jeans (these LP bought me as an early b-day gift). They're vintage, but I'll definitely be able to wear them out when I want to dress up a casual outfit. I know LP was laughing at me, because I couldn't tear myself away from the shoes. There was a third pair that I also really wanted, but common sense dictated that I save at least *some* of my money for bill-paying purposes.

It was a lot of fun and I'll have to go back to this place again before I leave, because it's just too cool. But it did take up all the money I had to spend on frivolous things, meaning that I can't buy myself Stargate: Atlantis season one, which I was hoping I would be able to justify. *sigh* I don't think the ladies who volunteered me to be in this thing and then said go out and get an appropriate costume, were being very fair. Of course, they had no idea how seriously I take costuming, so that I couldn't just throw together something fairly awful and be content with it.

This afternoon, we watched 'Bringing Up Baby,' which is one of my favorite movies of the late thirties/early forties. LP had never seen it and laughed, laughed, laughed all the way through it. However, I don't think I'm any closer to Kate voice. I'll have to keep working on it.

Comments

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I adore Cary Grant films! Ever seen "Arsnic and Old Lace"?

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it yet, but it's on the list of interesting movies to watch at some point. I kinda adore Cary Grant myself. It's really interesting to see the difference in characters he plays from something like 'Bringing Up Baby' where he plays a comically inept, complaining, adorable bumbler, to 'Notorious' where his character is played with much more restraint, but at the same time, more emotion is allowed to show.

[ani-no-mouse.livejournal.com]

Ah, so that resolves the "mystery of N" from LP's latest post! I should have read your post first. I should have read the two posts in chronological order.

When I first read the bit about "Bringing up Baby", I thought you said, "Burbing up Baby" which sounded like some obscure and fairly distressing recent straight-to-video thing. What a relief to re-read the line and see what you were really watching! (i've never seen it so, can't comment on the movie itself.)

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Burping up Baby is an interesting title I must say. I'll have to try to come up with a story for that one, lol.

[ani-no-mouse.livejournal.com]

I think I really need to get my eyes checked. I fear I may have passed the point at which I should have started using reading glasses some time ago. While looking for on-line psych experiments to have my Research Methods students use for class projects, I took one on word recognition. The task was to identify words that flashed on a screen for fractions of a section. Let's just say I stunk at it. It took me many tries, with the words flashing on for increasingly longer periods of time, to even be able to guess at what the words are. Then I looked at the dataset submitted by a 17-year-old and was disgusted. he didn't need more than .09 to.11 secs to recognize any of them. I got a few in that range, but most of mine were in the .2 - .30 range.

[westwindschild.livejournal.com]

Bringing Up Baby was a funny movie! I saw it in parts many years ago, and thought it was hysterical, like so many of Hepburn's madcap caper movies. Sounds like you and LP are really having a good time with this. Have you watched The Philadelphia Story yet? That would be a good one for trying to get the young Kate's distinctive voice.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

We are waiting for The Philadelphia Story to come in through Interlibrary Loan. I don't think I've seen it before, so I'm looking forward to it.

[westwindschild.livejournal.com]

Well enjoy it when you get it! When is the murder mystery dinner?

[topaztook.livejournal.com]

Those thrift stores are so much fun to browse in, even without buying. (I am partial to the hat sections, even though all the selections always look stupid on me-- which makes it much easier to save money, LOL.)

DH and I have watched and enjoyed "Bringing Up Baby" many times. It is a great movie of that time period; right up there with anything with William Powell and Myrna Loy together.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I love hats and was a little disappointed when the lady at the Potato Barn said that we should try for hats. I suppose it makes sense as this is an indoor thing and the ladies of the era didn't wear hats indoors. But still, hats are fun.

Shoes are fun too, though, and I'm in love with the shoes I got, so it works out well. :)