Lazing on a Sunday afternoon...

Ok, more like collapsing! Stanimal and I spent the better part of this weekend working on our 5 year old canvas gazebo. We bought it for $200 and it was 50% off for an end of season sale. That gazebo has been through a lot, most notably flying over the fence a few years ago when we had 80 mph winds. It was bent and looked like it was trashed, but we straightened out the frame and reinforced a few spots with metal straps. The roof was all stained and gross so I proposed we paint it a dark earthy color. Stanimal was concerned it would be too dark on the deck so I decided to build a skylight for the center canopy topper. With heavy duty vinyl from the upholstery shop I used the existing topper as a pattern and made a replacement. We are very pleased with the paint and skylight, that old gazebo is ready to rock for at least a few more seasons!
Rejuvenated gazebo, $200 Save Mart grocery store over 5 years ago
60s caftan, $15 ebay a few months ago
60s jeweled sandals, $3 thrift store a few years ago

Op art project

Here find my latest in a long line of vintage clothing “projects”, clothes that need a little tlc before wearing! I bought this op art gem on etsy a few weeks ago for a mere $8. It was formerly a dress with a stain on the front, so the seller opted to cut and hem it into a tunic length shirt. I redid the hem to make it as long as possible and now I find it quite wearable indeed! The fabric pattern really sold me, though. Stanimal told me it hurt his eyes if he looked at it too long, which is considered a huge compliment to op art lovers such as ourselves! I busted out some 60s sunglasses Stanimal had bought me several years back, and accessorized with silver boots and stockings to let the print do the talkin’!
And to celebrate reaching 100 followers, the vintage purple necklace in the first picture is my giveaway prize! To enter: be a follower, like annimal house on facebook, and leave a comment! The more you comment, the more chances you have to win my necklace twin! On May 31 I will draw a random winner and ship that necklace your way! Thanks again, this has been a real groovy trip!!
60s op art tunic, $8 etsy a few weeks ago
60s silver vinyl go go boots, $100 ebay several years ago
60s yellow sunglasses, gift from Stanimal several years ago
60s necklace, $50 ebay seval years ago, last seen here

Something new…

…to me anyway! I forget sometimes that because others don’t share my out with the new philosophy, when I am stoked to have something “new” I really mean old. Ok, I’ll admit I do buy some items new and underwear immediately comes to mind! But for clothing and furniture in particular, I’d rather knock some dust off than throw away a bunch of toxic plastic packaging and have a poorly made, cookie cutter item. Ikea and H and M, I’m looking at you! Anyways, I am debuting a few “new” items that arrived this week that I won on ebay. This dress is especially appealing to me as the seller described it as being made by her mother many years ago. It’s a designer original! I love to imagine the lady picking out her fabric, deciding on the cut, and making the hem so very short!! It pairs nicely with my dangly necklace, and landing both items for $20 from the comfort of my home computer was rather nice indeed. But how do you think my new old items go with my old old items?
60s homemade psychedelic dress $15 ebay last week
60s white n gold dangly necklace $5 ebay last week
Sheer plum tights, 50 cents thrift store bin last week
Banana Republic plum boots, $40 ebay several years ago
70s furry brown hat, $25 ebay several years ago
60s sunglasses, made in Italy, gift from Stanimal many years ago

Swinginest Secretary, Moi?

Stanimal and I were delighted to attend the book signing party for our friend and thrice published author Lynn Peril! Her latest book is titled: Swimming in the Steno Pool, and I was enthusiastically awaiting it’s availability as her writing is always so witty and fun! Plus, she was hosting said event at the Smuggler’s Cove, a tiki bar in San Francisco I had yet to visit but was eager to! And not that I needed even more motivation, but she also presented an opportunity to enter a retro secretary contest!! Well, as you can probably imagine, that was right up my alley so I wore a recently acquired vintage dress, some old favorite 60s heels and a vintage purse that Stanimal found for me when he was out thrifting many years ago! I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and my expertly mixed sloe gin fizzes, the bartender was a stunning mixologist if I ever saw one! Then after visiting with our killer bay area peeps the contest began and we strutted our stuff down the stairs for the approval of the crowd and Lynn’s friends acting as judges! Well, a few lucky ladies including yours truly got gift bags and won in separate categories such as, most swinginest (me!), most reliable and a few others (my memory is obviously not so reliable, did I mention the amazing cocktails??). But the grand prize went to Carrie Swing for her 70s secretary rendition!  A killer time was had by all! Whatta way to commemorate Lynn’s latest in a long line of stunning achievements!

Color Me, Annimal!!

Stanimal has really outdone himself this time!! He has created a coloring page of me in our living room just for fun!! Please check out the color me annimal link on the sidebar to your right!! And don't worry about coloring within the lines, cuz you're just a jump and a click away from making me and mine any colors you please!! Enjoy!!!