"Hey, are you Hipsters or Amish?"

Perhaps I'm a total nerd. I probably am, after all I was home schooled. It seems home schoolers are in a class of nerdom all their own. But in a good way. They usually don't worry about following the newest coolest trends, they listen to the music that they love, wear what they like, and pretty much know who they are as a person. They aren't afraid of not fitting in, and don't have as much peer pressure to fit into the way things are "supposed" to be. Home schooling shaped my life in so many ways and it has made me who I am today.

 Keeping that in mind, My sister, Anna, and I were driving about town all afternoon, to the coffee shop, fabric store, and finally to the park to get pictures of my newest dress that I sewed. All while I was wearing my new 1950's dress I sewed, which I am completely not afraid to wear out on a day to day basis. This time I made an actual vintage pattern from the 1950's. (Vogue 8789).

 We were standing by the swings, taking photos, when a group of about four teenagers noticed us. One of the boys, no older than sixteen, yelled loudly across the park in our direction, asking if we were Amish.

I didn't really pay much heed, not sure they were talking to us, and continued snapping pictures.

"Hey, are you guys Amish?!" they yelled again, this time most definitely at us.

I smiled to myself, wondering that they did not know a 1950's dress when they saw it and instead thought me and my sister were Amish for merely wearing a pretty dress. It made me feel a bit sad that no one dresses up anymore, and that by simply wearing a pretty full skirted vintage dress they assumed we were Amish.

The boy was yelling rather rudely across the park at us though, and I wouldn't have minded answering them if they had been a bit gentlemanly and come up and asked politely. But yelling at two young ladies they had never seen before, half way across the park, was just childish, and rude. Perhaps I was a bit stand offish, but I didn't want to answer them when they behaved like that. If they had been nice about it I would have answered. So I ignored them, and we both decided we wanted to go to a more peaceful part of the park, away from the troubled youths, as we so lovingly refer to boys such as that.

I took a few steps and then came the best line I have heard in a long time.

"Hey! Are you hipsters or Amish?"

Now I have had many random things said to me, but never have had the comparison of hipsters to Amish. I wouldn't have known what to say, even if I did answer, but as it was I was already dieing of laughter inside.

Do you get odd comments when you wear a vintage or old fashioned dress?

Choosing a Romantic Life

“I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and... I believe in miracles” ~ Audrey Hepburn.

So what do I mean by romantic? I think of words like: 

Quaint -- old fashioned -- Anne of Green Gables -- pretty things -- lace -- flowers -- cute dresses -- the smell of the wild wooded countryside -- Grandma's chocolate cake -- hand written notes -- the smell of a wood fire -- a warm summer thunderstorm -- hope chests -- cascading locks of hair -- pretty painted nails -- a worn Bible -- Christmas mornings -- picnics on a checkered blanket -- pretty kitchen dishes -- hand quilted quilts worn with passing time -- warm mittens and socks -- hot cocoa on a cold wind blown day -- rosy cheeks -- a room lit by candle light --  A bed time talk with  a sister

An old fashioned, nostalgic, sense of the word. Seizing all the moments of the day to day things that pass us up so fast. An innocent childlike wonder at the things around us. Things that we often don't have time for. The things that our grand children will think so quaint and old fashioned are right before our eyes. 

I believe God gave me so many blessings in my life, and I don't want to miss those sweet little romantic happenings that make my life so special. I want to remember these moments, I want to create beautiful things. I want to make things pretty if I can. If I make lemonade in a ugly plastic cup and I have a cute thrifted ball jar, I want to use it instead. It isn't much, but it is pretty. Not that life is all about pretty things, but I see no harm in making it a little bit prettier if I have the chance too. 

Some may think it's shallow of me to do so, but I so long for the quaint old romantic things in life. I try to see the beauty in small things and make memories that last a lifetime. This is a fallen world, but God is so gracious to me that He has given me so many little romantic things to fill my life with if I choose to see them. But I have to make a conscious decision to see them because discontent and jealousy have blinded me before. Blogs can seem so perfect, and I can sometimes feel suddenly discontent with my own life. But your life can be quaint and romantic if you choose to see it.

What do you believe? Do you also long for a romantic life? 

P.S. this post was first inspired by my lovely friend Katie's post on her blog. Here.

Long Hair Care // Oiling

When I first heard about oiling I was clueless to what it meant, how you did it, etc. When I looked into it more I was a bit overwhelmed on how varied the term oiling was! There was coconut oil, jojoba oil, grape seed oil, extra virgin olive oil, sweet almond oil, among others. Some people oiled there hair when it was wet right after a shower, some oiled it when it was dry, some did light oiling, some deed deep oil treatments, some mixed essential oils in with their base/carrier oil, the possibilities were endless! I didn't know where to start so I just dove into it and experimented with a few different methods.

First off, what is oiling supposed to do for your hair? Basically it seals moister in the hair, protecting the fragile dry ends and making it feel wonderfully smooth. It also helps tame flyaway hairs and frizz. It's like leave-in conditioner -- only better!

My favorite method:  Light Oiling
I use this method every few days as needed, especially after a wash when hair tends to be drier. I have tried coconut oil, and though it smells wonderful, my hair doesn't like it very much. So I have switched over to jojoba oil. I LOVE this oil. I use it for my face washes, and my hair, and a few drops in a bath makes my skin so soft. Jojoba oil technically isn't even an oil at all, it's a liquid wax. Don't ask me to get into the technical aspect of that, because I don't know much about the difference between waxes and oils.

Jojoba oil is the closest of the oils to sebum, the natural oil your scalp produces. That is what first sold me on jojoba oil, since it mimics your natural oil so well. It doesn't seep into your hair strands like coconut oil does, but instead stays on the outside of the cuticles, providing a barrier between the hair strands and the elements it comes against (wind, dirt, etc).

To apply a light oiling, I stoop over bending at the waist, and let all my hair fall over in front of my face. After I comb it out with either my fingers or my trusty wooden comb, I pour only a drop or two of the oil onto my hands, rub them together so that all I can see is a light gleam of the oil on my palms. Then focusing mostly at the ends of my hair, I proceed to gently rub my palms over the length, until it is well soaked in. Then I usually take my bristle boar brush and gently brush through it several times.

Your hair should feel soft, but not wet or stringy. If it's oily looking you probably put too much oil on to begin with. Less is more in this case.

There are other methods to oil your hair, including heavy oil treatments, but I have not yet experimented with them that much, so I will post more about them when I have tried them more fully.

Stay tuned for more long hair care. I have a whole plethora of information I am eager to share with any of you who may be trying to grow long healthy hair! 

My Long Hair Journey

Well no, my hair is not long yet. But it will be. It is the longest it has been since I was little though. Like many girls ever since I was little I wanted long hair worthy of a princess. It never seemed like it would come true though, hair just takes so long to grow and the younger you are the slower time ticks by. With big trims and whatnot, my hair never grew very long.

Fast forward a few years. Summer 2009 I got The Big Cut. An hour afterwards I hated it with a passion. I did not like chin length hair on me at all. That was also the first year I went to a renaissance faire -- hence the snood, to hide how short my hair was!

 

The following summer though my hair was a bit past shoulder length, and though I still wanted to grow it out, I make the mistake of getting lots of choppy layers thrown into it. I realized my mistake then and vowed never to get layers in it again. So another year went by, and all that year I kept cutting back one layer at a time, till it was roughly where I had started, but this time it was all one layer I can assure you.  

Three years after The Big Cut, I am in the abyss of mid back territory. It is a much friendlier length to deal with than APL (arm pit length), but a far cry from long. My hair is very thick, so it needs to be super long for me to do any descent up does, not even to speak of any braided up does of any sort. Right now my goal is hip length. I'm figuring 1 1/2 to 2 years away (at the most).

Over the past year however, I have learned so much hair care information. When I decided I wanted to grow it long and healthy, I made up my mind to take care of it as best as I could. So I studied, and studied, and studied. It was fascinating to learn all the different methods of hair care. I tried a bunch of different things, and am on my way to my dream hair. <3

Coming up: I'm going to post all about what I've learned, from oiling, essential oils, no poo method, conditioner only method, baking soda and apple cider vinegar rinses, boar bristle brushes, wooden combs, sleep caps, and much much more!

Gretel

"Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel..."

A few days ago it was damp and dark and rainy all afternoon and into the evening. My sister Anna and I had to go to the park and get a photo shoot to suit the mood of the weather, and seeing that we had just gotten this German drindl dress outfit, there was nothing better to do than to have a full force Hansel and Gretle photo shoot -- minus Hansel, of course, since we didn't have a brother around to go out with us. I had fun taking the photos for a change, and Anna is the perfect model for Gretel. <3