Oh. My. Goodness.

Oh! My! Goodness! I just wanted to thank several bloggers who have very generously nominated my blog for awards lately. I feel so lucky to have the vintage/fashion blogging community. Everyone is so supportive and wonderful and being part of it has been such a great opportunity for me to meet other people with similar interests from all over the world. I really appreciate everyone who visits, comments and/or follows.

Thanks to Quincy of Q's Daydream for the Over The Top Award! (She has the most wonderful vintage style and Etsy shop if anyone hasn't visited yet.)


Thanks also to the very generous Ines of Cinnamon Eve for the following awards. I've admired her style (along with many others) so much and was so flattered that she would pass these along to me.




Thanks Amelia of Amelia is... for this award. If you haven't visited Amelia's blog yet, please do. I really admire that she creates all of the images on her site and that she takes the time to post every day. Its one of my daily must-views.


And finally to Kirsty of Giggly-Cupcake. Kirsty is such a sweetheart and her posts have an infectious quality to them that makes me happy whenever I read them.

I'm so bad for having waited to do this, I apologize to the people who thoughtfully mentioned me. There are various rules that go along with all of these, but I thought that I would just post seven random things about me as I was also tagged by Rebecca of Cubic Dreams to do a Random 7. So here goes...
..........................................................

1. When I was home last, my sister told me that when I really, truly smile, I still look like I did when I was a little girl.






2. I love Agatha Christie novels. I actually find the similarities in the plots and mysteries, and even the characters, comforting. We have a growing collection of them found in used book stores.

3. I also really love the smell of old books. I know now that this smell is really the mold in the pages spreading through them and ultimately destroying them, but I can't help it. They remind me of the playroom/dressing room where my grandparents kept lots of interesting things when I was growing up, including paperbacks from the 60's and 70's.

4. I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self not to worry so much about all the boys and men who broke my heart because one day a man would come along whose love would make me want to throw a ticker tape parade in our honor every day of our life together.



5. I've come to realize lately that my memory is triggered by smells and tactile experiences. My husband remembers everything, and can recall facts or events in chronological order. My mind resembles an old attic filled with random objects. I secretly like this about myself, but I'm not sure why.

6. If I were a fictional character, I would love, love, love to be Miss Marple, but I think more realistically I would be closer to Annie Hall...a little kooky, silly, not completely sure of herself and with a sense of style that tended towards the unconventional.

7. I've always liked my rooms to resemble old museums where the art on the walls climbs towards the ceiling, layered, instead of one right next to the other. I love the idea of order, but a lack of clutter might just drive me batty.







Thanks everybody! I'd like to pass on the Random 7 to Pemora of Urban Rhetoric, Hannah Sadie of Rethink, Gloria of Alla Cuelga MI Vestido, Anne of A Cup Full of Sunshine, Melly of Green Laundry, Sabrina of Slovly and MJ of dreaming spires and old car tyres.

Thanks ladies!

Blog Awards

I am so long overdue in writing this post! Over the past few months, three bloggers have nominated Kaleidoscopic Refrains for several awards and I would like to take a post to thank them. First is the always kind and generous Jessica Cangiano of Chronically Vintage. She has recently nominated my blog for two awards.

First was the "You're a Gem" Award

As a part of the award, Jessica wrote the following words. "Kaleidoscopic Refrains: Much like the effect seen through a kaleidoscopic, opals create a prismastica rainbow effect as you peer at their surface. Thus this colourful stone reminds me of the variable feast of loveliness to be found on this blog."

In addition, she also nominated me for the Stylish Blogger Award. Thanks so much Jessica!

A few days ago, Anne from A Cup Full of Sunshine nominated the blog for the Beautiful Blogger Award. I've only recently discovered this blog, and now always look forward to her new posts. Thanks so much Anne!

As a part of the Stylish Blogger award and the Beautiful Blogger award, I am to list things about myself that my readers may not know. I've done this a few times before, but its been a while, so...here goes:)

1. I practice Yoga at least twice weekly. While doing it, I usually listen to either the sound track of The Royal Tenenbaums or that of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

2. I own so many belts that the rack recently fell off of the wall under their weight. Its a little embarrassing, but I don't intend to get rid of any of them. Instead, I bought a different type of rack.

3. When I was a senior in high school, I won a writing scholarship and had a poem published in an anthology of young authors. Unfortunately, the award didn't come close to covering the tuition of the private university that offered it.

4. One of my favorite singers is Jolie Holland. When I saw her in concert last year, I thought I might swoon. Her music somehow reminds me of home and, at the same time, some otherworldly place that I would like to visit in my dreams. I also really love Dinah Washington.

5. My husband did not propose to me. One night we were joking about getting married when I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I asked him in all seriousness if he wanted to do so. We talked about it and decided together. After that night and until our wedding day, he randomly proposed to me in various places and I came up with different responses each time...each one resulting in a yes.

6. I devoured American Pastoral recently. Having never previously read Philip Roth's work, I didn't realize how the force of his prose can propel the reader forward through his works.

7. One of the best come on lines that I've ever heard is: "Which magazine did you just step out of? Because I need a twenty year subscription!" An elderly man said this to me in a bakery about two months ago and I couldn't help but smile all the way home.

8. I've never tasted a twinkie. My husband thinks that I missed out on a vital part of childhood because of this. I'm not so sure.

9. My favorite movies to watch when I'm down are Hannah and Her Sisters, Sleepless in Seattle, Serendipity and The Double Life of Veronique. Dan always knows that its been a bad day when he comes home and one of those is playing.

10. I love to cook and find it relaxing. It all started in grad school when I was so busy thinking about Foucault and the linguistic turn and historical theory that I thought my head was going to explode. Cooking dinner for Dan and I felt like something that I could do besides studying without feeling guilty. So I made risotto, I roasted and stuffed chickens, I made reductions, I experimented with tortes and cakes and I loved it. Now, when I come home from work, it often feels more like a form of meditation than a chore to cook dinner.

I was also so flattered to receive the "xxtraodinary blogger" award from DustJacket Attic, who always takes the time and effort to not only read my posts, but to always leave the most wonderful comments. It really means so much to me.

For the Stylish and Beautiful Blogger Awards, I'd like to nominate the following blogs (in no particular order):

Lisa's Likes

GreenLaundry

Leproust Vintage

dreaming spires and old car tyres

Blooming Leopold Vintage

The Frivolous Flapper

Q's Daydream Vintage

A Thought Is The Blossom

Barbro Andersen

*Felinofelice


And for the XXtraordinary Blogger Award, I'd like to nominate

Little Boat

our.city.lights

SLOVLY

Much Love

Amelia Is

I'm sorry this post was so long! Thanks also to everyone who commented on my last one. I really appreciated everything you wrote.

Blog Award Rules:

1) Thank the person who nominated you for the award.
2) Copy the award & place it on your blog.
3) Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4) If you'd like to do so, tell us 10 interesting things about yourself.
5) Also, if you want to, nominate 10 bloggers.
6) Post links to the 10 blogs you nominate.

Kreativ Blogger Awards

Today when I opened my e-mail account, I had the most wonderful surprise. Lemondrop Marie nominated me for a Kreativ Blogger Award! So thank you to that wonderful and inspiring vintage huntress/librarian for the nod...if you haven't been to her blog yet, I highly recommend it, along with her Etsy shop:)

As part of the award, here are seven interesting things about me...

1. I was a debutante. White dress, white gloves, pearls, and one heck of a party. Dancing with my brother was the best part of the night.

2. I lived in Tuscany for six months in graduate school, attending the University of Siena and doing research in their state archives. In that time, I figured out how much I'm really capable of. Before I left I had only taken introduction to Italian I and II and had no real experience actually speaking the language.

3. I fell in love once in Paris on one very long June night what seems like a very, very long time ago. It was one of the most memorable nights of my life and even though it didn't work out, I'm glad that we shared the experience. Finding him on the crowded platform of Gare Du Nord two days later was a magical thing.

4. I got married in a court house in Chicago the day after St. Patrick's Day three years ago, wore a vintage blue cocktail dress with clovers printed all over it, and our cake was a St. Patrick's Day one left over from the day before. That may have been the best day of my life. I actually giggled when saying my vows.

5. I have a deep and abiding love for religious art, particularly Medieval Italian icons and Russian Orthodox icons. I actually own a 19th century Russian icon of the saints of marriage and family and its my prized possession. That being said, visiting Mark Rothko chapels gives me the same feeling as looking at religious art. It makes me happy to be near them.

6. My first crushes were on Rudolph Valentino (too much Turner Classic Movies:) and 60's era, boy band Beatles George Harrison. I used to sneak my dad's vintage Beatles records into my room and play them on my Fischer Price record player... he wasn't too pleased with me when he found out:)

7. When I was little, I grew so fast that people assumed I was developmentally challenged. I actually looked like I was five when I was two. No joke, in ballet class photos, I resemble a giant beside the other girls. I think that was the year I grew a whole foot. I'm now five foot ten and a half inches tall and have been that way since I was about 12.

And here is a list of seven other Kreativ Bloggers that I would like to nominate:


chickendinnercandybar

strawberry koi

Lagelle

the cats pajamas

Vixen Vintage

Keep It To Yourself

Felinofelice

Thanks too to everyone who commented on my last blog post! I was afraid that I sounded like such a big complainer...but was heartened by what you all wrote:) I think the funk is gone for good now!

Nominee Rules:
• Thank the person who nominated you for the award
• Copy the logo and place it on your blog
• Link to the person who nominated you for this award
• List seven things about yourself that people might find interesting
• Nominate and post links to the seven Kreativ Bloggers you nominate
• Leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated