Friday, June 23, 2017

Birthday


Monday this week was my 27th birthday. I found this birthday more difficult than most since my health has had me in a bit of a slump lately. My thyroid issues are actually a lot better, but my cfs/me has been bad lately and left me with very little energy for fun. Luckily, I managed to get out and have an enjoyable (low-key) birthday. We went to my fav. small town for coffee and a wander in the afternoon, followed by takeout from a local restaurant and a relaxing family dinner at home. 

Of course I needed a special birthday outfit. It was rather tricky picking something out this year though. The heat/humidity was a major concern, plus I have lost some weight (yay, thyroid!) and a lot of my clothes don't fit quite right. I finally decided on this skirt, which is an old favourite but which hasn't fit in a long time. The plaid print is very similar to the Gordon tartan (part of my family originally emigrated from Scotland and that was their clan), which makes it extra special. The skirt was me-made a long time ago and has a matching cape (which I was not going to wear in this heat!). The blouse was bought many years ago from a store that no longer exists, and the hat was purchased as one of my first forays into vintage fashion. It's not actually vintage but I've always thought it looks rather 1930s.  

And below we have a picture of my homemade Birthday Cake. It's a grain-free, gelatin-free, refined-sugar-free cheesecake, sweetened with fruit (blueberries, strawberries, and cherries) and a just a spoonful or two of local honey. The crust is made from almonds, pecans, coconut, and some cacao powder. I also made three fruit whipped creams to match the swirls of fruit in the cheesecake and decorated with an edible flower. It was delicious.

I recieved lots of lovely gifts from my family, most of which I've photographed below:



In other news, I just completed my first short film and have posted it over on my YouTube channel. It's completely different than what I normally do, but it was a lot of fun to make:



If you prefer my regular content, this week's video was a Colleen Moore makeup tutorial:



I have also finally made an Instagram account! I don't have a cell-phone and up until recently was not able to use all the features using their computer interface. However, they just updated it and I am now able to use all the features I was missing before. I haven't quite decided how I'm going to use it yet. It won't replace my blog, but I'll likely use it to post things that seem out of place on here (such as photos from old magazines, what I'm reading, maybe some works in progress for the shop, etc). My account is thelonghairedflapper (same name as my youtube channel) and I've added to link to the bar at the top of my blog.

I'll admit I was hesitant to join. I don't need one more thing to keep track of and Instagram seems to have less substance than blogs. While I like pretty pictures, I do also like reading and learning about people and various historical topics. However, over the past year or two it seems like more and more of the vintage community has stopped blogging and switched to Instagram. I understand it's appeal but I do miss the deeper conversations/connections that blogging gives. I'm going to give it a go and try to use it in a way that feels right for me.
As I just signed up, I'm not following many people yet so if you have an account let me know!

I hope everyone had a great week.

That's All. 

11 comments:

  1. I thought your video 'The Map' was really inventive!

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  2. Did you need many people helping to make the film? I think it fed into an idea I'd had to make some sort of film but hadn't done anything about it. Do you have video camera?

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    1. The film was 98% just done by me and a tripod. My friend Britt obviously also helped by acting in the film (as the Victorian ghost), but all the camera work, editing and such was just me. I used a Canon Vixia camcorder to film it, which is what I use to film all my YouTube videos now. I think I may have also used some camera lights for the indoor scenes (my house is usually too dark inside for proper filming/photography).

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  3. Hello Kate,

    Sending you many Happy Birthday Wishes, so sorry I'm late ..
    Sounds to me like you had a very lovely day with those who are special to you ..
    My fave birthday activity is a trip to the local second hand shops in our area ..

    Sadly, this week we had some hail and my poor flower garden took a beating ..
    Living in the Niagara area, some of the local farms got hit too ..

    On a brighter note, I am ecstatic with your Silent film on YouTube..
    You have a natural gift, have you ever thought of being an extra for Murdoch Mysteries.. ?
    I'm not kidding, you are so photogenic,
    I am not and I can't even look natural, I get too nervous when I see a camera..
    Loved the Colleen Moore video as well ...
    Looking forward to seeing another Mary Pickford video from you..
    Have you ever heard of silent actress Madge Bellamy..?
    She was in a film with Jack Pickford, and on YouTube there is a radio interview with her,
    describing Mary Pickford doing her hair up, it is the first time I have ever heard
    just how Mary did up her hair, I knew she used kid curlers ..

    If you got to YouTube and type in the below, you can hear her description, I hope you enjoy and find it helpful.

    …Madge Bellamy on Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin - Radio Interview

    Kind Regards, Pamela









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    1. Sorry to hear about the hail! We had several days of thunderstorms that destroyed most of our roses around the same time. There has been some wild weather lately!

      And thank you for the lovely compliment. I've always thought I was fairly unphotogenic, but I suppose I spend a lot of time editing and see all the clips/pictures that don't make the cut. Being an extra would be really neat though. My dad actually did lot of extra work back in the 1980's and he quite enjoyed it, although the days were fairly long and a bit boring.

      I must look up that interview!!! I have seen Madge Bellamy in at least a movie or two (although not the one she was in with Jack Pickford) so I am somewhat familiar with her. I've looked for ages to find an actual report of how Mary Pickford did her hair but have never come across that interview. It can be hard to reverse engineer hairstyles from 100 years ago since techniques and styling tools have changed so much. I'm convinced Mary had her hair done differently for portraits though, as it never seems to look quite the same as in movies.

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    2. I do hope you are able to find that interview. I too have searched trying to find anything about how Mary created the heavy wave on top that cascades into those long ringlets. Lillian Gish wrote about using kid curlers, but when I heard Madge Bellamy explaining the technique, I could visualize it all, and finally the creation of that famous head of hair made sense. However, you are correct about the type of styling tools of today. That tutorial you did last year was extremely close, the best I've ever seen.
      Funny, we sometimes are our own worst critics, I have never seen an unphotogenic image of you yet, it must run in your family if your dad was an extra.

      Very Kindest Regards, Pamela

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  4. A belated happy birthday! Glad you were able to enjoy the day. I really think you can't beat a hat with a veil, they are so glamorous. Just watched 'The Map', really got drawn into the story. The use of effects and atmospheric music was so clever. Haven't got around to Instagram yet, although some of the vintage blogs I follow seem to have migrated there entirely. A blog post feels more conversational, more of an exchange somehow, but will check out your Instagram, I really should see what I'm missing. Samantha x

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    1. I was quite surprised when I went through my blog list how many blogs have stopped blogging in the last year and moved over to instagram. I even found a few ex-bloggers who had stopped years ago but are now very active over there. It is a lot easier to post and scroll through a lot of posts, so I can understand it's popularity, but I agree that it is a lot less conversational. I'd miss my blog conversations if I moved over there entirely! I think I prefer Instagram used in tandem with other social media forms (such as blogging or youtube) since then you get the best of both worlds.

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  5. Glad you had a nice birthday. You sure received a lot of nice presents. Enjoy. I love that plaid skirt. Wishing you a year of happiness,good health and blessings.
    HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY
    Marilyn

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