Since I have been the biggest slacker this summer, I’m just now putting up the pictures of us from the Northside Fourth of July parade. Honestly I was waiting to see if I could get higher resolution copies of these pictures from the people who took them, but no luck. I apologize for the sub-par quality on them, I had to save Facebook versions which we all know have crap resolution.
In past years we just kind of crashed the parade from our friend Skip’s house since it’s right on the route, and this year was no different! We still are official members, but if you start at the beginning you have to wait in a hot parking lot for an hour before it even starts. This year we wanted to actually do something a little political so our theme was ‘Disaster at Muscle Beach’.
The muscle man that Skip hired was a HUGE hit.
The lovely Sam gettin' all gussied up, taken by Rachel Elliott
Mabel was rockin' my hat hard!
Rachel always makes me look so good!
Maya the hula hoop queen
I love that freakin' dress.
The palest person and the most tan person
Although I look like Vanna White in this one, I was actually tossing candy filled eggs at kids.
Skip and the muscle man
I don't know how David Sorcher made it look like we were all dancing in unison, but it's AMAZING!!
We had a such a fantastic time again this year and can’t wait to do it again next year! <3 Northside!!
I have to say that I ashamed how I have been neglecting my blog lately, my life has been kind of a roller coaster lately. Anyway, enough excuses- only cool stuff from here on out.
After the fashion show, the ladies and I went drinking at this great dive gay bar downtown called The Subway. On our walk over we passed the House of Adam, a men’s clothing store that specializes in such things as blue zoot suits and tri color snakeskin shoes. So we had to pay some respect..
House of prayer
After much hiking around in our heels, we finally got to The Subway were lots of drinks and fun ensued. Sadly they had long since planned to shut down and closed their doors last week. Lucky for you we took lots of pictures in their super gross bathroom though! Maya and I started out in the ladies’ room because they allowed us to illegally smoke in there.
Once Dana and Melissa came to join us we migrated over to the men’s room. Good thing I’ve never seen more than 3 people in that bar at any time- not that I’m above peeing in a mens’ room to avoid a super long line at the ladies’ room. Anyway, I love how both of these came out.
Upsidana
Peep show!
Here’s what Maya and I wore:
We didn't even plan to pose the same way, it just happened!
We went to the finale of Fashion Week too, but all of my pictures came out horribly. The few that did come out were of some of the impeccably dressed ladies I saw, so I’m pretty happy about that. See who you recognize from the past few entries:
One of our fabulous cutomers, Shawna
My buddies!
Doesn't this girl and her adorable dress just make you happy?
We had a great time and were really glad to be involved all in all. Thanks to all the people who made Cincinnati’s first Fashion Week a huge success!
As you can probably tell I am waaayy behind in my posts. It has been another insane week full of fun and Fashion Week, so not much to complain about. Here are the rest of the pictures from the Spring Soiree at the shop, although these are of our magnificently dressed friends and customers!
Can you believe that she has THREE kids?
The fabulous Dana
Don't mess with Tyrell.
One of our fantastic photographers for the day, Rachel Elliott
Our other amazing photographer, Amy Rudnik.
Our girl Abiyah looking stunning as always!
Another excellent Fancypack!
Hope you enjoyed them!
Even though I’ve known Dana for a while now, somehow I had never seen any of her bands play before. I had been to a few shows but always missed them by a few minutes. So when she told me that Culture Queer was playing last Thursday, I knew I had to be there. I was so happy to finally catch them! They all definitely blew me away. I see Dana as such a strong, balls out, get shit done kind of woman, that her soft, sweet singing voice really surprised me. It was nice to go out on a week night too, that almost never happens.
I was pretty stoked to rock my new dot tights with shorts, and thought it would be the perfect occasion. They aren’t exactly the kid I want, but they’re the closest I could find. I was feeling lazy though too so I just recycled my hat, shoes, and jewelry from the day before.
WHAT: gray floppy hat, borrowed from boyfriend
anchor necklace, thrift
egg shaped sweatshirt, target
white t, rainbow
jeans, hand me downs
dot tights, forever 21
WHERE: culture queer show at mayday
WHEN: thursday, december 24
Culture Queer in action
With the year coming to a close, I have been thinking back over what 2009 brought me. I feel so incredibly lucky to have been offered all the opportunities that I got this year, from opening a vintage store with two amazing ladies to meeting the man of my dreams. I sometimes feel like I’m dreaming when I realize that I am actually getting paid to do what I love and always dreamed of doing. I just always assumed that owning a store is something I wouldn’t be able to do until I was much older. And so I am doing a little tribute to the remarkable woman who invited me into her life and business, Dana Hamblen.
I met Dana through her sister Maya, who is one of my best friends. Maya had been telling me for weeks that I was going to lose my shit when I saw her store. She was completely right. I will never forget how amazed and excited I was when I walked in. It’s not that Cincinnati has no good vintage, it’s just that they’re all really high priced, and I don’t shop like that. So needless to say I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I saw really unique pieces all under like $15.
Of course since Dana is a total badass, that is not all she does. She works full time at Lightborne, a production studio here in Cincy, and she’s also a member of The Fairmount Girls, Culture Queer, and Darlene. I just honestly don’t know where she finds the time to breathe. While I was searching her on Google, I found this City Beat (Cincinnati’s artsy paper) article about her. They call her an indie rock goddess in the headline. I’d say they got it right.
This is an old picture of her, but she just looks so damn badass I couldn't resist using it.
Not only is she a woman that I respect and admire for all of her accomplishments, she also is one of the most generous and big-hearted people I know. And from the bottom of my heart I thank her for everything she has helped me do. You’re the best Dana.
