SO I did it guys I finally bought a domain and switched to wordpress. I’ve been thinking about making the switch for awhile and finally I just decided to do it already! anyway please update your links to the new site https://www.blackcatlies.com ! I’ll be posting here from now on and I’d love for you to continue to follow along!
This thing called life
Prince Rogers Nelson 1958-2016
As pretty much everyone knows at this point Prince died Thursday of unknown causes at Paisley Park. I won’t lie that day was a pretty rough one for my family. My mom is a huge Prince fan and has been since the early 80’s. I was raised on Prince, he was one of a few artist my mom would blare loudly on Saturday mornings when I was a kid as she cleaned the house. And as a local (and international) Icon his music has always played on the radio here no matter what the station. Possibly rarest of all is that he stayed in Minnesota and was really a part of the community. There are other celebrities from Minnesota but very few still make Minnesota their main residence ( and weather wise that’s understandable) but the fact that Prince stayed always made us love him even more.
So even though I never met Prince and didn’t know him it was almost like he was part of the family, as silly as that sounds. When we heard he had died, officially, the rest of the day was pretty much a loss. I even cried which legit I’ve only done for one other celebrity, my fave Amy Winehouse. I was so glad I got to see him live earlier this year but deeply saddened and in stunned disbelief that he was really gone. While there were many dance parties and events that night I just couldn’t bring myself to mourn that way. I love to dance, but I just didn’t feel like dancing that day. I did though love seeing some of the performers on live-streams via facebook. After a few days it’s definitely gotten better and i’m moved on from just being sad to being able to really celebrate his life. May he rest in purple.
One hell of a Groovy Spring/summer ’15
Temperatures are finally starting to rise and that means it’s time to start seriously thinking about some spring/summer inspiration. This year I’ve been really into the 70’s trend. I’m all for the return of flares, A-line skirts, fringe, denim, suede, and all the glories that come along with the trend. I’m also digging the sort of boho look that can also work well with the 70’s trend. Anyway here’s a little mood board of the items and outfit inspiration i’ll be trying to channel as the the temperatures rise. You can also check out my pinterest board of the same theme here.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2014 was a decent year for me but definitely not my best. While some things continued to be awesome last year the thing I wanted to change the most didn’t end up working out in my favor. But I’m thinking 2015 will be my year, I have this weird thing about odd numbered years being some of my best and I think I’ve got some good momentum going into this new year. That also means I want to start blogging again! sorry that sort of fell off… But I figured what better time to get back into the blogging spirit than a new year. Unfortunately I didn’t really wear anything interesting on New Years Eve, but I wanted to check in anyway and promise more blog posts this year. Hope you all had a great New Years Eve and have an amazing 2015!
Architecual Excellence: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southern Florida College pt. 1
A little over a year ago my mom and I went on a little vacation to Florida to escape the (incredibly) long 2013 winter ( it snowed here in May last year, MAY!). You can see my first post here of our time in the Florida Keys. We also spent time in Disney world/ Universal Studios but i’ll probably only ever show bits and pieces of those pics. Anyway the main reason we went to Florida was to go on a tour of Florida Southern College that has some Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings. We also saw some cool Sarasota style mid century ( and one newer) homes, another post with those is coming soon. Anyway here’s a look at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings from Southern Florida College.
The first building we went into was the Thad Buckner Building. Originally it was a library and reading room but now it’s used as a Florida Southern College’s Frank Lloyd Wright visitor center. It’s a very cool semi-circular building that has a gift shop and showcases some of the original Frank Lloyd Wright furniture.
Wright was a strong believer in designing buildings that fit the surrounding landscape. So many of his houses in warmer climates use materials that fit their surroundings like sand etc. Some of the housese he built in Califorina, which are also some of my favorites, have a similar look.
Usonian Reproduction
Wright had plans to build his famous Usonian houses around the campus for Professor housing etc. Usonian houses were Wright’s idea of the middle class affordable home. None were actually completed on the campus (if I remember correctly) but the plans were left there so the college decided to try and construct a usonian using Frank Lloyd Wrights plans and trying their best (with lots of trial and error) to reconstruct his molds and materials. When I went it was still unfinished, but having looked at the college’s website recently it looks as if it’s now finished.
Lucius Pond Ordway Building
I didn’t get a photo of the outside of this building, but I believe it now serves as a theater arts building and is home to Wright’s theater in the round. The acoustics in the theater are very impressive and as always it’s painted in Wrights favorite Cherokee red.
Polk County Science Building
There is a Wright designed planetarium in the science building.
A hallway inside the building. Isn’t that swan cool? I want one.
You’ll see a bunch of photo’s of these covered walkways, they’re called esplanades and are also Wright designed. I took a bunch of photos of them as they run across a majority of the campus and beacuse…
Their joints form a ” Z”! Yes that was exciting for me, don’t judge. When you have a name that starts with a not so popular letter you take what you can get. Plus I mean it’s pretty cool. In the background you can see a little of a non- Frank Lloyd Wright building on campus. I will admit it was a bit odd to see brick buildings among the very distinctive Wright designed ones.
Those are all the photo’s I’ll share for this post but be I’ll be sure to post the rest of the pictures, which include my favorite building on FSC’s campus, in a few days.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Well it’s December and it seems here in Minnesota as soon as the first came around mother nature took notice and it’s been serious winter weather ever since. It snowed round these parts last Wednesday and then again Sunday. In between snow storms we’ve been having frigid temps (Saturday’s high was -2). Yeah it’s been one of those “Why do we live here again?” kind of weeks. Anyway frigid temps and snow mean unpacking all your winter accessories and quick! Unfortunately when I unpacked mine I was less than thrilled. Seems my winter wardrobe is in need of a winter accessory overhaul. The top things on my list are a cute winter hat, preferably with a pom pom, and a circle/infinity scarf. Above are some of my favorites from around the interwebs.
Junk Bonanza 2013
Junk Bonanza is a local vintage/antique/re-purpose fair here in Minnesota. My mom heard about it three years ago and this is our third time going (you can read about my experience last year here). This year we went on thursday, the first day of the event, since we both happened to have that day off. Even though I don’t always buy something at the Bonanza it’s always fun to go, you never know what you might find. It’s also fun to see stuff that is harder to find in thrift stores and/or gone quickly at estate sales. So, I’m always excited when september rolls around and Junk Bonanza is close. But I have to admit the allure is waning a bit for me, there just seems to be more re-purposing than vintage junk. Since i’m looking for more vintage/antique it can be a bit dissapointing. We only ended up going home with a few things, which i’ll feature in another post, but failed to find anything amazing. Nonetheless I did take some pictures of some of the cool wares available for sale.
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| Owl lamp. |
This lamp looks a lot like my table and makes me wonder if someone took a lamp and made it into a table. Either way this lamp is pretty cool
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| A cool way to re-purpose an old globe. |
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| mid century green lamp |
I’m always on the lookout for cool mid-century lamps at vintage strores/fairs. I found some cool ones at Junk Bonanza but none that were soo cool I had to take them home
This hair dryer chair turned lamp was really cool and a great idea for what to do with those cool old beauty salon chairs/ hair dryers.
This was an old mailbox. It was sold but would be a really cool statement piece in someones home. There seemed to be a lot more industrial pieces this year.
Chalkware figurines a plenty. My mom ended up buying those two turquoise cats.
This rope love seat was pretty cool though I can’t imagine it being comfortable. I mean it must be itchy.
More industrial stuff on display at the bonanza.
Cool stump coffee table.
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| These lamps made out of photo/ slideshow film were pretty cool |
This is probably the coolest way to display a camera collection ever! This makes me want to collect old cameras just so I can display them the same way.
Cool vintage Halloween display, a cool mid-century lamp and an interesting re-purposed cigar box lamp.
Bracelets made out of old appliance tags.
This Pink cart you can kind of see above was and old manicurist table from the 50’s. It had it’s own lamp, was a really cute pink color. and was probably the coolest thing I saw at the bonanza. I’m a little sad I didn’t get it.
Cool mid-century black cats.
This sunburst clock was really cool but at $50.00 I just couldn’t take the plunge.
Cool old vampire doll and stuffed … animal (I have no idea what animal that is).
This tulip chair was really cool and I’m kind of dying to have a tulip table and chairs set but it was pricey so I left it.
This booth had a lot of cool mid- century stuff but It was all pretty expensive.
How cute is this pink record player?!?!?!!!!! I wanted it but it was $150.00 or so and I just couldn’t. One day I will find a cool old record player at at thrift store, ONE DAY!!!
They were selling these rakes as wine glass holders, which is cool but I mean it can’t be that hard to make. Get rake, take off stick, hang on wall, display wine glasses, BAM.
Anyway it was cool to see all the different items for sale at Junk Bonanza but I’m not sure if I’ll make it next year or not. I may need to look for a fair that’s more vintage/antique heavy and less re-purposed.
Bloglovin’ it
Hey guys! Just a reminder that Google Reader Offically closes it’s proverbial doors July 1st. If you don’t already you can follow me on Bloglovin’ and there’s still (fleeting) time to transfer all you blogs from google reader to Bloglovin’.
Temporarily out of service
Sneak peak of some of my vacation photos.
Hey guys!! Sorry the blog has been super quiet lately. My computer died and I have no idea what computer I should buy as a replacement. If you happen to be a techie and/or have any good laptop advice/ tips do tell, I’m in desperate need!
I have a bunch of outfit posts to get to and recent vacaton/ roadtrip photos to post but they’re gonna have to wait until I get another computer. I can post via my iPod touch but it’s not exactly the best way to blog and I can only post photos that are on my iPod. Anyway if you want to keep up with me for at least the next week follow me on Instagram ( @blackcatlies) and I’ll be back to posting regularly ASAP.
Fuckery
So apparently Google Reader will be no more soon and I’m not really sure what that means or if it effects Google friend connect, but I’ve seen enough warnings that I figured I should just put one up for good measure. Anyway if you’re like me and are just unsure what it all means a good way to make sure all the blogs you follow are safe is to import them to Bloglovin’. If you don’t have a bloglovin’ account it’s pretty easy to do and a good way to keep track of all your blogs. Anyway if you already have a bloglovin’ account then all you have to do is go to the account button on the upper right hand corner, click on settings and then click on import blogs which is located at the bottom of the settings page in the “other” category. This will insure that whatever Google ends up doing all your favorite blogs, including this one, will be safe. If you don’t feel like importing all your blogs you can just click on the bloglovin’ button in the “follow me” side bar and you can just follow my blog on bloglovin’.