Greenwich Village in the 1950s

The other night while lying in bed surfing the web I came upon a series of really beautiful photos that I wanted to share with you guys.

They are photos of New York City's Greenwich Village in the 1950s.

These photos are amazing! They really give you a feeling of what it was like to live and play in the Village at that time.

 I love the Village. It has always been a place of artists, musicians, and all sorts of other creative people. It is the epicenter for the LGBT community in NYC.  It's filled with little cafes, restaurants and bars. It really just it a fun place. Everyone is different, so no one really sticks out. Your style is your style. Its a very "to each his own" kind of place. A very liberal place.

Today's post will be short and full of photos. I want to give you a chance to imagine what it would have been like to be apart of a community of such culture and freedom in the 1950s.

ENJOY!!!! Have I ever mentioned how much I adore NYC?!?!?!

(All above photos were featured in The Gothamist)

xoxo

Julia Child's Life in France

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I am an avid baker. Its how I celebrate. How I relieve stress or boredom. How I make myself feel better on a bad day. I give baked goods to people I love to let them know I care about them. I even bake for my ballet classes during the holiday season. Now when Thanksgiving hits they all ask if I'm baking for them for Christmas again!!!

So I thought I would share my food icon with you. I LOVE me some Julia Child!!!!!!!!

I mean LOVE!!

If you love to cook or bake and haven't read this book you should. 

As you can see, my copy is a little worn. I've read it 3 times already!

"My Life in France" is an autobiography that was published in 2006, 2 years after Julia Child's death. The book begins right after WWII, during which Julia played her part to help the war effort by joining the Office of Strategic Services (alas, she was too tall to join the WAC, which is what she really wanted). During that time she was a typist and was eventually promoted to a top secret researcher for the head of the OSS. From there she went on to become a file clerk for shark repellent of all things ( the repellent was used to keep sharks away from weapons that were used against German ships). From there she was transferred to Kandy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and there she met Paul Child,  the man who would soon become her husband.

A Valentine's Day card from Julia and Paul!!

After marrying in 1946 the couple lived in Pennsylvania and later moved to Washington D.C. The couple eventually moved to Paris, France when Paul was transferred there by his employer with the U.S. State Department. 

This is where the book picks up.

When they arrived in France, Julia spoke absolutely no French and didn't know very much about the country or the culture. The first few chapters are about Julia's first impressions of France. It details people she initially meets and her introduction to cooking school! Which by the way she started just because she was bored. Paul was always busy with work so to keep herself busy she enrolled herself in L'Ecole le Cordon Bleu. The first class she went to was for housewives. You know, the typical 1950's newlywed cooking course. She HATED it. She wanted to learn to COOK. So she persuades the director to let her enroll in a real cooking course with aspiring professional chefs. 

If you have seen the delightful movie "Julie and Julia" starring Meryl Streep, then you have seen this part of the book. 

She struggles at first but eventually excels and passes the exam at Le Cordon Bleu.  From there she meets Simone Beck and Louisetta Bertholle and together they go on to form L'Ecole de Trois Gourmandes, a cooking school showcasing french food and techniques.  They mostly taught American women who wanted to learn the french style of cooking. 

Juila studying at Le Cordon Bleu

Eventually the three decide to write a cookbook that goes on to become the famous "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Later, the three part ways and Julia and Paul move back to the US and she begins her cooking show "The French Chef". The book ends on a sad note with Paul's declining health which eventually leads to the closing of Julia and Paul's French hideaway cabin, La Pitchoune (meaning "the little one")  in France. It is both a literal closing and a symbolic one. 

In the book Julia Child describes Paris in the most delectable way. All the while making your mouth water with her descriptions of the food. You can tell it really is a love song to Paris and French cooking.  She and Paul lived a most fascinating life including Paul being interrogated when he was suspected of Communist activities!! It really is a great read. You get to learn a lot about Post War France and the foods that inspired Child's television series and books. The book details some her most famous recipes including Beouf Bourguignon. She did a great job being through and detailing her fun life in Paris. 

Julia in France

Julia Child and Simone Beck

When I was little I used to love to watch PBS with my mom. One of the things we would watch was "Julia Child's Kitchen". She would make cooking and baking look like so much fun. She gave you the feeling that anyone who really wanted to could learn to cook a decent meal and bake a decent cake. She would make mistakes on air and show you how to fix them. She was a genius at teaching people to prepare meals. Her love for food was unmistakable.

Julia filming her television show

So on that note I think I'll go bake some toffee bars and lounge around watching cooking shows.

OH! I'll leave you with a few Juila-isms... 

"The only time to eat diet food is while waiting for the steak to cook."

"If you're afraid of butter...use cream."

“You'll never know everything about anything, especially something you love.”

“Everything in moderation... including moderation.”  

“Remember, 'No one's more important than people'! In other words, friendship is the most important thing--not career or housework, or one's fatigue--and it needs to be tended and nurtured.”

  JULIA CHILD

Here, here, Julia... Here, here!!!

Julia in the kitchen

xoxo

A Cape Cod Home to Call Our Own: Mid Century Style Furniture Swoon!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you mommies, soon to be mommies, fur mommies and those trying to become mommies!!! Don't you just love Mother's Day? It seems to always be on the prettiest, most sun shiniest day!!! Unfortunately, my mommy  and I live in different states so I didn't get to see her today (yes, I still call her mommy. Actually I sometimes call her Marmee. You know...From "Little Women"? It stuck when I was little.). But we spent an hour gabbing on the phone so I guess that's better than nothing, eh?

Well, as you know from my Cape Cod post, Honey and I have a plan to move into our own home soon. So, naturally that started me thinking about what kind of decor we want in the new place. It's going to be about 2 years until that happens but who can resist looking at beautiful mid-century furniture? 

Here is what I've found so far: Most of it is not vintage because Honey has been adamant about not putting ALL vintage in the home. She says she doesn't mind retro looking or reproduction furniture though...

Don't you just LOVE this sofa!!!! It's not vintage but it's from a company that specializes in mid-century styled furniture! LOVE!!! The color is fabulous!!!!!!!!!!

Thrive Furniture

What about this vintage Heywood Wakefield dining room set?!?!

Etsy

I ADORE this Formica dining set! Maybe for the eat in kitchen?

Image Source

Isn't this coffee table just the absolute most?!?  This one is also from Thrive Furniture.

I am OBSESSED with these reproduction refrigerators! I'm sure you've all heard of Big Chill Appliances. Well... this is DEFINITELY happening in our new place. Honey has already given me the go ahead for it! If I can't afford anything else for the home right away it would be worth it if I had the fridge, oven and cook top!!!!!

Love these Big Chill kitchens!

I'm not sure what we want out of a bedroom yet but if I had my way it would look like something out of this ad!!

Image Source

So that's what I did all Mother's Day while Honey was having a play date with her Mommy. Wish listing. What about you?  Is your home filled with vintage delights?

I hope your day was filled with love, loved ones and sunshine!!!!

xoxo

My Family History Mystery

Gary, Indiana, My mother's hometown circ 1908



Yesterday was one of those strange days when things didn't quite go as planned but also seemed to flow as if it were meant to be.

Honey and I woke up and had coffee. I saw her off to work as usual. I started getting my dance clothes ready and getting myself geared up for a day of ballet teaching. But then I get a call from Honey saying that she had a tremendous migraine and felt like she was going to faint. Needless to say I made her come home and I cancelled my classes for the day to make sure I was home when she returned.

By the time she got home she was fine (all is good now. I'm sure you all were wondering. This is not about Honey's migraine) and just wanted to sleep it off. So we climbed back into bed, she to sleep and me with the laptop.

While changing my blog header and looking at the photo of my great grandmother I started thinking. Hmmm... I don't know anything about my family. I mean sure, I know the basics: My aunts, uncles, their children, and my grandparents but that's it. Especially on my mother's side. My mom is not the most open person in the world. I don't ever remember her talking much about her family when I was growing up. Maybe that's because my mom is from Gary, Indiana and moved to the south long before I was born for college. That's how she met my father.

I realized that I didn't know my grandma's maiden name. And my great grandmother (pictured in my header), well I only knew that her name was Lula. Nothing else. That bothered me a little. Since I'm so into anything old, I want to learn a little more about where I come from. My family doesn't have a lot of things left over from times gone by. So I want to at least learn as much as I can and be able to see myself in my family.

So... I called up my mom and asked her what my Grandma's maiden name was...Harris... So that makes my great grandmother Lula Harris.

I went on ancestory.com and started a subscription and a family tree. It is actually kind of difficult to find your lineage if you are a person of color. Since, as we all know, blacks were slaves up until a hundred years ago and still considered less than a person just up until the 60s and 70s there is not much information on black families. So while ancsetory.com wasn't a complete bomb it didn't help too much.

Then I thought... Hmmm...why not Google my grandparents. It was a long shot but Honey was sleeping and I had nothing better to do. So I did. I only found a small amount on my paternal grandparents. Just my Grandfather's obituary and some Census records. So then, I Googled my maternal grandfather and things started showing!

One thing that popped out was a blog that mentioned Harold Cotten...my grandfather...

So I clicked the link and THIS popped up!!!

A small history on my grandfather's parents and siblings. Made by a woman I had never met, Jennifer. But knew at once she was part of my family because she spoke of a woman named Hortense as her aunt. Well, my mother's aunt is also Hortense.

So while I'm sure other family members know Jennifer, I have never met her. But found her on the interwebs!!!! How cool is technology!?!?!?!

She also has another blog that is all about her journey of finding information on our family. Her blogs have a wealth of knowledge about the Cotten (my grandfather's side) of the family. I haven't read through both sites in their entirety yet but I intend to. It's a little overwhelming but I can't wait to see what I find out. She also has a lot of helpful advice on how to research your own family tree.

What I have learned so far:

My family has an even bigger link to Louisiana than I ever thought. I thought it was only on my father's side but now I've found out, also on my mother's side!! I'm totally a Louisianan girl!!! And proud of it...

I have someone named Napolean in my family! Great name right! I know that is a random fact but I got a complete kick out of it!

I think I get my love for homemaking and all things domestic from that side of my family.

I also (as I already knew)  get my love of nostalgia from them also. It seems that Jennifer loves old movies, vintage and antiques!!!!

I need to ask mom again about my great grandmother's name. The blog says that my paternal great grand's name was Lula also. The picture on my header is my MATERNAL great grand Lula... So either mom got it wrong or there was a Lula on both sides. Which I guess is not impossible but...

I still have a lot to read and find out. I'm totally excited! I wish I could get some photos to go with everything I learned. I'm just happy I found someone who can fill in some of the blanks.  I've contacted Jennifer through her blog and am excited to connect with her.

I also want to learn more about my maternal grandmother's side. That woman in the photo is a mystery to me (I guess I could ask my Grandmother but she's not exactly an open book).  And I'm interested in learning more about her... I'm not sure why but I feel a pull to her.

So that was my day yesterday. An interesting one if I say so myself. I know this was wordy, sorry about that. But I was so excited that I had to share!!!!

Here's to more research!

Sorry... No photos today...Just me yapping away! Back to your regularly scheduled programming tomorrow!

Do you know a lot about your family history???

The Case of the Faux Middy!!!

I got a haircut late last night. It was something I've been meaning to do but haven't really had the time or patience to get it done.

 So last night while Honey was helping me wash my hair,  I told her I wanted to cut it. Not chop it off but something that made it easier to get vintage looking hair. So... I went online and pulled up the haircut diagram for a Middy.

The Middy is the one on the right.

I'm sure most of you know what a Middy haircut is but for those that don't it was a haircut that was popularized in the 1940's. The hair is cut to 4 inches all around. I know I wear more 50's clothing but I figured with the right pin curl or roller set it would look more 50's.  I really just need more layers to give my styles a more finished look!

Well, my hair is already on the short side (it never completely grew back from a 1920's style bob that I had a little over a year ago) so when I presented the idea to Honey she knew that it wouldn't need to be cut much (oh, By the way, Honey went to beauty school so she was able to read the diagram easily. She said it's basically the haircut they test with when trying to pass the State board exam to get a license) . But it was around midnight and she wasn't sure she felt like cutting my ENTIRE head of hair to 4 inches. But she did the next best thing. She layered it to what she thought was around 4 inches and made sure it gradually got shorter on the sides. Then she cut the back into a U shape.

It's not from the diagram but it's close considering it was a late night venture.

It's not the prettiest haircut around when unstyled. I double checked it against this video by Lisa Freemont Street...

 and my hair pretty much looked like the black girl version of her hair. A slightly choppy, bad rocker haircut.

I did a quick random set, which I have to do dry at all times. Wet sets just leave me with an afro. I used stand up pin curls on the top and pillow rollers on the rest.

And when I woke up and brushed it out, THIS happened!!

SUPER CUTE HAIR!!!!!!!!!

The back is my favorite!!! You can definitely see the curls MUCH better than before!!!

The brush out didn't take nearly as long either!

So while not a "traditional" Middy, I think it works for me. At least until the odd bob shape I had finishes growing out.

Totally in love with my new hair. This is one time random, late night hair cutting paid off! YAY!!!!



I hope your Cinco De Mayo was filled with lots of margaritas and sunshine!!!

Tender Comrade...

Have you seen this movie?????

Oh, gosh! I hope you have!! It's such a good movie!!

Ok, maybe it isn't a GREAT movie, but if you love Ginger Rogers (who doesn't?),  movies about WWII (who doesn't?),  and  movies about the women of WWII (umm... don't we all?)  then you'll love this!

"Tender Comrade" (1943) is about Jo Jones (Ginger Rogers) who works at an airplane factory while her husband is off at war. She and her 3 co-workers, whose husbands are also away,  are sitting around at lunch one day and realize that they are all struggling to pay their rent and bills. They decide that they may have better luck if they found a house for all of them and split the expenses.

 There is a slight clashing of personalities, as all of the women are completely different. Jo is head strong and sometimes stubborn and says the wrong things. Barbara (played by Ruth Hussy) is a little flirtatious and doesn't really behave the way a wife whose husband is at war should.  Doris (Kin Hunter) is the youngest and a newly wed. She has a very sweet, innocent quality to her.  Then there is Helen (Patricia Collinge) who is the oldest and mother figure. She has a husband and son in the war.

I don't want to give you too much of the plot because that's no fun. But I will say that the movie gives a really good look at what women were going through during the war.  They talk about rations and what its like to hold your breath whenever there is an unexpected knock on the door. Honey and I were also struck by the fact that the movie still resonates today. There are plenty of Army spouses out there who are going through the wait for the return of a loved one.

Its a cute little movie that I think is worth the watch if you can catch it. Unfortunately I have yet to find "Tender Comrade" on Netflix or Amazon. I was fortunate enough to catch it on TCM. Thank goodness I recorded it on our DVR. I think I'll keep it for as long as possible since it's so hard to find. UGH!!! I'm torn about not telling you the whole plot because I'm afraid you all may not find it!!!! But I don't want any spoilers just in case you find it!! UGH!!! I will say that there is a very bittersweet ending that I wasn't expecting. It made me cry!!

An interesting movie fact: Did you notice the title,,,"Tender COMRADE"???? Well, the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) did! They thought that it was proof of screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo's, spreading of Communist ideas. He was ultimately blacklisted from the entertainment industry because of it!!

PLEASE try to find this movie. Especially all of my 1940s ladies!! You will love it!!! It's worth it for Ginger Rogers alone... sigh... I love her!!!!


By the way...Happy May Day to all!!!!!


xoxo