Random Ramblings: Movies and Hair!!!!!

Hello all!!!

I hope this post finds you all feeling wonderful and full of life and joy!!!!

It is a glorious day here in NYC. Its around 68 degrees and the sun is shining! I went to the supermarket and decided to go with a very fall appropriate sweet potato chili for dinner tonight. And the best thing about it is that it goes in the slow cooker!!! Just chop up the veggies, put them in the slow cooker, add spices and you're done!!! If it comes out as yummy as I think it will I will post the recipe.

Well, I haven't been up to much of anything except for work since my last post, so today's will be a bit of little random things I've been thinking about all week.

The first of which is my hair!!!! Now, I'm getting very good at pin curling and giving myself vintage styles, which is totally fun and I'm beyond proud of myself! The only thing I struggle with is finding styles that are ballet teacher appropriate. Meaning, styles that I can wear when teaching. I LOVE all of my pin curled styles but let's face it, they aren't very practical if your job involves sweating. And even the rare times when I can get away with it I have to think about what age group I'm going to be teaching that day. If I'm teaching little ones, let's say ages 3-8, vintage hair can be kind of ...distracting!!! The last thing I need to do with that age group is call any sort of attention to my hair!! I would NEVER get anything done!

With the older students (pre-teen and teens) I can get away with fancier hair. As a matter of fact the LOVE it when they see me dressed all vintage-y! The only problem is with the older students I tend to sweat more because the classes are more advanced and demanding. I demonstrate a lot then get all into cheering them on and running around correcting people that I would look like a drowned rat before it was all said and done.

All of this means that during teaching season I really only set my hair on weekends...Which is a bummer for me since I actually like setting my hair. So going into the studio I feel super plain and less than glamorous. Not that I must feel glamorous everyday but I'm starting to get bored with my weekly look. So... I'm looking for vintage appropriate hairstyles that can go to the studio.

I've looked up photos of dancers from the 1940's and 1950's and think my best bet may be a simple chignon. My hair is not fully grown out since my faux middy but I tried a chignon this summer and it worked on my shorter length hair. This is the how to I used from Emily over at Livin' Vintage. It was also featured in an issue of the online vintage magazine Hey Doll! It's super easy to replicate I just haven't tried it out while dancing. I may try this one tomorrow.

Another style I thought might work was a simple pageboy. Maybe something like this...

I'm not sure that it is a pageboy since I can't see the back of the style but it gave me the idea that a pageboy might work. Especially on my shorter hair. I know that 1950's style pageboys usually last a whole day on my hair so it just may last through a ballet class.

I also thought this one was adorable and gave a real 1940's ballerina feel...

Very "jewelery box ballerina"!!!! I'm thinking its just a chignon with a braided head band. She just makes it look so graceful.

So... now help me out. Do you have any ideas for any up do's that are long lasting that I may be able to try! If so, PLEASE leave me a comment and I'll try it out!!!

On to the next thing...

MOVIES!!!!

I think I spent all last weekend watching TCM. I love that channel soooo much. It's addicting. But funnily enough the movies I watched were movies that I missed weeks past and recorded on my dvr! So they weren't movie currently showing. But, gee and I glad I saved them!!

Here were my 3 favorites from the weekend.

1. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)- Carol Lombard and Robert Montgomery

This adorable comedy was directed by Alfred Hitchcock of all people. It is about Ann and David Smith (Lombard and Montgomery), a quarreling couple who one day finds out that their 3 year marriage was never really legal! David finds out first and decides not to tell Ann right who also found out without him knowing. When she realizes that he's not going to tell her what she already knows she decides to NOT marry him!!! The whole movie is David trying to convince Ann to remarry him. It keeps you guessing the whole time as to whether Ann will forgive him and marry him. She even accepts a proposal from another man!! David's business partner! Of course in the "happily ever after" films of old Hollywood they reunite. But not before some quirky situations arise! I suggest watching this one when you need a good pick me up. It will keep you smiling!!


2. I'll Be Seeing You (1944)- Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten

This one is actually set during the Christmas holiday but I wouldn't really call it a Christmas movie. It is about Mary Marshall (Rogers) and Sgt. Zachary Morgan who meet on a train bound for Pine Hill for Christmas. When Mary gets off the train, Sgt. Zachary gets off too even though he has no family in Pine Hilll. Although he tells her he does. As the movie goes on you learn that the Sgt. is on leave from war time duty because of PTSD. You also learn that Mary is on furlough from prison for manslaughter!! Of course they fall in love and things get sticky as they both have to come clean about their pasts. Things work out in the end...even though Mary has to go back to prison to finish out her sentence.

A teen aged Shirley Temple is in this one as Mary's cousin. I love seeing her in this role. She's a little flirty and very innocent all in one. Adorable!!!

This one is a little sad, but I really liked it. Even though it's not totally a Christmas movie I think I may add it to my Christmas movie collection.


3. Our Blushing Brides (1930)- Joan Crawford, Anita Page, Robert Montgomery and Dorothy Sebastian

I enjoyed this one much more than I thought I would. I actually put it on as background noise while I was doing housework but got sucked in and had to finish the film before I finished my kitchen!!!

This film is about 3 roommates and bestfriends: Gerry (Crawford), a model; Connie (Page), a perfume sales girl; and Franky (Sebastian), a linen sales girl.

All 3 girls work for the same department store and are of course in need of eligible men to become their husbands. Gerry is actually ok with being single until she meets Tony (Montgomery), the son of the store's owner. Connie is in a "serious" relationship with Tony's brother, David, who keeps promising to marry her. Frankie becomes involved with Martin,  wealthy man that frequents the store and marries him after one night out together. Well, as you have probably guessed things don't go at all how the girls hoped. Gerry finds out that Tony is a playboy. Frankie's husband ends up arrested for theft. Poor Connie finds out that David is engaged to another and poisons herself while listening to the wedding ceremony on the radio.

Yes, this is a sad one but at least Gerry and her fellow end up together in the end. I loved Joan Crawford in this part. She look FABULOUS and you can see a hint of the famous Joan Crawford that is to come!!!

This movie is actually the follow up to two previous movies about the same girls, Our Dancing Daughters and Our Modern Maids. Now I want to find them. It makes Connie killing herself even more sad because the girls have basically grown up together. I'll be keeping a look out for those.


If you haven't seen one or all of these try to find them. I really enjoyed them all!!!


Well, that's it for my random ramblings!!

Hope you all have a fabulous day!

xoxo