Living The Dream

A somewhat tongue in cheek title, as living the dream is mostly figuring out how to survive on baked beans and how to capture at least 10 minutes downtime per day.
But I am doing it… I am a self employed vintage stylist.
Slash magazine editor
Slash distributor and owner of a skincare brand.

Granted, if it wasn’t for my few nursing shifts per fortnight I wouldn’t even be eating baked beans, and living the dream would entail a cardboard box under a bridge, but I am hoping to be able to scale those shifts down in the not so distant future.
So my self employed life….
Is a little bit mad, a little bit frantic and a whole lot of fun.
Take last weekend for instance.
Wellington was hit by a terrible storm on Thursday, and the tail end of it meant freezing temperatures and torrential downpours.
Cue me, getting up at 7 am to set up stall at a local market (luckily in a covered carpark) with freshly set hair.
Strangely enough there were people around, and I had lots of fun trying makeup on people and swapping lipstick for fingerless gloves. At one point there was some coffee for whiskey trades going on also..
I put the call out for warm socks and two knights in shining armour arrived bearing socks, bananas and a dog to keep me company.
I did decide that it is much easier to be a vintage girl in the summer, but it did build a feeling of community amongst the freezing stall holders.

Straight after the market I headed to a styling session for Miss La Belle’s Frolic lounge girls.
What a bunch of lovely, beautiful ladies. Particularly inspiring was LaFemme Fantail – who described through her burlesque routine her fight with cancer. She required a hairdo that would sit under her chemo hat and look wonderful when it was pulled off – revealing LaFemme in all her 30’s inspired glamour.

This is what Miss La Belles’ Burlesque is all about – women finding their power and beauty in the face of adversity and celebrating all of it.
To finish off the day I threw on a pair of heels, a killer 60s dress, fashioned a 5 minute beehive and headed off to an engagement party.
I remembered that apart from a banana I had not eaten since 8 am, which meant of course good old dirty Maccas.
In my car, on the waterfront in high winds, wearing elbow length gloves as it was too cold to take them off and spilling sauce all down the front of my fur coat.
I’m all class.

Not that Austin Powers was complaining.

Rain Rain Go Away..I just set my hair today

Wellington had a storm last week, it was wild, and the tail end of it meant torrential downpours and high winds.

Now I know some people had roofs missing, and banks of dirt falling on their car, but I had problems too.

I had to run around in the rain with my newly set hair. I am a straight haired girl, so just a hint of damp and my curls give up the ghost.

I was woefully unprepared as usual, all my lovely warm winter coats are hoodless, and I can never find an umbrella when I need one, my solution was a plastic bag over my head.

With my mothers words about dying of suffocation I fashioned a crude rain bonnet out of a plastic bag and ran the gauntlet of the points and stares.

That is vintage dedication for you.

So I thought I would contemplate a vintage girls options for dry hair and outfits..

First the good old raincoat..

All well and good if you dont care about style, I was thinking more along the lines of..

Matching gloves, umbrella and hat, so stylish.

However it doesnt solve the hair issue so well, especially seeing as an umbrella in Wellington is not the best of ideas, unless you have flying lessons.

So I think this is the best solution..
Good old fashioned rain bonnets – just like my nana used to keep in her pocket.

There is a fantastic company in the UK – http://www.bubblebetty.com that seem to be single handedly bringing back the rain bonnet.
I think I may invest in this pretty little number.
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What is your secret to keeping your set dry?