Out With Google Reader, In With Bloglovin

Hello my lovelies! Just a quick little reminder that as of Monday, Google Reader will be no more, so if you read all of the blogs you follow from there, like I did, try switching over to Bloglovin. It's very simple.

Image Source

First, follow the link to Bloglovin and create your account. It will then ask you if you want to import the blogs you read on Google Reader to your Bloglovin account. Click the button to import them and that's all there is to it.

If you prefer to read your favorite blogs on your phone or iPad, here is the Bloglovin’ app!

Thank you all for being such loyal readers. I feel so lucky! Now make sure and Follow my blog with Bloglovin!!  That way you won't miss out on anything =)

Or, if readers aren't your thing, of course you can opt for email updates instead! (See the box to the right.)

I'm not sure if Google Friend Connect is going to continue to work or not so for now I will be leaving it as an option for you as well.

Now, go, get your read on!

Pirates and Madagascar

My five grandsons all have birthdays within a couple weeks of each other which they just celebrated recently.  Both of my granddaughters birthdays are later in the year and within a month of each other and I have another grandson due to be born in a couple months, so his birthday will be in between the others.

Being that all of the boys birthdays are so close together, it is hard for this Grandma to find the time to bake that many cakes.  Luckily, this year I only needed to make cakes for two of them so I thought I would share those with you.

This first cake was for our grandson that just celebrated his 1st birthday with a Madagascar themed party.  So I made him a lion cake to represent Alex.  It was so simple to make and he loved it.

The second cake was for our grandson who was turning two.  He absolutely loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates so he had a pirate theme.  I thought about fashioning Jake out of fondant for his cake but then I decided that I would just purchase some of the character figurines instead because then he would be able to keep them to play with.

They were both pleased with their cakes and I enjoy making my babies happy - not that Grandma would ever spoil them. 

I am glad that our birthday season is over with for a little while.  Somehow, maybe, possibly, I think it could be the reason for my recent weight gain.  Apparently, I can overlook having to move my belt over a notch though, because I am looking forward to just baking for the fun of it, without worrying about how to decorate them.  Sometimes my greatest creations come out of my every day - "for no reason at all" - cakes.  Plus, I have an idea for a recipe for a chocolate cake that I want to try out.  If it works, I will share it with you ladies.

What about you, have you been baking lately?

Retro Gran's First Blogiversary

Today marks one year since the start of this blog.  Wow!  I can't hardly believe how the time has flown.  I guess what they say is true, time flies when you're having fun.

The beautiful Ginger Rogers.  Tumblr Image source

What a year it has been.  I started this blog to document my adventures into the vintage world.  To share my mistakes along the way and the triumphs as well.  To share the difficulty of finding vintage in an extremely small town, let alone being brave enough to wear it out for others to see.  Small town life is not the easiest to be different in, you stand out, get talked about and looked at.  As I have gotten older I have learned that I have to be true to who I am, this is me - Mother, Grandmother, Wife, Daughter, Sister and Friend, and lover of all things vintage.  It has been nice to find a home through the internet in which I can be myself and share my love of vintage with those of you who have the same love.

I am not a writer so I am sure I have had tons of grammatical errors as well as difficulties with getting my words to portray my thoughts and feelings.  But, it is getting easier and evolving over time.  Reading all of your blogs has been a great inspiration to me, you have taught me so much.

I didn't start out blogging with any type of set schedule and still only blog when I feel I have something to say or share.  I've heard that this is a big no-no for building a readership, but feel that at this time it is best for me - and I'm sure no one would want to read something that feels forced.  I am patient, if nothing else.  You can't raise six children and not be.  I believe if you build it, they will come.

Thank you all so much for visiting, commenting, encouraging and supporting me.  This past year I have seen great joy and experienced great heartaches.  But isn't that life?  The trick is to focus on the joys, to do those things which make you happy, and to take each day at a time.  Blogging makes me happy and all of you have brought tremendous joy to my life.  Meeting each of you, if only through the blogging community, has been a true blessing to me.  Thanks for sticking around.  I look forward to the next year together.

Daily Outfits

It's been a while since I shared my daily outfits on here, but if you follow me on Instagram you will have seen these before and you've seen this entire ensemble on here before, just styled differently.  By the way, I absolutely love these Aigner spectator pumps, they are so comfortable to wear.

Can you believe this cute little dress came from Walmart?!  I've had it for several years now so I'm not sure if it's still available.  It has a low cut front so I added a little camisole and my macrame oxfords, threw a flower in my hair and that was it.

This is my Trashy Diva dress that I blogged about here.  The only difference in how I styled it this time is the shoes.  I'm wearing my Keds with it which made it a little more casual.  My beautiful rose hair clip is from Belle Blossoms.

Here we have a very casual Friday outfit.  These cropped jeans from Kohls are great because you can cuff them up a few times to make them shorter or wear them down like I have here.  I've added a very simple tee that I picked up for little of nothing at Walmart as well as these cute bejeweled flip flops.

What have you ladies been wearing lately?

TVs 5 Greatest Dads

In honor of Father's Day, I have listed 5 of my picks for best TV dad. They aren't ranked into any particular order, all of them are equally great in my mind, and are from shows long since ended but still living on in re-run heaven.

Andy Taylor - The Andy Griffeth Show ran from 1960 - 1968 but lives forever in syndication and I'm sure everyone is familiar with Andy's fathering skills. He was a great dad because he was involved in Opie's life, teaching him right from wrong and disciplining when necessary. The lessons involved life, love, and everything between, with Andy imparting a lot of useful wisdom. Plus he always made time to take Opie fishing! 

 

Charles Ingalls - Little House on the Prairie ran from 1974 - 1983. Charles "Pa" was father to Mary, Laura, Carrie and Grace and in later episodes also adopted several children. The show is loosely based on the books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder about her family life in the 19th century American West. Charles cherished his family as well as his wife. I feel that part of being a good father is teaching your children to treat their mother well, and what better way than to lead by example.

 

Howard Cunningham - Happy Days aired from 1974 - 1984. Howard handed out his parenting, not only to his children, but also to their friends. He was stern but loving, generous but not over indulgent, teaching values and letting his children learn from their mistakes. He was always available, making time whenever his kids needed him.

 

Ben Cartwright - Bonanza aired from 1959 - 1973. Ben had three sons, all from a different wife which passed away, so he was raising his boys on his own. (Well, there was Hop Sing, the cook, but mostly Ben was alone.) He taught his boys the importance of family and caring for one another as well as the importance of community and helping others.

 

Ozzie Nelson - The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet ran from 1952 - 1966 and starred the real life Nelson family. While the series focused mainly on the family's run of the mill problems and was the epitomy of family values with Ozzie handing out great advice, what truly makes him a wonderful dad in my mind isn't really about the fictional father that Ozzie portrayed, but the real life Ozzie who came up with the shows concept because he was a busy bandleader and wanted a way to be able to spend more time with his family, more time being a husband and father.


And that's really what parenting is all about, spending time with your kids, being there for them, teaching them right from wrong, teaching them to love each other and to treat others with respect, and to have compassion for others. And to remember to have fun and enjoy the life you have.