My Intentions

Sorry for the lack of Monday Maidens post this past Monday, I've been slacking badly.

I've dreamed of blogging for years now, I tried, and failed, once before to start a blog. At the time, I had high hopes of having a crafting blog, as I have always loved crafts of all sorts. I had just gotten a Pinterest account and was so excited to try all the new things I had found there, I was determined to try everything at least once, so I named the blog "My Only Try" and that's pretty much where the dream fizzled. I made 3 posts. None were anything worth reading. I was so embarrassed that I didn't even tell my friends about it. Even I didn't want to read it. I kept wondering how all my planning and good intentions turned to nothing.

The dream never left. I still wanted to blog about my adventures and my life.

 Upon finding the love who I will soon call my husband, I also found my love of vintage, although it was there lingering in the shadows all along. As a kid I wanted to cross stitch with my mom rather than play video games with other kids my age (trust me, I still adore video games, and grew up on all the classics) I learned to crochet as a teen and I am still in the process of teaching myself to knit. I grew up on paint by numbers and hand made beaded Christmas ornaments. I listened to music from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, thinking that Elvis was still young and Marilyn was still alive. I watched original Twilight Zone episodes, I Love Lucy, old Loony Tunes and Yogi Bear cartoons that my parents taped off the TV for me to watch later.

 Me(in the middle) at Universal Studios Orlando in my Orchard Corset CS-411

 Around 2010 I found my love of corsets, but was extremely uneducated when it came to finding "real" corsets. I think I bought 4 plastic boned fashion corsets expecting them to work like steel boned, but at the time not knowing there was a difference. I couldn't understand why I was getting poked and pinched and why I couldn't achieve a figure like the ones I admired. Mr. Vintage helped me find more information on corsets, which led me to Lucy's Corsetry, and then to her amazing databases. My first steel boned corsets were ordered too large, because even with all the directions Lucy gave me (and the rest of the world) via her YouTube channel, I still managed to find a way to mess up the measurements. Eventually I figured it all out (wasn't THAT hard) and got myself a pinstripe Orchard Corset CS-411 that I love wearing.

My love of corsets eventually led me to a few problems, like improper fitting blue jeans, searching for the perfect bra to wear with a corset, undershirts to wear under the corset, and the fact that my wardrobe consisted of mostly men's t-shirts, women's workout pants and jeans. I started buying a lot of leggings and shirts from thrift stores that were flattering to my corseted waist. I found many vintage style dresses that I loved the style of, but weren't quite my size. The search for more dresses like these led me to websites like PUG.

When I started this blog I wanted to connect with the vintage loving community- reviewing vintage style clothes in the style that Lucy reviews corsets. I wanted to do an OOTD post as often as I could, talking about tips and tricks (vintage and not so much) that have helped me in my journey in corseting and being a housewife in a hotel suite (not an easy task!) I wanted to explore crafts and ways of getting back to simple living and spending quality time with people. I spent days trying to come up with the perfect name, I scheduled what days I would do what kinds of posts, but then when it came time to post a picture of myself, I skipped that day, because I felt self conscious. When I was supposed to post a picture of our suite room, I skipped it because it wasn't "clean enough" to post online. I have recently moved from Florida to Texas, and we are trying to replenish our savings account, so I can't go buy new outfits to review. I have one craft project, a knitted blanket, that I brought to work on during the move, and all of my other yarn, knitting needles, crochet needles, and everything else is in storage. And to top it all of, a spring steel bone poked through the bottom binding of my corset and my sewing kit is in the storage unit as well, so I can't even show you guys the (very few) outfits I have here at the hotel.

I need direction, I need things to write about, but most of all, I need to stop being so hard on myself and put a little personality into this blog. So this is my promise to you: I promise to stop letting this blog fizzle, to post the personal, even if it's dirty, and to not give up. Now you just need to promise to read it. :) Pretty please?