The Vermont Country store has been in the business of offering tried-and-true favorites to U.S. customer for years from their stores in Vermont.  They’ve stepped into the future by offering on-line shopping carts, but they carry things you and your grandmother would probably remember. 

Take, for instance, Love’s Baby Soft.  One of it’s main ingredients is alcohol, but it still has that light, refreshing scent you remember from your more pimply teen days.  Need to munch on some Wheat Nuts?  It’s still low carb! Want someone to say, “Gee, your hair smells terrific?”  Grab a bottle or two! These products are still available through their snailmail catalogue or on-line!  Just check them out at www.vermontcountrystore.com!

Make sure you click on “Home Town Stories” for some wonderful reminiscing by customers about more innocent, less frenetic times. 

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My boyfriend and I had just gotten back from a trip, so we didn’t feel much like doing anything but channel surfing.  We came across this thriller gem on the RETRO channel on cable-”Peeping Tom”-a freaky, British psychological thriller from the swinging 60’s about young man who films women reactions as he murders them.  Muuahahahaha!

The British audience at the time wasn´t used to all that violence on the big or little screen, so this film was a shocker.  However, Hitchcock’s “Psycho” was released about the same time.  What was in the air, I wonder? ”Peeping Tom” is as creepy as Hitchcock’s masterpiece about voyeurism, but not as well-acted.  Although I tried to tear myself away, I found myself glued to the tellie.  Did I become a voyeur myself??? 

For sure, I was checking out the outfits.  The lead female, for example has some cute pieces in there, like the orange dress she wears for her birthday.  The lingerie that the nudie models wear (the murderer is a photographer, as well.  How convenient!) are fantastic.  You also can’t miss a very strange, but energetic choreographed number of one victim before she dies and a peak what we used before we had Ipods and speaker phones!

Unfortunately, our blond leading man doesn’t venture much out of his beige color scheme, but he still looks cute enough to lure the unsuspecting female victims in front of his camera. 

A completely entertaining, if not thoroughly creepy, night at the movies!

It’s a cold, cloudy winter day here in Buenos Aires, and I was feeling blah until…

“Muskrat, Muskrat, candle light…”

Among the songs in Captain & Tennile’s LP, Song of Joy, is the classic Muskrat Love, which was written in 1971 by Willis Ramsey.  I remembered listening this song on my favorite AM radio channel and wondering, what in the world is a muskrat?  I knew it was must have been some kind of cute animal with all the chirping muskrat noises they added at the end.  

With a little help from Google now, I discovered that the muskrat is a smaller version of its close relative, the beaver.  Here’s a pic!  Ain’t he cute enough to write a song about? 

They must’ve been really in love to include this song in this album because it’s really wacky.  They must be doing something right because love is still keeping them together–they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 2000–and there’s no sign of their muskrat love ever burning out.  Check out their webpage: www.captainandtennille.net.  They’re still looking fabulous!  Love Toni’s do!

For your reading pleasure, here are the lyrics for this classic hit.  Enjoy!

Muskrat, Muskrat, candle light

Doing the town and doing it right in the evening/It’s pretty pleasing

Muskrat Suzie, Muskrat Sam/Do the jitterbug out in Muskrat Land

And they shimmy…Sam is so skinny

         And they whirl and they twirl and they tango/Singing and jinging a jango

         Floating like the heavens above/Looks like Muskrat Love

Nibbling on bacon, chewing on cheese

Same says to Suzie, Honey, would you please be my Mrs.

Suzie say yes with her kisses/Now he’s tickling her fancy, rubbing her toes

Muzzle to muzzle, now, anything goes as they wriggle,/Sue starts to giggle

The Omen

I loved horror movies as a kid growing up in the 70’s.   I loved watching all the campy horror flics hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and Halloween I – the one, the original – still scares me to this day. 

Another one of my all time favorites was The Omen, which I just finished watching a few minutes ago subtitled in Spanish.  I’m not referring to the 2006 version with a Julia Stiles, a very stiff Liev Shreiber, and an incredibly spooky Mia Farrow as the governess, though.  It’s too Hollywood slickster for me, though it remains faithful to the original.  I dig that red silk robe Julia has on while brushing her teeth, and she does fall off the balcony sporting a really pretty, white knitted poncho.  

There is no substitute, however, for the 1976 version with Lee Remick, as the doomed surrogate mother to the devil’s spawn, and the dashing, incredibly hot Gregory Peck, as the U.S. Ambassador.  Check out the wonderful blue outfit with a turban (!) she wore as the family was being driven to church, before Damien went all Exorcist on her!  I was so scared crapless after seeing the movie (didn’t help that my favorite book of the Bible was the Apocalypse.  Such a strange kid, but I loved how cinematographic everything is in that book.)  that I checked my own scalp to see if I was somehow related to the Prince of Darkness. 

No, I was saved, at least until I discovered boys, shopping, credit cards, and Ben and Jerry’s.     Ta ta!

Meet Gloria.  She has a big fete to attend, and  has absolutely nothing to wear! Solution?  Visit La Vida Vintage, where there’s always something unusual and fun to wear! 

I picked up this vintage 60’s photos at the Palermo Flea Market here in Buenos Aires for 30 cents the other day, and thought it was perfect!  I mean, how many times have I looked at my fully-packed closet and thought, “I have NOTHING to wear?”  Puh-lenty.  The sad part is that I have so much “nothing” to wear that I’m getting new closets built to have more room for all the stuff I can’t seem to wear.  It’s the gathering instinct gone haywire, I think.   I don’t think it’s gonna be fixed anytime soon (I hope!).

OK, OK, so maybe you can’t compete with Audrey, but you can take some lessons.  Dig this take on the classic little black dress!  So adorable with the lace and the organdy going on.  To add to the cuteness, the designer, who is unknown as there is not tag, added a pretty rosette with some velvet strips.  Now available at www.lavidavintage.etsy.com! 

Here I am, singing my little heart out for the Heal The Earth Musical Charity Event on April 26, 2008 in Buenos Aires.  There were a total of 5 singers from the Filipino community entertaining a room full of Argentines, North Americans, and Filipinos.  It was a complete success!  And so was my blouse from the 70’s, which stood out in the dark back room of the bar.  It’s polyester and has a huge collar which flopped whenever I bowed.  The belt, unfortunately, is not vintage, but it looked great with the blouse!

I have met so many people since I started La Vida Vintage on Etsy.  It’s wonderful.  Here are 2 of the cool vintage-related groups I’ve joined: Vintage Pulse & Vintage Style.  Vintage Pulse is the sister site of Vintage Indie Magazine and has links to all things vintage-related.  Vintage Style is smaller, but has great groups like one devoted to style icons like Mrs. Robinson! 

So, If you’re a vintage lover, they would be great places for you to meet others who share your passion or obsession! 

http://www.vintagepulse.com

http://www.vintagestyle.com

I picked up a very pretty 17 inch necklace yesterday at the Mercado de Pulgas (Flea Market) in Palermo.  She mentioned that it was a murano-type glass that no one makes anymore, and blah, blah, blah.  Usual salesperson talk.  I had no idea whether or not it was glass, but it was pretty weighty, at least to me. 

This morning, I asked my boyfriend, The Engineer, his opinion.  He said it was acrylic based on the weight of it.  It would have been much heavier had it been glass.  I bought the piece because I thought it was pretty.  It could have been made from rocks from a construction site, and I still would have bought it for the colors: pink, cream, and some olive green.

I turned to the internet for more information, and typed in “difference between glass and acrylic”.  Up popped a list of sites, and I picked one which looked promising.  Turns out it was the some guy asking what kind of bong he should buy – glass or acrylic.  It was Grasscity.com.  The majority of responders opted for glass, though it is more fragile and can break easily.  There isn’t that meltability factor. 

You’re probably not going to melt this necklace down if you decide to buy it, but it looks to be acrylic.  I know there’s a test you can do to check if a piece is bakelite.  One tests is to set a flame to it and see what it smells like.  I’m not about to do any such test because I’m terrified of it melting.  Actually, I’m not even sure if there is a test for it.  If anyone knows, would love to hear about it. 

Grass…er, glass or acrylic, it’s a lovely vintage necklace.  Up for sale at www.lavidavintage.etsy.com

Now, see what an education you can get from vintage shopping? 

Just became a member of Etsy in Spanish!  It’s pretty darn cool.  Myriam who heads up the group is hooking me up with their blog and flickr group.  I have met more people in the past couple of days through VintagePulse than I have in a month on my own!  Fabulous!  I heart Etsy.

Why I joined?  Well, I AM living in Buenos Aires now, so I might as well practice my spanish, meet other spanish speakering “Etsianos”, get my shop out there, and have fun!  I would say that my spanish is at the intermediate level and could need a serious review of the tenses, but what better way to do that than practicing with native speakers in writing!