Groundhog Day - me, me, me...

That's me! Me . . . me . . . me. Me also. And sometimes I go months without looking!

I love to watch movies with my husband, learn new things, create, be with my kids, create some more, organize, travel, create some more, organize some more, write,  meet new people, dance, play with my pets, create some more and sell the treasures I find.

As a child I played in the loft of my mother's ceramic and flower shop, in the alley of my grandparent’s home and running free with the neighborhood kids in Everett and Marysville Washington. Life was both wonderful and hard, as my parents divorced when I was three. My mom was always making clothes for my dolls and me, and all sorts of other magical things like miniature doll houses decorated with beautiful  scraps of wallpaper and a grand train track with dozens of those precious little fluffy trees that I always marveled at.

During my early years my mom married my (step)dad and we moved to Riverside California, Dayton Ohio, and then Spokane Washington.

I went to high school in Spokane Washington, where, in my senior year, while driving my purple 1960 convertible Fiat 1200, I discovered the thrill of thrifting. I began buying anything cheap, but always stunning and classy. I wore the most glamorous long black coat from the 1940's that made me feel elegant where ever I went.

At 21 I served a mission for the LDS church in Italy. I returned to the US with a greater appreciation for art and fashion (and I could speak okay Italian). While the American teenagers were wearing jeans and T-shirts, the Italian kids wore dress pants and tucked in button down shirts as they on zoomed off past castles and crumbling stadiums in their Vespas.  

At 25 I met my husband, and after dating for one and a half years we were married in Bellevue Washington. Within another year and a half we had our first daughter, Katrina. About a year and a half after that, came our son Vance, and about a year and a half after that, our son Vaughn. Finally, almost 6 years later we had another daughter, Elana.

After living in the Seattle area for nearly 25 years of our marriage, my husband was transferred to Albuquerque New Mexico, and then to Columbus Ohio. We now live in Hilliard, a suburb of Columbus. We hope to return to Seattle in a few years, maybe sooner, if my online business makes that possible.

We now have two granddaughters, Amelia and Eloise. We love them more than anything else in the world. 

Life is good and we look forward to some traveling in our future, but selling beautiful, used things for people to use and appreciate all over again will always be a the thing I get up for in the mornings!

Give me a week or two - I may get this blogging thing figured out by then

When I do you will be privy to all sorts of fashion info, tips, history, updates, etc., all in hopes of inspiring you to get your fashion grove thing on! (That's my 1970's teenager self speaking).

I am no fashionista, but I started wearing vintage clothing back in 1980 and have continued to collect it ever since. I have about 500 interesting pieces that I am using to start my online store, and hope to find a lot more as I get rolling. I currently have a couple of things for sale in my Etsy shop called Vintagietta, although none of them are from my personal collection.

However, I will be opening another Etsy shop "tailored" around vintage clothing and accessories called - you guessed it - The Clothe Things Company. I have some fun ideas for displaying and photographing them and expect to have those posted in my new shop in the next couple of weeks. You will find both new and old iconic fashions in my online shop TheClotheThingsCo.com when it opens in March.

You can learn a lot about vintage and designer clothing in 33 years and I don't plan on wasting all that good info. Even though I usually just bang around in jeans and T-shirts, I still love everything about fashion and clothing. It says so much about an individual and if you have your wardrobe is set up right, can make getting up everyday just a little more fun!

In this blog you can look forward to daily posts about: fashion history, designer stories, what new, who's who in the design industry, how to know if something in vintage or not, caring for various fabrics and removing stains, organization tips, how things are made, pet fashion, DIY clothing projects, mending tutorials, reader input, a guide to building the basic wardrobe, what not to wear, success stories and, dare I say it, so much more!

Oh, and giveaways, modeling contests, design contests, and paper doll patterns are in my little bag of goodies too!

So... if you want tips on getting your closet in order and stocking it with just the right things to make your life simpler and allow you to express your personality (I picture an "explosion" of possibilities) then set your dial here and tune in often!