I admit to having some issues regarding the whole aging thing. I think it is mostly because I enjoy life so much I'm not to crazy about the passing of time. I'm also not big on maturity, I may be 39 in body but I'm about 19 in my mind. I think I get sillier and less serious with each passing year, which isn't a bad thing. I was also lucky to have an absolutely fabulous birthday weekend. I had a delicious breakfast at Tops Diner Saturday morning
and then we went to the The New Brusnswick Kennel club dog show to see the Toy Group breeds. I wore my Mischief Made me 1950s style dog tee since it seemed appropriate for the show.
The pugs and poodles where shown in the afternoon so we missed them. Though we did see plenty of pugs in pens outside the breeder's RVs.
The best part was we got to see the Chihuahuas which is a breed I'm very interested in owning one day and the main reason I attend the show. The Chihuahua breeders and fanciers where lovely and let us attend their meeting, they where all members of the Central NJ Chihuahua club. They were so kind and gave us lots of information about the breed. The accepted show size is 6 lbs and under and the good breeders breed to get dogs in about the 3 to 6 lb range. So tiny, but some unscrupulous people try for much smaller, crazy! The main breeder we met also rescues large dogs and she recommended a dog 4 lbs or bigger for us when the time comes which I agree with. It was wonderful to see breeders who love their breed so much and are really working to better it. We also met the most adorable 4 month old puppy. I was completely in love.
On Sunday we mostly stayed home with the dogs and cat's and I got my birthday present. 49 vintage Star Trek novels John found on ebay! How awesome is that!
My favorite part was that someone named B.H. had owned some of the books and took notes and recorded ratings. He or she gave several books 10 ++ ratings so I guess they are good.
I also found these two 1970s school pictures in one of the books, perhaps one of them is the elusive B.H.?
and while I might not love everything about growing older, I do enjoy birthdays. One particularly thing I've always liked about my birthday is that I share it with one of the people I most admire, Leonard Nimoy.
I loved Leonard not just for his Mr. Spock role
but for his public profile that was always so kind and generous. He was patient and appreciative of fans, and I really think used his celebrity status for good. I really enjoyed reading his autobiography I Am Spock and learning about his career and life. It remains one of my favorite books, and certainly my favorite autobiography. Despite his ubiquitous link to his Vulcan alter ego, Leonard had an interesting and varied career that spanned that later half of the 20th century. One aspect of that career did surprise me somewhat, his 1960s and 70s status as a heart throb.
While it makes perfect sense that Nimoy's nerdy outside character Spock would appeal to angst ridden 1960's teens (see below this touching letter Nimoy wrote to a young fan struggling with her bi-racial heritage, Spock of course was also bi-racial being half Vulcan and half human)
his popularity with female fans comes as something as a surprise, because well, lets be honest Leonard Nimoy was not exactly handsome.
Still, from the minute Star Trek appeared on the airwaves in 1966 it was Leonard Nimoy as Spock, rather then the more traditionally handsome William Shatner playing the womanizing Captain Kirk
who got the majority of female fans attention. Something that Shatner has admitted irked him a bit at the time.
So surprising was Nimoy's popularity with female fans that none other then famed science fiction author and Star Trek screen writer Issac Assimov wrote an article about the phenomenon. You can read it here. It is a great vintage article and dream reading for any vintage loving pop culture geek like myself. In the article, Assimov explains that his teen daughter finds Mr. Spock "dreamy" and speculates that this is because smart is sexy. Personally, I think Shatner might have been more on the nose when he said that Spock's appeal lay in his inaccesability and the general human desire to want what we can't have. Both are probably correct.
Personally, I love both Kirk and Spock, and possibly Kirk a teensy bit more. I think the character get's less attention then Spock in general and I've always had a thing for the underdog. Regardless, smart and nerdy is always best in my book.
It should come as no surprise that I love poodles:
Both the in the fur variety, like my darling Mr. Tuvok, and the collectible 1950's variety as seen on the purse. The 1950's might not have been the golden age of everything, but they where definitely the golden age of the poodle. Poodles where everywhere. In advertisements,
on skirts, sweaters,
knick knacks, purses, book ends, mirrors, lamps
even toilet seat covers!.
There is a whole book devoted to the mid century poodle collecting obsession. I've never read it but you can buy it used on Amazon.
Maybe there not everyone's cup of tea, but to me these delightfully kitschy 1950s and 60s poodle images just put modern dog graphics to shame. So ubiquitous was the mid century poodle that I was actually shocked to learn that according to the AKC poodles where only the decade's 7th most popular breed. Regardless of the ranking, the poodle and the 1950s are forever linked.
Sadly today, I feel the poodle has fallen a bit out of favor. Doodles are popular but poodles don't seem to get the same respect they used too. I am also troubled by the modern trend to groom a poodle into looking like some other breed of dog. I have written before about how I want Mr. Tuvok to be groomed in a traditional pet poodle style, and that can be a challenge. Groomers have told me that most people tell them to make their dogs look less like a poodle. A sentiment that really kind of angers me, poodles are a wonderful breed, why would you want to disguise that? Smart, companionable, athletic affectionate, and in a range of sizes, they really are fantastic. Let's have some poodle pride! With my love for dogs and vintage I can't get enough of dog themed vintage clothing, so when I saw that my favorite novelty skirt designer, Girl In A Whirl, was adding 1950's Mexican style tourist jackets to her wares I knew I wanted where my poodle pride on my sleeve with a poodle themed jacket. I messaged Girl In A Whirl designer, Rebecca and told her I was dreaming of a jacket with little black poodles on it. I wanted the poodles to have the classic well groomed 1950's look and to be wearing red berets. Rebecca understood exactly what I meant and my new Girl In A Whirl jacket is perfect!
I've been wearing it at least once a week since I got it and I never get tired of it (and yes Mr. Tuvok has a red beret, it was actually part of his pug sister Ping's halloween costume a few years ago.)
The picture's here are from two different occasions. First I am wearing the jacet with Freddies of Pinewood jeans and a striped top. The second time with with my Marie Guye western jumpsuit. Both time's I wore my red Chatterblossom hair flower and of course my poodle purse.
I also added gold tone poodle scatter pins to the neck of the jacket. I have had these forever and I forget where I got them but they only cost a couple of bucks and they are perfectly at home on the jacket. Proof that it always pays to take advantage of a vintage deal even if your not totally sure what to do with the item.
Because Rebecca is so talented the details of jacket are incredible.
The front of the jacket has red whip stitching and the poodles are wearing red bow ties to match their berets.
The pocket's have red whip stitching and pom pom trim
There is even a little K on the collar!
So the front is perfect, but the back is even better. The poodles on the back are playing with a red and blue ball.
They have little sparkly blue eyes and light blue bows, as well as berets:
I really think they look just like Mr. Tuvok! Even the red ball is carefully stitched with blue ribbon to match the poodle neck bows.
I'm just so happy to have this jacket in my collection and so grateful to Girl In A Whirl for making it for me. I know Ill be enjoying it, along with all other things poodle, for years to come.
Weasley is the first dog I got after starting blogging and it really reminds me of why I love blogging so much when I see the record of wonderful memories I have. I almost can't read his welcome home post on my old blog Urban Hounds because I get so emotional seeing it, and really emotional seeing him with Tubby and Norbert. Then I remember how incredibly lucky I am to share my life with these amazing creatures! I'm truly blessed. Five is certainly not old, but it's not exactly young either, and Weasley is now definitely a man pug!
Sadly the weather on Saturday and Sunday really didn't cooperate, cold, cold, cold! So we couldn't go on any outings. Instead Weasley enjoyed opening presents at home
He also got a cake. I wasn't too happy about the pink frosting but it was the only one they had. Weasley didn't seem to mind.
Five is off to a good start we are hoping Weasley has a fabulous year!
