Marlon on a Wednesday: I'm on a boat!

Some vintage footage I found via YouTube I like:

Hey dolls

Well, I thought I rented a studio apartment for one in Minneapolis, but I found three lovely ladies to room with at the last minute!

The end two are 1990s reproductions of vintage Barbies, (I thought they were SO much prettier than the modern ones) but the center one is actually an original "Midge." The first owner, my mom, handed her down to me almost twenty years ago! I may have been a little young at the time to have such a special gift, because I think I destroyed her original outfits. She's wearing one I designed and made at some point during my childhood. 

Isn't she lovely? And apparently, Mattel created an entire life story for her! Read about it, here. I think that is pretty funny. I used to just made up my own stories for her.

I am decorating my place with a few other vintage icons, so I decided to pack all three to see if I could fit them somewhere. I admit, I still get really excited about Barbie dolls. I credit my appreciation for fashion and clothes to the many hours I spent playing with them back in the day. Not to mention, I find this beyond flattering:

"I've been searching my soul tonight ..."

I do not watch a lot of TV, but one show I have fallen in love with over the past year is Ally McBeal. After I watched every episode of Sex and the City at least a dozen times, I decided I needed a new "girly show" to indulge in. Ally seemed like a natural choice. I remember my mom and my sister watched it when it aired in the '90s, but it seemed too "grown up" for me at the time. Now, I appreciate its quirky, hilarious, and often touching story lines.

Plus, I love the music Vonda Shepard contributes. "Searching My Soul" has become a real guiltless pleasure :-)



Oh, and this is hilarious:



~F.

"Love is all around"

My upcoming move to the Twin Cities has resurged my interested in several related aspects: attending the University of Minnesota at some point, F. Scott Fitzgerald research, and most notably, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I remember watching a couple episodes, but not many, in middle school when Nick at Nite played better shows. It clearly seemed like a "grown-up's show" to me, and I preferred I Love Lucy and Happy Days. So, I never got into it, and I soon knew Mary Tyler Moore more for her role in Ordinary People than her iconic sitcom.

Anyway, I have been catching up, and I love it! Of course, what's not to love about a single woman moving to the Twin Cities who exhibits equal amounts of style and wit? I must admit, though, I almost love the style most of all. In the past year, I have become very interested in '70s fashion, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show seems to capture its best trends. The little coats, long skirts, fake eyelashes, and bell-bottoms seem perfect. Mary's outfits in the first season credits capture my tastes right now:



Also, an interesting "me-note": My mom actually worked at that Minneapolis Donaldson's Department store shown right before Mary tosses her hat in the air. She worked there during the show's running, too. Both my parents (my dad worked in a bank a couple blocks away) remember it clearly, even though that downtown areas has changed. However, I wonder if my mom worked the day the scene was filmed ...

~F.