What makes something "Vintage"?

I've been doing some shopping lately...who are we kidding I'm ALWAYS shopping and I have come across the word vintage a lot. Everyone seems to be following a vintage trend lately going to flea markets, pawn shops and thrift stores, looking for vintage items. In my case, I was looking for a vintage clutch (purse), when it hit me.

What does vintage mean? and why am I willing to pay more for it?

When retailers slap vintage in front of the description, doesn't it make you feel like its automatically a little more valuable? Well I did some research. If you want to know what vintage is, check out my descriptions below and shop smarter.

First and foremost, here's the dictionary definition of Vintage:
vin·tage (vntj)
noun
1. The yield of wine or grapes from a vineyard or district during one season.
2. Wine, usually of high quality, identified as to year and vineyard or district of origin.
3. The year or place in which a wine is bottled.

Informal
a. A group or collection of people or things sharing certain characteristics.
b. A year or period of origin: a car of 1942 vintage.
c. Length of existence; age.

Adjective
1. Of or relating to a vintage.
2. Characterized by excellence, maturity, and enduring appeal; classic.
3. Old or outmoded.

Here are some generalized and more common descriptions that I have run by for various categories, beginning with fashion, since that's the one I'm most interested in.

Fashion & Jewelry

Some say vintage is anything made between the 1920's to 1980's. Other sources say that vintage can be anything from a previous era or 7 years or older and difficult to acquire. With this definition I would definitely land in the vintage category.

I think I will stick with the more widely accepted between 1920's to 1980's, anything made before that is considered antique.

Furniture

Vintage furniture applies to many types of furniture, the most important qualities being those that show age and high attention to detail.

Antique furniture is another story. Antique furniture is made at least one hundred years before it is purchased. This definition is often stretched by retail stores and many times when you arrive at antique store, you will see items that are only 50 to 60 years old, which mostly refers to the quality than the age. Then they upcharge you.

Vehicles

Cars are a different story however. For Cars, Motorcycles or Aircrafts something vintage needs to be at least 25 years or older, antique is anything 100 years or older.

You generally see vintage/antique car enthusiasts huddled in front of Denny's on Sunday or in Long Beach, in front of Frisco's.

Perfume

Perfume from the 1900 to 1980s is considered vintage unless it is discontinued, renamed, re-released or reformulated.

Wine

Any wine with a date on the bottle, with wine, Vintage only refers to the year it was made.

So, my advice to you is, before you go buy something "Vintage" make sure what you are getting and why it is considered "Vintage" to the seller, unless of course it's totally obvious.

Happy Shopping!

An LA Find: 13 Pisces Moon!

Ok, so it would be a really exciting find if I didn't actually know this person, but if it makes it any better I only know him through someone else AND I was shocked when I found out, because these T-shirts are sooo awesome. Ever since I saw one I have always been a fan and didn't realize the array of Tee's that were designed, until I got one for my B-day that I absolutely adore, Erykah Badu.


Now if you're not a Badu fan it's ok (I may think you're nutz, but that's besides the point), he make shirts of all types and even does special order hand painted t-shirts based on what you want. My personal favorite off of the site is the Michael Jackson Billie Jean shirt. Here are a couple of others that my beau owns that what initially attracted me to them:


Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics



Our Fearless Leader, President Barack Obama


If you are still looking for Christmas presents and are not sure what to get, these T-shirts are very unique and you're supporting local designers in LA. I'm not sure if he ships but you can check out the website, http://www.13piscesmoon.com/ for more details and some pretty good shirt shopping music.

Mention this blog and get 20% off.

Neglect is an awful thing.

Neglect (definition from Wikipedia) - to leave uncared for or to leave undone.

While I pursue every other thing in the book, I've unfortunately neglected my beloved blog. This is how it starts, you start neglecting and then you forget alltogether. Kind of like how I generally start neglecting that I'm on a diet and then BAM! I'm ten pounds heavier in two weeks. Ahhh, the things we choose to remember. Actually, this blog is not just about self-neglect but also my rant about neglect of your social responsibility in the community.

Think about how much time you spend thinking about your personal and professional goals, how much time you spend achieving them and then how much time you spend just screwin' around and not doing very much for anyone (including yourself).

I have been working with United Way (on a professional level) on some of their initiatives to fight homelessness and discovered some heinous truths about homelessness. It costs taxpayers MORE money to keep a homeless man on the street that to help them into a stable living situation!!! Now...when someone starts talking about saving my taxpayer dollars I listen, because they are always trying to milk us for what we're worth. The truth is that homelessness is a huge problem and Los Angeles is ranked #2, there are more than 73,000 people living in homelessness in the Los Angeles County. Can you believe that? All of this makes me very sad, but what can we do as individuals?

It is scary to approach that guy who's screaming out profanities on the corner and ask him "hey do you want some help?", it's likely that he'll follow you home, screaming at you and then stand in front of your building every day waiting for you to come out. You dont' want that. That's not necessarily the answer anyway.

My suggestion would be to contact local organizations like LAMP or United Way that specialize in focusing on the homeless issue and find out ways that you can support and help them (I'm talking other than giving up the $$$). Often times, they organize ways (groups and events) to reach out and help the homeless. You can also go to your public library to help out, which is what I did.

I am thinking of also volunteering with United Way, but because my specialty was Journalism in college; I felt that adult literacy is an important issue and the Los Angeles Public Libraries offer free tutoring for anyone that is interested in improving their literacy level and living in the Los Angeles area. While these suggestions are just small pieces of a larger puzzle, it helps when we all do our part to help our community and show tolerance and understanding of others. It takes a while to figure out your place in the world and I feel that now that I have somewhat figured out a plan and my place here on earth, it would be nice to help others, who may not be able to figure out themselves. Face it! Most people don't care about being nice anymore.

I went to a networking event earlier this week, where the program coordinator talked about developing relationships and the time it takes. I think it's the American culture that forces us to want everything now, now, now! The problem is that many things take investment, time and care to develop into something truly profitable or worthwhile. He mentioned that you'll never receive anything worthwhile without giving.

Give, give, give and it is inevitable that you will receive in return. It may come in different forms; money, personal gratification, business leads, friendships, partners, anything really. I also think that being a nice person, you'll likely get screwed once or twice, but that comes with life. So get over it and move on! My new resolution of life is to have a nice balance of doing things for myself and my personal good and doing things to better the world (whether its local, national or at an International level).

If anyone knows how to become an ambassador please contact me! That is something I'd really like to pursue without going back to school for political science, joining the peace corps or becoming a famous celebrity. 'After all, what is it that we all want?......World Peace!'

The Transformation begins...

I have been on a voyage to transform myself into a better athelete. Life just seems to get in the way, or is it my dedication to procrastination that really nails the head on the coffin? Ohhh, life's wonders. Nevertheless, I have decided that I need to retain some type of focus in these times of need and depression.

I have been playing tennis since I was about 13; which is actually late for a player who wants to be competitive. These days kids (specifically kids like Jan Silva) are picking up the racket between ages 2 dn 5, crazy but affective.

Anyway, I played in high school and college, but don't feel that I ever got that extra push I needed to really excel the way I think I could have. Physically, I pretty much have always had an athelete's body, not petite, not huge, but strong and with tons of stamina.

So, now that I am freelancing and working from home, I figured this is the perfect time to turn my own attention on myself and accomplish some of those things in life that I would like to carry with me until the end. I would like to improve myself to the next level of tennis and am getting there slowly. Not only that, but I would love to lose some weight and this is a perfect way to do both.

I've been hitting everyday for the past couple of weeks, so first I need to learn how to take breaks and secondly I need to get some players that are way above my level to push me into stardom..I mean greatness! :)

Watch as I progress into downtown LA's greatest tennis joy! Until then I will be doing the workouts of the pro's and ...wait for it... nixing the alcohol from my system. Real atheletes don't drink. That doesn't mean that I can't serve or recommend however!

Check back soon for progress.

A day at the Hostel...

So...I decided I needed a part-time job and coincidentally the boutique hostel/hotel next door was hiring for front desk agents. Perfect! Some mindless easy front-desking around my already flexible schedule. Frankly, working from home tends to mean that you're home alot. I wake up with plans to go work outside somewhere or at a coffee shop or cafe, but once I get online its over and then before I know it half the day is over. In an attempt to redeem some social interaction in my life, outside of the people in PE building, I joined the hostel boutique next door. I thought it would be interesting and so far its been interesting and full of foreigners, a lot more than I expected in Downtown LA.

Ok so I started working in this boutique hostel place which is really more like a hotel, but I never imagined all the different kinds of people that walk in. Its really quite interesting. I'm kind of perfect here because I live downtown and know where things are and can help some people. Unfortunately, Los Angeles...brace yourself...is not tourist friendly. I realized that I don't know nearly enough about downtown, in addition, I'm starting to get over living here in the middle of the city. I think I'm ready to go back to the suburbs when I used to be able to see grass outside of the window, sigh.

For the time being though, I'm going to enjoy all these different people coming in and out and when I get sick of customer service again, I will retire. For now, Stay has deemed an interesting pasttime for me and will be paying for my mani/pedi and eyebrow threading this week.

See ya'll real soon!

You'll never be bored in downtown LALA!

I've seen some strange things since I've moved back out here to LA in October. Today was strange, so I thought I would share some of these moments with you. Unforuntately, I don't have photos to show you exactly what I mean, but I can show you the locations.

1)Death in downtown; I think it was an overdose. The first week I was back, some homeless guy was dying on this corner of downtown LA. Freaked me out a bit.


2)The pirate guy. I love him, I must say. He is probably one of the most interesting homeless men I have met in Downtown LA and he is ALWAYS very nice and polite and goes about his own way.


3)Dead body outline near Coffee Bean. Early in the morning, I drove by and saw tons of cops at this location and a sticker outline of a man and a dead man being rolled into an ambulance, Yipes!

4)Slip and slide on the Sidewalk right in front of Hotel Cecil. Today I was driving back to my place from a day of apartment hunting and saw three little girls slip and sliding on the sidewalk. This is a rough block of main, where you can probably score some recreational drugs, or at least it seems that way. I realize that it was over 90 degrees today, but this is not a residential area, this is downtown, NUTZ!


5) This sign in Little Tokyo, which I STILL am having trouble interpreting. Please HELP

If you can't read it, it says; The Japanese Pollo Loco, \the chicken tastes like Lexus! Surprisingly enough, the Yelp reviews are pretty good for this place.

This place is crazy, but its never a dull moment!!! :)