A great book

Borrowed this book from the library today - what a great book !

Fred Astaire - Royal Wedding - Famous Ceiling Dance

The Swedish Royal Wedding this weekend

What can I say, I´m a sucker for romance... This was such a joyous occasion after eight long years of waiting. They seem to love one another deeply. Also, I love the fact that an ordinary guy from a small town gets the princess and becomes a prince himself ! :)

The talented Frollein von Sofa!

I was thinking what to wear in my hair with the dress I might wear ( depending on what my mom thinks... don´t wont to upstage my cousin, the bride ...) for the wedding in Paris. I needed something big & bold & beautiful...

Who better then to call on for help than my delightful blog friend Frollein von Sofa! :)



The dress.



The fabric.



The hat Frollein von Sofa made for me ! Isn´t it adorable!



Oh, Ms von Sofa you are one talented girl! Thank you, thank you, thank you !



If you are not acquainted with the exquisite designs of Frollein von Sofa please stop by her web shop ans see for yourself. !

Paris here I come!

Happy 100 posts & 50 followers Give-away!

So here it is finally - my 100th blog post and 50 followers ( actually as of today 52 :) ! And with it a fabulous give-away! A couple of years back, one of the first things that I bought on eBay was this 1940s hat.



Being an eBay novice I did not bother to check its measurements, thinking I could have it re-fitted should it not be quite my size... Well, that proved more difficult than I had thought. So, I never used the hat, since it was too small for my big head ... :)



But it turns out it can be worn, as modeled here by my friends daughter, Anna. Her delightful head measures 54 cm / 21,2 inches.



So if your interested in this beautiful little hat, post a notice on your blog and let me know that you want to be part of the give-away. And since I think its fun to have a runner-up prize ...



I have decided to also give away these authentic late 1950s/early 1960s elegant ladies shoes. The winners will be announced on the 30th of June - Good luck !



So far, it has been a journey finding my own "blog voice". As a person I tend to be, by nature as well as profession, quite personal. Yet I have a need to not be too "private" in my musings here. The Internet gives you this feeling of having an intimate one-on-one conversation and you can easily forget that this medium is far from private ...

I often find myself thankful that I was not in my teens when blogs, Skype and virtual chatting exploded. I would have been ill equipped to fully understand the difference between personal and private, something I think is necessary for virtual survival. Thus I have had some trouble finding my "blog footing" in the beginning. Also as a verbal person I feel compelled to, at least, try and write well... But since English is only my second language (thank God for spell checking :) I tend to think a bit more before I express myself (which is a good thing ! ;) which might make my style not so fluid at times.

Still I have no regrets about starting to blog, all in all its been a great experience! And I look forward to more blogging ( even though I shall never understand how people find all the time !!) And here I am - 100th posts - hooray! Who would have thought it when I started... Here´s to another 100 !

Fransesca / Diva

Of nails, sleeping masks and happy things to come...

When I was a young girl I used to visit my maternal grandmother and grandfather often. My grandmother, who still took care of her father, would leave me at the local library while she attended to her father. In that library ( and by the way I have a deep love of all libraries!) there was this amazing book by Anita Colby, that I would read and re-read over and over again.



Many years later I, to my immense joy, found the book in an antique bookshop, its been with me ever since . This is what Wikipedia has to say :





Anita Colby (August 5, 1914 - March 27, 1992) was an actress and model. She was born Anita Counihan. Early in her career, at $50 an hour, she was the highest paid model at the time. She appeared on numerous billboards and ads, many of them for cigarette advertisers.

She moved to Hollywood from New York in 1935 and changed her name to Colby. She had a few bit parts, but her acting career never took off. After two years, she returned to New York and became an ad salesman for Harper's Bazaar.

She made her name in Hollywood almost ten years after leaving films when she worked on a nationwide advertising campaign for the film Cover Girl 1944, which she also appeared in.

She was then was hired by David O. Selznick in the 1940s to teach contract actresses, such as Jennifer Jones, Ingrid Bergman and Joan Fontaine. Her job title was Feminine Director of the Selznick Studios.

She died of lung disease, aged 77.

Its from her book I got the inspiration today to do a MANICURE ! :)

First get all the tools ready. Then soak in warm water with a little lemon juice to take away any "yellowness" from your nails. I don´t use warm oil, because I will add oil later.



After that I dry my hands and proceed with filing my nails. I like to use paper or glass files, which is actually amazing to use. Then I gently push back my cuticles. I use a metal tool, but wooden orange sticks works as well.


This very close to my own glass file. Then I trim any hangnails that I have, but I try to trim just a little, as its easy to get carried away and then you´re left with frazzled cuticles...

.

Then I take this GREAT nail oil by Scratch called "nail food" and massage my cuticles and the nail itself (with or without polish) I do this every morning and its done wonders for my nails!

Some days I do no more, but if I want to wear nail polish I use Scratches "No Dry Nails", Because the reason my nails have been breaking was because they were too dry ... Then its time for some colour!



I wanted to do a 1940s manicure, so these little white strips that you use for French manicure came in handy.


Before they have time to dry I peel of the strips. And use a corrector pen to clean up the edges a bit. Then I add a final sheer gloss on top and I´m ready to go!



Tataaa! Here they are ! By the way the little adorably beautiful gold flask is the Nail Food Jubilee Bottle. It costs a whopping 73$ or 61 €, but ... I think I have to get it! :) Its soo pretty...

My sleeping mask is really old and I need a new one. I think I found one ! Look at these adorable sleeping masks! I´m buying the pink one. The masks are from here.





And then I´m buying a lingerie bag for my trip.


Isn´t it cute! Its from here.


I am excited to tell you that this is my 99th post and I´ve just gotten 50 followers - jippi ! This calls for a special CELEBRATION GIVE-AWAY ! Keep your eyes open for the next 100th post !

I am happy and thankful for each and every follower ! Thank you so much for reading my rambling posts and hanging in there with me, even when my post have been few and far apart ...

Fransesca aka Diva