A SECONDHAND WEEKEND

 

Well, I kept my vow not to buy anything until July 1st. That's the day I found the by the pound Goodwill in Tallahassee, Fla. It's at 300 Mabry if you're in the area. It's smaller than the one in Charlotte, North Carolina and is more expensive. Not  that $1.79 a pound is high priced. Anyway, I found 5 pieces. 4 tops and a man's white dress shirt with French cuffs. I took that to the costume shop. Grand total: $5, as I rounded up.

 I've already worn the brown hippie tunic and snap front blouse. Sorry for the crap photo, I could not get the lighting right, this is the best photo of the try.

 The 4th item is this velvet top/sweater from J Jill. All 4 pieces fit!


And, of course, I had to look for shoes. I found these at DSW for $50.

We sent the holiday weekend visiting DJ Baby Bok Choy (aka my BFF) and we hit 4, yes, 4 shops on Saturday.  First up was the by the pound store in Charlotte, located on Freedom Drive. It's about 4 times the size of the one in Tallahassee and is $1.39 a pound. We bought 16 pounds of stuff. DJBBC got a wool full length winter coat and some big wrap around you scarves.

 This photo is out of  order and I got this Vanity Fair bathrobe at the Value Village.

Here's what I found at B-T-P:

 2 pillow shams that match my bedding! How crazy is that?

 A vintage sweater vest for the Doctor and a Audrey Hepburn t-shirt for me.

 A crazy clock sweater for me. Again with the lighting

 Here's a close up. Tick tock, what time is it? Time to be awesome!

 brown '60's dress that buttons up the back

 Leather jacket that almost fits

 I can't pass up vintage ties and a pretty purple hippie purse. The ties had their own bin, which is about 4-5 feet by 3 feet. On the way home I was wondering how much it would cost to buy the whole thing. Most of the ties seemed to be silk and I got to thinking about what can be made out of them. Hmm...........

 In the same stripe mall is a Value Village where I found this lovely '70's dress, the belt is missing. Missing belts live in another dimension with those lost socks we all have. DJBBC got a wooden turtle necklace.

Our favorite Thai restaurant was closed for the holiday so we headed across town to the other Value Village, which I think is on South St. We eat lunch at a Panda Express, which was fine.

I always find lots of vintage at this store.

 2 jackets from the '70's. The dark one is from Time Out by Farah and the other one is from Bradlees, which was a department store in the North East. The Vanity Fair bathrobe was also bought here. DJBBC got a couple of dresses.

The 4th shop is a small one around the corner from DJBBC's work. I think it's called House of Thrifts. I didn't find anything, but DJBBC found a woven purse with leather handles.

 Also bought a new watch from Target and DJBBC found this beautiful stone necklace for me. I forgot where, but it's 2nd hand, too.

Hurricane Arther sucked all (ok, most) of the humidity out of the air, so Saturday and Sunday where pleasant. On Sunday we all went to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden outside of Charlotte. What a beautiful place. As an extra treat, like the beautiful garden wasn't enough, there is an art exhibit from Zimbabwe. And I didn't take any photos as I was enjoying the moment. If you what to see some of the art you can go here:

zimsculpt.com

We didn't buy a sculptures, but I did get this.
  

 It's an egg made out of lepidolite. Lepidolite is a mineral that lithium comes from, so it's a healing stone. I just thought it was pretty.

We sent a great deal of time watching old movies on a cable channel I've never heard of called gettv. It shows movies from the 1930's, '40's, '50's and 60's. The Doctor got bored and went on a couple of nature walks.

So that was our 4th of July holiday trip. I went by the theatre on Wednesday to check on the 42ns Street photos, which I know you're all dying to see. The lighting designer is taking them this weekend, so stay tuned!

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 106

 

Isn't she just the cutest? 

Love the colors in her outfit. I have no information about her.

Over the holiday weekend, we went to South Carolina to visit my BFF. For some reason she decided to call herself DJ Baby Bok Choy. Should I call her DJBBC from now on?  She also renamed me Lady Arugula. Don't you love having long term friends? We've been friends since 1978 or 9

I'll be checking to see if the 42nd Street photo are ready, then editing them and having a post soon. I've also broke my vow of not buying anything and have gone to 5 thrift stores in the past week. I'll be posting about that as soon as I get it all  sorted.

Later.

SHOW #2: SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE

 

Smokey Joe's Cafe is a review show, also called a "jukebox"show. All the songs are by  Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, mostly from the early '60's.  There's no plot or storyline, just 40 (yes, 40) oldies. The 9 singers in the show are also in the other 2 productions. It's fun to see how different they look in all 3 shows. The cast:

Jared Brodie           Renita James         Robert McFletcher

Micheal Byrne         Tanisha Moore       Cedric J. Paige

Desiree Dillon            David E. Foster       Megan Wheeler

unless noted, the photos were taken by Genny Wynn.

 The cast at the opening of the show " In The Neighborhood"

 The quartet: Robert McFletcher, Cedric J. Paige, David E. Foster and Jared Brodie

 The Ladies, can you spot Mary Poppins, Mrs. Corry, Mrs. Banks and Miss Andrews/Queen Vic from Mary Poppins?
Megan Wheeler, Tanisha Moore, Desiree Dillon and Renita James. This photo is by Paul Leavy

 Micheal Byrne joins in for "Poison Ivy", lord it'll make you itch.

 Tanisha telling "Don Juan" when the money's gone so is she.

" Shopping for Clothes" dancing with the giant suits.

 Cedric J. Paige and the awesome suits rented from UCONN. Thanks!

 Desiree (Mrs. Banks) "I Keep Forgetting"

 "D W Washburn" is.......................................................................

                                         "Saved"

 The cast at the start of Act II "Baby, That Is Rock and Roll"

 Desiree "Pearl Is A Singer". Also by Paul Leavy.

Ever wonder what Mary Poppins does on her Wednesday off?



She's teaching dancing, "Teach Me How To Shimmy"

 Megan, Micheal, and all the fellow's in the house enjoyed the lesson. I made that dress.

 and the fellows in the show enjoyed "Little Egypt"

 Tanisha has another solo. "Some Cats Know"

 Megan, Micheal and David rocking "Jailhouse Rock"

 Who needs men in black when we have men in silver?

 oh, no, here comes "Trouble".

 Enjoying the club.

That's not all the songs in the show, just the ones that have the best visuals. If I did a photo of every song this post would go on for days. Stay turned for show #3, 42nd Street!

Enjoy the holiday!

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 105

 

Let's take a break from show photos and go to China

 

At least I think she's supposed to be Chinese.  She's another tiny one and I had to hold onto her feet to keep her from rolling to the side. I love the tiny flowers in her hair.

MARY POPPINS REPRISE AKA ACT II

First off, this is the final pose for "Jolly Holiday". For some reason it went missing from yesterday's post.

Now, ACT II. Mr Bank's got suspended from his job, because he gave the loan to the nice man who wanted to open a factory and not the sketchy guy.
 

 Mrs. Brill is dusting the heirloom vase that might have to be sold so the family can keep the house.

 In an attempt to make Mr. Banks happy, Mrs. Banks tracked down a surprise for her husband....................................

 he's childhood nanny, Miss Andrews (Renita James) Because he's children are a handful, his been raving about her for forever.

 Instead of a spoonful of sugar, she has "Brimstone and Treacle"
See that bottle stopper? Our props artisan, Jonathan Willis, made it with a 3D printer! The bottle also glows.

 Such a lovely woman,  nicknamed The Holy Terror. The kids runaway to the park.

 They run into Bert.

 A pretty dance and song called "Let's Go Fly A Kite" happens. The kite gets away only to be recused by.................

 Mary Poppins, who just happened to be flying by. (Ok, she's magic)

 The Park Keeper (Robert McFletcher) Has been yelling at Bert and the kids for littering and Mary tells him to button up his coat and tuck in his shirt. Miss Bossy Boots! They give him the kite and head back home. Our cutter/draper Steven Graver made the red coat.

 Back at home it's a Nanny Bitch Slap Smack Down

 Of course, Mary Poppins wins and sends Miss Andrews packing.

Mary and the kids go up stairs and hear a strange noise coming from the fireplace, faster than you can say "flue powder" they're sucked into the chimney and out onto the rooftops.

 Were a whole bunch of chimney sweeps bust into a crazy mad tap number called "Steps in Time". Because of some legal reasons, we're not allowed to post video of our productions. This is a crying shame, because this number is amazing! You'll just have to take my word for it

 Yes, Bert taps upside down and across the stage!

 I love the costumes for this number. They are part of the rental and are ripped, torn, repaired and "dirty" to make them look real.

 Mr. Banks gets called into the bank. And it's good news! He gets a promotion and a raise! The sketchy man turned out to be sketchy and causes the rival bank to loss $$$. Mr Bank's boss is  happy about that and so are the rest of the bank employees.

Mary's work at the Bank's house is done and she flys back to Hogswort's or where ever she's from.

So that was Mary Poppins, we got it up and open in 3 weeks! The sets, the dancing, singing, lighting, costumes and flying around took 3 very long weeks. The cast and crew did a bang up job. Even more impressive when you learn that the 2nd show opened 2 week later and the 3rd show opened a week after that one. 6 weeks to mount 3 large musical. And we've been doing it for 25 years! Yeah us!