Thompson Family-Life

a long awaited post - Pee-wee & Simone

Oh my gosh you guys! This has been a long-awaited post. I've been wanting to do this post for literally seven months. That is just unacceptable. These were taken on that same Palm Springs trip I'm always talking about (that was one eventful weekend!). When my friend Heather (who went on the trip) told me that the location where they filmed the dinosaur scene in Pee-wee's Big Adventure (um, only one of my favorite films of all time! I grew up in the 80's.. how 'bout you?) was only a hop, skip and a jump from Palm Springs, I KNEW that I wanted to go see it.

I also knew that I wanted to do some sort of photo shoot that included dollies. So I immediately started looking for Pee-wee dolls on Ebay that would fit the scale of my Blythes. He's a bit big, but really, with Blythe's big-ass head, they kind of balance each other out. ; )

I didn't have a doll that looked like Simone, but I did have a hand-me-down Blythe (yes, someone GAVE me a Blythe that she didn't want... I'm still recovering from that shock) that had a similar hair color as Simone. I rolled her hair the night before at the hotel, but her curls all fell out in the sweltering Palm Springs Heat. (sad face) She came with that outfit which was pretty perfect for Simone's waitress outfit!

So, we set out one morning and drove to the location. This was one of the most awe-inspiring drives for me because I'd never quite seen a desert landscape like this.

And the hundreds of windmills!

So after a short drive, we got there and I totally geeked out fan-style when I saw THE T-Rex where Pee-wee and Simone had their talk.

Over the years, they've added more dinosaurs that are honestly pretty cheesy and don't really fit with the style of the older Pee-wee dinos. Ah well.

So after we were forced to pay to go through the cheesy dinosaur "museum", we got to climb inside the T-Rex! It was MUCH smaller than it seems in the movie. It's obvious that they filmed the scene where they're sitting inside the Dino's mouth on a set because you can barely fit people in there (trust me, the three of us tried. ha!)

I have to say, as silly as it sounds, this was a moment for me taking these photos. I grew up on Pee-wee's Playhouse. It was quite the feat taking these pics. You have to climb up a tiiiny spiral staircase. So Heather and Holly kind of stuffed themselves in the corner of the dino's head so I could take the photos. It was comical to say the least. Did I mention it was also very windy up there?

Once we finished there, we walked back through the "museum" and took some pics of our Blythes with Pee-wee.

Pee-wee does look a bit creepy sneaking up on the girls, don't you think?

It really was the best time.

And just for old time's sake, check out this video. : )

P.S. While googling the movie, guess what I found?! There's a girl band called "Au Revoir Simone" of who, apparently, David Lynch is a big fan. What could be more perfect than this scenario? Check out their music here.

Palm Springs Weekend - the Movie!

Palm Springs Weekend, 1963

I think I discovered this movie around the same time I went to Palm Springs, California last year and I was like "We HAVE to watch this! We could watch it at our hotel while we're there!" But we were too busy to watch a movie and then I kind of forgot about it.

I remembered it a few weeks ago and was happy to see they had it on Netflix (not instant mind you). So I watched it yesterday while folding laundry and I was so pleasantly surprised that not only was it complete eye candy (I wouldn't have expected anything less) but also a truly good movie.

Here are some screen shots I took so you can see my favorite parts. I won't give away too much about the movie in case you haven't seen it. And let me point out that this is dedication, my friends, watching the movie all the way through on my laptop and pausing it constantly to get decent screen shots. ; )

I love, loved seeing the desert landscape while they're driving into Palm Springs on the bus. That was one of my favorite things to see when we drove outside of PS a bit last year. This gal from the Southeast had never seen a desert landscape like this before.

That's Jerry Van Dyke in the middle and Troy Donohue on the far right. I knew JVD was of course Dick's brother and had only seen him acting in things like Coach, etc. It was really cool to see what a star he was in his own right in this movie. He's quite charming! And Troy Donohue: I must be out of the 60's Teen Throb loop because apparently he was one of them!

And Connie Stevens. Never seen her in a movie before. Seriously cute girl and really great in this movie.

So they finally make it to the Riviera (everyone's going to PS for Spring Break). I googled to see if it's still around... I did see a Riviera in Palm Springs but wasn't sure if it's the same one? Anyone know?

Let's mozy on over to the record store...

I wasn't familiar with Stephanie Powers but she is seriously cute in this movie. I just love her hair and the little bows she wears. Apparently she's been quite the prolific actress over the years!

Back at the hotel for a pool party.

Then it's more partyin' that night.

Then it's on to the casino.

The set design at this club is kind of perfection. It's too much! I love it.

I loved Connie's perfectly huge hair with the scarf wrapped around it.

This music number was pretty amazing.

Have you seen Palm Springs Weekend? Do you love it? Like I said, I knew it would be a vintage-design-lover's paradise to watch, but I never expected it to be such an entertaining movie. I can see this becoming one of those movies that I'll watch over and over again in the future.

Palm Springs Vacation: Mid-Century Modern Architecture

I've been thinking a lot about my trip out West last summer to visit the incredible city of Palm Springs, California and to see my friends Heather and Holly. It was a trip to remember! I had planned on going back this year, but tickets kept getting more and more expensive (yeesh, I could fly to Europe for that!) so I decided to put it off til next year in February when they have their annual Modernism Week (eek!). Heather and Holly are going as well and I'm already counting down the months.

The weather should be really nice then (it got up to 110+ while we were there in July, HOT HOT HOT!) and attending all of the tours and events during Modernism Week will make the cost of the airfare worth it.

I featured a ton of photos from that trip in these posts, but I actually have many that I never blogged! I'm sharing those with you here and I also have another pretty fun post up my sleeve.

Sadly Holly had to go back  home a day early, but Heather and I took some time to just drive around Palm Springs, checking out as many neighborhoods as we could. And of course, these gorgeous Mid-Century Modern homes were the perfect backdrop to take photos of our Blythes (and my Licca doll)! So, yeh, we did a little bit of trespassing all in the name of awesome pictures. ; )

Heather made that fabulous dress for my platinum blonde there. SO CUTE. Luckily, Palm Springs residents are probably used to tourists taking photos of their homes, so we didn't get any angry people running us off.

It was so much fun taking in all of the details of the pristinely preserved architecture, from the beautiful cut-out shapes in the partitions, to the colors of the front doors. There was lots of ocean blue, red orange and lemon yellow we noticed over and over again.

We even got to poke our heads over the fence to one of Frank Sinatra's old homes.

We visited the Parker Hotel while we were there and I remember Holly kept saying how it's her "Happy Place". I think the entire city is my Happy Place and I can't wait to go back.

P.S. Be sure to check out Holly's husband's amazing website and design work.

Have you been to Palm Springs? Do you love it?

Palm Springs Weekend: ACE Hotel

So, you didn't think I was done with my Palm Springs Weekend recap did you? I had a slight setback when I dropped my laptop because it took me a while to recover my photos, including everything from this trip. Thankfully everything was saved. (phew.)

I still have at least 4 or 5 posts to share with you! It's amazing what you can fit into a weekend!

The Ace Hotel, a resort on the grounds of a renovated Mid-Century Modern hotel, was just a short walk down from our hotel, so we spent A LOT of time there. We could sort of take advantage of it's awesomeness without having to stay there (i.e. save some money. Score.) It's not as pricey as The Parker, definitely more affordable and it's much more family friendly. I could definitely see staying there one day. The staff is super nice and it doesn't feel stuffy at all. It's definitely Hipster Central, but there's such a diverse group of people that stay at this hotel, it doesn't feel TOO Hipster... if you know what I mean. (I love a Hipster every now and then, haha) ;)

(Notice how they macramed around the cord on the hanging lights? Love it.)

There's a fantastic vintage Photo Booth inside near the restaurant (which you can see two photos up) but we kept forgetting to use it. I had some time to spare before my flight on my last day, so I walked over there and had some fun with my little pink-haired friend.

We were admiring the gorgeous desert sunset at our hotel, and Heather had the idea to walk over to the ACE to see the sunset from there. She's a smart girl! The hotel was so pretty against the backdrop of the mountains and sunset. It was such a pretty evening.

They had all of these vintage bikes there for you to borrow and ride around the hotel property. So cool. Doesn't this place look totally chill and laid back? It really was.

Thanks ACE for being a great place for us to have fabulous meals, for introducing me to French Press coffee, for having awesome (sometimes hideously awesome) macrame wall-hangings, for amazing desserts and drinks, and just generally filling our bellies with lots of good things & providing a place for lots of great laughs and conversation.

We'll be back!

Palm Springs Weekend: the Shopping

So, I have to admit, the shopping was pretty rad in Palm Springs. Mostly because I was hanging out with two gals that love old junk just as much as me. And they'll spend a good part of the weekend going to stinky thrifts and think that that is a totally normal thing to do on vacation. : ) Ethan is always a good sport when I want to go to thrifts and antique malls when we vacation, but he doesn't really participate in the experience if you know what I mean. He usually has both earbuds in, listening to podcasts and will kindly nod when I point and swoon at things.

But this time I had girls to swoon with! Yipee! There were LOTS of thrifts around Palm Springs which made me happy. The very first store we visited I found the bowl and plate set. Aren't they pretty? The price was right, too (as you can see by the price tags I still haven't taken off!). Heather found me a shirt for Cooper (that girl is a seasoned thrifter that is for sure.. especially with the kids clothes!) It was funny because I usually headed straight for the home items, Heather to the kids clothing section and Holly? I think she went to the women's clothing first.. ha! ;)

I found the "Tell It Like It Is" album from a thrift (along with a really cool children's book that I'll be sharing for my Illustrated series). I loved the colors, shapes and typography on the album cover. And "Tell It Like It Is" is kind of my motto. Although it gets me in trouble from time to time... I have a love-hate relationship with my motto. Most of the time I'm pretty proud that I don't sugar coat things. Maybe I should pin this album cover on the wall. ; )

The angels, embroidered cat and mug are from the most amazing vintage shop ever (thank-you Viv for the tip!), Dazzles! More on that later... i'm hoping to get in touch with the owner soon to interview him for the 'ole blog! ::excited:: I've got lots of swoon-worthy photos of this swoon-worthy shop to share with you. 

And thankfully I had my new (as in, received it on the day before I was to leave for Palm Springs!) vintage luggage that I purchased from this shop. I've been using the same backpack (I think I've mentioned this before) that I've used for like the past 8 years! Oy. Not pretty. It was time to put that baby to sleep. This set even with shipping was less that I would've paid for a new (ugly) luggage set. I feel pretty lucky that I found it. They're in great shape and they didn't smell!! Whoo-hoo. Always a risk you take with vintage stuff. phew. Whoever "JSB" was took very good care of it. : ) The large case was the perfect size to fit all of my loot inside on the way home and the small bag was perfect for carrying all of those crazy dolls.

You can see more posts about our Palm Springs trip here.

(and as you can see, Palm Springs Week is turning into Palm Springs Month. That's ok right?)

Also, THANK-YOU for all of the amazing comments in my Green Smoothies post! Ethan and I are so excited to try some of your tips!