swing out to victory Archives

What a year this has been and how fast it has gone as well. I literally feel like I just started 2015 and now it’s coming to an end. Well the one thing I do know is that 2015 was a busy and fun year and I would love to share with you some of the adventures I got into with you. Here is my 2015 in review.

January: Every year I attend a big German Karneval (mardi gras) function called GAMGA in Las Vegas. It’s 2 days of costume parties, after parties and then a big Gala. It’s super fun and something I have been doing with my parents since I was a kid.

February: I was lucky to be able to attend the premier of the 1940s new Canadian TV show called ‘X Company‘. I have never been part of a premier and it was a cool experience and we even got to meet the host of the event and get our pictures taken with the cast and producers.

I attend a 1920s Speakeasy party at the famous and beautiful Palais Royale in Toronto.

AND I traveled to Seattle, Washington for a long weekend to visit a good friends parents and see uber cool Seattle. I did a blog post all about it HERE.

Seattle Washington first starbucks — In front of the first Starbucks

March: I did nothing really blog post worthy. WHAT?? lol

April: VIVA Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend! I did several posts on that big adventure which can be found HERE.

May: Vintage Spectacular Dance with the GTA Swing Band. This was a super night of dancing, dressing up and great Big Band Music. The image below is some of the lovely ladies of TVS and the lead singer of the Band (she is soooo good).

I was very lucky to be part of a cool experience in May with a favorite Rockabilly band in Toronto called “The Millwinders“. Myself and few friends were filmed dancing in front of a green screen for use for future videos. Here are a couple of pictures from that day.

1950s vintage style — Credit: Kahlil Heslop

Lastly Toronto Lindy Hop (that I’m part of) put on a full weekend of Lindy hop, classes, history lessons and live music dances all weekend long called ‘Toronto World Lindy Hop Day’. I played host and it was such a good weekend 🙂

The images below are with 2 living legends in the Lindy Hop World. Chazz Young the son of one of the founders of Lindy Hop-Frankie Manning (and a talent as well) AND Dawn Hampton the Queen of the Cabaret and a little firecracker (her image is on the shirts we are wearing).

Summer (June, July and August): I did a full blog post on all the events I attended (tiki party, UK Adventure, Horse race event plus much more), so check that out HERE.

September: Weekend visit to Havana, Cuba

This was not my first visit to Havana, but this was definitely the first time I visited areas outside of the Old part and it was fantastic. I still have to do a blog post on all the new things I saw but for now here is a collage of some of the highlights.

October: Halloween and a friend’s Wedding Reception Toga Party (yes a toga party). For Halloween the hubby and I went as Amazing Race Contestants. The outfits were big hits.

Toga Party!

November: ‘Swing Out To Victory’. Once again I helped my friend Dean with hosting duties as a third of the beautiful “Dominion Belles”.

Swing out to Victory-1940s vintage outfits — Credit: Kahlil Heslop

The throwing of the candies 🙂

Here I am with 2 friends from the Toronto Vintage Society. Both created their outfits from scratch and Joy on the left, won the best dressed because she recreated the “Swing Time” outfit from the movie with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Opening of Toronto’s first ‘Shameful Tiki Room‘ (literally around the corner from my apartment). Now one of my local hangouts.

The official Tiki mug for Shameful. Very Canadian with the Beaver 🙂

I dj’d my first Rock N Roll social dance night for my friends 50s dance studio ‘Soda Pop Hop‘. Such a fun night!

December: Toronto Vintage Society annual Kitschmas Party. I played host once again at the party and it was another huge success. Here are the winners of the title of Kitschmas King and Queen. Make sure you check out the blog called “Flipsville” because she made these outfits!

And that my friends is a general overview of my 2015 year. I hope you had a wonderful year and I wish all of you a Happy 2016! Thank you so much for reading my blog and commenting and just being wonderful readers, I love and appreciate each and everyone of you.

Liz 🙂

2014 was a fun year for me and my vintage life and so I thought I would summarize some (not all-way to many to count!) of the fun events I attended this year as we come to the final last days of 2014.

p.s. This is a picture heavy post 🙂

January 2014

Not really a vintage event but I was in Vegas for the annual “German American Mardi Gras Association” Big 2 day party! Friday night was the costume party and Saturday night was the black tie gala. I have been part of German Karneval since I was a kid so it’s a very special event for me and I look forward to it every year.

GAMGA 2014-German Karneval in the United States — The Hays with “Hay”. Best costume winners at GAMGA

April 2014-VIVA Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend

This 4 day weekend of 1950s music, vintage shopping, dancing and vintage cars is one event I recommend you attend at least once in your life. I have been 3 times and have loved every moment. This year my parents came and are already looking forward to the time they return. My husband and I are going back again this year so stay tuned for that blog post.

Frankie's Tiki Room Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend 18 — The Big Question

May 2014: Frankie 100 in New York City

The Lindy hop world came together for a weekend of outstanding music and dance to celebrate the life of one of the original Lindy hoppers-Frankie Manning. He would have been 100 (can you believe he lived to be 94 and was still dancing!) and the party would have made him happy, as it showed the world how amazing the dance is. It was a highlight of my year. I even got to participate in a vintage clothing presentation showing off my vintage 1940s dress. I felt very much like Ginger Rogers that evening 🙂

Lindy hop in Central Park Frankie 100 — Dancing in Central Park at Frankie 100

Frankie 100 Lindy hop weekend in NYC — Parade in Harlem thru Frankie’s old haunts

Frankie 100 — The dance floor in Terminal 5. So many wonderful dancers!

June 2014-Barcelona (Spain) and Munich Germany

Once again not a vintage event but a big event in my year, a wedding of our Lindy hop teachers/friends that we attended in a gorgeous city outside of Barcelona and then a layover in Munich at the end of the trip. It was so much fun! and filled with friends, wine, sightseeing and beer (and bit of World Cup soccer).

World Cup soccer Germany — Cheering on Germany at the Munich Olympic stadium

Gatsby Garden Party

The historic and amazing Spadina Museum hosted it’s annual Gatsby Garden party on their grounds. Everyone comes out in 1920s finery and listens to music, drink lemonade and even learn now to play croquet. Turns out yours truly is a pro and was asked to join the team that was giving lessons 🙂

Pinup in the Park

Toronto Vintage Society hosted a picnic in the park this summer where we got to just chill and relax with all our vintage friends. It was also a chance for the TVS team to take some official photos for our website.

August 2014: Toronto Vintage Society Tiki Party

Once again TVS was back hosting our annual Tiki party at the Cadillac Lounge and this year was bigger and better than last. We had a Hawaiian dancer, burlesque, 2 bands, speciality cocktails and our awesome vintage community who came out in amazing tiki style. It was a super party and we can’t wait to do it again!

September 2014-Old Fashioned car weekend at Greenfield Village, Michigan

I did a blog post earlier this year but it was worth mentioning again, because I loved it! Full day of cars from the early 1900s, gas lamp parade, 1920s band and dancing with my vintage friends. I will be going back to this event next year, it was really magical.

Old fashion Car show Greenfield Village — Vintage Style

October 2014: Diner En Blanc

Once again not a vintage event but so fun! It was a night where myself and thousand others were taken to a secret location in Toronto where we then had a surprise pop up picnic all in white. Clothes, plates, decor etc was all white. The location this year was right on the water with a view of our wonderful skyline at Ontario Place. We had the best seats in the house I think. Wonder where next years location will be?

Diner en Blanc Toronto — All and white and ready to go!

Toronto Oktoberfest

I normally attend the big Oktoberfest weekend in Kitchener this year but the TVS gang wanted to hit up Toronto’s in full TVS style, so off I went. OMG we had so much fun! Not only did we sweep the best dressed contest but we also danced, met tons of people and became unofficial ambassadors of the event.

November 2014: Swing Out To Victory

An annual swing dance event held at the Hamilton warplane museum. It features the Toronto All-star Big Band, Lindy Hop performances, dancing and a bunch of well dressed men and women in their 1940s finery.

Swing out to victory- Hamilton warplane museum — Such beautiful swing dancers

Plaid Party at the Roy Public House in Toronto

I recently found out that there is an event called “Plaidurday” which is on Oct 3rd every year. Well we missed that date (clearly), so I suggested to the TVS gang that we do our own plaid party anyways because plaid is awesome and we need to celebrate it in classic TVS Style (which means go all out). Well as is it turned out it was also TVS creator Jacquie’s birthday so we combined the two events and had a marvelous night out.

Vintage Prom

The end of November had me going back to my prom days at the first ever “Blast from the Past Vintage Prom” hosted by the wonderful store “Rosie the Rebel”. TVS helped with decor and then the rest of the night we danced to the glorious sounds of the 1950s & 1960s. I decided to channel the 1960s for this event thanks to my dear friend Jacquie supplying me with a fantastic vintage dress from the 1960s.

December 2014:

Toronto Vintage Society Kitschmas Party

Once again TVS was back at it hosting the best party in town. This time the theme was “Kitschmas” and featured the wonderful “Tia Brazda Swing Band”, Marilyn Monroe, Blue Suede Sue burlesque performance, Santa and the best photo booth in town! It was another packed party and we were thrilled with the turn out.

Vintage ladies with Santa — I think Santa was good this year

Toronto Vintage Society Kitschmas party — Merry Holidays!

Christmas cookie extravaganza party!

Some of the gals (and boy) got together over the holidays to share Christmas cookies we baked, enjoy some mulled wine and spending some time together just enjoying the season. My cookies were a disaster but everyone else’s was yummy!

Cookie exchange Christmas party — Toronto Vintage Society cookie steal!

1920s Christmas at the Spadina museum and Christmas Market at the Distillery District

My final vintage event of the season was with the TVS gang again at the Spadina Museum that hosted the Gatsby event earlier in the season. They had done the museum all up with vintage Christmas cards from the 1920s, hot apple cider and gingerbread cookie decorating and the best live tree around! Afterwards we attended the Christmas market at the historic Distillery district for mulled wine and wandering around.

Distillery Christmas market — At the distillery Christmas market

And there was my review. I hope your 2014 was a good year and that 2015 has many exciting events planned for you. I know I’m starting off 2015 visiting Memphis Tennessee!

Happy New a Year friends! And thank you for being such wonderful loyal readers.