My beautiful blue bike has been good to me through the toasty summer and crisp fall months, taking me to the coffee shop, post office, concerts, bars (I know, I know. Mostly ending up in a friend's trunk on the way home.), and friends' houses. I'm still not sure what's going to happen come winter, though. Does one bravely ride a bicycle in the snowy Northeast Ohio wintertime? I suppose I'm about to find out! I'm guessing, just skip the icy and slushy days, and then if I can bear the frigid cold, then it's a go go. Yeah?

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about my bike love (love you, Bets!)(okay, I just made up that name. I'm not the bike naming sort.), and thought I would share with you some vintage bikers I found wandering across the blogosphere.

(images: 1  Valentino Vamp, 2, 5, & 6  Superbomba!, 3 Calivintage, 4 & 7 Historiful,)

In an era of black and white motion pictures, Charles Sheldon created still, vibrantly colored paintings of beloved actresses. Just look at the Carole Lombard illustration below! Gah. I can't help but be mesmerized by Sheldon's style. It's as if the paintings are memories themselves, gently fading into the background. The soft femininity, sharp sexiness, and slight mystery… it's all just so lovely, don't you think?

images: Valentino Vamp, American Gallery

Listening to Frank Sinatra while browsing vintage coats on Etsy is bad, baaad news for Paypal accounts. Luckily, only after placing three snazzy 50s coats in my cart- but before checking out, I came to my senses. Wait… stop! What are you doing? Slapping my face, I came to and stopped imagining myself sauntering down a snowy sidewalk in my “new” fur trimmed plaid swing coat, peering into frosty window displays of shops such as Higbee’s or Polsky’s… I mean, those charming old department stores have long been closed, and nobody plays Frank Sinatra music to set the mood as you wander around downtown. Unless, of course I’m listening to my iPod, and that would certainly break the charm. Similarly to the penny that Christopher Reeve left in his pocket in Somewhere in Time. And I don’t even have an iPod. So, yeah. Cart emptied.

Ah, but not to waste all of that time browsing Etsy for winter coats, I thought I would share with you some of my favorites. So here they are. Happy shopping! (And to be sure, winter coats will soon be making their appearance to Fine & Dandy Vintage as well!)

1, 2, 3, 4 

 image: stock preacher