Spring is in the air! Scored each of these swimsuits from Unique Vintage, season changes mean sales! Picnics, baseball, water sports, and allergies all invite you to the season in Northern California. Stay shiny.

Speakeasy Photos
MUAH: Self

Girls just wanna have fun!

Models: Danee Badeaux, Melody Payne, Mary Hodges featuring Shane Meyers and Justin Alonzo
MUAH: All Self
Wardrobe: hats, gloves, and dresses authentic 1950s vintage from my personal collection
Location: Sacramento neighborhoods

I heard a rumor about a daughter week. Either way, got me thinking about my daughter. The experience of roaring as a lion to bring her forth to this world after thirty-five hours of labor is the most empowering moment of my adult life. At the right moment when I tell the story, some say I am aglow. Since that day my strength grows as I discover anew within myself great capacity amidst seen and unseen elements.

Speakeasy Photos
MUAH: Self
Highly recommended reading for expectant parents: Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth

Our rainbow of color with artist Michael Vee and the lovely Danee Badeaux.
Speakeasy Photos
MUAH: Self
Shoes by Bordello, jumpsuit off the rack ten years ago, top acquired from clothing swap, scarf authentic 1950s vintage from OLL Vintage Swap and Sell

Indulge and take care in wardrobe purchases and what message you’re feeling as well as sending to your world. Embrace your style. I found this authentic (guessing) 1960s jacket, homemade, at my local favorite thrift shop, Savers, for $3!!! The belt and a button are missing, but I am working on that. Lovely vintage Old world feel with this authentic 1940s hat found at the Sacramento Antique Faire last year. My lace dress is a reproduction scored on sale at Unique Vintage. Oh and the shoes, authentic 1940s peeptoes from Racks Boutique in Midtown Sacramento. I cannot believe the beautifully broken-in fit! Hand fan is Amazon fodder to keep a Pinup cool on a hot day. May all your wardrobe hunting be fruitful and filling. Own your message.

Speakeasy Photos
MUAH: Self
Savers
Racks Boutique
Sacramento Antique Faire

We met Danee Blues Fusion dancing, and continue to enjoy the dance and art culture of Sacramento on a weekly basis. She has been modeling for many years and is loaded full of amazing ideas for shoots. This our first collaboration under her charge, most certainly not the last. We introduce to you artist Michael Vee. First time creating art on full human flesh canvas, and we all agree we want more! What a riot, yet centered day shooting near the Sacramento River and Old Town.






The sun set on Sacramento just as we were warming up. More is coming your way, next time with edits and enhancements to images by Michael himself.

Speakeasy Photos
Artist and body painter: Michael Vee
Model and Producer: Danee Badeaux

Lounge chairs and formal dresses? You bet.



Speakeasy Photos
Models: Danee Badeaux, Melody Payne, Mary Hodges
MUAH: All Self
Wardrobe: hats, gloves, and dresses authentic 1950s vintage from my personal collection
Location: Sacramento neighborhoods
Yard location compliments Jeremy A. Brehl and his partner’s lovely yard.

Speakeasy Photos
MUAH: All Self
Models: Danee Badeaux, Melody Payne, Mary Hodges
Location: Sacramento neighborhoods

I recently divulged my coming-of-age dance story. Today, I will share how discovering Blues Fusion impacts my existence.

Human touch heals. Touch is vital to survival. Physical connection and emotional connection don’t necessarily accompany one another. Touch can feel empty. Touch can be loaded. Touch can be neutral. Emotions and presence can be absent. Emotions can be experienced across vast distances void of touch, they can overwhelm. Emotions can be kept in check. During partner dance, all of these can happen over and again in one night.

Long hours and thousands of dollars in marriage counseling led to the discovery a few months ago that my husband has Aspergers Syndrome. More appropriate counsel is being sought as we devour related literature, but the gist of it is that while we have an excellent business partnership, emotional depths are shallow or absent. Partnered dance provides a space for emotional connection. Seven years of marriage I operated under ill advised counsel that feelings are unreliable, that if I acted a certain way then the feelings would follow. Last July my unmet emotional needs became so great that I could deny them no longer. I felt I would rather die than continue an existence concentrated upon right action with complete disregard to emotion. Knowing not what else to do, I cried out to my higher power. “Do something!” I spoke with my husband of my inner experience and that I felt I needed to seek connections with others, sensing what I wanted could not be found in our relationship months before the AS discovery. The following night we went Blues Fusion dancing the first time, and as told, I met Gravy. Both seem no coincidence, for after years of not being able to connect with my higher power in a meaningful way, I am rediscovering connection anew. I venture to say my spiritual existence and experience are ever shifting, relationships and time are rallying something inside of me closer to the life I want to live.

When I dance, I am utterly present. When I am not, it becomes obvious with a quickness. I’ve said before that in dance we are at once present to ourselves, the music, the floor, and partner. Occasionally, I have been unable to find my center. I confessed such a thing to an experienced dance ninja months ago, and he offered me to ground myself in him. I thought such a thing taboo and that in order to dance the primary connection needed to be with myself, yet as I let go of whatever was tripping me up that night, I got out of my own way and abandoned myself to share a higher experience. Where I couldn’t connect with myself, the floor, or the music, this lead invited me to ground myself in him. Abandoning what didn’t work for me that night, I took a deep breath and surrendered to this man. He reached out and found me. He cradled me into a harmony I could not on my own discover that night. Following dances enjoyed a newer, more present me and I no longer felt at odds with the elements.

Oft times a dance is just a dance. Yet some connections allow us space to find our footing, to discover ourselves anew. Dance need not hold these depths, but they are possible. I partner dance, because it is fun. I enjoy connecting with other people in conversation requiring no words. My experience is not another’s and connections are not always matched. May we admit that in life something guides us which surpasses logic?

Images in this post by Samuel Nesbitt Photography
Model/Dancer: Chris Schultz
Set location: Firehouse 5
MUAH and Wardrobe: Self

I spoke months ago about wanting to do a circus shoot, or at least to have my parasol opened and balancing on a train track, then lamenting that Shane legitimately refuses to shoot on tracks as it is illegal. Well, these tracks in Grass Valley are in all certainty out of commission. What will we come up with next? Many ideas brewing over here at The Pinup Pursuit. We are teaming up with creative minds and conjuring some real treats and fresh spaces.

Soundtrack for today’s post: Bullet Train by Stephen Swartz Featuring Joni Fatora
More images from this shoot day:
Pushrods & Pedal Cars Clothing Co.
This Train
Thinking To Get Wet
*parental advisory*
I Keep Going To The River To Pray


Speakeasy Photos
MUAH: Danyelle “The Hair Maverick” Johnson