Cats Like Us Blog

Ahhh hot dogs, whether you love them or hate them, they have seemingly become the staple for backyard bbq's and celebrations like Independence Day. I am like most people and prepare hot dogs via the grill and serve them on hot dog rolls or will cut them up and put them in mac n' cheese. Pretty boring by retro recipe standards. In the 50s, 60s and 70s, using frankfurters was an art form. They are used in ways beyond our wildest dreams.....and nightmares. So, I decided to amp up my hot dog game and try a retro hot dog recipe!...

Often when people hear the word 'muumuu' they think of large unflattering dresses or have found memories of giggling at Mrs. Roper's muumuu's on the 1970s TV show, Three's Company. The fact is, a muumuu is so much more than the goofy the image it has been portrayed by TV and pop culture. A muumuu dress or mu'umu'u, is a loose dress of Hawaiian origin that has quite an interesting history.   (Tahitian women wearing examples of Mother Hubbard dresses, in which Hawaiian women would be wearing at the same time period) In the 1820s British Protestant missionaries introduced the...

Andrew and I don't get to go on vacation very often, but we've been trying to plan one big trip each year. Last year we went to New Orleans (you can read about it here), and this year we decided to go to Las Vegas. It was the first time we were in Vegas without it being for work in the form of Viva Las Vegas or the MAGIC Tradeshow. So naturally we planned our trip around food and drinks.... lots of tiki drinks! This is the story of our tiki drink adventure in Las Vegas. We arrived early at our hotel,...

  I am very excited about Tiki Tuesday's for the month of June (ok, I know it's still May, but who cares...more Tiki!) and to kick it off we're featuring our friend's from Montreal, Jim Johnson and Geneviève April and their amazing home bar! The Lime Lounge is a located in Gen and Jim's living room area and is filled with vintage tropical treasures! I love their use of space as it's pure eye candy. Hey Jim, I'll take one Mai Tai please!   What got you into the Tiki Culture? Gen - Personally, I remember loving the exotic vibe since...

Hello and welcome to another installment of Cats Like Us Home Tiki Bar Series. This month we visit with Mandi Shepp and Chris "Ahab" Shepp at their home bar, The Rusty Flamingo. The Tiki bar is located in their sun room that has an attached outdoor patio which doubles as extra space in the summer! Hello Mandi and Chris, please share a little about yourselves: Outside of our jobs (Chris is a salesman and Mandi is a rare books librarian at the Marion H. Skidmore Library in Lily Dale, NY), we enjoy exploring new things through travel, mixology and cooking, homebrewing,...

I often say one great thing about living in Buffalo, NY, is the close proximity to other larger cosmopolitan cities. We are within easy driving distance from Cleveland, OH, Pittsburgh, PA, and Toronto, Ontario (Canada) -- we actually have a lot of customers who drive in from Canada. The popularity of TIKI and Polynesian Pop culture seems to come in waves (pun intended) and we have lots of customers visiting from Toronto recently that have been raving about the new tiki bars and restaurants there. So as tikiphiles we decided to do our duty and investigate, and here is a quick account of our fun weekender! Our...

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost 5 years since I've written the blog, Get Your Shape In Shape! Crazy how times flies and yet (some things) stay the same. I'm still wearing my shapers and I still am still recommending them to all of you!  Now, I want to clarify something. When Julie Ann and I recommend wearing a shaping garment under the retro clothing styles we carry at the store, IT DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE SAYING YOU ARE FAT! Oh goodness, we understand that body image and the way we all feel about ourselves is a delicate...

So a funny thing happened recently, I was asked to be a “local celebrity” judge at a Pinup Contest. You might say “Julie Ann, I thought you were a feminist, how can you support such a thing?” Well let me tell you how this all started... Last year I was contacted by some dear friends of mine, Maggie and Steve. Steve helps run Cavalcade of Cars at the Hamburg Fairgrounds--sort of the kick off of car show season--and he wanted help organizing and changing the format of their Pinup Competition and for me to be a judge. The contest has...

We discuss a lot of things at Cats Like Us and finding clever and cute ways to tote around our personal essentials has been a topic of interest lately, so "What's In Your Bag?" was born! A lot of us 'live' out of our purses, handbags, totes, etc. and often can find that trying to stay organized can be a chore.  What do you keep in your bag? What are the important items that you need for your day-to-day functions? I know I can't live without lip balm and all my other 'lip goop' (as I like to call it), all...

Continuing our home Tiki bar series we welcome you to The Enchanted Rum Barrel which is in the home of Julie Ann and Andrew Davis, the owners of Cats Like Us. You can take a guess that Julie Ann and Andrew are avid lovers of vintage and new vintage clothing (owning a retro clothing store is a dead givaway, hehe!), yet they are also self proclaimed Tikiphiles! They took their love of everything tropical and made a special place in their home where all things Tiki can be found!   Julie Ann and Andrew have always been drawn to mid century modern...