Falling in love again. My heart is yearning for this novelty print of Manhattan.

It's even got the Statue of Liberty and water towers meticulously drawn on the tops of buildings. And balloons, well, I'm a sucker for balloons. They give me the sense of an aerial view, maybe from a helicopter. The slight stains would most likely come out if your dry cleaner is any good. The dress itself is not only structurally sound, it's got good bones. And the peblum, how I love a peblum. The shoulders have an open latice work that is also a fabulous early 1950's detail. The print includes the Washington Square Park arch and the statue of George Washington. It would go with a wonderful novelty print handkerchief of Washington Square that I just happen to have.

But two items in a similar vein and you've got the beginnings of a collection, no? And collections are not good when you live in an apartment measuring less than 300 square feet. But then before I know it, I'm not only trawling every flea market for prints with Ancient Egypt themes, mushrooms, seahorses, vegetables or anything that's so unusal my eyes sprout wings. Then I'm also on the alert for identifiable cityscapes. Could I do that? I sure as hell could. I've had something of a cityscape obession emerging on this blog, from the Venice dress to the Vienna skirt. I might start to think I see cityscapes in every innocent novelty print. Then I'm crying out: "Look, it's the Hagia Sophia!" and darting over to find a frock covered only in daisies and not the Istanbul souvenir print of my dreams.

Collecting is a form of madness. Unless I make my own Cabinet of Novelty Curiousities, complete with an old crank phonograph playing Fanny Brice's "Second Hand Rose". Of course the cabinet already exists and is taking up all 300 square feet.

You could save me from all this by snapping up the stunner here.

Sixcorniaplace Vintage posts a drool-worthy photo of her storage space, along with a number of other cute novelty goodies and all are reasonably priced.

Ever hear of Freeganism? Neither had I until today. Apparently that's the newly minted term for dumpster diving and living off the grid Abbie Hoffman style. You can even find a club near you and go trash picking with others. Alluring as the thought of living off an affluent society's leavings may be, even the Freegans themselves admit that though you can find a bookshelf in the trash, you're not going to find dental care in a dumpster. Alas.