My version of the LBD

In my book, an LBD is a Long Black Dress. As a musician, I have been wearing the things since I was about 13 and joined  the Symphony orchestra in my local borough. Over the years, I have seen a variety of different models come and leave my wardrobe.  Some have stayed the long-haul and others stayed for a mere couple of years.

So when I saw the Two Birds Inspiration Monday look coming up, I knew, since I had a concert on the Sunday night (i.e. 29th June), I would take (HUGE) liberties with the look and come up with my own version. Her one is entirely too skimpy for me anyway!

So my LBD (Monsoon) is flowing as opposed to her clean lines and I have transferred the blingy gold jewellery to the beaded gold bodice of my Grecian frock.  Added an ornate headband, Nan's sparkly flower necklace and pewter Melissa pumps (not seen) and my look was complete!

The concert was a triumph!  We had virtually a full house with at least 300 (not sure of the capacity), well received.  We played a new commission by our resident composer called 'Refractions' and a Stravinsky mass and the choir sang a Strauss song. The second half was Beethoven's 9th Symphony which was 65minutes of absolute concentration for me- very little rests. But it was splendid! Oh how splendid it was to finally complete my cycle of Beethoven symphonies!  It is an amazing piece- so joyful and exuberant and clever in the writing! I didn't have any nerves tonight strangely,which is probably because I didn't have any HUGE solos (though there were lots of exposed bits for my part).

Wonderfully, I had 10 people in the audience coming to see me! Most excitingly, my Dad and younger sister came. It's not often they can come to something so I was so touched and glad they made it, especially since they aren't classical music fans as such! I didn't want to let them go at the end!

Tonight, I am at yet another orchestra rehearsal. Less exciting repertoire- Schumann-boring, Powers- too few notes, Mozart - short, Elgar- YUCK!

xxx

Veteran scooter

As promised to Luan, here is my pink scooter.  As you can see, it definitely looks like it would belong to a 4 year old and indeed it did. My niece actually.  But luckily, she had about 3 that my sister had got on Freecycle or something like that, so I asked if I could nab it.

But before you think I have jumped on the kiddie-band-wagon at this late juncture, getting down with the kids, oh no, I am a veteran micro-scooter rider!  Cast your mind back to the year 2000, a new craze had hit the city in London. Suited and booted business people were to be seen everywhere about London, getting around on these silver-coloured aluminium micro-scooters as a way to get around. As a then non-bike rider, I thought this was a marvellous idea as it would save time and make you a bit more speedy. They were, however, quite expensive- I think people were paying about £100 for them.  Anyway, that summer, I got a job at the Barbican hotel and arranged to sublet my friend's room in Dalston over the summer at a reduced rate as I would be working 3.30-midnight shifts, so didn't really want to be going home to Essex on the train.  But then I had a fairly hefty walk to Dalston as buses would have stopped by then and then I'd be spending money on travel.  So then, I decided to buy a micro-scooter.


Four days into my new job, and a little tired of the walk, I found a bike-shop in Hoxton who were selling them for £60 and bought one as an investment for saving on travel costs.  And so it began.  The first day I bought it, I was sitting there in the switchboard office, trying to work out how to went up between phone calls.  That was the day I met the General Manager of the Hotel of course!  He was mightily intrigued by it and was very nice and didn't tell me off for doing this during my shift.  (I got 100% in the mystery guest that month don'tcha know!)


Every evening at ten past midnight, I would zoom off down Central street and scoot my way home to Dalston, meeting very few people.  On De Beavour Road (the posh bit of Dalston) I would ride in the middle of the road as it was so deserted and so smooth and down-hill.  Only realised when there was a solitary kind  driver who stopped and very politely told me I wasn't very visible and perhaps I should ride on the pavement, that I realised that I couldn't really be seen so had to be a bit more careful.




And so it went on for weeks and weeks as I earned lots of money to pay off my £500 credit card bill (I have never used a credit card to this day) which I had accrued from paying for train fares to London and a few other clothing treats over the first year and had forgotten to pay.  I didn't take out much student loan that first year and then I only ever used it to buy my flute and an alto flute and a B-foot for my flute. I was so grateful for that full-time job, for my friend's kind subletting for what I could actually pay.  I enjoyed exploring Dalston's market and shops and it seems I even bought a pair of early Irregular Choice shoes, I've recently discovered!  The turquoise top I last wore with this skirt for Visible Monday was also bought then.

It was all going so well for over a month and a half until I started to get a pain in my right ankle that progressively got worse and I found I couldn't scoot and had to walk/hobble. I had somehow got RSI from my scooting in my ankle.  I had to abandon the scooter for a while and then it laid dormant in the loft of my old house, slightly broken as it was missing a screw.  I only discovered it in January when we were clearing out the loft. My sister claimed in in exchange for the pink one which I somehow kept.

I may look silly but it does help save 5 precious minutes on the way to work if I am running late and haven't got 20mins to reach the station and get the train. On the way home, it saves about 8 minutes as it is largely down-hill and it halves the time from the station to school at the other end.



More proof of being down with the kids. If you have kids or teens, you can't have failed to notice the craze that is taking over Britain- the Loomon- children have these looms and bright coloured rubberbands which they weave into amazing bracelets.  One of my children at school watched a tutorial and made me a special fruit-smelling, rainbow Treble Clef charm which I strung onto my Alice in Wonderland necklace. It seemed to go well with the rainbow skirt.


The rest of this outfit consists of M&S vintagey Madras-check dress (charity shop), black vest (Primark), bird-brooch, (not sure),silver belt (charity shop), turquoise silk hair-tie (left-over Balinese silk from our men's wedding handkerchiefs), shoes (Toms)

The make of my scooter is Razor (to be said with manly growly voice)- so masculine for this Penelope Pitstop transport. Made less hard-sounding by the wheels which say 'Daisy' on them.

Hope all is well with you. Forgive me but have a really busy week this week, rehearsals and concerts on 4 evenings and then a concert in the Black mountains near Wales in a ruined abbey!  Stay tuned for more boring reminiscences of my youngerlife  exciting adventures.

xxx

Linking up to Visible Monday with the fabulous Patti.

The sinister ministrations of the out of season visitor

It happened on that warm summer's day, two revolutions of our Earth's axis prior to this time.  The tap turned on, the room filled with billowing steam as the blast of icy water soon turned to a flaming geyser.  I stepped into the shower and rejoiced in the torrent on aching muscles. Eyes closed in bliss and I stood under the waterfall serenely.

As my eyes blinked open, my gaze was caught with a sudden shocked jolt by the enormous crane fly/Daddy Long-legs creature right in front of me on the tile, its blackness enunciated by the whiteness of the background.  The initial shock gave way to puzzled anxiety. Where had it come from all of a sudden?  Why was it here, in the middle of summer? What did it want with me? Were its intentions hostile or friendly? Surely the latter.  My experience had taught me that these creatures surely only exist in the Autumn.  Unease took hold as it fixed me with malevolent scrutiny.  I checked all over its body with eyes, like a meticulous biologist, searching for signs of alien technology, mutant stings or appendages or indeed any indication that this was no ordinary out of season insect.

It sat there in powerful silence, unmoving, unrelenting.  I dared not blink, less it should attack, wondering if I should call out to my husband for security, should I vanish in a gnashing of teeth.  As I continued washing, maintaining vigilant eye-contact, I wondered what to do.  Evasive manoeuvres? Beat a retreat?

In a moment of horror, attention momentarily averted in thought, it had gone like lightning!  In a flash, I reacted, craning over my shoulder to see if it was already feasting on the flesh of my back or injecting me with venom, checking the backs of my legs for stealth operations, my heart pounding at the indignity and horror of the situation.

But no.

It seemed I was now alone.

Oh the bane of an over-active imagination!!!!!!


The simple version of this story as you, the reader, would have experienced this would be thus: A crane-fly flew in the window, landed and flew out again whilst I was in the shower.

Sigh.

Comma

I have been riding my little pink scooter to work for several days in the last couple of weeks.Yes, it is one of those that kids use. Yes, it's pink. Yes, I look a twit.  This morning, I sailed out of the station near school and zoomed down the hill.  Suddenly noticed a man coming out of the taxi place and knew I might hit him and was just about to put on the brakes but then my panama started to fly off my head. In the end, he jumped out of the way but it was very embarassing. And then I saw the dad of one of my kids at school who has laughed at my scooter before and also seen me trying to get past someone in a bit of a frustrated hurry. You know here people are walking 3 abreast and hogging the pavement? Now he sees me almost mow down a taxi driver. All good for the image ya!


In choir tonight, we were singing Ain't no  mountain high enough and these two year 5 girls in the centre were really singing their hearts out.  One of these is a Lithuanian girl who rarely SMILES (or very rarely, a sort of half smile or it never quite reaches her eyes.). She also doesn't seem to blink. I  think she may secretly be a lizard in disguise.  There's a word I am trying to think of to describe her- you know Eeyore in Winnie the pooh, the characteristic of him! I really like her, she's enthusiastic about drumming club and choir and music lessons and hangs out with me at playtime when I am on duty.  At the end of this rendition of the song, I said, "A particular big shout out to X and Y who were just shining and singing beautifully, giving it their all. And I saw the most beautiful, shy smile erupt over her face- I have never seen this before- she at once looked beautiful! I was touched by her reaction. She and the other girl were really pleased. As we sang other songs, particular other children really shone, another one was singing really strongly in Sing and the delight in her eyes as I singled her out was gorgeous. I often praise individuals in lessons but in choir, it's generally the collective who I praise but I think I should do more of singling out individuals like this.


I've lost my front door keys - somehow they disappeared on Saturday afternoon when I got back from cleaning out at Grandad's house. It's really annoying because it has meant for 2 days this week, I have had to wait outside for CBC to get home for at least 30mins. Need to get some keys cut but not sure when we can do this. Life is busy at the moment.




My goodness, my skin looks grim in these pictures!  I forgot to put moisturiser on this morning and my skin really let me know it! I like my freckles but they also don't help the dry effect!

This is what I wore today. The dress was a thrift/Charity shop purchase a while back and I am little annoyed because the bottom button is has ripped the material around it, so not sure how long it will last or what to do about it. With the best will in the world, I will not get around to sewing it- ahrgh!
The belt was also a recent charity shop purchase. I really liked it- reminded me of Great Gatsby, not quite sure exactly why!  It also reminds me of a comma! It's Country casuals leather and it works really well, I look forward to teaming it with sweaters in the winter! My Head-teacher also liked it. I think she may have wanted to steal it!

CBC took these photos. Which is why some are a bit bizarre! He was taking shots at all sorts of weird angles because he was amused that I didn't know what he was taking! The big mouth open shot says, "You are cheeky, why did you just take a close-up of my armpit!?!?!?!!"- Not featured by the way! You don't need to see that!

I am one of the luckiest teacher in school. Why?  Because I have discovered my current room has air conditioning!  It used to be the ICT room and housed the server so it had to have the AC. I have to share a remote control with another room but if I remember, my room can be cool and lovely!

Tomorrow, am taking the Year 2 choir to another school for the annual KS1 singing festival. I feel a bit more unprepared than I usually do for this occasion but it will still be fun. I have two lovely Year 6 girls coming too as they offered to help me with choir!

Hope you are well.
xx

Dressing it up

Since the recipients have hopefully received their cards by now, I thought I'd share two cards I made.
My sister has this brilliant dress-shaped punch and I have used it for a few birthday cards.  She made me a brilliant present a couple of years ago and punched a whole box of dresses for me in different patterns and colours so I would have lots of lovely card-making objects. Cost very little but perfect for me!

However, I wanted to make a card for a blogging-friend who has lots of dresses and shoes in fabulous patterns and wanted to try and create a coordinating card of different patterns. So I punched several of the design and layered them on top of each other in order to make the dresses stand out like they had petticoats on.  Stuck at a jaunty angle and then punched shoes (also borrowed from sister).  Finally, the plain background was lacking something so I just used a colouring pencil to draw some spots.



 

Having this stripy and dotty  paper as part of the same pack as the previous card, I decided to make a simple matching card with one dress. Just added some baker's twine to tie on the fold.

What is it? #2

You seemed to enjoy the last one of these and my life's ambition seems to be spotting interesting-shaped clouds! (no seriously, CBC gets perplexed by it- I spend many car journeys doing this!)

SO here and again. I know what I think it is. What do YOU think it is?


Answers below.

xx

Monochrome Maldon

Finally managed to remember (and have suitable items) to join in with the Two birds inspiration Monday. This is Maria Menounos sporting a summery look. I liked this and thought it manageable though none of my white skirts were the right type so I opted for the old 'dress as skirt' trick adding a top.  Meant I didn't flash my midriff but I think we're all glad about that! Less is more.  Oh and of course, hat is necessary on such a hot day!




Despite the fact we have the dreaded R word to finish, CBC and I decided to go for a short trip out to stop ourselves going totally insane!  We headed off to Maldon, the lovely fishing town on the river Blackwater, where they make the famous salt flakes! CBC would like to live here. I am a little more practical thinking that it would be REALLY hard to get to work from here (as I don't drive).The train stations are miles and miles away.

It was a gorgeous day and if you had kids, this was the place for you (and it was too)- there are so many lovely facilities for families on a hot day- sprinklers park, pirate-ship climbing activity centre, remote-controlled boat lake, more climbing frames, fields, sand-pits and more.  We enjoyed it too and had a Rossi-ice-cream walking along the very-depleted looking river admiring the naval craft. I almost wish I'd gone with a sailor dress.

We had a jolly meander along the side of the Blackwater. I went on a sailing holiday at the age of around 5-6 sailing from here. I remember little about it except the boat was called the 'Silanight'




There are many boats, but sadly, The Hydrogen, the cafe boat we visited last time we were here (see February/January blogspots), was out on a dinner day trip so we couldn't stop for tea.

The coolest kids' adventure zone!

















Definitely have to head back here soon with more time. I want to visit Truly Scrumptious  a lovely vintage tea-room that has antique shop and vintage clothing shop in the attic. Under the premise of going to the bathroom, your husband may just not notice you bought a 50's dress!!!

Hope you are all well.
xx


Ass well as the Two birds, I am linking to:


What I wore to church with Carolyn McAfee

The sower

I am not a very good seed sower.  I planted seeds too late for them to blossom for my wedding last year and I've had rocket seeds for two months now and not planted until this Friday.  However, I did write a poem based on a study of the Parable of the Sower a while back.   Enjoy the terrible rhyming in places!

Here was a poem I wrote for the church magazine on what I learnt as a result of a homegroup study of Mark 4: 1-25, the Parable of the Sower.

The Evangelist, he knows and loves the word, God’s love is at his heart.

He longs the world to know Jesus, so he tells of Him near and far.

He, like a farmer, carries the seed, to tell, to share to sow.

To proclaim Jesus Christ and His death and rising so people can to him flow.

Some people hear the word quite quick, but Satan he is a sneak

He steals it away, tries to harden hearts and Jesus they wont yet seek.

The next who hear the truth of love dwell in places of difficult hardship.

They hear the word and at once rejoice, yet that seed, they will not stick.

For they have not persevered, prayed or learnt the Word of Him who they did seek.

So when come worries, grief and greedy desires, then out they start to creep.

Yet there are some seeds, they find a place where good soil is a-plenty

The number of followers and believers will grow to 100 x 120

“But what,” you cry, “is that excellent soil, that helps a Christian to grow?”

Then listen to God and stay with Him and you will surely know.

I will be able to share, rejoice, to shout, of Jesus Christ the King

If I read my bible daily and take my path from God’s Word that is within.

We have a fellowship in Church with bonds of God’s great love.

Our friends and teachers there we meet, to keep our minds on Him above.

But it doesn’t stop Sunday, ye, we can learn and grow much more mid-week

At home groups who share together the Bible,  so the Word starts to really speak.

Opportunities to meet and share the love add yet more vital nutrients.

We’ll stand firm in the face of difficulty as heavenly armour grows in defence.

Yet fundamental is when we speak to God, it helps our day prepare.

To ask for guidance, strength and courage: YES our daily prayer.

The Holy Spirit it binds all these and everyone it inspires

When evangelising, call upon Him to light your Christ-like fire.

But no Christian tree of any kind can survive without the sun,

It’s all because of God that we survive, so we must put our trust in the SON!

KAG 9/12/09

Red roses and ruby slippers

My spare room has once again become a tip because it is littered with summer dresses I have worn for a day and somehow not wanted to put in the washing basket yet.  I love the plethora of summer dresses I own which I have found in charity shops over the years, like this one. On Wednesday, I wore this polka dot number which I really like for its sort of roll neck. Red and black and white polka dots are a favourite combo for me. You may think it's too matchy but I don't care! It's the type of outfit that pleases my kids at school.  I had a whole host of little hands grabbing at my brooch! And I match my environment!
Somehow though, I lack the ambient, crisp photos to make the lovely romantic looking shots other bloggers would manage with this combo. Ah well.
















Seems a bit self-indulgent to do just a post of shots of me but I did like this combo.

A few updates: My work colleague got an Outstanding for her observation! She was so chuffed!  The laptop is still in the airing cupboard, I am still too nervous to know the answer to whether it works or not.
My kids called me cool today. I rode my pink micro-scooter to the station and school today as I was running late and didn't have time to walk the mile to the station. When I got to the station near school,I rode my scooter down the road.  At the first bus stop, I saw one of my year 6 recorder pupils. She was just about to board the bus. I said to her, "Let's see who gets there first!" and bombed my way down the road to school, being careful to stop at each road.  Just as her bus pulled up to school,I wheeled up to her as he got off and "Tie,".  At lunchtime, my music girls said they'd seen me, and used to the usual reaction, I said, "Did you laugh at me?" and she said, "No, we said you're cool!" which another child told me too, 5 minutes later. That's so nice. I have never been regarded as cool ever. Sweet, yes. Funny, yes. Other things but not cool!

Sorry, not much to say.I am super tired.

Hugs to you.
xxx

Disgusting cat tales

Luan shared a post of cool cat quotes recently. I loved it!  It reminded of all the quirky things that cats do or have done in the past.

Now, put your chocolate down if you are munching whilst reading but one of my lovely, dear cats pooed on my bed when I was in it once.  Thankfully, that happened the one time only.

I had a family friend (she who supervised my sewing machine endeavours) who had a series of totally loopy of eccentric cats.  There was this one time when she awoke in the middle of the night and thought she'd had a stroke once, or polio or something, as she couldn't breathe or move. Then she discovered two cats were pinning the sheet down on her on either side and a third was lying heavily on her chest with its face in hers.  She couldn't move. It then proceeded to dribble down her nostrils. Again, she couldn't move with the combined weight of these cats. She said it was the most disgusting experience of her life! Imagine that- cat dribble down your nostrils.

The same cat, who was lying on her chest, was a particularly disgusting (but you couldn't help but love him) Burmese called Lenny. Or Loathsome Lenny as he fast became known.  On one occasion, she was working in the garden, kneeling down in the flower beds and looked up to be sprayed in the eye by his notorious tom.

I loved that cat-he dribbled on you like anyone's business but that purr and you always forgave him.  I attended his 18th birthday party. He had a bowl of chicken and wore a pearl necklace with silver fish hanging down.

Burmese and Siamese cats are always a little odd and very very vocal.  My friend Liz had a pair of Siamese cats.  When I used to phone her, we used to get constantly interrupted by large baby-like cries of "OOOOOOOOOOOOW!" all the time- that was her cat. When I went to stay there, we tried to watch a film and that dear cat, spent the whole film trying to get our attention by crying OW! I have honestly never heard anything like it!

Well, until I went on youtube to see if anyone had shared their Siamese cats meowing. It seems a common complaint.  Watch these,hilarious, especially the second video- I have not heard anything like THIS!







Ever tried outstaring a cat? Well, I did and won.  We had this grumpy (but oh so loving) tortoiseshell cat called Solstice.  One day, as I was lying in bed, she got up onto the bed, sat up and just stood staring at me.  Determined not to let her triumph, I stared back.  And so it continued.  Finally, she looked away first.  I smiled and laughed and then she swiped me in the face. She looked so cross that she had looked away, I could see it in her eyes.


What disgusting cat tales could you share?

Woe is me

You know every so often I share something stupid I have done with technology? Like the impossible-you-couldn't-plan-it mouse-trap style manouvere my phone managed to make a week before my wedding with a cup of tea.  And then there was the smacking my Canon camera into a ceramic plant pot when my tripod swayed in the wind in the middle of a blog post when I hadn't quite erected it right. Well, yep I can top that.

This evening, just beginning this instalment of school reports, I had just got to the table with a large tankard of tea (Because tea has to be drunk in large mugs. None of these pretty chintzy tea-cups for me).  Looking at my screen, I put it down beside my computer. Except I misjudged the distance and somehow put it half-on the mat, half on the edge of the laptop, it instantly projected the entire litre of boiling hot tea all over my laptop. And my white dress, and the floor, and the table and my phone.

I frantically dabbed my handkerchief on the sodden laptop, miraculously the screen was still on. I went and fetched a tea towel (should have grabbed the kitchen roll) and then put it on top. I lifted the laptop to dab underneath as it was sitting in a pool of tea and then the screen did the white screen of death and then went black. The blue on-light was still on but then as I tried to turn it off and unplug it, then that went black.

Oh how FURIOUS I am with myself. So utterly enraged with my careless STUPIDITY! My beloved 6-year old school laptop that has been such a loyal resource. It is filled with all my photos of the last 6 years, recordings, back-ups of school resources and files.

It is currently upside down on a tea-towel in the airing cupboard and I am hoping and praying it will still work and have not lost everything.

I am borrowing an old laptop of CBC's Mum's (J's) now to get on with my reports, but I was a bit unnerved by the whole thing.

It's been a bad day for everyone. CBC has the blues, my work colleague who I texted to share my stupidity has an an 'awful, awful day'to quote her, with incidents in school etc.

However, must end with a positive. Before that happened, despite my report misery continuing, I had a positive after-school time. My year 1 work colleague was stressing out over her Lesson observation tomorrow. She has a PGCE student in currently and has been out of class for weeks. She's been covering in other classes and feels it's really hard to jump in for this one lesson after not having the stream of the week. I went in as she was puzzling and spent an hour with her, going through her ideas, helping her with her powerpoint, creating resources, speaking/support frames for the SEN children, printing out differentiated resources and letting her talk me through it and sharing ideas for extending the top children. Though I had much to do, it was actually really lovely planning and thinking about a literacy activity.  I always adored teaching and planning literacy (and a really nice compliment, our current assistant Head who is leaving, is our Literacy coordinator and she said I would make a good replacement for her in this role. I was touched but said no way would I be considered, especially as I only teach music now) and it was nice to help a colleague out. I know how having an observation makes you panic and overthink everything.

Another positive was my trying out of a 'Year 5 music vocabulary bingo' game in my year 5 lessons today. We had to do this for an EAL support task for the next staff meeting and so I invented a music version of the game and they loved it and it was really great seeing how much of the vocab they had covered, they remembered.

Walking home, I decided to use the time to phone family and friends I haven't spoken to for a while and had lovely chats with my MiL (the lovely J) and a chat with a musician who I have not seen for ages. This was a really nice use of my time.  As I walked through my local park, the water dazzling and darling fluffy, scrawny baby Moor-hens gallivanting in the lake, I enjoyed the quiet and calm.  I sat for a little while by the lake and took some outfit shots and thought how lucky I am to have this space.

Anyway, like the teaching marking strategy for kids, I have shared three stars and a wish.  Three good things about my work (or day in my case) and a wish, something I could do better: Not spill tea over my laptop.

After writing this and reflecting on my day, the situation doesn't seem quite so desperate. Always good to reflect on one's blessings.

xxx

Cute and quirky

I was looking at Midwest Muse's blog and she had shared a gorgeous fox bag she received from Sammydress (whose dress I had also seen on Sophie's blog) and then decided to go and have a look at the fox bag. I clicked on bags and there were STACKS!!!! I had a quick look through them and like the fox bag, I found a few really nice and quirky handbags. Not only that, they are really reasonably priced. Not sure where they are based- China or something from the models, I presume.  There are classic-looking bags as well as these funky ones but I'm all about the novelty! I probably won't be buying any of these. Unlike other items, I am quite restrained* about bags and much as I LOVE them, just feel that I need to have a versatile, moderate-sized bag which I can carry MANY items around in.  Plus I don't NEED one and I always tend to get rid of bags when I have too many (unlike dresses and shoes) so I don't want to get rid of any).  But a girl can dream, right? And admire without purchasing (Yes, CBC, I can do this!).  Plus, I've not ordered from abroad as I don't want to be stung by import tax. What's anyone's experience of it? I'd be interested to know.
Anyway, enough waffling, enjoy the bags.



Rubix cube bag  $7.00

A RUBIX-CUBE BAG!!!  I love rainbow things so I'd love this. Not sure how big it is, or how practical to wear. Are those corners sharp? Will I have poky-bruises in my side after running to the station with it on my shoulders? I'd love this one but willpower reigns.



Owl chain bag $11.85

owl stuff is always cute. This owl is cute. And a little wonky-eyed- like me!



Yellow satchel $8.56

I really like this satchel. It's bright and it has that 'jump out of paper' cartoon quality to it. Very reasonable and probably more the type of everyday one I need but how large is it?

The Cat's meow $13.23

Not that quirky, but I like the fact it looks like you are storing a cat in there!!!


Ear bag $15.55

Not taken by the leopard-skin (although it looks furry- cool, except when you constantly leave rotting fruit in your rucksack, it wouldn't remain nice for long) but IT HAS EARS!

Foxy foxie $13.23
This is the one that Midwest Muse had.  I love it!


Clock bag $9.53
Yes, I like the idea of the clock bag- feeds my Doctor Who habit. I always dreamt of having a shelf of clocks, like the Seventh Doctor before he became Paul McGann.   Would be even cooler if the hands turned!

So, would you purchase any of these?** And what's your opinion on bags. I just have to have a large bag!

xx
*In comparison to how I am with other items. Like dresses, shoes, tops, headbands etc.
** Can I just state that I am not encouraging you to buy. No, Char, do not click on that link!!!!

The sea and the almost wedding dress

I really love this picture! It belongs to Jen, who is one of the curators of the Style imitating art blog-challenge. It is a serigraph (?) print entitled 'The sea', printed in 1976 by St Louis-based printmaker, Richard Schallert.  Any sort of seascape is my cup of tea. I have some underlying obsession with the sea. Some day soon, I must get my sea picture framed. It was painted by my friend, Philippino artist Thomas Daquoiag, who gave it to me when we said goodbye after our year studying in Bali and cemented a love of acrylic paints in me. I'd never realised what they were before that.

I knew immediately that this M&S skirt was perfect for the challenge- it has all shades of stripey blues and the weird-piecing and sort of fishtail was appropriate (shame I couldn't be bothered to iron it- it's a PAIN to iron!) and teamed it with the necklace which is made of plastic glass-looking beads in the same shades, linked by black cord.   The top half challenged me a bit. I really don't do beige very much (apart from some lovely silk trousers- oooh totally forgot those!) and my yellow is restricted to that mustard blouse and this yellow broderie anglaise dress from Topshop (thrifted and worn on here recently). So I tucked it in to form a top.  Don't look too close, it looks decidedly dodgy up close- having an empire-line doesn't go well with a normal waisted skirt and there's a whole dress stuffed inside the skirt- the hands are in front for a reason!  Still, I quite liked the effect of the items together! Loving those roses too- thanks neighbour - soon, I am going to totally lop them off and stick them in a vase!


I also have another Style imitating art to catch up on.  The last one, curated by Salazar, was a great fun challenge as she just asked us to pick an example of the floating paper sculptures of Peter Genternaar from the Netherlands,  and everybody picked her favourite piece to interpret.  They're made of paper pulp with bamboo ribs.
I was immediately struck by the balletic grace of these artworks-they seemed to billow like they jeted across the air like a primadonna, just about to execute a perfect series of pirouettes or foutte's (ahrgh, spelling!)





It was however, this one, that I decided to draw my inspiration from:

 It totally says, "Les Sylphides" to me!
Well, my first thoughts were: er- my wedding dress.  Could I possibly get away with wearing my wedding dress, purely for the sake of art??!! (Yes, I could!)
Here it is, for a reminder (or an introduction to anyone who missed it last August)








It was totally suitable- it had pleats, a light, floaty quality to it and it moved in the twisty-turny way that the sculpture does.
But then, I felt a prize twit getting into my wedding dress for it!!!! And also, I cannot do it up by myself and I knew CBC would just think I was a twit if I asked him to do it up!  I thought about asking my friend when she came over in half-term but again, thought I'd look a twit!

My second thought was to wear the wedding dress that I bought but didn't wear! Before I found my much-longed for Johanna Hehir one (I'd given up on finding it anywhere!), I found one in Monsoon that was in the 70% off sale that was almost as lovely but in a simpler way- it was more Jane Austen that my real one- it had a ruffled/pleated bodice but a straight down bias cut skirt and a hanging pleat.  But somehow, I decided not to.

Finally, instead (I'm milking this rather uninteresting tale aren't I?!?!), I remembered this champagne-coloured silk dress I had purchased on Ebay (new) years ago! It also has a pleated bodice and a lovely hanging ruffle. I've never actually worn it because I thought it was more of a blush-pink on ebay and when I got it, there's no way you could wear this to a wedding without looking like you're trying to upstage the bride by wearing white and it's a little too posh for most other occasions (apart from maybe Ascot?!). So, rather like the saying, "Always the bridesmaid, never the bride"- it has remained in my wardrobe. I really do love it- the shape is lovely but not sure how to wear.



To create my contribution for the challenge, I took these photos (it was raining) and then proceeded to prance over my landing like a 'Sylphide' and hold some balletic poses.  Bare feet seemed appropriate for the Sylph look.

One of my nicknames is actually 'Sylph' due to my propensity to wear white floaty skirts and dresses at music camp. A fellow musician, harpist, who also delights in white floaty dresses and skirts called me that and she promptly became my 'Sylphette'

So, what do you think?  How would you have interpreted these artworks?  Would you have gone for the wedding dress?
xx


Click the links to the above bloggers' names to see how everyone else interpreted the art!

x

P.S.  I totally get the sausage dog thing. I originally thought badger or otter, but I'm seeing sausage dog now.x


P.P.S.

Just remembered this hilarious shot from the wedding photos of my sister and eye! Loved it!

(photos courtesy of KAphoto