It's been a very workish day for me... first, at the CD store, where the highlight of my day was hearing some new TV on the Radio (and trust, it was one hell of a highlight when everyone wants to listen to screamy hardcore and you have a head-liquefying hangover!)
...Then the rest of the day was devoted to my "Katharine Hepburn Visits Falling Water on an Autumn Day to Pen a Book Deal/Prepare a Flowchart/Attend a Team-Building Seminar" collection of workwear. Below is my inspiration collage...
... oh... but the shoes... I know, not very Hepburn-y but we're not trying to take it all the way. Just a taste. Large, square shoulders and trousers and things. And languid pragmatism. Dig those slouchy socks!
In high school, I worked in the dining facilities of a retirement community. It was one of the most amazing job experiences I've ever had... First, there was Paul, who refused to show anyone his arms. I learned why when I delivered dinner to his room one night when he wasn't feeling well enough to come down to the dining room. He answered the door in his "underwear" (a wifebeater), because he was expecting the usual male food deliverer, and was completely mortified that I was exposed to all of the WWII pin-up girls tattooed all up and down his arms. Then there was Edith, who was charming, lighthearted, and of very simple tastes, and if you asked her to, even though she barely could, she would show you the Charleston that people in her neighborhood used to pay her to see. One of my very favorites, Bessie, celebrated her 111th birthday in the dining room with near the same number of close friends and relatives. Her mother had been a slave; a fact which both made Bessie seem extraordinarily old, but also made the barbarous practice seem extraordinarily recent.
So, when I found out about the blog Advanced Style, you can understand why I went completely over the moon for it. In pictures, the reasons why Advanced Style is lovely, amazing, the bees' knees and a complete inspiration (and the next recipient of B'love).
So, what must have been a long, long time ago, the lovley and gracious Sal of Already Pretty graced me with this gold card of Blog Love (or B'love, as she so poetically puts it!). Thank you dear lady. Her blog is a humorous, informative, intelligent and very "real" collection of thoughtful and uplifting-without-being-saccharine articles on appearance issues; recent posts have included "avoiding cankles" and "mastectomy fashion". It's a must-read!
Now, I love web memes, but I'm such a turd at keeping them going. My first order of business, as a recipient of this award, is to first pass it on to Vintage Knitting. Rhiannon keeps her ship tight and full of 1930's inspired sweater patterns that have inspired me to put "The Art of Knitting for Children" DVD on hold for myself at work. One of my former nicknames was "Crash Bandicoot" on account of my clumsiness, so I figured I better keep it basic.
Below, a few of Rhiannon's sweaters I hope will eventually make it from skein to bod by the grace of my newfound talents.
Sigh!!! I've been thinking about this lovely one all week.
P.S.--- I apologize, but the HTML is not working properly, limiting some of my link-enabling and formatting skillz.
In working on my next collection for school -- "Katharine Hepburn goes to Falling Water as the Leaves Turn to Conduct Casual Business" -- I've noticed that that beautiful, yet curious combination of red and green (a half-turned Japanese maple?) is becoming the pairing of choice. But always, always in the most un-Christmas-y of hues.
A Facehunter lass mixes muted raspberry/sage plaids...
The incomparable Ranna of Only Shallow sports a foresty blazer and burgundy bow atop a lavender (half red!) blouse... great bag...
Persephassa gets unconventionally, eye-poppingly pleasing in leaf green and cherry red t-straps...
Loou sports strawberry Kool-aid and what I'll call "spruce"-- is it corduroy? I hope so... the idea of a short, poufy corduroy skirt seems entirely irresistible right now.
Treesaw1973 in my favorite outfit of the week--- an extremely red "plum" with a neon green fascinator. Neon, aiplanes; can you really ask for more out of a hat?
A crisp, fall Saturday night at a haunted amusement park... turkey legs, buttered corn and caramel apples... these are a few of my new favorite things:
A celestial, silver headband I antiqued...
My cactus pup... I love to see him next to my "confetti dog"; two dog figurines thirty years apart in their making but concurrent in design.
A beautifully near-new mid-century chair I antiqued, upholstered in thick, nubbly black, evergreen and silver lurex... I'm very proud of this chair, being my first "real" piece of furniture and not the cheapest thing I could find that would do the job.
On that same trip, this amazing hat! Sequins, tulle, feather, jaunty angle secured by a pearl hatpin (that you can't see)? Sheeeit.
My new desk unicorn. Proudly, iridescently, securing my papers from flying away.
One of the awesome perks of my job at the record store is extremely affordable access to entertainment. I'm not into anime, but when I saw that the used price of this DVD at work was $129.99, I had to know what was in there. I got it for the price of a meal at Wendy's and settled in for a view with some friends this weekend. Instead of being the sort of manic, jerky ministrations of the kind of anime that's lead me to eschew the genre, it was a very smooth and soothingly animated trip of a movie featuring a determined kitten and his differently-abled sister as they battle floods, go to the circus, and nearly end up as dinner...
My theory is this: Sarah Palin is the kind of vice presidential candidate you get in this era of reality television. We all need a "WTF?" character; the Election Show isn't complete without a "Miz" or Puck. Remember when Paris Hilton was a villainess? She got a show and people got to know her, and now I think it's fair to say that most people kinda like her, or at least don't mind her. We don't think she's smart, or moral, or humble but gosh darn it folks she makes great television!
"Folks, those who ignore the past are doomed tah... doomed tah... well darn it if I don't know what they're doomed tah do--- Energy! Mavericks! Putin's Head, gosh darn it!"
In other news, today ranks pretty high up there. I presented my first project (a collaboration with the lovely and talented Kate) in my CAD fashion design class, and it went over pretty fantastically (probably the black, white and pink tweed named "Neigh-politan Ice Cream" is what did it). Inspired by The Clothes Horse's post on designer My Little Ponies, we did a collection of separates for 3-5 year olds called Pegasus Park based on these 2:
Although if I did an adult collection, I'd probably base them off these (totally frack-tabulously awesome) ponies by Aikarin and Mari Kasurinen:
...but I digress.
Folks! You have 4, count 'em 4 days to register to vote! Folks in Ohio! You can vote early, starting today. When you vote early, you get a paper ballot (no mysterious lack of machines or broken ones) and a receipt of how you voted; a less-crowded voting experience, and no guesswork about where you're supposed to go to vote.
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