Bats in the Belfry, Cats in the Attic

Over the weekend, I scoured the racks at the thrift store, and I actually found a decent base dress for $6 to start my Marie Antoinette costume. It's much more Antebellum than Rococo at this stage, but it's certainly a start. I will be cutting off and re-sewing new sleeves, adding lace trim and new ribbons, and poofing it up. In addition, I will perhaps make a jacket/over skirt. Such a bright red color was not my preference, since pastels abound in Rococo fashion, but I will make it work by adding more pastel accents. Hopefully, I'll get my start this weekend when I go to the fabric store.  For inspiration, I've been looking at The Costumer's Guide's Marie Antoinette Page , which includes about 65 web pages for each of the dresses from the Sophia Coppola film. Marie Antoinette Exhibit This is quite the grandiose undertaking for me. I'm not as adept at sewing as I'd like to be, but this is a learning process. I just hope that I can do my am...

Fall is officially here, and the month of October is right around the corner. I find myself still in the contemplation stages for my Halloween costume. Most years I'm very last minute, but I can't afford to procrastinate this time around. That's because I've decided on a more elaborate costume for this Hallow's Eve: Marie Antoinette (with a slashed neck, of course). Source I've been searching online for inspiration, and I've been developing a tentative plan for how I'm going to pursue this costume. For the dress, I will keep an eye out for a prom dress at a local thrift store. It will need to be a sturdy fabric, preferably in a mid-to-light blue. I will need to make any necessary alterations and add sleeves, bows, and lace. As for the poof under the skirt, my idea involves sewing a couple of small pillows to tie to my hips. This would be easier that making a pannier . What I am most worried about, besides my limited time, is the wig. I cannot affor...

Bedford/St. Martin's For those of you who are not familiar with Flannery O'Connor or her work, let me take a moment to share a little. Flannery O'Connor was a writer born in Savannah, Georgia in the Twenties. She lived most of her life in a town called Milledgeville, also in Georgia. O'Connor's work is categorized as Southern Gothicism . Her wit is legendary, and her stories are characterized by their rural southern settings, grotesque characters, and the strong influence of her Catholicism (rare in the South at the time) on her work. To those of you who have not read anything from this lady, do (and comment with your opinions)! They are accessible online. Here is a link to "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," which is the first short story I read from her. Monday evening after class, my boyfriend and I attended a brilliant lecture at Emory University-- an opportunity  that I hope comes around again. The lecturer was a man named Dr. Ralph Wood. He a...

Last night, Depeche Mode came to town. After a long week and much time spent looking forward to this, I'm glad to say I was in attendance. Justean and I ventured off to the venue with little incident this time (meaning not getting horribly lost like before). When we arrived, we noticed what a broad spectrum of fans Depeche Mode reached. There were a lot of drunken middle aged people, but besides that, there was a range of alternative types as well as more mainstream looking people. One thing is for sure that most everyone seemed excited to be there. In fact, at one point, I almost got in an altercation with a couple who was so excited, they decided to squeeze right in front of me and cut me off! Let's just say I got them to vacate my vicinity.  It was a great night for a concert. The moon shone brightly, and looming rain clouds dissipated. As for the show itself, Depeche Mode knows how to work a crowd. They sound mostly the same in concert as on their albums. They eve...

Hello, Everyone! It's been almost a month since I've posted anything, and I haven't posted much this Summer, so I thought I owed it to catch everyone up. It's been one whirlwind of a Summer. I gained a wonderful boyfriend in May, who is more than I could have imagined. Shortly after that, I found out over the break that two of my close relatives are very ill. My grandmother is terminally ill with inoperable cancer, which came as such a shock to my family. She is one of my favorite people on this Earth, and I've had a special bond with her my entire life. She's not expected to have very long. It pains me to know that I won't have her in my life, but she'll always be in my heart. After that, we found that my aunt also has cancer. She just had an operation, so my family's praying for her recovery. On top of all this, we're dealing with other family issues, but I'm happy to say that my brother came home from Thailand early. Now that school ha...

My Summer break is nearly over. With school starting back at the end of the month, I'm trying to finish the last couple of books of my summer reading list. On my list, I've read On The Road, The Bell Jar , The Moviegoer , The Old Man , The Turn of The Screw , and One Hundred Years of Solitude (almost finished). My last two books are The Seven Storey Mountain and Tropic of Cancer . For me, fiction is not really an escape. It's a way for me to dive into different places and experience what is not possible for me at the time. There are lessons to be learned and insight to be gained, and it awaits inside the pages of books.  Here are the lessons I've gleaned from my Summer reading books: On The Road by Jack Kerouac taught me that filling one's life with all the experiences youth has to offer does not make one's life full.  The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath made it clear that negativity doesn't solve any problems, and that it's okay to want so...

For my readers who have followed this blog for any considerable amount of time, you probably aren't surprised that I've changed my hair yet again! I got rid of my orange patch, and I exchanged it for a color close to my natural hue. It's been a while since I've had them, but I decided to go with bangs again.  This cut reminds me of Daisy Buchanan's in the recent Gatsby.  Daisy Buchanan I'm a fan of the Roaring Twenties. It was an age of decadence, but also an age of self-discovery. Besides, some very good authors and artists came out of that era. Speaking of 20's artists and writers, If you have not seen Midnight in Paris, then you certainly should.