birthday shenanigans

 On Friday, I turned twenty-one. I mostly celebrated quietly at home, enjoying simple pleasures, and then went picnicking in the graveyard the following day. As one does.

As a sentimental creature of ritual, I like to wear things on birthdays that wholly represent me -- which is a tall order, to be sure, but I mean: things that I feel most utterly myself in. I've actually worn the same little white dress (styled very differently) several years in a row, and forbade myself to wear it again this year, despite it still being one of my favourite and most oft-used clothing items. Instead I found my other favourite dress (pretty and incredibly soft and cosy), my black bodice for some added edge, and the floor-length skirt I've taken to wearing under the grey dress lately. And those ever-present green boots of mine: I can't help it!

  

 

This utterly exquisite necklace was a present from my dear friend Anna, and while I don't usually wear new things for birthday outfits, this was so brilliant and perfectly me that it was beloved immediately.

The clock earrings were also in Anna's package, and they suited nicely. Though wearing clocks and a typewriter proved to give me a peculiar deadliney feeling. I think I should wear them a lot come NaNoWriMo...

And my wee owl was an early birthday present from my best friend Kyra when I stayed with her last month. Have you noticed my fondness for owls? It isn't very apparent, is it?

I trooped out into the yard and set up a picnic under the apple tree -- bacon and cheddar on garlic bread, sugar snap peas, red wine, and the mint chocolates my sister gave me. (They're from the local candy shop, where they make their own chocolates -- fabulous.) Then I spent the next hour basking in the sun, listening to Linford Detweiler, reading Jane Eyre, and fending off bacon-hungry cats. It was a good afternoon. 

 

dress, skirt, bodice: thrifted
shoes: Rue 21
feather clip: a boutique in Philadelphia
jewellery: gifts from Anna and Kyra

you put me in the magic position, darling

Have been a bit busy, making merry and giving summer its last proper hurrah, before my dear friend Sarah goes off to college and the weather turns wicked (and wonderful: autumn is my favourite). We had an evening picnic, star-watched and cloud-watched, shared good conversation and utter silliness, and spent Monday at Kennywood, being giddily childish in the way only an amusement park can make one.

The last time I went to an amusement park, I did in fact wear a skirt, but I actually found a pair of walking shorts at the bottom of my closet, which I believe my mother thrifted for me during a chillier season and I had since forgotten. I am still hoping to find a pair of proper shorts, ones which a) fit, b) actually cover enough of my body, and c) are quirky enough to suit me -- a simple pair of denim cut-offs isn't going to appeal to me any more than ordinary blue jeans. (I really want something high-waisted with buttons, but thus far NO LUCK.) 

I am, however, extremely pleased with my Alice in Wonderland t-shirt.

shirt // Claire's (on clearance for $5: patience wins out!)
trousers, shoes, suspenders // thrifted
cameo ring // Rue 21
necklace // thrifted from Value Village in Anchorage
bag // thrifted ages ago; a stand-in until I get a proper one with pockets and things.

 

I did actually order The New Satchel from Forever21, and it arrived this morning, but alas! -- the zipper is defective, so I must send it back to be exchanged. Sob. Sob. I want pockets!

festival finery

I have returned from my merry weekend in Dublin, Ohio, wherein I waltzed most of my troubles away (although actually my dancing tends towards a weird combination of Irish step dancing, tap, and interpretive dance, with a little clubbing style thrown in for the heck of it... and as of yet I have not managed to succeed at waltzing). Festivals are one of the few times in my current life where I get to dress to be seen -- which I suppose makes me look a bit awkward amongst half the people who come garbed in anything that will keep the heat away, but I don't look overly amiss, either, which is nice after sticking out so much at home.

Because I am Very Stubborn, I managed to get outfit pictures just for you lot, too! 

DAY ONE: I am gothy. Dad, bless him, does not look at me funny even once. We have extremely spicy kung pao chicken for dinner and lovely lovely lovely plum wine, and then head off to the festival after setting up camp. I dance to a punk-ish band and impress a lot of young people, one of whom bows to me. Clearly my empire is underway.

(yes, this is me almost asleep in the car -- though not quite as I am TAKING PICTURES OF MY HEAD.)

Hogwarts shirt (!!!!!!!!!) // Kyra/Hot Topic
tulle skirt // thrifted, originally from Target (WHY DON'T WE HAAAVE ONE)
bodice and hat and shoes // thrifted
stripey thigh-highs // Rue 21 clearance rack
lovely little hair bits I've been trying to incorporate FOREVER // Kyra

I also wore my long black lace gloves much of the time after we arrived at the festival.

DAY TWO: I do a lot of dancing & buy a few shinies and eat fish and chips and watch my favourite band since I was eleven tear up the stage with their sheer force of awesome. (Solas is especially great for me because they keep releasing albums, and so while some songs reach back to my pre-teen memories, others are heavy with the field I used to wander in our old house in the woods, or sitting in a car with my family and Kyra, or dancing out by the water at the city park.) Things happen involving cellos and me going utterly slack with sheer enjoyment. Also I get so caught up in a book that I read during some sets until I am finished.

dress // Ross Dress For Less, five dollars from a clearance rack
bodice // thrifted
parasol // Ebay, about seven dollars (it's fake silk & real bamboo)
scarf and peacock feathers // Kyra
shoes // thrifted

See, this is the sort of outfit I can mostly only wear to a music festival. The embroidered scarf, definitely. My parents gave it to me for my birthday, having bought it from a vendor at Merlefest in North Carolina who was selling beautiful handmade items from some South Asian and African countries. My parents are fantastic, yes! The little coins jingle against each other and it is made for dancing, but mostly I hang it over my bed because it is too lovely to fold up in a drawer when not in use.

And the scarf Kyra had her sister fetch me in Turkey, when she was on a school-sponsored trip. It's pashmina -- I was admiring a similar one in a sort of hippie boutique but it was some terrifying price and Kyra went, hey, I saw those in Turkey for seven dollars; I shall get you one when my sister goes. I love it terribly.

The parasol I definitely did buy for music festivals -- I bought it right before Stanfest in Nova Scotia last year, which was THE WORST IDEA EVER; clearly the weather gods were in hysterics over me and my naiveté, as it was cold and rainy and muddy all weekend, being NOVA SCOTIA and all. I took it to Merlefest in April, though, where it served with honour and kept the sun (hisssss the yellow face we hates it precious) off me and my stubbornly cultivated semi-pallor.

DAY THREE: We attend the end of a U2-inspired church service. I watch my favourite band again and fall further in love with their accordion player and his beautiful singing voice. Two different bands have us sing "Wild Mountain Thyme" with them, which nearly makes me cry, as it is one of those old songs that reaches deep into my heart and forgotten corners of my childhood. We wander about a tenth-century Irish village; I pet a dead bear and blow a horn rather like the Horn of Gondor (& now I want one). Dad buys antique sheet music for his mother and his wife (...my mother; I mean, just so we're clear). Songs about the Troubles break my heart; songs about folklore send it somewhere fey and fiery. 

dress and blouse and leather loafers // thrifted
belt // Rue21
you can't see my pretty key necklace and cameo -- alas!
flower circlet // bought at the festival: I couldn't resist! 

In conclusion: I did not wear a single pair of impractical shoes this week. Go me! And now to bed; I am terrifyingly sleepy.

i do actually own trousers: see?

Today I ran off on a borrowed bicycle (my tire's flat and I can't find my kit) to see Inception, which was pretty splendid (I love you Christopher Nolan and your psychotic brain and your editing and scene cuts my lord), but awkward to dress for, because... I am used to going to films in costume. I KNOW. IT IS A THING I DO OKAY. And the amusing bit is that I never have to buy anything special; I've dressed for Sherlock Holmes and Alice in Wonderland and Half-Blood Prince and two Lord of the Rings marathons recently all out of my closet. Um. Anyway when it's a contemporary psychological thriller there really aren't any costumes, so that was sad. In retrospect I could have dressed like Joseph Gordon-Levitt if I could have located my tie but really where am I going to find shoes as gorgeous as his on such short notice?

Anyway, I just dressed normally, in a polished sort of way. Which for me is sort of like this.

blouse // Goodwill

bodice // Value Village in Alaska, from Kyra

jeans // Ross Dress For Less

boots // Goodwill (a recent purchase; I wore them for four days straight ^-^)

necklace // Goodwill

earrings // Kyraaa <3