I feel pretty...

It's been a while since I've posted. Wow, February. So much for discipline! Oh well. What have I been up to? Oh, this and that: some embroidery here, some knitting there, a decent amount of reading - and lots and lots of cooking.

During my adventures in the land of My Kitchen (it's a scary place sometimes), I have determined that I Need An Apron. But what apron to get? Should I make one? Should I buy one? I've been wanting a Flirty Apron, but couldn't decide which one to get! Chic Pink? Sassy Black? Chic Teal? Too any choices! And then, two days ago - an epiphany. I was at the fabric store, only intending to get some needles and a thimble for my latest project, and saw the pattern for this:

I was in love! I bought the pattern, some fabric, MORE thread... and now, two days later I have my very own Emmeline Apron!

Reverse side:

As an added bonus, I have had my mind changed about something. For a while I have been wanting to make a regency dress (circa 1795), but have been convinced my tummy would make me appear pregnant. You may notice from my pictures that I'm not a tiny girl. But this apron has an empire waist and is still flattering. I think if I were to make a regency dress it would look nice...

Tea!

I love tea. Hot tea in winter, cold tea in summer. I was recently gifted a perfect 2-cup teapot by a generous friend with an overabundance of them (teapots, that is – one can never have an overabundance of friends). Having used tea bags most of my life, my eyes were opened to loose-leaf teas a few years ago when a Teavana store opened in my local mall.

Walking in my first impression was, Oh, my goodness! It’s… a wall of tea! Black tea, oolong tea, white tea, herbal tea, teas whose names I can’t pronounce! They generously provide samples of four blends, both hot and cold, which change with the season, month, or sometimes the week. Having tried the four blends they had and admitting to my tea salesman that I knew very little about tea other than I liked herbal stuff, I liked caffeine, and I LOVED chai, I was persuaded to buy a 6-ounce blend of Maté Vana and Rooibos Chai. I got home. I boiled my water, carefully measured out my tea into a tea ball, and proceeded to make my chai. Oh, goodness me! It was heavenly! I was hooked on loose-leaf!

Over the few years since then I have also acquired some others: a blueberry tea and, most recently, a tin of English Breakfast (aka, plain black) tea.

How I came to be hooked on black tea (with a little bit of sugar and some milk!) is an entirely different story, involving multiple flights, several delays in strange cities, and a 12-hour train ride through Scotland. Suffice it to say, I am addicted to the elixir.

Now, none of this is an advertisement for Teavana – it just happens that they are my Local Tea Shop. I have not had the opportunity to try any others, although a new tea store has recently opened in the same mall as Teavana. Mayhap I will give it a try next time I go to buy tea.

The point is, tea is an elixir from God. All those jokes about the British drinking tea to solve their problems? I know now why they exist. Tea is relaxing, as mildly sweet or bitter as you want it, as milky or watery as you choose. It’s a lovely escape in every sip, reminding you (or at least, reminding me) to stop for a second and enjoy the little things, to pay attention to my senses. All of them.

Pretty for the home

Although I currently live with my mother (times being what they are...), at one point I did live on my own, in a little house I rented. And I plan to do so again, when the time is right. While stumbling around the internet, I found this:

It's a wall decal that's also a chalkboard! I am determined now that when I have a place of my own again, it will be on my wall! It's beautiful, elegant (faux-cameo border, anyone?), and just plain prettier than a whiteboard stuck via magnets to the fridge.

I found it via Tea Rose Home - which, by the way, I am now following!

Sherry Thomas' 'Delicious'

I admit it, I have a weakness for reading romance. I'm not ashamed of my reading habits (and refuse to "defend" them, as if reading romance was something to be defended at all). One of my loves within the world of Romancelandia is historical romance.

I read all different time periods of historical romance. Regency, Victorian, medieval.. heck, I even have a small section of paranormal/historicals where one protagonist is from a different time period as the other. Without a doubt, though, one of my favorite single romance novels is Sherry Thomas' Delicious. So, taken from my (oft-neglected) book blog, here is my review of the book:

Verity Durant is a good cook - the best, second only (possibly) to Escoffier - with a secret. Her employer (and former lover) Bertie Somerset recently passed away, leaving her in the employ of his half-brother Stuart. What Stuart doesn't know is that his new cook is the same Cinderella he had a one-night love affair with ten years ago and has yearned for ever since.

Delicious is put forward as a Cinderella story of sorts. It starts out framed as a Cinderella story, and the author as well as the characters themselves reference the famous fairy tale throughout the novel. This not only works, but adds tremendously to the romance building between Stuart and Verity.

I loved the entire thing. Not only was I intrigued by the Victorian setting, I wanted to know if Cinderella got her prince, and what happened to the prince's fiancee. And what of Cinderella's stepmother? The prince's family? Delicious answers all of these questions, all the while drawing you into not only the romance between the characters, but into a new love affair with food - for that is how much of Verity's passion is shown: through her food.

Anyone looking to read a romance novel: I highly recommend this! It's delightful, satisfying, and all-around lovely. I know I gush, but I think, in this case, the work deserves the praise.
(4.5 stars out of 5)

Victorian... underpinnings

I can’t find a bra to fit me well. “WOAH,” you say, “that’s way too much information! What’s that got to do with neo-Victorianism?” First off, it’s just a bra. I’ll try not to get much more TMI than that. Second, what it’s got to do with neo-Victorianism is this: I’d rather wear a corset every day than go bra shopping and have to settle for a bra that either doesn’t fit me well or isn’t pretty. Or both.

A good corset both fits well and is pretty. A good corset is COMFORTABLE unless you do something wrong, or it’s wearing out. As someone who’s worn decent corsets for some time (granted, they’re Tudor corsets for 8-10 hours a day, for only 12 days of the year, but still), I can say this with some confidence. I made my own corsets, and with each new incarnation my corset fits me better and is more comfortable for longer periods of time – and that’s with a corset that’s trying to force my body into a shape it DOESN’T want to fit. (Tudor corsets are cone-shaped, whereas Victorian corsets are hourglass-shaped – and so is my body.)

The only thing with wanting to wear corsets instead of bras? They’re not popular anymore. This means I either have to make my own, or shell out a lot of money for custom-made corsets. On top of this, it also means I’d have to tailor ALL my clothes to fit the new silhouette a corset makes. Still, I’m considering it… perhaps when I have a little more money.

Introductory Musings..

Sitting tonight in front of the TV, with my stove-shaped fireplace filled with flames off to the side, I started thinking as I was knitting my tea cozy... While not exactly steampunk (although I do love that aesthetic), I'm a bit of a neo-Victorian. Love knitting, would rather wear shawls than sweaters, would rather sleep under layers of quilts than a duvet.

Hell, I like making my own bread BY HAND rather than eating store-bought - and not just for the lack of preservatives in the bread and of money spent.



And mind, while I love a lot of things about neo-Victorian living (especially the home-crafting parts), I am also INCREDIBLY grateful I was born in the latter parts of the 20th century and am living now in the 21st. I love my technology - TV, TiVo, electric lights, my blackberry, cars, the ability to boil water in under 5 minutes with my electric kettle, refrigeration.

I'm especially grateful for the liberation I have as a female... while we haven't caught up to males yet, we're SO much better off than our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Heck, I have it better than my mother at my age, who couldn't get an athletic scholarship to college because she was a GIRL, despite being captain of almost every sports team her school had *and* having the grades, too.