The Muse: The Silk Road

I confess, these were not the shoes I wore all day to work. However they were the perfect shoes for the Bourbon Tasting Party at Yankee Spirits (I'm a lush, I know). For a $5 donation to the kids at St. Jude's (and who doesn't want to help the kids?) there are 25 + bourbons ready and waiting to be tasted. I confess, this event wasn't as good as the Single Malt Scotch Tasting Yankee held in June, there were a lot more amateur, poor quality liquors at this one and the servers were far less well informed about their wares. That being said its still not a bad way to spend a Thursday night. En route just as the sun was setting I swung into this farm stand in Rehoboth that was closed for the season. Sometimes you just have to grab photo opportunities where you can, even if they aren't all that glamorous.

 On the up side I think its great that sometimes an outfit that looks like its from the Far East and has travelled great distances via sherpa can still translate to a farmstand in rural New England.


Dress: Burlapp via Anthropologie
Jacket: vintage, thrifted via Wheeler School Clothing Sale
Shoes: Carlos by Carlos Santana thrifted via Salvation Army Clothing Sale
Hair Clip: Damascene work shop, Toledo, Spain

The Muse: Empire Building

Coat: The Kardashian Collection via Sears, a gift from my grandmother
Sweater: Twelve Layers, thrifted via Into the Wardrobe
Skirt: no label, probably homemade, thrifted via Goodwill
Bracelet: Poundland, UK
Shoes: Enzo Angiolini via Building 19
Purse: Nine West, thrifted via Second Time Around

 In case you hadn't guessed from the sticker on my coat, these pictures are a little out of  date. We had a professional day on Election Day because the high school gym is a polling place, but I forgot and didn't dress down (not that I ever really do). Luckily I left on time that day, right at 2  o'clock and was able to get some great photos right behind my polling place, at the old Diamond Hill Ski lodge. My polling place actually changed for the first time since I started voting, the redistricting is annoying because we have to travel farther, but the location is much better for photos. I've used this area for photos before, you can see the pictures from this summer here. This was also the first day cold enough that I discovered just how uncomfortable being a fashion blogger in New England during the winter can be. Coat on, I was just fine and dandy. Coat off, I almost left some piece of skin behind stuck to really cold surfaces like the kid in A Christmas Story. I used to read the fashion blog of a girl in Alaska who would take her photos in skimpy little dresses while lying on the snow. I'm pretty sure now they were staged. Short sleeves in November may seem a little backwards, but our library is all glass and we have a distinct greenhouse effect, by about third period we have the fans running full blast in the office. Not that this prepared me for shivering outside at four o'clock. On the upside the mayor of my town held the door for me when I was leaving after I voted, so I braved the cold not just to build the great American empire, but for the celebrities, and a few good photos.

The Muse: Gosford Park

Gosford Park is a magnificent piece of movie making. One of the gems of the late Robert Altman's alter years that combines an astonishing cast, my very favorite British murder mystery, and a sumptuous setting to equal perfection. It is also a preview of how Maggie Smith got the be the Dowager Countess she is today on Downton Abbey, it started with Gosford Park. I secretly long to say things like," I want to get up and get straight into the tweeds!" or "We always dress very plainly for a shooting lunch."  I also saw our school's production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap on Friday which may have increased my desire for days gone by. Either way, I have my tweeds and my woolens, I'm ready for a weekend in the country, and to dress the part.

  
Blouse: Violet and Claire via Marshall's
Skirt: thrifted via Goodwill
Cape: The Limited thrifted via Goodwill
Shoes: Predictions thrifted via Salvation Army Family Store
Headband: Forever 21
Bracelet: vintage, fob chain
Ring: vintage, my grandfather's 1949 class ring
Sunglasses: J. Marcel

The Muse: Godspell

 I have had a few off experiences with Godspell. FIrst, until this year I had never seen it, bad Catholic that I am. Somehow when the musical came to my high school I was conveniently not there to see it. Sure I knew some of the music, though I knew Day by Day better from Meet the Parents than anywhere else. Then one week last spring Father Gabriel our auxiliary priest and a theology professor at Providence College gave a homily on how he had really wanted to play John the Baptist, in which he sang the opening number. Forunately Gabriel is also the musical director for the Dominicans so this wasn't a bad thing. As if that wasn't enough Godspell one day in the Walmart parking lot of all places. I was walking a cart full of groceries out to my car when I heard music. I thought someone just had their window open and I heard the radio. Then I realized this very large and intimidating African-American man was sitting in his car singing the very same John the Baptist song, bellowing "Prepare Ye the way of the Lord." suddenly a woman joined in and a mini Godspell flash mob broke out right there. Now I wouldn't say it was the strangest thing I've ever seen in the Walmart parking lot, but it was close. Either way I figured I had been sent enough signs and took out the movie from the library. No bones about it, Godspell is pretty freaking weird. There aren't a whole lot of great songs either, perhaps I'm just a generation too late. However if I were to join a ragtag group of followers worshiping a social outcast in a Superman shirt this is the outfit I would wear to dance in the Bethesda fountain and frolic around a junkyard. Alas the clown makeup wasn't work appropriate. At the end of the day I gave it a chance. I have to say I was bothered by the no Resurrection thing at the end, I mean, no Resurrection, what's the point? And the whole John the Baptist and Judas are the same person thing? That doesn't even make sense.Personally for my money if you want a musical about Jesus I'd go with Jesus Christ Superstar all the way, Andrew Lloyd Weber's tunes are way catchier and no greasepaint is required.

Sweater: Old Navy
Dress (worn as a skirt): Worthington via J.C. Penny
Shoes: Candies via Kohl's
Purse: Target
Hair clip: Anthropologie

 

Honestly if you had to pick a Jesus to follow, who would you take more seriously?