Fall Fashion....

So I was glancing through this, while having coffee and trying to wake up:

http://www.stylelist.com/blog/photos/margielas-faceless-models/1065556/

My first thought is that its a ready-to-wear line for the modern dominatrix...

But then I'm flipping through more and more and I start to wonder...granted, the focus in the article is the facelessness, which I'm sure is supposed to be a comment (at least to me) on the interchangeability of fashion models, and maybe about how its the fashion that is important, and not the wearer.

But I'm really seeing more than hints of S&M style as I continue...there's duct tape.. I did really like the shapes of a couple of pieces... the two jackets were nice... I did like the round circle of the one....

But I do start to wonder when there is such dichotomy over what one sees on the runway and the stuff that is in the stores...there doesn't seem to be any influence of one vs the other.....

Me, I'd just like to find something wearable and flattering in the stores...

On getting up the nerve....

Like the Cowardly Lion, I'm scared. *sigh* I want to ask Gabe to give me some kind of solo to work on for Christmas. Maybe for Vallis... but I keep feeling like he's going to say I'm not good enough. I know it takes me a little more work than most to 'get' it, but I know if I wait for him to offer me something, I may be waiting a while. I do also know my solo voice is pretty good. Or maybe even in a quartet or something... I just would love to have a concrete thing to aim towards.

Yet another clothes rant...

So, I have no winter clothes. Literally, I'm going to be naked this winter...unless I find something. The problem is that EVERYTHING seems to be focussed on fitting skinny straight boyish bodies. Here's a news flash...I am NOT a gay man.(Not to stereotype, but every gay man I know is very good-looking and slender) I am a curvy woman. I'm not even that heavy anymore.. (although I've gained weight since coming back to the US). But even so, its tough to find clothes. Everything is a hefty knit...ok, that looks good on a stick, but if you have curves, all of a sudden, you become a lumpy mass of kablooey. I actually like sweater dresses, but they HAVE to be a thinner knit, not big, chunky Irish wool. That just makes me look like an elephant who had a bad weight-loss surgery.

I just get so frustrated. And give me some color, for goodness sake! I like color! And shopping online isn't much help either...

Its sad, I know what I need, I even have some idea of shapes that look well on me. But all I find are hoochie mama or disfiguring knits.

And why have a winter wool dress with short sleeves? WHY? I want my arms to be warm too! (That was the only thing that looked reasonable on me, except for the sleeves and the belt that they'd attached).

Blogging and my life....

So I'm on Facebook, and one of my friends (a college professor!!! eeek, when did we get OLD?) wants to teach a class on blogging, according to her status report.

I think blogging is a fascinating phenomenon. I love reading blogs, there are some that are really wonderful. I also like writing my blog, because in some ways it does help me clarify my feelings about things. I'm uncomfortable now about putting too much personal stuff 'out there' because it is linked to my facebook page...and I suspect people could find it pretty easily otherwise.

I did find myself thinking a little bit in terms of 'blog posts' on my trip. This is when I'd wished I'd had my computer with me, so that I could have done the blog post on the pigeons, or travelling alone, or whatever else I was thinking of. Because even though I have some of the pics for the blog things I was thinking of...

(a view of Montmartre from Musee d'orsay, and vice versa, par example)

I've forgotten the witty things I meant to post.

But I do remember feeling, 'oh, this would make a fantastic blog entry'.

And I just finished reading a fabulous book, called 'Petite Anglaise', which is a story about how one woman's blog changed her life.

I've found a lot of blogs through books, sometimes in very roundabout ways. I read the Sweet Potato Queens books, went to the messageboard, after that died, ended up on a linked messageboard with another author who has a blog I love... (how's that for a run-on sentence?). I found some blogs just linked in the backs of the books.

I've found blogs through other blogs as well.. some have been linked through messageboards that I read, some I happen on by accident. I found a few blogs when searching for a friend's blog...

Its just really amazing to see the number of blogs out there. And to get glimpses into people's lives and the things they are passionate about.

Because even though I may never be a quilter or a knitter, I can see the gorgeous things people make on their blogs and go 'ooooo'. And hopefully, this blog will inspire someone, someday...to do what, I'm not sure..maybe just to live life sucessfully as a single woman who is always trying new things, and who is chasing some dreams...

The real me.

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Also, if you are reading this blog, please click on the sidebar so I can see who you are! I'd like to know that my words are not falling on deaf ears... (and yes, the phrasing is intentional, for those of you who know me)

Parting shots...

This was inspired by and stolen from a friend's blog... The best last lines of novels.
http://americanbookreview.org/PDF/100_Best_Last_Lines_from_Novels.pdf

And its a cool idea, because for me, when I write, I often find that the last line, for me, is the best, the strongest line. And when I read, the last line is the thing that stays with me....

Now I've got to go into my books and find the last lines that have really resonated with me... The book I just read was not a good example of that, but there are some that are truly wonderful.

What is your favorite last line?

You are what you read? (not for under 18)

I'm on a messageboard which is technically about food, but we discuss other things too... one of which is books. And in one thread on books, someone mentioned that he starts thinking like the book he is reading at the moment... so when he reads Tolkien, he starts thinking in Middle-Earthese... and that got me thinking about the phenomenon... and how you are what you read, but sometimes people are the opposite of what they read (at least I certainly hope so!).

I am one of those people who absorbs what I read, and what I read also reflects my state of mind as well. For instance, when I was rediscovering my faith, and trying to figure out what I beleived/how I beleived, I read a lot of 'finding faith' books, and a lot of things about the evolution of Catholicism (I'm actually a little more Gnostic in my beliefs than I am Catholic, with a dash of Protestantism thrown in, but that's a different topic). I read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy, as I try to see the magic in the world. Not literal magic, obviously, but there is a beauty that is conveyed by some of the myths and legends, and I love books that incorporate that into the modern world. I like people-based books, about people in strange worlds, about communication. I tend not to like bloody/gory things or 'tabloid' books, or technology-driven sci-fi.

There are, however, little old ladies, and very sweet people, who come to the library and take out the most extraordinary stuff. They take out books on axe murderers, Jack The Ripper, true-crime books...the secret history of Princess Di..

and it does make me wonder. So much of the stuff I read is something that is enriching in some way for me, or helps me figure out my desires, my wants, my interests (and now I may need to 'edit' my library on the side here...it may tell more about me than you need to know!) I just don't understand the little old ladies who want bloody, gory murders, or who like reading Stephen King... every time I've read anything with the slightest tinge of horror, I end up sitting up in bed all night with a carving knife under my pillow! My imagination is just too vivid I guess!

I think (and now this may be TMI, but I'm basically thinking as I write), that the only thing I read about that is at all similar in concept to people reading horror is stuff like Heinlein and Carey, with some racy sexual situations... its stuff I will probably never live, but it is entertaining to read about.

I do tend to take some books very much to heart, though. Which is why I rarely read torrid romances anymore. As much as I would love for a Prince Charming to sweep me off my feet and carry me away, at this point, I'm going to have to hunt him down and drag him out from wherever he is hiding... I've also stopped (as much as possible) reading the books where the heroine is really in love with her best friend. My best friend is my best friend, period, end of sentence. I don't want to start transferring the feelings from the book to him, he has enough issues without me acting like a lovesick puppy!

Yes, I know, now it sounds like there is nothing I can read... but it really is amazing how one can transfer feelings from a book into reality... I'm just surprised we don't have more axe murderers as a result!