Regency shoes giveaway:)

Check these out! They look very authentic and classy. I would love to have some to decorate.

"About the Prize:
The "Pemberley" Regency shoes are closely based on extant footwear from the 1790s through 1810. The smooth, dyable, hand-sewn leather upper is designed to be lovely enough formal occasions, and durable enough for walking in the countryside. Particular attention was paid to the point of the toe, as well as the other hallmarks of Regency historical footwear, with the main goals being both historical accuracy and all-day comfort"

My favorite creepy videos.

This is my first October post, and I've decided to show my favorite videos/short animations that make me think of Halloween.
Deviantart and Youtube are great places to find creepy animations. I love seeing other people's dark minds come to life in images. I would rather see a full length stop motion about evil dolls than watch another Dreamworks/Disney/Pixar film (I do like them as well, but I can't relate to them). Aside from Tim Burton, creepy animations seem confined to short internet films. Maybe I'm just weird for liking them so much. What do you think?



Ryan Murphy, (a random guy from youtube) has the weirdest imagination, and makes some of the creepiest stuff on youtube, a few of which are animations. "Horsemanimation" is a compilation of random weirdness. I can't even explain what it is. Just watch.





This next one is interesting because there are two versions of it. If you watch the second one first, it totally ruins the first one's creepy vibe. The second one is either creepy or cute...I think it's more cute. It makes me feel happy inside.
#1


#2




Stuff moving around by itself it really unsettling, but imagine that there are adorbale little ghosts in sheets going about their lives with happy piano music playing? Not creepy anymore is it?

Then, there are dolls. Forget what I said about Pixar before...I would watch an entire movie by this guy:


This is weird to watch because it has a strangely happy and bright mood considering what actually happens to the little girl. It's really a terrible fate, that will no doubt before children for many more years. I wonder why no one has closed this store down...

Strangely enough, I just saw a book written and illustrated by the creator of this next video in a bookstore, but didn't recognize it at the time. This video is very sad:


This one is on deviantart.com, by jisuk, and I love the classic "creepy picture" thing. I actually wrote a short story with a similar theme. Anyway, this is the animation link http://browse.deviantart.com/film/?q=the%20portrait#/d1zxuem
(I can't get it to work any other way)

For now, these are all I can think of. I know there are a few I have missed, and I will post them later if I find them again. Please share any creepy animations you have found!

October.

October is by far, my favorite month of the year. The weather is more tolerable, which is a major plus, but it also has Halloween. Halloween has always been a significant part of my year, and I was one of those kids who started planning their next Halloween costume a year in advance. I looked forward to trick or treating every single year until I was about 20, and I still wish I could go sometimes, without having old people glare at me. When I was in Kindergarten, I asked my "friend" Gloria to come trick or treating with me after school. She left briefly to ask her mother, and then returned to tell me "Halloween is for Satan worshipers." I feel so sorry for children who have to grow up with this idea, never experiencing the fun or beauty of Halloween. It's the only time your parents will let you dress in costumes and go out in public.

I want to win these!

http://www.american-duchess.com/

There is a shoe giveaway going on at this wonderful website (and blog) and I really want to win them as I am interested in period fashion. These shoes are beautiful and look very well made and unique. Check them out!

"The Devonshires are a leather 18th century shoe based on museum examples from the 1760s through 1780s.  They're made of top-grade dyable leather, with a beautiful, smooth Italian leather sole for dancing, and are hard-wearing, water- and mud-proof, for even the toughest of outdoor re-enactments.

Pre-Order the Devonshires through August 10, and get the special $100 price.  We're only making 200 of these shoes, so don't miss the chance to own one of only a couple hundred pair on the planet!  Visit www.american-duchess.com to order."

(from the website)

new photos

    New lookbook look! My mom found a long black pleated skirt in her closet that I really liked.

4 Dollar Dress

   

I will be posting this as my first "look" on lookbook.nu ! I hope it works out. I am not exactly sure how to go about it. I'm not all that happy with these photos, but I really want to get something up there and this is the best I could do today, using the timer on the camera and setting it on random surfaces (I need a tripod!). Anyway, I don't think they show off the dress as well as they could, but we'll see. I may do this again with better angles and lighting.

Jackson Cemetery and Deathly Hallows

Last week, my boyfriend David and I went to the cemetery in Jackson, CA, so that he could collect owl pellets to disect for animal bones, and I could explore and take photos. He found several rat skulls, in case you were curious, but here are some of the photos that I editted from the excursion.


 



    Posing in front of a mausoleum gate.                           An old tailing wheel we visited .

Little Dorrit (2008) TV Series, A Review

Overview:

I will admit to the fact that I have not yet read the book, Little Dorrit, written by Charles Dickens and published in the 1850's. In this case, watching the series only made me want to read the book more, due to the intriguing yet very complicated plot (and sub plots), and somewhat rushed ending that left me with questions. Despite a few shortcomings, I could not stop watching this once I had begun, and wished that I could have all the disks out from Netflix at once. My review of this series will be from the perspective of a 19th century period drama fan, and not a historian; therefore I will not judge the historical accuracies (or anachronisms) of the series.

Why did I not find this site sooner?

Thanks to this wonderful tutorial, I found this site called picnik. Needless to say, I am enjoying it.

Here are some of the results.

Lake Tahoe Camping.

Every year, my family and I go camping somewhere. This year, we went with our friends the Holts to Emerald Bay State Park. While it was no DL Bliss or Pfeiffer Big Sur, camping somehwere new is always interesting. It was certainly nice to get away from the hot Sacramento weather; in fact, the weather was drastically different.

Here is a picture of a little town we passed through on the way there...A VERY little town:

I felt like writing a story about a Crow.

Petunia was a scruffy looking crow with jet black feathers that looked like motor oil. She had scaly bird legs (because she was a bird after all), but she still felt downcast when she saw her reflection in the puddles of murky water that collected on the rooftop. She wondered why she couldn't be like those parakeets in the pet store window, or like the pigeons with the shimmering green and purple feathers. She even hated the sound of her own voice. When she tried to sing pretty songs like the robins, she just sounded like a raspy old man.

Summer beggins

So my summer began with a few weeks of hiding out in my house and playing Animal Crossing. Despite totally bringing my fake pixel town out of the ruined state it was in, I felt strangely empty inside.

Thankfully, I got to spend this last week with my boyfriend David, learning to drive, camping out to watch for possums, and going on a birdwatching walk. I also ate greens two nights in a row. It was different.

After the first night of sleeping in the tent, we were discouraged by the lack of possum activity. There WAS possum activity; we heard it eating the food we set out, but it disappeared before we could get a glimpse of it. The next night was much better. We started to hear things falling on the tent, and looked up through the mesh ceiling to see a baby possum crawling in the tree directly above us. We watched it move around for the next 20 minutes until finally it was staring straight down at us, wiggling it's ears and bobbing it's head. It was an awesome ending to our possum stakeout.

On Saturday we went to two graduation parties where David finally met some of my church friends. I'm not very social at parties. I sit in corners and look gloomy. Not very many people talked to us. We did get to drink beer and eat massive amounts of bean dip, so that was a plus.

On Sunday, I went to church and literally started falling asleep during the sermon. I would have been successful if the chairs didn't make my back ache. I sound like an old man. Also, I wish we sang more hymns instead of this contemporary stuff. And we need banjos! Grrrrr.

So...there it is. I'm not sure what's in store for this week. Probably listening to music and being a sloth. Speaking of that...

David sent me this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8YCSJpF4g4

Isn't this band just awesome? What's interesting is I used to hear this on a commercial and I hated it because it came on every 5 minutes. I never knew it was Noah and The Whale and Laura Marling. Ok, maybe that's only interesting to me. Whatever.

Finally: I like moths. This is my favorite moth. Enjoy: