All the Frills: Elizabeth Regina

Yeah, if there’s any one particular decorating scheme (aside from antlers) that unites my home, it’s images of Elizabeth I. I have a lot of them. Like a pretty ridiculous number. These are actually only less than half of them. I definitely have a problem.

Weekend Reading:

• I have got to see this ludicrous looking J Lo movie. It just sounds too stupid.
  
• This story about a woman claiming to be a survivor of the Titanic is really interesting.
  
• Anyone else a giant Simpsons fan?
  
• Ladies posing as gents in the nineteenth century.
  
• Maybe technically this is blackmail, or extortion, or whatever. But I really don’t care.
  
• I have a new favourite website. And it is magical.

Lustrous...at Least For Now

362 days of the year I have the worst hair in the league but somedays it comes together and I actually look like I have a thick, lustrous mane (the wind is helping a lot). And on those days I am a happy camper. It’s the little things people.

skirt: Jacob via Value Village, similar / top: Twik via Simons / boots: Kamik / necklace: emitations / jacket: can’t remember

Sigh...This Lack of Daylight is Getting on My Nerves

Yeah, I did not make it home today before it got dark. So you all are getting treated to poorly lit fireplace photos. You’re welcome.

cardigan: ModCloth / jeans: J Brand, similar / top: H&M, similar / necklace: Target

All the Frills: Black (Fake) Diamond!

My helpmeet recently bought me this amazing ring – of course I am totally onboard with a black stone!

Weekend Reading:

• This article about the afterlives of two women captured in a famous photo from the Civil Rights era is fascinating.
  
• This Mannerist sculpture garden sounds all kinds of nuts.
  
• If you are a Murder She Wrote fan you need to watch this. You may not want to watch the whole thing (it’s an hour long) but please watch the intro. It is genius.
  
• This is basically exactly what I teach my students on the myth of the Middle Ages/Renaissance divide.
  
• These photos of subway cars getting dumped in the ocean are surreal.
  
• I always wanted a poison ring because I like the idea of emulating Lucrezia Borgia, but now I want one because they’re gorgeous!

I Made It!

I barely made it home from work before dark on this day so these photos are kind of weird and grainy  in the odd twilighty (yeah, I know that's not a real word) light ... but I still made it home. And I’m counting that as a victory for me.

boots: Target, similar / tunic: BB Dakota via Shopbop, similar / necklace: Monserat de Lucca via Shopbop / blazer: BB Dakota, similar / leggings: ASOS 

Afternoon Writing

Worn on a Sunday afternoon for the purposes of writing and generally tearing my hair out over my book at a local coffee shop (hence the giant purse for lugging around a laptop and several notebooks, and cleaning up all my pulled out hair).

shirt: the men’s section at Winners / jeans: J Brand (found forever ago at a thrift shop in Connecticut), similar / boots: Steve Madden, similar / necklace: Aldo, similar / purse: H&M

Snow Day

Greetings from a winter wonderland!

shirt: amazing gift from my helpmeet via ModCloth / jacket: Good ol’ Sears

All the Frills: Little Boxes

Allow my to introduce you to one of my favourite Festivus gifts, this amazing box that I now store my wedding bands in. I have more than one because I've lost my original before and replaced it, only to have it turn up again. And then we bought a new set for ourselves just because, so now I have three different ones. Variety is always a good thing though, right?

Weekend Reading:

• When professors falsify and misrepresent their research, our collective knowledge suffers serious setbacks, as it will following this anthropological scholar’s negligence.
  
  
• The 20 greatest things about the trailer for that awful looking Boy Next Door movie.
  
  
• Stunningly beautiful theatres.
  
  
• The awesomeness that is David Bowie’s hair.

I Will Finish This Book If It Kills Me...

All the revisions that I’ve been making to my book are killing me. Literally. There have been several nights over the last few weeks where I have sat up until 3 am redrafting things for like the hundredth time, trying to get it just right. I started working on this project in 2008 (after the initial brainstorming, applying for research grants, etc ... and it’s involved 6 months of research at the Folger Shakespeare Library in DC, 3 months of research at the Huntington Library in California, and then another 6 months of further research at various archives in the UK, followed by 2 years of writing to turn it into my doctoral dissertation and now a further 3 years of writing to go from dissertation to monograph). I’m about ready for this process to be over…. None of that has anything to do with my outfit but I really needed to vent!

pants: Zara / booties: Camper, similar / necklace: Emitations / blouse: Talbots, similar

This is My Irritated Face

I trotted these rather ridiculous shoes out for a holiday party that I went to. They are hard to walk in, not very comfortable, and rather silly…and I love them!

shoes: can’t remember / dress: H&M, similar / cardigan: Pins + Needles via Urban Outfitters, similar

All the Frills: Le Morte De Arthur

Today I’m featuring one of my favourite books from my home library. This stunning edition of Thomas Malory’s Le Morte de Arthur was a gift from my uncle many years ago and I’ve treasured it ever since. Not only is the book one of my favourites (it was published in 1485, one of the first books printed by William Caxton utilizing the new technology of the printing press) but this particular edition, which features illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley, is beyond stunning.

Weekend Reads:

• Want to read a neat article about the recently discovered poisoning of a Renaissance-era Italian Duke?
  
• How well do you know your Greek mythology?
  
• The so-called Pillars of Creation. Wow, just wow.
  
• You’ve got to love a good time capsule.
  
• Issues facing women around the world as told through some stunning photographs.

Faux Leather and Faux Fur

We’ve had a spate of relatively warm winter weather here in Edmonton earlier in December. Most of the snow we had melted and temperatures even made it up above zero. And while I sort of wished it was back to being properly winter cold outside, I did welcome the opportunity to wear some of my less cold weather appropriate fall and winter jackets – like this number from ASOS (accessorized with a detachable fur collar taken off of another coat in my collection). I love this coat but it’s basically useless in anything under -10. And it was -35 with the windchill yesterday.

pants: RW &Co / boots: Steve Madden, similar / coat: ASOS, similar

Dress Obsessed

I’m obsessed with this dress I got from Simons recently. You can’t tell as I’m wearing a blazer over top, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, it has long sleeves, which I love in a dress. I’ve definitely been wearing this way too much lately but I just can’t help myself. In fact I’ve been wearing it so much lately that I totally spaced on actually posting these photos. As you can see there’s no snow on the ground which means they’re over a month old. Oops.

dress: Philosophy via Simons, similar /shoes: a gift from my mother / scarf: Aldo / blazer: Calvin Klein via Value Village

All the Frills: Antlers

So I’m super into antlers lately. Like a lot. And my father-in-law is a hunter who has graciously given me some beautiful sets of them. In fact, he just gave me some over the holidays. And my helpmeet bought me a lovely white deer head for Festivus as well. So my collection has now doubled!

Weekend Reading:

• So western music banned in the Soviet Union was printed on x-rays and smuggled in – this story is really cool.
• Britain’s finally clearing up some of its South Sea Bubble debt from the 1720s. Good for them.
• The best cat moments of the year. It’s 100% necessary for everyone to see this.
• Want to learn about the dark history of nutmeg?