Monday, May 6, 2013

Blog Sale—HELP!



*ANNOUNCEMENT!*
Gentle Readers, I need your input regarding the Blog Sale. I’m considering ending it early and hauling the stuff to the thrift shop. Frankly, I’m tired of storing it and having it take up space in my room. Tell me honestly, do you want me to continue putting up listings (vintage jewelry and jewelry supplies, plus a few more things in the Clothing, Shoes and Accessories department)? Are y’all even interested in anything, or did I just pick the wrong time for this? :-/

"Why do I get the feeling I'm
overlooking the obvious?"

PLEASE let me know by Saturday, May 11th. After that—unless my Gentle Readers urge me otherwise—I will be closing the Blog Sale.

One very tired
~“Tom”~

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Mark your Calenders

Calling all yard sale affectionatos! I'm in the process of setting up my first Blog Sale here on The Rambling Rose! Time to rid my closet, bins, drawers and other sundry places of all the stuff I don't need--my loss is your gain!
 Items offered will include:

~Clothing, Shoes and Accessories
~Craft Supplies
~Jewelry and Stuff to Make it
~Miscellaneous Cool Stuff

The dates are (tentatively) Monday, April 22nd through Friday, May 31st. Mark your calendars and spread the word--hope to see you there!

God bless,
~"Tom"~

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Resurrection Sunday



He is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed!

The above is a little greeting certain churches we attended in my growing up years used every Resurrection Sunday. :-D

The day dawned warm, clear and sunny—not a cloud in the sky…with temperatures reaching the mid-70s by afternoon! Perfect weather to help celebrate our Risen Lord, and the promise of New Life symbolized by the budding trees and greening-up fields all around us.

Normally, I’ve been wearing sweater-sets and skirts to church, as they’re warm, comfortable and easily changed. But this being a special occasion—and a warm day to boot—I felt like wearing something a little more festive. (Again, thanks to my obliging Bro for these pix!)


~What I’m Wearing~
Shoes: Black 3-strap heels—thrifted
Stockings: Sheer nylons—Wal*Mart
Dress: Lady Violetthrifted
Necklace: “Wild Irish Rose”—Wild Rose Designs and Laurie Sarah Designs (set with Dark Amethyst)
Earrings: Amethyst Eardrops/“Avalon”—Wild Rose Designs
Hairstyle: based on Siobhan’s “Isolde”


I almost put this elegantly-embellished rayon dress in my upcoming Blog Sale (stay tuned!) because I thought the color was too dark on me (it’s actually a very dark purple, but Mister Camera has this habit of turning purple things blue). However, when I came across the dress while photographing stuff for the sale, I suddenly felt like giving it another go. Boy, am I glad! It’s kind of surprising how becoming this color is, if I do say so myself. The button-front makes it easy to slip on, and the soft rayon fabric is really comfortable.


I pinned the top overlaps of the neckline open, like a mini-lapel, to have enough room for my necklace. I plan to remove the top button and install snaps under the “points” to keep them folded out. I like it better this way and think it’s more becoming than the original high round neckline.

My hairstyle is based on Siobhan’s “Isolde” ’do, with a few tweaks, of course. Obviously, I curled my hair last night, since it was a special occasion. Because of the way my lace braids ended up, I essentially tied them together in a knot at the back of my head and kept twisting the loose ends around the bit that wrapped around my head.
Then I pinned the ends under the ridge formed by the lace-braiding in front.


 I ran out of time to do the fishtail braids (which take f-o-r-e-v-e-r), and of hair to do the extra accent braids, so I just did regular 3-strand braids and pinned them in the middle of the wrapped/tied braids. They don’t really show up amongst all those curls, though. Next time, I’ll probably either just curl the ends or do braid-waves.
By now you’re probably used to seeing “Wild Irish Rose” with my outfits, but I wanted to show you my earrings, too. Some of my Birthday money went towards a lot of ten gorgeous amethyst briolettes (teardrops), two of which I used to revamp the ones I wore for the Springtime Tea last May. A thousand apologies for the blurry picture; I didn’t realize it was until I uploaded it! But at least you can see the general shape of the earrings.

 After church and a dinner of slow-cooked ham (our house smelled soooo good during the night!), we popped over to Falls Park to see the waterfall and soak in God’s creation. The weather was perfect, and we had a lovely time sitting on mossy rocks by the river, feeling the sun on our backs and breathing deep draughts of fresh air. Ahhh….

I hadn’t expected there to be any flowers out this early, but we were pleasantly surprised to see these (very short) buttercups, and some purply-pink flowers unfamiliar to us!



Overall, a lovely, relaxing day.

Until next time, Gentle Readers,
God bless,
~“Tom”~

Ja voll—Mein HAIR!



As I said in my previous post, I have an announcement to make:

I….

…cut…

…my…

…HAIR!

This is what it looked like before:
 
Cheeky!
Now you’re wondering, “Why on earth would you want to cut off all that gorgeous hair?!”
I debated for a long time about it, praying hard and seeking my family’s council. Long-story-short, I finally decided it was time to let go of the Rapunzel look and go with a more manageable length…and consequently, try out all the fabulous hairstyles I’d bookmarked on Siobhan’s YouTube channel. *Halo* 

EDIT: I should note here that I don't endorse all her videos, but she has several clever and elegant hairdos for mid-back-length hair (with helpful suggestions for longer or shorter hair on some). So if you're looking for inspirations, check out Siobhan's videos...and take them with a grain of salt. /DISCLAIMER

So, on the day before the First Day of Spring, I washed my hair and let it air-dry…and then had Mom perform the deed. This was the result:


It’s funny, but it feels way shorter than that. Probably because I’ve gotten so used to having this hairy curtain down my back, LOL. It’s a little sad, but there were way more advantages to having it short. For one thing, I no longer have to deal with my “short bits” (leftovers from an unsuccessful layering attempt four years ago) when braiding my hair, ’cos we pretty much evened up the rest of my hair with them! For another…well, let’s just say it’s nice not to have to wrap my hair around my neck to tuck in my shirts. :-P

It’s an adjustment, to be sure. The one drawback is that I can no longer do the Halo Braid the way I was doing it before (lace-braided sides, joined into one braid in back, pinned over the “ridge” created by the lace braids). However, I found out (the night I cut my hair, in fact) that I can still do a Halo Braid of sorts—just with two braids pulled tightly and pinned to death:
 
Happy Monkey!
I’m still noodling with other hairstyles and what-not, and it may take some time before I find ones that work for my hair. But I’m so much happier with my hair now. This is going to sound weird, but I feel more normal with my hair this length. I guess the ultra-long hair seemed costume-y, like I was trying to be Éowyn or Rapunzel, yet still live in the Real World. My “short” hair gives me a sense of freedom, as though a burden has been lifted from my shoulders.

And I apologize if this post seems a bit moronic; I wrote this at 11:00 at night, so my brain is on half-power. :-P Perhaps later (when I've regained full mental capacity) I can edit it and make it pretty.


Until next time, Gentle Readers,
God bless,
~“Tom”~