STOP TAKING PICTURES AND LIVE IN THE MOMENT

In my very limited experience, having a blog makes one suddenly very conscious of one's plans and appearance: "Oooh, off somewhere picturesque, will make a good blog post, must take camera, best make sure hair and makeup and outfit are perfect, no pictures from that angle please, oh that's unattractive, delete, yes a pose like this thank you very much, and now a close up, let's make everything look as beautiful as possible, fingers crossed it doesn't look too staged..." 

I mean, blog posts aren't completely natural. I like beautiful things and that's nothing to apologize for, but sometimes I allow my blog posts to escalate from something fairly natural and loose to something altogether wannabe Vogue-ish. And there's nothing wrong with that - like I said, I like beautiful things - but my life isn't a walking-talking Vogue photoshoot unfortunately. It's too easy for me to get jammed into the mindset that any blog post of mine has to be simply sublime. It's tempting to want you to glance at my blog and see me looking perfectly put together and tres chic at absolutely all times. Those fancy-shmancy blog posts are lovely to make, but my life isn't always glamorous or anything like unto it. Sometimes there needs to be a blog post to remind myself of that, a blog post full of spontaneity and average-looking outfits, because that's reality. 

This evening I was slobbing in the basement eating toast and watching a film. I heard my roommate Kristi yell down that it was sunny and raining at the same time and that I absolutely had to go outside. Up and out I went, and immediately the artist alarm went off in my mind and like a maniac I dashed back inside thinking "CAMERACAMERACAMERA". What was also running through my mind was this: "This-would-make-a-gorgeous-blog-post-I-need-to-get-changed-and-put-on-more-makeup-I-hope-my-hair's-not-too-much-of-a-wreck-but-oh-no-what-if-I-miss-the-light-quick-hurry-ahhhh". And then, as I was faffing about in the kitchen, I heard Kristi calling again: "Stop taking pictures and live in the moment!"

Stop taking pictures and live in the moment.

I came to a sudden, screeching halt. Did it really matter that I was wearing minimal makeup? Did it really matter that I was in ill-fitting leggings and a pair of trainers? To put it frankly - no, it didn't. Of course the artist in me couldn't do the whole stop-taking-pictures thing, but I decided that tonight I would be brave and do the stop-taking-pictures-that-you-feel-you-have-to-look-perfect-in thing. And so I grabbed the camera, tied my laces, and went to join my roommates Kristi and Jane in the rain. And we had fun. The photos are awkward and embarrassing and a little bit bizarre. I don't look my best and am definitely not 100% photogenic. It's all a bit messy and unplanned, but so is life.

And that's okay.

Love, Kitty x

KITT SERVES TEA

In time gone by, when the semester was still young and finals felt like a lifetime away, when hope was high and life worth living, I dreamed a dream that I would host a thoroughly British Tea Party to celebrate the end of my second year of University. I dreamed that my energy wouldn't die, that my profs would be forgiving. Then I was young and unafraid and blog posts were made and study time wasted. But the finals came at last with their ridiculously-long-essay-questions soft as thunder, and they (almost) tore my hope apart and (almost) turned my dream of a thoroughly British Tea Part to shame. 

I am happy to announce that my exams and last minute assignments did NOT kill the dream I dreamed: at the end of a rather busy semester I summoned to strength to channel my inner hostess-with-the-mostest, pull out the fine china and sashay in the kitchen to the crooning voices of Perry Como and Doris Day. There was a 1950's English Tea Party to host, and this little lady - tired as she might be - was up to the challenge.

When I first had the idea of putting together this little shindig a couple of ago, I had very modest plans. A teapot, a few teacups, a cake, friends. Maybe a table cloth for the occasion, you know? And then Uni got to me. You see, I cope with stress by looking forward to things. Whether it be a new book, a trip to the cinema, or a day out, I like to have a little silver-lining to focus on or an incentive to encourage me when I am feeling worn down. Well, this past semester was pretty darn good at wearing me down. It was my least favourite term so far, I had some classes I was not enjoying, I was having to prepare for the intensity that is third year Fine Art classes - I was altogether lacking in the motivation department. So, when life sends you Shakespeare essays and Psychology exams and mammoth Printing projects, plan a Tea Party. Seriously. Sat in a three-hour night-time Psychology lecture with a rear that's growing increasingly numb? Mentally construct a menu full of the best British sweet treats. Revising in your bedroom for a looming Literature exam? Look up from those notes and imagine the perfect vintage display of your retro bits and bobs. By the time the day of the Tea Party arrived, I had planned a monster of an event that took my family and I a whole day to set up for. 

I invited a small group of my Fine Arts friends from Uni with the request that they get their vintage glad rags on and bring their own teacups. I Union-Jacked the dining area up as much as I could and dug up old photographs of my Grandparents in the 1950's to stick on the walls. I gathered together all of the old British tins and memorabilia I could find and arranged them on the piano in a sort of shrine to the Motherland. My lovely family united to do all of the baking (I am afraid my only contribution was the cupcakes and they were a tad overdone). I found a fifties playlist on YouTube and pressed play, whipped out the red lipstick (hello again, Marilyn!) and with some housewife pearls round my neck, I was ready to go!

At the end of the day, I just enjoyed being with my friends. I feel very blessed to have come to know these lovely ladies this year at Uni. From stressing over deadlines with them to walking through the streets of Manhattan together, these girls have made my University experience so much better. Onwards and upwards into third year, ladies! Hurrah!

~ Menu ~

Victoria Sponge Cake

English Trifle

Scottish Shortbread

English Scones with Whipped Cream and Strawberry Jam

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Chocolate Cupcakes and Fairy Cakes

Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Sandwiches 

Cucumber Sandwiches

Fresh Strawberries

A selection of British Teas for the tea-drinkers and Caf-Lib for moi

Fizzy Pink Lemonade

Good Friends

Joyous and Long-Awaited Relief from Schoolwork

Dream the Dream. Host a Tea Party.

Kitty x

(Thank you to Breanna for some of the photographs!)

HAVING A MARILYN MOMENT

Last night I watched My Week With Marilyn. Yesterday afternoon I browsed the new Mad Men Collection at Banana Republic. Last week I looked through Vintage Vogue dress patterns. Last week I borrowed my friend's book on 20th Century style. Last month I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's. 

The Vintage Vibes have been bubbling away inside of me, and today they came to the surface with two dashes of Va and an awful lot of VOOM. Today I gave myself the Marilyn touch, and I'm telling you, it felt GOOD. 

This past week I bought myself a navy boat neck jumper on sale for $7 at Gap. I also noticed my bright green A&F trousers (also a bargain - reduced from $78 down to $12) in my chest of drawers. A navy and green dress in Banana Republic caught my eye and got me thinking... and voila, my outfit was born. Watching Michelle Williams shimmy across the screen in My Week With Marilyn certainly got me in the mood to do some shimmying of my own, and to shimmy like Marilyn, I needed flicks of cat-eye liner, lashings of red lipstick and a back-combed, hairspray-ed do. So I got to work, only to find out that before there could be any photographic evidence of my Marilyn Moment, I had to go out with the family. Reader, I am proud to say I did it. Minus the lipstick, I went out all retro-ed up and it felt pretty darn good. May have looked like I walked off a Mad Men set but hey, as my Dad told me: I'm young and I'm an art student and I can get away with being a little eccentric. 

When I finally got behind that camera, posing has never come so naturally. I thought of Michelle William's Marilyn cheekily asking, "Shall I be her?", and then, with a pout, I decided I would. 

Verdict? This may not be the end of red lipstick and big hair...

Kitty x

{Jumper: Gap; Trousers: A&F; Black Sunglasses: Forever 21; Red Sunglasses: New Look; Purple Scarf c/o of my Grandma; Red Scarf and Leather Jacket c/o my sister; Navy Coat: Miss Selfridge; Pearl Necklace and Black Ballet Flats: Joe Fresh; Leopard Print Heels: ASOS; Purse: Chapters.}

WORDS OF ART

Drum roll, please! This is my first official post listed under the heading 'Bibliofiles'. Every now and then, I plan on doing a wee bit of book-blogging - letting you know about what I'm reading, what I've bought, the books that make my world go round etc etc etc. Basically, I'm addicted to books and I intend to impose my obsession upon my blog readers, so if you're not a book lover then prepare to be converted!

This past week has been more book-centred than usual, now I think about it. Catching up with set readings for my classes doesn't really count in my book (excuse the pun, couldn't resist), but in my free time I've been reading Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. The film version with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet is one of my all time favourites, so reading the book again is just like catching up with old friends. I always find that books mean something different to me every time I read them, simply because my life experience is ever-growing and the more you live, the more you understand.

I also had the amazing opportunity to visit the Rare Books section of my University Library. I went with my Print-making class last wednesday and was completely in my element: a lot of books + a lot of history + a lot of beautiful prints and calligraphy = sweet, sweet bliss. The books were stored in huge, moveable shelves deep in the basement, the kind you see in those documentaries about family history archives. Walking down one of those narrow aisles was like walking into homesickness for me - it smelt of age and England and history and so many things I've grown up to treasure.

As if looking at beautiful books wasn't enough, in class my Print-making instructor taught us how to make our own books. We made four different kinds, folding and stitching them ourselves. Maybe I should have a 'Bibliofiles' feature on a step by step set of instructions for book-making. They aren't too difficult to assemble and there is something rather satisfying about leafing through the pages of your own little book.

Then this past Saturday, to complete my week of words, I headed over to the bookshop Chapters and had a good old browse. I spent a long time down the vintage fashion aisle - oh, the dresses! the hair! the  shoes! - but I left with a beautiful bright red copy of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and some of his short stories. I've already read both of the novels, but I've grown up raiding my Dad's library and I've realized I need to build up my own, beginning with the classics.

Both Jane Eyre and The Great Gatsby were so beautifully bound that I was inspired to gather together some of the most lovely books in my collection. These included Austen's Emma, Dickens's David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities, Conan Doyle's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and Alcott's Little Women. If you particularly like a book and want to know who publishes that edition, leave a comment below!

If there's anything I love more than a book, it's a beautiful book.

I hope you all enjoy these lovely objects as much as I do!

Kitty x