September Wrap-Up

Friends, please excuse the lack of professionalism on this post. I'm posting from my phone so I can show you a couple of pictures from the crazy amazing month I've had. I haven't felt like this since I stopped working in retail!

The train trip was such a delight, and my corset held up quite well to the vigours of a 4-hour train ride, roast beef and mashed potato and gravy meal, and shopping in town afterwards. Big Valley was established in the early part of the 20th century, or at least this jail dates from that time frame. 

I also managed to finish a bonnet! Nothing like a deadline to get a girl motivated :)

The day after the trip, I performed at a family festival with my belly dance studio. I was so nervous, and I definitely messed up more than once. Sometimes I have an odd disconnect with photographs of myself performing, because how I feel and think about myself doesn't match what I feel the camera shows. And yet I can look at photos of other dancers who don't have socially-accepted "perfect" bodies and I don't see those so-called "flaws" -- I see a beautiful woman who has taught her body to move and even without seeing her perform, I know she is a smart, capable, and stunning woman. So how come I can't connect that same idea to photographs of myself? 

That's a post for a different day, however, so please enjoy this photograph of me dancing. Despite my disconnect with photos, when I'm in the studio learning and practicing and watching myself move, I absolutely love how I look!

Photo by Kazoo Productions. 

The very next day after performing 4 times, I went to the registry office and tested for my drivers license. I've had my learner's for nigh on 100 years (which is code for 15 years, give or take) and once I moved to the city, I never saw the need to get it. I've always lived relatively close to work on decent bus routes. But more and more I was finding that being able to drive would open a lot more of the city to me. I was SO nervous. I think there was three of me, I was shaking so badly. But I passed the test, and last week I brought my first car home. It's parked since it's a manual transmission and I don't know how to drive a stick, plus I'm waiting for the chance to register it and get my own plate on it. But still, now I will be able to get around much more easily!

I really don't recommend three events like that in such a short span, especially if you're a worrywart like me. But there was no rest for the wicked, because then it was onto a wedding, and finishing up a gown and three frock coats for the Regency ball! 

I will do a full write-up in the near future, with as many photos as I can scrounge. My camera (meaning my phone) was stowed safely away for the night as technology was expressly forbidden in the ballroom ;) But we did take a few pictures beforehand. 

 Did I take a wedgie picture, and also talked some other ladies into taking one with me? You bet I did! I ended up wearing the paisley gown because the commissions took priority :) The ball was wonderful. Everyone looked so amazing. I can hardly wait for the one in February!

And of course, since having ONLY a ball to attend at the end of the month would be much too easy, we also had a local version of Comic Con to attend. I rewore a costume I made about a hundred years ago (this time: 18 years) that has held up very well over the years and was well-received by the people who recognized it. It will undergo a remake in the near future, however - the sleeves are much too short, and one sleeve has become faded from hanging in the closet for a number of years. Still, my choices that morning had been Victorian (even got my corset in, then decided nope!) or the whore-I-mean-handmaiden Game of a Thrones gown, but since it was just a handful of degrees above freezing and windy, I opted for more coverage. 

But first, let me take a selfie.