Stardust | BBRBF Book Club + Outfit

Welcome to January's edition of the BBRBF Book Club. This month we read Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I was really excited about this month's choice because I absolutely adore the movie and Neil Gaiman is always a good time. If you haven't heard of Stardust the summary from GoodReads.com is below.

From GoodReads.com:

Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie—where nothing, not even a fallen star, is what he imagined.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman comes a remarkable quest into the dark and miraculous—in pursuit of love and the utterly impossible.

The book had a lot of similar elements to the movie that I enjoyed. The world Neil Gaiman has built is this wonderful left of center fantasy world that uses iconic fairy tale elements mixed in with grown up wit and satire. It's a quirky combination which leads to a totally unique fairy tale experience and while I immensely enjoyed the world, the actually story was a bit flat for me. Tristan always just seemed like a bit of a childish fool who never develops much as a character and I never actually felt Tristan and Yvaine, the spirited and caring fallen star, fall in love. It was almost like Yvaine fell in love with him purely because he was in the proximity of her.  Problems like this don't seem to bother me in movies, but when reading a book I need to feel the love not just know of it's existence. That's what makes reading a book the better experience.

I do see a lot of merit in this book and I'm glad I read it. But, it's not a show stopper. It's just pleasant. 

Obviously I had to wear my star print dress in honor of Yvaine, but I have worn it several times on the blog and wanted to put a new spin on it. I chose to take inspiration from the witches and add some dark fairy tale vibes with my mesh corset from Orchard Corset. I love how drama it adds to wear a corset over any outfit and I always feel like a vampy villain when I'm rocking mine.

Make sure to check out all the BBRBF babes and their reveiws of Stardust.

Circle Skits & Petticoats

The Eyre Effect

In a Nutshell,

The Miss Information Blog

Pleasantly Lazy | Outfit

This outfit is all about the comforts of home. It entices me to be languid and stretch out like a cat with a book and a hot cup of coffee- pleasantly lazy. The revealing romper, which in summer is fresh and innocent, becomes softly intimate with the addition of cozy layers. Less skin is exposed, but with a subtle, sensuous result. It's the kind of outfit that encourages an afternoon of being pleasurably supine.

Maybe I'm drawn to this narrative because the outfit has a feeling of vintage undergarments. I kept imagining a girl lounging about in friendship with others in the daytime hours of a brothel or living unmarried with a man in some rundown apartment, poor, but without want. Comfortable and in gentle leisure with the welcome knowledge that eventually hands will find their way to her body.

I've mentioned before that I spend my days creating characters for my outfits, right? I wonder how many hours a day I spend in this reverie. I might have a problem, guys.

Romper: Forever 21+ (similar in straight sizes, similar in plus) | Cardgian: Eloquii (similar) | Socks: Torrid (similar) | Hat: Thrifted (similar) | Shoes: Torrid (similar) | Lips: Nyx Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick in Soft Spoken

Succulent Print Skirt | Outfit

You want to know what one of my biggest insecurities is? One of the biggest things that holds me back from taking advantage of opportunities and making connections with people? The thing that makes everything in my head go "pop, fizz" when having a totally average conversation with someone? It's the fear that I have nothing of value to add. It's the fear that who I am as a person is so sub par that I do not benefit the people around me. Even when I do something right and I am applauded for it, I am filled with a terror that I will have to find exactly the right combination of steps to repeat whatever good thing I did over and over again because now I've created an expectation!

I avoid situations that might lead to me being required to contribute and when I can't avoid them, I work so hard and put so much effort into contributing something decent that two things happen. I completely burn myself out and I go so over the top that I often get accused of being an overachiever. After I graduated college, I actually had a teacher tell me that they were dramatically reducing the expectations of our final portfolio presentations because of students like me who took it to extremes. I felt so utterly deflated. I had worked so hard to show my value and I had somehow broke the whole system? What?

I've grown to understand that it's an unreasonable fear because it's impossible to be valuable to every person and situation I encounter. Sometimes I will fail and sometimes I will succeed. I know this. But, it's a matter of feeling this, as well.

Last fall I made the decision to be more open to people and opportunities that come my way and I think I've done a good job. I started this blog back up, I said yes to so many things that I would have hid from before. But, it's also made me keenly aware of why I hid from so much. Not being good enough sucks! I feel rejection to my core and I take on every situation like I'm taking on a charging bull. With the hard expectation of critical failure.

So, at the precipice of another autumn, I'm pledging something else to myself. I will see my own value. I will value my time. I will value my talent. I will value my intelligence. I will value the entirety of my parts and what that allows me to offer to other people and at the same time I will accept that it is ok if someone else doesn't value me the way I do. 

You can fail a test. You can fail at a game. But, you cannot fail at being a person.

That means I am not going to point out all the ways that these photos make me feel like a failure. I'm going to try to see all the things in these photos that are the exact opposite of failure. Yes, it was raining and I was rushed. Yes, I was struggling with a remote and getting the camera to focus on me. But, why would I let those things eat me up when I went out and did any of this in the first place? I was brave enough to dance around in front of a camera while people watched. I was skilled enough to make my own skirt. I took the time and effort to style this outfit and package up my creativity into this blog post and I am happy to put all those good, valuable things out into the world.

And I want you to know all the same things about yourself! You are wonderful and valuable and there is good in everything you feel like you failed at just because you did it and you did it like no one else could.

Skirt: Handmade (similar fabric, tutorial on making a gathered skirt) | Shirt: City Chic (similar in straight sizes) | Shoes: Modcloth (similar) | Necklace: Charming Charlie (similar) | Scarf: Kohls (similar) Lips: Colourpop's Liquid Lipstick in Scrooge (similar)

Tropical Leaf Print | Outfit

There are many reasons why I like to thrift. It's exceptionally inexpensive, it's thrilling to be on the hunt, and it's possible to find many unique items that appeal to my quirky sense of style. But, the main reason, the thing that makes me happily sort through racks upon racks of discarded clothing, is finding perfect vintage dresses to whirl and twirl away from the store in!

Having a vintage aesthetic can be problematic for building a wardrobe. Either I have to shop for expensive vintage reproductions, wait for trends to swing around to my preferred era, or play scavenger hunt at thrift stores for the items I so dearly hope for. Being plus-sized means that true vintage from the 30's-50's is a very rare find, but as trends do come and go, it's much easier to find vintage inspired rejects from the 80's and 90's that suit my needs. In this case I get the benefits of larger cuts and slightly elasticated fabric, but the print and style make me feel like I should be sipping sidecars at a backyard barbecue in a Palm Spring's tract house.

Am I the only one that creates narratives like that in my head for my clothing? In this dress it's the 1950's and I'm the scandalous divorcee who crashes block parties and gets a thrill from watching the shocked housewives clutch their pearls. I feel imbued with the outgoing and salacious spirit of this fictional woman and I find myself acting accordingly. Does this make my clothing more costume than fashion or am I just pulling out bits and pieces that are already a part of me and indulging in the idea of more dominant traits falling away? Allowing me to become, momentarily, the fully actualized version of myself that could have been.

Dress: Thrifted (similar) | Shoe: DSW (similar) | Lips: Colourpop's Ultra Matte Liquid Lipstick in Pacific

Lemon Zest | Picnic Pretties Mood Board

Hello there, stranger! July was not a blogging month for me. July was a wrangle three kids while packing in as much summer fun as possible month. It did not leave a lot of time for extras and at the end of the day this blog is the product of my extra time. Being mom is always my number one job. But, I am back and ready to commit to two blog posts a week!

This week will be the final installments to the Picnic Pretties series. As always, you can see the whole mood board that inspired these outfits here.

This dress. Holy moly, this dress. I searched for it for a while on BST groups and finally snagged one right before it exploded and became, what felt like, almost everyone's DISO (desperately in search of). I'm so lucky I squeaked in before the surge of popularity because I am not lucky in scoring highly sought after pieces. This dress is a great example of how budget department stores, that are almost looked down upon, can totally nail it. I am telling you, JCPenney and Kohl's is the place to find great pieces at great prices. You will have to sift through some weird stuff, but the treasures are there. I promise.

My mom was in Nashville, shopping at a boutique, and the owner asked her where she was from. When she heard my mom was from Wisconsin, she actually sneered and said, "oh, you must shop at Kohl's." Uh, heck yes we shop at Kohl's and we look dang good because of it!

I have to find a pattern or draft something up similar because this dress highlights my shape perfectly. Every time I put it on, I feel like the perfect flouncy, curvy pinup and I strut my stuff like I am a freaking goddess. That is the power of a reasonably priced dress from Kohl's!

And please, always remember, it is not about where you shop it's about how you put it together.

Dress: Kohls (similar) | Shoes: DWS (similar) | Lips: Stila Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Patina

Life After Life | BBRBF Book Club + Outfit

What a book. What a colossal book Life After Life by Kate Atkinson was.

Synopsis from the book cover: On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the third child of a wealthy English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Ursula's world is in turmoil, facing the unspeakable evil of the two greatest wars in history. What power and force can one woman exert over the fate of civilization -- if only she has the chance?

I chose this book for the curious plot that was set at the beginning of the 20th century and because it came very highly recommended by a lot of people. This massive book was quite the undertaking. Not only was it long but it was a slow read. There were parts of this book that were like trudging through sand. The book covers decades from the Edwardian era all the way through to the Postwar era. Despite the exciting times that this existed in, there were moments that were just plain mundane and tedious. Moments that I wanted to abandon the book and not come back to it.

That being said, I do not think this was a bad book at all. One could easily hack out half the book and still have a wonderful story because when it got good it was good. As Ursula is living her lives and ultimately coming to tragic ends again and again it was like reading in an ocean tide. The story would come to these great surges of well written excitement and tragedy only to come crashing down and start over with the trudging...again...and again. The life where Ursula was married to an abusive man was so painfully real and terrifying and her time in the Air Raid Precautions Department during the London Blitz was breathtakingly tragic. But, then we'd get plunked right back into Fox's Corner to start again. Which, while I didn't find that enjoyable, might just be the experience that the author wanted us to have to immerse us into Ursula's cyclic existence. By the end of this book I felt confounded and exhausted and I have a sense that is exactly what Kate Atkinson wanted.

 And can we please talk about the end?! I don't even know what to do with that ending. Is Ursula stuck forever being reborn no matter what she does? And there were some serious allusions to Sylvie and Teddy having the same affliction. Is everyone living and dying again? Just some? Were the random scenes written from other character's perspectives, speckled through out the book and then shot at us rapid fire at the end, supposed evidence that others are living like this too and Ursula's isn't the only perspective in this circular universe? What was the significance of Roland? Why was the midwife, who had no bearing in the story at all, the last character we see? That's purposeful! But, for the life of me I don't understand the purpose. If you've read the book, I would love to know what you took away from all of this.

On a scale of Total Pile to Masterpiece, I'd give this book a Glad I Read It, But I'm Also Glad It's Over.

I had no clue what I was going to wear for this book until this gorgeous dress stumbled into my life just days before the review was due. Goodwill delivers again! Not only were the colors and print perfect, but the sweetheart neckline reminded me of 1930's glamour and I played that up with the red lips and flowing hair. I imagine this was somewhat of Ursula's look in the opening scene of the book when she is described as looking like a movie star.