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Atlanta Wedding

30 Oct

I’m back from my 36 hour Atlanta adventure. I was there for a traditional Indian / Hindu wedding of a dear friend. I was SO EXCITED to go to this wedding because I’ve never been to an Indian wedding. And, it lived up to all my expectations!

We should probably discuss the fact that I am going to be wearing a sari whenever feasible for the forseeable future. I just wanted to grab fabric and start running! They are stunning.

The ceremony started at 7:30 on Friday morning and took place at a Hindu temple in Atlanta.

We had to take our shoes off. I planned ahead and got a pedicure :) But, I did scramble to scratch off my Payless Shoe Source price tag from the sole…

During the trip, I was able to stay with Bhoomhika of Wearable Toile, who first introduced the bride and I last fall (what was I thinking with that red hair??).

She was kind of enough to loan me a traditional garment (I know it’s not a sari, but I don’t recall the name).

Do you look Bhoomhika’s sari? It was such a pleasure watching her mom help her dress.



The ceremony was beautiful, spiritual and I was absolutely engrossed.

And the bride… the bride took my breath away


Can we talk about how cool her entrance was? She was carried in a basket by her uncles.

Later that night was the reception

Unfortunately, I don’t have a good photo of me in the yellow vintage ensemble which I wore to the reception.

But, it was a fun wear and I can’t wait to break it out again. Oh, and you can be sure I will be wearing a bindi whenever and wherever I can.

So, I’m back home and it’s C-O-L-D. Brrrrrr. I’m starting to think my red trench is not as bad as I thought. And, I may sew up the already cut warmer to get a bit more wear out of it. Thanks for all the feedback :) It’s definitely growing on me.

Everyman Theater Gala 2011

7 Jun

Back in April, I had a Mad Men themed fundraiser to attend for Baltimore’s Everyman Theater. Because of trips to Santa Fe and Tampa, I didn’t have time to whip something up.

 

 If I had had the time I would have done some kind of Diana Ross spectaculuar. But, instead I relied on my vintage find from earlier this year. I thought I’d share some photos. 

Don’t worry. Those cigarettes aren’t real. They are candy and each purchase was a raffle ticket.


I’m sad to say the original belt was too small to be worn with the dress.

The woman on the right picked up her dress in Florida and had it shortened for the event. It’s *not* vintage if you can beleive!


My jewelry is vintage too. I bought it during Philly PR Weekend.

Most fun of all, this photo was reprinted in the Baltimore Sun. I’d call it my socialite moment.

All Set!

28 Apr

Have I mentioned that I’m unabashedly obsessed with the Royal Wedding?  That’s right. Obsessed. I’ve been brushing up on my on my pretentious fake British accent too (think Madonna, Tina Turner and Gwenyth Paltrow). Some folks have thought to remind me that the US won thier independence in the 1770s. Others feel that just because my mom lived in England for 10 years that doesn’t make me British. A few think it somehow matters that both my parents’ native countries received thier independence from the UK in the 60 and 70s. I don’t care. I’m quite comfortable with my  Anglophile status.

I have my commemorative mug in the china cabinet waiting to be filled with Earl Grey Martinis on Friday morning. And expect my future children to laugh at me some day when they see all I have accumulated. I say  BRING IT. Here are a few other items in my current collection.

I had the Diana paper dolls when I was 8. It came with a paper tiara. I wore the heck out of that tiara.  I even remember my mom making some repairs to it. My friend Liz gave this to me this one for my birthday. I may have teared up a bit.

I may or may not have more than one of these rings. In my defense, at least one was bought prior to the current engagement. I’ve always wanted a  copy. I just had way more choices after the announcement.

I’m going to a watch party at friends. So, I’ll be baking my popovers (I know they look more like muffins. These are dietary modified for the people I’m watching the wedding with)

There was no time. But, as soon as I find the right shade of blue — I will be knocking off the engagement announcement dress.

The person who brought me a commemorative mug from England told me about this model MINI Cooper (I drive one). I purchased it on line and had it sent to Melissa from Fehr Trade . You know, so I can combine shipping with all the useless things I’ve ordered related to the wedding.

I have resisted the Boden scarf just because it’s crazy overpriced. But, if any of you UKers see something I should buy *cough* feel free to tell me.

Talk to you after the frenzy!

Ballet Recitals Beat Piano Recitals

11 Dec

Asked at the 7-Eleven on the way to recital: “Girl! Where you get your bun at? It look goooood!” I explain that it’s all my hair tucked under the hairnet. She sucks her teeth and says, ‘That’s why the color match so good.” Yes. Yes it is.

I’ve got the lining cut and sewn for the jacket. Tonight, I’m going to sew it in while watching Meet Me in Saint Louis. It’s my favorite movie to watch at the holidays. Judy Garland’s red dress at the end is A-mazing. Energy usually reserved for Saturday night was expended being entirely nervous and sweaty for a 1:30 Waltz of the Flowers. Sadly, I don’t have photos of the amazing bun I put together thanks to Phyllis‘ instructions. Let’s just say my blowdryer has never had such a workout.

For Sale: Non Sewing Impulse Buy

31 Oct

While in China, I made a total impulse buy. My cell phone was due for an upgrade and I fell in love with this cute compact style one. I thought it would work here in the US since my US cell phone worked in China. Wrong. It doesn’t. It’s on a different frequency. I’m listing the phone here on Evil Bay in case you might be interested.

It’s a GSM 900 frequency, you can check this list and see if it works in your country first. It appears to work everywhere else EXCEPT North America. Grrrrr. Please save yourself the effort of asking me why I would buy a phone in another country without knowing if it would here. I’ve asked myself that a dozen times already. I even thought about making it my travel phone.  But, that’s just silly. I’m more sad I won’t be able to use it. I’m totally a gadget person and this one was supercute. I held on to it for a while trying to see if there was a way to change the frequency. No such luck.

Today’s sewing project:

Cut out fabric and lining for a new coat dress. I have Tuesday off for Election Day and plan on sewing for a solid 12 hours :)

 

Holiday Weekend

11 Oct

This weekend helped with my sadness over my lack of sewing. Arielle is in the US visiting family from Haiti and I’ve had her in Baltimore the last 48 hours.  Marji is busy sailing the world and is in the Baltimore / Annapolis area and had a few of us over on her boat. Robin (who I don’t see enough of considering we are both in Baltimore) and BeeBee were on board. And, to my great surprise, there was Susan Khalje.

I may have sounded a bit stalkerish in that I was quoting her from PR Weekend LA two years ago. It’s hard not to gush.

So, while I didn’t actually get any sewing done, I spent pretty much my entire afternoon, on a boat, on gorgeous fall day, drinking wine and talking about sewing with friends. Seriosuly, good times.

I had grand plans with Arielle this weekend. We were going to work on slopers. We were going to see a textile exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art. We were going to go fabric shopping at A Fabric Place. But, what we did is get breakfast at Blue Moon (a two hour wait I might add for thier Capt. Crunch French Toast) and hit Joann Fabrics.

Time really does fly when you’re having fun. I have to admit, I kept making her call me Renee-Cidell. It’s SO MUCH MORE elegant with her French accent. Be warned all readers who speak the French. Should we meet, please be prepared to keep saying my name :)

Setting Myself Up for Failure?

24 Aug

I’ve been sewing like a bandit the last week because I’m a little behind in my China sewing. I lost a solid 1.5 weekends of sewing because the Vegan and I stopped seeing each other and I was actively engaged in perfecting my ability to eat popsicles in bed while in the fetal position. Of course, this took place in between wondering if I was ever going to sustain a long-term relationship and marathon watching of Being Erica. Happily, Trena came up to visit snap me out of it . We made pizza, drank some wine and now I’m generally back to my regularly scheduled life. Luckily, I tend to wallow for about a week and bounce back with vim, vigor and acute sarcasm. At anyrate, early in the planning process I planned to buy a blazer but never found one I liked. Now that my dress is done, I want to try to squeeze in one jacket. It’ll be cold on the plane, over air conditioned in my week of meetings and in the convention center at the trade fair. Plus, a jacket will extend my wardrobe from touring to business.

I’ve been obsessed and I mean OBSESSED with this trench style blazer from the April 2008 Burda for two years now. Oh, who am I kidding. I love trench and nautical. Period. I have the fabric on hand. A lovely linen cotton blend on clearance from Michael’s fabric a year or two ago. I just don’t know if I have the time. The Tracy Reese dress was finished last night  (photos to post on Friday or so) and this pattern traced out.

So, here’s the sewing plan:

  • Tonight, alter the pattern (unpetite, FBA, swayback adjustment) and get my fabric cut 
  • Wednesday night I want to interface and make the pockets and sleeve pleat thingies.
  • Thursday through Sunday. Sew in fits and spurts.

Ambitious, yes. And, I won’t beat myself up if it just doesn’t happen. I fly out in one week. Crazy, right?

On another note, does anyone know the answer to this? If I load my netbook up with rented iTunes movies, will I be able to play them in China? Netflix didn’t work in Canada, but I assume that is because streaming was needed. It seems to me that iTunes will be physcially on my computer and it shouldn’t matter. Anyone know?

Sigh. I should probably look into a Kindle soon. But, I’d rather just rent one for two weeks.

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Baltimore Fashion Week and Milani Winner

22 Aug

The winner of the Milani nail polish is: Kira! Congratulations! Thanks everyone for participating! I should tell you, Essie also has a sewing themed line this fall. You can see the colors here. I hear Milani now has the polish on their website. I was only every able to find it at CVS.

Saturday night I went to see one of the four days of show for Baltimore Fashion Week.

The show was fun (no flash photography allowed). But, I really loved these two guys who were in the front row. They altered their own outfits. You couldn’t tell them nothin’! When I asked for a photo they eagerly posed for me.


The Creamsicle dress is my summer go to dress and was perfect for Fashion Week. Since making the Creamsicle dress in April, I’ve hemmed it by  a good three inches. Why? I was out a few months ago with friends in DC. We were dancing and having a grand old time. Then, I had this weird realization. I looked around the room and realized I must have had the longest skirt on in the entire club.  Now, you can actually see my *knees*. Scandalous, no?

Oh! And if you love pop culture, fashion and are in the Baltimore area, might I suggest you follow my friend John John on Twitter? He’s the (new) fashion, pop and food critic at the Baltimore Sun newspaper ! They lost their fashion writer Tanika last year and have just picked John John up. I’ve been begging him to get on Twitter for ever and he finally did last month. He’s @popcouturejjw4 and will have his fashion blog up and running in September.

That’s him being all fashiony.

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Back in the Saddle

30 Jul

This week, I sent off my visa application for China. I was peeved it cost $130 for Americans until I saw that the US charges about the same. 

 Anywho, it was going to cost me over $300 because for two solid days I couldn’t find my US passport. That $300 figure was between the rush, renewal and company charges. I was so relieved when I found my passport, I figured I was *saving* money. Therefor, I could use the money I *saved* and buy a new camera (which I was going to get before I left for China).   

 

Optio I-10

  At first, I wanted the Pentax Optio. Why? Because it looked like an old school camera. That’s it. But, the reviews for it were weak.So, I decided to spend a little extra and upgrade to a DSLR.  After Kathi’s recommendation (because it came in colors!!) I went with the Pentax K-X. It was highly ranked by a consumer magazine and I saw excellent reviews on line. It comes in a GAMILLION colors (well, eight in the US and a gamillion in Japan).    

 

  Not that I think SLRs take inherently better photos. I once had a friend comment that a mutual friend takes gorgeous pictures, “Because with a camera like that how can she not.” Which is like saying just because someone has a high-end sewing machine they are going to make beautiful clothes.  But, I think for photographing indoors and brown skin, they provide me a wider range of settings. Plus, I got a remote control too so it’ll be much faster to take photos of my in garments. 

 

I’ve had a film SLR for years. I really only stopped using it last year when film became so much more expensive to process. So, I’m thrilled and hopefully can get back to posting for reals.    

Why Shopping Frustrates Me, Reason #134

22 Jul

Because I have been looking for a pale pink filing/ dairy crate for a month and have turned up bupkiss. Have been to Joanns, Stables, Wal Mart, Target, Container Store and PB Kids. Grrr.

I rode my bike to work today. It’s taken me well over a month to work my nerve up.  It was a harrowing 3.5 miles on Baltimore city streets but rewarding. Oh, and I was totally winded and plan to take the bus home because getting to work is downhill and I know my limitations. But, the entire time, the aesthetic was thrown off by this lime green milk crate.

Pale pink. I saw them EVERYWHERE last year. This year, according to the Wal Mart manager, all the new stuff is in brights. Bright lime, hot pink and orange. I couldn’t even find black or white when I went to my three different Wal Marts.

Sigh. See how difficult my life is? LOL. Seriously though, this is why I like to sew. I can make exactly what I want when I want it.

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