Anya Jung Illustration

My lovely friend Anya, who is a supremely talented illustrator, is opening an Etsy shop selling prints and cards of some of her work! I'm so excited for her =]

I'm very proud to own one of her 'Once in a Blue Moon' prints. I've loved Anya's work for as long as i've known her (which is...oh my...10 years!), especially the black and white linework like this. Also it's a bear riding a penny farthing on a tightrope whilst wearing a top hat in the moonlight! How could such a whimsical image fail to make you smile?

If you'd like to see more, please check out her Etsy shop Anya Jung Illustration!

I'm currently on the hunt for a square frame to put this print in, so if anyone knows somewhere I can get them at a reasonable price, let me know!

What's In Your Suitcase? Conference Style

I recently attended a fabulous conference in Edinburgh on the subject of 'Death in Scotland; Medieval to the Modern' where I met loads of great people and learned so much.

I was travelling by train and only taking one small suitcase, to stay for a week, including 3 days of conference, one day exploring the city and 2 days fieldwork. The fieldwork clothes consisted of jeans, jumpers and thermals so I won't bore you with them, but here's what else I crammed into my case!
When I got to my hotel unpacked the case and laid each outfit out to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything.

Day 1

I spent the first day exploring Edinburgh. I visited Carlton Old Burial Ground, Greyfriars Kirkyard and the central library in Edinburgh.

Black Turtleneck: Miss Selfridge. Christmas Present from Mum
Black Waistcoat: Via a charity shop, I think it was around £3.
Red Velvet Skirt: Metamorphose Temps de Fille via egl-comm-sales. The bow is one of the detachable ones from the skirt.
I wore this with black tights, black boot covers and black DMs (good for muddy graveyards)

Day 2

The first day of the conference. I toned down a frilly lolita blouse by wearing it with a professional looking skirt. More velvet because it's was cold up there!

Black Blouse: RQ-BL from Sai Sai
Black Pinstripe Blazer: New Look
Black Velvet Skirt: Next
Also worn with black tights and black oxford shoes from Primark

Day 3
I decided that I could wear a more OTT skirt if I wore it with a simpler blouse, as long as I picked the  right one. The conference was held in the School of Divinity building, so I thought that the Churches on this one would go down well! I did get several compliments =]

(this photo refused to rotate the right way round, I have no idea why)

Black and White Stripe Blouse: Warehouse
Black Velvet Skirt with Church Embroidery: Handmade via egl-comm-sales
Jabot: From the RQ-BL blouse
Also with the same waistcoat as Day 1, more black tights and the same shoes.

Day 4
This outfit had to be both the most practical and the warmest because the conference ended with a  tour of Warrington Cemetery.

Black Peter Pan Collar Jumper: Muji, it was a present
Purple Velvet Skirt: I got this in a charity shop, several years ago in Weymouth
Purple Cardigan: H&M
Worn with 2 pairs of warm black tights, boot covers and my DMs.

I hung each outfit on one hanger (there were only 6) with another one for my petticoats and the final one for my coat etc.

(I don't know why these photos aren't rotating properly)

I needed a place to hang my hat, found a bulldog clip in my pencil case that was the perfect solution

(Argh! These pictures...)

I hope you enjoyed this look into my trip to Edinburgh! I'll post some photos of the beautiful graveyards soon.

Of self-doubt and looking for the courage to reach out for my dreams

Here's a wonderful Sylvia Plath quote from The Bell Jar:

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
This explains very well how I feel about life right now. All of my figs contain the same lifestyle (with a home and books and nice clothes and enough to eat) and relationship (with Ash), but the way of supporting myself financially in each is different. I'm scared to reach out for the fig I want though, just in case it's a figment (pun very much intended) of my imagination, and my fingers pass through as though it was as insubstantial as smoke. The fig I had intended to pick fell to the ground long before I was tall enough to reach it.
My new dream is a reaction to finding out that the 'safe' academic job I had envisagedprobably got axed in university cut-backs somewhere around the time I started my degree (hence the fallen fig), because I began my degree in 2008, just as the recession hit. This new dream might be an entirely unrealistic one, but it's impossible to tell, because no-one has tried it yet. I'd be a pioneer and that's scary. It would take a great deal of commitment, faith and hard-work.

I want to finish my PhD. I want to make a living for myself as a freelance historian and cemetery researcher. I want to market myself via a blog and social media and all the other wonders of the interneet, and raise awareness about the plight of historic cemeteries. I want to raise funds for restoration projects I could be employed in. I want to get involved with cemetery trusts/friends groups and preservation societies. I want to do genealogy research and local history projects. I want to take a Master's course in Human Osteology and work on rescue archaeology projects like crypt clearances. I want to do archival research or digitisation of cemetery records. I want to curate museum exhibits or exhibitions about funerary practice.
I WANT TO DO ALL OF THESE THINGS. Or at least as many are humanly possible! Can someone find me 3 extra hours in the day? Or the secret to immortality?

In some ways I've already taken the first steps on this road and that should give me more faith in myself, but there are days when I can't ever believe that I will finish my PhD, let alone get a job in a related field! Most days the idea of doing free-lance work of any kind fills me with so much dread that I just want to go back to bed and hide! What if I end up sponging off Ash and my parents for another 5 years because I can't support myself?

But I have to try, don't I?

It's that or give up on my PhD right now, before I waste another penny and go and get a full time soul-crushing office job...

I'm not going to lie, some days that seems like a very attractive option, especially when I feel like the fact I'm currently on a leave of absence is a sign of weakness and proves 'I can't hack academia', but then one of my friends reminded me that the last time I took a break from education was before I started school when I was 4, and that during my degree I didn't even take a proper holiday (I worked during all of them), and I felt a bit less guilty.

It's all a haze and whirl of emotion and self-doubt right now, but...

I've decided to try.

I'm posting this as a pre-emptive apology if my blog gets neglected over the next few months. I'll be busy trying to built a ladder up to the fig I'm dreaming of!

Merry Christmas (with added cats)!

I've had a very busy Christmas, seeing my mum's side of the family, my dad's side of the family and Ash's family too. I'm back at work tomorrow and I have a cold. I've had a very lovely time, but I'm tired as anything, so a proper blog post will have to wait until I'm feeling better.

In the meantime, here are the cat pictures I promised. I looked after these beauties for my friends while they were flat hunting in Sweden, a few weeks ago. They are Maine Coon cats, so big and fluffy!

This is Poppy and Macavity.

This is Dinah, who also answers to Princess Dinah Bear

This is Tybalt, using Ash as a climbing frame. See how big he is? Macca is even bigger than Tybs. They are seriously giant cats! Although Poppy is a lot smaller than the other three, she's still on the large side compared to most domestic moggies!

They are really loving and friendly cats. We had a really great week playing with them.

However, sometimes they get grumpy if you take photos of them with flash. Which resulted in this photo of Tybs:

And so I couldn't resist making this image (very roughly in a couple of minutes).

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas, if you celebrate. Or Yule/Solstice, or Hanukkah (I know I'm very late) or Kwanzaa, or any other reason for celebration!

Black, Blue and Bats

I'm sorry I've been away for so long, life keeps getting in the way of blogging!

I've been meaning to post this picture for a while.

Taken by Elisabeth at the late Halloween meet up for the midlands lolitas, in front of St Martin's church in the Bullring. Funnily enough, I used to work in the tea shop here! I didn't get to wear nice clothes around the place then! They did let me lock the front door of the church sometimes though, with a giant iron key the length of my forearm =]. This picture was taken before Andie ran across to help me straighten out the chiffon underskirt on my dress; it was tucked up into my petticoats =S

What I'm Wearing:
Underbust JSK: Surface Spell £45 via lolita sales on fb. The blue bow came with the JSK.
Blouse: RQ-BL from Sai Sai in Camden £32
Bag: Living Dead Souls, originally had a large red bow which I removed years ago, I added the felt bat and sequin stars to match the JSK. The bag is a bit of a 'lace monster' but I thought that was appropriate for a halloween meet! My mum brought me this bag because I didn't have a handbag for my Brother's wedding in 2007.
Tights: It's very hard to see but I was wearing blue tights under black star print ones. The blue tights were a gift, and the star ones were from Primark.
Boots: New Look £29.99
Hat: I know it doesn't show in this photo but I had blue roses on he back of my hat (also came with the JSK) and lots of black lace.
Coat: It's new. I brought it off a friend for £20, because I was the only person with small enough boobs to get it buttoned up! Supposed to be a size 10 but really isn't.

As an apology for being away I'll be posting cute cat photos soon, so watch this space!

First Lolita Meet

These photos were taken a little while ago now, at my first meet with the Midlands Lolita Community, we were meeting to take a group photo for the Tea Party Club calender! Our month was September so we went for a back to school theme, with books and satchels, and tried to use autumnal colours in our co-ords =]

I don't have a wealth of autumnal colours in my tiny lolita wardrobe, so I tried to make it extra school-girly! My hair doesn't like co-operating though, so it was trying to escape from the pigtails! Also I couldn't find my fray-check to put on the ribbons so they are all messy at the ends =[

These pictures were taken by the lovely Florence of The Street Style Carousel; she did individual photos of us all while we were waiting for some late arrivals.

What I'm wearing:

JSK: Moi Meme Moitie via egl-comm-sales £85
Socks: Innocent World via egl-comm-sales £10
Blouse: Charity shop in Derby £3
Jacket: Miss Selfridge, gift
Petticoat: Ebay 5 years ago, I think it was £25. I really need a poofier one though!
Detachable lace collar: New Look, I think I got it for £5 with a special offer
Shoes: Primark £8
Hat: Peacocks £9.99
Cameo Brooch: Junk Shop in Minehead £2.50
Star Brooch: Sugarpinkmoon on Etsy £5
Flower Clips: H&M £1.99

I can't wait to see which group picture gets selected for the calender! Many thanks again to Florrie, both for these pictures, the group shots and having to put up with people stopping to ask her what we were doing all day! Also a big thanks to all the Mid Lolis for making me feel so welcome, you guys are the sweetest =]

Butterfly Tights

I've been wanted to get a pair of Grimoire's Verum butterfly tights for ages, but even if I could get my head around the ordering process I couldn't really justify spending so much on tights. I'm too clumsy; what if I laddered them on the first wear?! So instead I've been idly typing butterfly tights into ebay and etsy every couple of weeks, hoping to find an alternative. After about a year of doing this, I got a hit on Etsy for some suspiciously similar tights. The first 2 pictures were clearly of Grimoire's tights (I've since realised that the first was the stock photo from their webstore) but the 4th photo was of a different but similar design. I decided to risk it for £6.39 and free shipping.

When the tights arrived I'm happy to say they did in fact match the 4th photo. I'm actually very pleased because I would have been unhappy about wearing tights that were a successful replica (art theft and all that). The print is the same on the front and back and so doesn't match well on the sides (but for the price I won't grumble). I should have taken a picture of them out of the packet to show them better. They look darker in my pictures as I had black thermal tights underneath because of the cold weather!

I put together a quick outfit to go with them and went a bit overboard with the accessories to match the colours in the tights!

What I'm Wearing:
Jacket: Miss Selfridge
Blouse: H&M (altered by me)
Black Skirt: River Island
Cream Lace Skirt: New Look
(this outfit is actually quite similar to this one, I didn't notice until now)
Tights: Etsy
Brooches and Necklaces: Light Blue Brooch and Glass Bead Necklace from charity shops, Green Brooch, Celtic Cross Brooch and Dark Crystal Necklace were gifts
Boots: New Look
Beret: H&M

Sorry for the bad photos, these were taken in the toilets of a local department store when I was doing a quick bit of Xmas Shopping. I spent most of the day sitting in the pub (with a hot chocolate) writing for NaNoWriMo!

I've just passed the 10,500 word mark so I'm very behind at the moment! My only excuse is that the lovely boyfriend took me to a spa hotel for a few days to relax =] I'm going to try to do 2,500 words a day until I'm back on track. Good luck to anyone else doing NaNoWriMo!