Ooh, pretty

I don't want this to be a fashion blog because I barely believe in clothing as an artistic medium and think blogs with the main purpose of glorifying consumption/shopping contribute little to entertainment or discourse. That being said, a day or two ago I posted some dresses from Vogue Patterns that I would like to sew for myself and now I'm sharing this stolen picture of Marisa Tomei in order to show you this lovely dress that I wish I had an excuse to wear. I already have little black dresses--even one with tulle--so I can't even use the "but what if I go to a fancy soirée gallery-opening opera fête?" excuse. So I will just look at this dress and sigh instead of adding it to the "make it when I learn to sew" list.

I would have preferred "the Conqueror" too

Did you know that that guy who invaded England in 1066 was known as William the Bastard?

New Music Tuesday!

I usually buy new-to-me albums on Friday. Why? I don't know. To get a jump start on a weekend of spending? Because my iTunes library, my companion during marathon study sessions and notably briefer gym sessions, begins to feel a little stale after five days of the grind?

Whatever the reason for my usual new-music-Fridays, I know why I indulged today: Day to Day told me to. A.C. Newman was interviewed yesterday by Alex Cohen to promote his new album, Get Guilty. I heard clips from a few tracks and listened to him talk about touring with the New Pornographers and blah, blah, blah, and I was like, "I need this album."

Despite his urging, I don't feel terribly guilty (haha, haha) about being a consumer-sheep who's been properly marketed to because at least it wasn't ranch dressing or Bride Wars. Can't Kate Hudson just send a cardboard cutout of herself to the sets of her banal movies? Maybe she already does. But I digress.

When I give Get Guilty a good listening-to, I'll let you know what I think. I'm optimistic after hearing bits on Day to Day. Did you know that Mates of State played at A.C. Newman's wedding in Brooklyn? Guess how jealous I am.

posted here, to be made later

I want to learn to sew so that I could make my own button-up shirts. Put delicately, when off-the-rack button-up shirts fit here, they don't fit there, there, or there. British Custom Tailors makes bespoke women's shirts, but they start at $109. So in an effort to look nice and hang on to some money, I'm going to confiscate my mom's sewing machine and start turning old t-shirts into uneven aprons.



I've been looking at patterns for dresses in the "It's Sew Easy" categories of pattern websites and there are so many purportedly easy-to-sew dresses on my wish list that I may never have time to make (or the need to wear) the shirts that got me interested in the first place. This dress is from Vogue Patterns (not the same as Vogue magazine, I think). Isn't the yellow dress above begging to be made in a double knit and worn by someone with actual curves? Yes, it is. But I don't like the longer length. It's too long to wear with flats.


This is from Vogue Patterns as well, but not the "You Can Do It!" department. I found this while I was browsing vintage patterns. Since this pattern dates back to the days when women sewed for themselves all the time, it's probably really complicated. Isn't it cute, though? If it were in a flower print it'd look like a dress for Betty Draper. I like to think I'm a Joan, though.

Great Shape Barbie!

Everyone's talking about the oversexed 50-year old with the frozen facial features and freakish arms not named Madonna; here's my contribution to the, uh, discourse:

Great Shape Barbie was one of my favorite Barbies. I loved her leg warmers and I wanted my own sooo bad. I still don't know why anyone needs leg warmers, though. I go to a lot of group exercise classes--not 80's style aerobics classes of the sort Great Shape Barbie would have attended, but close enough--and I never, ever think "Omg, I need something to keep my calves warm." Then again, I've also never thought, "Time for spinning! Now where are my catsuit and sash?"

And one last thought: isn't it surprising that you could buy almost an exact replica of her outfit at American Apparel?

Check out Luna's video!!

Luna: Eye of the Kitter from Andrea Hunt on Vimeo.

Luna is a movie star! We're going to have to change her name to Estrella.

We did it, and The Home Depot helped

"Why, when I was your age, I had gas lights, not light bulbs. A little boy with a stool came around each night to light me. In those days, children respected their elders. Now be a good girl and bring me my slippers."

--Lucille the Light Fixture


This is Lucille, a chandelier that came with our condo. She lived in the entryway and clearly did not reflect our taste. In a former life she was brass and probably very fancy and expensive. Although unattractive in her current partially-shaded state, she didn't become a problem until one bulb exploded, charring its paper holder and lampshade. Since she is clearly antique, we became a little worried. After all, "ugly" is a lot easier to tolerate than "cause of electrical fire." So we moved Miss Lucille to the old folks' home (i.e., storage unit) in our basement.


We picked out a replacement chandelier, Lux, at The Home Depot. She's brushed nickel and pretty simple--modern, but not too out of place in a prewar building. She was about $200. The one we really liked was $500, though, so it's like we saved $300. What a deal! I missed my true calling as an accountant.

It took us about two hours to take down Lucille and assemble and hang Lux. It's not a solo project; in fact, it would have gone more smoothly had Jason had a stronger helper. Here are some tips if you want to hang a new light fixture:

• Turn off the breaker, not just the light switch. I gather that Jason's dad tried to hang a ceiling light without turning off the breaker. He thought it was a pretty bad idea. (This from a man who cuts off the third prong to plug in an three-prong appliance to a two-prong outlet.) We decided to take his word for it.
  
• Screw in the glass things after you've already attached the fixture to the ceiling. The instructions misled us; they insisted that we attach them while Lux was still on our living room floor. Those glass things--sconces, covers, whatever they're called--are an unnecessary and very heavy burden when you're attaching the fixture to the metal plate in the ceiling.
• Use a ladder that is tall enough to let you reach the ceiling without stretching. We have a medium-sized ladder but we also have rather high ceilings (12 or 15 feet) so Jason had to stand on the bookcase to reach. So my advice really is to have a good ladder or good bookcase.
• Enlist the help of a big strong friend, as I mentioned before. At least find someone strong enough to hold the flashlight you'll need to find the right wires in the ceiling to connect to the fixture.
  

Here is the end result. Especially compared to her predecessor, Lux is beautiful and relatively unlikely to kill us all: