Ain't no party like a Gatsby party

I'm so excited to share some of the faux-tography my friend, Lindsay Boreing, and I have been playing with.  We aren't photographers in any sense of the word, but if you aren't afraid to take time and risks and play around, you can end up with some great stuff!

The picture below is a sneak peek of the 20's vibe shoot we did for my band, Ginger and the Alchemists (who you can like at www.facebook.com/gingerandthealchemists).  Rolling on a musician's budget means I don't always have the means to hire a professional, and that's where the faux comes in. A fancy dress (or shabby if you're going for a hipster look!), some borrowed props, a little editing software and you're good to go!

This picture was edited with Beautune (not that it needed editing....my skin just naturally glows like that....). I chose to go with all-out vamp makeup and tried my best to imitate finger waves with a triple-barrel curling iron, but my straight hair was having none of it. The hair didn't really work out, but you get the idea.

"I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

Photo: Lindsay Boreing
Makeup: D'Etta Brown
Hair: D'Etta Brown

The dress can be found here.

The flower pin came from White House Black Market, but is no longer available.  You can find these almost anywhere, including a local craft store or on Amazon.



This is similar to the curling iron I used:

Swapping

I cannot stop buying books. It makes me happy. It gets me into trouble. It isn't rare that I choose to buy a book over filling my gas tank. One of my friends offered a great solution: paperbackswap.com.

This nifty web site allows you to post books you don't want anymore for other members to browse. When a member selects one of your books, you mail it to them. Once they've received it, you earn a credit and can pick a book to be mailed to you. It has freed space on my shelves and allowed me to dispose of some of the interesting books I've inherited from grandparents without actually throwing them away (which is akin to blasphemy in my family).

Setting up an account is completely free, and it even tracks how much money you're saving by using the program.

My own bookshelf can be found at this link: http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/members_books.php?m=dmVCYWdvM1pvMW89

Another solution is of course the library, but I happen to owe too many fines to check anything out right now. ;)

My Name is Memory

I am obsessed with reincarnation. In the West, most of us are raised to ridicule the notion of living more than one life, but the more I study it, the more I am convinced it is actually one of the more merciful things G-d does for us hard-headed humans. It doesn't seem fair to get only one chance at doing it right.

I have wanted to write a novel with reincarnation as a theme for awhile now, but lo and behold, Ann Brashares already did, and much better than I could have done.

My Name is Memory is the story of a boy who can remember every life he has ever lived, and the girl he loves and loses each time.

With a beautiful plot that weaves together snatches of his past lives with his current one, Brashares manages to share wisdom and philosophy without a soapbox or a block of cheese.

My favorite paragraph so far:
"That was always a source of amazement to him, the blind devotion to making things new. People didn't seem to realize what a slender edge they stood on in human history and that every person before them stood on that same edge, thinking it was the world. If they were to look back they would see quite a landscape spreading out behind them, but mostly they didn't."

I'm not even halfway through, and I've already recommended it to at least two people. Now I'm recommending it to you. :)

Happy New Year to me

Well, I've done it. I've ruined the entire new year.

Ok, not really. But I did a fine job of messing up the first day of the year.

Scene: I'm walking my dog calmly down the street when I decide it would be fun to jog. My dog decides it would be fun to veer suddenly in front of me. I trip. I hit the concrete. With my face. More specifically, with one of my front teeth, which is now mostly gone. So tomorrow begins a fun game of "which dentist in my city will do work for free?"

Even better, I had to attend a birthday dinner for a dear friend of mine. Snaggle-tooth, as my father now calls me, was not keen on the idea of going into public. Thankfully, no one made fun of me too much. Two of my friends tried to dress like Blossom to distract people from my face. I have good friends. :)

In the Year 20...11

I have always wanted to spend a New Year's Eve in and have finally managed it. No bars, no bubbly (unless you count my sparkling white grape juice). Just peace and quiet, a new book and my dogs for company. I think a restful New Year's Eve will set a precedent for the rest of the year. Wishful thinking?

Happy Hanukkah, er, Christmas, er Solstice?

The holidays are a bit of a mishmash in my family. My mother and I are Jewish, so we spend eight days lighting the menorah every year. My brother and his wife are Christian, so they celebrate a traditional Christmas. This makes getting together to celebrate family a bit of an issue. We usually pick a day somewhere in the middle of the two holidays, but this year we gathered together after both holidays had passed.

I'm a sucker for all things old-fashioned, so this year I decided to wrap my packages in brown paper, as in, brown paper packages tied up with string. I know, I know. Corny. But the effect was actually quite charming. I set up a winter scene on my mom's old player piano to give the event atmosphere.

I have to say, my mom's new Keurig coffee maker stole the show. But my liquor dispenser wasn't far behind.

Now with the new year rolling in, I have to wonder if my resolution should be to drink more liquor so I can get plenty of use out of the gift. I don't think my mother would agree with that. So I guess I'll drink more coffee.