Tag: old-fashioned

Beauteous Day for QuelleBelle

My good friend, Raquel Matos (@quellelove on Twitter) recently commented that weddings are only fun to plan if you are a special special snowflake. She then said she was not one.

Raquel and her fiance

You may remember Raquel from the Fairy Ring Contest. She was kind enough to provide the copies of the books, as well as the original seed of the idea that got me off on all these crazy writing contests.

I recently dubbed her QuelleBelle, because she’s lovely inside and out. So to prove that she is indeed a special special snowflake, I am hosting her the first ever (maybe in the world) Pinterest Wedding Shower.

At this moment, you are likely doing the double-blink that people tend to do when I introduce one of my more eccentric ideas. If you are still reading, let me share the details.

I have started a group Pinterest Board, dubbed QuelleBelle’s Beauteous Day. On it, I have pinned all my ideas for the most charming, quirky vintage wedding shower ever. This is the perfect party theme for Raquel, as she hosts the amazing vintage film blog Out of the Past.

So here’s the deal. This group pinboard is for those who love the vintage fashions and fripperies of yesteryear. Every image pinned must have a CAPTION, an explanation for why you chose it for this whimsical, wondrous online event.

I recommend using the board like this:

1) Pin the outfit(s) you would wear to QuelleBelle’s Beauteous Day. Oh, it can be anything you want: Dior, Chanel, Balenciaga, etc. I am encouraging 40s-50s, but let your imagination go. Pick hat, shoes, accessories, skirt, dress, gown, assemble your dream vintage look. Clearly you need one outfit for day and one for evening. Why not? We have a limitless budget and all of Pinterest to choose from.

2) Pin the gift you would bring Raquel. Explain why you chose it in the caption.

3) Pin a beautiful architectural detail – why not have one corner be a Swiss chalet and another be a French shabby chic cottage? The rooms are as big as you like and decorated in so many styles. Your imagination is the only limit.

4) Pin flowers or favors or any other lovely wedding shower detail that will pay tribute to this unique lady and her style.

The best thing about this shower is that you can come and go as you please, the food and drinks are everflowing and it is filled with wandering, vintage-loving souls like you.

If I have not invited you and you are a lover of vintage/friend of Raquel’s, please @ me on Twitter or email me at annabbps at gmail dot com.

Though she’s too far away for me to plan a real party or even to hug, help make QuelleBelle’s Beauteous Day!

The Fairy Ring Writing Contest Submission – Anna Meade

In the interests of being fair, I offer up to you my own submission to The Fairy Ring Writing Contest. I can’t win, of course, but I wanted to share my humble effort as I believe all writers are in this together. I hope you enjoy.
Violets by Anna Meade
“I want a man who’ll twine violets in my hair.”
I wrote this sentence and then doodled violets in the journal margin. My whimsy would be the death of me. My days were spent on the outskirts of the woods behind my parents’ home, sprawled under a tree on a faded blue-check blanket, barefoot and hair-tumbled and romantic poetry-addled.
I rolled onto my back, staring at the late summer sky. My too-long skirt tangled round my legs, so I sat up to extricate myself. The shadow fell over me then.
I squinted up at him in the sun, “Hello.”
He smiled and put a finger to his lips. His step barely stirred the grass. He took me by the hand to his bower, where we supped on honeysuckle and blackberries. 
“Every day I am with you feels like a year,” said I, idly leaning against his shoulder.
He smiled, so tenderly, and wound flowers through my curls.
His hands were gentle and his kisses were poignant. I stayed awake as long as I could, but my traitor eyelids fell. I slept so heavy, filled with ambrosia and dreams, and when I woke all the forest was in the chill grip of autumn.
I shivered and hurried back towards the edge of the woods, back to my parents’ home. I ran to the door and pounded, “Mother! Father! I’m back!”
The door opened and a startled wrinkle-raisined face peered back at me. “Are you looking for someone, child?”
I stumbled backwards and ran towards the forest, heedless of my way. I found my tree and beneath it, mostly buried in the dirt, I unearthed the smallest fragment of paper. It was weather-faded and nearly illegible, but I knew what it said:
“I want a man who’ll twine violets in my hair.”
Painting by John William Waterhouse; Photography by Andrew Kuykendall

Letter from my Mother – Libraries and Dream ‘Spanses

My mother wrote this in response to my post: The Library’s Whispers . It was so beautifully written, I could not relegate it to a mere comments page; it deserves a post of its own. 
And though she says I was ‘forcibly deposited’, I cannot consider my soul misspent when it’s clear that mine was attracted to this century by a shining soul such as hers.
~~~
My darling daughter was somehow abducted by aliens and forcibly deposited in the late twentieth century.  For that I willingly apologize, as who was to know that her soul was to be misspent here? Alas, how could I not also traverse this century?
Anna has a “blithe spirit”, a heightened “sense and sensibility”, often misspent on the hordes of common creatures of earth. I should rather like to put her in a library such as she has described and have her close…not only to visit that vast ‘spanse of library knowledge and dream works, but to daily visit that soul and spirit that is Anna.
My wish for her is to break the boundaries of common understanding and discover a life where she is free to write and enchant generations of young women who share the same aching desire to escape some of the harsh mundanity of this world.
She has so much to offer and it is her “obligation, nay, her duty” (finger pointed in the air) to interpret the goodness of the world and to discover the romantics of the 21st Century that exist in us all.
~~~