Outfit #118 - Roses Are Red

I went all-out with the roses today.  Red roses on the dress; red rose earrings; and a necklace with red beads and a red rose.  Only one student noticed though.

Dress (worn as skirt): no label (from Jeannie). Shirt: Crossroads  (from op shop). Belt: ? Shoes: Target.  Earrings and necklace: gifts.

My original plan was to wear this necklace on Thursday, but when getting dressed this morning I realised it just had to be worn today. 

I have waited so long to wear this dress to school.  It's a halter neck and just a bit too big for me on the top half (so, not respectable at all) but I adore the colours and the pattern, not to mention the feel of it.  I love swishy skirts - and this one behaved itself on the notorious Marilyn stairs.

The Consolation of Art

For the whole holidays, I've been feeling like I almost have a cold.  Today, it hit.  Which was especially mean, as I was looking forward to some auntie time.  With my ears producing dizziness, blocked-up feelings and pain, I wasn't going to be doing any musical activities.  I thought about doing some paper craft things, but I've been feeling like painting for a little while - especially since watching Frida.  Now, there's a massive square canvas that has been sitting behind the keyboard for some time, and a few students have asked when I will finally paint it, and some friends have commented impatiently also.  But there are 3 canvases I've had for even longer that I thought should be dealt with first.  I had a fiddle around with dimensions and ideas, and then I started painting. 

In the process of inspiration, I turned to the creative site, Redbubble.  I joined it by accident last year and, after spending many hours trawling beautiful images, I now only stop by occasionally.  After looking at a few beautiful images today, I decided to add 3 new photos to my portfolio.  Anyway, I found an artist with paintings that made me want to create something similar, and I started painting.  Of course, as soon as the paint started moving on the canvas, my ideas of what should take shape changed immediately.  Partly, I think, because one of the images I uploaded was from Mt Isa, and the blue seemed to be the same sky blue. 

This painting will replace another largely-blue work, at the top of the stairs.  I think.  At present, that area looks like this:

One of the challenges of this canvas is the dimensions: 15x60 inches.  Most of the ideas I've had look screwy in this dimension, and this is the first time I've attempted this. 

Another challenge today was the paint supply.  Once I knew this was an outback Australian sky I was painting, I wanted to do the ochre of the landscape.  Problem: no large supply of yellow paint, and only small shots of yellow ochre.  Solution:  use up the last of the true red, mixed with green.  Weird, but I'm more pleased with the result than I expected.

So far, it looks like this:

I know it needs a little something, and at this stage I often freeze, not wanting to stuff it up.  I foresee a trip to the paint store so I have plenty of supplies with which to paint over mistakes (or, experiments that don't cut it).  My idea for the middle is looking less and less likely...

Today's photo:

Similar to yesterday's... but this time with sunlight.  We had a few hours of not-totally-overcast in the middle of the day, and the light caught the raindrops like crystals.

Outfit #37 - Go Queensland!

Outfit details:
Skirt: Portmans.  Singlet: Ice.  White top: Ambra bamboo.  Red top: Grab denim (from Jeannie).  Jacket: Sportsgirl (also from Jeannie).  Shoes: Pulp.  Earrings: from Kuranda Markets.

On Monday, I was trying to work out outfits for this week.  Lacking any real inspiration, I decided to wear an outfit I've worn several times a year since I started at this school 5 years ago.  (Can you see why I'm aiming for a different outfit every school day this year?!).  However, last night I realised that outfit would be a mistake today.  Today is the first State of Origin game of the year.  I'm a Queenslander.  Blue (featuring prominently in the original outfit for today) is the colour of New South Wales.  Last night, then, I had a quick look in the wardrobe, and found some red options.  I included a red singlet just in case it warmed up so much that I needed to ditch the outer layer (unnecessarily), and wore the appropriately maroon jacket.  I wouldn't normally have paired red with maroon but it seems to have come out all right.

This skirt intrigues me.  I think of it as my blue skirt, but it usually comes up grey when paired with anything else blue, or red, or white.  Maybe it's really grey after all.

I eventually worked out that the shoes don't need extra holes in the straps.  They need new elastics holding the buckles in place.  I felt so smart when I realised this (it's the little things, you know).  The earrings had me thinking of holidays all day.  Only 4 more weeks...  I've been dreaming of cold, mountainous, foggy places.  I wonder what will pan out.

Outfit #31 - Take Two

Outfit details:

Dress: Cue (op shop).  Shirt: Witchery.  Shoes: Pulp.  Earrings: David Jones.  Necklace: made by me.

I wore this dress last week on Tuesday, so would not normally have picked it for an outfit this week.  However, when rifling through my wardrobe I found this top.  I figured this was the perfect weather for it.  It's debut outing didn't work brilliantly - too cold, then too hot - but under a pinafore and a jacket (I wore my maroon one to school) it worked quite well.  I think this is only the second time I've worn these shoes to school.  So, 2nds for everything.



So, I was right - it was the perfect weather for this top.  Well, perfect weather and perfect work hours.  Wednesdays start a bit later for me now and I finish at school earlier than before, because Thursdays are happening.  I like this. It means I can have a teensy sleep-in.  It means I can take an outfit photo before I leave in the morning.  It means I don't have to gobble breakfast in order to have enough time to do the zip on this dress.  Best of all, it meant today I could have a 20 minute nap.  Which was really a sleep. 






Wednesdays are also a chance to wear necklaces.  I often teach for only 2 or 3 hours at school, and grade 3 crowd control doesn't need me (usually) to be able to play without rattling.  I was in charge for a little for each of the classes today but we only just started playing with the bow on open strings.  Last week there was a little one in tears and I thought it was because her shoulder rest fell off just before they all started playing.  This week - same child in tears for most of the lesson.  I asked if something was hurting.. "My blub blub can't blub burble hiccup arm burble blub blub sound.."  Riiiight.... Turns out she's a crier. 

Obviously, taking photos at school gets really boring - these are in my courtyard.  This is only possible on some occasions - the lighting, weeds and spiderweb conditions have to be just right.

Outfit #8 - Black and Red Floral

Earrings - actually sandalwood seed pods.

Outfit:
Dress: Hot Options.  Brooch: gift.  Shoes: Hot Options.  Earrings: from Kuranda.

Shoes, with wedge and Bandaid details.

Yes, I like Hot Options.  I don't often go into Target, but when I do I nearly always find something to try on.  This dress was one of 4 (yes, 4!) that I bought all at once.  2 different styles, each in a different material.  I'm not totally sold on this dress design (a twin to the circle dress, found in outfit #5) - it feels a bit baggy around the middle and I suspect I need to fill it out more for it to look really good.

This is the other brooch I was given for Christmas, which goes so well with this dress.  Someone even asked me if it came with the dress.  All the music staff looked great today - house photos.  Which also meant I had a very messy day trying to teach all my kids when mostly they were being photographed.  Or, it turns out, their teacher was being photographed and so the class went AWOL.  Super.

Pink Nails

The back story - I used to have a red violin case.  I like the colour red, a lot.  I also like the colour pink, but having a red violin case meant I couldn't wear pink if I would be carrying my violin (horrendous clash, hurt the eyes), which was most of the time.  Two years ago, I needed a better case, and bought a black Gewa.  It is a wonderful case (anyone who's looking at buying a violin case, I highly recommend this!) and even better, it doesn't clash.  Other benefits include 2 shoulder straps, very light, very strong, and no place for music (it's shaped, not oblong).  At first I missed the music carrier, but I used to overload my case with music, which was not good for the case or for my shoulders or back. 

I have many many shades of red nail polish.  Many - meaning 5 that I just found but I think there might be more hiding somewhere.  Now that my wardrobe is getting used to the idea of pink (after 2 years - it's hard to change), I decided to go pink on the nails.  This colour is Rimmel's Cranberry Zest, and it claims to have a fruity smell when dried.  Maybe - for a couple of hours.  I quite like having cranberry-coloured nails.  Having been a red-wearer for years, though, I discovered my accessories are woefully lacking in the pink department.  This will have to be rectified, and soon.

Outfit #1

 So, very bravely, I reveal my first school outfit... As this was only a meeting, I dressed more casually than I would for school.  Plus, it continues to rain.  I don't want to ruin any shoes!  When I was about to take photos, I realised I very almost matched a painting - I was missing something green, but had blue, red, and black and white stripes. 

I found it exceedingly hard to take outfit photos.  Aside from getting feet and head in the frame, facial expression and enough of the front that you can see details proved problematic.  Hence the small photos. 

Dress: Ally (used to be Jeannie's).  Singlet: Ice.  Sandals: Hot Options (emergency purchase).  Earrings: Mombasa.  Pendant: made by Jeannie.  Zebra-print umbrella: no idea.