Knotty Mouse

This gorgeous choker came in the mail ages ago (sometime around Christmas) from my blog friend Lady Euphoria Deathwatch as a prize for winning her epitaph contest… but apparently real life sort of slapped me in the face and I haven’t had a chance to blog about it.   Its a length of hand tatted black lace with a silver & black charm hanging from the front  and it is GORGEOUS!  I keep poking at her to open an Etsy shop and sell these puppies because I’m sure the goth crowd (and goth at heart) would just eat them up… (poke.. poke..poke)

You can see the rules and enter to win at this post – she has some beautiful new styles and colors (ooooh… purple…..) too.   I ended up wearing this at Christmas dinner and even my straight laced in-laws loved it..  I even found a set of nearly matching earrings lurking in my jewelry box.   Yes, I AM that pale.. and yes, I DO glow in the dark – just in case anyone was wondering.

Today was my friend Lady Deathwatch’s first annual Thankfulness Tea Party over at her blog.. and since I LOVE tea.. I told her that I would participate. I was originally going to get all dressed up in my Victorian Gothic clothes and set out a pretty tea party spread (like Black Crow did..) but hubby woke up this morning with a craving for IHOP** and we hit the road for breakfast & a trip to Target for me to look at clothing*. I did get back in time to make myself a nice pot of homemade spiced chai ( I prefer regular old teabag black tea and Lakshmi brand tea masala from the Indian grocery) with my pretty blue tea set & one of my favorite mugs before Munchkin came home from MIL’s house hopped up on WAY too much sugar. I have to post some photos of my hair soon.. which is becoming an interesting work in progress. The pinkish strand you see in the photo is part of the handspun yarn dreads which are in my hair.. I’m taking a style cue from photos on a friend’s blog of her very cool daughter with different colored roving in her hair & bright eye makeup.

*Dude.. I struck out BIG TIME at Target. Everything I liked was in the wrong sizes or the wrong colors. I’m going to hit another Target sometime in the next week or two (hubby willing that is..) because I found the cutest a-line swing tops with little buttons but they only had a strange teal color left.

** this link doesn’t go anywhere if you click on it but if you mouse over them.. they say things. Think of it as footnotes.. or obnoxious pop-up commentary. I’m trying to get away from wanting to use parentheses every 6 words but I’m not sure if this is any less annoying..

She Walks In Beauty :by Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

A thank you to Mogs Blog for hosting this year’s poetry slam. If you participate, please leave her a comment so that we can create a “poetry web”.  This is my 4th year participating in the poetry slam.. I look forward to it every year.

♥♥♥♥ Also, as it is every year.. today is my wedding anniversary.  This year it will be 11 years of having to say:

“yes..  we got married on February 2nd.  Yes.. I DO realize (I realize it NOW..  I had no idea until someone pointed it out.. ) that it is Groundhog’s Day.  Its also Imbolc – a pagan holiday and celebration of the Goddess Brigid.  ::: insert blank look and glazed eyes here::::  Yes, I know – Groundhog’s Day.. hahahahaha.  Shut up.”

Proof that I actually still spin.. its a Falkland blend called “fall leaves”. I’m spinning this as a single. I loved the roving but I don’t really love this spun up at the moment.  I have a second bump of this in Merino (they looked different on the website  and were called different colorways so I bought both.. I blame my shitty monitor, not the vendor- who rocks.) which I will probably sell off since it really doesn’t thrill me.   I’ll wait to put a sale price on it until I start knitting with this to see what happens… often times I change my mind after seeing how it looks in a pattern.

Finally got my Christmas present I ordered for myself… 4 back issues of Gothic Beauty Magazine. I really enjoy this magazine even though I don’t know most of the new goth bands that are out there (I prefer the older stuff like Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, and Rasputina).. and some of the fashion is a little much for me now that I’m 30. I do love the makeup and hair though.. and the ads for the websites are worth the cover price, especially since I picked these up in a bundle pack which saves me money.

Playing a lot of Sims 1 – I am totally blaming this on Severina and her posts about gothic Sims (which I totally didn’t know were out there..  clearly this path leads directly to madness) and all of the cool free downloadable furnishings out there for dark creepy houses and creepy gothed out characters. I even have a household that includes a cyber-goth girl,  a Blue Man, and an Evil Scientist.   The goth girl and the Blue Man fell in love and got married, forcing her to become part of the family.. before it was just a totally silly Blue Man/Evil Scientist  bachelor pad.

* I’m trying out a 365 photo style spread here at Chez MousieBlog to keep myself active in  blogging.  I love photo blogs, some of my favorite reads are knitting/life blogs with mosaic photo collages  and  short descriptions.  I definitely won’t be posting every day but I’d like to post a few times a week so that the photos don’t get backlogged too badly.   I know that a lot of the folks doing the 365 photo project are using Flickr but I’ve yet to shell out the $24.95 for a pro account b/c of having my own webspace.. even though it would make my organizing of photos on Flickr much easier.