Weekend Links

 

Happy weekend, everyone!  I hope it's autumn where you are, it's finally getting cool here, and the colors are ahhhhmazing, especially up in the mountains.  I hope to get out there tomorrow, after wrapping up revisions on the WIP.  In the meantime, here's a few things to read...

How close did we come to losing Beowulf forever?

A witch's tips for the best Halloween party ever

150 years of Liberty of London

Auction of the jewels of the Dowager Countess of Airlie (complete with gorgeous tiara!)

In other auction news, the gorgeous Faberge Winter Egg...

Jilly Cooper's Cotswolds abode

Eugene Levy's interview with Prince William (complete with Orla, the scene stealing spaniel!)

Lots of "Wicked" merch

Medieval monks and their luxe skincare

We lost Hyacinth!  The death of the wonderful Dame Patricia Routledge

A Regency flat in Bath where I would love to live

Fun Weekend Links

 

Happy first day of October!!!  This is my very favorite month of the year.  To get us started, here's some fun reading for the week...

The coronation of Queen Mary I (on this day in 1553)

A student bought an illuminated manuscript for $75...

Best Halloween candies, ranked

Florence's little wine windows

You can own one of the French crown jewels

Forgotten archive of medieval books and manuscripts

Scenes from a marriage: Watching "Thin Man"

The Reith Lectures of Hilary Mantel (RIP)

Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! (Actually our town has trick-or-treating last night, but THIS is the real Halloween!). You may have figured out this is my favorite holiday, and I'm not alone. Halloween is second in sales only to Christmas, and grows every year. But I found out this is not a recent thing.

When my grandmother passed away, I came across a box full of old letters and gorgeous postcards from the late 19th/early 20th centuries, mostly sent between her mother and her aunts. Many of them were Halloween cards, and when I looked into it I found out the Victorians and Edwardians enjoyed the holiday as well! (You can see a little about the history of the holiday here). I did a search for these postcards online and thought I would share some of the pretty...

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was fabulous! Victoria the Turtle and Abigail the French Maid enjoyed it very much. :) Now we have to recover from the sugar shock...

Halloween Costume

I was browsing the Halloween costumes at Target this weekend, and have narrowed it down to 3!

The first, a Moulin Rouge dancer, is cute, but maybe more than I want to spend...

Poison Fairy--very cute! And it comes with wings!
And Cleopatra. This presents some interesting makeup possibilities, AND comes with great beaded accessories (there's also a cool dagger sold separately)
What do you think? Which one do you like best?

I'm also over at Risky Regencies today, talking about royal brides! Go and vote for your favorite...

Things I Love Thursday

So, yesterday I was feeling a bit down. It's been raining and gray here for what feels like 2,176 days in a row, and I like sunshine (I doubt I could live in the Northeast, pretty as it is there!). And I'm working on a small snag in the WIP, and I had to get a tooth filling. One thing I like to do when I get these blue-ish feelings is go to Target and wander around. Target is one of my happy places. :)

I went there yesterday, and I was so glad I did! The Halloween aisle was up, and I LUV the Halloween aisle at Target. This is my favorite holiday. There's no family tension and stressful present-buying like Christmas, just costumes and candy and Gothic-y fun. Plus it's in the autumn, my favorite season. What's not to love??? I spent a happy hour looking at talking tombstones, Disney Princess costumes for my dogs (yes, I admit it--I dress up my dogs for Halloween. They seem to love me anyway), skeleton salad tongs and bowls, and bags of chocolate. It cheered me right up, and I even thought through the snarl in my book. (plus I found a pretty dress in the clothing section).

Yay Target! Yay Halloween! I'm sure they will both be featured in many more Things I Love Thursday in the future...