Unisex fashion

Over the last couple of years, the fashion world went crazy for the "boyfriend trend": the boyfriend jeans, oversized cardigans, cuffed jackets and brogues became quite trendy and could be spotted on many women around the Globe. Though if truth be told it suited very few.
Such is, in my opinion the true value of many trends: they seldom last quite because the style is unsuitable for 90% of the population and looks funny, is uncomfortable or just plain odd.

I never cared for the boyfriend trend  and in all the years we've been together I've seldom "stolen" garments from Mr. C. Last Saturday we went for a bit of autumn shopping and I found this medium weight jersey hoodie. Bliss! We got one for Mr. C and I immediately wanted one of my own, but thought: "Naah, not going to fall for it!"
As we were nearing the register, I started wincing and finally went back for one more hoodie. and it's a decision I won't regret. It's so soft and just the perfect weight. Looks great paired with dark wash jeans and ballet flats for a casual look.

As always, I'm a sucker for details. Bound buttonholes provide a classy touch to an otherwise casual garment.

What's your take on the boyfriend trend or trends in general? In favor or against?

Bits of wisdom

Beauty will save the world.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

I've often wondered which is that single, universal value that should stand above all others. As a law student I've always held a strong position that it must be the truth. And with it all other values are put into perspective and made meaningful.

Recent experience, growing up if you will, has taught me a valuable lesson: no matter how hard I try, truth is sadly still relative but more disappointing than that, some people choose not to accept it. Maybe Dostoevsky was right all along and beauty proves to be a more unifying concept?

So here's the most beautiful thing I have discovered this summer, a couple of young musicians that have managed to turn their passion for music into a thing of beauty and wonder.

Rarer than diamonds

Jewelry by Johan

I'm slowly, slowly warming up to the idea of oversharing all the details of our wedding plans with the people around me as well as the blogosphere. Today I'm showing you a picture of our wedding rings: a genuine meteorite inlaid in titanium. How incredible is that?

The meteorite is called Gibeon meteorite and is over 4 billion years old. It entered our solar system some 30.000 years ago and crashed in Namibia.
I like to observe the intricate patterns and grooves in the meteorite (the technical term for them is Widmanstätten patterns) and wonder what foreign galaxies the meteorite has travelled to and what wonders it has seen on its journey.

The average life expectancy of a person is 80 years and this meteorite is 4 billion years old. This mere fact fascinates me and scares me just a little bit at the same time. Looking at our wedding rings I can't help but marvel at the mysteries of the universe and be humbled by the acknowledgement of how small and insignificant we are.

On the other hand, the hidden romantic in me, can't imagine a more perfect material for a wedding ring. To vow eternal love and fidelity to one another by exchanging rings made of something as old as time itself?

I'm becoming quite the sentimental romantic :-)

The big news

I do believe the picture is quite self explanatory but still: We're getting married!
A last minute announcement, just 3 months shy of our wedding date. Since I'm not the kind of person who'd want to annoy everyone who cares to listen with all the silly details. Though this has been in the works for the past six months.

The date has been set and corresponds with our 10th anniversary. We've bought the rings, made reservations and made plans with tailors, dressmakers, photographer and a myriad of other people...

All we need now is learn how to dance properly. We've already booked a course.

And that's that.

31

Words I try to live by:

Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

Last helping of bead soup

Remember the unfinished piece from last week's Bead soup reveal? I asked all you lovely readers to come up with suggestions on how to finish this piece. Out of all the ideas, I'd pick one, finish the piece and give to the beader who's idea I incorporated.

Quite frankly this piece proved to be very difficult to finish and I would not be exaggerating one bit if I told you I took it apart five or six times. In the end the idea I came closest to using was one recommended by Love, Yesterdays

I would turn the unfinished piece into a bracelet. Half the bracelet is the beadweaving piece, the other half the bracelet is the wire only with wired beads to jangle like a charm bracelet. or If the bead weaving section is too long, make a double ring bracelet that clasps together as one...one ring around being the beadweaving part, the other ring around being the charm like section.

Instead of wire I stayed with the original chain, doubled it up and used some bronze mother of pearl charms.

I finished the piece with some metal spacers

and tiny turquoise discs

I will be posting this in the mail next week to Love, Yesterdays hoping she loves my interpretation of her idea.

Bead soup time: how will it end?

Can I just post some pictures of the stuff I made with my soup and skip the part where I explain what, why and where?

A quick reminder, this is the bead soup I received from my partner Agata:

and this is what I made:

the entire soup

earrings: goldstone, green agate and copper discs

mix & match necklace

handmade glazed ceramic heart

focal, lava stones, quartz chips, crystal and hematite

detail

How will it end? I had a bit of soup left and started on this project that was meant to be a bracelet. I used a technique I saw in the first reveal  but somehow I gut stuck mid project.  I played around with various options that didn't quite work. So I thought I'd ask you, dear bead soup fans and readers:

unfinished bead soup

How would you finish this project?
I've gathered some coordinating beads and I'm most eager to hear your thoughts and ideas. Throw your suggestion in the hat and out of all the ideas gathered I'll select one at random and the winner will receive the finished project.

And now that you've seen my soup, ho over to Lori's blog for a complete list of all the participants:
Beads soup summer 2012: 2nd reveal. 

New shoes

I arrived home yesterday to find a notice in the mailbox I've received a package from abroad. I rushed to the post office, 10 minutes before closing time. Luckily it's only around the corner to pick up my new vegan sandals from Mohop.
I've been coveting them since spring  when I blogged about them:
Today I covet

Mr. C who knows me all to well waited for me at home to take pictures of me as I hastened to unwrap the package and started putting them on, experimenting with various strings and techniques.

experiment no. 1

experiment no. 2

today's choice of ribbon and tying technique

The whole idea with these shoes is to use a variety of strings, loop them in any way imaginable to end up with like a gazillion options. The shoes came with 9 pairs of strings and several wooden hoops as well as some basic tying technique instructions. Pretty neat.

the entire set

closeup of the funky cutout detail

 We went for a walk late in the evening and  I just had to wear my new sandals. They're confortable and easy to walk in. I'm happy.

Why I don't wear black but maybe I should

Mourning is a very private affair for me. Much like showing affection in public that goes beyond holding hands or an occasional peck on the mouth. For this reason I chose not to wear black after the death of my stepdad. The other reason was my utmost loathing of all such customs. I find them tedious, outdated and irrelevant. Wearing black so that the neighbours won't have anything to gossip about is the high point of absurdity and conformism.

Bled July 2012

Since the funeral of my stepdad I have done my very best to dress in my usual (bright, quirky) clothing and trying to keep up the appearance of "bussines as usual". I was petrified of people coming up to me with condolences and accompanying chit chat, quizzical looks and expressions of sympathy.
On the other hand some mistook my behaviour for complete apathy and carelessness.
It was about a week ago that I came to realize his death had upset me far beyond what I'd imagined. A casual conversation with a co-worker sent me into a whirlwind of hysterical crying and all she did was mention what an ingenious gift her son had received for his birthday: a garden gnome.
Since then I've been doing a lot of thinking about the process of mourning, the passing of time and most of all acceptance.
The mere idea of acceptance has me going round in circles. For me acceptance is and has always been the end result of total understanding combined with wholhearted agreement. After my umpteenth attempt to reconcile with my own personal demons I've realized that acceptance is coming to terms with things I disapprove, disagree with but am unable to change.
Afterward I felt like listening to this (it's classic):

The beads are here!

pretty blue packaging

It's time for another Bead Soup Party and I confess I'm a bit late to the party :-( This is my second Bead Soup and excited as I am to participate I sort of got caught up in a million other things, so now I'm rushing to keep up with the rest of the lovely beaders who've already blogged about their Soup partners, the beads they received, sent, etc.

bead soup all labelled up

My Soup partner this year is Agata from Poland who's already done here homework and published both the beads she sent me and the ones she received. You can see them on her blog: Cytherea Bijoux as well as her jewellery and photography, another hobby of Agata's. What can I say? A talented and lovely young lady :-)
The beads she sent me arrived in a super cute gift box. Each set of beads individually packaged in a separate mini zip lock back together with hand written labels.
And the surprises kept coming: Agata also sent me a pair of earring she'd made:

earrings

The reveal date for us is August 11th, which leaves me with a whole month to thing about what I'm going to make with the beads. No idea yet...

But the focal is just asking to be used in an opera length necklace or maybe as a single large bracelet charm?

If you're interested, here are the links to last year's Bead Soup:

• The Bead Soup September 2011
• The Bead Soup reveal day

And the awesome lady who's making sure everything runs smoothly for the 6th consecutive Bead Soup Party Lori Anderson from Pretty Things.