Realistic Chic

Oh. My. Queen.

Recently, a friend of mine (who moved to England with her husband a few years ago) posted pictures of a lovely little weekend excursion she took to see Stonehenge. She also stayed at Thornbury Castle, a breathtaking Tudor country house near Bristol, England. Yes, I said house - as it was built in 1511 with minimum defencive attributes and meant to be a residence of English nobility. Its original owner, Edward Stafford, the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and also a Knight of the Garter, was one of the many beheaded by Henry VIII. Henry then took possession of the estate and vacationed there with his second wife, and my personal favourite of his six, Queen Anne Boleyn (they stayed in a room now called the Duke's Bedchamber). Later, Princess Mary Tudor, the future Queen Mary I, stayed there for many years under her tutorships. 

My friend has gracefully allowed me to share her photographs of her stay at the castle; there are many so click here to see them:

...an awesome online store called missguided.

Based out of England, missguided is full of chic little party dresses and tops, on-trend shoes, and sophisticated accessories. Oh, and they're realistically priced! I've decided to link to them from my blog, giving you lovely readers quicker access to some great and affordable fashion finds! Here are a few of my faves...




I've also pieced together my dream night-on-the-town outfit, the entire ensemble for about $140 CAD total:

Warning: this is a negative post. I don't often do these, but I really couldn't help myself with this one. Proceed with caution. Also, all hipsters should immediately close this window.

Well, it's the third Friday of September and as such, a fall fashion review is in order. I've scoped out what's on campus the past few weeks, the new seasons of the fashion forward TV shows are now underway, Fashion week is over and the results are in all over the blogosphere. Yet, the majority of the fall trends have me rather disappointed: Camel colour palates? More trash-tights with just a nasty old sweater over top? 70's "chic"??? Tiered lace skirts a la Teen Witch? Terrifying overuse of denim, including the resurrection of - DUN DUN DUNNN - acidwash? Shoulder-pads in everything? Cone bras??? At least the stores will be filled with entirely uninteresting apparel for me this season and I won't be so tempted to shop shop shop.

Click here to read more after the jump.

Well, I've done it! I've perfected my recipe for cornbread (I think). Let me explain why this is a big deal: I wouldn't say I'm a stellar cook of some kind. I mean, the food I make is edible, just not memorable or any sort of special "experience," like I believe food should be. At least sometimes it should be. Thus, this became one of my 101 in 1001 goals, which I have a page solely devoted to following my progress on. I wanted to practice making one thing I know I could always fall back on, as my signature dish to make for company or bring to parties and barbecues. It needed to be somewhat possible for me to learn - i.e. not soufflé - but something not commonly made by others. It also needed to be a nice side to whatever random main dishes (typically dark meat) were provided, and something most people would like. Hence, cornbread. Because I find this isn't something found at your typical northwest coast get-together.

Now, I happen to have an aunt from Texas who, twenty years ago, had given out her Tex-Mex recipes as part of a large family cook book building project. My aunts, my gramma, and my mum all received a copy of this communal recipe book as Christmas presents that year. I was given my mum's copy when I moved out on my own, she believing it was a Plante woman thing to have and her no longer being a Plante bestowed upon me. But the recipe for cornbread was actually not a part of my cookbook. Let me explain. Earlier this year, I had originally tried three different cornbread recipes found online to none avail; the first was too sweet and cupcakey, the second too mushy and creamy, and the third didn't even taste like cornbread (the recipe was in Spanish, so it's possible I wasn't even making cornbread). I had all but given up when, in a last ditch effort, I decided to call my Aunt (not the one from Texas) who gave me the Texas Aunt's recipe, something she had asked for and added to her cookbook afterwards.

The first attempt with this new recipe posed the best results yet; the right amount of crumble and taste of cornmeal with not too much sweetness. But it still wasn't mine, still wasn't it. I tried again a couple more times throughout the summer, adding pickled jalapeños here, a different kind of milk product there, trying other flours, finding the difference between margarines/oils/butters. Now I think I have it. They are spicy, sort of sweet, a bit more crumbly than spongy, and not too creamy at all. I know it's corny (pun intended), but it's my own take on something made from scratch and I am damn friggin' proud of those delicious little yellow squares.
And no, you can't have my recipe. In case you thought about asking. Although if you plan to come visit, I'd love to make them for you. <3

...just too pooped to post a lot lately.

Combined with my 4 courses this semester, I am also working one full day a week (which happens to be one of my 101 in 1001 goals...GO ME!), running a side project to fund-raise for the wedding, and I joined the university choir for some strange reason. Due to these things, there will be days when there is nothing new here at RC. A downright Greek tragedy, I know, I apologize in advance. I shall still do my utmost to get in the weekly and monthly specials, such as the Fashion Friday, Adaptation, loving, and a resurrection of the What's On Wednesday, but toute soule this time, with only moi as the model (it's simply too hard to coordinate two full schedules to guarantee a once a week meeting, but I can assure you, Angela is impeccably dressed always, even if you can't see proof).

Love this photo of a Moroccan shoe market stand! Those colours!

via amyswear.

Come to think of it, I don't have enough shelf-space for all my books; I think a bigger bookcase is in order. Perhaps one that is built as tall as the wall itself and spans the entire side of a room. Oh, and a chic little set of cupboards underneath, too.

Aristotle once said the elephant was "the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind." It could be that our fascination with elephants stems from the overwhelming majesty and impressiveness of these creatures. They continue to astound with their mental abilities and deep emotional capacity - click here for a video of an elephant painting, and here is one of elephants mourning the loss of another.

The elephant has been a part of Elephant decor is not necessarily a recent trend; the 17th century through to the early 20th grew quite a penchant for exotic animals in decor and fashion. The more humane side of this (because we will not be praising ivory items and their past popularity having devastating impact on the elephant populations) was images of these creatures as part of the detailing in ceramics, textile embroidery, canvas art, brass-work items, and jewellery in particular. This, of course, was largely due to England's presence in India, China, and parts of Africa through the East India Trading Company, that started during Queen Elizabeth I's reign. These goods made up a small part of what that company shipped around the world, bringing the luxe exotic appeal to the forefront of interior design.

It is still a common theme to use animal style as decor. For one very special lady in particular, Elephants are it (I mean you, Ashley K.).


Indulge all your largest-land-animal desires! Just don't forget to donate and help preserve elephant sanctuaries. Keep our smart grey friends safe.

To tie into the Queen of Hearts...


via MA Belle.

Today I'm keeping it short and sweet; there is only a singular collection of items for the movie of the day. One thing I've learned from this Adaptation series is that it is very time consuming. So from now on, Adaptation will run once a month in order to make sure it is comprehensive (with 3 different recreated scenes), visually pleasant, and properly put together (i.e. showcasing the best and most cost-effective pieces around). But for today, I have compiled chic and cheap trinkets to make one's home a bit more like Wonderland. I shouldn't have to explain the meaning of these items - they should make perfect sense to an Alice fan.




So now Adaptation will be on the first Monday of every month. Got a request? Let me know in a comment below!

A photo my grandpa took in France, 1958:


Love the colour. I miss the summer. Wearing boots and scarves and my leather jacket already.

Mary Poppins style. This photo has it.

via MadameCupcake.