All posts filed under: Miscellenia

What shall I wear to a Bastille Day Ball?

Thanks to a lovely French friend, I’m going to a Bastille Day Masquerade Ball this weekend! Exciting! My original thought was that I would finally finish and wear my Marmotte Masquerade stays, because they are so close to being done, but then I remembered the reason I haven’t finished them: the pattern I cut them to is very historical, and if they sat about 1cm lower I couldn’t go out in public in them without breaking decency laws, so even with a chemise underneath they are definitely undergarments. I gutted I forgot that I’d made the pattern so low when I cut them out. I’d done it because I specifically wanted to try such low-cut stays, because I think the silhouette is more correct, but had intended the pattern for other fabrics, and it just slipped my mind when I cut the Marmotte stays, and I didn’t notice when I tried them on partway through because I was wearing a shirt underneath. Grrrr… So, Marmotte stays (with, obviously, layers of skirts), are out. The other …

A week in my life

Published by The Dreamstress

You get lots of glimpses of my life through posts about what I do, and what I’m working on, but I thought it might be interesting to get a look at my schedule for a typical week, to see what I do, and how I balance it all (answer: slightly precariously). Like all my posts about my life, this is fundamentally honest, if occasionally technically un-factual, in pursuit of privacy. So I may have fudged exactly what I did this particular week, and subbed in something from another week, or left out things that are strictly private. But it’s still an accurate representation of what I do in a week. SUNDAY: This year, for the first time in 8 years, I’m not getting up early every other Sunday to teach Baha’i Children’s Classes. I get up early (ish) most Sunday’s anyway, to head off to the vege market to stock up on massive amounts of green (Mr D & I are slightly obsessed with fruits and vegetables). This Sunday I had an even better …

Five for Friday: Things I love (that you might not expect)

Published by The Dreamstress

1) IRD. This one is first because it’s probably the most unexpected thing to like. What is IRD? IRD is the NZ Internal Revenue Department, i.e. the tax man. Seriously, I like the tax man. I don’t mind paying taxes – I’m a practical person and appreciate my roads and my health care and the museums I visit and don’t mind subsidising other people’s kids going to school (well-educated kids make better citizens), or even other people’s sports arenas, ’cause, hey, I have my museums. And IRD are nice, and sensible. I’ve never talked to an IRD representative who hasn’t been polite, well informed, and able to help me with my query in a logical, practical way. And they get to talk like real people, not like auto-bots following some script. And they make taxes do-able, on your own. All of these things mean that when I talk to IRD, I actually feel happier after I do. Yep. IRD leaves me with that warm fuzzy feeling (the same does not apply to the US …