I'm as FREE as a Bird now

A bunch of peacock feather tights from Look From London. They have even more colors available! From a variety of sources. Just Google Image it, you'll see...

Subtle, but pretty. And Hella expensive, I'm sure.
Simple, for those of us who want in on the trend without looking too bird-like.
I adore this shirt! It looks like my violet one- kind of. They're both from Forever21.
I like the tribal-feel of these earrings. And their mini-little price tag!

... and this bird you can't change

this bird you can't change

Lord knows I can't change...

I love that song:) Especially the version by Joey+Rory.
Feathers! In my opinion THE PERFECT Springtime essential. One CAN go wrong with feathers (just look at countless celebrities), but there are so many ways to do RIGHT with feathers that it's just insane that anyone ever does wrong! Did that make sense? I don't know! My favorite way to accessorize with feathers is just a good ol' fashioned feather in the hair! Like a Native American Princess... Also, feather earrings- I was wearing those years before they were cool! I've also seen alot of rad feather hair clips and head bands. So yeah, there are billions of ways to wear feathers!
Love,
Belle

Vintage Gunne Sax Prom Dress

I should be doing homework right now. I'm such a procrastinator!!! I have to do an entire assignment for Philosophy, another huge one for Anthropology, a paper for Speech, and extra credit paper for Anth, a speech for... well, Speech, two extra credit projects for US History... AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!! College sucks when you have debilitating mood swings!!! But yesterday I found a gorgeous vintage gunne sax prom dress for $32.50. Way to go bright side! I found a picture of the same dress on Etsy since I have no one to take a picture of me in mine (*sniffle*). So, to clarify, the lady in the picture is not me. After I bought my dress from MY FAVORITE THINGS, I went to WIGGETTS and found the same one in a smaller size. My friend can wear it so we can be twinsies! This would be weird if we had dates, but since none of us do... all of us should match! We could all go in a big group of pretty pink lacy princesses! ANYWAY... That dress much improved my mood yesterday, and playing Ray LaMontagne on my acoustic guitar improved my mood today.
Love,

BelleThis is the first time I've ever been able to wear a dress without a bra! Usually it doesn't work with my... ummm... boobs. I gave up trying to come up with a creative way to say that. I have huge jugs. There you go. But I'm going to be a vision in this princess-y dress!!

Etsy update

Hey world! I just wanted to let you know that I am now a member of Etsy! Yes, it is about time. Soon, I want to start an Etsy shop and sell handmade and vintage items on there, but I'm not quite ready at the moment. It seems like a great idea to me because I spend a great deal of my time shopping at thrift stores and flea markets and I always find wonderful things that don't fit me but I still want to get it because it's such a treasure and yes I'm aware that this is a run-on sentence but I'm perfectly okay with that okay I'll stop now. When I do start my shop, I'll find someone to model the clothes and such and post at least some of the pictures on here! Nice idea, isn't it?! I know! Well, I enjoy pictures on blog posts and I'm sure you do too, so I'll stick some pics of my recent Etsy purchases for your viewing pleasure. Speaking of viewing pleasure, you know what was NOT a pleasure to view? The movie After Life. Freaking crazy, morbid, stupid, pointless movie! Never watch it. Never.
Click on the pic to take you directly to them. There are a bunch of different sizes available and different styles of the lovely Dorothy-inspired ruby slipper!

Isn't this the cutest little necklace? I have a weakness for quirky jewelry...

Love,
Belle

Japan

I know alot of people on the western coast of the US have been scared sh*tless by the catastrophe in Japan. I know I'm really concerned about the people in Hawaii and the Philippines. Not to mention Japan. My mom and I have been following the news alot lately and the whole nuclear power plant explosion is freaking terrifying! I recently read a beautiful post about the fragility of life and how to deal with this disaster on Milla's blog: The Girl Who Married a Bear.
Love,
Belle

History of Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick was an Englishman who was abducted by some Irishmen as a child. When he was older, he returned to his native England and became a priest. He then went back to the Emerald Isle to convert pagans there. He's credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland. There never actually were snakes in Ireland for him to drive out! It's actually symbolic. Snakes represent paganism (snakes have long been associated with the pagan fertility-Earth god/goddess pantheon) and the driving of snakes out of Ireland is metaphoric for the conversion of Irish pagans to Christianity. Saint Patrick was unique as a Catholic saint in that he actually deserved to be canonized! He was respectful of the old religion of the Irish and even attempted to incorporate some of their especially strong beliefs into the new religion. He knew that their beliefs were so strong that they'd never convert to a religion that was completely opposite- so he had to adapt a wee bit! This blending of the old and the new is where Irish crosses come from: the pagan eternal round and the Christian cross, and also where St. Brigid comes from: Brighid was a main Celtic goddess and extremely important to the Irish people. The idea of Saint Patrick's Day started in Ireland and was spread all over the world by migrating Irish. Thanks Potato Famine! Because of that, we Irish-Americans have 4-leaf-clover-shaped cookies and Guinness on Saint Patrick's Day! Ballin'!

1 more day to St. Patrick's Day!!!

I don't even know why I'm so excited about St. Patty's Day! It's not like I'll actually be doing anything fun for it, but- for some reason beyond my understanding (aliens?)- I always look forward to it months in advance. It's the food, it really is. Mommy always makes corned beef and cabbage and mmmm.... how I like me some corned beef 'n' cabbage! I really do... Plus, green is one of my favorite colors so I get to load on the green with only a few raised eyebrows and sideways glances- which I've gotten used to anyway! Tomorrow I will make sure to get someone to take pictures of me and I'll stick them up here. I wish I would've grabbed my leprechaun hat to wear to school tomorrow (yay for hats in college!) but alas! I did not. I am wearing green pants, green shirt, green sweater and chunky oatmeal Irish sweater, 4-leaf clover necklace and Celtic astrology necklace, and my lumberjack/WW2 french military/prairie/Milla from GirlWhoMarriedABear-inspired boots though! Hear ye, hear ye! Doesn't that outfit sound delightful (and warm)? It is still winter here with a few moments of spring mixed in. I guess Persephone isn't quite sure if she wants to come back yet...

Irish Punk (and my freakish attraction to it)

The Tossers (one of my personal favorites) The Valley of the Shadow of Death. Check out Romany, Siobhan, and Claddagh- they're my favorite Tossers songs.

Dropkick Murphys t-shirt. My favorites of theirs are: The Dirty Glass, The State of Massachusetts, Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya and I'm Shipping up to Boston.

The Pogues (basically THE Irish punk band) lyrics from the song: Fairytale of New York. I want this; the lyrics are so rudely awesome.

The Pogues Spewing t-shirt. Another favorite shirt. Best Pogues songs (in my opinion): Sally MacLennane, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, Boys From the County Hell.

Pretty basic Flogging Molly t-shirt

Do you see this Skeletor/bagpiper? How freakin' cool can a shirt be?

This is a good Flogging Molly t-shirt. I think they're out of stock from this source, but if you search 'flogging molly t shirt' on Google images, you'll get plenty of stuff. Best Flogging Molly songs are Float, The Lightning Storm, From the Back of a Broken Dream, and Man with No Country (and tons of others).

Self explanatory.

I thought this was a really cool Pogues tee. It's one of their CDs (the best one in my opinion), named for one of the songs on the album: If I Should Fall From Grace With God.

So, yeah, okay, I'm an Irish Punk fan. Okay, huge fan. I discovered Flogging Molly from my bud's older (cute) brother and thought it was unbelievably awesome. Then I found The Tossers when I was searching Flogging Molly on Myspace music. They're a little more uuumm... warlike... and they cuss sometimes. And, forgive me, I'm a teenager, I need SOME REBELLION! Then, I wondered how many Irish Punk bands could there be out there in the world... et voila! Enter Dropkick Murphys and the Pogues, and later I found The Dubliners (who weren't punk but they kind of set off the movement). So there you go. An entire subculture for me to immerse myself in. At least that's what I told my mommy: "I have to go to the Flogging Molly concert because I'm an anthropologist and it will give me a chance to observe the subculture of Irish Punk concert-going. It's a learning opportunity and you'd be remiss as a mother if you didn't let me go". Nice, eh? It probably doesn't help my case as a responsible, educated young woman when I search for punk concert tickets, an Egyptian warrior tattoo, and plan a roadtrip across two (okay, three) states all at the same time. She probably thinks I'm having a rebellious stage. Little does she know I already did. At a conveniently young age. I say "conveniently" because I got it out of my system (somewhat) in 4th grade and thankfully don't have to worry about that anymore. What is it with parents anyway? They seem to think that once you reach 17 you're soul is trapped deep inside your body and a long-buried zombie-self surfaces. Apparently we 17 year-olds can't control it; it's a natural phase for everyone.
Hmmm. I really let fly didn't I? Well, enjoy these rad tees. Just in time for Saint Patty's Day! Of course, being truly Irish, I'd wear these year long, but on St. Patrick's Day anyone can wear these, because- if only for the one day- we're all Irish.
What a load of sh*t. Haha!
Love,
Belle

Today in Pictures

Don't worry, I'm wearing shorts under my ridiculously short dress!
I never really know how to pose



This is cute though

And without the coat!
Mommy told me today that I looked like a star! Personally, I hope she meant a star like Claire Danes in Stardust ( one of my all-time favorite movies) rather than a star like a celebrity. I did look pretty bad-ass though! I wore my new Prague boots and military-esque style jacket. The boots and jacket are from Delias clearance sale and I got the dress a few years back from Alloy clearance sale. The tights are Hue, the socks are from my muncas (maternal grandmother), and the assortment of jewelry is from off-beat wierd-as-all-Hell places that one might not expect to get jewelry from! There we go. Nice outfit. Earlier I was wearing some RayBan Wayfarer knockoffs that I got for $5 at the county fair a few years ago. This may explain why I felt so badass. Possibly. Gee, I really need to dye my hair to a more human color! I've been thinking teal might be nice... Abrams (I refer to him by his last name because I prefer it to his awful first name [smells like a personal problem]) from American Idol has been in the hospital with stomach ulcers. I've had stomach ulcers, they're painful as f*ck. I find myself screaming to the heavens: "why him???" Obviously, he's my favorite.
By the way; style watcher: Shenanigan (no, that's not her real name!) looked tres belle in her business attire today (speech day!) and the ever-charming Harry Potter club pres looked uniquely stunning as ever in her crazy platform boots and plaid shirt/long white skirt combo on (I think) Wednesday. Sadly, I didn't think to snap any pics.
Love,
Belle

Baking for PCOS Update!

In my post Nouveau Boulanger I stated that kamut flour is a good alternative to regular flour for PCOS girls- I was mistaken. It is better for you than regular flour but it is not gluten-free. I read on another blog that it was okay to eat, but apparently the author of that blog was mistaken too. A better alternative is garbonzo bean flour: it has the highest protein level of any flour (at least that I know of. My sister introduced it to me and she's been dealing with the crazy PCOS diet alot longer than me). Brown rice flour and almond flour are also awesome alternatives! Soon I'll be making and posting some wonderful biscuits and muffins that my big sis gave me the recipes for. Happy cooking!

Last thought before I drift off to sleep...

"Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondance
with the stars up above in your eyes
a fantabulous night to make romance
'neath the cover of October skies..."

This romantic and beautiful song has been stuck in my head for the past few weeks. I find myself whistling the tune all day long. I think it's driving me crazy. But if crazy is as romantic a place as this song, I think I'd love to be driven there...
Besides, Jonathan Rhys Meyers sings the beginning of this song in August Rush, and if you've ever stopped by The Abduction of a Poet's Muse before, you know of my deep and undying love for Louis- the character played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the movie. I know: it's sick for me to be in love with a movie character, he isn't real, you're going to die alone, blah blah blah... I just can't help it!
Anyhoo, good night darlings! Wish upon a star, gaze at the moon for a few minutes too long, close your eyes in the dark, and enjoy the rain! It's the sign that Spring really does exist! And that Persephone soon shall be reunited with her dear mourning mother.
Love,
Belle

Sweatpants and Fashion?

My number #1 rule of what I am not willing to wear outside of the house: Pajama pants. Who the HELL ever decided that was a good idea?! " Uh yeah, let's all be giant slobs and wear our nightclothes to school! Ya know what? Why don't we wear slippers too?!" In winter no less!!!! Sorry. I was ranting, I must admit. But that's just my Victorian mentality talking. Anyway! Moving on! My #2 rule: sweatpants. You shan't be seeing me walking around in sweatpants and shouting "fabulous!" (with a little gay voice inflection, like Ffahhhbyoolaaahhhsss!). Of course, I don't let out a hearty "fabulous" no matter what I'm wearing. But... I saw this outfit that I would be willing to relax my morals a wee bit for:)

This is the outfit, all put together. Sorry it isn't a better picture, but I broke down the outfit below. On the very bottom, you will see a picture from Forever21 with Harem pants. Which are pretty much just sweatpants, but all... harem-y. Or something. I don't know. I guess they have a droopy crotch or something, but they're actually really cute in the right outfit.

Mardi Gras 2011

I'm soooo prettyyyy...
Who is that adorable girl?! Oh, what? Me? Goodness, golly, gosh...
I just thought I looked pretty in this one.
My tights are violet, I'm not sure if you can tell in the lighting in these pictures. I really need to start daily pictures OUTSIDE in the beautiful natural light!
Green cardigan, violet shirt. Eh, eh? I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I very rarely ever say "purple" as "purple" is a invention of the Crayola company and isn't actually a word at all. Fact! I look rather busty in this picture, don't I? Well, I am rather busty, so... I guess I have to deal with that.
This was the most uneventful Mardi Gras yet! Literally THE ONLY thing I did to celebrate was wear purple, green, and gold (the official colors of Mardi Gras). Sad. But my day is about to get a whole lot better! My sister made jambalaya and, as we all know, jambalaya is not only amazingly delicious, it is also very popular in New Orleans- the world HQ for Mardi Gras celebrations! Yay for food! It will always improve my day. So I figured that, since I went to all the trouble to pick out a cute Mardi Gras outfit, I should post the pics on The Abduction and pretend like the world really cares what I wore and ate and thought today. So, humor me. At least skim.
Love,
Belle

10 days! To Saint Patrick's Day!!!

Not exactly how it looks when mommy makes it but... close enough! Still looks delicious. In fact, I am salivating.

See, aren't these hats cute?! The ones at ATI are awesome and authentic.

Cute. Like a wee leprechaun.

Crap this made me laugh! It's so accurate... Just kidding! Not all Irish are drunks. Just the fun ones.

I'm so happy St. Patrick's Day is approaching! It's one of my favorite holidays! I'm so Irish, I pee green. NO I don't. I thought I should clear that up because I'm pretty sure that's a symptom of some horrendous disease or something... and I wouldn't want to worry you... Anyhoo! I am Irish (extremely) and I am crazy about the holiday (crazy!), so naturally I'm quite pleased. The best thing about St. Patty's Day in my family is that it's the one time a year when we have corned beef and cabbage. mmmmm.... It's my favorite meal and I don't know why we don't have it more often, but that's just the way it is! So I'm definitely looking forward to that! I also enjoy pinching people. It's true, I have a demented side that's just dying to come out and attack! Well, at least pinch. Yep. I'm a little spacy today, so you'll have to forgive me. In honor of Saint Patty's Day I am going to beg my mommy to take me to All Things Irish (the cute little Irish store in Coeur d' Alene) to get an Irish newsboy hat with my leftover b-day money. IF they're not too expensive. When the day comes nearer I shall post a... post... on what to wear for St. Patrick's Day. Until then mon cheri... Until then.

Love,

Belle

Mardi Gras!!! Fashion

These are very pretty! Amethyst glass and Fleur de Lis earrings... very nice.
Pretty violet floral skirt would be cute for a Mardi Gras outfit!
I love these gold sequined oxfords from Forever21!
This is such a pretty headband! And perfect for Mardi Gras if I do say so myself.
Also perfect for Mardi Gras
Little mask locket from Etsy.
Mask necklace.
Mask earrings.

Violet, gold, and green are the colors of Fat Tuesday (in case you didn't know, that's what Mardi Gras means). So! Here is a Mardi Gras theme post! Sadly I can't celebrate Mardi Gras this year beyond what I wear and the occasional joyous shout of "Laissez les bonne temps roulez!" Or... "have a very jazzy and... fat... Tuesday"... or something. I don't know. The reason I will not be able to attend the French Club's Mardi Gras party is that I am required to make an appearance in my college classes. And by the time I get out of class every Tuesday and Thursday I am completely numb, so I can't really do much of anything to celebrate after school either. Oh, lamentable day! Maybe I'll have my violin before then and I can sit alone in my room, playing a sad, sad song...
Love,
Belle