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