“CHRISTINE! Halloween was only two days ago!”

Yes, I realize this but–

“IT’S NOT EVEN ANYWHERE NEAR THANKSGIVING!”

Hey now–I’ll have you know that Thanksgiving (AKA The Greatest Holiday That Is Not the Fourth of July) is a mere twenty-two days away! So that argument is invalid.

“CHRISTINE!”

I KNOW! Believe me, I know. But guess what? As a girl working THREE jobs with a list full of people living overseas whose packages have to be mailed early in November to ensure delivery by Christmas, it is NOT, in fact, too early to be thinking about Christmas.

“Uggggggghhhhh–”

Quit your moaning! Look, you can skip this post and come back to it the end of November if it makes you happy. Okay?

“Okay.”

As I was saying…

As a girl working three jobs with a list full of people living overseas whose packages have to be mailed early in November to ensure delivery by Christmas–I have to start Christmas shopping early. Which I don’t mind at all. I LOVE buying people gifts. It’s honestly one of my favorite things to do. If I won the lottery, after I bought a bunch of real estate, traveled the world and put half of what was left in savings, I would probably spend the other half buying gifts for the people I love. Wouldn’t that be amazing? But I digress.

This year I miraculously finished shopping for my BFF & little nephew in New Zealand absurdly early and was ready to wrap everything up by mid-October. That is when I discovered not only was there no Christmas wrapping paper to be found in my house, but there was no Christmas wrapping paper to buy in the stores either. Well, there wasn’t any Christmas paper in the three stores I went to one Tuesday night. So, I did what a girl in the Year of Making Do would do—I improvised. Call me smug, but I like my version way more than any paper I could’ve bought.

Armed with coupon for Michael’s (seriously, if you buy something at Michael’s for full price, you are doing something wrong) I bought a large roll of plain brown craft paper. I pulled out my box of Christmas related craft goodies I picked up last year on clearance (most of it from Martha Stewart—man, do I love her stuff) and decorated the plainly wrapped presents with stickers, crafty tape and glitter. Lots of glitter.

In lieu of tags, I wrote the first initial of the recipient in glitter (or microbeads). The above is my favorite. Simple yet oh so pretty. I had so much fun wrapping and crafting that I will definitely do it for the rest of my presents this year. Thankfully, I have enough glitter to go around.

Happy crafting!

It wasn’t love at first sight. Or even first listen. I mean, I knew who he was and I knew all the little girls in the world were in love with him, but I hadn’t listened to a second of his music. Then one day he somehow came up in a conversation with The Brother and our BFF X. I made some dismissive remark about the Biebs and The Brother (the musician, you know) said “Have you even heard “Baby”?”

“Ummm, no.”

“You have to listen to it. It’s pure pop genius.”

“WHAT?!”

“It really is good,” BFF X affirmed.

And so they made me listen to Baby. Pretty soon, we were listening to it on repeat in the car running around Austin. A lot. But it wasn’t until we finally rented Never Say Never (from Redbox, because it was a last minute movie decision and there was no way in hell we were going to walk into I Love Video and rent it) that I became a Belieber. A 26 year old Belieber who pre-orders his upcoming Christmas album. Yes. This has happened.

Thirteen year-old Christine would be so ashamed of nearly 27 year-old Christine. Young teenage Christine shunned EVERYTHING her peers were into back in the day. ‘N Sync, Hanson, JTT (Jonathan Taylor Thomas, in case you have somehow forgotten how hot he was in the ’90s), nail polish, lip gloss, Clueless…I could go on for pages. Instead, I listened to Glen Miller, read Dickens and Austen (“I’ll stick with reading the book that Clueless ripped off, thank you very much”) and watched Casablanca approximately 47 times in one year. Maybe that is how I justify my Bieber love. “Look, World, I wasn’t into the Backstreet Boys, so I am allowed Justin Bieber as my guilty pleasure, okay?”

Honestly though, the idea that I should somehow feel guilty over something that makes me happy is just plain absurd. Who made up these rules, anyway? I love reading young adult novels. I love Radiohead. I love Justin Bieber. I love Jane Austen. I love watching The Fashion Police. I love David Foster Wallace. None of these loves are mutually exclusive. I’m happy to say that at the ripe old age of almost 27, I have finally learned to openly embrace what brings me pleasure while leaving the “guilt” behind.

So, dear readers, what are YOUR so called “guilty pleasures”? Whatever it is, I hope you have learned to embrace it, own it and love it! And tell me all about it in the comments.

Forever a Belieber,

WHY DO I LOVE THIS SO MUCH?! Granted, 80% of my love of this video comes from my love of all things Disney and my unbridled passion for the Happiest Place on Earth: Disneyland. Clearly, Lily loves Disneyland as much as I do. I kinda want to take Lily to Disneyland myself because I think we would have The. Greatest. Time. Ever. But I love this video for other reasons.

1. Lilly literally CAN NOT understand how her mom knew she wanted those DVDs. When was the last time someone bought you something you DID NOT ask for and it was exactly what you wanted? It’s an amazing feeling, isn’t it? It means someone was paying attention to you. Someone knows you well enough to know exactly what you like and what you want before you even had to ask for it or buy it yourself. It seems like those type of surprise gifts don’t happen as often once we grow up, which is sad.

2. This is girl is excited about EVERYTHING. Everything is cool. Everything is a surprise. And she loves it all. Oh my gosh, I can not remember the last time I felt like that. Although thinking about it, it was probably at Disneyland.

3. Lily is cool with playing along and pretending. She has probably been told that even though she really, really wants to go to Disneyland all the time, she can’t. But she can play and pretend she’s going! That is a fun game! When her mom says “Why don’t we go?”, Lily goes along with it. She doesn’t sulk and say something about how she wants to go to Disneyland, but you said I can’t. Basically, she has the best attitude ever.

4. My favorite part of the video is right after she realizes this is not a joke, she is going to Disneyland. It’s when she is so happy she is crying and she just HAS to give her mom a hug. She realizes what a big deal this is and she doesn’t take it for granted. She is grateful and she loves her parents for this. This kid is made of awesome on so many levels. Congratulations, Lily’s parents—you are doing it right.

This may sound ridiculous, but this video makes me feel hopeful. There is a little girl out there who loves and appreciates her parents and her parents clearly only want to make their kid happy. That girl loves Disneyland and, like me, will love it just as much twenty years from now. The world isn’t such a bad place after all.

HELLO DEAR READERS! Bet you never expected to see a post from me again. I myself wondered if I would ever want to write one again. This year has been….different. It’s been good and exciting and monotonous and busy and boring and full of soul searching and trying to understand my heart. And we’ve still got three and a half months left in 2011! I wonder what it shall bring.

When I got back from my trip to London and meeting Kate (which is where we left off months and months ago) life got very busy and then mine got complicated and I honestly didn’t feel like talking to anyone, much less writing blog posts. I didn’t even think about starting to write ye old A Rambling Fancy blog again until the end of July. I went back and forth in my mind—to write, or not to write. Do I even have time to write? I don’t really know. But the truth is I’ve missed the blogging world and my bloggy friends (even if I do see you on Twitter, which is totally my BFF now—if you aren’t on Twitter WHY EVER NOT?! IT IS THE BEST!) and if I had never started this blog I would have never met Kate and that thought makes me sad. So yes, I am back. I have no idea what I’m doing and what this blog will turn into—but who cares. I’ll figure it out.

So, if you’re still reading this, tell me—what have you been up to since…March? Hahahaha, I’ll make us a large pot of coffee (or tea or hot water or whatever strikes your fancy) and we’ll catch up, okay? Okay.

I missed the hell out of you, my darlings.

MIND THE GAP

This is going to sound dorky, but I really loved not driving in London. I love walking and biking and since moving to back to my parents’ house in the Austin suburbs, I’ve had to drive a lot more than I like. I’m sure if I actually lived in London, there would be things about the tube, buses and trains that would annoy me, but on the whole I loved it (even when I arrived back at the Waterloo train station at rush hour and was running for the tube so I could go back to the flat and change before going to the Oh No Oh My show in Brixton—WOW! there are a lot of people in London). I could read, write, go through my pictures or just sit and think without really worrying about how I was going to get to my destination.

On the train from London to Alton, somewhere in Hampshire.

Armed with a few aps on my phone, I managed to NOT ONCE get on the wrong tube line or go in the wrong direction. I will admit that due to poor planning on my part, I did get kind of, sort of lost when walking once or twice (once because I asked someone which way to go and they told me the exact opposite direction to go, lame!), but never for long and I never felt lost, so there.

Reading Little Dorrit on the train

Also, a special thanks to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film. Because of this scene, I knew how to use an oyster card and insert train tickets into the turnstiles without looking like Mr. Weasley, YAY!

Also, I loved the parks. I wish I had time to pack a picnic lunch and just rest for a bit, but I did thoroughly enjoy walking through as many parks as I could. The snow drops and crocus’ were just popping out—I bet the parks are gorgeous when spring and summer is in full bloom.

You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” ~Samuel Johnson

I fell in love with London. I wasn’t planning on it—it just sort of happened. Maybe it was because it didn’t rain ONCE while I was there. Or perhaps part of it was meeting up with my brother & the band 48 days after I dropped them off at the airport for their 2 month European tour. Maybe it was the promise of meeting Kate, going to Jane Austen’s House and roaming around the parks, museums and touristy sights by myself. Whatever it was, it made me fall in love with London and I can’t wait to go back.

Why I Loved London: Part One

The basement flat where I stayed. I spent a lot of time researching hostels and motels in and around London—and honestly nothing (in my price range) looked decent or safe enough for a single female to stay at for three nights. Thank goodness one of the travel guides I perused at B&N mentioned Bed & Breakfast agencies, which led me to London Homestay Services. I sent an email inquiring about a single room with WiFi available and within hours I had an offer back for a private room in Chelsea for the same price as a shared room in a hostel. AMAZING!

The lady I rented the room from was so welcoming and kind and full of helpful tips & hints and offers of tea when I came back in the evening—I would definitely stay there again next time I’m in London. I had my own keys (including a skeleton key!) so I could come & go as I pleased, the tube was a five minute walk away and I was staying essentially behind Harrods. Could a girl visiting London for the first time ask for anything more? YES…

…to walk by this every time I walked the long-way round back from the tube to the flat. Seriously, I had finally made from Heathrow, to the tube, dragging my suitcase along the sidewalk, hoping I was following the directions correctly to the flat when I saw this. It was like a sign from above: THIS WAS MEANT TO BE.

To be continued…

HELLO DEAR READERS! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Oh well, that is how life rolls. It’s been ten days since I arrived back home from my trip to London & Scotland to meet Kate and I have only now finally unpacked my suitcase. I think I just liked having it in my room, pretending I was going to go off on another trip. But now it’s gone and packed away in the shed, awaiting my next adventure…whenever that may be. The first few days back home were actually pretty easy as I jumped right back into work and SXSW was in full swing, so I had loads of distractions. But now South By is over, Austin is back it’s normal weirdness (THANK GOD, because it was really annoying waiting half an hour to order a sandwich from my favorite little joint—a place that isn’t even really near downtown and all the SXSW madness) and I am left with a case of the blaaaaaaaaaahhhhhsssss. The blahs of working, paying bills, laundry & cleaning, drama amongst friends and everything else that goes along with “the real world” and “normal life”. I know this feeling is fleeting; I love my small, simple life. Maybe all I need is to slather on some red lipstick, have a chai and a good long ramble and everything will start to feel right again. I suppose if we didn’t have these moments of longing for adventure in the great wide somewhere, we wouldn’t appreciate the adventures when they do come around.

1. For my darling blog & twitter readers, use the coupon code “VDAYSUCKS2011″ to get free shipping (everywhere and anywhere) on any item in my etsy shop. Good through tomorrow night at midnight (or thereabouts).

2. Those guys above are Oh No Oh My. That boy on the far left is my brother, Daniel. He wrote and sings about half the songs on their new album, People Problems. Today’s NPR Song of the Day is “Brains”, from People Problems. I am really, really proud of my brother and the band right now.

Once upon a time, a few months after starting my blog, I—like all new bloggers—began to wonder if anyone was reading my ramblings. Then one day I opened up my email to find approximately 100 comments* from someone called Domestikate. Domestikate turned out to be Kate from Edinburgh and we liked a lot of the same things: Harry Potter, polka dots, Jane Austen, cupcakes and Harry Potter (HP is serious business, y’all). If Humphrey Bogart had been around, he would have called it the beginning of a beautiful online friendship.

Two years and two weeks after that first comment (I just checked and can hardly believe it’s been that long), I bought a plane ticket from Texas to London. Tonight I bought my train ticket from London to Edinburgh. And in exactly 5 weeks, Kate and I will actually meet each other—live and in person.

I’m sorry, that doesn’t properly express my excitement.

I AM GOING TO MEET KATE IN FIVE WEEKS!!!!!

This trip idea all started when I realized the band would be playing a show in Glasgow. I thought it would be super cool if Kate got to go see them play and meet my brother. But the more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea of my punk of a baby brother meeting my best blogging buddy before I did.

I spent well over a month looking at plane tickets, waffling back and forth, trying to decide if I could really and truly afford the trip (This is The Year of Making Do, after all). But you know what? Life is short; we aren’t guaranteed tomorrow. Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death! And so shouting “carpe diem!” I bought my plane ticket.

I’ll be spending three days in London before heading up to meet Kate and gallivant around Scotland. It’s my first trip over the pond, though hopefully not my last, so I’m focusing on my “must sees” whilst in London. You know, the Charles Dickens Museum, The Victoria & Albert Museum, The British Library and of course I am making a very special trip to Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton (because who needs to see the Tower of London, right? I kid, I kid). If anyone has any helpful tips or tricks, please leave a comment! My eyes are starting to go cross-eyed from all the online research I’ve been doing.

Five weeks…I’m so excited I can hardly sleep!

P.S. One of my top five, all-time favorite bloggers featured my Pride & Prejudice garlands with a small Q&A with yours truly over on her blog, Pink of Perfection. Kate actually found my blog through her site, so this is really all Sarah’s doing. Thanks for everything, Sarah, you’re the best!

*This number may be slightly exaggerated.

Sew A-Long

If you read any sewing blogs you know that there are approximately 472 Sew A-Longs going on right now, but these are the two I am definitely participating in. Both patterns are from Sense & Sensibility which are easily purchased as either an e-pattern or you can have a physical pattern mailed to you. Casey is hosting the Swing Dress Sew A-Long which has just begun and Lisette is the lovely gal behind the Regency Wardrobe Sew A-Long. It may seem a bit silly to some to sew a dress that is essentially a costume, but some of us never quite grew out of playing dress up and find it fun to lounge around the house, drinking tea and reading whilst pretending to be a Jane Austen heroine. Besides, we’ll already have a head start on Halloween.

Jane Austen Short Story Contests

At this moment there is not one, but two—TWO!—Jane Austen related short story contests you can enter. The first, Jane Austen Made Me Do It, is an amazing opportunity to possibly get your story published in a new collection of stories inspired by the beloved writer which is being edited by the amazing Laurel Ann of Austenprose. The contest runs through February 13th and there have only been a few entries thus far, so your prospects are looking mighty fine.

The second contest is put on by the Chawton House Library in England with a theme of heroes and villains in Jane Austen’s novels. There is a cash prize, but more exciting to me is that the three finalists will win a week’s writer retreat at Chawton House! The deadline is March 31st, so sharpen your pencils or fire up your laptop and start writing!

Downton Abbey

The last time I fell this hard for a mini-series was Bleak House in 2005. Downton Abbey is an original story (written by Julian Fellowes of Godsford Park) set in Edwardian England that basically takes every plot and element one could love about period dramas and mashes it all together into an engaging, dramatic, touching series. Even my dad has caught Downton fever and gets exasperated at the end of each installment (“It’s over already?!”). The last episode of the first series (a second series and Christmas special is already in the works, hurray!) is set to air in America this Sunday night, so I highly encourage my US readers to head over to Masterpiece, catch up with the episodes online and join us for the Twitter party Sunday night.

People Problems

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I have a younger brother, Daniel, who is in a band (like everyone else in Austin, haha). The past few months have been very exciting as their second album, People Problems, was released. I’m not going to tell you to go and buy it or anything, but if you want a listen, it’s up on iTunes and of course available in a local independent record store near you (well, it SHOULD be, no guarantees). They are currently touring Europe for two months, so if you live in England, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and basically anywhere in Europe, you should go see them; tell them I sent you; give them a hug and tell them I miss them so.

Making Do

I stumbled upon this post a few months ago and completely forgot to link to it, though now I find it more apropos to share it with you in The Year of Making Do. The post, entitled “You Do Not Need Neil Gaiman’s Gazebo“, is aimed at writers, but the idea and advice given can be applied to everyone. Your gazebo could be a sewing/craft studio or a kitchen with an island and a large stove or maybe a new MacBook pro. The point is we all procrastinate and dream of our ideal “space”, when really we should just hunker down make do with what we have. It was a good reminder to me this morning.