"Neither A Borrower, Nor A Lender Be"

I, as a rule, don't lend out my clothes. I just love them too much. And any time they spend a part from me is time that they could be:

Lost
Stained
Unloved
Torn

When it comes to clothes I neither lend nor borrow. Clothes lent equal: sweaty palms and the sick taste of fear on one's tongue. Clothes borrowed equal: the pain and sorrow of separation when you must give them back.

Only today a friend of mine was going on a job interview for a position as a personal shopper (yes, my dream job, the ______). And besides being only RIDICULOUSLY jealous I was also aghast at what she had chosen to wear. It wasn't exactly what one would call "chic". It was a very nice outfit per se, but well, it was more suited to school teaching than personal shopping.

I just couldn't let her go out like that. So I lent her some clothes. And if I must say so myself, she looked pretty stylin' when she headed out the door.

But as I stood watching her go I was bereft.

Not because she was interviewing for my dream job, which would have been totally understandable, but because she was wearing my clothes. I had broken my no lending rule and I was full of remorse.

My husband was not especially sympathetic (and he is usually very sympathetic). I am pretty certain he thought I was overreacting. But I wasn't!! My clothes were out there. WITHOUT ME!

Okay: breath (just recalling this is making me anxious).

But it's all okay now (repeat: it's all okay now, it's all okay now, they're home now, it's all okay).

Now that the initial nausea, shaking, and cold chills have passed, I am wondering: how "normal" is this?

What do you think?

Will you lend or borrow? Am I extremely shallow and clothes obsessed (yes, yes I am)?

But really, come on ladies, I can't be the only one with a slightly exaggerated (ie. unhealthy) attachment to my clothes.

Here's a picture of me in my own clothes:



outfit details: tights Joe Fresh Style: $8, shoes Naturalizer: $30, sweater Winners: $12, skirt thrifted: $1 (I added the blue bow).

Heart: Kimberellie

You Might as Well Look Good Doing It

I spent a lot of my day playing on the floor today.

Somebody (somebody little) is getting two new teethies and was not interested in independent play at all. But that's okay. He's pretty fun. And along with the new teeth he is learning some new tricks.

For example, he can now kneel. I know, maybe kneeling isn't amazing and fascinating to you; but I'm suitably impressed!

The day is now almost over. The baby is sleeping. And tomorrow I have TWO babies coming over who will help entertain my little monster while I get to sit (on the couch no less!) and drink tea with their mommys. So yeah, overall, life is good.

Oh, and the title of the post? Well, as I sat on the floor for the third straight hour today stacking toys (he likes to "unstack") I thought: well, if I have to be at home all day, at least I can look good doing it.


This is me with our dish fish. Really he is just a plastic fishy who we throw into the sink when we do the dishes. Somehow the dishes are just easier when he's in there floating around all plastic fishlike.


Ah, the joys of stacking toys. I'd like to say one of my son's new tricks is taking pictures. That would be really handy; but it isn't. The chair took this picture. And if you are wondering about the blue fabric and peach fabric and gray fabric-those are clothes hanging on the bookshelf. Because that's where clothes go.


Nothing like a pair of bright yellow dish gloves to spruce up your outfit.

outfit details: jeans Energia: $50, bear shirt: $5, cropped jacket Winners: $3, necklace: I made it, inspiration: The Village Idiot, dish gloves Shoppers Drug Mart: 2 for $1, getting to stay at home all day with the most precious little man: priceless.

Heart: Kimberellie

ps. if you are interested in my son's take on the day's events you can check out his blog. He doesn't post as often as I do; but he's only ten months and has an early bedtime. So I cut him a little slack (I also don't like it when he hogs the computer).

Babies: The New "It" Item

Whenever I go and visit my sister-in-law I bring donuts. This is such a regular occurrence, that as soon as I arrive my niece, who is three, asks: "Where are the donuts?" I am afraid I'm turning her into a sugar junkie. But it can't be helped. I need at least one Boston Cream donut a week or I don't "feel" right.



Last night I went to V.V. for a quick shop. I got these two tops (vest and shirt) for 7 dollars! And though when I bought them I had no intention of wearing them together, I think it works. At first I tried this outfit with my dark skinny jeans. But they just didn't feel "skinny" enough (they are more of a straight leg). So I switched to my leather leggings (which I should really wear more often considering how much they cost).


Oh, and the bracelet? I stole it. Not purposefully of course. I just had it on my wrist and forgot about it until I got into the car. I admit at that point I did not go back into the store. But it was late and my baby wanted his mommy. Next time I am in V.V. I will pay for it. I've actually done this once before there (with a bracelet no less!). I think they thought I was pretty strange for doing so: "Um, I stole a bracelet accidental like, can I give you fifty cents?"

Anyway, I think I am only going to do outfit posts when I haven't anything else to say (which happens often enough). My husband likes my blog better when I write stuff (and he is cute so I like to please him). So I figure I'll try to write more stuff (when I have stuff to say). Stuff about stuff. You know, that sort of stuff.

I'm, yeah, I've got nothing.


I'm almost laughing in this photo because what we were trying to do was get a photograph of me and my nephew. And what we ended up getting was a photograph of me, my nephew, my niece, and the dog. As well, my nephew is currently attempting to hurl himself out of my arms.


The blond baby is mine. Notice the matching shirts. They are also matching babies BTW. They were born 13 hours apart!

Outfit details:

leather pants Danier: $130, beige tunic top H&M thrifted: $3.50, vest thrifted: $3.50, shoes Naturalizer: $30, green bracelet: stolen, long chain necklace Suzy Sheer: $2, ammonite necklace on silver chain: $30 (you can get one like it here), necklace with three pendants: Peoples, Ben Moss, and Hawaii Divers (in that order): all gifts, babies: worth the world.

Heart: Kimberellie

My Apartment As I See It

This is going to be the first in a series of photographs of my apartment.

I see so many beautiful things IN my apartment that sometimes I can't help but take photographs! It's a compulsion. These ones I took about three years ago. I have some more recent ones that I will post later.

The frogs are particularily special to me. If you want them yourself (of course you do) you can go here. I think I love them so much they amount to an obsession. I don't know what I would do if one of them were to break! Goodness forbid!

Also, goodness forbid my husband should fill the sugar bowl! Seriously, I DON'T want him to. I just enjoy doing it so much, the sound it makes, all the white lovely sugary goodness being poured in. Ah, beautiful. One can dream of future teas and feel rich with sugar!

My frogs. I so totally heart them it isn't proper.

My bedside table and journal du jour (of three years ago, that is).

The kitchen clock (which stopped keeping time due to low batteries three months ago).

Baubles and perfume on my dresser.

The ocean view in a plant pot.

Flowers in the bathroom (these pictures are obviously circa roommate, aka. BH: before husband). Oh I do miss my dear T. placer of flowers everywhere.

Flowers in the kitchen.

Thanks for dropping in!

Heart: Kimberellie

Call Me Kimberellie

I've had a lot of nicknames in my life:

Kimbuck 1/2/3/4/5 (insert age here), Kimbee, Kimba, Kimber, Kim (technically a nickname as it is not on my birth certificate), Kimbits, Kimbersuprize, Kimberlitz (the preceding three are all from one very creative friend), Kimbo, Kimmer, Kimberellie, Berly, Purple Stinkin Dog Toy (it was high school, my best friend is mean/strange), Kimbebimbee, Kimithee, & Kimberlybimberly (my husband says the last one is not a real nickname because nobody calls me it. But I call ME it!)

I think that's all. That's a list I have been wanting to compile for a long time. It seems my name is really amenable to nicknaming. Or perhaps I am just a nicknameable person. Either way, I don't mind. Just don't call me Kimi. I HATE Kimi.

Okay. Kimberlybimberly is going to bed now. But first an outfit picture! (I'm trying to combine my inane ramblings with fashion blogging here. I wonder how it's working.)


This is me in my reconstructed leather skirt again. The skirt was my mother's; but please, don't tell what I did to it; I won't wear it around her for fear of what she'd say seeing that I took a sewing machine to her skirt and went crazy! I think she might be upset, even though she GAVE it to me and it looks REALLY cool this way. Moms!

leather skirt: free from my mom, tights Joe Fresh Style $8, shoes Naturalizer: $30, shirt Winners: $ 20, black tank top under shirt Bluenotes: $5, watch Buffalo ? price, smile: always free.

HEART: Kimberellie

Model, I'm Not

So I thought I would make another attempt at fashion blogging. My problem thus far has been that I can't really take outdoor shots avec my bébé. As well, there really isn't anywhere suitable in my apartment to take indoor shots. These ones I don't think turned out too badly. I got my husband to do them:

I really like how red my hair looks in this one. I have been attempting for weeks to get it redder and redder. And though I don't think I am really succeeding, in this picture it sure looks like I am!

This was the best one for a "whole outfit" shot. I'm afraid that all the others got deleted. It appears that I'm not very good at making serious, sultry, or any non smiley faces. Model, I'm not. If I'm not smiling in a photograph I tend to just look plain funny. This was the best of the non smiling lot (and I sort of just look annoyed).

The thing is, I don't want to grin goofily in every picture. Yet I can't seem to "strike" any other expressions (now, I wonder if "strike an expression" can be counted as a valid expression). Anyway, maybe I'll try making funny faces next time.

A close up. This yellow shirt is really great. It is just so YELLOW. I totally heart it.

The photos seem to work better when I am sitting down. But it just doesn't show off the outfit the same way!

A cross, my mom heart, and my bridesmaid's pearl from my best friend's wedding.

I have so many lovely pieces of jewelry; it is so hard to choose what to wear! Here's my compromise. I think it is a rather wonderful compromise, don't you?

Oh, and the shoes. You have to see the shoes:

Okay, so it isn't that great of a pic. But I just wanted you to see how "creative" I am willing to get in order to find SOMEWHERE to take some fun fashion photos! Perhaps I'll try doing this once a week on a Saturday [OUTSIDE!]. It would give the family and I an excuse to gallivant around out of doors.

Heart: Kimberellie

shirt: Winners $20, yellow top: Winners $2 dollars, belt: RW&co $1.95, jeans: Energia $50, shoes: Naturalizer $30, long black silver and blue necklace: Ardene $5, necklace with three pendants: Peoples, Ben Moss, and Hawaii Divers (in that order): all gifts.

Speaking of Dryads (and Audrey Hepburn)

Speaking of Dryads, a few years ago I was a Dryad for Halloween. My husband was a wood elf. I suppose in Halloween world we must have met when he was walking through the woods and I was well, standing, treeishly.

Here's us:

And to round it all off, a little "Breakfast at Tiffany's" action. The masks where my parents. But I obviously had to steal them for a photo-op!

And now the originals:

And now I digress:

Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be Audrey Hepburn. I adore her. In fact, to my great delight, since I was a teenager I have been told that I look like Audrey. She is the only famous person I have ever been told I looked like (I was going to write "celebrity"; but that just seems the wrong word for Audrey!). And though I personally don't think I look like her, I sure as heck don't mind being told so!

Though Breakfast at Tiffany's is not my favorite, it is definitely beloved.* I must admit I didn't love it the first time I saw it (it is just so different from Roman Holiday and Sabrina-the first Audrey films I watched). But I must say, I am firmly in love with it now.

Speaking about being in love: George Peppard. Our old friend Paul Varjak (Fred) is simply delicious in Breakfast, isn't he? I happen to think that he steals many a scene from Miss Hepburn (though I am almost loathe to say it). What do you think? Is George baby a yummy scene stealer? Or is it just me?

I had to add one more picture of Holly. Because after all it's Audrey who is my true love. George Peppard is just a passing fancy.

Heart: Kimberellie

"It's useful being top banana in the shock department."

HEART: Kimberellie

I forgot to heart you all in my last post.

Well I do. And I wanted to let you know I do.

Also, while I am at it, I thought I would start a "serial" of a short story I wrote a few years back. But first a painting of a dryad by John William Waterhouse (who I LOVE btw):

The Magician and the Dryad a Short Story by K.L. Furnell

Oh till now she drank With thirst of myriad mouths the bursting cataracts of the sun,

The drizzle of gentler stars, an indivisible small rain.

Wading the dark earth, made of earth and light, cradled in air,

All that she was, she was all over.

Excerpt from the poem The Magician and the Dryad by C.S. Lewis

Alice is spinning with her face to the sky. She is wearing jeans and a skirt. I watch as she spins to a stop, her neck at an impossible angle, her mouth open to the sky and falling pine needles. She stands in the only shaft of sunlight penetrating the thick forest. I look up; but I can never see what she sees.

The train is coming. Alice tilts her head straight on her neck and walks over to the tracks. She leans down and puts her ear to the cold metal.

“We can hear it coming. You don’t need to do that.” And though I tell her this I lean down anyway and put my ear to the track. I can feel the vibrations. I lift my head.

“Alice, come on, step back.” I step back. I can see the train now, through a clearing in the woods. It is the freight train; we’re here to count the cars and to squish pennies. “Alice!” I tug at the back of her sweater. “Let’s go.” She isn’t budging. I pull harder; I reel backwards; instead of Alice, I find her pink cardigan in my fist.

“Alice! Are you crazy?” The train fills my vision; it is black and it is huge. I grab Alice by the shoulder and shove her out of the way; she is seventeen but she is tiny; she falls easily to the ground. The train passes inches from my nose. The feeling of it is incredible. We all know not to stand so close when the train passes. It is sound; it is mass; it is force. It is glorious. It is better than standing on the road when the fire engines pass. It is better than a car accident.


HEART: Kimberellie

Someone You Never Knew

A painting by ME.


I think that whenever I don't have anything I really feel like writing I will see what poetry I can find on my computer. So that is what I have done tonight. I searched about my word files (I have HUNDREDS); and I found this poem. I think it is from about two years ago. Maybe a year ago.

I think this poem makes for some beautiful nonsense. I also think I will add one more.


Untitled

Love that
Christmas is coming
Love it
Love the colours of it

You there. Try and see me
Escape me. Be me.
What are we waiting for?
Is there
Somewhere
I can buy this?
I would buy this.

I miss you already.

You there. Give me naked flesh
So I can drown in it
Forget my sorrows in it
Forget sound in it

This there.
I don’t agree with it
Silly conspiracy theory
Don’t bother me with it
I subscribe to a different one

So now. Time to sleep is it?
Do you like me do you?
Take my picture now
And I will paint you in it

Stop it. Stop talking. Stop typing on
Like you have nothing real to say;
I don’t.

Look here:
I don’t


Never Knew

I’m not who I was then
She was some little girl in love with you
Desperate for your attentions
I’m not like that anymore

I would stretch this truth to cover me
To cover the nakedness of my fears
So no one would see that I am
All organs hanging out: no skin

Think of it: a wound on the fingertip still
Healing
and touch hurts

Because I pretend to be impervious
I pretend to be so much less
Heart than I am,
Compassion than I feel,

But that story, the news story that you told me:
I cried.
Because I am like this.
I am her still.

I am someone you never knew.

Kindle

Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle.

I want one.

Do you?

Some people I know DON'T want one. Not because they are crazy (though some of them are crazy) but because they have a thing for books. I have a thing for books too, but not a whole paper crumpling, page turning, "book sniffing",* thing. I mean, I like sniffing books as much as the next person. But come on! Thousands of books available INSTANTLY?

You see, what I like is what is IN books. I don't carry what sort of pretty packaging surrounds a story. I just want the story (though the Kindle is some pretty fine packaging).

The Kindle would enable me, Kimberellie, to read any book I want in 60 seconds. No more groaning over having nothing to read. No more having to run to the bookstore. No more owing the library hundreds of dollars (four hundred to be exact).

All the books I want at my fingertips. Sigh. Kindle.

I want one.

HEART: Kimberellie

*the reasons why "some people" don't want a Kindle.

Sleep Snuggles

Co-Sleeping.

In the day in his crib. At night in our bed.

Co-sleeping regulates a baby's heartbeat, breathing, reduces the risk of SIDS, and causes babies to thrive better. Plus it is all nice and snugly.

For more information: CLICK HERE.


HEART: Kimberellie

I Got Pooped On

I did. It wasn't as unpleasant as one would expect.

It's my fault really. He gave me the look that means: "Mommy I have to potty." But I was too busy reading The Clothes Horse . But then he gave me the look again.

So I got up and got him to the potty (he's only nine months, he can't walk yet, or potty by himself). Anyway, on the way to the potty: POOP.

Suffice to say I had to do laundry tonight.

Here's the little pooper himself.

Want to learn how you can get pooped on too? http://www.parttimediaperfree.com/

In other news, I reconstructed a skirt:


It was more a-line before and was, um, not so, strange? It was too big; so I was just going to take it in and make it more of a pencil skirt. But this happened (I kind of just went crazy with the sewing machine).

I am not so sure about the purple tights. If I were to wear this out for real, not just out in the hallway, I think I would do opaque black tights and gray or black slouch booties. Er, I mean slouchie BOOTS. I suppose I've got booties on the brain.

I also made a necklace:



I was inspired by The Village Idiot. I haven't enough cash for one of her necklaces. So I thought I would make my own. It certainly isn't as cool as one of hers. But I like it; and it was sure fun to make!

Here is a picture of me and my reconstructed skirt, my necklace, and my little pooper (turning him upside down is a sure way to get him to smile).




Skill testing question: What do these three things have in common?*

Think about it.


HEART: Kimberellie


*ANSWER: I made them. ;-)