Victoria Magazine is back!

I was just in Books a Million and I noticed what I first thought was an old Victoria magazine. I see them from time to time in antique stores and was wondering why an old copy was in BAM. Then I realized it was a new issue! I loved this magazine. YEAH!

Gothic Halloween

I have finished decorating for Halloween and for Michelle Ward's Crusade No. 13 - Gothic for the GPP Street Team! Here is my interpretation of a Gothic Halloween....

Fireplace mantel...

Black tree...

Coffee table coffin with skeleton inside...

Fireplace graveyard...

Fortune telling area with crystal ball, ouija board, magic eight ball, and fortune telling cards...

Edgar Allan Poe writing table, with raven on skull in cage and vintage mourning letters...

Happy Halloween...And some of my Halloween stuff close up from an earlier post...

Click here

Elizabeth

I went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age today. It was a really good movie. I loved all the costumes and the Gothic churches and castles. Especially when she suited up in armor for battle.

Patent leather

Ever since my days in the Air Force...

I have always loved patent leather. When we wore dress blues, (I usually wore the dark blue skirt instead of the pants), the shoe was a black patent leather pump. Since then, I have loved the look and feel of patent leather.

Look at these cool Jessica Simpson's in black patent!

They are sneaky too, because there is an inch of height under the toe too, so even though the heel is about 4 inches, it feels like only 3 inches. And my 5'2" self is now 5'6"! We would not have been allowed to wear these in the Air Force. I think the UCMJ is 35-10.


And while on the subject of shoes - I have a huge crush on these Kate Spade's. They are more like art than flip flops. The heels are so unusual and they are surprisingly comfortable.
Well, back to decorating for Halloween. I need some more fake web stuff.

I love HALLOWEEN!

Bought these coffins for my Halloween displays. This one even came with a smaller one inside. I like the cross with roses on top and the winged skulls with handles on the side....

I bought this super cool candy tray from Target. It is called a Raven Candy Bowl. And when you talk or move near it, it says things like Nevermore, Nevermore... and Beware, danger as the crow flies. But once I heard Nevermore, I had to get it. The wings flap, the eyes lights up, the whole things moves around and the head moves too. And the Raven sits on a tombstone. So Cool! Sorry my camera only does video and not not sound. This might stay out all year long in the Poe library!

And some more scary Halloween decorations for this year...

Raven bowl (can use this after Halloween too)

Punch bowl with awesome ladle.

Inside the bowl...

And these great appetizer plates.

All these things were from Department 56. I love how they have a bunch of gothic stuff for my type of Halloween decorator instead of just all cute stuff.

I will be decorating the house this weekend and will post pictures soon. I have to find the perfect place for my black Christmas tree.

Garden Spells

Just got through reading this book - Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen - it is so good. It is about a magical garden behind a house in North Carolina and the special powers the girls of the family have. I especially like Evanelle who has the need to give people things that they will need in the future some time. I will have to add Sarah Addison Allen to my list of authors so that I remember to check out her next book. The whole time I was reading it, I kept thinking about the movie Chocolat and also how this will make a great movie.

Here is the review from BAMM:

In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.

The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.

A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys—except for Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.

When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down—along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy—if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom—or with each other.

Enchanting and heartfelt, this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own….