First Lady Fashions

In June, I was asked to participate in a panel at the American Library Association Conference.
This is sort of a big deal in the Library world, and I was excited about being on the panel... and having the chance to visit Washington, D.C. again. With my friend and co-worker, Chapple... again. So back to the East coast, and of course --

It was stinkin' hot. Walking down the street and the sweat drips down your back hot. My hair curls all by itself hot. Well, that was one advantage, I never had to break out the curling iron.

Since I'd been in DC last year for the RWA Conference, (where I was named Librarian of the Year, just in case I need to remind you,) I decided to target a few things to see on this trip. Especially since when you're attending a conference, you don't always get to see as much as you'd like. There's that pesky conference thing always interfering with your free time.

So, I decided to visit the American History Museum, (part of the Smithsonian). After dropping my suitcases off at the hotel, I got directions and discovered I wouldn't even need to use my Metro card. The museum was just down the street.

I love museums as much as I love libraries, and if you know me -- that's saying a lot because I have BIG LOVE for libraries. When you give a former American History teacher a museum filled with very cool stuff from the history of these good old United States, I'm one happy camper.

And the very first exhibit I head toward is "Inauguration Gowns of the First Ladies" -- because if there's fashion, I want to be around it! This exhibit was pretty crowded, but if you moved along in the line, you had the chance to see a fashion history of the US.

This dress was worn my Mary Todd Lincoln, and everyone exclaimed over her tiny waist. Hello people -- women were tiny then and the wore CORSETS, rearranging their insides so their outside would be fashionable.

This Victorian beauty wanted her butt to look really big, so she wore a bustle. Of all the fashions throughout the ages, this is the one that really makes me shake my head. Maybe because the Victorians were all button-ed up from head to toe, this was their version of sexy.


This is Mamie Eisenhower's dress, and who knew she was such a hot number, wearing red and all? I love this fifties style, and I have a red dress I wear once in a while for costume events that's very similar to this.








Then there's our newest First Lady, who has changed the way we wear sweater sets and slim skirts. Michele Obama was one hot Mama is this gown dripping crystals.





There was one other dress in the museum that caught my eye. Many of you will recognize as being worn by a woman I consider the first lady of comedy. I actually remember the night Carol Burnett wore this dress as Scarlett O'Hara in what is a classic funny skit from her show.



I'll post about the fabulous machine room, (including STEAM machines - to the delight of my Steampunk lovin' heart) next week. So come on back and see some photos, including a machine actually designed by Tesla.

Driving Mr. de Lint

One of the best benefits of my job is the opportunity to meet amazing authors. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to be the escort, (sounds racy, huh?) for author Charles de Lint and his wife, Mary Ann Harris.

This is the second time they've visited the library system to do programs, so I was really looking forward to this opportunity. When I drive people around, it gives me a chance to talk about writing, the book business, publishing, etc. And in the case of Mary Ann and Charles - the conversation expands to discuss Steampunk, vintage clothes, (Mary Ann has a business buying and selling) and fantasy books.

At the school program, they delighted their audience of middleschoolers when they showed up with guitar, mandolin and harmonica. Charles and Mary Ann are also musicians, and they talk about writing, the characters in Charle's books, and they sing about the things that motivate them. Things like the drive to their camp in Ontario, Canada and all the interesting small towns and people along the way.





Charles also presented a writing workshop, and that's another great benefit to my job. All the amazing authors I get to hear talk about their process. Here are a few hints from Charles de Lint.

• Start the story right away in the first chapter. Don't waste time trying to "catch" the reader up and give all the character background at once.
• Consider if you are using telling verbs - thought, decided, felt, wondered - instead of showing the action
• Don't name the emotion, show it on the page
• Voice - it's the language of your characters
• Try to find your voice by "becoming" your character, stepping into their shoes like a method actor
• Magic has a cause and effect. Every magical element should have a cost, and there should be an "antidote" or dangerous element to the magic. Think kryptonite for Superman
• Beware of too much magic, where the story and characters get lost because of the magical elements

I think one of the best ways to become a better writer is to read really good writing. Not so you can "copy" the way the writer works, but so you can see the many different ways a writer can express a story. Every story will be different depending upon the person telling it, but we can learn so much from prolific, amazing authors like Charles.

Why Can't My Characters Behave?

At my last GSRWA (Greater Seattle Romance Writers of America) meeting our presenter, Ellis Flynn, was talking about Science Fiction, Fantasy and Urban Fantasy. Of course, because I was there we talked about Steampunk.Then, the Steamed blog started this fabulous month of special events to celebrate their one year anniversary! And one of the things we can do to win a $150.00 shopping spree is to create a costume for a character using the cool stuff at Clockwork Couture. Well, you KNOW how I am about clothes, so of course I had to try this. This is what I finally came up with.





My character, Jezebel Fremont, is a privateer for the US Air Corps. and her ship, The Liberty Belle, is charged with intercepting and commandeering weapons and supplies from the Confederate States of America. (That's where she got the cool gun).

She's supposed to be a supporting character in my Steam-punk book, but Jezebel is never happy about being a supporting anything, and I think she's demanding her own book.

At least she has a great uniform. And you should see her "dress-up" clothes. Let's just say, Jezebel cleans up nicely. Just ask Harrison Kellogg.

And one final confession, I bought the hat at the top of the page. I really, really wanted that hat after I seen it Alice in Wonderland. So -- now I have it. Where can I order Johnny Depp?


*Airship Pirate Image from http://homarusrex.deviantart.com/

We'll Always Have Paris!

When I told my sister I planned to meet a friend in Paris, she sighed and said, "That makes you sounds like an international jet setter..." and to be honest it was fun to say. The fact that the friend is a guy, (younger) and former co-worker makes it even more fun, as I spread the rumor that I'd be having a rendezvous with Mike in Paris. Hey -- I'm a romance author, it's good publicity. (And Mike's a great sport!)

So, on Wednesday morning, armed only with all our maps, Sheryl and I set off to have a rendezvous, (which means meeting in French).

The first challenge is finding the Ledru-Rollin market, as we turn in different directions trying to decide where we need to go. Finally, a sign points us to the market. Then we circle the block, because there were many corners... until a man comes running toward us with arms outstretched. It's Mike and we join him and several of his friends for hot chocolate at the cafe.

One of his friends lives in Paris, so we receive the hug with the kiss on each cheek that's traditional in France. Then we shake hands with the other friend. Over our hot chocolate we talked about the flights we took on Iceland Air, their visit to Iceland and our first impressions of Paris.

We tour the market and Sheryl bargains for an antique lighter for her husband and I purchase a silk fan for a co-worker. Finally, we part, but of course we use that famous line from "Casablanca" -- "we'll always have Paris."

On to Notre Dame.

Of course, you've seen it in photos, but being there, next to the Seine, with the spires reaching up to God and the Saints looking down at us is the experience of a lifetime. We wander through the church, I light a candle in memory of my son Garth. We remain quiet and awestruck by the Gothic beauty of this cathedral. There's a peace to Notre Dame, even in the midst of all the visitors. I marvel at the dedication of the builders who loved God enough to sacrifice so much to demonstrate their faith.

After touring the cathedral, we enjoy the view of the boats, the strolling tourists and the lovely houses on each side of the river. It was a "pinch me again, because I don't believe I'm in Paris" moment.

We travel on to the Sainte Chapelle chapel. I'd been told by friends to make time to visit this "jewel box" of a church, and we aren't disappointed. Our only glitch is a wait in line to tour the Police Station, discovering too late it isn't necessary for us to go through the X-ray. Plus, my friend Sheryl had a nail file in her bag and the Police thought it was mine. Since I don't speak enough French to understand and they spoke no English, they decided that two not even five ft. tall Americans probably couldn't do a lot of damage with a nail file.

St. Chapelle is filled with exquisite painted surfaces and incredible stained glass windows. To say it's breathtaking doesn't do the church justice.

We finally discover the elusive Bus #69, and hop on. As we ride past the Musee D'Orsay, the bus backs up to make a tight turn, (despite all the pedestrians who don't seem to realize a bus is bigger than they are) and through the gates of the Louvre with only inches to spare. This driver is the best!

Next stop: The Eiffel Tower. My assistant, who is French, told me that we shouldn't waste the extra money to pay for the elevator to the top, but simply climb to the second level. What she didn't tell me was there would be nearly 800 steps up to that second level. Of course, we've been walking for days, hauling luggage and basically getting in shape for this climb.

We reach the first level and stop to take photos. I'm winded and my cheeks are quite rosy. But, I'm determined to get up to the second level, and I remind myself I can do it -- one step at a time.

And I do. The view is worth the effort, as we wander all around, make some new friends from Israel and Spain, spend some money in the gift shop, (after all -- it's the Eiffel Tower) and enjoy the light show from INSIDE the tower.

As dusk descends, we watch the "city of light" begin to glow and even though we've been busy nearly every minute -- we've had a wonderful day. We search for a place to eat and manage to be the nightly entertainment for one restaurant crew -- as we ask if we can have dinner. They laugh and the owner says, "Americans! We don't open until 8pm". It's around 6:30pm and we are starving. We haven't had anything to eat since our hot chocolate with Mike and his buddies. So we settle on a small pâtisserie on a corner. Although no one speaks English, I manage to use my very rough French enough to order. We enjoy the French version of pizza and have them box up two pastries to take back to our room.

The evening ends with wine and dessert in our room. Our feet hurt, we're exhausted but we've had a lovely first full day in Paris.

Paris!

Guest Blogger - Sheryl

We arrive in Paris via the Eurostar. A very nice journey, the countryside in France is just like a storybook. I would be happy forevermore living in any one of the villages we passed. The sun is out, what could possibly go wrong?

Thankfully, we only had two really bad hours in Paris and they were our first two. We get off the train and are immediately surrounded by Gypsies trying to part the two silly American women from their money. We spend 20 minutes standing in line for a Metro ticket machine that doesn't work, then another 20 at the live person ticket booth. The lovely woman selling us tickets makes sure we get the best deal we can, but with our spotty French, it takes a while.

Then stairs, stairs, stairs! Which wouldn’t be an issue if we weren’t both lugging around about 75 pounds worth of luggage. Se la vi! Our two first words spoken often and profusely in France are “Pardon” and “Merci”

We finally manage to get on a Metro train, but we're kind of freaked out, because everything is in French and we have no idea if we're going in the right direction - so we hop off at the first stop, and Viola! We are right were we need to be.

One thing I must say about the French…they are the nicest, friendliest, most helpful people I have ever met -- with the exception of the first French woman we encounter. Now, you must first envision that everything in Europe is not super-sized, so we are on this teeny tiny escalator with all of our luggage, pretty much blocking it so no one can get by, although it's only about two feet wide. And suddenly this French woman starts loudly complaining about us because she just missed the train. Did I mention a train comes about every 3 minutes? I think that is what the French gentleman yelled back at her. He defended the silly American women and was our lovely hero.
Okay, so we manage to get on the right train, disembark, drag our unwieldy bags up stairs (maybe there was a lift???) and we are standing in the middle of a beautiful Paris intersection. We’re finally in Paris!!!!

But our journey isn’t quite over. We have no idea where we are or how to get to our hotel. Note to self, when carrying luggage, always use a taxi. Seriously, it was at least ½ mile away and the best news was that it's sunny out. Thank goodness. (Note from Deb - Sheryl was seriously freaked out by the neighborhood, but we later realized we had nothing to fear.)

We arrive at our adorable hotel, unpack and now the fun begins. We find what will become our favorite bus #31, (which we ride often to get to the closest Metro station) and head for the Arc de Triomphe which quickly becomes the first and last place we go nearly every day.

Is this place PINK enough or what? Our room was pink, pink, pink. We love it! And it looks down at a small square so we can spy on all the local people below us.

We decide to head to the Eiffel tower to see if we can find the mysterious bus #69 which Rick Steves says is the best bus ride in Paris. We find the Eiffel tower and are breathless. We are really here! However the elusive #69 is nowhere to be found. But there are lots of police, everywhere... and then two cars come speeding by, and that's it.

We think the President of France had some Christmas shopping to do.

We never find the elusive bus #69 but decide we’ve done a lot for our first ½ day and head back to the Champs Elysées.

It's dark now and the place is lit up for the season. So amazing!!! We window shop for a new Mercedes and other high end purchases. Then we see it, the mother ship…Sephora Paris! This store is so big I don’t think we make it much further then the front of the store. I get some nice red lipstain and Deb goes gaga over all the perfumes. When we finally leave, it begins to rain.

We duck into some of the little “malls” in between the big stores. It's a perfect excuse to window shop.

A woman selling the most exquisite shoes you have ever seen “allows” us to enter her shop and take one picture. (Note from Deb: These boots still make me seriously shiver. I just LOVE them. I have boot envy.)

We discover a shop with cool stuff, a funky chair and we make some new friends.

Exhausted, we finally head back to the hotel, grab a bottle of wine at a neighborhood shop and end up eating dinner in an adorable Mediterranean restaurant that has the best hummus I’ve ever tasted.

All in all an amazing first day in Paris.