~*a random update of sorts...

Its been quite awhile since I've updated on just every day life (aside from my post here,) soooo I've decided to go ahead and write this post. Yes, I admit to have been avoiding it. Not because life has been unkind (though it is never easy,) but because there is so much to say! ;)

First off,  I must admit that I am immensely pleased with my blog re-vamp. I do this every couple of months..ya know, tire of my current template design, or realize that it just isn't as loverly as maybe one of my sisters (oh yes, go check out their blogs if you haven't!) And so I scramble about for pretty pictures...roses,  Parisian prettiness and the whatnot...voila! The all-new '{The} Last Rose of Summer.' What do you think of my header???

So this and other blogging makeover projects have been keeping me busy. Cabin fever has set in HARD not only for me, but for the entire F. family. Recent events  have made parts of life rather confusing and distracting, but I am trying my very hardest to maintain a good attitude. Of course this is often easier said then done. However I've found that keeping myself constantly busy - even if that means folding *another* load of laundry, is chasing away the winter blues. What have you been doing to cure the cabin fever bug?

Right now I am anticipating my upcoming 20th birthday. TWENTY. For some reason it just isn't sinking in...b-b-but, my childhood days are over. "I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow u-up! Not me." Anyone want to fly away with me to Neverland? 'Cause that's where I'm headed. ;) No, but seriously - I am very much looking forward to what the Lord has planned for my future. 

A couple of weeks ago I did a little study on personality types...so neato! Though I haven't taken any of the tests (yet,) just from reading up on the different traits I've come to the conclusion that I am mainly EXPRESSIVE, but also slightly Analytical/Melancholy as well as a bit Dominant. I am very extroverted, a non-stop talker, (that's an understatement, :P ) fun loving, deep thinking, etc, etc. Anyhow, its been too much fun piecing together the different traits I see in my family members...uh, maybe I should do a more extended post sometime. ;)

I'm looking forward to spring...but aren't we all? March and April mean my friend Kate's English Country Dance Ball, my 2nd time seeing my favorite Celtic group The High Kings in concert, and the most thrillingest part...Les Miserables, live from the West End (but with an American cast). :faint:

Uncle Tom's Cabin may be a controversial novel, but its one of my favorites. Forget the propaganda part of it all...its.simply.beautiful. So gorgeously written, and the storyline! - though I could have done without Eva St. Clare's perfection. Honestly. But her father's character swept me away, and I confess, Augustine St. Clare's death scene literally kept me awake a whole night. :nervous laugh: Me, become attached to fictitious characters? *ahem* But its pretty hard *not too*, when an author has breathed life into them, made them REAL...Anyone agree??

I'm dreaming of a new piano. It is my biggest passion and prayer. Playing the piano, letting all my stress, my joy, my peace, my deepest feelings flow from my fingers...feeling the spine-tingling thrill when I touch those keys and music spills forth - music created by me. Its indescribable. Lord willing I will save enough this year not only to buy a spinet, but also begin lessons again. o.O My goal is to get some sort of degree and teach from the home.



I've never seen The Princess Bride, and am proud of the fact. Just had to throw that out there. Ok, so I fell into the peer pressure and saw several of the Austin movies, (no comment or opinion, :P ) but no...The Princess Bride has never been seen in the F. home.

Last but not least, I am thrilled to be hosting my very first giveaway - don't forget to enter!

{I will be very impressed if you made it allll the through this rather random post ;) }

Hm. Come to think of it, I really didn't update you at all...oy. hehe

Our twist on the Laendler ~

Recently my sister Anna learned a simple variation of the Laendler, the beautiful waltz from 'The Sound of Music.' Of course I had to learn it as well. ;) Soooo we did, and were pestered by several people into making a video. Here it is!

For some reason it seems as though the youtube upload is a little blurry, almost as if our faces are smudged. Not sure why that happened. :-/

*in this video* I am wearing my blue vintage-original 1950's party dress. I just love it - so simple yet dainty, and oh so swishy! Perfect for dancing. Mmhmm...gotta love vintage EVERYTHING. 

I was so born in the wrong era. ;) 

Anna is in the pink dress, also a vintage-original,(1940's.) She is dancing the mans part. *ahem* 

I'd love to know your thoughts! :)

Elegance according to brocade and puffed sleeves...

Finally! Actual pictures of one of my sewing projects! ;) Here is the incomplete (but nearly finished) bodice of the Regency gown I am making. What do you think of that amazing brocade fabric? I thought it had a very old-fashioned, elegant, almost Colonial-era touch to it.

The bodice neckline will be  gathered - for now I pinned it flat to the dress form. It was given to me recently by my Nonno (grandfather.) Wasn't that sweet? I am hoping to eventually acquire a full length, adjustable dress form, but this will do for now! - trying to think up a good name for her. Any suggestions? 

The sleeves still need binding and like I mentioned above the neckline needs gathering. (Sorry about the messy strings all over the place.)  Other then THAT  I am very pleased with my work so far. ;) Lord willing I will soon have an Esty shop started! :) 

...now to tackle the skirt placket. Yikes. o.O 

My piano, my friend

~*~ one of my very favorite pastimes ~*~

{picture by Anna}

"Pianos are such noble instruments - they're either upright or grand."

~ Author Unknown

"A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence."
~ Leopold Stokowski

"To play without passion is inexcusable!"

~ Ludwig van Beethoven

"One man gets nothing but discord out of a piano; another gets harmony. No one claims the piano is at fault."

~ Author Unknown

Without a piano I don't know how to stand, don't know what to do with my hands.
~ Norah Jones

"The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air."

~ Kenneth Miller