the quirky brunette: Brooklyn

Happy Sunday!

(I'm truly keeping my finger on the pulse these days, mes amis...)

And on the subject of FRIENDS... (oh, see what I did there?) I'm dedicating this post in its entirety and absolute-ness to CHARLIE KILBORN. There you go, Charlie, this one's for you, lady! I'll tell you all for why (and it's not just because she asked nicely). It's because she is my new fashion guru, and also because she (and Jos) are responsible for some of the best nights out I've had these last two years, and the best opportunities I've had in some time.

Also, she's the one who leads me astray and makes me eat chips from a kebab shop after a night out.

And she's very clever with a crochet hook and a bottle top.

And she found me the most brilliant flapper wall plaque whom I now call Myrtle.

(Oh and she's lovely.)

Next up, allow me to apologise for the rather fractured nature of this Summary. It's our Advent Carol Service tonight, and I'm frenetically typing this bad boy in the vain hope that I might get it online before I have to zip over to the church and then sit for half an hour even-more-frenetically sorting music that should have been sorted days ago... before frenetically robing up and then trying, frenetically, not to set our polyester robes alight with the requisite candles. Sucks to be me.

UPDATE: We came, we sang, we conquered -- we're all now a little hoarse, and this blog post is still in the making. These things take time.

But I do have some exciting* news, two-fold news, if you will. This week, I have mostly been...

CLOCKING UP MY 50K (UNOFFICIAL) NANOWRIMO TARGET!

{Why yes, people, I did indeed have an Excel spreadsheet,
with formulae, set up to track my progress...}

and... more excitingly (especially if your name is Georgina and you've been waiting a whole gestation period for this announcement...)

FINISHING EDITING GEORGE'S BOOK!

I think this calls for the following:

Happy Dork Dance

Fist Bump to Self

and a virtual one of these:

*it's all comparative, people...

Of course having put two projects to bed, I'm about to reawaken another little project. But not until tomorrow. Let's not go crazy, now.

Also this week, I have mostly been...

Reading | Brooklyn

Watching | House

Seriously.

Cameron.

Get the memo.

HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU.

(Or is he? Either way, she's the most frustratingly mercurial, drippy little girl doctor ever committed to the small screen. Urgh.)

Getting party-purty**

**again, all comparative

It's our work Christmas party this coming Thursday. Which never ceases to bring to mind the following scene from Love Actually...

SPOILER ALERT: THIS IS FICTION

Regardless. I don't need a charismatic, bespectacled Brazilian designer to make my party rock (though it'd be nice...). No, for this year's party venue theme is rumoured to be:

{The Labyrinth ball scene
SQUEEEE!}

...which has been my fantasy party theme since, well, 1989.

For the last few years there's been a fairly solid theme to my Christmas party dress choice:

2008... flapper dress...

2009... flapper dress...

2010... flapper dress... ish...

2011... Oh! Not a flapper dress! But not my
finest party dress moment.
Or, in fact, moment of any time.

2012... flapper dress... (see also 2008...)
With additional Clarey bonus

2013. OK, I get the
message...

So, while a flapper dress is my go-to, it has been decreed that it's time for a change. (And I'd be inclined to agree in spite of my flapper proclivities...)

So, cue Charlie, dress guru extraordinaire, who thought something a little more form-fitting might be appropriate this year. After all, I suspect Jareth's over his weird and ever so slightly wrong moody-teenager fixation by now. One would hope.

{That's not dubious at all, now, is it...}

Hormonal intervention decreed that I heard 'form-fitting' and immediately had visions of requiring 'support' along these lines:

All the same, I followed the guidance of my guru, who thought something a little 1950s might work.

Now, as the above photos might decree, with the exception of those sexy sexy purple sequins (said no person ever), I'm a little averse to colour in my winter party dresses. So I messaged Charlie with the following choices:

from that renowned boutique more commonly known as eBay.

That but in a brighter colour, maybe! Thus spake Charlie.

And lo and behold, after some -- you guessed it, FRENETIC -- eBay-searching and parameter-setting, this little beauty popped up on-screen.

Bought.

Done and done.

Afraid you'll have to wait until next week for the full QB-in-frock reveal. Soz.

Of course, a day after I'd clicked that all-crucial Buy it now button, I received in the post the most gorgeous, also form-fitting, little flapper-esque dress from Georgina. Oh, the conflict! LOOK AT IT!

(And... here's me in it. Pardon the hair. And the po-face. This was taken on a pre-hair-wash, post-Voicerox night, with no supportive grundies, at about 11pm. Oh, come on. I can't look fabulous all the time.)

But I am aiming to leave the house more than once over the festive season, so with any luck both frocks will get an airing.

So, thank you, Charlie, and thank you, George -- I'm almost ready for party season. And no constructive underwear as yet required.

Which is nice.

Visiting | the Museum of Brands in Notting Hill

On Thursday our bi-annual sales conference took place in a function room at the Museum of Brands, and we were lucky enough to get a tour of the museum itself. And it was fantastic -- a history of brands and packaging since 1800s to modern day. Here are a few highlights (apologies for the ropey snapping):

SORRY, no Ten Pins this week. I appear only to have pinned three images since last Sunday.

I've been neglecting my Pinterest boards.

So, moving swiftly on:

Weekly Weblinks

Literary Linkage

Great writing advice | including some from David Levithan!
Russell Brand: Schools without libraries are a disgrace
The best library bars | my kinda places...
1970s children's book | sexism or social commentary?

Non-literary Linkage

Tesco 'gifts for boys' sign removed after customer complaint | and it wouldn't hurt a certain "Young Pedagogic Emporium" to take a good, hard look at its archaic packaging strategy, just sayin'...
The longest urban trampoline is coming to London!
Check out the (£3.25m) Victorian mansion with a surprise inside...
These videos on YouTube on the BuzzFeedViolet channel have been making me smile in recognition lately:

Big Bang Theory Lego gets green(lantern...)-lit | I'll take a Sheldon, please

Flying dogs in pictures

And finally...

It's a cat in a bowtie. Yes.

Off to embark on the party season. Wish me luck, I'm goin' in...

qb xxx

Hello to you!

I couldn't deprive you of a Summary two weeks running, now, could I? Well, I could, theoretically, but I won't because that would be slack and a bit mean.

So here I am, merry Christmas, everybody's having fun, an' all that jazz.

This ~~week~~ fortnight, I have mostly been...

Reading | more David Levithan

***ATTENTION, EVIE!!!***

YOU MAY WISH TO SCROLL DOWN BEYOND THIS SEGMENT AS HERE BE SPOILERS (of sorts) ON INVISIBILITY, or at least opinions that may or may not influence your view on a book you haven't yet read!

{Invisibility | Andrea Cremer
& David Levithan}

{Marly's Ghost | David Levithan}

Don't get me wrong. I love this man and his writing and will happily devour everything he publishes. I just have a greater preference for some of his work than others. Every Day will always be my favourite as it's the one that turned me onto his writing in the first place. I'm pretty fond of Two Boys Kissing as well. And Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green).

But for some reason neither Marly's Ghost nor Invisibility worked as well for me. Pour moi, Monsieur Levithan est plus fort quand ... sorry, not sure why I went all French on you then, no reason other than bafflebrain... he's strongest when he's writing originally (see: Every Day!), and writing by himself (with the notable exception of WG, WG). Invisibility lacked much distinction between the voices and by that I mean the voice of Elizabeth versus that of Stephen. I couldn't dive into a chapter midway and automatically know whose voice it was without reading through the previous scene and trying to work it out from there.

And I think Marly's Ghost could have been far more original even having been based on A Christmas Carol. It was fun to discern the references, but so much of the dialogue felt more Dickensian than 'Levithan-ian'.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy either of these books -- I did, I've just enjoyed other titles by Levithan more.

***OK, EVIE, YOU CAN COME BACK NOW!***

Now reading | Brooklyn, by Colm Tóibín

Writing

...like a demon

...but a nice benevolent one

...fuelled mostly by coffee and desire

...to hit that 50k mark on 30th November. #nanowrimo #whichiamstilldoing #albeitunofficially

At the last count, I'm up to ~~35,586~~ ~~36,049~~ 36,580 words, with a week to go, and a mere ~~14,414~~ ~~13,951~~ 13,420 words to eke out before then (I am behind target again but determined to catch myself up. Darn you, responsible working life. And darn you, House...).

Rewatching | Music and Lyrics
...with the lovely young-ish ladies of the parish last weekend. I'd forgotten how brilliant this is:

Ooh, now, Hugh Grant. Love Actually. Is it too early to start watching it yet...?

Listening | to these three songs on repeat. On repeat. On repeat.

1. My Love is Your Love | Whitney Houston

Poignantly prophetic lyrics that I'd never really paid attention to before...

2. Feeling of Being | Lucy Schwartz (from What Maisie Knew) (audio only, no video)

I make no apologies for this third number, included especially for Natalie in remembrance of songs sung in garden centres and toy shops this weekend!

3. Let it Go | Idina Menzel