A Jane Austen Retreat at Wiawaka

A Jane Austen Retreat at Wiawaka

I’m back from the Jane Austen retreat. Every part of my body hurts, I’m exhausted, but I had such a good time. I wanted to share a little about the weekend while it was fresh on my mind.

Camping in the Adirondacks

Camping in the Adirondacks

A year ago, we did our first camping trip with friends. We’ve camped a number of times with family, but had never been fully independent camping. We’d camp with my parents and they brought the camp kitchen and planned the meals. I was pretty nervous the first time we went it alone. But then we had an amazing time and were talking about doing it again this year by the end of that first trip.

The Hinterland Dress

The Hinterland Dress

I want to share a new project with you – three years after getting the pattern, I finally made my first Hinterland Dress. I chose the sleeveless version.

This dress is a testament of my commitment to both procrastination and perfectionism.

Building A Jane Austen/Early Regency Era Wardrobe

Building A Jane Austen/Early Regency Era Wardrobe

I have a costumed retreat coming up this summer, so I’ve been slowly working to put together outfits with the goal of having 4 complete costumes, a banyan, and some mix and match accessories by the time the retreat rolls around in August.

I had a Jane Austen-themed tea to attend this past weekend. I made a new costume, in hopes of rewearing  it (maybe with different accessories) at the retreat.

Instead of knowing what I wanted the final costume to look like, I had an aesthetic inspiration painting, by Henri Francois Mulard, ca. 1810.

The Safe Place

The Safe Place

These past weeks, unless you were living under a rock, the already scary, unpredictable, and unfeeling world we’ve been living in got worse. Then a few days ago, one of my teenage daughters was assaulted by a former friend over a false rumor.