Fashion Spotlight

So today, I'm working on my world history project (fashion in the 1900s) and I'm Googling pictures of different styles.  I was at the point where I was searching for vintage cocktail dresses, and I find this dress:

Pretty, right?  But my guess is you're thinking, Where is Emma going with this?
Well, I see the dress and it automatically reminds me of one a friend wore to a party last fall.  I went on Facebook to check, and I was right!  Kate wore a dress very similar to the one above, and neither of us even realized she was emulating the style of a 1950s-1960s cocktail dress.

Here's Kate's dress, so you can compare:

Different sashes, and the skirts fall differently, but there's definitely a similarity in the halter neck style and the overall look is reminiscent of the vintage cocktail dress.

2013 Academy Awards Red Carpet

About twelve hours ago, the Oscars were running over as usual.  As I watched the ceremony, I was busy collecting pictures of the best dressed.  I've compiled a list of 12 stars with 13 different looks that I deem the best.  There were a lot of fails on the red carpet, but I'm still trying to burn the images of Kristen Stewart and Fan Bingbing from my mind, so we're going to ignore those.

Let's start, shall we?

Best-Dressed of the Night

Norah Jones in Tadeshi Shoji

Absolutely stunning.  She's a jazz singer who performed last night (great voice, too), and the Art Deco look of this dress is parfait for a jazz singer.

Runner-up for Best Dressed

Catherine Zeta-Jones in Zuhair Murad

I'll admit this may just be because I love gold and sparkly dresses (thanks, Taylor Swift) but Catherine truly looks stunning.

Amy Adams in Oscar de la Renta

A ballgown must be two things: dramatic and awesome.  Amy's dress is both of those things.  This is a much better color for her than her Golden Globes dress, to boot.

Jessica Chastain in Armani Prive

Jessica said she was influenced by old Hollywood glamour, and did she ever bring it!  I love the intricate pattern on the dress, and it's a surprisingly good color for her.  Plus it's a good compliment to the red carpet.

Amanda Seyfried in Alexander McQueen

I have practically no words to describe how beautiful she looks.  Except that she looks beautiful.

Jennifer Garner in Gucci

She and Taylor Swift should have a purple party because they both look fabulous in plum and eggplant.  I also like Jennifer's hair and jewelry.

Quvenzhane Wallis in Armani Junior

She's the youngest Best Actress nominee ever.  Crazy, huh?  She's adorable and dressed just like a 9-year-old at a big event should.  Beautiful dress and her signature doggy purse is dressed in a tutu and tiara.  Points for that.

Rashida Jones in Vivienne Westwood at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party

It sparkles.  It has a draped neckline.  She looks awesome.  That is all.

Stacy Keibler in Naeem Khan

Ah, much better than that mess of a look at the Golden Globes.  Her whole look is practically making me drool.  I want that dress.  Except it would probably look terrible on me, haha.

Amy Adams in Oscar de la Renta (again) at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party

Amy Adams in so awesome, she made it into this list twice.  This is a bad picture but one awesome dress.  It reminds me of the 1920s and '30s and a bit of the Delphos style dress that Mariano Fortuny created.

Jennifer Hudson in Roberto Cavalli

Ooh, yes, a beautiful dress.  Oh, great, I just rhymed.  Jennifer just needs different shoes.  Not loving the color of those.

Now these last two are a bit sub-par, but with a few changes, I think they would garner A+'s.

Zoe Saldana in Alexis Mabille

I love every bit of this dress except for that giant bow on her hip and that basically ruins the whole thing.  Oh, yeah, and she needs brighter lipstick.  Maybe a deep maroon or burgundy, or red.

Gloria Reuben in ???

She's officially invited to Jennifer Garner and Taylor Swift's pleasant purple party.  I'm just not sure how I feel about her hair, or the two different shades of purple.  Stick with the darker one, my dear.

And that's it!  Another Academy Awards has come and gone.  Do you agree with my top 13?  Did you have other favorites?  Who tops your best dressed list?  Sound off in the comments!

A Moment to Go Down in History

Let this date be forever remembered!  On February 20, 2013 at 10:30 PM (Central Standard Time), I officially finished the first draft of my NaNo book.  I'm really proud with how it's turned out so far, and the next step is editing.  Thankfully, I don't have to completely self-edit because I have a writer as one of my best friends, and I've asked her to help me out. She'll give me feedback on content and help me catch grammatical, spelling, and continuity errors.  I'm super excited about finishing it.  It's ended up at 50,186 words so far, and that's smack in the middle of the right length for a young adult novel (40,000-60,000 words).

If you pray, please keep the editing process in your prayers. :) I'd like it to go smoothly and quickly and to help my novel to become even better.  You can also start praying that I'll be able to find an agent soon-ish.

Now I'm off to start my English paper (finally decided on a topic) and to get some sleep.  I've got a busy day tomorrow. Bonne nuit! (Good night.)

Reader Appreciation Award

Woo, another award!  This one is courtesy of Hilda, so thank you to her. :)

1) Link back to the person who nominated you. Done.
2) Attach the icon to your site. To be done shortly.
3) Answer the attached questions. Below.
4) Nominate six bloggers who you feel deserve this award, and notify them of their nomination.  Well this'll be fun...

1: What is your favorite color?

Purple.  Or gray.  Or teal.  Or chocolate brown.  Or all four.

2: What is your favorite animal?

Probably cats.

3: What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink? 

Coke, specifically cherry Coke.

4: What is your favorite number?

13 and 74.

5: What is your favorite day of the week?

Friday.

6: What is your favorite flower?

White roses.

7: What is your passion?

God, writing, and reading.

8: Do you watch television?

Yup.

9: Who is your favorite author?

Jane Austen

Heather Vogel Frederick

Shannon Hale

Ally Carter

Melanie Dickerson

Maud Hart Lovelace

Robin Jones Gunn

10: Do you like 80′s movies?

Not particularly.

11: How do you like your eggs?

Scrambled.

12: When did you discover blogging?

About a year and a half ago.  I mean, I knew of it before then, but that's when I started blogging.

13: Why do you like to blog?

I feel like it's a great way to prepare to be a writer, and I like sharing my thoughts with random people.

Nominations

1) Fashionista Jane (a.k.a. Megan Wong)

2) Gabby

3) Hannah the Banana

4) July A. Emmance

5) Mollie's Musings

6) Grace

The Homeschooling Reality

I'm using this post to clear up some myths about homeschooling, based on questions I get in public.

1) Do you actually do school, or is homeschooling just an excuse to play hooky?
Oh, I do schoolwork.  I'm taking a tough algebra II class at our co-op that could certainly prove this.  I spend less of my day doing schoolwork than the average public school student, but that's only because I can finish more quickly.

2) I bet you get all A's since your mom grades your stuff.
My mom doesn't grade all my assignments.  I have teachers at the co-op who grade about 75% of my assignments and tests.  As for the all A's...I have good grades because I'm a good student, but I have a pop quiz from Shakespeare, a couple of algebra II tests, and some Old Testament Survey assignments that prove I don't get all A's.

3) I'll bet your only friends are your siblings.
I'm an only child, so that automatically cancels out that possibility...

4) Well then, I'll bet you have no friends.
I have friends.  Not many, but I do have friends.  I don't need tons of people to hang out with, just people that who are true friends.  And then I know lots of people through my co-op.

5) You're probably some weird religious freak. That's why you're homeschooled.
Um, I'm homeschooled only partially for religious reasons.  And not all homeschoolers are religious.  I am, but that's always been a part of my life, even when I went to public and private schools.

6) What do you do for gym class?  Run around in your backyard?
Nope.  Last year, I did a fitness course through Switched on Schoolhouse, and now we have a Wii Fit, so I use that.  I'm not a very athletic person (and I'm quite uncoordinated), so sports are out of the question.

7) What grade are you in?  Do you even know the answer to that?
Yes, I know what grade I'm in.  I'm not going to say for privacy purposes, though. ;)

8) Why do you dress so fashionably, if you're a homeschooler?
Why thank you for that indirect compliment!  Maybe I dress fashionably because that's my style and homeschoolers know how to be fashionably cool?  We're not all nerds, you know.

9) Why don't you go to regular school?
Because, my parents and I feel I wouldn't get the best education possible at a public school.  With homeschooling, we can tailor my education to my needs (emphasis on English and history classes and just the science and math courses I need to graduate and get into college).

10) You must be really sheltered.
Well, yeah, I have less exposure to bad language, drugs, and inappropriate stuff, but I'm not sheltered.  I know what the real world is like.  I'm interested in news and the political realm (not as a career, though).  I know that bad things can happen.  But as I grow older, my parents expect me to make good choices and choose appropriate music, books, TV shows, movies, etc.  And I kinda wish I was more sheltered, so I could miss out on things like Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Twilight, and more.

11) Homeschoolers are really shy and antisocial.
Welp.  I don't help that stereotype any... yeah, I'm shy, but I can also be outgoing and vivacious and crazy.  I'm just shy around strangers and people I don't know so well.  I've been like that since elementary school.  And, no, I'm actually not antisocial.  Maybe occasionally, but I do like to hang out with friends and go places, like the mall, and Starbucks, and the library (just to name three).

12) You have no life.
And you base this claim on what?  The fact that I'm a homeschooler?  I go to a co-op.  This co-op has events that I go to.  I have friends.  We hang out.  I blog.  I go to church and volunteer in the Mothers Of PreSchoolers nursery on Thursdays.  I have a math study group.  I can go shopping or to a movie or bake or whatever pretty much whenever I want.  Whereas people who attend public and private schools are stuck in classrooms for about 8 hours and then go home and do homework for several more hours.

13) How awesome is it to do school in your pajamas?
Okay, this is one myth that is completely true.  It is very awesome to do school in my PJs.  I can wake up at, say, 8 AM, grab my laptop, and write an English paper, all from the comfort of my bed.  Pajamas=comfort.  The more comfortable I am, the better I can focus.

Lastly, watch this awesome video by BlimeyCow.  It is 100% true.

Four Exciting Moments

Throughout my life, I've had several exciting moments.  But as a writer and book lover here are four that stand out to me.

1) When Heather Vogel Frederick replied to my e-mail.  First of all, it's cool to have one of your favorite authors reply to an e-mail.  Secondly, she let me know that the MDBC series wasn't ending with five books, that she was writing a sixth.  That made for a very happy Emma.

2) When Heather Vogel Frederick commented on my blog (I posted about it here: http://bookworm716.blogspot.com/2011/11/oh-my-mdbc.html).  This coupled with the last exciting moment created an over-the-moon Emma.

3) Yesterday, Shannon Hale Tweeted that she was going to be MIA on Twitter for awhile, so she had a Q&A session, and someone asked if she was starting a new project.  Shannon said a super secret one, and she was currently wearing a trench coat and fedora.  I decided to ask what color trench and fedora.  She replied to my Tweet and said "A nice inconspicuous purple."  One of my favorite authors has replied to me on Twitter. O_O

4) Today, Ally Carter, author of the awesome Gallagher Girls and Heist Society series, replied to my Twitter question (I asked what her favorite classic novel is).  She said Pride and Prejudice and To Kill a Mockingbird.  Not only did she reply to my Tweet, but those are my two favorite classic novels.

And now this very happy, excited Emma is going to channel this energy to write a ton in her novel.