Happy New Year! Mad Hattery and King L, Plus 2019 Reading Resolution Recap

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

"Hello to all my fans."

Here's to another year of having fun with our clothes!

This New Year's Eve, as with all our New Year's Eves, we spent with our group of friends, aka Party in a Box, so-called because if you invite us to anything, you get an instant party. They are the "family we choose," and I love them dearly.

We all met up at Cactus Club for dinner, and then went to Justin's studio for dancing and laughing and drinking till the wee hours.

As you can see, I went subtle (snort).

I'm demanding comfort first from my clothes for 2020, so we have a bigass tulle and netting skirt on the bottom - it even has an elastic waist.

• Sweater - Maison Scotch, thrifted; purchased here for $22.99
• Skirt - Twinset, consignment; purchased here for $78.00
• Boots - Prepare 2.0 Tracker, Fluevog; purchased here with gift cards
• Leather trenchcoat (below) - vintage 70s, thrifted; last seen here just over a week ago

I felt a little Stevie Nicks in this.

Sexy pose!

This is the first wearing of my new-to-me cotton sweater, and I loved the loose but also fitted (sleeves/waist) cut of it. I struggle with baggy shapes on top, but this one works.

I adored this wonderful netting/tulle skirt - it was very swooshy, and fun for dancing (which I did a lot of!). For walking anywhere, I rolled the waistband up - no dragging in the gutters for this Klassy chic!

Compared to other New Year's Eves, this is a dark, covered-up look for me. I'm deploying Clothing as Armour, of course, and being rather introverted. I haven't been around people for nearly a week (only in small doses). I have a feeling going back to work will be a shock to my system!

Due to the low brim of the hat, I was able to engage in eye contact as I felt like it.

Wonderful hat, isn't it? I took it off at the restaurant, but otherwise wore it the whole night.

I wore solid black tights under it, and I have a black cami on under the sweater for extra warmth/smoothing.

Here's your New Year's couple: the Mad Hatter and His Royal Highness, King L.

Yeah, baby! Here's to another year of shenanigans with my best guy.

Doesn't he look wonderful? He spotted the brass crown while out Christmas shopping for me at the Antique Mall. It was labeled a Mardi Gras crown.

L is quite good at outfits in his own right, and put this outfit together all on his own, with only a few snide snarky helpful comments from me.

I bought him the gold lame (lah-MAY, darling!) cummerbund and bow tie from WIN about a year ago, for only $1.95 each, and the shirt was a Christmas present this year that I picked up at House of Savoy.

The trousers are from Turnabout, can't remember where we got that dark blue velvet blazer, though. The lion head pendant is from the late 90s, and I can't remember where the dragon pin came from, but it's been with us for a while. His shiny blue shoes are Fluevog, of course!

I love this picture. This is L losing patience with me, but doing what I'm asking anyway.

"As you wish." 

I might steal that crown!

Bundled up for outdoors. We had the worst weather! Pelting rain, gusts of wind up to 60 km/hour. I carried an umbrella in addition to this and it inverted several times (and I have a good quality brolly that doesn't do that). There was much plaintive whining as I hobbled along taking very small, cautious steps.

My bag is loaded up with cans of soda water, Fresca and Lindt chocolate balls, and I carried more soda in a separate bag. Heavy! It was an ordeal, walking to town, then to the party venue, then home at 3am (although with much less chocolate and fewer cans!).

• Hat - vintage, thrifted
• Scarf - gift from Mom
• Gloves - Cejon
• Purse - vintage 80s, vintage mall

The stuff:

It had mostly stopped raining by the time we walked home, so I let the hat get wet (it's wool, no worries). These shoes were fabulous, although by the end of the evening, my feet were pretty tired! They performed admirably in the rain.

Loaded bling:

A little bit of everything! I loaded up my bling - more armour.

• Belt - Gap, thrifted
• Acrylic cuff - Alexis Bittar, consignment
• Leather cuff - Guess, thrifted
• Studded cuff - vintage 80s
• Necklace - vintage 60s, Robert Larin, gift from L
• F#@! rings - Wendy Brandes
• Earrings - Glee
• Brolly brooch - vintage, gift from L
• Onyx/silver ring - Tocarra, vintage fair

And without further ado, here's my recap of my 2019 Reading Resolution. It's the same every year: Meet or Beat the number of books read the previous year. I've been tracking my reading for over 10 years; here's last year's New Year's Eve outfits and books, if you're interested.

Last year I read 33 books and this year, it's...31! I didn't reach my goal, but still a respectable amount. Here's my list - I highly recommend any (bolded) 5/5 books and 4/5 books (I'm a hard marker), but avoid any 1/5's like the plague. Any books labeled "(BC)" are one chosen by Book Club members.

1. Small Favor - Jim Butcher - 2/5
2. Walking on Glass - Iain Banks - 3/5
3. The German Girl - Armando Lucas Corea - 2/5 (BC)
4. Dead Air - Iain Banks - 2/5
5. Ghost Story - Jim Butcher - 3/5
6. The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star - Nikki Sixx w/Ian Gittens - 4/5
7. Asymmetry - Lisa Halliday (BC) - 3/5
8. Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk - 2/5
9. The Last Adventure of Constance Verity - A. Lee Martinez - 3/5
10. Transition - Iain M. Banks - 3/5
11. From the Land of Fear - Harlan Ellison - 2/5
12. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon - 4/5
13. Mary - Vladimir Nabokov - 4/5
14. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot - 4/5 (BC)
15. The Pilot's Wife - Anita Shrove - 2/5
16. Fashion Designers A-Z: The Collection of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology - Suzy Menkes - 4/5
17. Winter's Tale - Mark Helprin - 3/5
18. Raingod and Other Delusions - Harlan Ellison - 2/5
19. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline - 4/5
20. The Girl With Ghost Eyes - M.H. Boroson - 3/5
21. How Long 'Til Black Future Month? - N.K. Jemisin - 4/5
22. Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff - 5/5 (BC)
23. Surface Detail - Iain M. Banks - 2/5
24. The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold - 3/5
25. The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith - 4/5
26. Moonraker - Ian Fleming - 1/5
27. The Battle of Versailles - Robin Givhan - 3/5 (BC)
28. Cloud Chamber - Howard L. Myers - 1/5
29. French Lessons - Monica Belle - 2/5
30. Chelsea Girl Murders - Sparkle Hayter - 2/5
31. Fluevog: 50 Years of Unique Soles for Unique Souls - John Fluevog - 4/5

I read five Book Club books last year - my lone 5/5 book came from that list. I also worked at getting through the stacks gathering dust beside my bed, so picking up some of Harlan Ellison, Chuck Palahniuk and Iain Banks (with and without the "M") as backlog. A bunch of the titles there are books I got as gifts (i.e. not picked out myself), as well as interesting books that I spotted in the thrift stores.

So, my goal for next year: Meet or Beat this year's total! Totally doable!

Well, there you have it. We'll be back to our usual programming tomorrow, as I am back to work. I hope you all had a very Happy New Year, and thank you again for joining me on this ride.