Desire & Decorum: Chapter 7, Opera St. James

In the last episode I had a dinner party with Mr. Sinclaire, and learned all about his real wife and the ugly side of the Duke. The two of us have grown closer together, and I don’t mind admitting I’m falling for the Mr. Darcylike man.

In this episode I’m invited to the opera, so first stop the clothing store!

You have the option of buying a beautiful dress, but as I’ve been invited to go with Duke Richards, yuck-I’m not buying anything nice. I’m just going to wear an old dress. He doesn’t need anything special.

The one I bought for the dinner will do nicely.

Poor Miss Parsons, we talk and she discusses a horrid date she had. It is with a gross old man, ugh, the girl can’t catch a break. Too bad my brother died or we could have been sisters.

As I head out of the shop, I run into Prince Hamid. You all remember him, the man who rescued Miss Parsons and I when Mr. Marcastle left us stranded in London.

He’s with the Duke, ugh! Can this guy just get lost!

The Duke

The Duke is planning on taking you and Miss Parson’s to see Handel’s Almira and is surprised to hear that I know of it. Seriously dude, my mama was an opera star.

Princess Almira has inherited the throne from her father, but he wishes that she marries someone from the House of Consalvo. The House of Consalvo has one son, but Princess Almira is not interested in him, and he only wants her for wealth and power. Instead, Princess Almira is in love with a man who has unknown parentage, Fernando. There are a lot of twists and turns in the opera, will it end happily or in tragedy?

So this makes me think of two things: first of all-wow what a crazy coincidence! That’s what’s kind of happening in my life.

And secondly:

Back to the game, Prince Hamid offers to pick you up when we go to the opera, but ugh the Duke is taking you. Bah.

Ugh, this guy!

However, the Duke has other business to attend to-so Prince Hamid offers to take you over early to the opera. Here is your chance to get a closer look at who your mother was!

I’ll get the secrets!

I go into the opera house and feel melancholy as I wished I had asked my mother more questions. I meet an actress who tells me my mother was an amazing singer, she was a big star until she became pregnant. They invite you to stay to watch, and as much as I love to I turned it down.

The stage is no place for a respectable girl, and I need to protect my reputation-I have Mr. Marcastle to deal with. And he is just waiting for an opportunity like this.

When you go home, you have a big surprise. Luke Harper is there with a letter from your father!

The hunt is on,

But which man do I want? It’s up to you to decide! Plus you have to fight the rumors that the Countess is spreading.

For more on Desire & Decorum, go to Desire & Decorum: Chapter 6, An Intimate Affair

For more on Choices, go to Kissing the Blarney Stone: 7 More Irish Heroes

For more on the opera, go to Le Fantôme de l’Opéra

For more ABBA, go to Dancing Queen

For more Jane Austen Quotes, go to Book Club Pick: Far Side of the Sea

My Trip to Teavana

So I’m sure you are probably thinking this another pun like in my teaddiction.

But it is not a pun, but about my actual trip to Teavana.

huh

So a couple weeks back I took my niece and mother to the big mall in the next city. It has a ton of stores, ones we don’t have in my town.

So something I do every time is consider buying a teddy bear from Build-a-Bear.

So let me back up a bit. When Build-a-Bear first came out I really, really, really wanted one. But my parents said it was tooo expensive for a stuffed toy so I never got one.

Aw, man.

So every time I visit a mall that has one I consider buying one, but then I fight with myself after all I really don’t need it.

Tempting but no

This time we were at the store and they had a great deal on the animals. You saved ten dollars if you bought two. I was really planning on it until I saw the cutest Ewok bear.

I was totally going to come back for it before I left. After all it was cute, Star Wars, and I had just gotten paid. And it was soooo cute!

We were going to come back but then my mother maneuvered us toward Teavana. I was happy as you all know how much I love tea.

Plus free samples!

The tea was great and my mother wanted to buy some. So she headed in the back while I was looking for a trash can. I then went to the back when the guy was asking me what tea I wanted to buy.

Majorly

I was about to tell him it wasn’t for me but my mom, when I looked around and she had disappeared.

She had tricked me. She took me there, got the salesman all prepped  and now I was going to have to buy the tea.

And of course I had no tin to put it on so I had to buy one of those. Pretty much I ended up dropping a larger wad than I was planning.

Argh!!!

And I couldn’t buy that adorable Ewok.

Oh well, at least I know one thing that will make me feel better:

And watch out for your mothers, they be tricky.

For more tea stories, go to One Hot Date

For more trips to the mall, go to A Trip to the Mall Turns into the Twilight Zone

For more on teddy bears, go to The Teddy Bear that Would NOT Die!

For more stories from my every day life, go to I Will Not Bend, I Will Not Break

I Will Not Bend, I Will Not Break

It is that time of the year again!

What time of the year you say? When the stores have sales as they are getting rid of one season’s things to make way for the next!

So I needed to buy some new shoes to replace my old flats and wedges that were falling apart. I went to Payless as they were having a BOGO sale, buy one and get one half off.

So I went in the store and proceeded to try on every shoe searching for one that fit. This is always the hardest part of shopping, taking things on and off trying to find the perfect and comfortable fit.

I finally found two pairs of shoes that fit great after searching the whole store.

One was a pair of blue flats orginally 29.99 on sale for $5! You know I can’t resist such a deal!

And some patent leather flats that were orginally 29.99 on sale for 16.99. Ah, patent leather! I just love it so.

I couldn’t wait to put them on and try to break them in.

I love my shoes!

There is only one downside to patent leather…

It does not bend or give to your foot. Which means that it stays firm and can cause some serious blisters.

It was so painful…

Yep it was like The Little Mermaid all over again.

For those who may not have read the Hans Christian Anderson, the real fairy tale, only having seen the Disney version you might not be aware of what I am talking about.

In the actual fairy tale, the little mermaid traded her speech for legs but was also cursed that with every step she took it would feel as if knives were being shoved into her feet. Each step produced incredible pain. Pain she bore because of her love for the prince.

It is a great story, I strongly recommend reading the real version.

Anyways, so I know I have had earlier foot/leg pain from exercising or squatting and compared it to this story, but this was the most like it.

It is the truth.

The way the shoe was designed it was hurting the back of my heel and side of my foot.Oh it was agony. And of course I was at work so I had to pretend to be happy while I was hurting.

But man were they pretty.

But I can’t wait until they are completely broken in and stop blistering my feet; being a perfect fit.

On a side note, have you noticed how often I compare myself to the fairy tale The Little Mermaid? I guess that moviepilot quiz was more accurate than I thought.

Go here to see which you belong in/are

For more on my “Little Mermaid” experiences, go to Walking on Pins and Needles

For more on The Little Mermaid, go to Waiter, There’s Some Disney in My Jane Austen

For more stories from my everyday life, go to When You Least Expect It

For more on Coco Chanel, go to These Shoes Were Made for Walking

Women in Black

Now I own a lot of black. It seems that every time I go shopping for an outfit, particularly a dress, I always end up purchasing something in black. It has gotten to the point that people all think my favorite color is black, and purchase items for me in black. It has made some formal occasions impossible (such as weddings), but you know what? I’ve decided to stop apologizing for it . After all:

They make you look good and great for anything you are planning on doing

After all:

One of my new favorite quotes! 🙂

Yep, Black rules

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For more on my fav quotes, go to I Don’t Wanna Be in Love (Dance Floor Anthem)

For more on Coco Chanel, go to Over You

For more on Audrey Hepburn, go to Up and Up