Burlesque – There isn’t much dialogue about people doing less burlesque. Rising stars scream as they enter the atmosphere, then they fall away into ashes with a whisper. I’ve seen burlesque starlets change tack because of children, careers, shifting into modeling, and simply the sense of having achieved their burlesque goals. I did less than last year and that’s OK, what with a major project at work, travel, and other things. Speaking of which…

Engaged – Starry-eyed canoodling and going around saying “It does feel different and it’s really nice”- most excellent. People’s hunger for wedding planning – when the wedding isn’t for at least 2.5 years, maybe 3 – somewhat baffling? But it seems necessary for the psychological satisfaction of others? I’ll just handle this carefully, shall I?

Travel – Both my partner and I spent significant amounts of the year in transit – he had an academic fellowship 3 hours away until July, and I was in the US for May in its near entirety. He had a great experience and has co-authored a paper, but dealing with the work and change took lots of energy from both of us. My trip was fabulous, but it also tore my heart up, in several different ways. Mom…Philly…the friends I have had for the longest time…it all came together when, after visiting the Big Blue Marble bookstore, I sat at a train station in the rain and read Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother, shedding tears until my SEPTA ride appeared. And then there was BMC reunion, and visiting an old friend in LA. Visiting Oamaru in November was an unadulterated series of gentle pleasures, in contrast.

With 2013’s experiences laying a foundation, and sniffing the wind for overall trends in society – I feel that we are finally emerging from the shock of 9/11 to start the future – next year is going to have a lot more changes. I’m not sure exactly what. Which is exciting and frightening.

Best non-fashion $100 I spent: Joining Intervac, an international home swap site. I was offered swaps outside Edinburgh, Scotland; Stockholm, Sweden; and Bristol in the UK, and I received hospitality in Philadelphia and gave more hospitality to some visiting Scots. I joined them because they had a good NZ and US presence – there are other sites that focus more on Europe or Australia.

To amuse you, here are the top five best fashion items I spent money on this past year:

• Paula Dorf and Sonia Kashuk eye and brow makeup – Brow makeup for redheads!
• Brahmin bag – Yeah, the black one. This is my new Handbag Prime.
• Patterned NYDJ jeans – Not only did these turn out to be a wardrobe workhorse, but they’re still in great condition after extensive wear.
• Natori bras – Courtesy of an old-school fitting at Saxon-Kent in Orange, Connecticut, these make every other garment look better.
• Final pick…so difficult…

And here are my top five fashion fails:

• Chartreuse pencil skirt. It’s marvelous. Such a wonderful pear-green color and a luscious ponte fabric. It just doesn’t work on me, no matter what I do.
• I keep meaning to buy fresh tights and some knee-highs, and not doing it.
• There was a sizing issue with a Trashy Diva dress. Grumble. Kudos to Trashy Diva for including the exchanged item shipping with Round II of the dress.
• My attempts to be one of those people who switch handbags are awkward at best and I should stick with Handbag Prime.
• I had an award to present at a ceremony in front of all of my professional colleagues. The afternoon of the ceremony, one professional hairdresser (not my usual one) made such a hash of trying to give me retro curls that I had to go to another professional hairdresser for an updo as a fix. The updo was OK, but the photos from the event -which will live forever online – show that it’s not my best look.

 What’s happening next year?

• More Burlesque – The Rainbow Troupe will be back at Out in the Square on January 18th, and I am emceeing a very special Kiwiana Caburlesque show at The Fringe Bar in early February. It’s going to be sweet as!
• Fragrance Event! – For Wellington perfumistas, Ever So Scrumptious is going to arrange a shopping morning and a perfume-and-accessories swap afternoon. Stay tuned for more details and please get in touch if you are interested.
• Aussie Aussie Aussie – Looks like I’ll be in Australia twice next year.
• More Blogging – Is blogging dead? That’s not what my site analytics say! So more burblings here, and I will happily and patiently keep answering vintage fur questions, which keep coming in. Now that people are sorting out what Pinterest and Instagram and Tumblr are finally for, I will re-examine them, too.

Kia kaha and have a beautiful new year everyone! I’m going to go paint my toenails gold in the sun.