Period Drama Dress Quiz {3}

  Period Drama Fashion Week is just around the corner! :-) (See this post for more details.) In view of that fact, today we will have another dress game! I personally love these games and they seem to be very popular with y'all as well. :-P
   Below are eleven dresses from period dramas. Try to guess what period drama each dress comes from, who wears it, and the name of the actress who plays the character. One point will be given for each correctly guessed period drama, character, and actress. A total of 33 points can be earned. Leave your guesses in a comment and I will respond with your score. Answers will be posted next Friday.

  Have fun guessing! :-)

   Dress #1

 Dress #2

  Dress #3

  Dress #4

  Dress #5

  Dress #6

  Dress #7

  Dress #8

  Dress #9

  Dress #10

  Dress #11

 
                                                                ~Happy guessing!~

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Announcing Period Drama Fashion Week!

   

Dearest darlingest readers,

     Do you love historical fashions? Do you often find yourself wishing you could dress in the styles of the dear old dead days gone by? Do you know the difference between a spencer and a pelisse robe? Do dresses like this one just about make you go ga-ga?

   If so, then you just may be a historical fashion fanatic. You're in good company. :-) But that's not all: Do you love watching period dramas? Do you love blog events?

     Well, I have an announcement to make! I, yours truly, am hosting my very first ever blog event here at For the Beauty of the Earth: a Period Drama Fashion Week on March 3rd-8th!!!! *virtual confetti* I have never hosted any sort of event before, so I'm really super-duper excited about this, and I'm hoping y'all will be too, because I'm inviting you to participate! Here are the basic guidelines:

   To participate: During the week of March 3rd-8th, fill out the tag (which will be coming on the 3rd when the event starts) and post it on your own blog. Also if you'd like you can write your own posts about period fashions and costumes in period dramas, ect. throughout the week. Here are some suggestions:

• A list of your favorite dresses from period dramas
• A list of your favorite period drama wardrobes
• A post about costumes in one of your favorite movies
• Historical fashion facts

    It can really be anything historical/period drama related, or even non-period drama related. Then, at the end of the week there will be a post link-up here of all the posts written by the different participants.

  ***Please note, I am not making it a requirement that you write your own posts-- if you don't want to write anything but you still want to participate (or if you just want to fill out the tag), that's totally fine. Also, if you don't want to write anything new but you have already written posts in the past about period drama fashion, you can definitely feature those in the end-of-the-week link-up. 



I don't know why I'm including so many random pictures in this post. Especially this one. I really have no idea what possessed me. 'Tis most irregular.



   Requirements: There are basically no requirements, except that you have to have to love fashion and period dramas. (You HAVE to. :-P) Writing your own posts is optional (meaning that you don't have to if you don't want to, but of course y'all knew that), but I would certainly love it if you did. I'm hoping a lot of you will want to participate! The more the merrier, you know. :-)

    EEEEEP! Are you as excited as I am?!? :-) Here are some buttons to get the word out!




My personal favorite. :-)

 
    I'm hoping this event will be excessively diverting and that many of you participate! More details coming soon, but until then, ta-ta! :-)

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1st Blog Anniversary!

   
   Today is the 1 year anniversary of For the Beauty of the Earth!

        On this day in 2013, I sat down at my computer, held my breath, and clicked the "Create Blog" button, creating my very first blog ever and, in many ways, changing my life. I remember the day perfectly, when my sister Sadie and I resolutely sat down at the computer to figure out this business of blogging and to finally create the blog we'd been imagining and planning for so long. (We originally were going to share a blog, but then we couldn't figure out how so we each made our own. :-P) It was a very exciting time for me, and I remember how utterly thrilled I was when I first saw my finished profile! "Sadie, this is SO COOL!" :-)
   My first profile picture was of Marianne Dashwood in the 1995 Sense and Sensibility:

        A few days after I clicked "Create Blog" and designed my first (very shabby) header, I wrote my first post ever,  somewhat nervously but very excitedly beginning what I hoped would be a very charming and successful blog.
   When I first started blogging in those dear old dead days gone by, I was pretty sure no one was reading what I wrote. Because, ya know, no one really was. :-P For awhile I felt like I was just writing to myself and that no one really cared what I had to say. I didn't get any comments for a very long time, say nothing of followers, but then, slowly, a few comments started to appear and followers slowly started to turn up on my dashboard. I still remember how thrilled I was when I saw for the first time that I had a comment! Now, comments aren't quite as exciting as they used to be-- I mean, I love getting comments and I enjoy each and every one of them (so keep commenting, ladies!), but back then, if I saw the bright orange "1 comment awaiting moderation" on my dashboard, it was BIG. VERY big. Then it was, "OH MY GOODNESS, CAN THIS REALLY BE TRUE?" And now it's more like, "Oh look, I have a comment. How very nice." : )

    I initially started this blog wanting it to be mainly a period-drama themed blog, like so many of the other blogs I had discovered and loved to read. I think I've pretty much stuck to that pattern, although of course I often write about other things and occasionally write about random subjects or just my life in general, and sometimes I tend to ramble a bit. :-P Looking back at my older posts, I can see a rather subtle change in my writing style: when I first began writing I was a bit timid and prim. After all, it was the first time I'd ever written and published anything on the internet for other people to read (gasp!) and I wanted to make a good impression on any potential readers, so I tried to play it safe. I wrote about my beloved Irish ballads, my favorite literary heroines (like I'd seen so many other bloggers do), and some very straight-laced and rambly posts about what was happening in my life. After awhile I became more comfortable with blogging and loosened up a bit, and I still look back with fond regard on those first few posts I wrote. :-)


The first picture I ever posted

     Starting this blog was a very momentous, even life-changing thing for me, and I am so glad I decided to "take the plunge" as they say and do it. I was first introduced to "the blogging world" in the fall of 2012, when Sadie and I came across by chance Miss Laurie's delightful blog Old-Fashioned Charm . (You're probably all saying, yes, we know, we've heard this story before. Well, let me tell it again. : P) We began reading Old-Fashioned Charm and through it discovered many other period-drama-themed blogs, and I was so thrilled to find that there were so many people who love period dramas as much as I do. In fact, through reading Miss Laurie's and other blogs I also found out about countless period dramas that I'd never even seen, which led to several meticulous search of the library to find all that I was missing.  Wives and Daughters? North and South? I'd never even heard of those. I guess if you wanted to be dramatic you could say that a whole new world of period drama opened up to me through reading these blogs, which is pretty much exactly what happened. But, besides being highly-informed period drama fanatics, most all of the girls whose blogs I read are very devoted Christians and committed to glorifying God through their writing, which is what I hope I can be known as as well. I've learned a lot from blogging and from all the wonderful young ladies whose blogs I read, me, and I've met so many lovely people who love the same things I do. :-)

    I really owe a lot to you ladies! If I had never visited Old-Fashioned Charm, never clicked on the Yet Another Period Drama Blog button or the Of Trims and Frills and Furbelows  button on the sidebar, I definitely would never have thought of starting my own blog and I probably would not be the period drama nut I am today. I've seen movies that I might never even have known about if it hadn't been for all of you and read books I might never have tried (although I still haven't finished a Jane Austen novel yet....wait, did I just say that out loud?) :-P You've been such a huge inspiration to me and I'm greatly indebted to you! : )

    Also, when I first started blogging I basically had no idea what I was doing. :-P I knew next to nothing about Blogger, and in short everything I knew about computers could fit into a teaspoon. As you can probably imagine, it was somewhat strenuous trying to figure it out all on my own (I had the most DIFFICULT time figuring out how to add pages and put gadgets on the sidebar), but it was actually a very good and rewarding learning experience, and although I am still by no means an expert (I still haven't figured out how to make a real blog button with the grab-box-thingy....so if you can tell me how, please do!!), I certainly know a good deal more about this business of blogging than I did back in those days. :-P
 


Unfortunately my first header has somehow slipped off the radar, but here is one of the pictures that was on it. :-)

 
      A lot has changed here at For the Beauty of the Earth since I began blogging a year ago. I've changed my profile picture at least six (or seven) times, my header six times, and my background just as many. My Favorite Literary Heroines list looks nowhere neeeeaaaar what it used to be, and I'm going to tell you right now to not even read my Little Dorrit review. Just don't even read it. But hey-- things are bound to change in a years' time. However, in many ways, not much has changed; I still write about period dramas, books, music, and anything else that strikes my fancy. Because that's really what I write about here: things that I love and that make me happy. So if it makes you happy too, well, I'm thrilled! Let's be friends! :-)

   This has been a glorious first year of blogging for me. I've learned so much: about writing, about computers, even about myself. I've met so many lovely people and even made some friends, and I am so grateful for all of you!

   And now for a few statistics, just because I think they're fun:

Posts: 111 (including this one)
Pageviews: 12112
Followers: 19
Most Popular Post: Pride and Prejudice: A Review 
Most Popular Search Keyword: "greg wise"
Weirdest Search Keyword: "a stinkin' ant bit me" (No really, I'm serious! And kudos if you know what movie that line comes from.)
Movies Reviewed: 10 (See my reviews page for a complete list)
Books Reviewed: Just 2. Sad, that.

    Thanks to all my lovely readers and followers for such a wonderful first year of For the Beauty of the Earth! I love you bunches! Here's to another great and glorious year! : )

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Fellow TSP fans, gather round...

   Hello again! Just popping in to say that Hamlette over at Hamlette's Soliloquy is hosting a fabulous giveaway of The Scarlet Pimpernel! I absolutely adore this movie, and I'll definitely be participating. Do hop on over and check it out! :-)

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Happy Valentine's Day!

      Happy Valentine's Day, my dear blogging friends! :-)

      I hope you're all having a wonderful day and taking the opportunity this holiday gives to remind your family and friends how much you love them! I'd like to celebrate this special day of love with some romantic quotes and scenes from some of my favorite couples in period dramas.

   "I have thought about you, every day, every hour, every minute that I have been in here."

                                                               ~Little Dorrit

     "I felt myself bound to you, by honor, by affection, and by a love so strong that nothing could deter me."
                                                               ~Northanger Abbey

  "I'm so sorry! I thought I was going to lose you!"

  "I don't think he was a very good shot."

  "Why did you do it? You're so stupid, why did you do it?"

  " I had two very good reasons. First, I am replaceable and you are not."

  "You are not replaceable, not to me!"

  "Second, you're the only wife I've got or ever will have. You are my whole existence, and I will love you till my last breath."

                                                      ~The Young Victoria

             "My dearest, most beloved...If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."
                                                                         ~Emma

  "I went searching for my ideals outside of myself. I found it's not what the world holds for you, it's what you bring to it. The dreams dearest to my heart are right here."

 "Well, I hope you keep on dreaming. It'll be three years before I finish medical school. Even then there won't be any diamond sunbursts or marble halls."

  "I don't want diamond sunbursts or marble halls. I just want you."

                                                    ~Anne of Avonlea

                          "I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is that not strange?"

                                                         ~Much Ado About Nothing

                                                 "My heart is, and always will be, yours."
                                                              ~Sense and Sensibility

          "There's so much to say, I cannot find the words. Except for these: I love you."

                                                            ~Somewhere in Time

    One of my favorite proposal scenes is the Northbound Train scene from North and South. It's sooooo beautiful and romantic and I get chills every time! (That is, I've only seen it once, but I'm sure that if I were to see it again, it would be even more beautiful than the first time because that's just the way things are with me. :-P)

 

    A proposal as only John Thornton can give it!

   And of course the epic prison scene from The Scarlet Pimpernel! This is my absolute favorite scene in the movie, because it's so touching and romantic and I just looooovve it.......

       Edward's proposal in Sense and Sensibility (1995) is one of my very favorites as well. By the end I'm just as teary as Elinor! : )

      I hope you all have a very special day with lots of yummy chocolate and lots of love! If I could, I would send you all chocolates and flowers, but I daresay they would get quite squashed in the mail so that probably wouldn't be a good idea. So, my dear readers, I wish you a happy Valentine's Day, and God bless!

     "Let me not to the marriage of true minds
      Admit impediments. Love is not love, which alters when it alteration finds,
     Or bends with the remover to remove:
     O, no! It is an ever-fixed mark, that looks on tempests and is never shaken.
     It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
     Whose worth's unknown, although his his height be taken.
     Love is not time's fool, although rosy lips and cheeks
     Within his bending sickle's compass come;
    Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
    But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
    If this be error and upon me proved,
    I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

                ~Shakespeare's Sonnet no 116

      "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angles, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  

                                                             ~Romans 8:38-39

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30 Songs: 26-30

   The last part of this series! Yes, I know, I was supposed to wrap up this challenge last week, but it's been a very busy weekend so here we are today. :-)

Day 26: A Song That You Can Play On An Instrument

     Main Titles from the movie The Cider House Rules. I play a lot of movie soundtracks on the piano, and this is one of my favorites.

 (Note: I have not seen this movie and I have no wish to, I simply like the music.)


Day 27: A Song That You Wish You Could Play

    The World Has Left Us Behind from the Emma 2009 soundtrack by Samuel Sim. It's sooo beautiful! I've looked everywhere for the sheet music, but it's simply not to be found. :-( Here's the video  if you want to hear it.

   Another song I really wish I could play is the famous Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell. I have the sheet music for it, but it's so ridiculously difficult (not to mention 21 pages long!) that I can only play about seven or eight pages of it. :-P

    Isn't that just amazing?!?
 

Day 28: A Song That Makes You Feel Guilty

     Okay, I'm not really sure what this means, but I really can't think of any songs that make me feel guilty. Soooo I guess it's time for another random answer! Yay!

     This song doesn't really make me feel guilty, it just makes me sad. :-P


Day 29: A Song From Your Childhood


        My Daddy really likes Bob Dylan, and I've been listening to his Pat Garret and Billy the Kid soundtrack for as long as I can remember. It's a really great soundtrack, and it always brings back good memories. :-)

    
       
Day 30: Your Favorite Song At This Time Last Year

      That's easy: If I Never Knew You from Disney's Pocahontas. It's still one of my favorite songs. I can't upload my favorite recording of it, so here's a link.

   I'm so grateful to you,
  I'd have lived my whole life through
  Empty as the sky,
  Never knowing why,
 Lost forever,
 If I never knew you.


   Well, that concludes the 30 Day Song Challenge! It's been fun, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it!

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Period Drama Hands Game~ Answers!



Bonus point answer: JJ Field and Felicity Jones as Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey (2007)

        Here are the answers to last weeks' game. Y'all did really well on this one! I hope you enjoyed it! :-)


Couple #1

   Answer: Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh as Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (1993)


Couple #2

  Answer: Patrick Kennedy and Carey Mulligan as Richard Carstone and Ada Clare in Bleak House (2005)


Couple #3

   Answer: JJ Field and Felicity Jones as Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey (2007)


Couple #4

   Answer: Anthony Howell and Justine Waddell as Roger Hamley and Molly Gibson in Wives and Daughters (1999)


Couple #5

    Answer: Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour as Sir Percy Blakeny and Margurite St. Just in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982)


Couple #6

    Answer: Richard Harrington and Anna Maxwell Martin as Alan Woodcourt and Esther Summerson in Bleak House (2005)


Couple #7

    Answer: Colin Firth and Frances O'Conner as Jack Worthing and Gwendolen Fairfax in The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)


Couple #8

     Answer: Jonny Lee Miller and Romola Garai as Mr. Knightley and Emma Woodhouse in Emma (2009)


Couple #9

     Answer: Alan Rickman and Kate Winslet as Colonel Brandon and Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995)


Couple #10

     Answer: Simon Woods and Kimberly Nixon as Dr. Frank Harrison and Sophy Hutton in Cranford (2007)


Couple #11

    Answer: Jonathon Crombie and Megan Follows as Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley in Anne of Avonlea (or Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel), (1987)



                                                                 Players' Scores
                                                 
                                                            Miss Laurie-- 102 points
                                                               Kiri Liz-- 100 points
                                                                Sadie-- 85 points
                                                               Naomi-- 73 points
                                                            Maddie Rose-- 61 points
                                                               Natalie-- 55 points
                                                              Hamlette-- 45 points

 
    Thanks so much for playing ladies! :-)

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