It was the radiance of an opium dream, an airy and spirit-lifting vision

It actually began like any other horror story.

I was at home with The Gentle One a couple of nights ago. The previous evening it had started snowing and since then the white flakes continued falling. Indeed, it was pretty cold and windy, so we decided to stay indoors and dedicate some time to read and just having some nice relaxing time together.

 To this point everything was right.

I don´t have all my books here at the moment (unfortunately, they rest in many boxes at my parent´s place) and consequently I chose the gorgeous brand new volume waiting on my library. A friend of mine gave it to me during my recent visit to Spain this month as a late birthday present. This very beautiful copy of Tales of the Macabre is illustrated by Benjamin Lacombe and also so stunning that I spent the first half an hour looking at the pictures. But then I started reading (or re-reading, like most of you, gothic ladies, would probably do with Poe).

 Is in this point when things went weird.

Didn´t you realize?

Ok, I´ll help you a bit.

 It was a dark and stormy night, the wind was howling around the house, the snow was lashing against the window, and we were all alone in our new apartment.

So, recap: stormy night, new house and bizarre tales... we were totally in a horror movie!

In fact, I had been feeling kind of conscious about it the whole day, maybe because I am not used to the new apartment (you never know if it is haunted until, I don´t know, six months or so? At least that´s the quantity of time that I need to feel comfortable at a new place), maybe because I was reading Poe and partially because I had been watching The Conjuring the previous evening and by then I was totally horrified...

And then, it happened.

Tap, Tap... went the window.

"OMG!" I shouted, jumping from the couch. "Here they are!"

"It´s just the wind" said The Gentle One (who had totally jumped out of his seat too, and was now adopting a reasonable attitude in the hopes that I hadn´t noticed.) "And who’s ‘They’ anyway?"

"I don´t know," I answered hidding myself behind the sofa. "It could be ghosts, psychos or those evil Romanian spirits I have been reading about" (and, in point of fact, I had been reading a bit too much about Romanian folklore and the Vârcolac too, which actually didn´t help either). "I have watched too many horror movies, dude, I can recognize it when I´m in one!"

 

"I think YOU´ve watched too many of those movies now" he observed. "But seriously, it was just the wind. Now come out from behind the sofa, please"

And I was about to do it when, believe or not, lights went off.

"Oh, God!" I screamed into complete panic then. "You see? I was right!"

The Gentle One didn´t look too secure by then, but he heroically found the value to go outside (against my will, you don´t want your boyfriend to leave you in the hunted house after saying "I´ll be back in a minute") and check what was happening. Apparently, it was a general blackout affecting the whole street. And darlings, I can tell you I am not a big fan of them. I mean, I do love horror films, but just because I like to know they are not happening to me. 

The thing is that my noble fiancé was brave enough to turn some candles on and prepared a delicious dinner all byhimself (I was too busy by casting suspicious glances around) and when the electric power was restored, well, he prescribed to me a good dose of non-horror movies for a time.

 Fair enough, don´t you think?

P.S: By the way, I keep receiving so many questions about me for the next Give Away on my mail, that I just decided to open an Ask Fm account in order to make it a bit tidier. 
Remember that every question is an extra chance to participate.

This is the link: www.ask.fm/Violettebaudelaire 

Good luck!

Born under a Bad Sign

Do you know those days when you realize how lucky  you are?

Yesterday was one of them, The Gentle One was turning thirty two.

 Yes, you guessed: he shares his Birthday with Edgar Allan Poe, so maybe that constitutes a clue about how special he is.

I thought about posting a few pictures of my outfit for such a lovely night, but then I reconsidered the whole situation and decided to keep it in the charming zone of the little impressions.

So there you have just a couple of snaps of our lovely date in a romantic restaurant, as well as the post-celebrations-Sunday-breakfast.

♥ Adorable detail of the lillies in our dinner table last night.

  ♥ Sushi is alway too good.

♥ I am trying not to eat too many treats this year but, who can say no to clover-shaped waffles?

I hope you are as happy as I am, sweethearts! ♥

And Wrought Upon the Clothes in Patterns of the Most Jetty Black

We suffered the terrible hot weather during the whole month, but the temperatures went down on the weekend. The only inconvenience is that, unfortunately, my obligations are not leaving me too much spare time to enjoy. We´re in the last week of the month and the term exams are far, nevertheless academic tasks pile up on a essay´s ocean.

Happily, not everything is bad.

Among all these obligations some attractive loads are hidden.
My north American literature seminars has been dedicated, almost exclusively, to the life and work of E.A. Poe. The author is always a delightful pleasure in which I adore to fall once and again. And there´s not such a big thing as reading it in this season.

There´s nothing spookiest than Poe in a dark October night.

Leaves have begun to fall, rain hits the windows and I ( lucky me) read Poe´s stories with a warm tea for my classes. This drove me to a wonderful mood disposition. I can just ponder about candles and pumpkins!

I don´t know if I mentioned it, but this party is special for two reasons: on the one hand, I enjoy the spirit´s night like one more kid and, on the other hand, this year I am celebrating my seventh anniversary with The Gentle One, ( a gothic couple celebrating their anniversary in Halloween, what a cliché we are). However, unlike it can be interpreted, the date was not chosen on purpose. Destiny linked us that night, which is pretty romantic if you think about masks and red wine every year.

This time I intended to celebrate it with something special, so I started to look for new ideas and accidentally stumbled upon Neil Gaiman´s blog. He proposes to give away horror books in Halloween and turn the party into a literary event. Personally, I think it is a brilliant idea.
What do you think about it?