La Vie de Cirque

A week-long cold certainly gave me a head start on my goal to read a new book each month in 2011: I just completed my third for January. Water for Elephants by Sara Guin was certainly refreshing after the humdrum memoir Summer at Tiffany (prior to that was a reread the lovely History of Love by Nicole Krauss).

The dazzling imagery of life aboard a circus train is still swirling about my head, and I’m suddenly filled with the longing to surround myself with all things Big Top, from watching one of my favorite movies, Freaks, and brainstorming on how to use a couple of yard of yellow and white striped fabric from my aunt to spending an evening making an circus-themed Etsy treasury.

The glamor of the circus. Visit the collection here and give all these artists a bit of love. The feather dress, by the way, reminds me of the scene in Freaks where Koo Koo the Bird Girl dances on the table at the wedding feast, only far more fabulous.

Where does your inspiration come from?