Past Event - Riversdale House Museum

Here's a real blast from the past!  Five years ago - June 1, 2014 - was my very first outing with the Fabulosity Club!  This was just a day after Brian the Engineer and I got engaged, so I guess it's hardly surprising that I never got around to blogging about it.  And it turns out a good half of the pictures from the event were taken on Brian's phone.  I just scalped them off of Facebook when I saw the album he posted pop up in my "On This Day" memories!  

The event was a picnic and tour of the Riversdale House Museum in Riverdale Park, Maryland.  I'm probably not going to write much in this post, as I don't remember a lot of the details from five years ago, but you can read Maggie's post or Gloria's post about the event for a more contemporary account.

After a picnic on the grounds (of which I have no photos) we took a tour of the house, which was getting a face-lift:

Brian looked very dashing in his brand-new tailcoat and waistcoat.  He's wearing a cummerbund here because I hadn't made him trousers yet, and his modern pants have a much lower waistline.  

The inside of the house was very pretty:  

I believe the floor was a painted floor-cloth.

I don't know what our guide was showing us here, but clearly I liked it:

There was such great light in that room!  I'd like to go back now, with a better camera!

Brian got lots of crowd shots on his phone:

Look at all the pretty dishes!

I loved the wallpaper in this room:

It's fun to see all the pretty bonnets and hats!

The ballroom was the coolest:

We all loved this beautiful chandelier:

More touring:  

That was my first real digital camera!  Ah, memories.

We made such a nice-looking assemblage:

Brian got to sonic something:

And back outside, we re-enacted the proposal, just for kicks:

I don't remember who took these pictures for us, but thank you whoever you are!

Brian wore his aforementioned Blue Linen Tailcoat and Green Spot'd Waistcoat, which I had *just* finished in time for the "photo shoot" he had orchestrated - which turned out to be a proposal!  We had bought his riding boots on ebay, and "borrowed" the top hat from my dad.  (He hasn't gotten it back yet!  :p )  I also made his shirt, which is almost entirely hidden by everything else, and his "cravat" was a silk scarf I happened to have.  I hadn't made him a real linen one yet.

I wore my Blue Day Dress, Green Straw Bonnet, Green Paisley Shawl, Dotted Chemisette, and my Hartfield boots.

All the ladies lined up for a Regency wedgie shot - a trend which was in its infancy back then!

And a shoe shot, OF COURSE:

This is one of my favorite photos from the day:

Brian took a couple photos of me re-reading the letter he had written to propose to me:

And we wandered the grounds some more:

As I recall, there were strawberries growing in the garden!

Handsome fiancé is handsome:

Looking back through all of these photos, I'm realizing that I "met" a lot of people that day that I didn't really officially meet until years later!  Jess, Nastassia, Isabella, Amanda, and Judy - all amazing costumers and cool people to hang out with.  I was probably too shy/too loopy from being newly engaged to properly introduce myself to everyone at the time.  I know I met Gloria - who had organized the event - and Taylor - from whom I had just bought a necklace and earrings set - at the picnic.  I knew Maggie already, as she and I had been in the same costume masquerade skit at Star Wars Celebration III back in 2005!  Man, time flies.