27. Outfit of the Day – 6.14.08
June 15th, 2008 § 1 Comment
- Bow tie – present from Amelia
- Top – vintage, eBay
- Brocade jacket – vintage, part of a suit from eBay
- Skirt – Macy’s
- Shoes – thrifting
If I were to redo this outfit, which I wore to brunch this morning (spinach and mushroom scramble, fruit, English muffin, and way too much caffeine), I think I would have picked a different skirt. This one is not particularly shapely and gives the look a certain bagginess that I don’t like. Still, I thought I would chronicle my first foray into the world of the bow tie. After brunch my housemates and I stopped into one of our favorite secondhand bookstores and I almost picked up something by Nathanael West, but I definitely have enough to read right now and I don’t think the one book they had by him was the right one for me to start with.
26. The Group W Bench
June 15th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
As fun as it is to shop in a store where nearly everything is part of a bonanza of excellence (e.g. Retro Active in New Orleans), therefore setting expectations to astronomical heights, sometimes it’s almost as fun to go to a place that doesn’t match your aesthetic at all. The Group W Bench in New Haven, CT is one of those places for me. I hadn’t been to this hippie destination since at least 2002 and when Chris and I passed it last week on a walk to Chap’s for grub, I insisted that we stop in.
The Group W Bench is stocked with arty and kitschy postcards (I bought one of “Rachel in Fur”), plastic toys, and comfortable-looking, if not, um, fashion-forward, clothing. What really catches my magpie eye every time, though, is the jewelry case. I still wear the Galadriel-esque ring that Chris bought for me there in 2001 ($30). Besides, the pack rat in me is immediately drawn to any small space crammed with eye candy; I would have stood there gaping forever if I hadn’t been starving for a plate of baba ghanoush. (1171 Chapel St., New Haven, CT)
25. No Pain, No… Bacon Bandages
June 12th, 2008 § 3 Comments
I do a lot of walking. It’s part of life for a lady who stopped driving at 20 (too many accidents, poor depth perception) and never really learned how to ride a bike (they go too fast). Unfortunately, I also developed a love for heels this year, and I haven’t worn sneakers in public since my black Converse were stolen in sixth-grade gym class. Foolish? Absolutely.
Take two weeks ago, for example, when I was on the verge of hiking in a pair of two-inch leather sandals. It wasn’t that I was on a vanity-induced suicide mission; I just hadn’t thought about it. Thankfully, the group took a quick detour at Sports Authority, where they picked up a whiffle bat and ball plus Frisbee and I bought a pair of cheap-o white sneakers that were just fine for the three-mile hike.
I faced a similar dilemma in New Haven. The only pair of shoes I’d packed in my carryon were a pair of low heels, but after a few days of nonstop pavement-pounding, I dropped in at a random shoe store and picked up a pair of $20 ballet flats. The flats cut up my feet pretty badly in the end, and I came home with a good deal of scabs and scars.
And then there’s today. A pair of soft leather sandals that I thought would be suitable for a day of errands (coffee, writing, library, groceries, picking up three new bowls) ended up scraping off a good chunk of my right foot. Clearly I’m in need of some footwear intervention — something cute and good for walking, hopefully with arch support, and heeled without being too awkward. The We Who See booties referenced in a below post had been perfect until they died a sad death (the heel snapped off on my way home). I’ll bring them to a shoemaker, but in the meantime, I’m open to recommendations.
While I was wincing all over Connecticut I spotted these bacon bandages in Cutler’s, which is an independent record store near campus. I thought about buying a box and covering my feet in bacon, but never got around to it.
24. Thumbs Up: Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box
June 12th, 2008 § 4 Comments
I don’t wear much makeup, mostly out of laziness and lack of mastery. But lately I’ve been pretty excited about the reappearance of an old flame in my life: Urban Decay eyeshadow. I used to have one little pot of green shimmery stuff and I wore it until it ran out, after which I didn’t get another one. Enter, four or five years later, the Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box ($36). Vibrant colors, no trouble with fading. The box comes with an eyeshadow primer, too, and I expect that the nine (!) colors will last me a good long time.
23. Birthday Wishes & Champagne Dreams
June 12th, 2008 § 2 Comments
NOTE: I realize that updates on this blog have been spotty, and for that I am sorry. From now on I will be updating every Sunday and Wednesday (unless a major accident has befallen me or I don’t have Internet access for some weird reason).
I spent most of my 25th birthday at the Hartford airport, and in a tiny town with no sidewalks near the Hartford airport while our flight in Newark was canceled. But that’s neither here nor there. (It was fun! Chris and I watched MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew,” which started us on a mega-marathon of watching b-boy dance crews on the Internet till 2 in the morning, and we also went to a quaint little diner that served giant pieces of cake.)
Why were we in Connecticut? Well, Chris had his fifth-year college reunion this past weekend, and we met at the same school, so I got to see a lot of people I hadn’t seen in years. Chris bought me a scarf and this incredibly comfortable sweater, which is definitely the preppiest article of clothing I own. I picture wearing it with pearls and elaborate neon eyeshadow. (The unusually baggy arms in this photograph are not to be believed.)
I also received (or will be receiving) a 3.1 Phillip Lim silk-and-lace birthday dress that I’ve had my stargazing eye on for a while. Although the idea of owning more dresses that will be utterly inappropriate for painful Michigan winters is probably inadvisable, I’m going to be in the muggy South and Northeast for the rest of the summer, not to mention here at home in California, so I plan to get plenty of wear out of this dress. A friend of mine is also throwing a dance party for the kids leaving for MFA writing programs this fall; I expect I’ll wear it to that, too. (image from La Garconne)
I’ll leave you with a meme that I picked up from Sally Jane Vintage. Somehow this birthday makes me feel like aiming for things.
8-ish Things I am Passionate About
- books
- people I love
- writing
- fashion
- food
- the ocean
- cheese
8-ish Things I Want To Do Before I Die
- write at least one really good book
- own a dog
- learn French & Latin
- do volunteer work on a regular basis
- be consistently good about maintaining my health
- make sure that my parents are well taken care of
8-ish Things I Say Often
- Life is soooo hard… (in a dopey voice, usually in mockery of myself)
- Are you hungry yet? (Because I’m often hungry.)
- I can’t find ______.
- hell of
- ____ like whoa!
- Oh noes! (I say this a LOT.)
8-ish Books I Have Read Lately
- The Iliad – Homer (trans. Fagles)
- Play It As It Lays – Didion (reread)
- Wise Blood – O’Connor
- Fun Home – Bechdel
- Divisadero – Ondaatje
- Tender is the Night – Fitzgerald
- Best American Short Stories of the Century – ed. Updike
- The Sound and the Fury – Faulkner
- We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live – Didion
- (starting) Don Quixote – Cervantes
8-ish Albums I Could Listen To Over and Over
- Nirvana – Unplugged in NY (or any other album)
- Sleater-Kinney – The Hot Rock
- Edith Piaf - Édith Piaf : 30ème Anniversaire
- Girl Talk – Nightripper
- Joanna Newsom – Ys
- Laura Veirs – Carbon Glacier
- Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
- Rachel’s – Music for Egon Schiele
8-ish Things That Attract Me to My Best Friends
- kindness
- intelligence
- loyalty
- silliness
- a certain flavor of neuroticism, generally
- doesn’t mind sitting at home
- bonus if they love to eat like I do
- ease of conversation
