292. i do not envy the waiting
March 18th, 2010 § 13 Comments
Dress from 1385, heeled sandals from Moon Zoom, cloche-thing from Acme Mercantile (a little convenience store here in Ann Arbor), red coat from YAP!
This week has been downright springlike — I wore knee-highs yesterday and halfway to the English department I stopped to stuff them into my makeup bag. Someone told me that the 60s weather is going to descend back into snow by the end of the week, but until then, I’m going to dress like it’s spring, including digging this wrinkly (I need to get a steamer, or at least stop being so lazy about ironing) spring YAP! jacket out from my closet, which I bought along with a pair of red boots when I was approximately seventeen years old. And yes, I was really into red back then, and nowadays I’ve decided that I am more of a jewel-toned or black/cream/gray gal, with really red lipstick to top it off. But anyway, the oncoming spring means that I’m almost moving out of this state, I’m almost finished with this program, and the monthlong wait to hear about prizes, residencies, and fellowships is almost over. BOY HOWDY.
I can’t talk about all of the things that I have and have not gotten, just because I don’t feel like anything is really Certain right now, but I will say that I’m sorry about not living up to my posting duties on Tuesday. One major reason for this is my new gig as intern at a fashion magazine that I personally think is incredible; I won’t be working at their offices until I move back to California, but in the meantime I’ve been pitching articles and writing my first piece. Part of this also means that I’ve been subscribing to fashion/style blogs all over the place, including blogs that I wasn’t particularly interested in before, so that I can get a handle on what’s out there. I’m sorry to be so hush-hush about what magazine it is, but I’ll probably be able to be more forthcoming once I’ve actually settled there.
One more thing — I know that we have a reader who works at Poshh. Hi! This is my shout-out to you. Sorry I didn’t reply to your comment earlier — yes, that feather-dress is from Poshh, and I hope I run into you there sometime!
xo, mw
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
REPLIES (to 288: Wedding Decor)
M: I’m so glad we gave you an idea for your own wedding! I found it really stressful for the most part (the planning, not the actual wedding — well, that was a little stressful, too), but putting together the favors was super fun.
Starr: Yes, personal is what we were going for! And yes, Tara is an amazing photographer…
Districtofchic: Were you a wedding planner or are you talking about your own wedding? Someone suggested to me recently that I be a wedding planner and I was like — NOOOOOOOO…
DIMA: I have been eating a LOT of cupcakes lately. What kind do you like? (My favorite: red velvet with buttercream frosting.)
Natasja: Thank you!
291. Etsy update: Nadinoo peacock mini, Frye boots, spring trench coat, Candies clogs, and spring dresses
March 17th, 2010 § 6 Comments
Nadinoo Peacock Pixie dress (XS-S) on Ebay
1950s dress with exposed zipper and pockets (M-L)
1970s Liberty print ruffle hem tent dress (S-M)
Nautical pin-up style polka dots dress (XS-S)
1950′s white button up with painted flowers
Vintage Candies slip-ons
90′s denim button up dress
Frye Harness boots 12 R, size 8.5
Hi spring lilies,
In addition to my usual Etsy store update, I’ve decided to sell a few non-vintage possessions, like my lovely Nadinoo Peacock Pixie mini and my Frye boots in size 8.5 available here on Ebay. My Nadinoo dress is a tiny bit big for me in the shoulders (I have horrendously narrow shoulders,) and my Frye boots are half a size too big. I’m planning a big move at the end of the summer, and I started to get a serious urge to purge. URGE TO PURGE would make a nice daily mantra.
Most of these items are already listed at Unhappybarber Vintage, with the exception of the Candies slip on clogs and the denim dress.
Love, Jenny
290. Swedish Hasbeens again & frisky car rides & don’t Bartleby me
March 15th, 2010 § 10 Comments
This post is dedicated to Junot Diaz, who deserves mad props for sneaking Bartleby references into all of his writing, no matter how much he tries to convince us that his narrators are idiotic sucios. Hope I used my Spanish correctly. It’s also dedicated to the Vivian Girls, whom I saw last Friday (hope I used ‘whom’ correctly,) and they were so charming, so sweetly attentive to their own charmingness that I even have to forgive the bunghole who tried to start a mosh pit by ramming his head into other people’s backs (including mine.) I wish I could do something equally absurd and mind-boggling to him. Like, maybe I could show up at a gutter punk show where he’s happily moshing and force him and everyone else to sit down and politely eat a watercress sandwich with a fork and knife. Would you like that, annoying mosher guy with an outrageously large head?
Will you look at how adorable the Vivian Girls are?
Last year, around this time the temperature was in the twenties and thirties. I think I may be uncharacteristically in denial of the warmth. I’ve been foolishly bundling up in my winter coats and boots while everyone else is in shorts and spring cardigans. This makes me feel old, especially when I remember how my great grandmother used to wear two shirts, a sweater vest, a cardigan, and two pairs of pants in the middle of July, and how my grandmother would try to get me to bring a coat to the beach. Yesterday, I finally lightened up and took my Swedish Hasbeens for an inelegant walk around town. I’m preparing a huge Etsy update for Wednesday, and I’m terribly excited about this week’s listings. Spring coats, including a lovely trench, summer frocks, and a pair of Candies high heel slip-ons that I nostalgically wrote about a few months ago!
Reformed striped shirt, secondhand jean shorts, ruffle socks from mom, Rayban sunglasses, flower clip from Gina, Swedish Hasbeens Peep toe Super High, The Believer tote bag from my old job.
Love, Jenny
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
REPLIES (to 287: Ho! and 289: White Bedsheet dress)
Minh-ha: I’m curious to see what sort of rompers/playsuits you have in your closet. I wish all rompers came with a detachable peeing flap.
Jin: Hi Jin!! For work & play hopefully.
Andrea: That very nightmare happened to me at the tender age of 7! And for years I wondered, why oh why did my mom make me wear a corduroy onesie to school? Now here I am, attracted to them once again.
Alli: Thank you for your super sweet note! I’m definitely willing to take a chance on accidental nudie bathroom situations for the sacred romper.
Starr: One hundred ♥’s for you and to you.
Kris: Thank you–if only I really was at peace.
Jocy: I’d love to see your collection of white dresses!
Meghan: Thanks, girl! That lamp is the only nice bit of furniture I own.
Fruitful: Your comment made my day! I don’t think my connections are often satisfying to others, but I’m so happy to know that they make sense to you.
Agneta: I love your footprint traces on this blog–it’s wonderful.
Nina: Thank you so much.
Hannah & Tieka: We should all pool together our innerlight savings and dip into them when needed.
289. White bedsheet dress and the saving of more than just light
March 14th, 2010 § 9 Comments
The few times I’ve worn this white dress: a car drove past me and splashed filth water all over me, a person who was a stranger to me did something medium to very diabolical to me, a teacher of mine whispered two secrets into my ear and I whispered one fake secret back, and I went to a dance party where I felt safe because it was dim. I love this dress because it reminds me of bedsheets, which I am a fan of, especially messy bedsheets you are too tired to sort out before bed. I like reading a book in bed and falling asleep and then waking up in the morning and reaching for something and finding the book and realizing that you had slept next to a book all night. It’s a Good Thing, which according to the movie Fresh, also means like a bodacious, slammin’ babe you’ll never have a chance with.
Also it’s the start of Daylight Savings, yes? I’m happy about that, I suppose, but what I really wish is that we could have other kinds of savings, like how about Innerlight Savings? Anytime you become lackluster and less than dazzling, you could just dip into your Innerlight Savings and ta-da, that little dim orb inside you would suddenly be radiant and resplendent once again.
Love, Jenny
288. wedding decor
March 11th, 2010 § 5 Comments
Okay, okay! No more wedding photos after this, I swear! Chris and I went back and forth about wedding favors — we didn’t want to do any corny magnets with our photos on them (sorry if you did this), or mugs with JULY 18, 2009 on them or whatever, so instead we went thrifting and dollar-store shopping and picked out things for giveaway tables at the end of the party. Each item had a tag on it with a hand-stamp; I’d ordered a custom two-bird date stamp from Etsy, but it didn’t arrive quite in time, so we ran to Office Depot the day before the wedding and bought one of those fancy-schmancy office stamps.
All photos taken by Tara Arrowood.
xo, mw
287. Ho!
March 10th, 2010 § 4 Comments
Hi,
This is Michael in Berlin two summers ago. He’s a poet, and sometimes, he takes pictures for this blog, and when I’m around him, I spoonerize my words. For example, I might say, ‘Man, I hate the cold so much, I can’t wait for winter already!’ and he’ll be like, ‘Winter?’ and I’ll be like, ‘Yeah. Oh no, I mean Spring.’
His poem “Ho!” (with an exclamation mark that is five times as big as the word ‘ho’) was published in a Slovenian poetry journal, Poetikon, and this is his author photo, which I took in Berlin after I had a curry brat and he had a beer, and I tried to help row for five seconds, gave up and flopped around like a fish before eventually settling down to take photos of Michael rowing the boat for thirty minutes while I sang songs and spoonerized. We also saw a swan who glowed and looked greedy and decided that this swan was my doppleganger.
~~~
On another note, I’m crazy into these new watercolors that Hellen Jo painted and posted up on her blog. Ever since I found this silly terrycloth romper in a thrift store in San Francisco five years ago, I have been steadily amassing playsuits and rompers despite their many flaws–having to strip buck naked just to use the bathroom, needing to have excessive immodesty if you ever want to squat somewhere to pee, my excessive peeing needs, and general peeing obstructions that wearing a onesie causes! But there are so many benefits: never flashing your friends, getting to sit Indian style on the grass because of the aforementioned never-flashing, the desire to show off any and all aspects of physical limberness when in a playsuit!
I’m also really digging this watercolor by Hellen Jo, because what’s not to like about girls in 80′s glasses and animal miniskirts, who will CUT you if you glance at them wrong?
~~~
Seeing pictures of Meggy’s new San Francisco digs is making me antsy for my new home in the Fall. I think I am moving to France, or somewhere in Europe, but I’m not certain, which is why I feel foolish even mentioning Europe, but now I’ve gone and done it. Spring break starts next week but I’m going to be here in Iowa City. The week after, I’m leaving to go to Shanghai with my family (mom, dad, Johnny) to see my extended family. There’s some family things that have been weighing on me lately, and I wish I could be with them right now very much, but I’m also feeling lucky we’re all going to Shanghai and soon, I’ll be eating ten meals a day and playing mahjong with my grandmothers and visiting my grandfather’s grave which is just a little tiny square locker, in a room filled with thousands of little square lockers, which you open with a combination lock and inside are his ashes and some of his favorite things like bananas and his watch that he wore for a good number of decades.
Love, Jenny
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
REPLIES (from Jenny) to 285: The salutary benefits of being a gadabout
Districtofchic: I wish I could physically handle that accordion book and see how it’s made. I bet it’s exquisite.
Starr: I’m so so so so happy the package arrived to your door safely! I’m sorry for my dinky packaging skills and I can’t wait to see how the dress looks on you (I bet gorgeous!) Re: Europe, I’m 90% sure I’m moving there, but gosh, here’s to hoping I’m don’t become a coward and decide to do something else.
