Style+Stereotypes

I was turned on to the Minneapolis-based blog, alreadypretty.com, by a friend who has an upcoming style session with the author, Sally. I've really been enjoying the blog, but today's guest post from writer and vintage clothing enthusiast Andrea Eames was a good one. We always hear that we are judged, whether or not we like it, based upon our appearance. We usually take this to mean that we will be judged negatively if we don't put effort into our appearance, but what happens when we are judged for actually putting forth a lot of effort? I think this quote sums it up nicely: 
"I found that, almost exclusively, vintage and style bloggers are strong, thinking women who use clothing as just one more way in which to express that strength and those thoughts."


Since I've been struggling with preemptive fears of judgery, this post was a great reminder to say eff the critics.


Check it out!

Treats from India

My husband and mother-in-law brought me some treats from India. This neem tulsi (Indian lilac and holy basil) soap is strongly scented (I can smell it here in my bedroom, and it's in my shower). They also gave me REAL Indian Kajal! I have been playing with black eyeliner the past few weeks and have come to realize that I can wear it without looking like a drag queen. A poorly dressed one, rather, because there are some beautiful DQs out there! I'll post pictures in a later related post. They also brought this Colgate toothpaste which I really got a kick out of. First, it's "super shakti," or super strength, and it's approved by the IDA, Indian Dental Association, just like our ADA. Oh, and it's "100%  Vegetarian." (I heart localization.) 

 The kajal packing says that this doesn't require sharpening...not sure how that's going to work, but nevertheless it looked really good!

plaid

Plaid is a nostalgic print for me. For most people, a scent will trigger a memory, but my memories lie with clothes. I can often tell you what I was wearing when I recall times in the past. When I saw this picture in The Chris Farley Show, it totally reminded me of an outfit my late great aunt would have worn, my grandmother's plaid Christmas tablecloths, and my red plaid SKORT in third grade. 

Those pants are bad ass. No lie, I'd wear that outfit.

I was also reading Suzy Gershman's Born to Shop London the other day (wishful me) and discovered that there is a difference between plaids and tartans. In the US, plaid has come to mean a pattern of alternating colors in a set sequence, whereas in Scotland it is a piece of clothing worn as part of a Scottish dress uniform. A tartan is a pattern of fabric, with alternate colors in the warp and weft in which the colors repeat themselves in a set order. A tartan is not a plaid. I'm pretty sure I'm mangling this argument, so I should head on over to the UK to figure this out.

I think I need more plaid in my wardrobe. 

The Workspace

In an attempt to blog more, I have stolen an idea from a friend (an idea which she stole as well) with daily suggested writing topics. Said friend and I decided to make this a five day a week occurrence on any given topic. Said friend also chose the most boring topic to start. I'm going to refrain from reposting the list of topics and just go with it. Thanks a lot, S, for choosing "your workspace."

My workspace sucks. There has been a long pause since I typed that. Where to begin? Probably with the positive. I have a great sized cube, an L shaped desk that's a decent size, and cube neighbors who are usually working from home. I'm shoved back in the back corner of the office where there is little traffic. I am usually by myself. I enjoy blasting music in my headphones. It really keeps me going. I love my new Betty White calendar for the year, and I have a photo of my husband and dog, one of my best friend's daughter, and a photo of my best friend's store. I have a map of Europe that I drool over on a regular basis, willing myself there. I have photos of Kyrgyz soldiers. Yes, that's right. 1. I want to go to Kyrgyzstan. 2. I like military uniforms of the wintery wool variety. I have a few cards from a vendor we work with in Kenya.

Since I work with books, they pile up. There is no avoiding this...this is what we do, we all have piles of books. I am also a post-it freak. I won't remember anything unless I write it down. I leave cryptic notes to myself, and there are piles of reminders around me at all times. Should I become old and senile, I will already be used to writing notes to myself. I have always been like this, since I'm a visual person.

So, I'm generally elbows high in things that are made of paper.

The L shaped desk is annoying. I can never decide where to place my dual monitors. For years, I sat in the corner of the L. Since I have a tendency to suffer in silence, it never occurred to me to move my monitor and get myself out of the corner until my shoulder started to bother me from all of the neck craning. I am the type of person (is there a type of person?) that can sit uncomfortably and be so distracted I don't notice it until minutes later. A high pain threshold is to blame. It sounds outrageous, but I can literally sit uncomfortably for a long time.

I'm starting to see the merits of furniture and flat working surfaces as I age. Sitting on the floor is also a habit of mine (outside of work) that I have started calling myself out for in the past few months. When your 15 pound weenie dog is sitting stretched out on the couch while you're on the floor, you realize something is out of balance. My disability kind of feeds into all of this, since I have a delayed sense of feeling, sometimes, in knowing when I'm uncomfortable or should be sitting another way, and since sprawling out on the floor was easier for me when I was a kid with casts on my legs. I could put everything I needed around me and crawl to get whatever else I wanted to use at the time in my room without having to hobble around my bed on crutches. Doing stuff on the floor was a habit that never really went away and was comfortable (I think?) up until recently.

Calling yourself out in your head for these things feels as ridiculous as it sounds. "Why are you sitting on the floor? Why are you sitting like this? Wouldn't your arm stop hurting if you moved your mouse pad?" Sometimes, since I don't have feeling, I don't realize the restrictions of a human body. I always stumble when I try to bend sideways to move around things. (No one's knee moves out to the side...why should mine?) A few times in the past few years, I have thrown out my back for sitting ridiculously. It always happens when I bend my leg out to the side and make a sudden movement the other way to reach for something. The last time I hurt my back for sitting this way was the last straw and the beginning of constant assessment of the way I am sitting. It's annoying. It's also for my own safety. It's also because I came to the realization that this is not an indicator of my inability. The knee-bending was a literal light bulb moment. I'm always asking my husband "does this happen to you in your normal body?" It's a strange place to be after almost 3 decades on the planet. I always made the assumption that my body was to blame, and that there "everybody else was doing it", which was not always the case.

But since getting out of the corner, it has helped some of the neck and shoulder pain I've been having since a stressful holiday travel season. It also helped for me to raise my chair a few inches. I'm always the one in the conference room who sits in the chair and goes rolling because my feet don't touch the ground. I've found I don't always have to be at the lowest setting, and it's more comfortable. Using the side of the L for my mouse keeps my arm upright and on the desk. I still fiddle with the monitors. It could stand to be decluttered in the near future, but I think I'm learning how to sit.

So, in my normal fashion, I have taken a topic and managed to talk about something else entirely. 

Let them eat cake.

I have an obsession with monarchs. Hey, I grew up in the 80s, and Princess Diana was my hero. (I'll get to my anglophilia and Prince William obsession at a later time. Official Royal Wedding 2011 watch here! Geez, maybe I should put a counter up on the side! Digression...)

I have an obsession with monarchs. Mostly of the British variety, but when I learned French in high school, my mom bought me a book on Marie Antoinette. I realize there isn't much truth to the "let them eat cake" phrase that is attributed to Marie (we're on a first name basis) and thank dieu for that. The great biographer, Antoina Fraser, pointed out that the phrase was said 100 years before Marie by the wife of Louis XIV. "It was a callous and ignorant statement," Fraser writes, "and she, Marie Antoinette, was neither."

Well stated.

Recently, I acquired this adorable cosmetic bag by Too Faced. I tried to tell myself I didn't need it, but the graphic beckoned me...the cake in hand, the Eiffel Tower in the background, the beautiful roses.

It reminded me so much of the (awesome) Kirsten Dunst portrayal of Marie. (I don't give a toot about historically accurate, that movie was an eye pleaser, a colorful feast for the eyes.)

And, as an added bonus, it's going to look great with my Marie ring.

Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.

Let's try this again, shall we?

I'm such a bad blogger.

Many things factor into this issue. First, I am a voracious reader of other blogs. Second, the blogs I love most revolve around clothing, cosmetics and travel, and the first of these two blog categories I love are always ones that trigger the "guilty pleasures" part of my brain. Things the other half of my brain scold me for reading. I waste hours reading about other peoples' clothing and make up, all the while thinking that if I did the same, I would at least make some use of my time and put myself out there. However, the devil on my shoulder always seems to say "who would want to read that?" And I've come to the realization that, I don't really care if you want to read it...that's what that little X at the top of your screen is for.

I've also come to realize my most favorite blogs (style ones) are written by everyday women. (Hey, I'm one of those!) There are a ton out there. Maybe the blog "revolution" will usher in a new era in fashion...one that shows you what real people look like. The best part of some of the cosmetic blogs out there is to see what products really look like when you use them, and not what a computer can generate.

I also write a lot and save the posts, but never publish them. I have writer's remorse syndrome. Apparently, all good writers have it, as I learned in my writing class last semester. You know, where you write something and when you write it, you think you're a genius, but when you actually publish it, you wonder when the fluff police are coming. Yeah, I pretty much cringe reading anything I've written. I also think that anything that my fingers type need to be worthy of a Pulitzer. Let's make a mountain out of this here mole hill!

I always think I "should" be doing other things, and that I "shouldn't" be so involved with clothing, make up, etc. But it never ceases to amaze me how many women out there are. Every last one of you!

But, I've been watching everyday women, and close friends, blog with reckless abandon, and it's time I join the party. Since I have been enjoying your blogs without judgement, I'm pretty sure most people will enjoy mine the same.

I was going to delete this, but let's break a bad habit, shall we. I'm going to press publish without further editing! Living on the edge!!