#4

Me, in my parents laundry room, doing laundry.

Gray lace camisole: Gap
Straight leg jeans: Gap
Cardigan: Gap
Jewelry: Gifted

Another cop-out outfit, but today was really super busy.  With lots of running around.
I love this cardigan though, it has a lot more structure than normal ones.

#3

Out and about outfit!

Jeans: Gap
Heels: Payless
Sequined tank: Express
Cardigan: Gap
Necklace: Used to be a curtain in a Shanghai dance club.
Earrings/Necklace: Beijing market.

This was my trivia outfit.  And we won!

#2

Boots: Hunter
Boot socks: Hunter
Leggings: Gap
Sweater: Stolen from my mother

The first day of Big Orange!  I rolled off a friends futon (post Snowmageddon) and threw this on for the following activities:

-Pushing Puddles (that’s my car) out of the worst parking lot in history.  It was an long, albeit hilarious, undertaking.
-Picking my Floridian cousin from the airport (in white-out conditions, no less!)
-Working.

How do you think I should remix Big Orange?

#1

My first outfit for the challenge was pretty simple.  (Apologies in advance for the strange photo quality, I’m still working on the scientific art of timed photos.)  Yesterday was a day spent running around between classes and meetings, doing errands to prepare for the coming of Snowmageddon 2011, and being “snowed in” with some friends and some board games.

Pink button down: Gap
Tank top: Old Navy
Grey cords: Gap
Belt: Khol’s.
Watch: Thrifted
Bracelets: Buddhist prayer beads
Other jewelry: Gifted

I shod my feet with a pair of sensible-but-clunky leather loafers.  Perfect for running around town, not so great to photograph.

Look, they all match!

Introducing the 30-for-30 Challenge.

Kendi Everyday has this super brilliant thing called the 30-for-30 challenge. The idea is that you pull thirty items of clothing from your closet and wear them (and only them) for 30 or so days.  With no repeats.

So, for the month of February, I’m going to try it.  Mind you, February has 28 days, but I’ll certainly wear at least 30 outfits during that time.  Here’s what I picked out:

5 pairs of pants.

7 tops.

3 sweaters (big orange is going to be a challenge).

3 button downs.

2 dresses.

4 skirts.

1 jacket.

7 cardigans.

Now, if you were paying attention, there are 32 items.  I pulled 32 because there are certain things going on during the month of February for which I know I’ll need certain clothing.  (Like “spring” break.)  The good news is, knowing me, I’ll wear at least 32 outfits with these 32 pieces, so I’m not all that concerned about the cheating.  Here are some other changes I made:

• You’ll notice that there are no shoes in the mix.  That’s because it’s winter.  In Michigan.  So you’ll be lucky if you see any cute shoes, ever.  So if there happens to be a day that I can put on cute shoes, I’ll rejoice and not feel so bad about the rule-bending.
• None of my “work clothes” have been included.  They’re a yellow t-shirt, blue baseball cap and whatever pants I feel cool with destroying.  No one needs to see that.
• Ditto for the workout clothing.

So there you have it!  It all starts tomorrow, by which I mean later today!

A brief cautionary tale.

This picture, of me proudly displaying my birthday crate of clementines, has absolutely nothing to do with this post.

Last night, several friends and I went to the bar.  One of these friends is in the midst of the law school application process.  His roommate was supposed to be home working on a paper.  Said roommate appears, still wearing a three piece suit and his formal wool winter coat.  “I can only stay for a minute” he declared (in hindsight, ominously) “but I think you need to open this.”

Bearing a standard white business envelope from a top-tier law school, Juris Doctor-bound friend shifted awkwardly in his seat and asked, exasperated “You want me to open this here?  In the bar?  In front of everyone?”  Roommate responded in an assenting manner.  The letter was opened, and it was not good news.

General consensus: Roommate should go home.
Now.

Extreme text-based pandemonium ensued.  The rejection letter was mad-libsed.  Alcohol consumption, and thus all tabs open, increased significantly.  While all parties involved are now fairly relaxed about the whole incident, there are some valuable lessons to be learned.

• Standard white business envelopes from top tier graduate or professional schools should never be taken as good news.  (I would amend that to say that no piece of correspondence from any of the aforementioned should be taken as good news – but I’m a cynic.)
• Good intentions aside, roommates should probably leave their fellow cohabitants’ mail alone.
• Three-piece suits are not appropriate bar attire.
• It might actually be good to open your mail at the bar (particularly if you’re in the midst of a highly stressful application cycle).  At the very least, you don’t have to change locations to drown your sorrows.  (Or celebrate…but let’s be real here, you celebrate with phone calls to family, you accept rejection with friends at the bar.)
• And finally, you could avoid this entire situation by living alone.  But then what would we laugh about later?

Democracy in Action!

For the past two days, I had the distinct privilege of working as a volunteer on Sarah Ledford’s campaign for Youth Chair of the Michigan Republican Party.  This entailed a two-day (most expense paid) whirlwind adventure to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the Republican State Convention, with my (admittedly small in number) Republican buddies.

My Buddy Evan and Sarah herself.

And it was awesome.

Living where I live, if you’re a Republican you generally choose not to talk about it.  Because the minute you mention that you’re a gasp Republican, people tend to assume that you hate women/homosexuals/people of color.  If you don’t mention it, you tend to stand a chance at keeping friends.  At a convention filled with people who identify similarly, conversations about politics didn’t automatically devolve into an absolute blood bath.  Individual viewpoints were discussed and agreements to disagree were made.  It felt really good to be completely politically authentic.

Highlights of the convention?

• There was an after party hosted by Representative Foster at this sweet dueling piano bar called Mojo’s.  The pianos were on the first floor, but on the second was this really killer bar/dance floor.  If you’ve always figured that Republicans are buttoned down, uptight people, you would change your mind after this party.  An absolute blast was had by all, despite the 6:25 am call time for the next day.
• I finally got a really sweet GOP/Elephant pin.  Elephants are my favorite animal regardless of political affiliation, so it was super exciting to find a piece of jewelry that whispered instead of screamed.  (I also got my dad a pair of GOP logo cufflinks, but I didn’t get a picture of them.)
• Finally, and most importantly, our candidate won!  Congratulations to Vice Chair Ledford!  She was awesome, and the victory was awesome.

After Party.

Volunteer uniform/caught mid-laugh.

Hotel where portions of the convention were held.

New swag!

Partners-in-crime.

So how about you all?  Do you ever feel like you need to hide what you think in public?  Have you found a place where there are tons of people just like you?

Let’s make macaroons!

Remember when I went to that super fancy grocery store in Chicago?  Well, I finally made the boxed mix that I bought.  My general policy on baking mixes is that I never by a mix for something I can just as easily make from scratch.  Coconut macaroons are not one of those things.  So I busted out my happy yellow mixing bowl and made me some macaroons.

The mix!

Which was awesomely milk-product free.

Mixed up in my happy yellow bowl with my happy red whisk.

Baked until deliciously toasty.

And drizzled with an almond milk/dark chocolate sauce. They were delicious...if incredibly sticky.

Thoughts on the State of the Union Address.

Credit: Associated Press

The political speech I best remember is George Walker Bush’s first inaugural address on January 20, 2001.  The absolute best part of the speech was this:

“We are not this story’s author, who fills time and eternity with his purpose. Yet his purpose is achieved in our duty; and our duty is fulfilled in service to one another. Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose today: to make our country more just and generous; to affirm the dignity of our lives and every life. This work continues. This story goes on. And an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm.”

I can’t even properly articulate why I like it so much, I just know that those lines in particular have adhered well to my brain in the ten years following the speech.  My least favorite speech, meanwhile, is also a George W. Bush gem.  As I’m sure most of the planet remembers, he used his 2002 State of the Union to express his “Axis of Evil” theory..  My visceral distaste for that particular speech might have a lot to do with the fact that I was living in Korea and terrified that my family would be uprooted but yet another Bush War (or maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was a loose cannon).  These two speeches are neither here nor there, really, but they should give you a good impression of the place from which I approached President Obama’s State of the Union Address tuesday night.

Friends for life? (Credit: Associated Press)

To be fair, it’s probably going to take me a few more days of quiet reflection to really formulate any strong opinions on the true substance of the speech, but I will say – from a rhetorical standpoint – it wasn’t that earth shattering.  The only part of the speech that had me even remotely close to tears (and I have been known to get teary eyed over CSPAN if the moment is right) was the opening bit:

“But there’s a reason the tragedy in Tucson gave us pause. Amid all the noise and passions and rancor of our public debate, Tucson reminded us that no matter who we are or where we come from, each of us is a part of something greater – something more consequential than party or political preference.

We are part of the American family. We believe that in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found, we are still bound together as one people; that we share common hopes and a common creed; that the dreams of a little girl in Tucson are not so different than those of our own children, and that they all deserve the chance to be fulfilled.”

As for the rest of the speech?  Well, I was mostly confused.  Especially with his “Winning the Future” theme.  By the fourth time he said it, I really really wanted to know what the prize was.  Is my prize for “winning the future” going to be a job in the state of Michigan?  Probably not.  Will my prize be a job anywhere?  Time will tell.  But how are you “winning the future” and what are you winning?

The rest of the speech was what it was.  Which is to say that it was a State of the Union address delivered in Obama’s typical style.  The policies he put forth were a little all over the place, but he did focus on innovation, which was a nice touch.

As for the Republican response?  Well, let’s just say that Paul Ryan should have used some Visine before he went on camera.

But really, what did you all think?

Weighty Issues.

If I had started a blog at the beginning of my freshman year of college, I may have titled it something arrogant like “How to rock out in the Big Ten and avoid the Freshman 15.”  And this super arrogant title wouldn’t actually be a lie – because I do rock out in the Big Ten and I did, in fact, avoid the freshman fifteen.  It was the mysterious Sophomore/Junior 45 that really came back to bite me in the ass.  (Or, it may have been closer to the Mysterious 50…I’m pathologically opposed to the scale, so I have no way of knowing.)

Credit: Self.com

The numbers are neither here nor there.  (And out of respect for my good friends who struggle with numbers on the scale nearly every day of their lives, I’m not going to tell you.)  The point is that, after 3 year of excess everything-but-exercise, I wasn’t feeling too great about myself.  And my clothes didn’t fit.  It was truly unfortunate.

The summer after my junior year, I took charge with the classic “Eat Better, Exercise More” plan.  And it’s working!  To be honest, I was more surprised than anything else because when you get trapped in the mindset of not feeling too great about yourself, it’s hard to shake the funk, even if you’re doing everything you thought would fix it.  The good news is, now that I’m starting to see results (including, but by no means limited to a wonderfully fulfilling sense of accomplishment), it is getting progressively easier to shake the negative feelings.

The main tenets of the plan so far have been to: figure out what I eat (anything that was easy to acquire and eatable with one hand) and why I eat it (boredom, stress, as a social mechanism) and make appropriate changes (I realized that I don’t actually like french fries).  Then, I had to haul my ass out into the scary world that is the North Campus Recreation Building and move around some more.  And so far, so good.  I’m not going to end up being super athletic (running is still not my thing, okay?), nor will I ever be a model.  But I’m feeling a lot better about myself.

And my clothes actually fit.