Cozy + Sewing Projects

I'm listening to Bjork off the hilarious blog nogoodforme.com, and postponing leaving for work because I'm cold and all stuffed up and sickly. There's nothing I hate more than cold, rainy weather + disgusting allergies, and yet there's nothing I love more than snuggling in with tea and space heaters and funny reading and completing some sewing projects. And yet, that is my reality. This picture is how I wish I dressed in the winter, except the boots look wierdly foreshortened and like little hooves, and they freak me out the more I look at them.

Usually when I wake up sick, I start feeling better once I sit up and all the gunk in my brain drains out of my sinuses so I can breathe but today I had to resort to super-harsh-but-magical nose spray. I'm sorry, this is way too much info about my sickness.

But last night I brought out my mint green sewing machine & the trusty needle & thread and rehemmed a dress and a pair of pants, sewed the ripped back seam on two of my favorite skirts, and sewed in the armholes of a too-big free-bin sleeveless sweater/tunic thing, and most importantly, sewed in a pair of too-short BUT my size flare jeans into straight-leg jeans, which is awesome because now no one can really tell they are too short and it took a great amount of ingenuity to make them look normal (you have to keep the original seams) and now I finally have tight enough pants to shove them into boots without the pirate effect or to wear loose tops with without the all-over-sloppy & unflatteringly-baggy effect.

A suit.

I feel like I need a suit. I like this one from Garance Dore, its kind of seventies, although that might be the color of the (giant & amazing) scarf, or the fact that its a chunky knit, or maybe the vest. Anyway, it would be so useful for work and for interviews and for making people take me seriously and for wearing all the pieces separately.

Baking vs. Paper-Writing

Now that a warmer breeze is blowing, I have emerged from my cold-weather-induced panicked state (huddling in the library, endlessly whining, chapped lips, etc) and am ready for fall. I want to make apple cider doughnuts & whoopie pies so bad. I saw the recipes on Katy Elliot's blog. She made whoopie pies with her grandma & great-aunt in Maine, and other than how adorable is that, check out the Awesome Moxie Product Placement. I think Moxie (a Maine coke) tastes gross but apparantly that is because I'm from "away." (I also call it "coke" because I really am from the south). But there's nothing like fall to make everyone wish they were from New England. Sadly, instead of baking, I am probably going to just write papers & presentations & read & read & read. Reading blogs really drives me insane, especially when they say stuff like, today I made x creative, cute thing & now I am going back to bed.

Last night I made bulgur & pomegranate salad. The best thing Zeb could say about it was it was "interesting" but I actually really like it. What can I say, I like fiber. Anyway, I found it on 101 Cookbooks, perhaps my favorite cooking blog. The recipes are not terribly hard, most of them are easy to make substitutions in, and they are healthy and almost always vegetarian.

un-glamorous work clothes

Now that I have an internship where I have to look professional, I have discovered that my usual wardrobe of (jeans + LLbean boots + plaid shirts) or (girly dresses + giant earrings) is not really "business casual." Clothes with holes (the alarming majority) are also out. Which is too bad, because I get lots of compliments on my shabby wardrobe. Therefore I am looking for a nice blazer, some kind of business shoes, and a nice leather bag. Let's begin:
from Les Anti-Modernes. I'm not even going to see where she bought it because I am quite sure I cannot buy it. But it is a "boyfriend blazer" which I don't understand. What does this "boyfriend" label mean? On jeans, it seems to mean: straight, kinda baggy, so ok, I understand that, but on a skinny blazer? I guess it just means "cut straight" not "could be your boyfriend's," unless your boyfriend is really skinny and quite stylish.
Another "boyfriend blazer"! This one is from JCrew, who has lots of nice expensive jackets. Unfortunately, that is the only nice thing about JCrew, who has been disappointing me A LOT lately with their stupid ruffles on everything and ridiculous styling. They used to be pretty, classic clothing but I think they have let the Michelle Obama endorsement get to their heads. I am not even anti-ruffle, I am just anti-Jcrew: ridiculous pricing for clothes made in third world countries, the absurd "we hand-sewed on these sequined flowers onto artisanal tweed from the finest mill in Portugal" prose in the catalog, the unattractive too-many-frilly-accessories styling, half-tucked in shirts, neon ankle socks, and so on and on and on. Rant over.
Ok, next I need some shoes. They have to be warm & look classy, preferably kinda retro. These are from etsy & are about $25 and more or less my size but I won't get them, because that is $25 + shipping for shoes I can't try on. Really I want the shoes that belong to my Policy teacher who I love & who is always super stylish & whose hairdo I try to copy when I go to work (only she has dark curly hair which is the opposite of mine) & who I want to be when I grow up. The other young women at the agency I "work" at also have great brogue-like shoes but they are short and so are used to wearing heels more. That's my problem with shoes-- a two inch heel makes me six feet tall.
Ok, losing steam! This is a boring shopping list anyway, but I need a nice leather bag. Zeb went to Unique (our favorite cheapo thrift store) on Monday while I was in class and I told him to find me a nice leather bag but he returned empty-handed. So since that's about all the effort I'm willing to put into shopping for a bag, I'll just post this one from the first blog I referenced, even though I don't really like it, just to give you an idea of what we're talking about here.

Pretending it's still summer

I usually get really happy about fall, but this year it seems to have gone straight in for winter! And it was such a cold summer with only a few weeks of heat. So I'm upset about it and still thinking fondly of summer dresses and swimming in the ocean, lying in the sun and buzzing cicadas. I guess it hasn't really helped that I went to Florida last weekend, experiencing all of the above summer pleasures (and also breaking and falling off a porch swing), and returned to a chilly Chicago and lots of work to do. I've always really wanted a swinging bed like the one above that I saw on Design Crisis, preferably on a big screened in porch in a cabin by a lake. I would pile it up with millions of blankets and enjoy it into the fall, as long as it was in the sun because I am possibly a bit cold-blooded and need to be in the sun like a lizard.