Top Ten: The First Year

Does anyone else enjoy looking back through old diaries? It's always been fun for me to look back on a snapshot in time, and think about how much has changed since I put those words to paper. When I think about it now, the decision to start this blog was a natural extension of how much I enjoy reminiscing about Stuff I've Done, combined with my lifelong journaling habit. Every so often, I'll go back and look over old blog posts, cringing over the photography and formatting where appropriate and making notes about things I need to wear/eat/cook again.

Weekend Update

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you might've noticed that updates have been a bit thin on the ground for the past couple of weeks. What can I say? Life comes at you pretty fast sometimes, and truthfully, it's been a little hard to sit down and write a post about style when it feels like the entire planet is imploding.

Since I haven't wanted this blog to be a giant Debbie Downer, this means I have loads of half-written screeds against the Muslim Ban/non-intersectional feminism/anti-science people sitting on my computer, waiting till I find a way to frame them constructively. (I'm also sitting on one very silly story that feels a little too out-of-touch with reality to post, but I'm hoping I get there soon!).

So, rather than forcing myself to write something that doesn't feel right, I thought I'd give you a little update on what I've been doing since the New Year started.

Jenny January 2017

One year ago, I never would've dreamed that 1) I'd own so many gathered novelty-print skirts, and 2) Jenny January 2017 would be quite such a life-affirming week. ICYMI: #JennyJanuary is a week where all the gathered-skirt enthusiasts on social media bust out their favorite Jenny skirts/dresses from Pinup Girl Clothing and coordinate massive twinning days. Jenny January 2016 was a low-key affair for me: I was only able to participate in one day, and I didn't yet know very many people in the pinup community.

Oh, what a difference one year makes! While the two fabulous ladies I twinned in 2016 are still some of my favorite folks on the internet, I've met so many lovely friends over the past year, and I wanted to twin with as many of them as humanly possible. What's a thoroughly modern pinup to do? Well... in my case, the answer was 'make a spreadsheet, post daily in all my pinup groups, and rally as many folks as I could to the #twinup cause!'

So how did it go? Well, check it out...

Review: The Pretty Dress Company Hepburn

After I tried on my first Pretty Dress Company dress, I knew I'd be adding more to my wardrobe. Well, it didn't take long. I'd already been eyeing the Hepburn swing dress in forest green, especially since I'd heard it was a good style for shorter people, but the shipping is steep (we're talking over $30 to order directly from TPDC) and I wasn't sure exactly what shade of green it was. After Amelia Jetson of Junebugs and Georgia Peaches posted a closeup of the black floral version, though, I was obsessed. I honestly hadn't realized how pretty the colors in that print were until I saw that photo, and once I saw it, I couldn't stop thinking about that dress.

Well, we know how this kind of story ends for me.

Thoroughly Modern Emily Turns One Year Old!

O frabjous day! Today marks one full year since I first hit 'publish' on this blog, and my goodness, the time has flown by. [Sidebar: I've always wanted to use 'frabjous day' in context, and now I've crossed one more thing off my bucket list!] To mark the occasion, I'm wearing one of my favorite skirts and hosting my first-ever giveaway!

A Swingin' Vixen

Recently, I've realized that I have this tendency to approach shopping as if it's a game of Pokemon. When I find something I like, I immediately go into "gotta catch 'em all" mode, and before I know it, I've added a zillion things to my already-overstuffed wardrobe. (In retrospect, this is less a Grand Realization and more of a 'geez, Emily, that's so obvious!' moment.)

In 2016, I might've gone a tiny bit overboard in the shopping department, but I've resolved to rein myself in for 2017. Fortunately, I snuck a few purchases in under the wire from my latest obsession, Vixen by Micheline Pitt.

On Managing Anxiety in the Age of Tr*mp

It might surprise you a bit to learn that I've struggled with anxiety a fair amount in my life, and continue to do so. While I'd thought that I'd finally mastered the art of outwitting my brain after about five years of relative calm, the presidential election brought some of my old fears roaring back to life.

To be honest, I feel a little silly even typing that, but it's true. Tr*mp's election opened a Pandora's Box of things I had forced back into shadows reserved especially for extremely-low-probability, extinction-level threats to humanity, and I've struggled somewhat to regain my footing. (Yes, I've decided to treat the name of our incoming President *shudder* as the expletive it deserves to become.) I've been thinking about this quite a bit as the Obama era draws to a close. But I think I've finally started to sort out how I'll get through the next four years, and I want to talk about that a little bit today.

Review: My First Pretty Dress Company Frock

For my first review of 2017, I've chosen one of my Black Friday faves: the Cara wiggle dress from the Pretty Dress Company. I saw this dress on my friend Ani and absolutely fell in love, but even with her encouragement, I just didn't feel ready to take the plunge on a wiggle from the Pretty Dress Company, rather than a swing. Their dresses are a bit of an investment, after all, and I'm usually more of a swing-dress gal. Happily, two things conspired to change my mind: a very nice sale at Unique Vintage, and a super-successful #WiggleWeek, which has forever converted me to a wiggle fan.

Wardrobe Remix: Bernie Dexter Veronique in Oranges

Among other things, in 2017 I'm working on appreciating what I already have, rather than going out and buying new things all the time. To document my efforts, I'm launching a new wardrobe-remix series on the blog, where I put a new spin on pieces I already own. My oranges-print Veronique dress from Bernie Dexter was the perfect first subject for this series, since I've had it for almost a year and was recently tempted to buy the same print in a long-sleeved shirtdress version. (I resisted! Geef me compliments.)

Christmas in NYC Recap

You're probably thinking "Emily, Christmas was over a week ago, why are you still blogging about it in early January?" Well, to make a long story short, I was super busy getting ready for our epic family Christmas dinner, and didn't have a chance to share my super-festive day in New York City with you until now. But I did see an awesome show (which will be in LA at the end of this month!) and eat pizza, so it's worth sharing now!

Growing up so close to Manhattan, I rarely went in and did the typical 'Christmas in New York' things. That was for tourists, ya know? Well, tourists and people who don't mind crowds, and neither of those things really described me. That said, New York at Christmastime is gorgeous, so even though I knew going in would be an uphill battle against the crush of humanity, my sister and I opted to head in three days before Christmas.

I already miss these unabashedly festive outfits.

Hello, 2017!

Happy New Year, everybody! I have high hopes for 2017, even though 17 is a prime number and I have an irrational dislike for prime numbers. (Judging by the responses to my poll, very few people share this optimism, but then again, I didn't get a statistically-significant sample. (I guess there's no such thing as ex-social-scientist. Ok, enough with the parenthetical remarks!)) In the nine or so hours that it's been 2017 in my time zone, nothing bad has happened yet, so I suppose it's already off to a better start than 2016, at least on a global level. Personally, 2016 was actually a pretty stellar year!

While I know it's something of a cliche to make New Year's resolutions, I've always liked making (if not always keeping) them. Thus, in the spirit of trapping myself through public accountability, I'm going to share a few of mine with you, as well as some photos from our Vegas honeymoon!