Memories, Painful and Comforting

Early in my first year of college, I came across two things that have stuck in my mind ever since. The first came up in the course of reading Homer's Iliad, during discussion of Achilles; the second, I believe, in a digressive discussion of language in a novel.

Vintage Handy (Wo)man

Since May, I've been slowly adding to my true-vintage collection, and some of those new-to-me dresses have gotten quite a bit of wear already. But the hunt for true vintage isn't without its challenges. Aside from the inherent difficulty of finding cute, affordable midcentury vintage in larger sizes, when you buy a vintage garment, you're buying something old. And fabric that's been well-loved for 50+ years tends to need mending.

A Letter to My Younger Self

Dear Sixteen-Year-Old Emily,

First off, let me prove to you that this letter really comes from your older self: your favorite thing you've drawn since high school started is actually just a crummy sketch of Pete Scheck and a saxophone. (And let me sort of reassure you, after such public embarrassment, that until publishing this letter, you never told a soul about that.)

#tbt to being sixteen.

A Star Wars Ethical Dilemma

Well, it's happened: I'm grappling with my first parenting-related ethical dilemma, and I have no idea what to do. No, this isn't about whether to use cloth or disposable diapers, or whether to cosleep, or anything like that. My dilemma involves a much weightier issue: raising a child in the post-Star Wars-prequel era.

A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Star Wars turns 40

Today is basically like Christmas, the anniversary of the moon landing, and Cake Day all rolled in to one: Star Wars is 40 years old! I know #MaytheFourth literally just happened, but it's not every year that my favorite thing in the world turns the big 4-0, so I decided to save my geeksplosion for a dedicated birthday post.

Remembrance of Things Past

My Mom-Mom had a blanket that her sister made for her. Her sister finished it right before she passed away; I'm not quite sure whether her sister gave it to Mom-Mom, or whether it was given to Mom-Mom after her sister's passing. Regardless, Mom-Mom would always tell us about how that blanket sat up on the shelf in her closet ever since. It just made her too sad to use it. I could never quite see why something made with love would make Mom-Mom feel this way.

The other day, while looking for something to wear for a day of very long train rides, I came across this dress and finally understood.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Every time I leave my apartment and see these tulips, they brighten my day immeasurably. I always point them out to Jeff, and insist that he express adequate appreciation of their glory before we continue on our way. (Usually it goes like this: "Jeff, aren't those the most beautiful flowers ever?!?" *silence* "Jeffffffff!" "Yes, they're fine.)

The (Other) Love of My Life

I'll be honest with you: I'd envisioned my Valentine's Day post a bit differently. This time last year, I was enjoying the #7ShadesofRed challenge and plotting an epic feast involving large quantities of cheese. This year, I spent most of the past week in pajamas, propped up in my bed next to a large mug of tea. It doesn't do to dwell on what might have been, so let's just hope that next year, we'll see my planned post about ways to avoid the morass of cheap sentiment and commodified conceptions of love that plagues V-Day.

Instead, I'm going to tell you a bit about the love of my life that isn't Jeff, or dresses, or Star Wars.

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.

The Best Christmas Present Ever

Christmas presents are such a magical thing, aren't they? Nowadays, I'm much more excited about giving the gifts I've accumulated over the course of the year to their recipients than getting my own gifts, but it's still an enormous thrill to open my Christmas presents and see what's inside.

Shelter Island

For some reason, my posts on Stuff I Have Done keep getting preempted for posts about Clothing I Love, which means that I'm writing a post with photos from my previous trip to New York while in New York again. In other news, this is my 100th blog post!

I've mentioned before that I never really change my jewelry. I've worn the same necklace and bracelet for nine and ten years, respectively, and I get a lot of comments about my necklace. People often ask if it's a guy on a horse (no), a Wyoming thing (no), a bucking bronco (no), or a degraded coastline (…sort of? To be fair, this only happened once.) While it does look uncannily like the thing in the middle of the Wyoming license plate, it's actually a map of Shelter Island, New York.

Happy Birthday, Roon!

Today is my sister's birthday! Unfortunately, I'm spending this one in Chicago, which means she'll be guilting me about not coming home for at least the next decade, but hopefully I can buy her off with a super birthday present and a blog post. (Spoiler alert: I doubt it. She still brings up the time that I got home 2 minutes after her birth time and she 'had to turn 15 all by herself.')

Oreos and Ginger Ale

My mind is like my own personal TimeHop. Let me explain this by way of an example: I know that today is May 20th. This means that 1) I graduated college exactly NINE years ago, 2) my across-the-street great-grandma, Mom-Mom, would have been 103 years old today, and 3) I'll be spending the day reminiscing and ruminating on both of those facts.

Hi Mom!

Love and Poppies

I have a steel-trap memory for dates: I'm the Rain Man of remembering birthdays, anniversaries, and When Stuff Happened. I can tell you, for instance, that I met my friend Pari's newborn daughter for the very first time on April 18th, 2013, or the birthday and anniversary of every single person/couple on my mother's side of the family.

Luckily, Jeff has an equally good memory, which means that I can expect him to remember that we started dating six years ago today! He's made me promise not to put any photos of him on the blog, though I suspect a few shots of him might find their way onto my Instagram. (Hey, I'm living up to the letter of the promise, if not the spirit!) Our anniversary this year will be more low-key than in previous years, since Jeff is in the middle of grading papers and I have to be at work bright and early tomorrow. I'm planning to spend the evening cooking a giant meal, reminiscing about How It All Began, and lying on the couch groaning "I'm so FULLLLLL!"

The Best Day of my Life

In case you couldn't tell, I tend to think in terms of narratives, anecdotes, and 'onion stories.' When it comes to my to-do list/practical tasks, my memory is like Swiss cheese, but for major moments from my past, minute details of Stuff that I Did, or the like, my mind is a steel trap. It's quite nice for the most part, because it means that I can remember the happiest moments of my life in high definition, so to speak.

I'll get to the Best Day Ever in a minute, but first: the skirt of my dreams! I waited for what felt like an age (e.g. about six months) for this skirt to restock, and as soon as I got the email notification that it was back in stock, I snapped it up. To my never-ending joy, it arrived last weekend!

Red! By Jenny.

In high school, my best friend had a line in her AIM profile (boy, I’m really dating myself here, eh?) that simply said “RED! By Jenny.” It always used to make me laugh, because it was just so unusual and I wasn’t sure what statement she was trying to make. I asked her about it last month, and apparently it was just because red is her favorite color and Jenny is her name.

I think of that whenever I put on a red garment: I hear the phrase “Red! By Jenny” in her voice, figuratively speaking. This particular red dress is another excellent new-to-me acquisition. I’d heard that the Lana dress from PUG was shorter than most of their other dresses, and thought it would make a cute knee-length dress for me, so I started looking around and found one that Bristol was selling. It came in a jiffy, during an oddly warm spell here in Chicago, and I really like it! I’m a little sad that this dress style was discontinued, but I guess tracking down other colors of this dress will give me a goal to work toward.

"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

"I think so, Brain, but if they called them Sad Meals, kids wouldn't buy them!"