Something's coming...

I was walking on Queens University's campus and suddenly feeling sort of nostalgic for college even though I was in college and on my way to class.... sort of.

No matter how much time you spend in school, there is nothing like those first undergraduate years out of high school, away from your parents in college. The whole world is waiting. Possibilities are endless. It is very, very this song:



(Broadway musicals are my favorite thing. FAVORITE.)

I am about to turn 32. The possibilities are not endless. In fact, I am straight-up married to one dude. I am all like "This dude is IT." And this dude is like "I love my family and my job, we are never leaving Charlotte. Charlotte is IT." The possibilities are not endless. I am no longer 19. But life is still pretty nice. And I'm still pretty young. Young enough that I identify with this song:



I've decided I'm not going to consider myself old until I'm 68. That rounds up to 70, and you have to be honest with yourself, 70 is not young. Although, by time I'm 70, maybe it will be the new 30. You never know.

Loving Lately

Things I have been loving lately include but are not limited to...

1. Running into former students. I ran into one of the second-graders I taught (as a student teacher) last year. He was so tall! I was with Robert, who had a basket full of perfectly respectable items such as potatoes, carrots and broccoli. I was holding boxed wine. Of course. Not just wine. Boxed wine. I foresaw this happening. I always, always knew the first time I saw a student (former or current), it would be in a grocery store, and I would be holding wine.

2. Boxed wine. Black Box is good. It just is. And it's cheap(ish). And eco-friendly. I have no shame. Except for the shame I have. But I only have that because I live in the South.

3. Snow in the South. So while living in the South (and more likely for seven years in a very small southern town where I was a freakishly public personality for being a 20-something quirky chick) has made me a little paranoid about appearing like a lush in public, it has also made me a massive lover of magical, transient snow. We never get it! But sometimes we do! And when we do it is so beautiful. Snow in the South is a very specific, beautiful thing. It is not the same as snow in other places. We haven't had snow like this in three years. It was powdery and crunchy and stayed for less than 24 hours. MAGICAL. As seen here in blurry photos.

4. Ebay. I have developed a problem. I am now off of Ebay. Allegedly. Not coincidentally, I am now the owner of some awesome combat boots. I feel very myself circa 2000.

5. This song. I heard it on Jimmy Fallon. Cause me and Jimmy, we're still besties.



6. Bath salts. Not the drugs. The actual salts you put in the bath to relax. I'm really annoyed there's a drug called "bath salts." I feel it gives for-real bath salts a bad name when they are so healthy and awesome.

7. Looking forward to something. It is maybe not Zen to look forward to things. It is, perhaps, better to focus on the present. To just live in the Now, man. But I have always been a forward-thinking lady, and I find I am a much happier person if I have something very specific that I'm looking forward to. Right now, it's visiting my math-professor/gorgeous-genius sister in California. She is the bee's knees. And she lives two hours away from Disneyland (and no-hours away form the Farmers Market Ben Affleck shops at). So it will be an epic visit, and I may or may not come back with mouse ears (and Ben Affleck).

Saturday ride on a train

Kids are pretty much the best thing ever.

I know some people don't like kids, but I don't get that. Kids are funny. Kids are fun. Kids are intuitive and insightful and imaginative. I became a teacher so I could hang out with kids. There are some adults I don't like, but I've never met a kid who I thought was a bad person. Kids can have bad circumstances, but all people start out pretty okay (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). I mean, look at my niece in that picture. It does not get cuter. There is nothing better than making a child feel loved and important and happy. For real.

I heart blogs

This is a picture of me wearing a thrifted dress and cardigan (and non-thrifted leggings and boots) in my backyard.

My best friend's husband is a Buddhist who hiked the Appalachian Trail and yearns for hermit-hood (No hermit-hood happening though because he is in love with and married to my best friend. He proposed to her by giving her a harmonica. They were married by a Justice of the Peace in their living room and took their wedding pictures in a big field looking like supermodels because they are both gorgeous. But I am way digressing here.) Anyway, my best friend's husband was like (and I am paraphrasing) "There are blogs where girls just take pictures of their clothes?" He was baffled. Baffled, I say.

Yes. Yes there are. It is perhaps silly. It is perhaps awesome. What is the deal with these blogs?

I ask myself this questions sometimes. Usually when I am posting pictures of myself wearing an outfit. As you can see above, the outfit is awesome. I love those hearts so much. I am all about graphic prints these days.

I love fashion and style and individuality. Trends bore the bejesus out of me (and, for the most part, so do trendy people), but fashion fascinates me. For me, fashion belongs in the same category of culture as all the other things I love: books, movies, music, art. I love these things, and I love immersing myself in these things and talking about these things and blogging about these things.

Life can be really heavy and stressful. I need art and silliness and frivolity to lift me out of my own brain and give me a little perspective. (Pictured above: Boots that make me feel like a turn-of-the-century newsboy. And also: perspective.)

I really hate the media's emphasis on beauty. I really hate the idea that there is only one kind of pretty. I love fashion, but magazines also make me feel a little bit yucky. The women are so thin. Everyone seems to be taking themselves so seriously. Blogs, on the other hand, are created by a variety of women who, for the most part (at least when it comes to the blogs I read), are having fun with clothes. I'm pretty thankful for that, and I'm pretty addicted to blogs. As for my own, I'm probably going to keep posting pictures of dresses I bought for $4. I mean, when you buy an adorable heart-patterned dress for $4, you kind of want to tell the world. Or at least a small corner of the Internet.

Loving lately

Things I have been loving lately include but are not limited to:

1. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Thanks to Hulu Plus, I can watch this show even though I go to bed at 9 p.m. (True story. I went to a concert last weekend and it lasted until midnight and I was sort-of-kind-of falling asleep by 11 p.m. The only day I can stay up late-ish is Saturday because I did not spend the whole day with kidlets and will not be spending the next day with kidlets. Friday, it turns out, is a no-go.)

Jimmy Fallon is really funny and has really positive energy, and because I was raised by Californian hippies, good energy is important to me. Enthusiasm is underrated. Geeking out over things is where it is at (see the number 2 thing I am loving).

This week has been especially awesome. He had Tavi Gevinson of "Style Rookie" (the blog) and "Rookie" (the website). She is a hero of mine, which feels a little weird because in general my heroes/role models are my own age or older. I guess that changes the older you get? Anyway, she's a junior in high school, and she's my hero.



Even though I was totally Team Katy after watching her documentary (Oh, I watched it. It even made me cry.), I have to admit I'm still a fan of Russell Brand. He cracked me up.



Those were just two highlights from the world of Jimmy Fallon. My all-time favorite moment was when Obama came on and slow-jammed the news. Now that was epic.

2. Geeks 

I am taking college courses on gifted kids for my AIG certification, and one of things we talked about last week was the word "geek" and how "geek" used to be a terrible thing to be called and now it's more of a badge of honor. It's no longer totally uncool to be smart. Even the word "nerd" is now more of an adjective or verb (I'm going to nerd-out on some homework tonight.) than a definition of a person.

3. Home brew

I got Robert a beer-making kit for his 30th birthday in January, and now he is all about making the beer. Like all about it. I'm pretty pleased. Below, you can see beer making is a little bit "Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble" but without the witches.

His best friend helps him with the brewing. Their micro-micro-brewery (as in our backyard, kitchen, hallway and hall closet where the beer-making and beer-sitting-for-a-long-time-doing-its'-thing takes place) is named "Dem Two Guys with Beards." Beards are good and so is beer.