We all pull inspiration from a variety of sources and for a variety of reasons – either an outfit that you spied while walking down the street who’s vibe you want to emulate, to a perfect pristine flower bursting from the rosebush, to someone’s approach towards life – we all have our muses. The things you can point to that inspired a new part of yourself to come into being.
This past weekend, Mr. Dressedapp and I celebrated Valentine’s Day. While this holiday usually involves us getting dressed to the nines and hitting the town, we obviously had to modify our tradition and had a chill night in with fondue and champagne (no one here is complaining!). In other news related to Woman Plans, Universe Laughs, I had also hoped to unveil my latest Valentine’s Day themed circle skirt this week in honor of the Big Event…but we’ve been rained out for weeks which doesn’t show signs of stopping.
Remember back in college when you would hear a band come on the radio, and in true wannabe-hipster fashion you would toss your hair and say haughtily, “Yeah…I was totally into them before they ever became mainstream…” Like there was some sort of badge of honor in appreciating a band before social proof? Well, I swear you guys…I totally started this skirt before The Queens Gambit was ever a thing!
I remember watching Grease as a kid. I was always a huge fan of musicals (what can I say? People bursting into song really does it for me) and the poodle skirts had me at hello. As your quintessential “girl next door,” you might imagine I would dream of one day snagging the role of Sandy. But, I never liked the way she changed herself for a guy. Even at 15, I had the wherewithal to know that spandex and a boyfriend didn’t happiness make…
One of my most vivid childhood memories is of autumn. My grandmother had this massive maple tree in her backyard and every fall we would bundle into the car to her house to help her rake the leaves. I remember there were so many that I could stand almost knee deep in what had fallen to the ground. We would spend the afternoon raking them into even greater piles, jumping into the crisp signs of autumn with abandon. I remember moving them one pile at a time over the fence into the wooded area behind her yard.
In a chat with some of my best friends, I’ve come to realize we have all hit (or are very close to hitting) a breaking point in recent months. The reserves that we had a few months ago to power through what we hoped would be temporary circumstances have been depleted, leaving us all with a sense of helplessness and a stress that just won’t quit. The only possible response to this seems to be to find ways to escape – even for a few minutes a day – or to use the dreaded F-word on repeat (and the F-word…
You know how sometimes there’s a certain phrase or tv show or new app that you’ve never heard of before, and then all of the sudden 5 people tell you about it in one day? Well, I had been navigating my life and circle-skirt-making-mania very pleasantly, until one day I heard about the Cricut. Suddenly, without warning, came the deluge of readers and followers asking me if I had one and the hours upon hours of hand cutting I would save. And with a few simple clicks, I fell down the rabbit hole…
I have a dark secret to share with you, which is likely to be a very unpopular opinion, particularly in the vintage community. Trust me when I say this confession has raised many an eyebrow and the gasp is often heard around the world. There are memes about my truth. It’s resulted in a bar brawl here and there and I’ve lost friends over it. You may decide to stop reading my blog altogether once you hear my terrible secret. Brace yourself people….
This is always the part of the semester where the exhaustion kicks in and you start counting down to fall break, visions of sloth-like movie watching and catching up on sewing projects dancing in my head. However, given this is no normal semester, I pretty much started the academic year already exhausted and, with fall break cancelled, there is no end in sight. The sloth-like movie watching and sewing, however, I still hope to fit in….
I’m not sure about you guys, but I’ve never been much of a hat person. And yet, I find myself wearing a lot of different hats lately. And not just the hats on this most amazing vintage dress from Trunk of Dresses. I have my Exhausted Professor hat. My Disillusioned with the World hat. And I’m sad to say, my Eternal Optimist hat has been languishing on a shelf, not worn for months.