Shop for Mother's Day - Stella & Dot!

Mother's Day, it's a comin'. May 10, in fact. Time to think about getting Mom a present. Or, getting yourself a present, if you are a mom. Mom's deserve all the gifting they can get! Shop now!

The Shoes

These just might be the magic shoes I will wear down the aisle. I love. Love them. 'Twas love at first sight.

David's Bridal

I'm in the process of trying to find a wedding dress, and I'd convinced myself I could do it on the cheap (you only wear the thing once, right?). Unfortunately, cheap meant I couldn't do an "eco" dress, but I relented on that point. Being budget-minded, I sucked it up and went to David's Bridal (too bad, reader, I can't type the apostrophe as a little heart), that strip-mall big-box bride factory. The nice lady at the "reception" desk assigned me to Cathy. Take a look, she said, and Cathy will be right with you. Shortly, a blonde Eastern European woman with imperfect English approached, so I told her I was Paris. "Do you want to schedule your pampering session now," she asks with a thick accent. This was not Cathy. This woman was going to make me submit to a "makeover" in which I leave looking like a circus clown. I declined, and she left.
Rex and I continued looking at dresses, finding most to be much the same, and nothing was particularly exciting, when Cathy finally approached. She grabbed one more dress and we were off to the fitting rooms.
Behind a fully-mirrored door was a fitting room like you'd expect at Wal-Mart, but smaller. At these places they always give you a "bra," which is more like a grandma's foundation garment from 1976. Cathy also furnished a slip (these dresses have, like, 10 layers of material. Do I really need a slip? How crappy are these things?), and told me to get moving. I put on the first dress, and walked out. Totally unremarkable, as you might expect. I tell Cathy that it's not really what I'm looking for, I'd really like x, y, and/or z features. "Brides, they always want something," she says. "Brides are so quirky." I'm a little put off by her snarkyness, after all, we are brides and it is our wedding dress. I go back in to try again. I tell her I really want a corset back. She says, you can have one put in, but it'll cost ya. Again, with that horrid snarky tone. Couldn't I just get a dress that already has one? No, I have to buy the ugly one she picked so she can sell me and move onto the next bride. While she saunters off to find another David's Bridal "creation," I quickly dressed and grabbed Rex. We ran, like we've never run before. David's Bridal is the Wal-Mart of bridal gowns, and since I don't even shop at Wal-Mart, can someone please tell me why I even went in there?
Worst shopping experience. Ever.

But it gets better. When we go outside, and a woman from a DARE tent approaches us, and says "doyouwanttobuyoneofthesebackpacksforunderprivelegedkids?" No, we say. "Butwe'retryingtogetridofalloftheseonthetablefor$20youcanbuyoneorallsix." No thanks, we say. "Mostpeoplebuyoneortwowouldyoulikeoneortwoorallofthemwetakecchecksorcreditcards." Now, it's time to just walk away. I do not want to buy a crappy clear plastic backpack with pencils in it for a kid in the ghetto. If I wanted to help a kid in the ghetto, I could think of a million better ways than that.
Get me the hell out of Westminster. The suburbs are so scary, I'm beside myself.

Jeans, and a dream website

Last year sometime, I went to EVERY store in the mall that carries jeans. And I couldn't find a single pair that fit BOTH my non-waist and my extremely long legs. I finally found a rather expensive pair that were SO worth it because I wear them almost every single day (they are Red Engine, and made in the US). Today, I found something great. It's Zafu.com, and I for once in my life I can't wait to go out jeans shopping. Money be damned. Maybe this whole internet thing does have some good things lurking out there...

Pabst Blue Ribbon

In a NYT article about high-end catering and hostessing in Washington, D.C.:
"In that sense, catering by Costco is a style statement, like drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon beer."
It's known by some as reverse chic, and since I've never achieved chic, I'd like to think that maybe I could be considered reverse chic. Better than nothing, right? I have always been a PBR drinker, and a Costco caterer. Ahead of the curve? Behind the curve? Reverse chic. I like it.

Puppercrombie and Bitch

There is a store in the Highlands called "Puppercrombie and Bitch." Their slogan is "Where bitch is not a bad word." If I had a dog, I would SO drive down to the Highlands for my DIY dog wash and treats.

My Creepy New Obsession (Diamonds, part 1)

Well, it's not that creepy. The NY Times was running a pretty blue ad (you know the blue) for the new Tiffany's website. So I had to click. But then all I wanted to look at were engagement rings (check out the Nova, but with a much smaller diamond...). Then, of course, I started thinking about fair trade diamonds. NOWHERE on the Tiffany's site could I find information about the origin of the diamonds. Lots and lots of info about how they are the best diamonds ever, but can they be if children died for them? Maybe that makes them better for some people. But not me. So today, I googled "Free trade diamond engagement ring." Zero results. Then, "Free trade diamond" "engagement ring." Five results. This is very disappointing. Anyhow, since I foresee this as being an ongoing obsession, here is a link to one useful article. If nothing else, I suppose it's good to have it archived. After all, if this is all I can find in the wake of the movie Blood Diamond, once that fades from the public view, I won't be able to find anything at all. And I must have a fair trade diamond engagement ring. I wonder if Tiffany's would set my own diamond?

re: Bush's veto of Child Healthcare

Congress wanted to spend $35 billion on health care for poor children, and in vetoing that, Bush said that he is "more than willing to sit down with the leaders and [find more money]" if it is needed. Specifically, he said he'd give $5 billion over the next 5 years. Which is almost "a little more money." Except that it's actually less. A lot less. And in my world, less does not equal more. Not in dollars, anyway. I think this could be good reasoning, though, because I could go to Nordstrom and tell them I want those $245 Blinde sunglasses, and I'll even give them a little more for them, say $50. Total. Because in this new way of thinking, $50 is more than $245. And I've really been wanting to start shopping at Chanel but could never afford it before. Now that more money = calculating 1/7 the stated cost and running with it, I can be the designer dud wearing girl I've always wanted to be. This sounds like fun! I'm going shopping, armed with Bush's unflappable logic.

P.S. Congress has vowed to override the veto, and while I do want to be able to shop at Chanel, this bill needs to pass and I hope it does. Sometimes, you gotta take one for the team. Which means that today my team is comprised of poor uninsured kids. I'm okay with that.

P.P.S.: A great quote from the article: "My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions."

free radiohead

So I just went online and bought the new Radiohead album "In Rainbows" for free. I'm sure that this is not news to you, but I still think it's pretty cool. You go on to their website, choose your option (discbox or download), and then you pick your price. So you can pay, or not pay, or whatever you want. Then you complete the transaction like any other internet purchase. Except that since I chose zero GBP as my price, they didn't ask for credit card information. And now I get Radiohead's new cd on October 10. I am very excited. You can read more here.

Note: I thought it would be nice to pay at least something so I'm not just another freeloading asshole, but I'm in class and it's not nice to pull out your credit card when sitting in the second row. Plus, I could have picked some dollar amount with soothing numbers that I like, but like I said, I'm sitting in class and I am incapable of waiting; I need instant gratification.