Remember when I told you about my new blogging project, The Little Gourmande? Well, it’s my latest and greatest excuse for the lack of updates here. I’m still posting recipes there, and I really, really think you should have a look. With the rest of my free time (now abundant since I’m only partially employed), I’m working on boosting my CV and pounding the pavement both literally and figuratively. On that note, hire me!
Here’s an outfit I wore to work last week:
It’s not my favorite outfit in the world, but on a really, really hot and really, really sunny day, I needed lightweight cotton and a sunhat. I like the idea of mixing patterns that seem like they would normally clash, though I’m not as daring with pattern mixology as many of my fashion blogging idols. Anyway, consider my pairing of pink-and-white and blue-and-white stripes to be a study in patterns that I felt was necessary for the sake of pushing the envelope a bit, even if it looked borderline silly.
“Dapper” is definitely the first word I think of when I look at these pictures, mostly because I tucked the shirt in, which I’ve been liking more and more lately. (Influence of job interviews? Perhaps.) Anyway, I don’t know if it was the pale colors, the kind of dandy/dapper look or my mama’s floppy hat that made a certain celebrity comedian who lives in my town to say to me, as I walked past him that morning, “Happy Easter! Naw, just kidding.” I tried to laugh it off but ended up feeling very silly for the rest of the day. In his defense, he definitely wasn’t trying to make fun of my outfit and we see each other enough around town (his kids go to school with Kai and Amélie) to make such a comment seem lighthearted and friendly. And, in my defense, I think I would have felt just as silly if some other non-famous-and-successful-star-of-television-and-film had made the same comment. So. I probably won’t be wearing this outfit again soon, though I have to say my tactic worked perfectly and I was feeling nice and cool and protected from the sun all day long.
Shirt, Gap; shorts, Forever 21 via Gabriel Brothers; hat, borrowed from Mama’s closet; sunglasses, Franco Sarto via TJ Maxx.
I’m gaga for dresses ever since the temperature has assumed its position above the 80 degree mark. Not only do I absolutely refuse to wear constraining clothes when it’s this hot, but dresses are one-piece outfits that require little thought or consideration for coordination (and who has energy to think about such things when it’s this hot outside?). I decided to walk to the park to read yesterday afternoon, and though I almost felt overdressed since most women there wore nothing more than bikinis (something I can’t really understand), I was ultimately happy with my choice.
What I love most about this little blue cotton canvas number is that it has pockets and a double v-neck; what more could a girl want?
Dress, Kimchi & Blue; espadrilles, André; flower hair stick, little Japanese boutique in Bordeaux whose name I can’t remember.
Last night I went out to dinner with with my very first and longest standing best friend, Anna. We met on the playground when we were two years old, and even though we haven’t seen or heard from each other much since high school, it’s still remarkable to me that we’ve been friends for two decades… Eek! (Frequent topic of conversation? We’re getting old.) She drove into Columbus from the suburbs and we walked from my apartment over to High Street and grabbed Reubens at a tavern where they dole out potato products like they expect the famine any day now. Naturally we had to stop for ice cream afterward because it’s so warm outside, and we walked with our cones over to the park. I felt so comfortable in this little dress. (What a waste that I shoved a cardigan into my tiny purse before we left because I was positively glistening!*) I admit that I changed from heels to flip-flops when we decided to walk, but this dress transitions amazingly from casual to a bit dressier (or tonight, the opposite). And since the skirt is so billowy, I stayed nice and cool!
*Women don’t sweat. We glisten.
Dress, Silence & Noise; shoes, BCBG Paris; bracelet, gift.
Okay. I moved into my current apartment in March and had numerous requests for pictures. I procrastinated, promising myself I would take some tomorrow, no, tomorrow, no, TOMORROW. Well, I finally decided to just take some here and there and post them as I feel inspired. This afternoon, like most days, the light was streaming through the tall windows in my big room and it looked so pretty and inviting. (I live in a studio apartment so my living room and bedroom are one and the same. To avoid confusing myself, I just call it “the big room.”) So here’s picture #1 of my humble abode, with more to follow in coming posts. I know I didn’t quite catch the whole room, but it just gives me an excuse to post more big room pictures later.
Okay, my happy blogging news is ready to share! I’ve started a new blog called The Little Gourmande. There I’ll be sharing recipes I create and adapt from other sources, along with the stories that accompany them. I’m a firm believer that everyone - even poor college students (or struggling recent college graduates like me! Woo!) can eat well with the dedication of a little bit of extra time in the kitchen and high quality, natural ingredients. My first post just went up this morning and I’d be very much obliged if you’d hop over there and then tell me what you think. I’m sure that, like Grown-Up Lessons, it will undergo many transformations in the coming months. I’d like those transformations to be inspired by the reader’s needs and desires as much as my own.
Today marks one year since I started this little blog. Wow! It has served me well over the last year as many changes have taken place in my life. I’m not sure yet exactly what the second year will hold for Grown-Up Lessons since I’m nearly ready to launch a new blogging project, which I cannot wait to share with you, my lovely readers! I really think you’ll love it (I know I do!). Please stay tuned through the dearth of posts on Grown-Up Lessons as I ready my new site for unveiling. And fret not; I’ll continue updating Grown-Up Lessons, though some content may become a bit redundant once you see my new baby blog… You’ll see what I mean soon!
I’m going to do something that some of you are bound not to like. Fortunately, I’m the webmistress here so you’ll just have to deal!
I’m going to be doing a bit of blog cleanup over the next few days as I prepare for the biggest and best redesign yet. Soon, thanks to some valuable personal advice from Jessica of What I Wore, a web designer, and my lovely boyfriend, Grown-Up Lessons will be easier to navigate, cleaner, and will hopefully load faster!
In order for me to fully make this transition, some of my prior posts will change a bit, some will lose their DISQUS comments as a move them from one post format to another, and others will disappear entirely. This is a necessary clean-up effort in order to make posts uniform under the new design.
I’m not tearing my hair out worrying about losing valuable information and neither should you. If there’s a grown-up lesson to be learned from this I’ll probably have to learn it the hard way, but the truth is I’m just not that sentimental. I’d just as soon delete terrible bygone content and forget all about it than have an embarrassingly messy archive under later incarnations of Grown-Up Lessons.
In exchange for your understanding of the inconvenience of this redesign (and there will be HTML dust for the next couple of weeks), I promise that I won’t be selectively deleting any content in the future. I’m just trimming the dead branches now so that Grown-Up Lessons can grow into a bigger, more beautiful blog.
Please keep checking back for exciting new changes (and if you know anything about HTML and want to roll up your sleeves and offer your services, I’d welcome it)!
Okay, so today’s post has absolutely nothing to do with style of any kind, as clearly demonstrated by today’s bland (but practical for being on the go) outfit. What this post is really about is a wonderful new addition to Grown-Up Lessons that will make it easier than ever for me to stay on top of outfit posts. “Psh, Elizabeth! We’ve heard that before!” I know, I know, I’ve been terrible, but my excuses to not putting up outfit posts are dwindling thanks to my now being the proud owner of a tripod. Believe it or not, I’ve made it so far without one, balancing my camera on chairs, tables, fences, etc. or by coercing my little sister/photographer into following me outside into sub-zero temperatures…
Even though I woke up late this morning, sucked down two cups of coffee and threw on a pair of sunglasses to hide the dark circles under my eyes, I just had to post a photo of my I’m-not-a-morning-person-today self, so excited was I that taking this shot with my new tripod took even less time than it did for me to throw on this ratty tee shirt and jeans!
Tee, American Apparel; jeans, JBrand; gladiators, UO; sunglasses, Fred Flare.
