conversations with my dad

[To preface-- earlier this week I was talking with my dad on the phone and he was giving me an update on the dog. As always. He told me that she was recently diagnosed with a bladder infection. This causes her to stop and squat about every couple of seconds on their four mile walk, but nothing comes out. She's receiving meds and is on the mend, but it's a long process.]

DAD

I'm worried about her self-esteem,

ME

Why?

DAD

Well, I mean it's very frustrating when she stops every four seconds! It puts a crimp in our time. And she makes eye contact with me the whole time she's doing it.

ME

Yeah, she tends to do that.

DAD

And then I yell, "YOU DON'T HAVE ANY PEE LEFT IN THERE!" I don't think she understands me. But then sometimes she poops and I have to say, "Oh, wait, sorry, my mistake."

ME

You apologize to the dog?

DAD

Well, yeah, I don't want her to have some kind of Freudian complex and think it's not okay for her to poop. That could be damaging.

...If any of you were curious as to where my personality comes from, maybe now you know.

how to celebrate an anniversary

Just take it from Boyf and I, because we are experts. Yesterday was exactly seven-hundred and thirty days since the day when he asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend. If you want to celebrate in style, like we did, simply follow these easy steps.

1) Stay in bed until approx. 10 am because it is Labor Day. Keep talking about how glad you are you don't have to go to work.

2) Make pancakes together because that is what adorable couples do and you are nothing if not an adorable couple, goddammit!* Put cut up peaches in the batter. Then, while your doting other half slaves over the actual making of the pancakes on the hot stove, ignore the dishes and any semblance of helping him and read blogs on your laptop instead.

3) Do laundry. Debate for a long time if you should sullen this holiest of holy days by venturing into the Dark and Scary Basement Which Has A Fallout Shelter Which Also Has A Padlock On It (I Mean, What Is The Point Of A Fallout Shelter That No One Can Access?!). Decide that ultimately, nothing kills romance faster than smelling bad.

4) Ask your beloved if you can borrow quarters because you don't have any, because you are not a real adult. Make no effort to repay said "borrowed" quarters.

5) Exchange gifts. Give him only half of his, because you waited too long to order the other half, and it has yet to arrive. Watch as he makes a big deal over how much he likes his half gift. Then open his gift for you and cry like a small child over how perfect and thoughtful it is.

6) Play James Taylor records and make hummus. Realize that three-day weekends are life's way of showing you how lame you are. Shouldn't you be able to think of more things to do on an extra day off?

7) Offer Boyf a bite of said hummus and watch as he almost keels over from the amount of garlic you put in.

8) Start thinking about where you want to go for your Fancy Anniversary Dinner.

9) Realize, as Boyf attemps to make reservations, that everywhere. Is. Closed. Something about a national holiday? Who knew.

10) Finally break down and put on jeans instead of the cutoffs you've been shivering in all day. Summer is over.

11) Go to Wegman's and take Boyf's declaration of, "Anything you want, babe, seriously" a little too seriously. Put literally everything you see into the cart for dinner. End up with a wedge of brie, a white baguette, overpriced gourmet hamburger patties, rolls, two giant potatoes, three different kinds of cheesy dip from the olive bar, and a six-pack of raspberry beer. Purposefully forget that Boyf really doesn't like fruity beer so as to give yourself an excuse to drink the whole thing.

12) Make dinner. Burn yourself making steak fries.

13) Eat said dinner in front of the TV. Watch three episodes of Sons of Anarchy, Season One.

14) Ignore the dishes.

15) Make him kiss you on the face an obnoxious amount before passing out at 10:30.

See? IS EASY. If you want, the next day you can blog about your special day and then ask him if you can put up a picture of him cuddling with a toy elephant on your blog. He will probably say yes, because he's a gem and all that.

*See, I told you there would be more swearing!

dawn of the dead

Well, hello!

Here are some things that have been going on in the past couple months. Please pick and choose from among this list to formulate a custom excuse for why I have been absent from the blogosphere for almost exactly three months.

• I bought two vegan cookbooks and seriously thought about going vegan.
• I stuffed bratwursts in my face two at a time at the company End of Summer Picnic.
• Girl Roomie and Boy Roomie moved out.
• New Roomie moved in. His name is Brian. He's okay I GUESS.
• I got a promotion at work! However, it doesn't kick into effect until December, so I am going to be poor for a little while longer.
• I turned into my mother and started eating oatmeal for breakfast, force-feeding Boyf vitamins against his will and spraying everyone with SPF 50 every ten minutes.
• I stopped wearing cool clothes because I work in an office thirty hours a week and no one there understands over-the-knee socks.
• I sweat my ass off during the same ridiculously humid summer that I so looked forward to during the ridiculously snowy winter.
• I gained eleven pounds.
• I begged incessantly for a puppy, much to Boyf's irritation.
• I cut my hair off.
• I finally got my car's oil changed!
• !!!!!!
• Seriously guys, the oil thing is a big deal.
• Also, I bought a pepper grinder and it might be my favorite purchase of all time.

See?

I'm not sure what kind of blog this iteration is going to be. What I do know is that I want it to feel more personal, and I'm not sure if right now that necessarily means posting an outfit three times a week. Also I wanted to be able to curse more, because I curse a lot in real life and people don't really curse a lot on fashion blogs. Has anyone else realized that?

But I still like blogging, and I miss you guys. Also, apparently my dad tells people about my blog when they ask how I'm doing in Buffalo. So I have to give the people something, you know?

What I do know is that it's good to be back. Again.

flashback

In this picture, I am either nineteen or twenty years old. I'm inclined to say I was twenty (actually I know for a fact that I was...) but I like putting the question of my being nineteen in there because it makes it easier to push that dress off on the folly of youth.

This picture was taken the winter of my junior year of college. (It's crazy how long ago that was and how recent it seems!) I was going to a fraternity formal with Kevin, the guy in the picture and one of my very best friends in the whole wide world. There are a whole series of pictures from that night that are much more flattering than this one and do not give my face the appearance of seven chins, but this one is Kevin's favorite and (secretly) mine.

Kevin is the best. He's the funniest person I know, he's cheated death three times (or is it four now?), he has awesome musical taste and in college he would let me play RockBand in his living room until I almost went comatose. We had a lot of fun at the formal...probably more fun than everyone else did because they were all either fighting with their girlfriends or trying to impress their dates, and we just...did our usual thing. Which is to have fun and be awesome.

He sent me a CD in the mail the other day. It felt like highschool, where you would trade CD's that you illegally burned with all your best friends. I miss him.

Oh and also, how ridiculous is that dress?! I got it from Kohl's but I think the label is Mandee? I couldn't tell you because the neckline is truly obscene and I got rid of it about a year ago.

Here's a song from the CD Kev sent me:

I think you should all post embarrassing pictures of poorly conceived formal wear, too. Or pictures of your best friends. Because I did, and I'm in a nostalgicky mood today.

tweet tweet tweet

Who rocks in the treetop, all the day long, hoppin' and a boppin' and a singin' this song?

The answer is me. I do. Because I caved in and I have a twitter now.

Guys, I am twitter defective. So you should all be my friends and explain to me how it works, okay? :)

I had a long, sunny weekend during which I had to take two showers a day because it's so hot here. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, I promise.

I leave you with a photo of a baby elephant conquering a log. Why? Because it's adorable.

bloggity blog

shoes- urban outfitters

skirt- forever 21

shirt- h&m

Do you see this beautiful hairstyle? This is what you get when you try to copy Emily's lovely tutorial before work, ask your boyfriend for a quick time-check when you're done braiding the four braids, and then freak out when you find out it's ten minutes later than you thought it was and instead of following said lovely tutorial, you simple haphazardly pin braids to the top of your head in a random way.

I'm a genius, I know. I had two people at work today tell me they liked my hair, though. One of them was a man. Granted, he was old enough to be my dad, but still. Male approval! Of my hair! Heretofore unheard of!

Also, guys, I felt very...blogger-y today. Pattern! Color! Milkmaid braids! Nerdy glasses! I was going to wear my crazy wedges but then I decided that it was just too much and went with my standard wear-them-to-work-pretty-much-every-day flats. Too bad I only got one decent photo of all this bloggy goodness, though. It's thunderstorming out in Buffalo today, so I couldn't go outside to take pictures.

What's the weather like around you guys? And do you ever have days where all you can get is one picture? Boo.

urban jungle

shoes- target

dress- ASOS

vest- penney's

belt- dockers

earrings- topshop

There are some really cute areas in my neighborhood. And then, there are places like this. This doctor's office is close to my apartment but I swear I have never seen anyone go in or out of it. The grass always needs to be cut and, as you can see, the sign in front of the garage makes it sound like a high-security lock-up.

So, I mean of course I would take outfit photos here.

These shoes are both really new, really cute and (at this point in the day) really painful. But for twenty-five bones, I'll take them. Also, I really need to get myself some new contact lenses, but until I do, meet my glasses! You've seen them before, but I have a feeling that you all are going to become good friends.

I want to go shopping. I think I have an addiction. I just bought these shoes and a cardigan on Sunday, but I still want to go for a really good, long thrift and drive somewhere that has an H&M. I have a problem. Boyf saw me walk up to the register at Target the other day (we'd gone with our friends just to tag along on the way to somewhere else) and deadpanned, "Actually, I was thinking that you really do need about six more pairs of shoes. I'd been meaning to mention it to you."

Hardy har, babe. Hardy har har.

What have you guys been itching to buy lately? And what did you do on this lovely, beautiful day?