A-Z of Me

I'm jumping on the bandwagon!

Age: 31.
Bed size: Queen.

Chore that you hate: Mopping.

Dogs: None currently, but I always had one growing up and I plan to adopt a couple when we have a bigger place!

Essential start to your day: Quiet, space, and a giant glass of water. 
Favorite color: Greens and blues.

Gold or Silver: Both, but I'm really into gold right now, especially rose gold. Please only buy recycled or used gold, the gold mining industry causes far too much harm!
Height: 5'2".

Instruments you play: Extremely neglected flute, piano, and guitar. I have a violin, but no skills.

Job title: Self employed and it feels sooo good.
Kids: None yet.

Live: In the desert.
Mother’s name: Nina.

Nicknames: Lulu, Nessa, Lah-lah Ba-nah-nah.

Overnight hospital stays: 1, in 2009.

Pet peeves: Bad manners.

Quote from a movie: Too many to choose!

Right or left handed: Right.

Siblings: 7! I'm #6. 1 older brother, 4 older sisters, and 2 younger brothers.

Underwear: Clean.

Vegetable you hate: Celery. It ruins everything. 

What makes you run late: I really try not to be late, I HATE it. I'd rather not show than show up late. When I'm late it's usually stress or anxiety related. 

X-Rays: Teeth, left wrist (not broken), collarbone (not broken), right foot (broken in two places). 

Yummy food that you make:  Pizza is my favorite thing to make. I love to cook.

Zoo animal: I have mixed feelings about zoos. My favorite wild animals are elephants and giraffes.

Change is in the Air!

I loved my old blog template, but I needed a change. The air and the light are different here now. It's still crazy hot (108+ today), but at least the breezes are cooler. It's actually nice at night too. I can hardly wait for Fall 'cuz it's my favorite! I realize now that I never posted any Halloween photos from last year and it's almost that time again! I'm planning on throwing a costume party again this year. Grit is going to be a Viking and is growing out his very red beard to be ready for it. I haven't decided on a costume yet. Any suggestions?

Happy New Year!

I hope you have a wonderful year. I'm looking forward to everything that the New Year brings to me for better or for worse. I'm determined to focus on enjoying every step of the journey this year. God bless!

A Favor and a Spring Dilemma

I've been thinking about a way to bring this up and not sound like a jerk. Spliz put it best here and I'm going to follow her lead. 

Here goes:

If and when you are kind enough to add me to your blogroll, please DO NOT use my last name. You are perfectly welcome to link to me in any other way that you choose and I do have a multitude of nicknames for you to choose from, just please please please don't use my last name. If you've already linked to me with my last name, I'm asking you to change it pretty pretty please. 

Thank you!

Okay, moving on.

Every Spring I encounter the exact same dilemma. I LOVE the sun. I love it so much that when Spring and Summer roll around, I want to lay in the sun ALL DAY. With or without apparel. Truly. 

Why is this a problem?

If you've ever seen me, you know that I am very fair. In the Fall and Winter I refer to the whiteness of my skin as a moonburn. My hair is naturally both dark blonde and WHITE (seriously), and my eyelashes are very blonde. I'm okay with being pale. I quite like my natural coloring and usually embrace the pale. But I can tan. Truly. I can. And when I'm dirty derrty golden tan, it's a beautiful thing to me. I love it. It's so hard for me to resist. I grew up in a sunny oceany place and now I live in a sunny deserty place. I love the sun. Life without snow is a beautiful thing. Laying outside for hours with the sun like warm kisses all over my skin is a beautiful thing. Doing this next to the ocean is an even more beautiful thing.

Here is why I resist: I have a family history of skin cancers. I have several red flag skin cancer risk factors. I have an ugly pink scar on my left arm from having a questionable mole removed last summer (it was, blessedly, benign). I have a desire to not look like a handbag when I'm 40. But mostly, it's the deep and abiding fear of cancer. I lost a parent to lymphatic cancer at the tender age of 12, a grandfather to prostate cancer in my teens, and a grandmother to breast cancer in my 20's. A woman I've known for my entire life passed away a few weeks ago from malignant melanoma, leaving behind children and grandchildren who love her. I've got a healthy respect for the big C. We're better acquainted than I'd like to be.

I ate my breakfast outside this morning so I could better smell the orange and lemon blossoms in my yard. As I took in the gorgeous late morning, I felt the sweet little sun kisses all over my skin and considered running inside to change my clothes and grab a towel to lay on. Instead, I looked at the little half inch pink button of a scar on my left arm. I went inside and found my sunscreen collection and put it where I'll be reminded to put it on every day. 

Have you read these?

According to Nama, the BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. Who ever put this list together apparently has not read most of them either or else they would have listed several of these books separately (The Lord of the Rings is a TRILOGY, the Harry Potter Series of SEVEN, The Chronicles of Narnia are SEVEN, the works of Shakespeare... are A LOT), and not repeated some of the books included in these sets: Hamlet, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, etc.). 

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Tally your total at the bottom
3) * Star those you plan on reading

So, not counting books listed twice I have read 53 of these. Take THAT BBC... or whoever put this together and attributed it to the BBC. 

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X 
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien XXX 
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte* 

Oddly enough I know this story remarkably well, I've just never taken the time to read it!
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling XXXXXXX 
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible X  
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X  

HATED IT. None of the characters have any redeeming qualities. 
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell* 
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens* 

I'm going to read all of Dickens this year. It's my goal. 
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy X 

I read this when I was 12, it was on my sister's senior book list. I think I may have explained it to her.
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare... er... not all. I'm going to say 4. XXXX

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye 
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger 
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot* 

I've started it a few times but never make it all the way through. 
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens* 
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams* 
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame* 
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy  - too melodramatic.
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens* 
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis XXXXXXX 
34 Emma - Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis duh, see #33  
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini*
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden* 
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X 
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown  
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X 
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan 
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel X
52 Dune - Frank Herbert

I've seen a couple different versions of this in film form and didn't find any of the characters endearing, they were all massive ego-maniacs so I have no desire to read the books. Ironically enough, the only people who have ever recommended these to me were all ego-maniacs. Hmm?
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens* 
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon  
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez* 
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas X 
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac  X
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy 
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding 
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville X
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens* 
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker X
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson 
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray* 
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens*  
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker X
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro 
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom 
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X 
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad* 
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X 
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute 
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X 
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo X

The Omnivore's Hundred

The Omnivore's Hundred is a list of 100 items that Andrew Wheeler, co-author of the British food blog Very Good Taste, thinks every omnivore should try at least once in their life. I found this back in the summer while reading one of my favorite food blogs, Chocolate and Zucchini. I've been meaning to post this since August but I forgot!!

He offered this list as the starting point for a game, along the following rules:
1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4. Optional extra: post a comment on Very Good Taste, linking to your results.

I've actually tried 46 of these! I'm impressed with myself!

The Omnivore’s Hundred:

*1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
*3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
*7. Cheese fondue
*8. Carp
9. Borscht
*10. Baba ghanoush
*11. Calamari
*12. Pho
*13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
*15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
*20. Pistachio ice cream
*21. Heirloom tomatoes
*22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
*24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
*27. Dulce de leche
*28. Oysters
*29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
*31. Wasabi peas
*32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
*34. Sauerkraut
*35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
*38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
*39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
*41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
*44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
*47. Chicken tikka masala
*48. Eel
*49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
*51. Prickly pear
*52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
*54. Paneer
*55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
*56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
*60. Carob chips
*61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
*67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
*69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (chitlins! yuck!)
*71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
*77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79.Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
*82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
*87. Goulash
*88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
*91. Spam
*92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
*94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
*96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
*98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

On a lighter note

Jess and Lindsay did it so I am too!

Copy and paste the words. Bold the things that you've done. My format is wonky so the things I've done are in green.


1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Seen the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Walked on the equator 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Solved a Rubix Cube without cheating 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Lost a loved one 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Broken a bone 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee 100. Flown in a hot air balloon

Warning: Don't watch this if you don't like irreverent humor... or if you like Sarah Palin.

I took this a year or more ago... the results are basically the same.

When you take the test, they show famous people on your chart... I'm nestled right in between Hillary and Barack. Pretty accurate.

You are a Social Liberal (78% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (10% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid.com: Free Online Dating Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Miss me?

Yeah, me too. I just haven't felt very creative lately. My knitting is neglected, my bedroom looks like a clothing/shoe store vomited in it, and I'm basically boring. I work, come home, sit on the couch or my supa-fly new recumbent exercise bike and watch tv/read news on the web. Oh yeah, I hang out with my family a lot too. But on the bright side, my foot is mostly better, I'm well-informed on current events and I'm more of an activist than ever. Many thanks to my job for that. I really enjoy the work I get to do and I'm able to stay up on the issues I care most about and get paid. I've encountered some really amazing people and some really CRAZY folks as well. My favorite part of my job is watching light bulbs go on as people really grasp what I'm saying. The even better part is when a training lights a fire and someone becomes committed to the cause of ending family violence. So, while I may be mostly boring in my personal life, my professional life is great and things are generally good all-around. I am going to post my most favorite quotes of late pretty soon. Those aren't boring! In the meantime, click the link below and find out how rich you are in relation to the rest of the world. It made me feel a little bit greedy, but also helped me recognize that there are little things I can do to help others. It's cool, I promise!

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

I think I forgot how to be funny.

My life consists of working and sleeping. With various t.v. shows mixed in.

I need a diversion.

A vacation.

An adventure.

But I'm a total stick-in-the-mud.

I work a lot.

I'm finally on the path to true financial security...

And while this thought is comforting and I'm quite proud of myself, I want to be reckless and use my money to travel the world, not to save for the future.

See? I'm so focused on grown-up things I'm totally boring!

No one cares about my finances or my workaholic ways.

You want adventure, romance, intrigue. Right?

You must, because that's what I want. Sheesh.

Well, I'm boring myself so much that I'm getting sleepy, so I'll try to pencil in some adventure time for myself this weekend and then pencil in some more time to record it here.

Goodnight.

Remember that time when I had a blog?

So... it's been a really long time. How'ya doing? Good? Glad to hear it.

Life's good, busier than ever, but quite good. I really like my new job. It's going really well. I've spent the last 6 weeks shadowing the other trainers and learning the tricks of the trade. Thursday morning was my first solo presentation in the community. I spoke to a social work class at a University. I was a little bit nervous before-hand, but not too bad. It went well and my boss gave me really good feedback. Thursday night I participated in Take Back the Night at one of the other campuses (I manned a booth). It was cool. Next week I'm doing an 8 hour training for CPS employees and then I'm participating in a community diversity fair where I'm presenting twice. One workshop on DV 101 and one on Teen Dating Violence. The keynote speaker that day is going to be Ishmael Beah, author of "A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier." I'm excited to hear his story. I really have the coolest job ever.

My foot is doing better. I'm out of the boot and driving, but my foot still hurts and my toe is still swollen and my doctor seems to think that this is somehow okay. I'm going to seek a second opinion.

This basically sums up my life. I need to take pictures of my knitting and post them here. I'll make this my next goal.

I'm really really hot...

I'm seriously cracking up at the photo I posted. My sis, Mojo, took it around Christmas time. I know, it's sad that I crack myself up so much. Who else is going to? I'm sitting at home blowing my nose and drinking orange juice with my foot up. I called in today because I had a fever and felt so terribly unwell this morning. I'm doing better now, thanks for asking. But I've been thinking about that photo and how it really does look just like the picture of me in the hospital the day I was born. It's uncanny. So I'm going to find that picture this weekend and scan it and post it here because then you'll see that I don't look a day over... a day. Don't hate me because I'm ageless... or infantile.... whatever.

Speaking of pictures, one of my roommates took some hot photo-tos of me a few weeks back at our friend's wedding. I'm gonna try to get my hands on those and post them here as well. Not that my most recently posted photo wasn't hot...

Not so grouchy...

I'm nearly finished with my first real live knitting project. It's a toy dragon and when I'm done it will hopefully look something like this, except light yellow. The pattern is from Bernat and my friend, Nicole, gave it to me for Christmas. I've finished the body and now I'm working on the legs. I should be done by this weekend. I'll be sure to get pictures when I'm done. On another note, I've added a bunch of new links to my sidebar. They're all knitting links. I'm hooked.

Not bad

p.s. I think Jon rigged his.

Ha ha! I love this crap.

Knitters R Cool Knitters Rule I Heart Knitting

Okay, knitting is GREAT. I really like it. I have one class left and then I will have learned all the basics. My mom asked me what I want for Christmas and I told her more bamboo knitting needles and beautiful yarn.

So, down to business: Ann-Marie, knitting is fantastic; Jon, yes I will teach you knit when we're married, but only if you put out; and Kat, dear Kat, I will start knitting you a man right away.

Things are going alright around here. I miss my friends. A LOT. Work is good, love-life is non-existent except for my top secret long distance love affair with Jonathan Harmon, hair is so-so, skin is Gorgeous if I do say so myself.

In need of a manicure, pedicure, haircut, windfall, man, car wash, and a man. Oh? Did I mention I need want a man?

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving because I really like my extended family. Personally, I don't really like Thanksgiving food. Never have. I really don't like mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, or even turkey. But I am all about pie. Especially pumpkin. If it was up to me, we'd serve sushi, especially delicious eel and lots of pie.

Speaking of family, I'm going back to writing on my other blog (in addition to this one). Mostly because my dear friend Julie taught me an important lesson recently, that just because you've forgiven someone doesn't mean you've healed from the hurts. The other blog is very therapeutic for me. I won't post any links to it from this site, so if you're interested in reading the depths of my soul, drop me a line and I'll send you the link.

It Gets Worse...

Tomorrow after work, Big Mama and I are registering for a knitting class at a local yarn store. This place is serious. They sell fair trade yarns, silk, organic cotton yarns, huge looms for rug making, you name it. It's a far cry from your run of the mill craft store full of polyester and acrylic. As embarrassing as it is to admit it, I'm really excited. The instructors at this place are certified through The Knitting Guild Association (can you believe there really is such a thing?). Why does this even matter? I had a hard time focusing at work today because I wanted to be knitting. Or at least perusing the yarn store and daydreaming about handmade sweaters (did I mention it's still in the 90's here?). What am I becoming? Aaahhh!

Whatever. I like it.

Adventures in domestication

Last night I went to a craft store with Big Mama and we left with bags full of yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks, and how-to books on knitting, crochet, and embroidery. This may not seem outrageous to you... but we grew up being dragged into craft stores by our mother the sewing-fiend and have both had aversions to craft stores for years. We kept teasing each other about turning into our mother and cracking up and saying things like, "Whatever, we make this cool." We're both very interested in textiles. And we're not the only ones. Meme majored in fashion design after BYU phased out the textiles department and both Mojo and Big Mama just bought sewing machines. And I know Reb has knitting needles. Whether or not she uses them is another matter. It's fascinating. And it IS cool. I learned some basic crochet several years ago but never got beyond making simple scarves. Today I knit a hat. I'm really proud of myself. I really like this stuff. We even tossed around the idea today of opening up a shop once we get good enough at it. That would be cool. I'm all for spending my whole day with a ball of yarn or a sewing machine.

Random thoughts while shopping...

I'm divorcing polyester. Seriously. It has its place, in small amounts, blended with natural fibers. But polyester just looks like polyester. I don't understand why it's used to line other clothing since it doesn't breathe. It might just be my mission in life to rid my friends and family members' closets of the offending material. Today I bought beautiful fawn-colored wool tweed pants even though it's still 90 degrees outside. It's fall! In the last few years, my fashion sense has evolved considerably. I think I have good fashion, but as we all know, good fashion is relative.

I'm really picky about fabrics and can touch a garment and tell you whether it will hold its shape, how well it will keep its finish and color, and whether or not it's been priced correctly. My mom taught me; she made our Sunday clothes and always took me fabric shopping with her. I love natural fabrics and because of this, I spend a lot of time ironing, even though I hate it. Linen is my all-time favorite material.

I went shopping today after work. I don't think I'm the typical shopper. I don't like to shop very often, but when I shop, I usually make a day of it and peruse stores for a long time making sure I don't miss anything. I try absolutely everything on that catches my eye and take my time thinking about how it will work in my life. Sometimes I impulse buy and take things home I don't really need and will never wear, but mostly I come home with some seriously great loot and I'm not afraid to return things. I also receive clothing catalogues from my favorite places and I look through them and dog-ear the pages of things I like. I then look for similar items online and compare prices, fabric content, etc. I shop seasonally and don't do much shopping outside of those 4 trips a year.

I generally don't follow current trends and I prefer classic shapes, clean lines, and refined details. I love wide-legged trousers that are men's wear inspired with deep pockets. Creased, but no pleats - think Katherine Hepburn. I LOVE pencil skirts, tailored white shirts, tailored collared shirts in pretty colors, and clean tees with good shape in all the colors of the rainbow. I happen to think my simple, thin black rubber flip-flops go with everything. I know some of you just cringed... that's my personal faux pas that I will rock until I die. I said thin, simple and black. Please know, I think platform flip flops are a crime against fashion. I love pretty wedge-heels and have to keep myself in check or I would buy them exclusively. I love peep-toe shoes, stiletto heels, and D'Orsay styles. I like the look of patent leather, but I don't wear it and was really aggravated that there were so many patent shoes on sale today when trying to find shoes. I want warm buttery leather in the fall and winter.

I'm still looking for my riding boots.