Recording History

So the truth is that I live a really great life. I have a job that I don't hate (most days), a brilliant and smart and gorgeous daughter, a husband who is so wonderful that all my girlfriends want to find a man like him, a beautiful house that's fully paid off, a convertible BMW, and all the purses and shoes a label whore could possibly want. And on top of that, I have so much fun. We just do fun things together and make every bit of life an adventure on our own terms. So what that means is that no, we are not jumping out of planes. But we are hopping in the car on a moment's notice to go to the racetrack and then to wander the boardwalk and then find some new place to eat. Or that we are hearing about that new brewery and popping in on day one to celebrate with the owners and letting them know that we will be back often. Or going to see an old punk band at a theater an hour away and seeking out a new joint in that neighborhood for dinner and cocktails. So it's not that we are adventurous, per se. It's more that we just decide to do stuff and then we do it.

Most people I know have calmed down a lot. They have kids, some of them. And they just don't want to be tired all the time. And I get that, because I am fucking tired all.the.time. But my motto since high school has been "I'll sleep when I'm dead" and I still adhere to that. We generally do something at least one weeknight per week, and then Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. We just like to go. We like to explore. We like to be together as a family, bonding over visiting our favorite places again and again or finding a brand new favorite.

I decided that I wanted to document our summer in some way, and a scrapbook seemed to be my best bet. I'm forever picking up postcards or business cards and taking pictures of every little thing...why not put all that to use? But yo, I'm not that kind of girl. I am not the picture of a scrapbooker. So I'm going to make my own way of it - modern scrapbooking? cool scrapbooking? urban scrapbooking? punkbooking? I have no bloody idea. But I want to be able to have a way to show my daughter, when she gets older, here is what we did when you were 11, before you were a teenager and potentially shunned us from your life. Here's all the fun we had. Here are all the cool places we went and all the awesome things we did. Here's you, here's me, here's Daddy, here are Grammy and Pop, here are your friends...and here's how we all spent our summer.

So off I go...starting my documentation of the Summer of 2015, which starts with Memorial Day weekend. So far, we have 2 breweries, mini golf, a diner visit, a trip to Asbury Park to the boardwalk and Johnny Mac's and dinner, a visit to the racetrack for food truck day, dinners out, a concert by TJK herself where she dressed as Dolley Madison...and that is just the past 4 days.

This is going to be one full scrapbook.

Fashion Forward

I'm seeking new fashion inspiration all over the place these days, more and more so as I get older. This is a pretty big deal for a girl who has spent most of her life in monochrome. I loved every color...as long as it was black. It comes from my days of being a punk with black hair, as well as knowing that black makes you look thinner...or so they like to tell us.

A few years ago when capes were new and they weren't even on people's radars yet, I bought one. I loved it. It was a pretty marbley-grey and fit perfectly. I felt uber fashionable in it. We went out to dinner with friends and my girlfriend mocked my cape, saying it was too weird and who exactly wears a cape? Um, me, because I'm a fucking superhero. But still I felt self-conscious about it for a minute. Was I being too daring? Going too far towards the runway and too far from reality? When I was younger, I would have stuffed that cape in the closet and never looked at it again. But what do you know...fast forward to a year later, when capes were everywhere. That same friend was all of a sudden sporting a cape.

The big jewelry trend was the same way for me. I love me some big, bold jewelry, and not just a statement necklace. Right now I'm wearing a hammered gold ring that is so long that it goes from mid-hand to nearly my fingertip. I've always been really into bold accessories (maybe because my wardrobe was always black on black and the funky jewels gave it some personality?). Again, friends commented on my jewelry and how it was "too much" - and what do you know, again? Fast forward to them wearing the same stuff I was wearing 2 years before.

Yesterday I wore a pair of those big pearl double-sided ball earrings (which I love) to work and had a colleague stare at them for a good 10 minutes while we talked. I could literally feel her gaze on them. She then said, "I don't know what to make of those earrings; I think I don't like them." At some point in my life, I would have cringed and felt awkward and self-conscious...someone doesn't like something about me! Now, however, I told her that I loved them and that she would be seeing a lot more of them. I was actually happy that I wore something to work that people were sort of appalled by!

Today, I'm in a kimono at work, which I would have admired on other people when I was younger but never had the guts to wear it. Now I'm finding my own "voice" when it comes to what I wear, and wearing what makes me feel good and pretty and strong. And most importantly, I'm wearing what makes me feel like ME.

I guess I have realized that I like working trends into my wardrobe. I like seeing what celebs and fashionistas and runways tell me about fashion, and then taking those ideas and making them my own in my own way. I like not wearing all black and I like standing out rather than fading into the background. And I also love knowing that you might look at me strangely today, but in two years you'll be copying that look from me and I will be happily onto the next.