Prancercise

I won't lie, if I had a private compound this is probably how I would move from one building to another.

Last night I made this BLT chopped salad from How Sweet Eats:

And holy god. That, my friends, is the kind of salad you take home to meet your mother. Make it now. Make it forever.

Summer!

After a stupid-humid day in the mid-80s, night has fallen on Pittsburgh and outside is a very pleasant 78 degrees.

Inside my apartment it is still 92 degrees.

 Send help.

Last night was for a Liberace-themed gay dance party. I love a theme party, and managed to pull together one of the more flamboyant outfits of my life from things I already owned. I'm down a sequined sash this morning, but that's okay. This morning was for yard sale wandering on one of the most beautiful days to hit Pittsburgh this year. It's seventy degrees, sunny, breezy. Perfect. Now I'm going to take a nap, then head to yoga. Keep it up, weekend.

Truth

(observando)

So Many Clothes

This weekend I began transferring my winter clothes to storage (plastic bins that will live in the basement until I move) and my summer clothes to my closet. My conclusion? I have a lot of damn clothes.

This will not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me. I like clothing, I like fashion history, I have a problem with clothing swaps and secondhand stores. What I put on my body is an important part of my life, though obviously not as important as my family and friends and under-educated children and a million other things. But it's fun to figure out what to pair with that skirt I could never quite work before, and the rest of my life feels much more manageable when I don't feel like a neglected Goodwill mannequin.

I'm starting to prepare to move in a little over a month, several states away. Most of my things will be in storage for at least a couple of months. It's coming down to a question of, "Do I like this thing enough to move it three times (into moving truck, into storage unit, into wherever I'll live next)?" A lot of the time the answer is yes. My clothes are part of my personal history, and I will never surrender my grandmother's cocktail dresses, or my box of dresses that are really only good for drunken makeover montages. The impending move is making it easier, though, to finally let go of the things that have never fit me, that are proportioned incorrectly or are in colors that do not suit my skintone. I'm also using it as motivation to give away pieces that do have sentimental value that has become more baggage than anything. For those things I try to find a friend who loves the given piece as much as I do. It's exponentially easier when I know something I've cared about will have a rich life with someone about whom I also care.

Is it silly to think this much about clothing? I don't think so. Things are only things, but most of the things I have are there for a reason. And the important ones will stay with me through twenty more moves.

Friday miscellany

• I have a guest post up over at Traveling Marla! I'm very excited that Marla let me take over her blog for a day, so make sure to check it out. 
• The factory conditions in Bangladesh have been in the news a lot the last few weeks. It is an evolving, unimaginably horrific situation, and I've been struggling to figure out how to look at it, think about it, and do something about it. I'm not having much luck, but I was greatly touched to read this article about a woman who survived for 17 days in the basement of the collapsed factory and was rescued yesterday. A brief ray of hope in the midst of a lot of terrible news. 
• Does anyone know what this plant is? Our best guess is some variety of rhododendron, but the six leaves don't quite fit with that. Boyfriend's hand (and snazzy shoe) included for scale. 

Commitment

There are many things I love about model Coco Rocha, not least of which is that the lady knows how to commit to a theme:

Here is Coco entering the Met Gala last night. The theme this year was "Punk," and a disappointing number of people showed up in flattering, sensible silk tank dresses. Read the invitation, guys.

First half marathon down. The rest of the week is for sleep and ice cream.

Some words that bother me, because the world cares:

Blouse
Purse
Vehicle
Purchase
Slacks

 There are other words that mean the same things, are more specific, less pretentious, and lack the unpleasant sibilance. Please use those other words instead.