French Republic: November 2011

Friday, November 25, 2011

Crazy Does

thedividendguyblog.com

THE ORIGIN OF BLACK FRIDAY-

The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1966 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are "in the black".

~Martin L. Apfelbaum, Philadelphia's "Black Friday," American Philatelist, vol. 69, no. 4, p. 239 (Jan. 1966).

Kevin Drum (November 26, 2010). "Black Friday".

"heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic...."????

I KNEW IT!

I mean there had to be

a better reason

for today to be called

"Black Friday"

other than that whole

finishing in the black stuff!

It had to be something more like

"The day that people go completely insane

trying to get in the

front door of Walmart

throwing punches at people

who get in front of you because

they might get to one of

the $2 waffle makers

before you do.

This must be done in front of

security cameras which will,

of course, somehow find it's way

on the evening news programs."

bostonglobe.com

Every Thanksgiving

Friends & Relations

who share turkey with me

inevitably will ask if

I'm doing any holiday shopping on Friday!

DON'T THEY KNOW ME??

DON'T THEY KNOW I WOULD RATHER

PLUCK OUT MY EYES THAN SHOP

ON "BLACK FRIDAY"?

They just ask me this

so they can see my eyes bug out

and food spit out of my mouth....

Why???

After years & years of working in

retail at various shopping malls

I am SO done with fighting to

-concentrate on my list

-get to the things I need

-keep from whacking anyone in line

-get to the register

-move against the crowds

-moving from store to store

-get to a bathroom stall

-finding my car

-get to end of the line out

of the never ending parking lot

So if you haven't guessed yet

I never go out shopping on

Black Friday

However:

I do Shop Main Street Small Businesses
after the Thanksgiving Weekend.

I am a Cyber Monday Girl.

While I would love to do all my

Christmas Shopping

at Small Shops & Businesses

with 2 teenage sons

it's impossible to fill their

video game requests....

without shopping Amazon.

Yet....

Well dressed windows,

decked out in their Holiday best,

glowing their light onto the sidewalk below.

Neighbors, family & friends

carrying bags full of purchases

that will find themselves wrapped

in bright, jolly papers & ribbons.

Garlands & Wreaths

strung from the street lights

swaying slightly in the

winter's night breezes

while Holiday Music leaks

out onto the streets with the

opening & closing of shop doors.

Main Street is the Romance of the Holiday Season

And the cyber equivalent of "Main Street"

could very well be

where you can find unique handmade & vintage goods

for sale by artisans & dealers who have set up their own

virtual shops by the thousands.

Selling

handmade soaps, lotions, fragrances

jewelry of all kinds,

pottery, quilts, glassware, lighting,

wood crafting, art of all kinds,

vintage clothing, smalls & furniture

and other wonderfully creative goods that will

enchant your Holiday Gift Giving!

So as you are making your Shopping Lists

and Checking them twice

Stroll down your local Main Street

Visit the friendly shop owners

Get on over to Etsy

Support Small Businesses!!

BUT

Stay Away From

shopping on any day of the week with the word

Black

prefacing it

These aren't the kind of
Holiday Memories you want,

Right?

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A Holiday Color Not in My Closet

Being that I am
Red Headed,

Green Eyed,

Freckled

with a Traditional Irish

Ruddy Complexion,

Well NO this isn't me...darn it!

There are Some Colors
I Just Can Not Wear

I am perfectly willing to admit
that they look awful on me
and it's not their fault.....

Like Yellow:

tends to make me look jaundiced

Pearl or Light Gray:

People think I'm the walking dead

Tan:

I just blend into the decor
of any institutional building....

Or Kelly Green:

Which just makes me look like a cliche...

It's

Cool

with me that I can't wear these colors
Seriously

What has never been cool with me
is being unable to wear...

Source: style.com via Lori on Pinterest

RED
especially during this season

Perfect for Tree Cutting,

Source: google.ca via Lori on Pinterest

Cookie Making

Source: etsy.com via Lori on Pinterest

Bon Fires

Source: blog.berroco.com via Lori on Pinterest

Catching the First Snowflakes
on Your Tongue

Source: etsy.com via Lori on Pinterest

Stringing Twinkle Lights on the House

Source: etsy.com via Lori on Pinterest

Sleigh Rides

Source: tumblr.com via Lori on Pinterest

Not to Mention

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Holiday

Source: kaboodle.com via Lori on Pinterest

Parties

Source: polyvore.com via Lori on Pinterest

Galore

Source: anthropologie.com via Lori on Pinterest

This Beautiful Holiday Color Of
Coiled Ribbons on Evergreen Wreaths,
Front Porch Pointsettias &
Freshly Cut Winterberries.

This Color of Garnets & Rubys
Reflecting Light to a Perfect Glow
Like a Candy Apple or
Glass Bulbs on the Tree

Source: modcloth.com via Lori on Pinterest

And it is just fabulous...

Source: etsy.com via Lori on Pinterest

Lucky You!!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

My fashion evolution?

So McGee got me thinking about my own clothing beginnings.

I was incredibly shy and the youngest of three girls. Rather than hang around with the neighborhood girls playing with dolls, I opted to climb pine trees behind my house, swipe my Dad's tools and build forts. Needless to say, I had a lot of torn pitch-stained corduroys and jeans. I lived in flip-flops whenever possible.

Growing up, most of what I wore were hand-me-downs. I remember some for the grief they brought me in school: a funky green pair of ultra soft corduroys (way out of style by the time I had to wear them), a pair of brown suede sneakers that were clearly not the Adidas, Puma's or Nike's that "everyone else" had, a pair of purple-ish cowboy boots my freshman year. Yes. Kind of tragic.

We didn't have a lot of money growing up and my Mom was in her forties when she had me and so, was born in a day when you had a few good outfits you rotated between. She didn't understand the "clothes-horse" mentality of her daughters until they started steering her away from her "sensible" polyester skirts and slacks which aged her unfairly. Once we had her wearing cotton clothing, cute little flats and a perm instead of a weekly roll and set, she gained an understanding for our clothing passion.

I grew up in a house with only a black and white tv set and no cable. I watched as Kate Heburn pulled off "man pants" and was smart and feminine. I envied how Audrey, in an over-sized mans white shirt paired with flats and Capri pants, was so casually elegant. And later, how actresses, like Ali McGraw, could make the simplest of outfits look sexy in an off-hand, non-contrived way.

Eventually I was rescued by my oldest sister and my fascination with her closet. I would be mesmerized as she got ready for dates The menagerie of clothes and shoes was as magical as watching her pull it all together. Clothing closed the eleven year age distance between us and brought us closer. She bought me gauze shirts, showed me how to make cut-off shorts, and eventually started letting me borrow her clothes. Her best friend Suzie would pass things along my way too. I can still ramble off more details about my sisters clothing from that period that I can of my own. Those are happy clothing memories and the beginning of my evolution.

I've loved aspects from every era: the classic cut of jackets from the forties, The pencil skirts and sweater sets from the fifties, the flair of the pants and breeziness of the Bohemian shirts of the sixties and seventies. I'll even admit to some of the big hair, pumps and padded shoulders of the eighties. But only a little.

Then McGee came along and we became fast friends. She talked about being a "North Country" girl, when everything about her said "hip city chick." And her man, a quiet, brooding guy who worked at Strawberry's music, got us into fabulous gigs in and around, our boring little city and Cambridge, Massachusetts. She hooked me on vintage clothing shops, and even put up with me swiping things from her closet. She had me layering, and pairing and taking chances and I loved it. This was the eighties. The Breakfast Club, flipped up collars on over-sized shirts, gloves, hats, spats. You name it.

Eventually, our lives set us on different paths. I headed off to the West coast mid 90's to a little town just north of San Francisco. If I traveled south into the city, there were people dressed "to the nines" the avant garde, the hipsters. In my neck of the woods were celebrities quietly going about being "normal" and beach people, tourists and surfers. And I need only travel a short distance North into Bolinas, to find myself surrounded by the Bohemians, making their own clothes, growing their own needs. It was a relaxed time of fashion experimentation. Softer flowing clothes, a few vintage pieces, the scent of the ocean always close, nearly barefoot.

I eventually moved back to the east coast, found love, had two boys, stayed at home and lived in jeans in the colder months, shorts all the rest and took care of the home front. It took me awhile to realize that I had no idea who I was in clothing anymore. Jeans and sweats can do that to a girl. Evolving again.

Then, a few years ago, McGee reached out to me and we began to reconnect. It was uncanny how much we still had in common. While our styles are different in so many ways, we respect the others tastes and opinions. We have a kindred groove in the way things work. She talks about my "eye for color" and I admire her easy way of pulling the funkiest things together for a super feminine and super cool style. We found we still loved vintage, that we each collect little evening bags, and clutches, that clothing was still our common ground of expression.

Who am I now? I don't think I'll ever completely settle. I love the ever evolving remix of fashion. I trend less, and shoot for comfortable. It has to have a flow, a stretch, a feel. I'm intrigued still by mixing old with new, wearing heels with jeans, knee boots with skinny pants or skirts.

The revolution? That comes from my age long inner self looking for a way to step aside just enough to feel independent of the norm. Pairing up and down, deconstructing and recycling, revolving, evolving, my own little fashion revolution.

Boot 'er Up...

Everyone
Has a Fashion Addiction

Right?

I mean come on...

most of us have more than one

if the whole truth be told.

(cue nervous laughter)

See I thought so......
Don't hold it in.

Over the years I have had many!

Coats & Jackets
was and still is one of my faves
I love vintage mostly
but that doesn't mean I will walk away
from anything modern I fall in love with!

Source: atlantic-pacific.blogspot.com via Lori on Pinterest

Source: oaxacaborn.wordpress.com via Lori on Pinterest

If you check out our etsy site
you'll see what I mean!

Of course I'm a total Bag-Aholic!!
Almost everytime I visit the Goodwill
I leave with a bag of some sort
I can't help myself....

Source: atsecondstreet.blogspot.com via Lori on Pinterest

Source: plumo.com via Lori on Pinterest

and then there are my feet!

My Poor Feet...
My sweet little toes that in the 80's I would shove into
anything I loved whether they were my size or not.

I mean
Who Cares If They Hurt!!
As Long as They Were Cute!!

Right??

Oh Come On Now
you completely know what I'm talking about!!

OK....
If you won't admit it
let's ask your feet

Ah Hah!! I knew I was right!!

In the 90's I started having babies!
Something about being pregnant
does strange things to your little tootsies
and I no longer was into wearing anything
that crunched & cramped my feet.

A Shift Happened
ever so slightly in a manner
that was imperceptable by me

I heard someone on Oprah one time say that
as a person you were your most "authentic self"
when you were about 12 years old

that is where I shifted back to

At home whether painting furniture, sewing,
cooking, cleaning, writing etc.
I am barefoot almost all of the time
Even In The Winter.
(all you North Country girls know what I'm talking about)

However.....
when venturing out into the world
it becomes an entirely different story.

In the summer it's.....