My mom's gingerbread house

Eve

Here are some of our best tree ornaments: plush dreidel man (not sure where his wife went), my hospital bracelet from my lung collapse, and a delicate family of penguins.

Life is juicy juicy

• Recently visited Richard's beloved Metropolis Cafe. At least I think he's praised it before.

• I found this article via Alicia Keys' Twitter. It's interesting to hear the background story of her latest album, "The Element of Freedom." Here's a little snippet of an interview with recording engineer, album coordinator, and studio designer Ann Mincieli:
  

What do you think Alicia got out of expanding her palette with so many new and different synths? Was that inspiring for her as a songwriter?

Yes! It allowed her to paint a picture. We have class before every album. On this album, we decided that instead of trying to learn the synths while we’re on sessions, like we did on As I Am, we spent two months with the manuals, figuring out how everything worked — and by doing that, it unlocked all these sounds, and inspired her to write certain things she would have never come up with.

Two months in Alicia's custom studio "The Oven" just playing around with instruments that come with manuals! Sounds like heaven. Also, I like Alicia's hair here--it looks so fresh and clean. I think I might mimic it next Wednesday. My hair is long, but horribly damaged.

• Thanks to my "Legacy" status in Honey B. Fly, Mariah Carey's fanclub (I think it just means my membership has been renewed automatically for at least 3 consecutive years), I was able to acquire decent tickets at an indecent price to Mariah Carey's concert in February for the "Angels Advocate" tour. I almost hesitated, almost, but...I'M A LAMB FOR LIFE. And I'm making Mordecai escort me. I went to a Skinny Puppy concert once. He hasn't seen Mariah with me. Therefore, he must escort me before she starts a family. QED.
  

• The kotatsu is back, so I nest in the living room, nurturing a paper, my progress in Assassin's Creed 2, nailpolish, and some baseball cards. I got a couple of 2009 redemptions from Topps (not 2008 Stadium Club): Gordon Beckham and Andrew McCutchen red hot rookies. Finest redemptions are supposedly going to be shipped soon, so hopefully Dexter Fowler's autographed patch comes soon. No photo of the kotatsu right now; the nest is too much of a hot mess.
  

• On repeat in my head: Lea Michele's/Rachel Berry's rendition of "Don't Rain On My Parade" from the fall finale of Glee. I can't watch "Sectionals" without getting all choked up! I've been meaning to go over Kurt's wardrobe but...I have until the start of next season in April. I must see Lea Michele perform live once before I die.
  

PINKY: December 2009

On Wednesday Mituswa had their big discount day (20% off grocery subtotals). All the displaced Japanese housewives were going nuts, hunting shopping carts down in the parking lot, scooping up mochi rice, Japanese burdock root (as opposed to the Taiwan counterpart), and then a bunch of things no one really needs. The rest of Mitsuwa was not 20% off, but I always leave their bookstore with a magazine. I also picked up volume 21 of NANA. I really need to go over what happened in volume 20; in fact, it's entirely possible I've lost track of NANA so badly that I don't even have volume 20. My mom and I also noticed some other comic books we're clearly missing out on, like Keshikasu-Kun, a manga about an ERASER. He looks angry.

Anyway, I veered from normalcy by avoiding ViVi and buying the December issue of PINKY. It came with a small, cute PINKY x L'Occitane carrying case/pouch. I most definitely picked the December issue over the November issue because of this particular bonus gift, and not so much because November is the dusty past in the fast-paced world of fashion.

I'm not sure I'd buy another issue of PINKY unless Amuro Namie is on the cover because I feel like I get more bang for buck with ViVi (i.e., more pages). Although, I noticed that because there are so many spreads, ads made to looks like spreads, and features, ViVi seems forced to re-feature the same item multiple times throughout one issue. So in the November issue, a Japanese knock-off of the Balenciaga ankle boot appeared like, four times. I found that to be disappointing, but what can you do? It was a good copy at a reasonable price--I would definitely go hunt for it if I were in Japan right now. PINKY feels a little like Diet ViVi, but there are some decent spreads that I'll feature here. You can find scans of the entire issue (and other magazines if you look around the site) here. The following crude scans are my own.

This feature is all about the "AmeKaji" style. "AmeKaji" is short for "American Casual." That is, if you want to look like a casually dressed American, here are a few pages on "HowTo" do it. Their inspiration seems to come from the fall presentation of DSquared--there's Chanel Iman walking that runway in this style on the left page. Unrelated: I wondered what Suzuki Emi was up to these days having graduated from Japanese Seventeen. The answer is that she's plastered all over PINKY, rocking the ubiquitous Kato Miliyah babydoll bangs.

I find the title of this style to be funny, partially because I really do wear flannel, jeans, not-quite-cowboy-but-close-enough Frye boots, and I even recently dug up a slightly baggy blue and white vertically striped shirt from my parents' basement last month (see the very bottom of the left page above). Many of my daily read fashion bloggers based in the States also layer simple tshirts with flannel and pair that with denim and boots of some sort. Maybe if I curl my hair, wear funny hats, and bare my thighs in the freezing Chicago cold, I'll look more like a displaced Japanese girl trying to pull off the "American Casual" look.

I'm just throwing this one in here because I like the black sparkly sweater dress on the second girl from the left. I never got into distressed jeans, but I saw Beni layering some holy pants with lace tights underneath. I can get down with layering. And sparkly sweater dresses in the winter.

What is so frustrating is that these magazines will tell you where you can acquire the featured clothes. I recognize many of the stores, and totally know how to get there. Many of the prices are not totally outrageous. The problem is that I'm HERE in freezing Chicago........and with many papers to write and grade [T_T]

Mounted Memories Sports Memoribilia Show

Baseball season is over, but the pursuit of baseball cards continues. Yesterday we attended the Mounted Memories show out at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. Part of the highlight was an opportunity to meet Carlos Quentin. Mordecai had the added bonus of meeting Gary Carter, a hero of the victorious 1986 Mets. This was a good week of meeting stars!

Gary Carter

First we met Gary Carter, who was very friendly. Mordecai introduced himself as a Long Island native, so they exchanged some words about that and the Long Island Ducks. Supposedly, Gary Carter is known to be particular about what he signs and for how much, though you wouldn't get that impression from actually interacting with him. Mordecai explained to me that it might be his agent who is picky. I took a picture of what seemed to be Gary Carter's Agent.

Sweatpants!

While in line, you can catch glimpses of other famous people who are greeting fans and signing things. We saw Rollie Fingers to our left, so I tried to snap some non-blurry pictures. This is the best, clear view of his famous mustache. Johnny Knox was signing things to my right, but his facial hair wasn't as interesting. He did have some powerful eyebrows. That's about all I can remember.

Carlos Quentin

While in line for Gary Carter, I saw Carlos Quentin come out from behind the curtains. He is so rectangular! His head is also kind of boxy! He may have had a bone spur in his foot and subsequently contributed to the White Sox failing this past season, but if you haven't noticed, he's also the tall, dark, and handsome type.

Here is Shaun with CQ. Notice Quentin's Chris-Getz-like shirt. This shirt isn't bad, but someone needs to dress athletes more regularly, especially for signings. What's that red trim on his shirt? Anyway, look at Quentin's impeccable eyebrows! Look at Shaun's GRIN!

When I met Alexei Ramirez and Chris Getz, I was star struck, but I think I may have been more star struck meeting Quentin. I have the impression that Quentin is a bigger star than Alexei, perhaps only because he is physically bigger than Alexei. I just kind of stammered and floated about in front of him until Mordecai took our picture. By the time it was Shaun's turn to get his ball signed, I lost my opportunity to shake Quentin's hand. Mordecai reports his handshake was a little moist, but firm. I missed out! Shaun asked about his plantar fascitis; Quentin said it's a lot better. Luckily, Mordecai doesn't seem to be attached to having Quentin on his fantasy team. The Poppersteins will gladly take him into the family next year!

Others

I like this portrait of the rest of the card show gang--Dan, Joe, Bryan. Dan got a box of basketball cards, Joe got a bunch of loose jersey & auto cards, and somehow, Bryan is uninterested in cards (!!!). Someone needs to get that boy a box of cards and experience the thrill of the chase. Maybe he's not into chasing things, though. I've only seen him excited about Kobe Bryant, Rock Band, and playing softball.

Mordecai noticed an empty box labeled "Mets." It appears the box was for pink mini helmets. For the ladies, perhaps? Maybe this is a good time to segue into a few words on my experience as a female at the card show.

Since I began collecting cards last spring, it's become apparent that many card stores do not have a big female clientele. This is not surprising, but what does surprise me a little is that people are quite vocal about a girl coming into their store, not merely there to accompany their male friends. I'm not bothered by this or anything, but I find it interesting that people are not at all shy about the matter. In fact, I like collecting these little experiences. If there was a photo capturing the essence of each one, I'd try to make cards out of these anecdotes.

So yesterday, the old man collecting ticket stubs at the entrance made a few remarks about why I was there and jokingly/creepily said he wanted to see me after the card show. Later on, while perusing $5 jersey cards, the vendor came over to me, Mordecai, Joe, and Shaun and he said to me, "I'm sure you had to drag these fellows to the card show!" I said that yes, they were kicking and screaming about it. At another vendor's set-up, Mordecai and I picked out a few cards to purchase and I went to pay. I reported to Mordecai that the vendor gave us a $2 discount. Mordecai said, "Yeah, that's why I made you go pay." (Hmm. How can I exploit Mordecai to get insignificant discounts?)

Maybe none of this would happen if I looked more like the Greg Olsen woman. This lady wearing a Greg Olsen jersey was as wide as she was tall, thereby being pretty much completely round. For some reason she was sitting by herself on the ground next to the escalators by the empty entrance of the convention center. She looked like a fat stray cat, contently lounging in a place where she didn't quite belong. Later I saw her with what seemed to be her family, and they looked like they appeared from the mountains, but wearing Greg Olsen jerseys. But I guess I wouldn't have my little anecdotes to collect, so I will continue to bumble about these card shows, letting Mordecai think we're getting $2 discounts because I paid for the cards. Yes, surely, those four Mike Piazza cards from the 90's are worth $11.

Dan Aykroyd in Chicago

While going through the coupons from the Chicago Tribune last Sunday, Mordecai and I came across an advertisement for an event at Jewel, a local grocery. Dan Aykroyd has been behind some vodka called "Crystal Head Vodka," so he's on a publicity tour signing bottles at liquor and grocery stores, apparently. I actually have not seen "Blues Brothers" and I was too young and scared to understand "Ghostbusters." But I decided to put grading aside to attend this event because last winter, I took a course on Marxism with Charles Mills, and we watched "Trading Places" while eating Thai food. The Marxist analysis of "Trading Places" kind of went over my head, as did the financial specifics of the plot, but this movie nevertheless has a special place in my heart. Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" has never been put to such great use. I think Mozart would be impressed.

My mom took me to Jewel after class on Monday. She was mildly annoyed at the prospect of having to wait in line for an hour, so she went home and then picked me up later. We walked by this trailer truck thing and I thought maybe this was Dan Aykroyd's tour bus?!

There were a couple of Ghostbuster groupies hanging by the side of Dan Aykroyd's tent, content to just watch their personal hero in action.

Wait for it, wait for it...

His hands were so soft and doughy! I told him I watched "Trading Places" in my Marxism class, and he laughed. We'll likely never know whether he was laughing at me or with me. That's fine with me.

I have to say, it always feels odd standing in line waiting for an extended period of time for something or someone famous. Most people tend to become chatty, and most conversations are more or less open for anyone to join in on. Many people strike me as quite unremarkable despite the fact that they are so willing to open their mouths and talk to everyone about anything that comes to mind. Anyway, I have a hard time not feeling awkward talking to strangers even though I know we obviously have at least one interest in common. Suffice it to say that there was one inane, bro-y man behind me, and an overly chatty and tedious wedding singer in front of me. Was it pure coincidence that the bro-man had hired the singer two years ago for his wedding? Yeah, no.

Halloween 2009

"Hi my name is Rachel Berry, and I'm here to sing 'On My Own' from the seminal Broadway classic, Les Mis."

Since no one really understood my "costume" (I even had my raincoat on as protection from slushies), the other interpretation of my outfit was "Japanese schoolgirl." I really liked the outfit though (complete with knee high socks and my loafers), and kind of wished we wore uniforms in high school. But only kind of.

Another noteworthy costume: Burger King. He even brought and shared $1 double cheeseburgers! It was funny to see the Burger King sway and dance to music while drinking wine straight from the bottle.

Last but not least, here is Joe as a World Phucking Champion!

Chicago, early 80's

Fall Fall Fall

Yesterday I busted out the penny loafers. I wore them with a black dress and tights; I looked like I was either a week early for Halloween or like I attended a funeral. All I did though was go to my piano lesson, drop by the baseball card shop, and play Animal Crossing which as usual ended up in a nap. At night we went to see UFC 104 in Jonny's basement, so in case someone died, I was prepared to mourn right away. I've seen a man convulse as a result of not the breathing kind of choking, but the blocking-blood-flow-in-a-major-artery kind of choking. I forgot who he was, but I think it was the guy with a gigantic samurai tattooed on his back. Other UFC banter: Lyoto Machida looks like a manga character. I like how he shifts and twists his hips, like he's dancing, but really, he's preparing to kick his opponent. He was the one receiving most of the leg-beat downs yesterday, but whatever, I didn't have to mourn his or Shogun's surprise death.

Also, there's Mordecai locking his door in a new coat from Zara. He seems to be a fan of the epaulets. Why does he have more luck at Zara than I do?

These photos were taken on my iPhone with an app called Toy Camera. Sometimes I walk around with my Canon G9 and/or Sony W300, but end up taking pictures with my iPhone most of the time because of convenience. This is sad, but perhaps it's a sign that some giant companies need to start getting beyond-Toy-Camera creative.

Happy #Glee Day!

Wednesdays are my "day off." I have nowhere to be except in front of reading material and a computer, presumably typing away at something. But today...the weather was so nice, and the forecast predicts plunging temperature later this week, and my mom called me to play. Outdoor suburban mall, OLD ORCHARD, IT IS!

As usual, I made my Zara rounds, found things I liked and decided not to buy them. Astute. I wanted to see if there were any G.H. Bass penny loafers at Nordstrom, originally a shoe store. I have been eyeing penny loafers for about a year now, but was worried about what to wear with them. I have no such problems now with the spirit of Rachel Berry and Emma Pillsbury following me everywhere I go, whether it is my own closet or Forever 21 or J. Crew. The problem with the Zappos and the G.H. Bass website is that the black patent leather ones are "coming soon." Well, how soon? Today's high was 70F, but we are facing the impending doom that is late fall and early winter weather. All of a sudden, we will find ourselves in a snowstorm like the Patriots did last weekend against the Terrible Tennessee Titans, but we will not be victorious like Tom Brady & Co. (59-0? FIVE TOUCHDOWNS IN ONE QUARTER? Really?)

Instead of classic Bass loafers, I came across these black patent loafers by Cole Haan, featuring some of that comfy Nike Air, ON SALE! Like, almost 50% off! My mom egged me on to get these. And so, penny loafers and I are reunited for the first time since about 1991. I used to put pennies IN the shoe, not in that little slit at the tongue. Now I can dress like Rachel Berry as a 25.5 year old! HAPPY GLEE DAY!

(If you can't tell, I wrote this soon after episode 9 of Glee aired.)

Creatures

I got this "Cute Creatures Dotted Dress" at Forever 21 the other day. There are rabbits, unicorns, cats, mushrooms, and an unidentified blobby creature (not pictured) wearing a hat on it. I like to think that Emma or Rachel would wear something like this. I also discovered warm, soft, striped knee-high socks made by Hunter to wear with my wellies at Akira on State Street.

At the Water Tower, there was an ad for Glee by the bathrooms. Yay, Glee!

#GLEE: Rachel Berry

"You might laugh because every time I sign my name I put a gold star after it. But it's a metaphor. And metaphors are important. My gold star is a metaphor for me being a star."

Next, I'd like to catalog Rachel Berry's wardrobe. Even though she gets good grades and is the best singer in the state of Ohio (assuming April Rhodes is on Broadway or in Branson), everyone hates her. Rachel is "that girl." You probably knew someone like her in high school, except that the person you knew probably did not have pipes like Rachel's. Her voice, its strength and inflections remind me of the singing female vocals in Disney movies. I kind of fell in love with her when she said with absolute conviction, "And metaphors are important." I never really fully understood the discussions of metaphor in the philosophy of literature, but I feel like they should always commence with Rachel's line above about her gold stars.

Initially, I didn't really pay much attention to Rachel's clothes. They made her look kind of frumpy in the first couple of episodes, perhaps to enhance the "that girl" personality. In the first shot above, she sits with Mr. Schuster (hereafter referred to as "Mr.Shoo"), frustrated with Glee Club's lack of a male vocal who can "keep up" with her. In the second frame, she attends a Celibacy Club meeting to be with Finn. She is disgusted by having to pair up with Jacob for the "Immaculate Affection." ("If the balloon pops, the noise makes the angels cry.") In the third picture, Rachel doesn't get the female lead vocal for "Gold Digger," and her barfy argyle shows why. On the far right, she's about to "kick [Mr. Shoo] in the nads" by telling him that the choreography sucks. Her shirt and skirt are improvements, but her vest is still...meh.


She might be best known for her traditional school-girl look, by which I mean, her plaid. On the left, New Directions sans Finn and Mr. Shoo go to see Mt. Carmel's Vocal Adrenaline rehearse to ask if Dakota Stanley will choreograph for New Directions. She is about to fire Dakota Stanley in the second frame as she realizes that New Directions doesn't need him. The third shot shows Rachel with a huge plaid bow on her shirt as she waits to see what Sue Sylvester is going to do to the Glee Club. The bow is kind of ridiculous, but somehow forgivable. In the final frame, Rachel shows off one of her other skills, storming out, because Mr. Shoo gave the lead vocal to the West Side Story song to Tina instead of to Rachel.


Here is Rachel in horizontal stripes. The pink and yellow striped shirts look like they are variations of the same shirt, but the pink one has many more buttons and is ruched at both the shoulders and the ends of the sleeves. On the far left, Rachel is standing with her famous sugar cookies that spell out "I'm sorry" for Mr. Shoo for insulting his choreography skills. In the yellow stripes, she is waiting to hear who New Directions is up against at sectionals (a school described as "a halfway house for juvie girls" and a school for deaf kids). In the middle, in red and black stripes embellished with gold buttons, Rachel stands in the hallway as she watches Finn console Quinn, as it had just been revealed that Sue Sylvester knows about Quinn's pregnancy. (I think Sue was hurt that she was one of the last to know before Jacob blogged about it. Sue hurt?! In Glee, anything is possible.)


I knew Rachel was going to be blog-worthy when I saw these prints. On the far left, Rachel sings Rihanna's "Take A Bow" in a diamond-print blouse under a navy sweater vest. In the middle, she is getting yelled at by Sandy Ryerson ("YOU SUCK!") and Rachel cries in the bathroom only to have a confrontation with April Rhodes. Some of the stars on her orange shirt clash, in pink! How edgy. On the far right, she has just refused to show her over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders to Jacob, who threatened to write a scathing review on his blog about her musical if she didn't get her "sweater puppies out of their cashmere cage." Puppies aside, her sweater is so adorable!


Here are some other good outfits. On the left, Rachel auditions for the musical with Celine Dion's "Taking Chances" in a blue cotton shirt-dress. It looks like something you could buy at Rugby during the spring for $200. In the next frame, she looks longingly at Finn in an argyle sweater vest over a gingham-check shirt. I love her hair there. In the third shot, she tries to get the girls to take rehearsals seriously for the mashup competition in a magenta vest with a little bit of ruffles over what appears to be the same purple shirt she wore under the sweater vest I called "meh" earlier. In the last frame, she accuses Quinn of being a mole for Sue Sylvester, dressed in a green shirt with more flamboyant ruffles. She wears another cute ruffled shirt with a plaid skirt when she sings "No Air" with Finn; that frame didn't fit neatly into my outfit-photo-series so you can see that shot here.


This outfit deserves its own time in the limelight. Finn and Rachel go bowling to relieve stress, but his intentions seem mixed. He wants to spend more time with Rachel, but the larger goal is to get her to rejoin Glee Club. Otherwise, New Directions won't win regionals and Finn will be less likely to get a music scholarship for college. Rachel picked the best date outfit! No wonder he pushed thoughts of Quinn aside after the kiss and said "I don't know what's gonna happen in the future, I just know that I wanna spend more time with you now." Her sweater looks like a handkerchief was knitted into it. I'm not sure whether to say it looks nautical- or sailor-themed, or that it just looks French in some way. The blue skirt is apparently by Kimchi & Blue, whose overpriced clothes I often see at Urban Outfitters. I also like her socks. I even sacrificed Finn's head to make sure they were in the picture! When I saw this outfit in the episode "Rhodes Not Taken," I knew Rachel Berry was a fashionista in her own right.

Many of Rachel's outfits are simple: a matching top and skirt. But I find matching a skirt and top difficult sometimes. Forever 21 and H&M have millions of simple skirts that can be paired with a variety of tops, but I never trust my judgment and end up abandoning skirts for dresses I can wear rather casually. But I will say that taking over 30 screen caps of Rachel's outfits in every episode influenced my perception of clothes. I went to Forever 21 yesterday and so many outfits spoke to me. They were like, "Look at me, I cost close to nothing and will probably fall apart soon, but Rachel would totally wear me!" or "Look, this sweater vest is kind of frumpy looking , but it's on the path towards the sailor/French date outfit!" I ended up with a dress that I like to tell myself is something that either Rachel or Emma would wear. I'll share pics in another post, as I think about which Glee character's closet to survey next.

#GLEE: Emma Pillsbury

If you don't know by now, I am obsessed with the Fox show "Glee." My biggest fear is that, as with all good shows, it will get canceled. But it seems I am not alone in loving "Glee," so instead of fussing about unwarranted cancellation and buying all things "Glee"-related on iTunes, I can worry about when T-T-T-T-Tina C. is going to get her real solo, or when characters in the show will find out what the audience knows, or what random song/performance will surprise me next. And so on.

One of the things I really like about the show is the use of color, especially in clothes. Almost every character has a uniform of some sort. The cheerleaders wear their uniforms; Finn Hudson is a Hollister/Abercrombie model; Sue Sylvester appears to be sponsored by Adidas; Ken Tanaka always has bold colored polo shirts, short shorts, a fanny pack, and knee-high socks; Principal Figgins looks sharp in his tweed suits; Will Schuster wears sweaters that Dan likes a lot; Terri Schuster wears lots of low-cut Charlotte Russe-esque tops; Rachel Berry has classic schoolgirl outfits; Tina C. shops at Hot Topic; Mercedes is fly; and Kurt "Mr. Cellophane" Hummel seems to find inspiration in Men's Vogue and probably the regular Vogue as well.

Today, I want to present Emma Pillsbury, the guidance counselor, a "real floozy and a man-eater...a mentally ill ginger pygmy with eyes like a bush baby." OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER HAS NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD!

Emma loves Will. Here she is on the left lamenting over Will's resignation, in a beautiful blue blouse embellished with gold buttons and a cute, slick woven skirt. She's so skinny, but her clothes look so good on her! And on the right, she shares her clean PB&J sandwich with Will. Plaid and ribbons haven't looked this good since Nodame Cantabile! She had a good matching bag, but I couldn't get a good screen grab of it.


Emma has problems with the messy things in life. On the left, she steps in freshly-chewed gum; you get a good look at her yellow and silver Mary Jane pumps. In the middle, she enthusiastically cheers for Will as he performs in the group, "Acafellas." On the right, she has just wiped mustard off of Will's "cute Kirk Douglas chin dimple," but then Sue called her "Ellen" and told her that her blouse was "just insane."


The green sweater with the exposed green stitching is great. You can hear the crisp crunchy sounds of her eating the green grapes after cleaning them with disinfectant wipes. On the right, she is greeting a plastered Kurt. Not long after this screen grab moment, Kurt vomits all over her feet and she has to be taken to the ER for four decontamination showers.

Here is Emma in all her coral glory. To the left, she carefully doesn't touch anything in the public bathroom. Here, she catches Rachel failing at bulimia. In the middle, things get a little more serious as she goes to see Ken in the boys' locker room to settle the conditions of their secret marriage. Her blouse has weird salamander-like creatures on it. Where can I get this!? On the right, things get even more serious as she has just told Will that she said "yes" to Ken's marriage proposal. They look at each other longingly and go on their separate ways.

Notice her accessories, too. What is that collar chain? Where can I get them!? The first one has clips of owls! It has eyes just like hers! The second one has flower clips. She's tending to her flowers as Will complains about how he never performed after high school. In the far right green cardigan photo above, there is a similar chain connecting her cardigan, with cute little leaf clips. Sue describes Emma as wearing the kind of brooches that Sue's nana was buried in; here's a good example on the right that she wore on the night New Directions performed "Last Name" and "Somebody to Love."

I am finding out that many of the items in Emma's closet are available to the masses through J. Crew and the likes of Anthropologie. Every time I go into that latter store, I feel like I'm lost in a weird forest and all I want to do is find my way out. Maybe I'll give it another chance.

Stay tuned for my obsessive screen caps of Rachel Berry's wardrobe!

Snuggie Love x 2

Everyone is enamored with the leopard print Snuggie, whether they are conscious of it or not.

An Expensive Callgirl

Purchased a sweet knife from W&S as a wedding gift. Jack was with us again for a few days. He's like, "Where's Joe, my new BFF!"

Leopard print seems to be everywhere this fall. I was going through the latest issue of ViVi, a Japanese women's fashion magazine, and on about every 10 pages, there would be a model in leopard print something, or there would be a bunch of leopard print coats laid out for comparison. I'm not really sure why I got into it myself, or if I got into it because it's so ubiquitous now, but anyway, I'm a big fan.

Do you ever have those moments when shopping where you come across something so wonderful that you gasp out loud? That happened with this coat. I was looking for a different faux fur coat at H&M, a longer and solid colored one, but instead came across this short jacket. I like that it's snow leopard, like my new operating system (many thanks to DJ Price). When I tried it on, Mordecai started laughing and said I looked like an expensive callgirl. I said, "I'll take it."

I'm also proud of my outfits that vary in color. I happen to have pink and blue oxford shirts from Target and matching knee high socks for each shirt. The weather has cooled off a lot, but it's hard to gauge how cold I'm going to be outside. I imagine that 55 degrees is insanely cold, but then I get out there looking like an expensive callgirl and it turns out I'm fine.

Snuggie Acquisition!

A random trip to Walgreens was my solution to the search for the leopard print Snuggie. I really like the font they use:

Jade emailed me about wanting a Snuggie for herself because she studies in a cold med school building. The Snuggie commercial is all about using the Snuggie for leisurely activities, like going to sporting events, or lying on a couch reading or watching TV. I should have realized that Snuggies are perfect for studying at a desk. Your digits and limbs are the first to go when it gets too cold. I imagine that with cold toes, feet, fingers, and hands, studying efficiency goes down. Or reading/writing/grading efficiency, for those who no longer deal with exams.

One question that both Mordecai and my mother had was whether the Snuggie is actually a warm blanket. It's basically made of a kind-of-thin fleece fabric, and it's entirely plausible that with a sewing machine, one could easily DIY a Snuggie with a thicker fabric. Now, I'm someone who gets cold and stays cold. But so far, the Snuggie has not failed me. That's basically to say, any blanket will keep warmth from leaving your body if you cover up a good surface area of your body. But if it has sleeves?! Oh snap!

Anyway, I go to sleep in this thing, watch TV in it, even get some work done in it. When warmth is your goal, you shouldn't care about how you look and just pick a color or print you wouldn't mind being seen enveloped in. It may not be enough for people who get frigid easily, like me or my mom, so keeping a personal heater nearby might be a good idea. But for $15 or so? I'm not sewing a "blanket that has sleeves!" I want that label with the awesome font.