We are in the midst of sending off our seniors, evicting them from high school, like you do, with a mixture of joy and relief and bittersweet melancholy. I’m not sure how I do this every year, and I can’t imagine what it will be like when my own kids and all their friends are graduating, but ah well. Till then, I’ll just keep practicing with my students.
To hide my misty eyes and to celebrate the incredible spring weather we’re having, I’m highlighting my new favorite hat, which was a birthday gift this year from one of my dear friends.
Don’t worry, poetry fans. I’ll still be featuring another amazing poet tonight on this blog in celebration of National Poetry Month. (For any readers who are new here, click on the Poetry tab to see an index of the past month’s featured poets. It’s a real treat!)
But this morning I need to post something else, a companion piece to an article I wrote which launches today elsewhere on the Interwebz (link follows). Enjoy!
Wearing cute hats makes us happy. (photo by Kara Masharani)
When I was a younger woman, I bemoaned the fashion choices that had led to the presumed demise of the excellent hat. When I suggested to some close friends that perhaps we should bring it back into fashion, I found the rumors of the hat’s death to be greatly exaggerated. Lots of people liked hats! Enjoyed wearing them, even! I was both excited and…confused.
If everyone thought hats were so great, why wasn’t anyone in my fair city wearing them?
There seem to be a couple of big obstacles to hats’ being a staple of women’s daily fashion. The first is the perception that wearing a hat is just too much hassle when one is getting ready for one’s day. The second, and this may be subconscious fuel for the first reason, is that it takes some chutzpah to make a visual statement like that. But everyone is capable of overcoming these little roadblocks.
Go for a wider brim to add a little drama to your look. (photo by Kara Masharani)
First, let go of the myth that hats will make your hair fall out; in actuality, they protect your hair and scalp from sun damage, which is more healthful. Also forget the idea that you need a dozen different chapeaux to have a solid hat wardrobe. You can, of course – and, um, I do – but it’s not required.
You wouldn’t believe how easy it was to find this hat. Go ahead — guess where I got it. (photo by Kara Masharani)
Remember when I said that Fashion Friday would be back after a hiatus, but only occasionally? Well, it’s baaaaack… (but only occasionally).
We’ve had some seriously wintry weather down here in the south lately. You might have noticed? Now, in Houston we’ve been luckier than in Atlanta — oh, those unfortunate folks! — but it’s been sort of intense here. We’ve had TWO Continue reading “Fashion Friday 1/31/14”→
So last week Fashion Friday went on hiatus while I was traveling and didn’t have a guest contributor lined up. I went to Los Angeles for a writing conference, which was super fun. I met some very interesting writers — I always love making those connections — and had a really positive response from the agents I pitched my novel to. Plus I got to have dinner with some dear friends who live out there. All in all, a good trip.
One thing I really like about going to L.A. is that it’s a town I can go shopping in. Now, of course I can go shopping at home if I want to. The problem, though, is that my kids are at home. I love my kids, but taking them shopping is…not ideal. And leaving them at home to get away for a few hours by myself is just a recipe for guilt and trauma.
Today was the homecoming pep rally, and we were all encouraged to wear our school’s colors, one of which is purple.
What? It’s purple.
These are the Iron Fist brand American Nightmare shoes, but I like to call them my zombie stompers. They have a shoe like this called Zombie Stomper as well, but I don’t care for its neon color palette. So there.
I’ve got spirit, yes I do. I’ve got spirit, how about you?
These shoes have four-inch heels, and they make me almost as tall as some of my students. Win.
I especially like the little bows on the backs and the criss-cross lacing up the heels. And the poetry fragments on the inside don’t hurt.
I love fascinators. They’re cute and interesting, and featuring them this week allows me to continue my month-long pursuit of slightly-less-than-typical accessories. I have a few fascinators myself, but nothing quite as fabulous and fancy as this one, here:
With a full-time job teaching high school and two children advancing through elementary school at an alarming rate — particularly a daughter whose behavior has led me to believe Eight is the new Thirteen — I think a lot about peer pressure and what’s happening to our kids socially. (That’s a topic for an entire blog, and I’m not about to attempt it in a single Fashion Friday post.) One thing that I try to do, to help the kids in my life see it’s good not to follow the herd all the time, is to be as Continue reading “Fashion Friday 9/6/13”→
Hello! Our Fashion Friday post this week comes to us from guest blogger Sarah Warburton. (View her blog here.) Sarah writes mysteries, has read pretty much everything, and is my awesome Saturday morning writing date. I’m not sure anyone else could lure me from sleep before dawn on a weekend to drive down to a coffee shop with my ancient (read: heavy) laptop to write, but Sarah’s company and keeping-you-honest presence make it more than worth the effort. In addition to being a really wonderful writer and reader and writing partner…
…she knits.
***
Amy Pond: I thought…well, I started to think you were just a mad man with a box.
The Doctor: Amy Pond, there’s something you better understand about me ’cause it’s important and one day your life may depend on it…I am definitely a mad man with a box. Continue reading “Fashion Friday 8/9/13”→
This week’s installment of Fashion Friday comes to us from Alanna McAuley, who is actually a former student of mine. (Long former. She’s graduated from college now.) She recently stumbled upon a really wonderful advancement in fashion geared toward a highly specific and selective group of people…Continue reading “Fashion Friday 8/2/13”→
Sappho's Torque 