h&m baby...also, the glory that is white house/black market

My weekend was great.

Long, lots of flying, meeting overload, tons of walking in not the best possible shoes, but when all was said and done it was really energizing. I even went to see a movie that I wouldn't have chosen and found it pretty hilarious.

I sit on a board of directors. I have since 2005. We've just expanded and all is very exciting. Lots of work and travel to come. Lots of opportunity to further our mission. Also tons of work. Tons of meetings and travel and conferences.

Also, I just love going to Seattle. I was born there. Its the big city in which I am the most comfortable. I love the funk and the neighborhoods and the walk-ability. I love that there is a TARGET, an Anthropology, and NOW! Featuring! An H&M! I love, love, LOVE the restaurants. I love the skyline and the grit of a city, and oh god, but how I love the coffee (and now of course Washington is wine country and they are very INTO their wines which, well, is only MORE fun to be had!

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I bought a cute hat and some tee shirts and one of those 'neck pillows' for myself. I got Daughter a 'simba' neck pillow for our Christmas Trip, a kid safe (albeit likely entirely cancerous) SEATTLE mug, her 2008 Christmas Ornament which is, oh my hell, so adorable and a very nifty lego silverware set that will be totally handy and entirely entertaining in restaurants. I got this for Boyfriend


Ooooh, I also bought a totally fabulous sweater dress from the newly christened H&M on Pike. It was 25 bucks. I haven't owned a sweater dress since I was in the second grade. I lurve it.

I also had my inaugural experience (see where this is going?) at White House/Black Market. All I can say about this is that I am thoroughly infatuated (SWOON!) and that I am so, so pleased to the core of my want to be fashionable being that someone like Michelle Obama who is tall like me and not a twig like me and cool and glamorous but in a not really working that far out of the box sort of way is going to be my reasonably affordable fashion ICON forever? Well, as I said, SWOON.

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And now, back to your regularly scheduled holiday meltdown.

I finished reading this book. And read most of the current issue of Food and Wine magazine on the plane. I think I found two dishes to introduce into the mix this year. I still don't have a set line up. Granted, it is only my tenth year at this and I punted a couple of them.

I think I may have come up with something resembling a solution for the Holiday Cards. . . At least so far as my list is concerned.

I think I may also have come up with a solution for the Boyfriend's Son's Birthday Gift from yours truly. I think it is good enough for this year at any rate.
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Ok, this is dissolving into nothingness. I will bid the Internet adieu and go find some mindless television to watch for the twenty minutes until I fall fast asleep. Daughter conked out at 740pm. TIRED.

Goodnight.

on dressing from my past

I bit the bullet and bought these jeans yesterday. I haven't owned a pair of these particular jeans since I was in high school. WAAAAAAAAAAY back in the day before they 'redesigned' them to be all cool and stretchy and therefore (duh!) cost $11.45 more. Also, I bought them three sizes smaller yesterday that I have ever purchased them before. This was exciting, of course, and I really like the cut. And pulling them on was a little like getting together with an old friend. Oh! LOOK! These pants still make me look like I have an ass that I don't really! Cool!

I have been really struggling with jeans lately. I like wide leg pants, but not in denim and there is a great abundance of wide leg (bell leg, flare leg, take your pick) jeans out there at the moment.

While shopping, I came across this other little disturbance courtesy of the Gap. I swear to god. I owned this EXACT SAME JACKET in 1989. When I was in the second grade. Maybe it was 1990 and the third grade. Regardless. I feel very fortunate to have skirted many of the '80s fashion disasters. Equally pleased to be able to write off the ones that I fell prey to under the heading of "YOU CAN'T HOLD NEON BIKE SHORTS (Side Pone/LA Gear High Tops with the Fringe Around the Top/Leggings/Mis-Matched Keds with Mis-Matched Socks/ High Waisted, Abundantly colorful jeans with tapped ankles, etc) AGAINST ME...I WAS A CHILD!"

Open Letter to the Gap and all other Gap-ish Retailers:
Dear Gap,
I would really like to not fall victim to your new found obsession with odd 80's wear. Please stop with the bomber jackets and skinny jeans.
Sincerely,
LRH

It is snowing here. I am needing non-ugly boots. I already have ugly, clunky, heavy, one whole size to big boots for driving around. They look a lot like this. I also own these, which were perfectly functional as winter (and by that I mean year round, rain country, wore them frequently this summer) boots when I lived in that other place, but now I am back to real winters and winters shared with a toddler who likes to PLAY! OUTSIDE! IN THE SNOW! For HOURS. ON. END. Especially at playgrounds and sledding hills where you have to socialize (or in my case try to avoid contact with the other mothers for no apparent reason). It is for me, an awful lot like high school. Except I look cuter now than I did in High School and I need boots that reflect that. If only for myself. I am not having much luck. I think I might like these, but I haven't seen them in real life and I am not sold on the fake fur. But I like the height and the general look of non-clunky-ness.

It is also lotion season. I am experimenting with some options. Perhaps there is a post in there somewhere.