About a Girl: New Shoes

on: the girl

“hello new shoes, bye bye blues.”
– paolo nutini, “new shoes”

So many exciting things to write about this week! There’s been a lot going on in my life – though the weather in Evanston is still pretty treacherous (if warm) – and a lot of joy and thrills, but I’m making an actual effort to regularly blog this time around.

Some tidbits on me/life in general:

  • Red Sox sweep their series against the Yankees earlier this week! And the Bravesare holding strong at just above .500, especially after a win tonight against the Phillies. Gotta love that sort of success, even if the Phillies are whooping us in the NL East.

    San Francisco, CA

  • I found out Wednesday I will be placed in beautiful San Francisco, California, for my JR this fall! I’ll be working at San Francisco magazine for three months beginning in mid-September, and I’m truly thrilled to begin. There’s so much to do in SF, and I’m hoping to hit up AT&T Park, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market (y’know, the one at the Embarcadero), Haight, the sea lions, etc. It’s surely going to be a whirlwind experience, and I’ll be damned if I waste a single second of it.
  • I’ve become a serious fashionista in the last few weeks or so, cleaning my closet a bit (throwing out some still-gross pukey flats and donating some beloved and still fashionable Gap T-shirts) and repopulating it with some pretty exceptional (if secondhand) designer threads. I’ve picked up a little Vera Neumann, some Kate Spade and, of course, Marc Jacobs and Betsey Johnson. I’ve been doing a good bit of clearance rack diving at Anthropologie, Gap, J. Crew and even Macy’s, where I picked up a gorgeous pair of navy Marc Fisher pumps. I’ve given my wallet a brand new policy – I only purchase clothes which I will want to wear to the office in the future. That means no more Threadless tees, no matter how hilarious, and a depleted Converse collection, though I like to believe that I can still wear Chuck Taylors in the real world. All in all, I think I’m really becoming a clothes horse – and I love it.
  • I chopped off all of my hair. Reinvention. It hasn’t been this short since…well, ever.
  • It’s formal season here at Northwestern, and, though I’ve all but removed myself from my chapter to claim allegiance to a particular fraternity, I attended both my sorority formal and my favorite fraternity’s formal this weekend. The latter was at the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, the 66th floor, and it was a truly gorgeous venue. I had a blast, and the view was absolutely exceptional. I do love college, Asher.
  • Northwestern’s Dillo Day is next weekend. B.O.B. was announced as the night headliner months ago, while both the New Pornographers  and Chiddy Bang were announced last week as the early and late afternoon performers.

    The Mighty Ducks' Charlie Conway

  • And, finally, my brand new (birthday) bicycle is here and built and totally perfect. It’s a smokin’ hot Bianchi hybrid, and I just want to keep it in my bed and cherish it always. It’s got a built-in bike light in the seat and a sweet streamlined style. I’m calling in Charlie Conway after my reignited passion for the Mighty Ducks trilogy. I’m rewatching D2 as I type this, and I’d forgotten how great (slash terrible slash slightly racist slash totally jingoistic) this film is. But I seriously do love this movie. All of ’em. Even 3.

    The Bianchi Milano Citta, my brand new baby

  • I took my bike for a nice ride along the lake tonight. There was a storm a-brewin’, and it was a bit eerie. The waves were lapping, and there were birds flying really low at the shore. It was indescribably beautiful.

Okay, that was a heck of a lot. I’ll be back tomorrow with a new mix (I promise!), and some other fun stuff, so check back then. Happy living!

xoxococo

The Rob Scrawl: Top 10 Laaadies

in: tens
wayne

Image courtesy of Paramount

As you may or may not have noticed, The Girl with the Dunce Cap is rather fond of regulars. Y’know, posts you’re expected to expect – Book Club, Dunce Flash, The Dunce Cap (TK tonight). And now, I’m launching just one more. The Rob Scrawl is a series of top ten lists. These lists consist of, like most other things on this blog, things I like. The things I like most or least or that remind me of something peculiar. Don’t pull that face – they’re fun! Wayne & Garth loved ’em too – scha-wing!

The Rob Scrawl is modeled after, even more than Garth & Wayne, one of my favorite fictional characters, Rob Fleming from Nick Hornby‘s High Fidelity. Rob was a list man. He made top five lists to chronicle the things he loved, from films to TV episodes to tracks to memorable moments. He is also a mix tape man, another thing we undoubtedly have in common. Rob is a Music Man, as I am a Music Girl, and he is a Romantic. I can’t deny that I am too. But, most of all, we’re loudmouths about the things we love, and that is, after all, what all of these lists are really about.

So without further ado, the first Rob Scrawl.

The Rob Scrawl: Ms. C & The Women

My internship today brought some pretty laughter-ridden culture conversation, which led to the usual rant about Kristen Stewart, Megan Fox and my obvious distaste for both. In response, my coworker accused me of being a bit anti-woman. So, to prove that I am not, in fact, anti double-X chromosome, I constructed my top 10 women list. These are women with charm and class, without the vacant eyes of Stewart or the half-assed performances of Fox. These are women I do have nice things to say about after all.

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This Rob Scrawl is in alphabetical order. In the future, there may be some preferential order.

Anna Quindlen: My favorite teacher once insisted to me that I had to be the next Anna Quindlen. I guess I took it to heart. I just finished her most recent novel, “Every Last One,” a heartbreaking work of stagging genius (ch’yeah).

Betsey Johnson: Don’t call her Cyndi Lauper. Betsey has an incredible style with a flair for color, and her clothes are gorgeous pieces for tea parties, proms or house romping.

Daria Morgendorffer: The classic high school misanthrope, Daria made braininess (and glasses! and sarcasm!) cool for girls, too.

Ellie Kemper: Sure, Ellie plays a sweet if hapless secretary on NBC’s “The Office,” but she’s a real comedy hotshot. Her video launched on Funny or Die (link NSFW), blowing (punny) into the common comedic consciousness. Now she writes for McSweeney’s and The Onion.

Judy Blume: Judy Blume defined girldom for most preteens, tackling the tough issues most fiction writers wouldn’t even begin to address.

Kate Nash: Kate Nash is darling with a kick. She’s a British songstress with a really hilarious personality and a pretty voice to match. That girl is sass.


Kate Nash, “We Get On”

Katey Sagal: Katey is the voice. So, okay, a lot of people know who she is, she of bouffant hair and leopard spandex, Ms. Peggy Bundy. But there’s more to Katey than just that. She’s a comedy legend. Leela? Spinelli’s mom? SMART HOUSE? It’s that voice. It’s the most soothing sound in the world.

Maura Johnston: Maura is an incredible woman. She’s tough, really, a girl in a boy’s town, finding music in the deepest recesses of the grimy big city. God, she’s cool. And incredibly talented. She isn’t editing for Idolator anymore, but she’s still writing. Something tells me she’ll never stop. Thank god for that.

Natalie Portman: This one is a total no-brainer. Natalie is gorgeous, brilliant, talented – and vulgarly hilarious? Who knew. The Israeli-American princess is one bad ass bitch.


The Lonely Island, “Natalie’s Rap”

Zooey Deschanel: The queen of gorge, Zooey is a star. Her beauty continues to stun me, and she is such an utter delight. Yo, she went to NU (for two quarters!), and that only makes me love her more. She’s an accomplished singer (with M. Ward in She & Him), actress and smile-r. Yeah, it’s almost an obsession.

honorable mentions: lisa simpson, jenny lewis, crystal renn, liv tyler, mindy kaling, christiane amanpour

Who would be on your top ten women list?
No Mileys here, please.