Friday, January 17, 2014

Stitch Fix: My Second Box

Unfortunately I have only gotten slightly less lame since the first Stitch Fix post with my first box. This time I didn't model the clothes, either. The weekend went by SO QUICKLY!

But I did model the scarf.
You can see why I don't like doing this. 

This scarf was pretty--I used the "Magic Trick" method* to tie it. But I put it up against a lot of the shirts/sweaters I might wear it with, and I don't think those colors would go. I passed on it.
 

I had a picture of this one on the floor, but the beauty of it is its drapey-ness, so I'm posting a photo of the little suggestion card they give you with each item--the piece I was sent is the gray, draped sweater (they're just suggesting the striped dress and orange shoes). 

I have a black sweater like it, and I can never leave the draped parts alone, for whatever reason, every time I get up from my desk, I wrap them over my front. They look like bat wings that way, and thus I look like Dracula. It ruins the look. It's a nice sweater, and it had pockets. But I passed.

This polka-dot navy blazer has a bit of a fuzzy feel to it. I really really almost kept it, but I would most likely want to wear it with jeans. I consulted the best stylist I know in real life, pp (she once dressed me for a huge interview I had to get on a plane to attend, and I was really sad when I had to donate the blouse because it was too tight, but I still wear the pencil skirt). She said if I couldn't match the blues from jeans to that blazer, it wouldn't work. So I had to pass. Jon was not a fan of the polka dots. Does he not know me? There have been days when I come back from a whole day of shopping with nothing that DOESN'T have polka dots on it.


This is great. The pattern is interesting, It fits pretty well, I really like the color combos. AND I have a jean jacket just like the one they suggested pairing it with. Can work for the office and out. I kept it.

And now for the item I knew I was keeping the second I caught a glimpse of it in the box:

LOVE. I love the color. I love the detail, I love the style. Looks great on, too (I'll have to take a picture of myself when I wear it). I LOVE IT. Also, this is that color that I love so much that I asked my mother to wear it to our wedding, because it looks awesome on her. Kept.

And here's an "action" shot of me wearing the scarf I kept from the last box.

I combed my hair and put on lip gloss. You're welcome.

If you want to try Stitch Fix, this is my referral link.


*The "Magic Trick" is at 2:35 in this very well-executed video by Wendy's Lookbook, which shows you 25 ways to tie a scarf:


Thursday, January 02, 2014

embankment

7:50 a.m.: Pulling out of the driveway, there was a LOT of snow on the driveway [first Polar Vortex of 2014]. It was beautiful, but I was driving slowly.

I was probably pushing it at 18 miles per hour.

8:00 a.m.: I was approaching a stoplight at a very busy street. I was on a pretty busy route. Even more so at rush hour. I started slowing down well ahead of when I normally would. There was a fancypants car stopped at the light ahead of me. I needed to get into one of those left-turn lanes that sort of breaks off toward the left. This is usually full of cars and there's a very low corrugated divider thing that outlines where the angle to getting in this lane is. Many a morning people drive right over this and into the lane so they can get to the front for the left-turn arrow.

Pretty quickly, I realized that my car was not going to stop before kissing the the back end of this fancypants car. So I guided my car to the left, hoping the low, corrugated divider would slow me to a stop right where I needed to be. The whole area was covered in a foot or more of snow, but I relied on memory to pull it off.

It was a genius move, if I do say so myself. My car smoothly slid past the fancypants car and into the left turn lane. Unfortunately, I forgot that the low, corrugated divider turns into an actual median closer to the light--this is a busy intersection, after all. Instead of coming off the divider and into the lane, my car kept sliding all the way up onto that median. Which is just high enough that my wheels couldn't get any traction.

I couldn't move.

I was a sitting duck there, with less than 2 feet on either side of me to running traffic. I didn't dare get out of my car to investigate.

8:15 a.m.: I called my coworkers, who graciously offered to come over and give me a push, but I declined. The last thing I wanted was them to get stuck trying to rescue me.

8:20 a.m.: The police arrived. I sat there on hold with Allstate Insurance Company. For an hour. Apparently the system for getting a tow is that you get put into a "hold pool" of sorts. Contracted towing companies pick up, ask where you are and then say "oh, I'm in xxxville, that's too far," and throw you back on hold. I was sitting there, watching people pass by me, laughing, and being thrown back into the hold pool over and again.


This was right after using the windshield wipers. There was not a lot of visibility. Which is why the officer parked there--so no one would slide into me after the turn.


10:00 a.m.: After NINETY MINUTES, the police officer had enough and told me that I was a hazard. He was going to call their tow truck to winch me out. I felt like the world's biggest idiot. In 20 minutes the tow arrived, and the officer asked me to sit in his squad. This is the second time I've been in the back of a police vehicle--the first being in a paddywagon outside the Robert Taylor Home projects, no less).

The seats in those things are so deep and SO SLIPPERY.

The police officer suggested pulling my car out sideways. Because "that's how they pulled out the last one this morning." The tow truck guy disagreed. I believe his words were "This is 20th car I've pulled out this morning." And the cop was making ME feel like an idiot! This was happening to EVERYBODY that day!

10:30 a.m.: After the tow truck guy pulled my car out and into the gas station parking lot about 200 feet away, he gave me the bill: $150. "It would have only been $100 if you had called. This is the 'police rate.' " Pro Tip: Don't let the police call the tow; you'd think they'd get a discount, but really it's the opposite.

11:00 a.m.: I crawled my car the 0.1 mile home and worked from there.

And when we tried to get that money reimbursed by Allstate? All they would give us was a $100 reimbursement, even though it was their stupid system that forced the police to call his own towing people.

STRIKE TWO, Allstate. (Strike one was not covering the plumbing backup because we "declined" a coverage that they failed to even offer to us.)


Wednesday, January 01, 2014

clearly, i need to learn more about gardening

While there were some great things about 2013 (getting a new house, seeing how excited everyone got that we might become parents), I'm pretty confident putting it into the "Bummer" category.

After the baby stuff, my college girls gave me a beautiful fuchsia hydrangea from a nursery in California, and it was beautiful. After the blooms died away the stems stayed pretty green and healthy, even sprouting offshoot buds! But then through the move and the change of seasons, it started drying out. The buds fell off. And it looked like this:

I finally resigned myself to accept that this plant didn't make it. Last week, I was about to finally get rid of it--I was going to try using the potting mix to add to my struggling orchid, when I discovered:

 And this is basically how I feel about 2014.


Thank you all for the love and prayers you've always sent our way. Happy New Year, everyone.