The morning after

Last year while still living in Chicago I needed something or other
from the grocery store the morning after Halloween. I'll tell ya what,
that is the best absolute BEST day to see "walk of shams" stumble out
of the lakeview apartments. For one, they only have their costume to
wear home. Secondly, they still have their weird make-up on. And
thirdly, most likely part of their costume is missing or destroyed
so it takes a minute for passerby's to really understand what they
were supposed to be dressed up as. Free entertainment.

Merriweather

Original

In fifth grade we were required to make our own valentine's day box
and I was so stoked, as was my mother. We brainstormed for days and
finally came to the conclusion that since I loved basketball (yes,
little ole me LOVED basketball when I was young) we would make a
box where you flung the valentine across the box into a hoop. It was so
cool! Red and pink with ribbon and lace and the inside was a
basketball court. Everyone had a blast trying to fling their card into
the hoop which probably didn't work all that well, however it was
still neat for a bunch of 11 year olds. At the end of the day we had an award
ceremony with all sorts of different awards for the construction of
our boxes. I was never really a competitive kid so I wasn't really
expecting anything but sometimes its nice to be acknowledged. 


They get to the "originality award" and say my name with great
enthusiasm! I walked to the front of the room and accepted my award
quite possibly with a frown on my face. When I got home and was crabby
as all hell my mother asked what was up. I began to tell her about all
the cool awards that people won and I finally got to my "originality
award" and gave her my whole schpeal about how unhappy I was. Here I am, 
an eleven year old girl thinking that "originality" meant normal,
boring like "original potato chips". I seriously could not picture
anything but the yellow lays potato chips being original flavor and them not
tasting as good as the cheddar or sour cream and onion ones. So my
mother of course laughs at me, well not at me but tells me I am
completely wrong and that my award meant my box was super awesome
cool and had never been thought of before as in it is the "original"
creation. What What? Man did I shine after that but it sure did take a
bit of convincing on my mother's side.


Merriweather

Waiting Rooms

While sitting in the waiting room at the dentist the other day dreading the fact that they were going to rip into my mouth and that every thirty seconds or so I would forget to breathe and panic for a second a lady started to chat me up. I believe she was in her early sixties and she was there for her six month check up and sitting pretty because she didn't mind the dentist at all which kind of put me at ease. We only talked for ten minutes but it's these conversations that always stick with me because chances are I am never going to see this person again in my entire life and they sometimes leave a big impression. Like most conversations ours turned to wondering if I was in college or if I worked or what have you. So I explained my job and how it is pretty much the polar opposite of what I went to school for. And this lady is sort of giggling while I am explaining my whole schpeel to her and when I am finished she sucks in a big sigh and tells me that everyone she knows does not do what they studied in college and she herself does not know what she wants to be when she "grows up". I keep finding this happening wherever I go. All I can think of lately is "Oh! The Places You'll Go" and how is perfect it is for everyone.

Merriweather

Bras

Alright so here's the thing; I hate bras with an utter passion. They are uncomfortable and annoying however I would love love love to design lingerie. And I love the history of undergarments.  I would like to think I could make it support, comfortable and sexy all in the same garment but that is somewhere down the road. So anywho back to actual bras. Recently I have discovered the racer back bra, well I didn't discover it myself nor had I never not heard of it until now BUT I have thought it about it logically and it makes the most sense. Bra straps fall down and slid around because they go across our shoulder blades which move quite frequently so this here racer back which originated for sports players because it keeps your "girls" in place, is quite extraordinary. But also this bra is much more comfortable because it comes to a v in the middle of your back avoiding the shoulder blades plus it is the most support and it lifts them up and makes they look kind of lovely. But all of this is of course just from personal observation; well and one of my bestest completely agrees. AND! Your bra straps are most likely hidden. If there were a myth about the worth of this bra I would have proved its importance.

Merriweather

"You Wear It Well"

I have heard Rod Stewart's "You Wear It Well" four times today, on the radio, in my jeep, on the same station.

Merriweather

Spoiled Brats

I may or may not have told this story before but I have thinking about it lately because I have been doing a little baking. 

So its winter break and my brother and I are home alone and we think "Hmm, let's make some cookies!" So we get out all of the ingredients, grab one of the mixing bowls, find some measuring cups and we begin. We pour in the flour, sugar, brown sugar, yadda yadda yadda. So we've got everything in the bowl and I turn to lock it into the kitchen aid mixer and its not there. I look at my brother and I look back at the counter and I look at my brother again in confusion and we say together "What do we do now?" We stare at the counter together and my brother says "stir it by hand?" HAHAHAHA, must we? Is it even worth it? Should we just not make the cookies? We end up stirring it by hand and probably complaining the whole time because we are big babies and so used to having that damn mixer do all the work for us. Needless to say I did not have a kitchen aid mixer in Chicago but my aunt did buy me a hand mixer so I could continue to make sweets. 

Merriweather

Naughty Teeth

Yesterday I called the dentist because I was way overdue for a cleaning and I felt as though a cavity was a-coming. Let's just say this is not my first rodeo and I knew the amount of candy I had been consuming was doing me no good.They had several openings and could fit me in immediately so of course I agreed because why not? This did not leave me anytime to worry and wallow and brush my teeth a million times a day, instead I ran around the office in search of a toothbrush and paste.

So my speculations were right; I had a cavity, but not just any cavity I had a cavity UNDERNEATH a filling. Lovely, fabulous, grand. So after a half hour of the dental hygienist telling me that I have been doing a terrible job taking care of my already terrible teeth ( I come from a long line of bad teeth on my father's side) I am booking another appointment for the next day. (FUCK) So they rip out the filling that is supposed to cure the already angry tooth and refill it. And this all goes down an hour before I regularly eat lunch. So I think I can go get some soup or yogurt or maybe some cottage cheese, but noooooooo it has to be fucking LASAGNA day at Byerly's and let me tell you it is some kind of wonderful. So I get it, and struggle my way through eating half of it. So word to your mother: do not book a dental appointment within three or four hours of a feeding time and maybe take a shot of whiskey before hand so it won't be so awful.

Merriweather

ABOUT - Branding 10,000 Lakes

ABOUT - Branding 10,000 Lakes

Today

I wore this awesome vintage dress I got for half price yesterday:

Another reason why I need grey heels

Merriweather

Oatmeal Creme Pies

              In high school I was in marching band. Yes I am nerdy, yes I was in band but without this I would not have met a good friend that I still have to this day. This said friend and I always sat next to each other and brought snacks to share with one another as to keep us from starving on the long bus rides. 

             One of the trips my friend brought a box of oatmeal creme pies.  I was stoked, overjoyed, ecstatic but we realized that this was a fairly large box of cookies and that if everyone were to see this box they would want one too. So of course the only logical answer was to shove it up my shirt, and that is just what I did. We get on the bus, slyly sneaking it past rows and rows of kids and we sit down. I wait a few minutes so that everyone can settle in and get situated for our long journey. After about ten minutes pass I figure we are golden so I slowly pull the box out of my shirt, facing my friend who is sitting next to the window and I have done it, I have safely gotten a full box of oatmeal creme pies onto a bus full of band nerds. I was just beaming. I grinned at my friend and she grinned back. 

            We started to open the box and all of a sudden one of the mother's yells at me "HEY RHODES, WHATCHA GOT?!?!" and my big mouth opened and I screamed:

                                   "OATMEAL CREME PIES" 

            "Awwwwwww shit" I think. And I look back at my friend who is no longer grinning all the while fifteen kids are asking if they can have a damn oatmeal creme pie. And being the nice folks that we were we gave them away and had to split one between the both of us. And that my friends is just one instance of me getting in trouble because I cannot keep my damn mouth shut.

Merriweather

TO DO

Pattern
Cut
Pin
Serge
Sew
Steam
Send

Merriweather

Hot Damn

Paul Newman was such a foxy fella.
That is all.
Goodnight.

Merriweather.

Balloon Glow

Each year, the night before the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, there is an event called the balloon glow.  I finally got to attend this magical event.  Here are some photos...

Medusa

Ren Fest, Take Two

I touched an elephant! It was rough and dry and oh so very strange.

Then I found this weird kid who wanted me to take his photo.

Merriweather

Clara

This is my great grandmother's third marriage license. I never met her but she seemed like a hell of a lady.

Merriweather

1920's

I should have been born in the early 1900's so that in the twenties and thirties I could have designed wonderful scandalous things and been a little tart. And I have the perfect hair for it:

Oh! What a lovely bob you have there

Merriweather

hahahahahaha

This is a very old photo of Medusa & Merriweather taken at the Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago 

This makes Medusa laugh out loud 

My Homes Five

I have only lived in one house my entire life, and my father built it. I never appreciated it as a child hence the drawings on the wood walls and the paint on the floorboards in the downstairs bathroom that my poor parents let me paint ugly shades because I could have cared less. But it is truly lovely and I am happy to be back in it. But besides that house which is 511, every apartment or dorm that I lived in except one, started with a five. I didn't even realize the pattern until I moved into my last apartment in Chicago which was nearly perfect. 525 where Medusa also lived was a dorm building that I kind of loved and everyone hated because there were so many rules, but I was not a rule breaker at this point in my life. Then came 59, another dorm but luxurious with my own room. Next on the list, 5035,was my first apartment and it was nearly perfect and I loved it. Then came the 946 and it was tiny, shitty and dark and I hated it and that is how I knew it was not meant to be because it was not a five. Lastly 5535, was nearly perfect minus the asshole who turned on all the faucets when the water was turned off, left them on and flooded the three apartments below her's ruining my stuff. But on a happy note I loved it there but I sadly had to leave because I could not afford it.


Merriweather

Old Home, New Home, Red Home, Blue Home.

I just moved into the house right next door to the house I grew up in.  It is the weirdest thing in the entire universe.  It is the exact same layout as the house I took my first steps in, got ready for my first days of school in, and just generally became me in.  I'll turn a corner and have a weird flashback of my brother running around with his little friends or think about the spot I always played barbies on (It doesn't help that I'm the most nostalgic person on the planet).  It really does feel like home but then again, as long as i'm surrounded by the things I love, anywhere can feel like home.  Moving also got me thinking about all of the homes I've had.

8129
My childhood home.  I grew up here, It was the first house my parents bought together, and it generally holds the most memories.

5914
We moved here my junior year of high school. This house did not feel like a home for a few years but as soon as it did I was in love.  My parents sold this house and moved out while I was in college so I have no closure which is why it's always hard to think about this one.

525
The dorm.  I spent three years in this place and a lot of shit went down.

6 W. (photos)
The apartment.  Ah, sweet freedom from the dorm.  This was a great apartment, but it also had it's quirks. Like, the fact that it was on the 3rd floor which made it very difficult to find the door when intoxicated and that time we didn't have hot water for a week when my roommates mom came to visit and that cockroach that climbed down the pipe in our bathroom when I was peeing causing me to scream bloody murder.  The crazy bums and the lack of silence got to me though and almost drove me crazy.

8133
The new/old house.  It's pretty much a clean slate, but it feels like home.

I really do, in true cancer form, get attached to the material "home" I love houses and decorating and the fact that a few walls and some wood floors can have such an impact on a persons memories.

Medusa

Weather Change, Music Change

Fall is my favorite season. These bands are mostly calming and relaxing. Good lyrics to sing out loud to with the cool crisp air flowing in through the windows.

The National

Fleet Foxes

David Bazan's older stuff

Decemberists

Albert Hammond Jr.

The Strokes

Modest Mouse

Nora Jones

Cat Power

Bonnie "prince" Billy

David Gray

Merriweather