Saturday

the perks of being a wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

Dear friend, 
This book was a re-read for me, before the movie comes out. I shouldn't have done it. This is why: I like this book. Now it is fresh in my mind for when the movie inevitably ruins it. Movies based on books always get me excited. I can't wait for other people to experience the same awesomeness I did when I read the book in the first place. But then, the movie is never how I pictured it and I go home disappointed. I know, I know. I shouldn't get excited in the first place. But I do, and the cycle begins again. 
Love always, 
Meg 

"If you listen to the song "Asleep," and you think about those pretty weather days that make you remember things, and you think about the prettiest eyes you've know, and you cry, and the person holds you back, then I think you will see the photograph" 

The above is the way by which perks of being a wallflower is styled. The protagonist, Charlie, writes a letter almost every day for a year to a "friend."  Readers follow him throughout his first year in high school and get to witness his life through his own eyes. We only get to feel what Charlie feels and think what Charlie thinks. Readers get to learn all about Charlie's foray into smoking, drugs and alcohol. We experience his love for one of his best friends, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and "Asleep" by the Smiths.

This book is one highschooler's perspective on life. He feels everything to the extreme and often cries out of love, loss, or happiness. As a reader, we get to feel lonely, anxious, heart-broken, ecstatic and hopeful along with Charlie. 

I'm a little worried about how this creative interpretation of the social fringes of high school will be transferred to the big screen. Narrated voice-over, maybe? I mean, the entire book is made up of letters. As usual, though, I have high hopes for the movie; I liked the source material. 

Reading about Charlie and his friends makes me want to talk to those teenagers I see huddled in front of my neighbouring high school and ask them, "Do you feel infinite?"

♥ Meg xoxo

Wednesday

"Mlle, you wear glasses??"

Yesterday I lost a contact during second period. I went around all day in a one-eye-closed, blurry state. It was a mess. I decided to wear my glasses today. I feel way more "business" in my glasses, for some reason. This outfit sort of reflects that.

Shirt: Garage // Skirt: Joe Fresh // Bracelet: H&M //

I was balancing my camera on my car, and it was very windy. Also, it should be noted that heels + gravel road is not a rookie move; do not try this at home. :)

Shoes: Nine West //

Oh. As if you had to ask... yes, this skirt has pockets. 
♥ Meg xoxo

PS:


Tuesday

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

by Aimee Bender

I was drawn to this book for two reasons:
1. There is a picture of a slice of cake on the cover.
2. I also feel sad when eating lemon cake, because it is not chocolate cake.

All kidding aside, this book was something special. It make me think a lot about food and familial relationships, and about how the two are linked. 

"I could taste the chocolate, but in drifts and traces, it seemed that my mouth was also filling with the taste of smallness, of upset, tasted a crowded sense of her thinking"

Bender tells a very unusual story about Rose and her "gift". Eight-year-old Rose is able to taste the emotions felt by the person who makes the food that she eats. As she matures, she is also able to discern the location where the plants or livestock were raised.

Due to her ability, Rose learns an immense amount of information about her mother.  She learns of her mother's unhappiness in her marriage and, later, of her affair. She learns about her older brother, who has one friend and his own unique gift. 

Rose does not see her ability as a gift. She is tormented by the secrets she learns, and is unable to explain how she learns them. She turns to factory-processed food in packages as a refuge.

I thought that this book was intriguing. What would my food say if it could speak to me? Would I still enjoy eating a piece of cake if I knew how the baker was feeling when he or she baked it? What would I learn about my own family's inner thoughts and emotions?

♥ Meg xoxo

Monday

Wind is playing in the trees, kicking up confetti leaves...

It smelled like autumn outside today. That being said, I decided to wear a bright, summery dress. I guess I'm not really ready for dark fall colours yet . And, I mean, the dress has 3/4 length sleeves; it's obviously a fall piece :) 

"We began with cake; we ended with pie."

I am not one of those people who put away their summer clothes when fall and winter come. I just add patterned tights and cardigans, and wear my summer clothes all year 'round :)

Dress: Old Navy // Belt: borrowed from another dress

I really love these shoes. They feel like I am wearing ballet slippers or those cloth jazz shoes.

Tights: Forever XXI // Shoes : Zeller's // 

I hope you got a chance to enjoy the crisp autumn air today.
♥ Meg xoxo

PS. Listened to a little Mandy Moore today in the car. Love. Listen to Extraordinary and think about the confetti leaves. 

Sunday

The Kissing List

SO sorry for the delay in posting. This past week was filled with staying late at school, Curriculum Nights, and birthday celebrations. 

Stephanie Reents' The Kissing List, is a collection of interwoven stories about a group of friends and their relationships. Sounds straightforward, right? Not quite. This book sounds like it's going to be similar to Love Actually, with characters flitting into each other's stories. Instead, it tells separate stories about a group of friends from university and the intimate details of their personal lives as they grow up and grow apart. 

"During that year, I kissed a lot of people on the lips, unrelated to the usual factors such as gender, familiarity, or even sexual attraction." 

It's not all about kissing. It's about relationships. It's sometimes shocking; one character trades sex for a BCBG dress. Other times, it's bleak; one character gives up the man she loves to another woman in her own home. Still others, it's funny, emotional, and raw. 

Reents creates an extreme world in this novel. Every little thing in a relationship is magnified and then exaggerated. Reents is skilled in her craft. She evokes laughter and tears from her reader with her powerful prose. 

I liked this novel because it's about powerful women who take chances. They take chances in order to try to become something extraordinary. I didn't read it all at once, so at times I had to flip back and figure out how characters were linked together. Maybe I should have been paying more attention. 


♥ Meg xoxo

Tuesday

Stripes and polka dots

I used to ask people if they liked stripes or polka dots.

What? Stripes and polka dots aren't neutrals?
I, obviously, choose polka dots every time. It's not that I don't like stripes. I just like polka dots more.  Put them together, though, and I am in love.  


Body suit and skirt: Forever XXI // Sunglasses: Old Navy  // 

When I was wearing this, some people told me that stripes and polka dots do not match. I, for one, do not agree.
Shoes: thrifted and crafted //

I decorated these shoes one school night last winter. This craft involved black shoes from a second-hand store, fine glitter, and Mod Podge. Students are mesmerized by these shoes every time I wear them.
I really, really love messy crafts. And shoes.

Book review to come. Do you like how the book matched the outfit? Total coincidence.
♥ Meg xoxo

Sunday

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight


Okay, this book is teen fiction.  I saw it on a student's desk and I was interested. I mean, who doesn't like a little teen fiction now and then? 
"'Just that a discussion about true love is usually something you talk about after three months, not three hours.'"

Smith tells the story of twenty-four hours in the life of seventeen year old Hadley Sullivan. Hadley is flying to London to be part of her father's second wedding, misses her flight, and ends up sitting beside a charming bloke from London on the plane ride. 

Hadley and Oliver end up talking the whole way to London - they discuss everything from types of clouds and claustrophobia, to Hadley's hatred for her father's new life. 

They land in England and part ways. The rest of the novel explains their separate days in London, and the journeys they take to find each other again. 

Alright, alright. I know. It's highly implausible. I recognize that. And it's completely written in the present tense, which is weird.

But I liked it. It was filled with teen angst, confusion, romance, and drama. Remember, I got it in the Teen Fiction section of the library. 

♥ Meg xoxo

Tuesday

Sunshine on the window makes me happy, like I should be...

(Ten Things I Hate About You fans, like myself, are rocking out to the lyrics in the title :))

Dress: Forever XXI // Belt: a ribbon from my craft drawer //

It was so sunny and lovely this afternoon! This morning, though, it was preeetty chilly on yard duty. I was happy that I had opted for tights! 

Tights: Joe Fresh // Flats: Zeller's 
I have a couple pairs of polka dots tights. Okay... maybe several pairs?


I ♥ ribbons and bows.

I saw the loops on the side of this dress after I had purchased it on clearance. I guess it was supposed to come with a sash or a belt. I thought that a ribbon would do the trick.

Ring: Accessorize // 
I adore this giant ring! I bought it with Erin, on a trip to NYC... and I am always quick to tell people where I got it. I think it makes it cooler. Side note: I also think it looks like an icing flower from a birthday cake. Maybe that's why I like it so much . . .

Well? Do you? The love of my life tells the story about the first time he met me.  It goes along the lines of over-sized hoop earrings and short shorts. Maybe it was love?   

Book review of The Statistical Probability of LOVE at First Sight  to come!
♥ Meg xoxo


Monday

I Love You, Miss Huddleson

[...] and other inappropriate longings of my indiana childhood

I chose Philip Gulley's memoir based on the cover. Not going to lie. Back to school was looming and there was this book with a sweet school photo on the cover. And the title. I mean... I guess I was hoping that my new students would love me. For some reason, I thought that this book would be all about teachers and experiences at school.

"Every teacher I'd ever had was a hundred years old, with large flaps of fat underneath their upper arms that jiggled when they wrote on the chalkboard. But not Miss Huddleson."

Turns out that Miss Huddleson is only one chapter in a book of lovely stories that conjure pictures in the reader's mind of bicycle rides, rope swings into a river, paper routes, camping trips and simpler times.  

Gulley perfectly describes it himself in the preface, saying that his book is not "a careful narrative, meticulously following the march of days. It is a story, and a story has a way of shifting with the sands of time."

I liked the book because it was different - it was real. Gulley says that he tells true stories that may be exaggerated, and I like it that way. When I was reading, it was as if I was hearing a family legend, told over and over again at holiday dinners. 

I don't usually read biographies or memoirs for pleasure, so I was delighted by how much I enjoyed this story.

♥ Meg xoxo

Thursday

First day of school!

The alarm clock went off, the school bells rang, and the kids came flooding into the hallways.

Everything looks so shiny on the first day of school; the floors have been scrubbed, the students are wearing new outfits, and there are so many brightly coloured school supplies.

Dress: Suzy Shier // Shoes: Burlington Coat Factory //  
(Sorry for the boxes; our office was getting renovated last week!)

I wanted to look bright too. I rocked my (school appropriate) summery dress. Orange is my favourite colour; it's so cheery.  I feel like it's important to have a self-reflexive sense of style. I wanted to introduce my students and my new colleagues to my style straight away. 

Orange flowers! And high heels!

FYI: I wore the heels all day. Loads of other teachers had swapped to flats in the afternoon. I feel like it is necessary to commit to the heels.  (It's quite alright to take them off immediately in the car on the way home, though :))

Earrings: Forever XXI //

Book review to come.
♥ Meg xoxo




Monday

Au revoir sweet summer...

"Finders keepers"

Oh summer dresses, you are my first love. I bought this dress on a dreary winter day and saved it until summer. I know, I know... it could be paired with tights and a cardigan quite easily. And it will be. It needed to make its maiden voyage in the summer sunshine, though.

Dress: Urban Outfitters (but also seen at Anthro)//  Belt: borrowed from another dress//  

One word: Pockets. ♥

Pretty things, like embroidered flowers, make me smile. 


Flats: Globo Shoes//
I couldn't resist these shoes. They have bows and polka dots - two things I adore. Side note: I cannot believe the lack of polka dots in my outfits so far. I mean, I must be subconsciously saving them up for when school begins.

Happy long weekend!
♥ Meg xoxo

Sunday

I've Got Your Number

Guilty pleasure confession time: I love Sophie Kinsella's books.  Shopaholic? Obvi. She writes [Brit] Chick Lit at its finest and always has a quirky, half-crazy, yet lovable heroine.

"I've never shared an inbox with someone in my life. It's as if we're suddenly sharing an underwear drawer, or something"

In I've Got Your Number, Kinsella writes about a physiotherapist named Poppy Wyatt.  In one night, Poppy loses her engagement ring and her mobile phone.  Amidst the panic, she finds a discarded phone in a garbage can.

Turns out the phone belongs to one Sam Roxton, businessman. Poppy and Sam end up sharing the phone and joining in on each other's lives through texts and forwarded emails.



Far-fetched? Yes. Figured it all out way before Poppy did? Definitely.  Loved it? Read it all in one sitting? Devoured it like a bag of popcorn at the movies? You'd better believe I did.

A must-read if you are a fan of Kinsella, and a recommendation if you are a fan of Chick Lit.

♥ Meg xoxo

PS. Poppy's obsessed with footnotes. Kinsella uses them as if Poppy herself is writing the book. I kind of loved it.