Hawkeye 14. LA Woman

by Matt Fraction and Annie Wu

"This really should have been 'Plan A' all along. In fact in the future whatever my first plan is -- just gonna auto-scrap it."

Kate Bishop and Clint Barton are "Hawkeye", the arrow wielding, super-power-less, human member of the Avengers. Each issue in this series of comics explains what Hawkeye does on his days off from Avenger duties.  In case you're confused, and not up on your Marvel history... there can be more than one Hawkeye at once :)  In this series, Kate and Clint focus on lower level crimes instead of superhero business.  They have a teacher-student sort of relationship, although Kate is very competitive with Clint.  In this specific issue, Kate leaves NYC for LA, takes Clint's dog Lucky, aka Pizza Dog, and tries her hand at fighting crime.

Fraction's Hawkeye is somewhat addicting.  He has lovable characters who are richly developed.  He has a great visual style, with vibrant colours and a creative font.  It's hard to explain, but Fraction has this ability to create these moments that will stay with you for days, making you ask yourself "When does the next Hawkeye come out?"  

Clint is just a regular guy, who tries to do what is right, and often gets hurt in the process.  He frequently utters, "Okay, this looks bad" before something awful happens to him.  Both Clint and Kate share very real, candid, and hilarious thoughts with the reader. This issue is awesome because Kate steps out on her own, and tries to be a superhero without Clint.  She's optimistic and enthusiastic, even after she has her "this looks bad" moment. 

I love Hawkeye.  You don't need to know much of the Avenger story line to understand this series of Hawkeye.  You just need to love a scrappy blonde guy, a kick-ass girl in purple, and a pizza-eating dog.  Not hard to love, right?

♥ Meg  xoxo

Sequins in the woods

Sometimes on the way home from work I escape the maddening commute and frolic in the woods. I think that people walking their dogs were startled by the sight of sequins in the forest.

Shirt: Forever XXI // Cardigan: TJ Maxx // Skirt: Winner's // Tights: CK // Belt: borrowed from another dress //

First, it was pretty dark and gloomy in this part of the woods.  Somehow when I lightened up the pictures, the grass changed to this strange hue.

Next, I wore stripes and stripes together, with a sequined cardigan, and beige fishnets - because I'm awesome like that.

Shirt: Forever XXI // Cardigan: TJ Maxx // Skirt: Winner's // Tights: CK // Belt: borrowed from another dress //

This outfit was also part of my I-can-wear-red-and-or-green everyday in December challenge... a challenge that only I took part in.  haha

Shirt: Forever XXI // Cardigan: TJ Maxx // Skirt: Winner's // Necklace: Forever XXI// Belt: borrowed from another dress //

When I bought this cardigan, Erin and I declared it a "staple."  Every woman should have a black [sequined] cardigan in her wardrobe, right?  :) 

♥ Meg xoxo

Red and/ or Green Challenge

So, I've challenged myself to wear some combination of red, green, or white every school day in December.  So far, I've been successful :)  Here's one of my outfits.

Tank top: La Senza // Shirt: Garage // Pants: Loft // Heels: Nine West //

I thought I'd try something subtle.  I know, I know... you're sounding it out, right?  Sub-tle? M-eg?  Doesn't really fit.  haha.  Maroon and dark green still fall into the red and green families, so I'd call this festive.

Heels: Nine West // 

Bows on my toes make me smile.  How about you guys, are you getting festive?  Are you weeding red and green things out of your closets and drawers? :) 

♥ Meg xoxo

Winter boots and lace

As you know, I love dresses... and wearing them all year long.  This leads to some interesting outfits on my way to and from work, and on yard duty.  Voilà; winter boots and lace:

Dress: Target // Cardigan: Loft // Tights: Tag // Boots: Tretorn // 

I found this gem on the clearance rack at good old Target.  You can't really see it, but this lace number boasts a very chic Peter Pan collar.  Love. I paired the dress with another sort of lacy material in the cardigan, thick tights, and fashion boots during the day.  After work, though, it was all about my furry winter boots :)

Dress: Target // Boots: Tretorn //

Isn't lace the prettiest?  Or maybe the snow is. . . I love them both so much. 

♥ Meg xoxo

The Awakening

by Kate Chopin

"How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! how delicious. She felt like some newborn creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known."

Chopin's story tells the narrative of Edna Pontellier, a mother of two sons, and a wife to a wealthy Louisiana business man.  Edna's story begins at a summer resort in Grand Isle, where she and other well-to-do Creole families spend their holidays. This is where she is first "awoken".  She spends her days with Mme Ratignolle, an elegant woman who becomes Edna's example of self-expression.  As well,  Edna spends a great deal of her time with resort owner's grown son, Robert LeBrun.  They pass days together at the beach, while her husband is distracted with business. Upon returning home to the city, Edna finds herself a changed woman - she takes up painting again, cancels all of her social obligations, and thinks of Robert all of the time.  She goes where she wants whenever she pleases, and does things that satisfy her needs and wants.  She is a free woman, emboldened by her sexuality and driven by her desires.  

It should be noted that this story was published in 1899, by a woman writer brought up in the ordered society of St Louis.  Her themes of empowered women, sex, and potential suicide were shocking to readers, as well as the manner by which she presented them.  Chopin does not condemn Edna for her lustful wishes, or for her actions. She sort of makes excuses for them with her themes of solitude in the middle/ upper class, and the effects of rapturous love. 

By today's standards, I wasn't shocked by Edna.  I loved her.  After her awakening that summer, she was bold and alive.  She was a woman driven by her passions.  Placing her in the context of her own time period, I loved Edna even more.  She went against societal norms to find out who she was, and again to act exactly as she wanted to act. 

I can see why Chopin's work is canonized as Classic, and is recommended to young women readers today. 

♥ Meg xoxo

Cozy sweater dress

When I wore this outfit the other day, one of my students told me that I looked cozy.  When she said it, I was pretty cozy.  When I took these pictures, though, behind a building, in a wind tunnel, I was not so cozy.  :) 

Dress: Target // Shirt: Winner's // Scarf: vintage // Stockings: MacGregor // Moccasins: Minnetonka // 

Dress: Target // Shirt: Winner's // Scarf: vintage // Stockings: MacGregor // Moccasins: Minnetonka // 

I don't have much to say on this outfit that you don't already know:

1. Stripes are a neutral and can be worn under anything. 

2. Tights and scarves turn dresses that are inappropriate for work / the season into appropriate dresses.

Moccasins: Minnetonka // Dress: Target //

See what I mean about the windy-ness?

Moccasins: Minnetonka // 

These moccasins feel like house slippers to me.  I only wore them on the way to and from work for that reason... heels were added to this outfit for that professional clicking sound when I come down the hallway. 

Enjoy your windy weekend, 

♥ Meg xoxo

Pink Fridays and church for sale?

At my place of work, we've been wearing pink on Fridays to support Breast Cancer research.  It's like we're in the NFL, but not really.  While most people have been wearing pink scarves, I've been mixin' up eclectic pink ensembles.

Sweatshirt: JC Penney // Dress (worn as skirt): Winner's // Socks: gift // Boots: Target

So.  I'm aware that this outfit has a whole lot going on.  On the first Pink Friday, I casually added pink stockings to a fairly normal outfit.  Three weeks later, this is what you'd find me putting on in the morning.  I love this sweatshirt.  I mean, it says, "you had me at bonjour."  Très mignon, oui? 

Sweatshirt: JC Penney // Dress (worn as skirt): Winner's // Socks: gift // Boots: Target

I like to think that summer dresses / dresses I'd wear to a bar can be made appropriate for everyday wear.  Add leggings, a sweater, and/ or a scarf, and voilà: work week ready.  I'm not sure how appropriate this outfit actually is, but since everyone else was wearing some sort of jeans, lulus, and hoodie combination, I felt good about it.

Boots: Target // 

Yay for new combat boots :)  My old Steve Maddens are totally worn out; I loved them so much.  I picked up these less expensive ones at Target a few weeks back.  They have rubber soles, as a opposed to the real wooden ones, so I actually feel better about their life expectancy.

Church for sale?

As mentioned in the title, the church where I was posing in these pictures is for sale.  Weird, right?  I wonder how churches end up on the market.  And can you turn it into whatever you like?  Family home?  Fashion boutique?  Hmm... thoughts to ponder. 

♥ Meg xoxo

Me Before You

by Jojo Moyes

"I just want to be a man who has gone to a concert with a girl in a red dress.  Just for a few minutes more."

This book is a beautiful, unlikely, heart wrenching love story about Will Traynor and Louisa Clark.  After an accident makes Will a quadriplegic, his life of adventures, travelling and extreme sports comes to an end.  Once a charming, witty and powerful man, Will is just a glimmer of his former self.  Louisa is an eclectic dresser, expert tea-maker, and recently unemployed small town girl, with no aspirations of anything more than her simple life.  When she is hired as Will's helper, she gets a lot more than she ever could have expected.

I loved this book.  Louisa and Will have such great chemistry in their banter and humour.  Louisa's presence in Will's life helps to bring back parts of his old personality, and Will's presence in Louisa's helps her to open her eyes to the great wide world.  She does everything she can to show Will that there is so much more to live for, even if he can never have his old life back.  The question is posed, though, will this life ever be enough for Will?

I saw pieces of other characters and novels in Moyes' novel.  At times, Louisa and Will were Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester, the wounded man and care-giving woman. They were Belle and the Beast, tentatively falling in love with each other. They were Lizzy and Darcy, too, when he was cold and she misjudged him.  Will and Louisa were fresh characters, though; they made me laugh and they made me cry. 

Check this book out, and think about what you would do for the one you love. 

♥ Meg xoxo

Fall leaves and leggings

Welcome back, leggings.  You help keep my legs warm when I continue to wear my summer dresses in fall.  :) 

Shirt (or short dress): Forever XXI // Leggings: vintage // Boots: Charlotte Russe // 

So, I took these photos in a tiny [somewhat creepy] cemetery behind a rural church on my way home from work the other day.  This is the only full outfit shot I managed to take though... I'll do better next time - I promise.

Shirt (or short dress): Forever XXI // Leggings: vintage // Boots: Charlotte Russe // 

One of my students informed me this week that I needed to re-do my purple streaks in my hair, and that the streaks had turned to white.  You can see the whitish yellow streak blowing in the wind here.  Student, you were right.

Shirt (or short dress): Forever XXI // 

This lacy shirt (/dress) makes me happy.  I mean, it's made of see-through lace with flowers that look like doodles embroidered on it. What's there not to like?  I'd like to think that this shirt could be a dress, but I think that its inevitably constant companion will be leggings.

Here are some pretty fall leaves, and a beautifully worn tombstone. 

Happy fall, people. 

♥ Meg xoxo

I Was Told There'd Be Cake

Essays by Sloane Crosley

"This is where the bridesmaids come in. We live in constant fear of "ruining the wedding." Weddings don't get damaged, they don't get mediocre: they get ruined.  One lost limo driver and the entire day goes from Zero to Destroyed faster than you can say Swarovski-encrusted Vera Wang."

Here is my thought process when I chose this book from the library:  Ooh what a pretty cover. Cake?! I love that title. Oh - it's essays.  I LOVE essays; I used to write one practically every week.  Shut up - the author's name is Sloane.  Like in Ferris Bueller?!  She's got to be awesome.

And with that, I brandished my library card and was on my way.  Not all of my book choices are as frivolous as this one.  

I judged this book by cover, by author, and by name.  I was blown away by how much I loved this collection of random essays.  Sloane tells these fantastic stories about her life in NYC; she makes losing her wallet, moving a few blocks, volunteering at the Museum of Natural History sound exciting and hilarious.

It should be noted that these stories aren't stories, though; they're essays. Each one has a strong lead, and a great conclusion.  Each one highlights her skills at turning catastrophic situations into learning experiences.  As a character, Sloane is a mis-adventurer.  As an author, Sloane writes with a familiar, yet educated, voice.  She crafts brilliant metaphors, while talking about her random collection of toy ponies given to her by ex-boyfriends, for example.

I liked Sloane because she was real to me.  I felt like I was reading her diary, at times.  Although I connected with her and her experiences as a 20-something female, I think that readers of different ages and genders could enjoy her highs and lows.  The bizarre collection of essay topics that find themselves between the cover page and the end sheet are hard to describe.  I liked all of them. Maybe you'll like a few.

♥ Meg xoxo

PS.  There is no cake in this book.  "I was told there'd be cake" is sort of tongue-in-cheek this way. And it makes me think of the Portal video games I only know about because of M; the cake is a lie.