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. 

Mismatched

A Grade One told me that my outfit was all mismatched today.  She said that she loved it, but if she wore it - her mom would make her change.  I held her compliment in my heart and loved it all day.  My Grade One self would be proud of me.

Shrug: Old Navy // Tank: Old Navy // Skirt: Joe Fresh // Heels: Aldo // 

I'd like to make the bold statement that animal print isn't supposed to match.  I often see it in accessories.  People add animal print for a fun little pop of pattern.  So I added more than a pop. Sue me. :)

Shrug: Old Navy // Tank: Old Navy // Skirt: Joe Fresh // Heels: Aldo //

Let's talk about these shoes for a minute.  They are sky high, mustard yellow, ultra-suede, skinny-heeled beauties that I wore all day.  The ankle strap makes them comfy.  I promise.  I should have taken a side view; this front view does not do them justice.  Next time.

 Skirt: Joe Fresh // Heels: Aldo //

I'm livin' it up with bare legs again.  Oh, October weather, you confuse me. 

♥ Meg xoxo

Gone Girl

by Gillian Flynn

"Friends see most of each other’s flaws. Spouses see every awful last bit."

This book was amazing. All at once I loved it, I hated it, I was wrapped up in it, I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I couldn't stop talking about it.  I found it extremely hard not to spoil this book for everyone I talked to about it.  

The story starts out on Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary.  The day of.  Every part of the story after this is centred around or after The Day Of.  The day of Amy's disappearance, that is.  Amy goes missing on her and Nick's anniversary leaving behind a seemingly staged crime scene, a trail of questions, and whole lot of fingers pointing towards Nick.  While searching for his wife, Nick reminisces about the past a lot, wondering about his wife, her disappearance, and the state of their marriage.  Interspersed throughout the present, are passages from Amy's diary starting from the time her and Nick started dating.

Each year on their anniversary Amy leaves a romantic scavenger hunt for Nick to follow, to chronicle their year together.  This year, Nick is forced to complete the scavenger hunt correctly to hopefully help him find his wife.  As he goes about the hunt, Nick finds that everything is not as it seems.  The hunt reminds him of his wife's brilliance, foresight, and immense knowledge of his every deed or misdeed.

This read was very suspenseful.  At first, I believed everything that Nick told me and the police.  Also, at first, I believed everything Amy told me in her diary.  But as things came to be revealed, I didn't know who to trust.  This is a strange feeling as a reader; usually your narrator tells the truth, or at least some of the truth.  Deceitful and intelligent narrators, pristine word choice, excellent use of voice and pacing, along with detail upon detail made me want to stay in Flynn's world.

I listened to this book as an audio book, because there was such a long queue for the actual book at my library.  Let me tell you, I am happy there was such a line.  The voice actors who read the audio book were amazing.  I think that I could connect to the characters even more than usual because it was as if they were actually speaking to me.  If you get the chance, I one hundred percent recommend listening to this book on audio book format.

Read it. The critics aren't wrong.  It was gripping; I never knew what would happen next.  It made me think about how much we really know about one another, about lies and how they can be built upon for years, and about toxic relationships and how far one would go to be correct.  Flynn is a force to be reckoned with, and an extremely talented writer.  I can't wait to read more of her work.

♥ Meg xoxo

Tattoo Tuesday

Guys.  I didn't get a tattoo.  BUT.  I got these sweet tights that look like I got a tattoo.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, freaked out.  It was pretty fun.  And I felt pretty hardcore for a day.  haha.

Shirt: Old Navy // Shorts: RW & Co. // Tights: TopShop // Heels: Nine West // 

I loved rocking shorts today.  I love dresses and skirts, but they often leave you worrying about how you sit and what you wear underneath them and so on.  Shorts are freeing :) You can sit how you like and still look profesh.  Obvi, you don't sound so profesh if you say profesh, but you get the point.

Shirt: Old Navy // Shorts: RW & Co. // Tights: TopShop // Heels: Nine West // 

In these pictures, my tights definitely look like tights here.  But I guess in real life, they were enough to startle people.  For the record, I don't think that I could ever get a tattoo that I'd love forever.  I'm too indecisive; I chose a double major and minor to avoid choosing one thing over the other, and I sometimes change parts of my outfit four times before I leave the door.

Tights: TopShop // Heels: Nine West //

Even though I don't have a tattoo, I think it's cool if you have one.  I am a big fan of self expression.  That being said, M and I were in love with watching tattoo reality shows on Spike TV in the summer.  My guilty pleasures are Ink Master and Tattoo Nightmares.  They are epic in a Spike TV kind of way.  Sadly, we've been so busy that we have a million episodes to catch up on.  Tattoo Tuesday might turn into Tattoo Saturday this week.

Tights: TopShop // 

What would you tattoo on your left leg if you only had to have your tattoo for a day?

♥ Meg xoxo

PS. I'm listening to a book on CD, that's why it's such a strange shape in the photo.

Hello autumn

I know.  It's been forever.  Sorry.  That's all. :)

Shirt: Forever XXI // Belt: borrowed from another dress // Skirt: Old Navy

Fall leaves are here.  I love the crunch of fall leaves underfoot.  But, I also love bare legs.  Et volià: perfect fall weather.  The sky is super blue, the sun is shining an autumn sort of shine, I'm wearing a long skirt with bare legs.  Happiness.

Shirt: Forever XXI // Belt: borrowed from another dress // Skirt: Old Navy // Boots: Burlington Coat Factory //

I think this is blurry because it was so sunny. . . C'est la vie.

Skirt: Old Navy // Boots: Burlington Coat Factory //

I'm continuing my love affair with lace from the summer right into fall.  It makes everything feel a little prettier.

Shirt: Forever XXI // Belt: borrowed from another dress // Skirt: Old Navy // Boots: Burlington Coat Factory // 

My shirt in this outfit is actually a really short dress that I tucked into a skirt.  I rode the skirt really high (above my waist)  and added a big belt.  Also, I thought that adding scrunched down knee socks could only add to this outfit.  :)

Boots: Burlington Coat Factory // 

Breathe in the fall air.  Crunch into a crispy apple.  Dance around in a lacy skirt and bare legs. 

♥ Meg xoxo