wanderlust wednesday: st maarten

For the next few weeks, in honor of hump day and my neverending wanderlust, I will be self-indulgently reliving a few of the "big" international trips I've taken over the years. I've got to keep that inspirational fire burning!

(view from the balcony of our hotel room)

The only exciting spring break I ever had during my collegiate years was spent with two of my closest friends on the Dutch side of a small island in the Caribbean, St. Maarten. My family has spent a week at Cape Cod every year for as long as I can remember, but I had never spent a week-long vacation at a tropical locale (sans chaperone)... and it was certainly an experience!

Every morning we would get up with the sun and spend the first half of the day like so:

After briefly breaking for a blended beverage at the surfside tiki bar (guavaberry coladas=so.good.)....

...and a trip to the market for smoked gouda and crackers (our daily lunch), we would spend the second half of the day like this:

Sometimes we would switch it up and spend a couple of hours lounging around the hotel pool, which was also within spitting distance of that beautiful cerulean sea. In the early AM or at the onset of evening, we would enjoy a fruity drink on the balcony...

...and then we would dine...

...and drink...

...and dance the night away...

...until it was time to get up and greet the sun and the sand all over again the next day.

(and one day we went shopping)

It was a fantastic week with some pretty fantastic ladies. I hope we can all make a trip to the tropics again sometime very soon (bachelorette weekend, perhaps?)!

seeking the slavic in my soul

Okay, I'll admit it: I'm not really seeking the Slav that resides inside me--but last night I surely was! K and I went to Higher Ground to tear it up to the Brooklyn-based nine-man band Slavic Soul Party! I figured any band with a name like that (and an abundance of brass) had to put on a good show, right?

The band reminded me of a collegiate a cappella group that found, post-graduation, that they could no longer pick up girls by singing silly harmonies in a semi-circle (except for the accordian player--he seemed pretty legit). The music was a delight to dance to (albeit schizophrenic), and the crowd was having a great time. On stage they weren't as lively as their music insisted they be, but that was pretty forgivable considering how difficult it is to move around while blowing into a horn. I thought it was kind of funny, however, that they refused the encore (something I have never experienced before), saying that they had to "rest their lips" for the Montreal Jazz Festival, where they would apparently be playing in front of 50,000+ people. They might as well have said, "Screw you guys! This piddly Vermont turnout isn't worth the effort that it takes to bang a drum--we have bigger fish to fry!" Granted, it was a small crowd, but that's the way it goes at Higher Ground! There aren't very many Vermonters, and even fewer that want to go to a special-interest show on a Tuesday night (besides, I've seen far fewer people on that dance floor for other shows, and they didn't even dance!).

(oh, and ps because you most definitely didn't notice: i got my ears re-pierced last weekend! they closed up last year because i was sticking far too many foreign metals in those poor holes--i think the biggest culprit was the dangly pair or earrings i bought from a street vendor in florence)

Anyway, K and I were wired when we got home, so we didn't get to sleep until late(r than usual). Luckily our landlord just happened to call around 7:30 or we would probably still be in bed. I'm such an old person, it's depressing!

(dress: Charlotte Russe; chambray shirt: Walmart; scarf: F21; necklace: UO; boots: ALDO; socks: TJMaxx, belt: thrifted)

I love to dance! It's my absolute favorite thing. If I could dance every night I probably would, and it's so much more fun to dance to a really funky band! Nobody tries to grind up against you or bodyslam you in a mosh pit--the only unsolicited interaction you might be forced to contend with is that someone might try to grab your hand for a little swing dancing! And that's not so bad, right? I know that most people believe they were born in the wrong decade, but I really would have loved to be a flapper in the roaring twenties (even if those fringy little drop-waist dresses always make me look rather stumpy). Give me a big band and I will kick up my heels until dawn!

PS: I'm featured as the BlogStar over at Le Blog de Letilor today! Check it out here. Thanks, Letizia!

*edit* The links should be working now :) Thanks to Rachel for alerting me to their sad, broken state!

a bodily bouquet

I'm feeling very contented lately. Work may bore the living daylights out of me, but lately instead of feeling blah about it I find myself looking forward to the evenings and weekends with something akin to vengeance... and it works! I feel light as air!

(dress: F21; cardigan: Bargain Boutique; shoes: Kohl's; bracelets: gift from mom; necklace: UO)

I've never been the kind of person who found fulfillment through my job, and I never expected to choose a career that would complete me. I've always seen employment as the means to an entirely different end, and as soon as I stopped expecting my job to satisfy me I discovered that I can coast through the eight hours at the office without expending much energy (though still getting the job done to the best of my ability--I'm certainly no slacker) and focus on infusing the other 128 hours of every week with the inspiration and flat-out fun that I had been too downtrodden to seek out. Instead of whining about what isn't going on, I'm making a concerted effort to find out what is. There is always something to do it you know where to look!

Sometimes I do wish that I could use my creative energy in a professional way (working on a film crew, going back into theatre, playing music), but as soon as somebody starts expecting something from me I rebel against it. I enjoy the freedom of personal creative pursuits--when I did theatre I started to dread rehearsals and performances because they discouraged spontaneity and interfered with my ability to do whatever I happened to want to do in a particular moment. As soon as I immersed myself in the experience I inevitably enjoyed it, but that dark cloud of dread still hung over me when a weekend was looming and I had already completely committed to more of the same singing and dancing under the bright hot lights of the stage. I think that's why I like blogging so much--I want to keep posting because I don't have to, and I have complete freedom of expression when I do.

Anyway, what I meant to say: K and I are going to a show tonight that could be really fun! I wore this lively little dress in anticipation of some serious dancing :)

the new and the old

Whew! My weekends won't slow down and I love it! On Saturday my mom and I took a trip to Conway for some serious outlet shopping. It was great, but next time I'm going to make sure I have more money to spend! On the way through New Hampshire we stopped in a quaint little town called Bethlehem. My mom stops there en route to Conway every year because they have some awesome antique shops. I only ended up buying a midnight blue velvet blazer (because of my lack of funds) but could have spent an entire day there and definitely intend to go back.

When we got to Conway I was overwhelmed! Luckily (and surprisingly) there were very few people at Settler's Green, so our fellow shoppers weren't much of a hindrance. Because I usually avoid J. Crew, Banana Republic and others because the usual prices are a wee bit too steep, I never realized that most of their clothes don't fit me anyway! Unless I miraculously grow five inches, I'm destined to shop at H&M and F21 for the rest of my natural life. Adult sizes just don't work for my childlike figure, even at more child-sized prices. So that was kind of a disappointment. Still, it was a fun (albeit long) day. Mom and I had some yummy nachos and dacquiris for lunch, chomped on divine Lindt factory seconds, and I did manage to spend every last dime in my piggy-bank, which usually signifies success!

This is what I wore on Sunday to the Vermont History Expo at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds (guess whose idea that was...). I love going to the fair, but for someone who isn't totally enthralled by the history of Vermont, the Expo was rather silly. K got a bunch of pamphlets, we watched a laughable parade, raised our eyebrows at the Civil War soldiers standing guard over their miniature camp, ate free cheese, and lingered longest over the enormous pig and the precious baby chicks. We stayed only for a couple of hours before taking the scenic route home.

On the way, K stopped to take photos of this old abandoned bed and breakfast, so I seized the opportunity to document my outfit. Carpe diem.

And now, hi-ho, it's back to work I go. Blech.

I just want to take the time to thank all of you for following/reading my blog! I wish I could be more of a presence in the blogosphere, and if I can't reply to all of your comments it's not because I don't want to! I don't have a computer of my own and blog-time is very limited. So thank you all for stopping by! Your comments make my day every time!!!

i like red stripe(s)

I've been feeling very casual lately... there is something about the summer humidity that makes me want to siesta all day long. I can hardly drag myself out of bed in the morning (I haven't gone for a run in almost a week now...), and all day long the air is so heavy that even breathing can be exhausting. And so, I simplify! Easy-breezy summer shorts, stripes, and slipper-style shoes. And some glasses for good measure.

I didn't intend to model my outfit after Red Stripe, but that's what keeps popping into my head. I love Red Stripe, mostly because of its cute fat little bottle & the vintage-inspired simplicity of the label :) Yes, I judge beers by their covers... what of it?

That said, there is also something about the summer heat that helps to hoist my inspiration up from the ashes. Last night, K went to Burlington to meet up with one of his friends, so I stayed home with a glass (or two, or three) of vin rouge, moved the bistro table out onto the back porch, and set down to scribble out several pages of what I can now officially call "my novel." It's been difficult for me to settle on the pursuit of one particular storyline (I usually have several ideas grappling for my attention at any given time), but this one has so far proved itself to be the most productive... so, it's decided!

i am a lover, a lunatic, and a poet

This has been quite a week. I blame the midsummer moon for throwing everything entirely out of whack.

(tunic: Plato's Closet c/o Charlotte Russe; shoes: Kohl's; belt: Old Navy)

More strange than true: I never may believe

These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend

More than cool reason ever comprehends.

The lunatic, the lover and the poet

Are of imagination all compact:

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,

That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:

The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

Such tricks hath strong imagination,

That if it would but apprehend some joy,

It comprehends some bringer of that joy;

Or in the night, imagining some fear,

How easy is a bush supposed a bear!

Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?

What masque? what music? How shall we beguile

The lazy time, if not with some delight?

Well, as for me, tonight I will most likely beguile the lazy time by watching my new favorite show (Northern Exposure--a decent replacement for Beverly Hills: 90210) with my favorite boy and reading my new book (The Museum of Innocence) late into the night. Don't let la lune convert you all to lunatics in her crazy choir!