Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Slacker

I was stuck in traffic today behind a car who's bumper sticker read "Be The Change."   I felt this was a little hypocritical and should rather read "Be The Shame" if they're going to insist on putting it on a car.  It applies to blogging, too.  I'd apologize for the sporadic blog posts, but that's both self-centered and implied.  So I'll skip that part, and move ahead.

Happy belated holidays, everyone.  I have loads of pictures, but instead of continuing to procrastinate until I get around to uploading, I'm going to give verbal descriptions.

We were in Sweden for Christmas.  It was beautiful and cold.  With so many people to see in different parts of the country, we attempted to pack light.  I'm not that good at paring down with a three week long trip, but I tried.  I had the rockabilly theme to keep up of course.  My staple outfit was turned up jeans paired with button-ups and cardigans.  When I knew I wouldn't be outside quite as much, or when it warmed up to 14 degrees Fahrenheit,.I would wear long johns under my cycling tights and flirt a mini skirt.  Before we left, I had shopped a few new items for the trip, all of which turned out to be lifesavers.  I got new long johns, top and bottom, from Icebreaker, and a pair of North Face super warm boots..  Stylish, sleek, and snuggly.  My hair styling was minimal, mostly because I was wearing two hats all the time, so I stuck with a ponytail.  Before we left I had some bangs cut in, and that helped my hair look better, but not particularly rockabilly.  My attention to detail with the make-up slipped quite a bit, it being vacation and all.  I stayed consistent with the eye-liner.  I'm not sure that I totally conveyed the message all the time, so I decided to extend the six months out to seven, just to be sure.

Usually when we go to Sweden I feel giant and unstylish, but this time I only felt giant!  Everyone was in black tights and mini skirts, so at least I got that one outfit correct.  It's nice not to feel like I stick out like a sore thumb.  I blame it on living in the Northwest.  I look fine here, but against the lanky, fashion-conscious Swedes... not so much.  But this year was better than years past, and that felt good.  I shopped a few items when we were there, as usual.  I found a stretchy black mini skirt (can't have too many of those).  This one rocked because it was about $7 and it has pockets!
I have a car.