9.21.2011

I've Moved!

Hi my little dumpling! If you're wondering where I've gone, don't fret- I've got a new home! Expect more of my musings on style, relationships, life blunders and interior design- plus some extra sass at the new site.

Thanks for supporting my writing here and look forward to chatting with you on TheLadyFreak.com. If you want more specifics on why I took this party to a new location take a peek at my welcome post.

Signing off from Jessica Daily with lots of love and gratitude,

Jessica

7.05.2011

Pardon Me, I'm Up to Something....


I'm horrible at keeping secrets. I keep the big juicy ones when it counts, but for some reason any secret vaguely resembling good news dwells at the tip of my tongue, struggling to pepper every conversation with premature announcements.

It is for this reason, my friends, that I've been avoiding you like a three way mirror mixed with overhead lighting.

Basically, here's what you need to know: I'm stepping away from Jessica Daily for the next two weeks because I've got something brand spankin' new and a whole lot freakier in the works. I know we've just celebrated our one year blogiversary and we're feeling all fuzzy and stuff but I am taking this party to another level.

I hope you'll join me at the new destination and bring a plus one.

Details and formal invitation to come.

xx,

Stealthy, calculating lady

6.28.2011

One Year Blogiversary

I hope you got me something sparkly because today we are celebrating our one year blogiversary. It's been quite a ride, full of inspiration, learning curves and self reflection.

To anyone that's ever stopped by this blog, thank you for your support, kind words, and just, you know, being here...

I happen to think it's very special to be able to share not only pretty and inspiring things, but also thoughts and musings on the important stuff (and obviously the not-so-important).

Like a good friendship this blog and I have done some questionable things together: OD'ed on caffeine and seriously contemplated the fright of Santa Claus; shared exciting news; questioned the complexity of the female mind; gossiped about what happened to us over the weekend; shared our mutual obsessions.

This past year I've felt more inspired, sartorially excited (fashion boner?) and artistically interested than ever before. So thank you for inspiring me and being a part of that journey.

If, just for kicks, you are like me and like to abuse your emotions with strong doses of nostalgia almost daily, here's where we started a year ago today.

As I said that day, I'll say again on our one year blogiversary: and so, here it goes. Please enjoy.

xx,

J

6.27.2011

Daily Quote Dose: Let Us

 
"Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair.” -Susan Polis Shutz

6.24.2011

Birthday Reflections


  

Today is my birthday.  I am turning 23.

I usually make a big song and dance out of this day (aside from Christmas, uh, what day could be more important?) but something in me feels unfamiliarly gloomy about the whole deal this year.

You might say, you’re 23, shut up and get drunk (which I probably will do anyways, thank you), but I can’t help feeling like this year has blown past me like the smoke from my birthday cake, opaque memories billowing around my face, there for a moment, but almost immediately dissolved into the stillness of the present where I stand here, once again the birthday girl, with a whole new year that needs tending to.

I supposed it’s natural to feel reflective on your birthday, and a lot of things have happened in the last three hundred and sixty five days: I’ve flown the nest (as they say), learned how to clean a toilet bowl (never again), watched some of my best friends scatter around the world, come to terms with the word “utilities,” gotten my first “big girl” job doing something I love and spent a lot of time hanging out here, on this blog, with you.

I’ve revived my love of platform shoes (an affair that began in second grade with my trendsetting Sketchers, platform sneakers); exercised patience; started taking vitamins (old age will do that to you); grown to understand my parents more; appreciated my Grandparents more; felt more grateful for the depth and authenticity of my friendships; become a connoisseur of cheap pinot noir.

And I’ve, for the first time, felt myself change. Not from what I was, to something new, but from myself to a further version of myself. I’ve seen interests that always existed blossom into full-blown hobbies, and jobs.

And it’s not that these things never happened in the past, it’s not that I’ve never evolved before… it’s that I’d never noticed it in myself.

Someone told me in college that you will change more from twenty to thirty than you previously had in your whole life. I was highly skeptical when I heard this (as I am whenever I hear a quote that begins with, “trust me”) but I’m beginning to accept this statement.

There’s a cold, overwhelming, invigorating feeling that comes with complete independence; separation from what everyone else in your sorority is doing; removal of the constant opinion of your family; an end to the comfortable and familiar cycle of measuring the years by your school calendar.

All the barometers of success, acceptance, expectation, and even fun are immediately unhinged and centered on you, as an individual. Of course important relationships will always influence your decisions and remain a thread in the sweater of your life, but the freedom to pursue your oddest passions, to wear whatever the hell you please, to eat as much of one food (macaroni and cheese…) as you damn well want… it’s all suddenly there.

A lot of heavy, gloomy things come with aging: deaths, mortgages, broken relationships, heartbreak.

But aging also brings about a unique sense of freedom. Freedom to develop and be your true self, confidence to be your true self, and the power to take on all of the heavy things with the grounding of experience and (sometimes) a little wisdom.

I don’t happen to think I’m particularly wise at 23, or that I’m so mature that I’ll start using cocktail napkins at the bar, but I do feel a changed sense of self and awareness this year.

So (aside from what I’m wearing tonight...obviously) there’s what I’m thinking about today on my birthday.

xoxo,

6.22.2011

Daily Quote Dose: Be Something


"I’m gonna be something one of these days.” -Patsy Cline

6.21.2011

I Can't Stop...

... pattern mixing.

These sort of inspirations are feeding the need.





Matching be damned. 

xx,

The reformed daughter of a mother who always told her to buy both pieces of the matching sweater set.



Images sources: 1, 2, 4