The Uniform Project

I stumbled across a really cool website/project called The Uniform Project the other day. It is the brainchild of Sheena Matheiken, an NY woman who has pledged to wear one dress for one year in order to promote 'sustainable fashion' and raise money for the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots non-profit that is devoted to bringing education to poor children living in India.

The blog is part exercise in fashion and part charitable organization, in a combination that I find really endearing. Matheiken snaps pictures of her outfit each day to post them on the blog, and damn, that girl has got style. 
She takes the basic charcoal grey dress that she and her friend designed (there are actually 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week, which are reversible and have pockets, making me really want one) and dresses it up with vintage or handmade jewelry, jackets, belts, underskirts, and the damn cutest tights/socks/leggings you have ever seen.
Granted, she is a bit 'out there' some days, but in general I think she is absolutely adorable, and I am kind of envious of her ability to wear some crazy/costume-y things and make them look great.
Because, yeah, I don't think I could ever rock the French/Catholic Schoolgirl look quite like she does....

Summer Time

Oh, how times have changed...this is from a 1957 issue of Modern Girl magazine: 

"It is hardly necessary to waste words over the so-called bikini since it is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear such a thing"

Well done, Modern Girl, well done.

Just a thought

I went to a lecture tonight by a philosophy professor from Stanford who was talking about her work bringing liberal arts education to women living in a halfway house in the bay area. Her program brings Stanford professors to this halfway house to volunteer to teach classes in Philosophy, Religious Studies, English, Drama, Political Science, etc. It seemed like a really interesting program, and I was happy to learn about it. Also, she included this quote in her lecture, which I liked:

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society"

--Theodore Roosevelt

Coffee

It is the morning.  I have not yet had coffee. This seemed to be an appropriate post. Going to the dining room right now...

On my mind

"We stopped laughing, I took the world into me, rearranged it, and sent it back out as a question: Do you like me?"

From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer

Okkkkk....

I know I'm probably echoing a bunch of people when I say this, but....American Apparel has gotten really, really weird. Just saying....

Why, yes! I will wear my mesh cut-out leotard with a pencil skirt and demin jacket. I call it "business casual."

WHYYYY are we wearing booty short overalls?

Yes! I have found my Smiley 80's costume! Oh...wait...this is for real?

A hooded swimsuit? For when its raining? And I'm in the pool? So my hair doesn't get wet?

Some things are still...normal. And cute, even, if not still horribly expensive.

Like this top, but AHHH neon blue leggings! I think it has recently become cool for women to not wear pants. Fun...

Cute dress.

Very cute Oxford shirt dress. I kinda want this, actually.

But, just when I am regaining hope....

Nope! Foiled again!

All photos courtesy of American Apparel

Good Morning

My dogs used my bed as a wrestling rink this morning, and then they just went kaput and fell asleep on top of me. It was the most adorable/best way to wake up, ever.

Formal Apology

I can't remember where I found this, but I ran across it a while back, and then re-ran across it when cleaning up folders today, and thought I would share. Very funny, I think.

Gender, Science, Math

This is a very interesting article from Slate about the gender gap in science and math, sent to me (a decidedly humanities-type student) by my science and math-y father. Among other things, it includes a report about an interesting experiment done to study whether the gender of one's science or math teacher has an influence on one's test scores/grades. Hint: it kinda does....

Early Birthday

My mom and dad surprised me with an awesome early birthday gift. This jacket from Lululemon that I've been coveting for years now. :-) 

My mom and I went shopping and we just *happened* to run across the Lululemon store, which she knew had said jacket, and so went inside, with me expecting just to put it on and sigh, but she surprised me with it right then and there. :-) Yay! Thank you!!

Bikes

I was downtown for a couple of days last week on jury duty, and came across these really cool bike racks while walking back from lunch one day. What a great idea!

I like how they are both artistic and functional, and how they add something to the interest of the street, rather than take away from it. Not to mention, they encourage biking rather than driving, which in the one-way street craziness of downtown (and on the crowded streets of LA in general) is a great thing. And I love how they look like they're racing by on the street when you look at them like this:

(Via Teapots and Polkadots)

News

This is a short, but informative article from the NY Times about the first women elected to the Kuwaiti parliament. Four women were elected, just four years after women gained the right to vote or run for office.

Image via NY Times

I also love this picture, of Salwa al-Jassar (second from the right in the picture above) at the inaugural session of the new parliament.

Image via Getty Images