My Roadtrip

The big day has finally arrived. Like I mentioned before, Dan and I will soon be cruising the friendly roads and heading down south to the promised land. I couldn't be more excited, and if I tried to write about anything else I'd just be covering up my true feelings and lying to you all. I don't want to give away all the awesome info, but I want to share the highlights of what we've got planned. 

This is where we're spending our first night, near Cave City, Kentucky.

I don't think I need to explain to anyone how awesomely amazing it will be to sleep in a wigwam. Apparently Cave City has all kinds of weirdo tourist attractions, and many of them, like Wigwam Village, were built in the first half of the 1900s. 

On Saturday night, and totally by chance, we will be in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry seeing this babe: though she'll probably look more like this, Glinda the Good Witch. 

In Memphis we will be going to Graceland, of course, but also Sun Studio, and here:

You can start getting jealous now. Amanda will be holding down the fort until I get home, so have fun!

On My 25th Birthday

– Waking up feels awesome somehow, even though it's the same routine I go through every day. I haven't felt that kid feeling of delirious birthday joy in at least 12 years, but it feels like a day where everything will go my way. The sun's shining, isn't it? The temperature is a normal, tolerable, summer warmth, isn't it? I put on my last pair of clean underwear, a new favourite skirt, tease my hair, wear lipstick. Birthdays are at least half about feeling like the best possible version of yourself, so I indulge in spending longer getting ready. Birthdays are not about getting to work on time.

– Staying on top of my inbox feels like trying to stack dry rice.

– Hey, all these great people are sending me well-wishes! Whoa, I haven't seen that gal in ages! That was so sweet of her. I should plan drinks with her soon. Man, I have the best friends ever.

– Hey, all of these people from my past took the time to wish me a happy birthday on my Facebook wall! I haven't spoken to half of these people since graduation! I never do that for people I haven't spoken to in like, a decade. Wow. They must be better people than I am. Like, more generous, more loving people. Maybe they think back on those times together on the regular, whereas I can barely remember what their face looks like. Ugh, I'm such a dick.

– I feel a special twinge of fondness for my birthday twin, Meghan, followed shortly by guilt about being such a terrible pen pal. I'm sorry, and you're awesome.

– Birthday food choices don't count. Yes, I WILL have cream cheese on my bagel. Yes, I WILL have a burrito for lunch, and I WILL order the saffron rice from the Indian place for dinner even though it's a whole dollar more expensive, thankyouverymuch.

– The Beatles' "Birthday" is always good, but on your actual birthday, it feels fucking magical.

– I should feel older, right? I'm a quarter of a century old now. I guess your birthday is just to mark the end of the year; like, I have already lived my 25th year, and am now entering my 26th. Oh god, there. That did it. Typing "26" is what made me feel old for the first time.

Thank you for making me feel so special today,

and thank you for reading Burgundy Girls.

It really does mean the world to me.

Game Changer: Coke Talk

Life a little messy?

Feeling in need of some guidance?

There's no better bitch in the game than Coke Talk.

Dear Coke Talk is blog run by a self-described LA party girl who doles out advice to, well, anyone who asks. The questions run the gamut, from being in a great but passionateless relationship, having your heart broken for the first time, improving your sex life, handling class differences, and just about any old thing that might be causing indecision in your life. She also writes an advice column on The Daily, an iPad-based newspaper, under the name the Coquette.

What I really like about Coke Talk is how straight up she is. She doesn't bother mincing words with people who need to be told off, whether they're a petty thief, an artist with "demons" or stuck in a miserable relationship. She is genuinely helpful to those in need of actual guidance, about the things after school specials don't necessarily prepare you for, like choosing where to move for college, discovering you're bisexual or finding out your dad is cheating on your mom. And she's obviously having a lot of fun, answering random little questions in fun sized advice or recommending her favourite books.

Sure, she's a little brash. Sure, she's a little full of herself. But I honestly think she's earned a right to be—her advice is usually dead-on, and she's acts as the friend we've all needed or wished we could be at some point, telling off our loved ones for hurting themselves or others. She's a commonsense slap in the face, and it's absolutely refreshing. And she knows her limits—she doesn't offer any easy answers, just asks that people get their shit together before they go bringing more harm into the world and their lives. And yes, she loves to toy with the assholes who troll her site, but who hasn't wanted to tell off one of those brats before?

She's a savvy businesswoman too, parlaying her original advice Tumblr into the Daily column, an online boutique and jewelry line, and an intensely loyal fanbase in just about a year and a half of blogging (Molls calls herself a fan).

So yeah, go forth, read some Coke Talk, and maybe it'll help you get your shit straight too. I apologize in  advance for nuking your productivity today.

Girls in Fashion Ads

I am a big fan of both the Rodarte SS 2011 and the Miu Miu FW 2012 collections, and I'm going to go so far as to say that one of the reasons that they stand out for me is the inclusion of young, teen girls in their ads.

fashionista

honey kennedy

all 3 miu miu pics from cocorosa

Weird, right? Usually I'm all like "That's fucked up. They are children! Put some real women in your ads." I'll admit that, when doing some research for this post, I was shocked to realize that Elle is 13 and Hailee is 15. These girls are young. There are all kinds of issues raised in using teen girls to sell clothes, issues like the kinds of bodies that should be wearing the clothes, and the provocative nature of many of the outfits and ads.

However, I think that in both of these collections the girls are representing the feminine in a way that is relatable to (almost) anyone, and that they are not being overly sexualized. Sure they look older than their ages, but they look more like they're playing dress up (see the second picture of Hailee, lying amongst the sparkly shoes) than being flaunted in an inappropriate way. They aren't super done up in makeup (minus Hailee's red lipstick), and they're not dressed in clothes that are inappropriate or revealing.

While I wouldn't say the looks they are sporting are age-appropriate, they seem to play to the whole idea of fashion as a kind of fantasy. And not this kind of fantasy, but the fantasy of fashion as something more innocent. It makes us think of when we were 13 and 15, when being the muse or the model for a fashion designer would have been a fucking dream (I guess it still would) and these girls are young enough to not have to fully deal with the bullshit industry of being thin enough, hot enough, and not enough. To many of us looking at these ads, being Elle's age again is just as likely as wearing designer shoes or clothes, but it's the innocence and the pure fun of the feeling that is refreshing and really shines through. 

Instead of using young girls in a sexy way to sell clothes, appeal to the male gaze, and generally put them on display, these ads are using young girls to play to women—and I don't think that it's in a negative way. When I see these ads, I don't think "Ahh, to be young again!" because being young sucked. When I was an early teen I had all kinds of issues that these ads just don't incorporate (the worst being permanent sweat stains). Apart from being raised in weirdo families (Elle), being in excellent movies (Hailee), and being fabulously rich, they probably deal with a lot of the stuff we did too. But in these pictures Elle and Hailee are doin' their thing, and looking like they are happy and comfortable with themselves, which is something that every woman struggles with, from the age of like 13 on. These pics are inspiring, and grant us the serenity that comes from remembering that women are awesome, and fostering that in young girls is the smartest thing to do.

Or maybe this is exactly what they wanted me to think. Anyone else have thoughts on these ads?

Mehndi Party

In preparation for my cousin’s big fat Indian wedding, I went to a mehndi party last night. If the wedding's going to be anything like last night was, I’m in for a good time—lots of music, dancing, eating, singing and fun. Everyone dances, the men especially. Everyone sings, passing a mic around with a drummer creating the backbeat. Everyone is encouraged to join in, and it’s such a welcoming environment that my (very white) family didn’t feel self-conscious at all about dancing and trying our best to keep up.

The party was fun, but as the best party favour of all, I got this awesome mehndi done. Here’s what the dye looks like on:

WANT?

You know when you want something because it's so cool, but then if you had it you'd put it on a shelf and it would collect dust, and you'd look at it sometimes and smile, and when you had friends over they'd all notice it and say "oh, isn't that cool!" and you'd say "yeah, what a great find, right!" and then after a couple moves it wouldn't even make it out of the box, it would just stay packed up as something that you want to own but that isn't worth finding a place for anymore, because it's a doll! and even though it was a good movie it wasn't really a great movie, definitely not your favourite Hitchcock, maybe not even in your top 3, and then when you realize this you are like "hmm, maybe this means I'm growing up.

It's too hot to blog today.