The Vanity Button

Note: I wrote the following post about 3 weeks ago. I didn't publish it then because I have a fear of sounding like I'm bragging about myself. (This habit comes from two of my high school best friends "breaking up" with me because they said I was stuck-up. I stopped saying good things about myself about that time.) So please read this in the vein in which it was written: irony with a touch of chagrin. :-)

I went shopping with my mom today. There is a little shop, Nomads, in downtown Lawrence that I love. It is actually a travel agency that sells travel clothes and accessories. You can get a travel bag ... or you can get unique clothing from one-of-a-kind designers and hand-made jewelry from Turkey, Greece, or ... Lawrence. (The owner supports local artists, too.)

Best of all, the clothes are all T R A V E L - F R I E N D L Y. Do you know what that means? Do you know how exciting this is? They don't have to be ironed! Ever! And they're comfortable and movable-in! And they're not t-shirts. They're cotton and wool and all sorts of different materials that might normally have to be ironed but these clothes don't have to be because they've got seams and folds in strange places and they're all asymmetrical, and, and, and ... I just love them so much. Asymmetrical is me. Comfortable is me. Not ironing is most definitely me.

I knew I would buy something. I have to, if for no other reason than to support this local, woman-owned store that I love so much. I did not know I would walk out of there with a two skirts, two shirts, a necklace, and a shrug. Yes, a shrug. I have never envisioned myself in a shrug. I have enormously broad shoulders and shrugs have either failed to stretch over that great breadth of shoulder or they have made me look like a football player wearing 80s era shoulder pads. But this shrug, while it does emphasize my shoulders, does so in a way that makes my waist look small., which is, most definitely, a good thing.

So I bought a lot of stuff, more than I planned on. I would not have done it, either, except that the saleswoman hit my vanity button so damn well. You see, when I was a teen, into my early 20s, I was a runway model*. Because of my large shoulders, I had what they called the "hanger" body. Put clothes on me and there were no pesky breasts, stomach, hips, or thighs to ruin the line of the clothes. They just hung.

After two kids, a desk job, and no exercise, that hanger body became more of a stuffed pillow body. And then (fast-forward through long not-nearly-so-dramatic-a-story-as-I-like-to-make-it-sound), I lost 40 pounds, so I now have a smoother soft pillow body.

So today, I put on the first skirt, which was fabulously asymmetrical in front but tighter in the butt than I have worn in about 15 years, and the first thing the saleswoman said in her Peruvian accent (which made it sound even better) was, "She has a model's body." To which my mom replied that yes, I used to be a model. And then they continued to flatter me with how well everything looked and so I bought more. And more. And then one more. I knew, the entire time, that I was letting vanity and nostalgia influence me, but I still did it. That damn vanity button.

I hope everything looks as good tomorrow.

* I accidentally wrote "runaway model." Does that tickle you as much as it does me? hee!

Avocado Mango Salad

One of my own concoctions -- very proud of it.

Throw together the following ingredients:

• About 2 handfuls of spinach
• 2 avocados, diced
• 1 mango, diced
• 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
• About 1/3 cup red onion, sliced
• Candied walnuts*
• Red pepper flakes (optional)

For dressing, I used the following recipe; it's the balsamic vinaigrette we always use. However, I think this salad would also be good with a sweeter dressing or a lime-based one.


Shake or blend the following:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 Tbsp agave syrup (or honey)
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3-1/2 Tbsp peanut oil

* You may have a better way of making candied walnuts, but this is how I did it: throw some walnuts in a small skillet over med-low heat. Pour sugar over them. Stir regularly, especially as the sugar starts to harden.