lets start my "birthday week" with my favorite fashion blog.

garance dore

some of you may know about the sartorialist, also a great fashion photoblog run by scott schuman [an indiana native!]. i was a religious daily viewer of scott's blog for years until i discovered that his ladyfriend, garance had a blog of her own! her blog used to be only in french, as that is her native tongue, when i first started looking at it. it had the occasional english translation, but it really wasn't a problem when she included her amazing sketches. 

let me just go off on a small tangent here. i love fashion sketches. i always have. i remember rifling through my mom's sewing patterns looking for the covers that were the most enchanting. then in high school when i became enthralled with high fashion and whatnot, i really got into mock-ups and drawings. matt got me this great book this past christmas - drawing fashion: the art of kenneth paul block - and it is soooo inspiring. 

so back to garance, i just feel that her sketches are so expressive of what she is saying about the clothing and the models. i love the clean lines and the intense eyes. she often jots little notes on the sketch or on the photos she features. its the most appealing thing about her blog. 
some people find her off-putting because she is super paris-french. very hearts everywhere and always saying, "ooo! kiss! kiss!!". but i like that she is like a little girl about fashion. she appreciates that her commentary is light and that she isn't passing judgement on some great world issues. she includes photographs and sketches of people most of the time and often has a little something to say about whats going on in her life at the time. its nice, its easy to read and its beautiful - just what a fashion blog should be.

the main point of this bit is to call attention to this week's treasury. see the photo ------------------------------------>


ok, its cute and whatever but i also want to call attention to how important it is to eat and buy from our local areas. not only does the food just taste better, its better for your local community and economy. 

from farm to philly's website:

Ten Reasons to Eat Local [click the link for more info]

1. Eating local means more for the local economy.
2. Locally grown produce is fresher.
3. Local food just plain tastes better.
4. Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen.
5. Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic.
6. Buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons.
7. Buying locally grown food is fodder for a wonderful story.
8. Eating local protects us from bio-terrorism.
9. Local food translates to more variety.
10. Supporting local providers supports responsible land development.

 
one of my favorite places to shop is  at the fair food farmstand at reading terminal downtown philly. there is almost every kind of food product you can think of to purchase there. bacon, cheese, milk, bread, veggies galore and at thanksgiving and christmas you can order local turkeys and foul of all kind. if you live in the philadelphia area and haven't been there yet - GO!!


now is the best time to eat. everything at the markets [and even at the grocery stores] is fresh off some vine, stalk, or tree and ready to be devoured. what better way to celebrate the heat and the wonderful weather than to go out and support your local farms and vendors!

so today's featured blog is terribly witty. it is, casualties of the hoard, a blog-child of my friend, helen herbst lastar.

my husband and i have been friends with her and her husband for years. they are from matt's hometown - marietta, georgia - so actually matt has know helen for a very long time. i started reading helen's blog when she posted about her first year of marriage. it was a short post, but so genuine and clear that i felt compelled to read all the others. her style is real and goofy and concise and highly relatable. so now i check out every new post.  

the concept of the blog: the trials and tribulations of getting rid of stuff in her house. SO something i need/want to do. she talks genuinely about her possessions and what they mean to her and by doing so sort of memorializes these objects forever. i'm guessing that makes it a little easier to part with. its a great inspiration to those of us that know we have too much and don't know what to do. 

my aunt recommended to me several years ago that the best way to part with something you really like but don't need is to take a photo of it and keep the photo. and get rid of the thing. i feel like this is what helen is doing. yay digital photos! 

her most recent post is about something we can all appreciate - netflix dvds and returning them.