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Dress Like a Celeb on a Student Budget
Glossing Over It’s college guest blogger is back today, examining how to copy celebrity looks without a celebrity-size bank account. Welcome, Dorothy! Dress Like a Celeb on a Student Budget, by Dorothy Munholland Anyone who has spent time wading through my closet will tell you that I have a massive collection of magazines and photo clippings, ranging from old National Geographic articles to copies of Vogue. I might’ve been classified as a hoarder if my mom hadn’t cracked down on this habit at an early age. It’s not that I have a hard time saying goodbye to the magazines themselves (by recycling, of course), it’s more like I have…
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Greener Jeans (and a Guest Blogger)
Glossing Over It is proud to introduce you to Dorothy Munholland, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her passion for “green” fashion led her to my blog and, when she pitched to me the idea of writing some guest posts, I was thrilled to add a young, fresh voice to the mix. Every Friday for the next few weeks, Dorothy will be posting here about eco- and budget-conscious style. GREENER JEANS by Dorothy Munholland If I had a penny for every dollar of the $340 billion that Americans spent on shoes and clothing last year, then I would have a pretty good chunk of money to donate toward mitigating…
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A Winter Pick-Me-Up
When I opened my February 2011 copy of Food & Wine magazine, an unusual picture caught my eye. A band of adults and kids, all of them clad in bright parkas and clutching broomsticks, were captured mid-sprint in a game of broomball on an ice-covered lake. The scene looked like a modern Norman Rockwell painting. It also looked vaguely familiar. As I turned to the article that went along with the photo, I realized it looked familiar because it was familiar. The article featured Madison’s own chef Tory Miller, of L’Etoile and Graze restaurants, and the photo was taken on Lake Mendota. As pointed out in the article, which was…
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How to Host a Swap Party
I’m blogging today over at Wisconsin Public Television’s Engage Wisconsin website about how to host a swap party. I recently attended such a party at the home of a friend, and it’s a great incentive for cleaning out closets and cabinets. The idea is that each guest brings used items in good condition from her own home and, in return, can “shop” at the party for items that other people brought. I came home from the recent swap party I attended with a vintage 1970s leather jacket, an adorable green tunic from Anthropologie, and an armload of new books to add to my reading list. To learn how to host…
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How I Became a Bacon Snob
When most people think of the farmer’s market, they think about its midsummer bounty: the fresh cut flowers, the fragrant herbs, the rainbow of summer vegetables. I, too, adore the height of summer. I hoard and preserve tomatoes for sauce, strawberries for baking, and giant vats of pesto for pasta. But last Saturday, during my first trip to the Dane County Winter Farmer’s Market, I realized that some of my favorite market treasures are available year-round. Here’s what I bought last week: Jordanal Farms. This place has turned me into a bacon snob. No, “bacon snob” is not an oxymoron. If you have ever tasted Jordanal Farms’ nitrate-free, pasture-raised bacon,…
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Celebrating Local Farmers
Yesterday when I checked my mailbox, I saw the winter edition of Edible Madison magazine nestled among the usual holiday ads and credit card applications. I was excited not only to curl up with the magazine and feast on food-related articles, but also to take a peek at the finished product of the feature I wrote about John and Dorothy Priske of Fountain Prairie Inn and Farms. To write the article, I had a great time hanging out with the Priskes on a fall Saturday at the Dane County Farmer’s Market, where they sell grass-fed beef and pork. I also drove out to their beautiful farm in Fall River, Wisconsin,…
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Runway Fashions for Rent
Have you ever looked in your closet before a big event and concluded that you have nothing to wear? If you said no, you’re lying. Choosing clothes for holiday parties, weddings, and other special occasions can be stressful and expensive. And after you’ve gone through the trouble of finding something acceptable to wear, the sad truth is that you’ll probably only wear it once or twice–for most of the year it will hang neglected in your closet in a garment bag. I stumbled upon an ingenious solution to this problem. A website called Rent the Runway allows members to rent current styles from over 90 designers for prices ranging from…
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Natural Beauty
My guest blog post lat week for Wisconsin Public Television’s Engage Wisconsin site was about natural personal care products. In the article, I discussed the ingredients and chemical byproducts that are the most harmful to our health and to the environment. I thought it would be fun today, as a follow-up, to share with you some of my favorite natural body products. Badger Sleep Balm. I rub this stuff on my lips just before bed each night. It helps me from getting chapped skin in the winter, but mostly I just love the calming lavender and bergamot fragrance. I’m so attached to this stuff, I bring a tin with me…
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Green Beer
No, I’m not talking about the dyed stuff you drink on St. Patty’s Day. I’m blogging today about the benefits of buying locally-sourced and locally-brewed beer, over at Wisconsin Public Television’s Engage Wisconsin website. Luckily, where I live in Wisconsin, we have a lot of good options. You probably do, too. What are your favorite local beers where you live?
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The Thrill of the Hunt
Vintage stuff seems to be the theme of the week for me. On Tuesday I guest blogged over at StyleManiac about why I love old clothes, and today my weekly article over at Wisconsin Public Television’s Engage Wisconsin site is about the environmental impact of the clothing industry, and how buying items secondhand can help reduce that impact. What I didn’t mention in either of those articles, though, is that another factor underlying my love of vintage things, besides the stories behind them and the recycling aspect, is a more primal notion–the thrill of the hunt. It’s satisfying to find the proverbial diamond in the rough: a pair of unworn…
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