carry on, alexa chung.

Listening To: Calling You by Jeff Buckley
Also listening to: the falling rain. One of my most favorite sounds. 

Someone recently said to me, "I bet you and your friends have really smart conversations."

I didn't know how to respond. Because the question was well-intentioned; it wasn't sarcastic at all. And don't get me wrong; I would certainly classify my friends as smart. And they're not just smart but assertive and easy-going and very funny. And they're all crazy pretty. I'm not just saying that so they'll buy me coffee either - in the words of Derek Zoolander, they're all really, really ridiculously good looking. But I'm also confident that our typical conversations aren't the sort that make people envy our brilliance or even want to eavesdrop. (Even though I'm confident that, if they do eavesdrop, folks will wish they had girlfriends as cool as mine.)


For example. 

Recently, while waiting for our movie to start, my bffSarah and I sipped some java at Starbucks and conversed. Smart-like. By which I mean: we were lamenting the loss of our favorite purple puffy chairs. The purple puffy chairs used to be caddy-cornered there in The Buck, situated perfectly for conversing. Whichever one of us got there first would run for the purple puffy chairs and claim them. They were our favorite place to chit-chat and scheme and solve the world's problems. Alas, the purple chairs have been done away with in favor of boring tables. Tables are no good for problem solving. What will the world do with out us fixing its problems?!


Table-talk consisted of Muppets and Ziploc bags and holiday catalogs and other exciting topics. (See what I mean?) For some reason, I started talking about the Madewell Holiday catalog. I don't know why this came up. But I don't really know how 90% of our conversation topics come up, so no biggie.

Full disclosure: I've never actually bought clothes from Madewell. I guess I get the catalog because I've bought accessories there. They have cool pieces at a good price point; stuff that looks just a little more quality than Urban. More like what you hope to find in an old antique/thrift store. Except I never find cool jewelry at antique stores. (I only find gigantic rings with Shriner insignia.)

This year's Madewell Holiday catalog is especially fun for two reasons. 1.) Because it contains the llama sweater:

Which is kind of awesome. (If you have a strange sense of humor, which I most definitely do.) Priced at $90, it's approximately $87.99 more than I would pay for such a piece, but it's still fun. And it made me laugh so I pinned it. (I don't think I understand The Pinterest correctly ...) The llama love sweater is already sold out on Madewell, so don't get your hopes up. *fingers crossed for Alpaca Hoodie in the Spring 2012 ...*

But it wasn't just the llama sweater that made me fistpump the air for The Madewell Holiday catalog. Which brings me to 2.) As you probably know, Madewell has been featuring none other than .... Alexa Chung. And I am an ardent fan of Alexa Chung, but not necessarily because of her style.


Her style is rad, don't get me wrong.

But Alexa Chung holds a special place in my heart because of her stint on, of all places ... The Golden Globes.

Before last year's Golden Globes, I didn't know much about Alexa Chung. I'm mostly pop-culture deficient. I'd never seen her on TV before. She's popular on fashion blogs and the like, so I knew who she was. But I didn't really know what she did besides wear cool clothes and be pretty. (She does television and contributes to British Vogue, in case you too live under a rock.) However. She forever endeared herself to me when she did fashion commentary on the pre-show/red carpet.

Her commentary is awesome. Behold:



"And your shiny shoes. Is that for any particular reason?" 

Her interviews were exceptional. Like an ongoing (very funny) SNL skit. The shiny-shoes question was my favorite, because that's like a question I'd ask. It still makes me laugh.

I especially like that she makes it just awkward enough for whoever she's interviewing that it's fun for me to watch. ("You're presenting for best foreign film. Who do you hope wins?" *crickets*) For the record, I think she was purposely being a little bit cheeky about the whole thing. And I can't blame her.

I guess, when it comes to commentary on clothes ... there's only so much you can say at an event like that. Tim Gunn would have had much to say, and said it all elegantly, of course. But mostly, when you've got two minutes to talk to actors about "who" they're wearing (when, let's face it, Rachel Zoe and Brad probably picked the clothes and texted to remind the celebs "who" it was) ... there's really not much interviewing to be done. Might as well talk about shiny shoes, I guess. So kudos to her for having fun with it.

("Who do you hope to bump into on the red carpet?"
"I don't know who's here? Clare Danes. I hope she wins."
*nods* "Thank you very much for talking to me. Cheers." 
... that whole exchange is so absurdly funny to me.)

So anyway. Awards season is approaching and I'm getting excited. First, I'm excited because Dad and I always wager Dairy Queen Blizzards over who correctly picks the most winners (Oscars, not Golden Globes). We're very fancy that way. But I also get excited because I start to hope that maybe, just maybe, Alexa Chung will do red carpet reporting again. Bring on the shiny shoes! *fingers crossed*

I said all this to Sarah. And then I think I got back to talking about the Muppets. About how Kermit and Miss Piggy were really inspirational, because YES, they've have had their ups and downs, and yes they come from different corners of Old McDonald's farm, but if they can make it, anybody can make it! Here's to the frog and pig! Cheers! ...

... And that's the kind of smart conversations I have with my friends. It's truly amazing that they keep hanging out with me. 


Inspired by Alexa Chung, here's my question to you: which celebrity would you be most excited to run into on a red carpet? I would pick Kate DiCamillo or JK Rowling but they probably don't hang out on red carpets that aren't for their movies. If we're talking about movie-star celebrities ... I guess I'd go with Dolly Parton, Carol Burnette, or Tina Fey. Or John Schneider, the original Bo Duke. Obviously. Also, Taye Digs. If I ran into Taye Digs, even if the "run in" was a slight shoulder brush in a gas station as we passed each other in the candy aisle ... I'd brag about it every day for the rest of my life. See you in the comments!