(I have to admit...it's not a position I'm eminently excited to interview for...but I'm keeping an open mind.  I just never know.)  Whatever the case, it looks like I'll be wearing all black again, like I did for my interview at Macy's.  I'm laughing just thinking about it.

We were at Macy's and Anna was browsing clothes.  I'd already tried on some stuff at Express (whose clothes I adore) including this particular gray off-the-shoulder sweater (which I want).  Since I'd already spent some time in the dressing room wanting things, I decided to try on perfumes, instead.  I've always had a weak spot for a vast selection of perfume, even at Canton's Macy's, where you walk in and it smells like a humid, musty, leaking old bathroom.  I'd already sprayed myself liberally with L'Imperatrice during our time at Dillard's (predictably) so I had no more room for other fragrances.  Still, I love to sniff, and so it was that I found myself at the counter with Dolce & Gabbana and Burberry perfumes.  I was always able to appreciate Burberry for its sexy sophistication, but I must have never smelled 

Burberry Brit Sheer, because I loved it right away.  It's a fruity floral smell that's really youthful.  I took a card and sprayed it, digging a pen out of my purse to write "Brit" on it, feeling like a nerd all the while.  Then I smelled Burberry Summer.  It's fresh and lovely...dignified, definitely, but in a very youthful way.  It's got top notes of riesling, redcurrant, and fresh citrus with heart notes of freesia and a base of musk and cedar.  A second card was sprayed with it, and "Summer" was written on the card.  I can imagine some confusion from the older lady behind the counter as I catalogued the perfumes on display like some mad archivist.  My second quandary was trying to figure out where to place these so the fragrances didn't blend with one another.  Summer went into the pocket of my changepurse with my driver's license, and Brit Sheer went with my iPod.

Anna didn't like it.

The high today was 64 F.  Overjoyed at the cool air, I happily put on my favorite AE plaid skirt, gray tights, my new black flats, and this blue Old Navy sweater we'd bought on clearance for like $4 at Plato's Closet.  Joyfully dressed in a fall outfit, I noticed that while some people had started to put on pants (you'd be a fool to dress in anything less on a day like today), people tend to cling to summer as long as possible, with flip flops and short sleeved tops staying worn long into fall.  Of course, I won't get started on exploring the psychology (or lack of) behind this.  Anyway.  It was lovely feeling comfy for once.  I can't remember the last time I wasn't burning up.

Anna and I stopped in Dillard's tonight and I finally got to smell the whole D&G Anthology (as mentioned before, D&G's new line of awesome fragrances apparently taking the world by storm.  Seriously.  I've never seen this much hooplah over perfume before, not at least since Estee Lauder launched Beyond Paradise.)

1 - La Bateleur (light blue) is, as I read in another review somewhere, kind of masculine and sporty, although not necessarily bad...it might smell good on a guy.  6 - L'Amoreaux (green) was my favorite (next to 3)...it's rich and warm and seductive without reeking of "old lady" like so many of its contemporaries (Victoria's Secret perfumes, anyone?).  10 - La Roue de La Fortune (dark blue) was one I smelled in haste and I don't really remember it...I think it might have been *okay*.  18 - La Lune (yellow) - was nice as always with its lily notes...but of course, 3 - L'Imperatrice (pink) was my favorite, as always.  The sales lady could tell I wanted it, and true to her job, asked if I'd like to open a Dillard's charge.  I had to explain my terrible credit but promised her I'd be back for that bottle.  And if I have anything to say about it, I will (although I might order it for cheaper online, if I can).  "Spray away, hun," she said kindly, and thanking her, I did just that.  I gave my left lower arm another spray for good measure (the first spray having gone onto my neck, now thirsty for pretty new perfumes) and grabbed a card to spray, dropping the now deliciously-scented card in my overfull purse.

One thing I have noticed, though, is that these fragrances, at least from my experience with 3, are tactfully subtle.  It absorbs elegantly into your skin, as all good perfume should, and at times almost teasingly withholds its smell....and at other times gently releases it.  But even when you can smell it, it's not so strong you find yourself reeking or find others in the room find themselves coughing with watering eyes from the burning smell (a la Clinique Happy Heart, where one spray stays with you all day like a loudmouthed companion).  It's always very, very tasteful, almost like it prefers to be a part of you, rather than something ON you.  Of course, I can't step outside myself, so I don't know how thickly it lays on me, but one can always make a reasonable guess.  I just wish it had a little more staying power...people tend to agree on this point.

As a final note, straight from the lady at the counter, these are all marketed to be unisex, and another review I read online confirmed that.  I personally think 3 smells more feminine and 1 smells more masculine...but that's just me.  I've no doubt that, as with all truly good fragrance, the smell will mold to the wearer (and that's exactly what L'Imperatrice has done for me.).

I give L'Imperatrice, and the whole line in advance, my heartfelt 100% approval.

Anna came up with this title for me when the blog was launched, which would have been very early in the summer.  Anna came up with it, but I was the one that liked it and chose to implement it.  At the time, I used the title because it made me feel really good, because it was a statement of identity, of purpose.  Young, blonde, beautiful.  I was proud of the first two and wanted to be the third.  Every time I came to the blog, I could look at the screen and feel really good just looking at it (not to mention Anna had made a killer graphic out of an illustration some girl had done of the both of us...I looked all serious and snobby but honestly, really hot).  Then - history lesson - Anna's domain disappeared a while back, and a couple weeks ago, the image was gone.  Just gone.  Vanished.  It hadn't been backed up so I had to make another one, and that's when I told most of you about the blog.

And now I realized that I kept the title, too.  Why?  Probably because, yeah, it's super personal and I love that description of myself, but I think it's not necessarily just for me.  Most of the people reading this are beautiful and probably young, too.  It's about giving some credit to yourself.  It's about allowing yourself to be proud of who you are, allowing yourself to say - and believe - some nice things about yourself.  I know that among many of you that I know personally there seems to be a culture of self-deprecation.  The title of this blog is at once a statement of identity for me, an appeal to self-love for us all, and a statement of denial - forever- of virulent self-deprecation.  It's a statement of the very real truth that you are only what you say you are, nothing more, nothing less.

So thank you for reading, and I hope that my insights give you something, whether it's inspiration, ideas, or simple amusement.  <3

Anna's mom promised us both eye appointments and new glasses for our birthdays, but since Anna already has glasses (which I used every time I needed to drive somewhere, including assignments) she opted out and decided to have some weird mother/daughter shopping day one day while I was at work.  She chose a couple cheap articles at Goodwill instead.  So it was that last week we (I) went to see the eye doctor over in Alliance and he proceeded to drop yellow stuff into my eyes that was designed to congeal and crust up and ooze yellow fluid all day and ruin one's makeup.  And after a week during which I wondered if Anna's mom's offer was still good she suddenly yelled upstairs last night and asked me if I'd want to go in like an hour to pick out my glasses.  So I said "sure" and ate dinner and forgot my prescription, and we all drove to the place to pick out Anna's little brother's glasses.  I brought my script today and now I have my glasses.  It's crazy...it's like the world is new.  I can read signs a quarter mile away, as far as I can see.  They're brown (because we decided black was too severe and aggressive on me).  The frames are the color of Jim Beam, like cat glasses that don't turn up at the ends, and when I look in the mirror my eyes have this weird yellow, glossy cast to them like I'm afflicted with jaundice.  But I can see like you wouldn't believe.  I have assassin vision.  I haven't seen perfectly clearly out of both eyes at once since sometime in the early fall of 2007.  Can you believe that?

I'd probably try to find a way to have sex with this bag if I could get close enough to it.

But then again, I find myself "ooo"ing over most of Louis Vuitton's Damier collection.  They've got a new one called Berkeley that I think is pretty gorgeous, too.

Another seductive bag of note comes from our favorite Italian designer, Prada.  This bag, mysteriously called 

"BN1760 UWC F0002" is probably my favorite bag of theirs, and I can feel its lewd attempts to seduce me.  It's working.  It has a bigger twin version with the same "Prada" stamp on the front of the bag.  Oddly enough, I think that's my favorite part.  Prada, 

unfortunately, doesn't ship to the US via their online store.  You have to go to someplace like New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, or Houston to buy directly from one of their boutiques.  Or have a friend in Europe who will act as your middle-person...and then hope your delicious bag doesn't get seized by customs thugs once it reaches American soil.

My head spins just imagining what these could do for a fall or winter look.

Anyway.  Some women love jeans, others make a religion out of shoes.  While I do love shoes with a passion scarcely to be believed (I hate jeans.  I know, lock me up in a padded room.) I'm a legwear chick.  I'm totally a hosiery fanatic.  And I know I'm not crazy...there's plenty of women like me!

That's weird because I haven't really allowed myself the freedom to explore all the awesome ways to wear hosiery.  Sometime early in 2007 I became a complete minimalist.  I swore off wearing anything that would get me *really* noticed because of self-esteem issues.  After twelve months in which I experienced a combination of a tiny, worn-out wardrobe and a massive boost in self-confidence, I'm feeling the first twinges of an urge for self-expression.  Since my style is two parts preppy, two parts sophisticated, and a half-part nerdy, I won't be getting tattoos, weird piercings, body suspension, or fetish wear.

So playing with hosiery is the perfect way to explore creativity for me.  But how?

This winter, the old staples of comfy brown, gray, and black tights are definitely in order.  But aside from the $54 Wolford tights I want (and never buy another pair of black tights for decades because Wolfords are divinely inspired), I have plenty of room to make a statement.  Caramel and purple are among the colors that Anna and I have decided must go into our drawer, along with maybe patterned pantyhose and tights in basic colors.  But I'm feeling braver.

I've always liked white tights, ever since they got popular in 1995, when high school girls took to wearing them with mary janes like little girls.  The rest of the fashion world, just two years ago, might have gathered in the square to stone me to death for such heresy, but I always thought the look was adorable, and never saw why it should have gone out of style, except for the fact that, yeah, admittedly, the wrong pair of white tights on the wrong girl can make your legs look a little shorter and a little more stumpy.  The wrong pair on the wrong girl.  But that can be said for anything, including jeans.  *pointed look*

Glamour did an article on white tights last fall.  In it, they cite Gossip Girl, an awesome show because I totally idolize most of the female cast for their confidence and pride in showing off their legs in brave ways.  It's especially nice to watch from a town like the one I'm in now, a small city in northern Ohio where women don't have any style and would be afraid to show it even if they did.  Gossip Girl is totally an inspiration to me, because chicks like Blair and Serena are kindred spirits, fashion wise.  They love their plaid and they love their hosiery.  (Blair is a walking hosiery store.  I love it.  She's given me so many ideas.)

Anyway, Anna and I see it just a bit differently.  She's not afraid to wear them, so long as they have pretty patterns.  I fully agree...I love pretty patterns.  But I want to wear them plain, too, like Blair does.  Of course, in this day and age, that takes some serious confidence, and I'll have to work myself up to the challenge.  But with a cute sweater, a short skirt, sexy shoes, and a killer scarf, I think it could be done.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

On a final note, would I wear them with anything less?  To the office, perhaps, with a cute but modest cardigan and a sober skirt?

I'm not THAT confident.  That takes bigger stones than what I've got.  If you've done that, get in touch with me and tell me your secrets, seriously.  You're totally my heroine.