For Reasons

The other day my roommate Megan (who I love and is the bright spot in the aforementioned desperate loneliness) blogged about things she hated and why.  While I agree with some of the things she said (I think roses are overdone too) orange is one of my most favorite colors.  In fact, I have a bright orange t-shirt that I wear about once a week.  It's not that flashy neon orange that's all over Claire's and Forever 21 right now, just a solid bright traffic cone orange shirt. And I love it.

After reading Megan's post I thought about getting offended for approximately half a second, but then I didn't.  You see, Megan is a great human.  She's a nice, quirky girl with opinions and feelings just like everyone else.  Megan just happens to hate orange. And I love orange.  And I love that shirt.  But she wasn't directly attacking it.

Just like I'm not attacking her when I say I hate skinny jeans in all colors on every person no matter their body type or leg length or gender.  Just, no.  Skinny jeans are SO awful in my opinion.  Megan loves skinny jeans.  To her, they are comfy and cute.

JUXTAPOSITION!!!

And that's what this friendship is.  I've been in friendships in the past (many) where I felt the need to like or dislike whatever my friends liked or disliked (I acknowledge this is mostly in my fault).  Oh, your favorite color is fuchsia?  Mine too.  You hate flip-flops?  Same with me. (Both of those are OBVIOUSLY hypothetical examples).  With Megan, though, it's ok that I like orange and she likes skinny jeans and she likes records and I like pop radio and she likes mustaches and I feel kind of pissed that the hipsters have made them so popular because what's the big deal with a hairy lip anyway.  We're insanely different, but we make it work.  And it's nice.

Flip-Flops

Get over it. I'm about to blog about flip-flops. Are any of you really surprised?

Side note before I begin: rumor has it that this Saturday flip-flops are $1 at Old Navy. By rumor I mean a commercial that I saw yesterday.

Those are random people's feet, but it's just normal flip flops in the picture so I put it here.

Flip-flops are absolutely amazing. There's no denying it. The feel of sunshine and happiness and wind and joy on your toes is amazing. Also, they come in approximately 8 kajillion colors.
Those are just plain colors. I have silver ones and you can get the kind with shells or bling or the ever white-trash platform style "heel". The varieties of flip-flops are endless. Don't even get me started on the attractive to douchey to overly-hipster to grandpa style man flip-flops. This post is about my opinion of flip-flops on my own personal feet so I'm not even going there right now.

But...you knew all this already. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past century you've either owned or come across your fair share of Old Navy style simple flip-flops (and the variations therefrom). Why the blog post then?

I want to talk about flip-flops at church. Go ahead. Leave a comment quoting some prophet or apostle about not wearing beach clothes to church. Now ask me the last time I wore flip-flops on the beach (the answer is I can't remember because I go barefoot on the beach like any sane person). Call me unrighteous, but I'm still going to wear flip-flops to church.

Why? First, there's the price. Even without the sale I mentioned above I can get plain flip-flops for $2-$5 a pair or a pair with decorations (glitter, beads, rhinestones) for $5-$10. Can I get heels or even flats for that price? No. I cannot. So, for the cost of half of a pair of regular shoes I can buy a pair of flip-flops in colors to match any of my outfits. Thank you variety.

They are comfortable. I can't walk in heels. Hopefully one day someone will teach me (that is kind of an invitation), but right now I can't. If I wear flip-flops to church I don't have to wear my slippers and carry my shoes in my hand. Some people love their heels and have beautiful shoes and want to wear them (Stefanie) and that is fine by me. I don't have beautiful shoes and I don't want my toes pinched. Additionally, the times are rare that I'm going to wear flats or heels without knee-highs, tights, or pantie-hose (is that really how that's spelled?). Your feet sweat. My feet sweat. It's a fact of life. If you go barefoot under your shoes most of the time your shoes start to get really stinky. I'm not going to continue to wear stinky nasty sweat-filled shoes despite their funk. Flip-flops are generally funk-less (and easy/cheap to replace in the rare case they become funky).

Finally (and I'll try to be brief), I have big feet. It's hard to find shoes that are comfortable, cute, and affordable for big feet. Flip-flops come regularly up to women's size 12 or 13 (though my feet aren't that big) for the same price as the more average sizes.

If I'm doing something in my life that's going to get me sent to hell, I don't think wearing flip-flops to church is it. Maybe one day when I'm rich I'll pay more for shoes and stop wearing flip-flops and you can all stop judging me. Thing is, I never go to church dirty, I almost always put on make-up, I take the time to do my hair (though it doesn't always turn out), and generally try to make sure I'm well put together. So, I'll keep my flip-flops and you can keep your judgment.

Clothes

Yeah. I'm blogging about clothes, what of it? Here's the deal. I hate girl shirts. I love how they look and the stretchier more fitted material. What's the problem, you say? It's the sleeves. On girl shirts the sleeves are really short on the underside, maybe an inch at the very most. Do you know how irritating it is to have the seam of your sleeve basically in your armpit all the time? Very annoying. And for those of us who don't have beautifully toned (but not masculine) arms, a little bit of a longer sleeve can do a lot to cover up the stressful area (at least, the sleeve makes me feel slightly more confident). Not to mention that I don't like seeing that tiny sliver of fabric that shouldn't even be called a sleeve on some of my friends. Some girls don't exactly shave as much as they should and the infinitesimal scrap does nothing to hide their un-groomed underarms. Gross. Dear shirt makers, please just add another inch or so to the sleeve.

Related: I absolutely love the shirts with sleeves that are just above the elbow (a little shorter than 3/4 sleeves). They are so cozy without being too hot. Perfection.