fabulous girls

I've been feeling a bit blah lately... probably, some would say, a combination of summer laziness and post-exams brain fry. Aside from wedding planning I really haven't been doing much (er, as is obvious from my last posts, I guess). I mean, I've found places to live in Rome and Boston by scouring craigslist and sabbaticalhomes.com (yes... who knew??), and I've done everything to advance to candidacy (even wrote that incomplete paper from last year). But I really have nothing to differentiate my time - probably why I'm not doing much work for the dissertation. And probably why I'm starting to fantasize about being an acquisitions editor for Simon and Schuster. So last night I randomly pulled out an old book (well, not old - not like Chaucer old) The Fabulous Girl's Guide to Decorum. And I've realized - it's not that I hate grad school (necessarily) or want to get a real job (necessarily) - it's that I need to reinject some fabulousness back into my life.

(Some of you might think that just becauase one is trotting off to get married in Rome and gets basically a year off of school to go "research" around the globe would automatically make one fabulous... that is a misconception... one only needs to measure the "fabulousness" of one's professors to realize that the academic lifestyle does not fabulous make...) (And anyway, how much can I really talk to you about my wedding before you puke - er, tire of it?? Anna excluded. :)

So. The rest of the summer will be devoted to rediscovering my inner fabulousness. Which, naturally, will come to have a positive effect on my productivity, and thus be good for my dissertation research. I started this morning by buying a new bag to replace my manhattan portage bag. Yes, the manhattan portage bag that I've had for over 7 years, which used to be black and has faded to a reddish-orange-brown. I think Marisa has it right - she carries huge shoulder bags instead of a backpack to classes. It's hard to be fabulous with a backpack. (A mantra for everyone!) Anyway, Matt found anthropologie bags for sale on ebay, so I got a brown leather travel bag which I'm *very* excited about. (Unfortunately, fabulosity can have high start up costs. But seriously, it's like when you open your drawer and you realize that you still have old wal-mart cotton underwear from high school. Time to upgrade.)

But fabulosity is not just about new shiny expensive things. (Though it's totally about those, too.) It's about caring for yourself and your living space. It's about being polite, tipping well, and walking with head held high. It's about being good to others, exercizing, and eating well (not necessarily eating "right"... but that too). Anyway, I'll stop before I sound too much like a kaiser permanente commercial. But I'm off to be fabulous. I'm going to start by cleaning the kitchen.