TerraMcBride's blog

I was honored to be invited to my friend Jaime’s bridal shower. Jaime is one of the most inspiring women I know. She’s the sort of person who makes you want to spot a person you don’t know having a bad day and give them a hug. She makes you want to rescue animals from the shelter. She makes you want to just be a better person.

What to wear? Something that felt as special as the day was.

The best compliment of the day, of course, comes from my husband. I come outside to where he’s sitting, playing his guitar and singing a Fleet Foxes song to say goodbye. He says, “Oh. Oh hey there. What year is it?” My husband knows exactly what to say to stroke my ego. He knows what I’m going for here and totally supports it. Old lady gloves and all.

This dress has its own sexy underneath the cape. Strapless and shapely, I felt like a woman in this dress.

stylish white female

I’ll be the first person to admit that I dressed completely inappropriately today. There should have been tights. I wore a cardigan for most of the day and Ugg boots to and from the bus. I guess I was hoping it would still be 64 and sunny today.

EPIC FAIL.

But I think the outfit is a win. I came up with it as I was trying to fall asleep Friday night. I’m so glad it worked!

Stylish White Female

My pal Kim from Crowded Closet sent me a picture of the new Mad Men inspired Barbie dolls this week. Have you seen them?

My mom was obsessed with Barbie when she was growing up. The woman even has a special Barbie Christmas tree, adorned with a variety of Barbies, that she puts up every year. Needless to say, it broke her heart when I refused to play with Barbies as a little girl. My feminist mother couldn’t believe that I thought Barbie was a trampy whore.

Huh?

I know. I was confused too. We all make our exceptions and that one was hers. After so many years of my raking Barbie over the coals, I can finally tell my mom that I’ve found a Barbie for me. And her name is Joan.

Outside of the fact that I think Christina Hendricks is probably the most beautiful woman on television, the character she plays is truly powerful. Not in the way that Peggy Olson is. Joan Holloway is a smart woman. Both traditionally and non-traditionally. She can read people well. She’s not trying to be a man in a man’s world. She is a woman, dammit, and she knows how to work for what she wants.

As you can see, I took my pictures very publicly today. I needed a bit of Joan’s, “Yeah, I’m doing. So what?” attitude. Look at my hand. I’m clearly nervous. I didn’t pose too much. But you know what? I did this in front of a bunch of people on their lunch break. And it felt sort of empowering.

I know it sounds a little silly but it’s hard for me to do something like this. You draw attention to yourself. And when you don’t have a pal around to laugh it off with, it can feel very much like you’re being laughed at.

So I just breath and tell myself that none of them have the balls to put themselves on display like this. That in and of itself is liberating. It feels good to do things I wouldn’t have done before this blog. It’s pushing me. I expect more from myself. I love that.

That all being said, I definitely feel better leaving my sunglasses (read: mask) on. Heh.

I feel like this dress almost looks like the Joanie Barbie. It’s got a seriously plunging neckline though (no-no for work) so I added the scarf for a touch of modesty.

Stylish White Female

Messing around with several different outfit ideas this morning, I overheard on the radio that it would be 64 degrees today.

Oh joyous day!

I knew I should wear tights to be appropriate and ladylike and all of that nonsense. But I was coming off of the high of my badassitude and decided that rules were made to be broken.

Oh, how hideous of me.

I really must stop talking about the weather. It just seems so poignant these days. But still, let’s move on to something else.

How white are those stems? You can barely tell the sky has clouded over. It’s taken me too many years to come to terms with my pallor. I started using self-tanner in 7th grade with tremendous failure. I didn’t particularly enjoy being orange. I tried tanning when I was a teenager but I found it did nothing good for my skin and it’s just not good for you in general.

So I started using self-tanner again in my mid-20s. Thank goodness the formulas have gotten better. If I do two days of application I can get a fairly normal looking tan. I will start using my self-tanner very soon. It’s the perfect amount of color for this much skin. But until then, I sort of like my whiteness. It seems appropriate when just four weeks ago, Pittsburgh was buried in record-breaking snow drifts. How is being super tan appropriate right now? Especially when you’re a redhead.

Stylish White Female

Every now and again I just want to look like I don’t take any shit from anyone. This bomber does that for me. It might all be in my mind but isn’t that what really counts? You can kick some major ass in a pair of patent leather peep toe platform pumps. Don’t believe me? Come to Pittsburgh.

Actually the joke’s on me. I had a brutal blister on my left heel by the end of the day. Stupid summer shoes. I have to build up my tolerance every year!

Stylish White Female

I went for the sandals today. I can’t help myself. It’s like I’ve gone mad. But then again, we’re all mad here.

It was chilly this morning so I wore over-the-knee socks and my flats. I put these puppies on when I got to work. When my friend slash colleague slash photog-for-the-day Christie and I went for a walk, I didn’t even wear a coat. And you know what?

I was comfortable!

Safari-style clothing seems to roll around every other spring. I’ve had this giraffe print skirt for a billion years. I love it and then I hate it. But for some reason it keeps me hangin’ on.

Probably because safari-style clothing seems to roll around every other spring.

I love that the belt is like rope. It will come in handy when I go on safari, no?

I found it in the men’s section of the Goodwill. It’s way too big for me. Clearly I don’t give a hoot.

Stylish White Female