Duct-Tape Ninjas & Drunken Squirrels: My Kind of Fauna

by Nicole Sheets - WanderChic

( February 21st, 2012 )

Yes, ‘tis better to give than receive.

But it’s nice to receive.

Valentine’s Day was so last week, but I’m still kind of basking in the glow. Oh, those little perforated greeting cards in their whispery white envelopes. Oh, the chalky conversation hearts.

Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays we might see folks’ love languages in action. My parents, for example, operate these days in beverages and vitamins (they’re getting a bit preachy about their probiotics, too).

For V Day, they sent me a Hamilton Beach Single-Serve Blender. Had I asked for one? No. Was the cost of postage greater than or equal to the cost of the item? Possibly.

Until recently, my parents were using my grandmother’s old blender, a vintage model that sparked and smoked. But last Christmas, I used their fancy new Single-Serve blender.

When I make smoothies at home, my parents take notes. Ice, fruit, yogurt, juice. That’s it, I tell them. You can add in fancy I’m-better-than-you stuff like wheat germ or flax seeds, but it’s not required. You can even omit the yogurt. Ice, fruit, juice. That’s it.

My parents, both college grads who combine book smarts with people smarts (and hillbilly ninja skills) look at me as though I have unlocked one of the secrets of the universe. Will you write down that recipe for me? Mom asks.

My Hamilton Beach Single-Serve blender boasts a “Travel Lid [that] Lets / You Drink / From The Jar.” Clearly this blender was made for globetrotters like me (even if most of my travel these days involves the eight miles to campus each day).

My brother also speaks beverages. Last week I found a good kind of surprise in my mailbox: a unicorn flask, just like the one pictured at the top of this post. He ordered it from Jen Woffinden at jduct.com, an etsy seller in Portland (photos in this post are hers). Her shop is full of colorful flasks and wallets. Ninjas? Yes. Atari? Uh-huh. Mustaches? Alright.

When I scroll through her online wares, one eye is on nostalgia. The other, irony. Her shop make me a little cross-eyed, in the best way.

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ModCloth.com’s Head of Community Unpacks Her Fashion Strategy (An Interview with Maggie Glover)

by Nicole Sheets - WanderChic

( February 14th, 2012 )

WanderChic is always up for some schooling about fashion, especially from the pros. While on the road in LA, Maggie Glover shared her style.

Maggie is the Head of Community at ModCloth.com and the Social Media Director of failbetter.com, an online literary magazine. Her poetry has appeared in Verse Daily, PANK, Smartish Pace, Pebble Lake Review, The Journal, 32 Poems and other literary journals. She lives in San Francisco with her fiancé, Marc, and her cat, Sicily.

WC: How did you get started with ModCloth? What is your role there? (And, how do you manage to work there and not buy all of their clothes and accessories?)

MG: I started working as a fashion writer for ModCloth in August of 2008. I applied for the job while I was finishing my MFA in poetry in West Virginia, and decided that I wanted to move back to my hometown of Pittsburgh when I was finished. When I started at ModCloth, there were only about fifteen of us working out of a small, converted warehouse in the Strip District of Pittsburgh. Since then, the company has grown tremendously, and I’ve had the pleasure of working in several different roles, such as the Social Media Coordinator and Marketing Campaign Manager. Currently, as the Head of Community on the Marketing Team in our San Francisco office, I lead a team whose focus is on community-building through site features like Be the Buyer, as well as providing style advice to our customers through one-on-one style consultations.

Oh yeah, and I pretty much do buy everything. At any given moment, I have at least 20 items in my shopping cart. It’s ridiculous.

WC: How does your poetry training pay off at your job?

MG: The two fields are more related than you might think. Writing is all about audience, and the best writers are those who have a firm understanding of their “ideal reader.” Marketing is the same way. At ModCloth, we are always thinking about our audience (our customers or potential customers), how they will be affected by the promotion of our products and how they will interpret our messaging.

In addition, my experience in creative writing workshop environments has taught me the importance of listening to others’ feedback, but ultimately making my own decisions. Everyone will always have an opinion about my work, but I need to decide for myself whose opinions are the most relevant to my own objectives.

WC: Are you still writing poems? Are you ever tempted to write poems about wedges or tote bags?

I am! In fact, I just received my third nomination for a Pushcart Prize (yay!) Poetry is, and will always be, the way that I relate to and deal with the world. (Well, poetry, and watching television…)

I have written a few “fashion-y” poems, including this poem, published by PANK magazine, entitled ““THAT BAG IS SICK IN THE HEAD!”: A SONNET FOR MARC JACOBS,” I wrote this after watching a documentary about Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton. I was inspired by his design process, and its similarities to the writing process.

WC: How would you describe your own style?

MG: I tend to have a flair for the dramatic, but I also like to be comfortable, so I’d probably describe my style as “relaxed experimental.” There’s nothing I love more than a gigantic Jeffrey Campbell wedge paired with leggings, a casual, breezy dress and a charm necklace.

WC: What are some of the best or most loved ModCloth items for travelers?

MG: ModCloth definitely encourages our customers to see the world. We have a category of items curated specifically for travelers: http://admin.modcloth.com/shop/travel

I made a styleboard of a few of my personal favorites. Here is the link to it on Polyvore: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=43640572

And I posted the image below:

WC: When you travel, which items are you sure to bring with you?

MG:

Dry shampoo

Solar Iphone charger

A pair of Toms flats (actually, I pretty much have these in my purse at all times, not just when traveling)

Circle scarf (I owe this tip to my friend Sari, who showed me how a circle scarf can be worn as a neck scarf, a shawl, or be used as a blanket on the plane)

Ear plugs

Swimwear, just in case.

Trashy tabloid magazines. They really take the edge off of travel headaches.

WC: I’m on the hunt for the perfect travel bag. Any recommendations?

MG: It’s so funny that you asked me this, because I have also been on the hunt for an ideal travel bag, too. I really need a new laptop bag, so I have my eye on our Upwardly Mobile Satchel in Green.

WC: What have been some of your recent trips? Do you have any travel coming up?

MG: I’m actually writing this from LA right now. I’ve been here for about a week and am flying back to San Francisco today. Then, I’m headed to Chicago in two weeks for the AWP writing conference, and have a trip planned for NYC in June to visit a friend who lives in Brooklyn. I’m also hoping to travel to Barcelona this summer. However, the upcoming trip that I’m most excited about will happen in June of 2013: I’m getting married in Maui, HI, followed by a reception back in our hometown of Pittsburgh, PA!

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Gifts on the Move: Part II (Costa Rica Edition)

by Nicole Sheets - WanderChic

( February 6th, 2012 )

I’m attracted to and daunted by outdoor markets. After a couple of hours in Costa Rica’s National Museum, we walked through the market nearby (where I found turtle and other groovy textiles). I had an agenda: a few small gifts for the folks who helped me with this trip (the reader will recall my previous posts about transporting a microscope, not a one -woman operation).

I didn’t have much time, or the luxury of comparison shopping.

Also, I suck at bartering.

This was not setting myself up for success.

Wisdom often arrives from unexpected sources. Deep in my first-world micro-dilemma, I remembered a transformative moment in my shopping life. I was melting down about an upcoming job interview and nervously browsing at J Crew. A personal shopper approached me and asked if she could help. Could I explain how much I wanted this job, and how I still felt like that little girl trailing after her meemaw in the Kmart rather than a woman who could buy a suit in a store without shopping carts?

“Shopping should always be fun,” she said, and brought me a hot pink shirt to try on and a bottle of water.

So in this San Jose market, a young woman, Chantal, struck up a cheery Spanglish conversation with me. I wanted to bring back a token to my cat sitter, and I liked the prancy, bright wooden gatos with the long vertical tails. For anillos,Chantal said. You could store your rings on the tail. She offered to personalize the gift, so I wrote my cat sitter’s name in her book of graph paper, and she wrote it in on the cat’s belly with a silver pen before she taped him up in bubble wrap.

Rosi, one of the staff at my school’s Costa Rica campus, had asked me early in my visit if I had a husband or kids. Two cats, I said. Como hijos, like children, I clarified, and made a cradle of my arms to rock back and forth. Rosi laughed. I was getting a reputation.

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