Amanda and I met 15 years ago in Essay Club. This group of 5 high school nerds was hand-selected by Al Blank, the librarian then at Borah and the real Most Interesting Man in the World. His stories are legendary. We met every Sunday after reading a packet of essays on a theme, like say Capital Punishment or George Orwell or Food, then drank tea and talked about them. The club changed the course of all of our lives, and forged an unlikely friendship between this blonde aspiring model and this pale depressive shy-ster. (I was the blonde aspiring model, obviously.)

DAY 1

Essay Club had our first everyone-together-now reunion in 14 years in Portland this weekend, the city of bikes and bohos and buses repurposed as vintage dress shops. This vintage dress by Orvis, the fly fishing company, is excellent for travelling. See it in a previous FU.

Amanda’s been thrift store shopping lately too, and our outfits were totally in sync.  She bought this for $5 (I think) on a visit to Boise. What a fantastic print.

We visited Queen Bee Creations, recycled bag makers.

Where Amanda’s bag was made, once upon a time.

The orange and rose-colored glasses are new (to me) from Acquired Again Antiques ($14). The blue snakeskin belt has a stone buckle with veins of gold running through it. It’s exquisite, and Amanda got it for about a buck. I “borrowed.” The coffee was fantastic, but the counter lady was none too happy I wanted a to-go cup, so they waited until all their to-stay cup orders behind me were satisfied before making mine. Ahhhhh, Portland. Enviro ethics in retail action.

This is Amanda’s one non-gandy face in a host of pictures. Oh, how this aspiring model has fallen. But she makes a damn good picnic.

PALETTE CLEANSER

I bought a bad ass velvet jumpsuit from the 1970s in a Portland resale shop. Note the “No Photos In Store” sign, ignored.

DAY 2

Yep. It’s a double mint, double mint, double trouble fashion feature.

Now there’s her model game face, and a fantastic vintage dress. Amanda wears her blue snakeskin belt.

Both dresses are polyester, great for travelling and gadding about town. See mine in a previous FU.

 Gorgeous lady. Sitting and eating Cuban to the left are two of the other members of the Essay Club.

 Amanda bought these Brazilian made leather boots for under $10 at a second hand store.

My dress was $5. Vintage Liz Clairborne loves me.

Steve Madden bondage sandals $10, Ross Dress for Less. (At least, that’s what I call them).

And, this is what we actually look like, most of the time.

XOXO Amanda and Essay Club. Happy trails, Portlandia.

We are all in a state of flux at FU. Seismic turning points in our lives. I am so inspired by the grit and strength and resilience and creativity I see in each fashionable wonder-woman every day — in the face of it all.

I have been turning inward, retreating into my thoughts, trying to find the threads I need to weave together to make a total transformation. Through yoga (which I finally started to do intensively a few months ago), I am discovering focus (and so much more). Through focus, I am finally writing. Through writing, I am accessing my inner worlds.

In my inner worlds: the planet Melancholia.

Melancholia is a Lars Von Trier film starring Kirsten Dunst. In the beginning of the movie, she’s spiraling into a cataclysmic depression on the day of her wedding.

Turns out not to be a perfectly rational reaction to marriage, but in fact, her presage of the end of the world. The planet Melancholia is on a perilous collision course with Earth.

Resurfacing in my own solar system: the deep-seated depression and shyness that once pervaded my night sky for over a decade. Black hole. Black hole.

But this time, its gravity won’t take me in. Because I know now that if I am just an insignificant life-form on a benign and spinning planet in outer space (and there is not, in fact, an astrological object on a collision course with Earth), then I am so damn lucky to be here.

To see amazing films about the sky.

Like Venus in transit across the sun this week.

To continue to plumb this frivolous universe. Diane Fries silk dress 1980s (Acquired Again Antiques, Hyde Park in Boise), $20 (on sale from $48). Cappagallo navy leather pumps (gift from Anna).

The journey is the destination. It ain’t over, ’til it’s over.

Or… It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine).

I took these photos, real slowly.

Story Story Night broke out LEGENDS: Stories of Heroes and Epics on Monday. I designated this dress for this blockbuster theme months ago. Reference the LEGENDS preview post.

Held on Memorial Day, this show was a memory maker and celebrator. It was a lovely night. 
And a lovely dress. Scala silk with sequins and beading vintage dress ($48, originally $64-Pursuing Andie).

Maybe not so much lovely hair, but I was going for some unkempt Viking warrior vibe. The lovely Story Story attendee/think taker Donna Vasquez said I looked like Pocahontas gone Vegas. Vivaaaaaaa!

Enzo Angiolini black velvet and gold pumps ($7, thrift store).

Another legendary Idahoan made a special appearance at the night.

Lonesome Larry, the most interesting fish in the world. This project has been a dream of mine since I heard the incredible story of Idaho’s wild salmon several years ago, and then started wearing this awesome fish suit to Idaho Rivers United events. Seriously, when I first met Dan, I was in this suit. Sexy.

Now as a board member for Idaho Rivers United, and in honor of the 20th anniversary of the miraculous solo return to Redfish of this dashing sockeye salmon, I thought of (ripped of from Dos Equis) the concept, and then wrote the website and campaign materials. Bethany Walter designed.

Check out the badassery of Lonesome Larry. You know, if you want to be awesome. Stay thirsty, Idahoans.

Onward and upward.

Photos by Whitney Rearick.