Blog — Emily Wing Smith

Goal #2: Wear cool clothes STATUS: Complete-ish/Always in progress

DATE (S) COMPLETED: 2009 (after creating the Hot List) to present.

If it is not yet obvious it soon will be that I was a tad bit of an elitist in 1989. I was into literature and jet-setting, after all. The other kids (“the bourgeoisie” as I called them) (j/k, even I was not this elitist) were into kid stuff. So again, 1989, not a good year for me.

I knew I needed an outer personal style to match my inner personal style. Only my budget didn’t allow for the appliqued polo shirts and natural-fiber sweaters (tied around the shoulders, natch) that one generally associates with 1980s preppies. Besides, that wasn’t my fashion inspiration. This was:

(This article, clipped and added to my scrapbox before Pinterest was even a gleam in her mother's eye, is a page from Consumer Reports for Kids, which was an actual magazine, which I read faithfully).

My coolest outfit was this:

I have my doubts that this was ever cool. Except, of course, for my pride and joy: L.A Gear hi-tops with hot pink laces. Vogue.

Wearing cool clothes is an on-going project for me, one I attribute to my complete weirdness about spending money and my accompanying negative feelings toward shopping. Shopping and spending money, it turns out, are paramount to buying cool clothes. But bit by bit I'm accomplishing this goal, thanks in no small part to my friends.

This is my favorite dress, a gift from the uber-cool Sara Zarr, who deserves major kudos for helping me discover MAD STYLE. (I am the one on the left. On the right, my sister-in-law Annie, who is also wearing a dress and who also has mad style).

Another favorite, picked out with fashiony friend Kelly:

Geometric-print shirt with leggings-like skinny jeans? The only thing left to complete this look is a pair of neon L.A Gear hi-tops. Excuse me, I'm off for a Google search...

Goal #1: Earn Traveler Badge and Visit Washington, D.C STATUS: Complete

DATE (S) COMPLETED: 1990; 2014

When I began the Girl Scout program in 1989, I started work straightaway on two badges: Books (kind of obvious) and Traveler (also kind of obvious if you know me, and especially if you knew me in 1989, at which time I would have traveled to Kuwait itself if it meant getting away from where I was). I completed them straightaway, too, because a quick scan of my Junior Girl Scout Sash shows that these badges were sewn on, as opposed to later badges that were stuck on with hot glue.

What I remember about this badge:

* “Helping” my parents plan a trip to Southern California and keeping a detailed travel log. This must have been when I started scrapboxing, because my log includes postcards, business cards, restaurant menus, a feather from the beach, an early -generation hotel key card, a napkin from someplace called “The Rusty Pelican” and the pink-and-brown wrapper around my ice cream cone at 31 Flavors/Baskin-Robbins.

*SOOO many references to travel agents

*Planning several different trips to Washington D.C: One for a sixth grade class, one for a couple who didn’t want to harm the environment in their travels, and one for a group of college students. I got a bunch of dimes out of my bank and went to the library, where I made copies of city maps and suggested itineraries. All those imaginary people had an efficient, fun-filled trip carefully customized to their needs. I, however much I wanted to, did not get to go along with them.

Flash forward twenty-four years to last month, when I made this dream a reality with my friends Amy and Melissa. In true Em-Dawg form, I kept a detailed travelogue of the day-by-day and saved museum maps and menus and used-up Metro cards (however, places don’t put wrappers around ice cream cones much anymore, so my trip to the Georgetown Ben & Jerry’s goes woefully underdocumented).

The only remaining evidence of my trip to the Georgetown Ben & Jerry's:

I saw other stuff, too, though. First stop Library of Congress, just as I'd planned way back when:

ALL THE BOOKS!

The monuments!

And the next two photos selected by my husband Great Guy Dan, when I was having trouble inserting any more photos into the post. An angry red exclamation point kept telling me ERROR! But from his computer at his office down the street, Dan was getting no such message. So I asked him to choose two more pictures to insert and he chose well-- one from the Air and Space Museum (his favorite) and one from the Supreme Court (everybody's favorite, because justice, yo).

Isn't this satisfying, seeing these goals fulfilled? And we're just getting started!

Goal #2: Style

Goal #1: I Know Places