Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger

I would like to give a...
Tip of the hat to new balance running shoes. Kudos to making 70% American manufactured products that are wonderfully comfortable, affordable, and generally aesthetically pleasing. I ran six miles yesterday and my legs crashed, bought new shoes and today I felt gggrrrreeat!

Wag of the finger to fashion. What the hell is going on with women's clothes right now? Everything out appears to look unflattering on the woman figure. Shirts bunched at the breasts that flow outward toward the waist and are banded around the belt line = pregnant. Skinny jeans, leggings = an extra ten pounds and a fat ass. The shirt/dress garments that reach halfway down the thigh = a piece that can't be worn alone without looking Paris Hiltonesque and when worn with pants looks equally distasteful. Footless tights = ridiculous, absurd. Long "tunic" tops look good on taller people, but generally make women of short to average height look squat. Additionally, any muffin-top protusion above the pant line will be accentuated by the super thin, long tops pulled skin tight over the plush cushioning. The little half blazer, shrug-monstrosities also flatter few women and just look ridiculous. Absurd. I guess I'll be saving money this fall as I will not be tempted to splurge on absolutely unflattering clothing. It also bothers me that people don't realize how bad they look in aforementioned fashions. You would think people would rather look composed in classic, flattering styles than look desperate and fat in the contemporary style, but hey, I guess that's just me.

A Tip of the Hat goes to walnut oil. What an awesome oil painting medium...I am in love. It's smooth, it smells good, and it supposedly doesn't yellow like linseed oil.

And a big fat Wag of the Finger to humidity. It feels awful. Hello summer, I loathe your sticky, heavy wet air and now I'll be running at 7:00 AM in order to survive my training.