VOGUE and Generic Saltine Crakers

Jacket and Shirt: Target, Skirt: Banana Republic, Purse: H&M, Shoes and Belt: Aldo, Watch: Michael Kors, Necklace: ShoeDazzle (photos: Carrie Hawkins Foust)

I needed to get out of the office something fierce today. You know the type of day I am talking about. The kind where it feels as if the walls are closing in on you. Like...if you have to answer one more e-mail, hear your phone ring one more time, or give someone your patient, calm, "inside voice" when they deserve your thickest, sarcastic sass...your head may actually spontaneously combust and brain matter would fly from floor to ceiling. Okay, perhaps that was a touch dramatic, but like Monica said in her 90's R&B/Pop hit...."it's just one of them days". So, instead of losing my cool and quite possibly my job...I decided to run out for lunch (which I have been eating at my desk almost every day for a year). Well, the break was less about lunch and more about mental sanity really. So, did I treat myself to a nice sit down meal in a quiet booth at one of the many great restaurants just steps from my office? Take an hour to unplug, pray, or meditate?  No, I ran across the street to Rite-Aid, bought 2 boxes of generic Saltine crackers (on sale, 2 for $4.00) and the February issue of VOGUE and sat down outside for 15 minutes (it was 60+ degrees here in beautiful Charlotte, NC today). I devoured a sleeve (yes, a whole sleeve) of crackers and every page of that magazine, almost as if VOGUE were filling me up and the crackers were just giving me something to do. I noticed every detail of the outfits in the advertisements...heel height, beading, prints, patterns, colors, how everything was matched, or mismatched to create these incredibly interesting and beautiful concoctions. I also noticed awkward facial expressions on some models and (in some cases) pretty hideous and outrageously overpriced 'couture" clothing. I stopped to look at the spread that they did on Taylor Swift. I didn't have time to read it all, but I did stare at the photographs. The pictures had a bohemian, rocker-chick, 70's vibe and they were gorgeous. The whole feature made me want to ditch this skirt, keep the crushed velvet, red platform shoes and chunky necklace, go put on a big floppy hat, find a guitar (and a Janis Joplin album) and play hooky for the rest of the day. Instead, I looked down at my phone, which was face down at the time and I read the back of my case. "Keep Calm and Carry On." I took it's advice. I picked up my Rite-Aid bag full of crunchy sodium bites, rolled the magazine up under my arm and went back to my desk. I felt much better...about everything. So much so in fact that by the time I got back to my desk my patient, calm, "inside voice" came out naturally and not through a locked jaw.