a head start ...

my favorite blue hat is crammed into a pillow case and approximately four hours from my head. it is not lost, it is at my parent's house, and has been since my mom and i went to vegas in march. the fashionista put the kabash on it in the airport because it didn't match my flip flops.

i love that hat. it is warm. sops up wine spills like bounty the quicker-picker-upper. and is a wardrobe chameleon that knew no season nor accessorizing boundaries. i wore it when my hair was clean or dirty and when the hat was clean or dirty.

look how much fun we had.




i tried a different hat for a few days last winter, thinking -- wrongly -- that it is good to have options:



but, let's be honest, i look like a foreign exchange student from finland. and it made my head itch.

i went back to ol' blue and let the good times roll.




this summer i dabbled in this gem a bit. not nearly enough as i'd have liked. it, too, was a flexible piece.




at wilco, i was missing my old hat. the hat hat.
"i miss my hat," i told fannie.
"hat...?" she said.
"the blue one ..." i reminded her.
"yeah," she said slowly. "maybe its time to get a new hat."
"a NEW hat? i could just have my mom send me the blu-" i started.
"nah. new one," she said.
"but she would," i said. "then i wouldn't have to worry about finding a new --"
"i think its time for a new hat," she said. a little more sternly this time. like it wasn't just a suggestion anymore.

yesterday, while in minneapolis, i decided to try to find a new hat. i like having a favorite hat and i'm glad that i set a precedent early in my life that i would show up and i'd be wearing a hat. nothing is weirder than when someone thinks they can just start wearing a hat. note: this has nothing to do with my hair or the shape of my head.

i wanted something that i could put on my head the second i left the store, yanking the tags off with my teeth, my gums bleeding as i crumple the receipt in my purse, and not remove until the fourth of july when it is a stained and smelly wine rag.

world? i'd like you to meet my new hat. hat, this is the world. let's get acquainted. i think we'll be seeing a lot of each other this winter.