diversion: Southwest Airlines review

i meant to write this post ages ago, when the flights were fresh in my mind, but i remember them both well - mostly because they were so good!

for those of you flying any time soon, you really should consider southwest. they're a great company to work for (i hear), they're super-nice with their customers (love their twitter feed @SouthwestAir) and they have cool deals like their new early-bird check-in service. in the past year, southwest started early-bird check-in. between when you buy your ticket and 25 hours in advance, you pay $10 per way for a boarding pass that allows you on the plane right after the frequent southwest flyers and business select ticket holders. the sooner you pay $10, the better position you'll get. i purchased the early-bird check-in for my flight to phoenix and back home about three weeks prior to my trip. in southwest days of yore, every passenger can check in and print their boarding passes starting 24 hours in advance - with the idea that the sooner you checked in, the better chances you have for a group A pass, and thus a better seat on the plane. with the early-bird check-in, your spot is automatically assigned 36 hours in advance - and you can print your pass starting at 24 hours to go. gone are the three groups; instead, southwest gives everyone a place in the a, b or c group, plus a number. you check in based on that number. if you're a person like me who likes to have a certain seat (my preference - window, as far front as possible), getting on the plane asap is critical. on my flight to phoenix, i was in a window seat in the fourth row. on my flight home, i was in the third row - another window seat. totally, completely worth it.

now if you don't care where you sit, it's probably a waste of $20 (roundtrip). but if you're hesitant to pay and checking a bag in, consider this - southwest lets you take two bags for free. on some other airlines that's $40-75 you'd have to pay. after being on some flights where my seat fate was not in my hands, having the luxury of picking it - and getting a good one! - is priceless to me.

book diverson: "shelter me"

i have to write one of these when i read a really good book, especially one that's not a romance, since that's so rare for me - plus i won't be reading new romances for a while, since i can't stomach the judgmental librarians at the cbus library (only, only reason i miss indy - computer checkout at the library!). plus when your grandmother hands you a book and says, "read this," you should.

"shelter me" is a debut novel, and it is biting with wit and humor and laughter, which is slightly strange because it's a story about a terribly sad event - a woman whose husband died in a freak accident, leaving her a single mother to two young children. the book follows her first year without her husband, a year of lots of downs and lots of ups, and even some surprises - like when a contractor shows up a few months after her husband's death to build the porch her husband had planned for her.

juliette fay has created a lovely story that is written in the spirit of billie letts or lorna landvik, both writers that i love. they have a very conversational tone about them, less lyrical and deceptively descriptive. i can easily hear janie, the heroine of the book (because she really is a heroine if there ever was one) saying the things she says, just as i can taste the indian pudding one of the characters brings to thanksgiving dinner. i loved the cover of the book with the quilt sheltering the two people, because that's what the book felt like to me, an achingly sad, yet hopeful place that i escaped to for two lovely hours. my grandmother was right. read this.

fall fashion

diversion post alert: even though it's still august, which means it's sticky and hot in indiana, fall - or at least september - is right around the corner. i can't wait to start wearing my fall clothes, though i can live without the cold for a while! the stores of course have all started putting out their fall clothes, which makes me pine for my cozy sweaters and tights even more. the great thing about some fall trends is that they're mostly classic. forget the leggings and gauchos of the past - if you invest in these pieces, they'll work for seasons to come, instead of being one-note clothes. some of my must-haves for fall:

long sweaters

one of my favorite trends, as this is one that will work long after they're popular. these are showing up in thick wool and thin merino (like the one to the left), in colors that work as well for spring as they do for fall, making this a three-season sweater. they work with dresses, skirts and pants. add a belt around the natural waist (a la Michelle Obama) for a really polished look.


shoe booties

a slightly harder trend to pull off, even though it shouldn't be. these have been around for a while, but they're popping up more as the season changes. a true fall-winter accessory, dressy booties work with dresses, pants and skirts and come in lots of materials, from suede to leather to fabric. for a different look, they're also popular in a sandal/gladiator form. i love these.


shrunken jacket

one of the most adorable pieces. so versatile, so easy to throw on and go. the classic styling means this jacket will work as well this year as it will in ten years. as cute with jeans as it is with dress slacks and heels. i can't wait to grab a cute scarf to go with the jacket on my way to work. another plus: gray is a great alternative to black and looks amazing with almost every color. perhaps the best part about this jacket is that it's effortless: you don't even have to think about getting dressed in the morning. just grab this and go.



plaid shirt

this one's in pretty much every year. there's just something about plaid, something slightly childlike, or maybe i'm reverting to my catholic school girl days. plaid is dorky and preppy and casual and dressy all at the same time. the color combos are endless; my personal preference is green and blue, and i could kick myself for not nabbing a ruffled j. crew plaid blouse with those colors a few years ago. but the great thing is plaid always comes back year after year - it will always be in style. and fashion should be fun and comforting - to me, the epitome of a fitted plaid shirt.

book diversion: "Sold"

every now and then i want to write about a book that really touched me, and this book's effect on me was profound. "Sold" by Patricia McCormick is written for a reader starting at the pre-teen level, but can be enjoyed by any person. it centers around lakshmi, a 13-year-old girl living in a very poor village in nepal with her mother, stepfather and baby brother. she dreams of making enough money to repair her family's tin roof - and perhaps stem her stepfather's gambling problem. then he tells her she's going into work as a maid in the city, and she leaves with a woman for a job that is filled with promise for her family. instead, she has been sold into the sex trade and ends up in india. lakshmi tells her story in a poetry/prose form that is not only very fitting, but also makes for a quick read - i think i finished in this book in under two hours. but it was so, so well written. i could smell the men who paid for lakshmi - and was heartbroken for her when she overhears one of them and realizes they paid as much for her as she would have paid back home for a coke. at the end of the story, i learned over 12,000 nepali girls are sold into the sex trade every year. the author traveled to nepal and india to interview people who had rescued these girls, as well as the girls themselves, and her hard work shows over each page as she brings you there, exposing one of the cruelest places in the world. please read this book.