I love my Ducks

October 3
I wore: long sleeved light yellow from The Limited

I'm pretty sure that my first love was University of Oregon football. I was born in July, the first Duck game of my life was played less than six weeks later - a home game, a win against Stanford. Some of my earliest memories are sitting with my parents at Oregon football, basketball, track and field, even volleyball games (we go big for all Oregon athletics on team Kitchel). Decked out in green and yellow -  when I was lucky I got to wear my Oregon cheerleader outfit - always screaming wildly for the Ducks. 

Mighty Oregon has echoed through my heart and soul my entire life. When I was a girl, I was known to escape from my parents and run across the open field or court, sometimes mid-game, to sneak a hug from Puddles - the Duck mascot.

I have seen the Ducks play football live at least once every football season of all my 28 years. I've traveled to every Pac-12 stadium (ok, not Utah or Colorado, but they're new). I've watched my Ducks play in Texas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia. My junior year of High School my best friend and I were late to our homecoming dance because we flew to Pullman that afternoon to watch the ducks play Washing State. We changed clothes and did hair/makeup on the plane ride home then raced straight to the dance when we touched down in Eugene- the only thing we forgot was to take the temporary "O" tattoos off our cheeks. Our priorities are glaringly obvious when you look at pictures from that night. 

Living in the south, I am frequently chastised about the inferiority of the puny Pac-12.* In college I made friends with the TV scheduler at a local sports bar so that late on Saturday nights when the Texas faithful were out celebrating their victories or drowning their sorrows in defeat, I could steal away in a corner of the bar by myself with one screen that he would turn for me to pick up the West Coast stations. 

Three years ago, I wept tears of joy sitting in rainy Corvallis, Oregon as the clock ran down to zero on my Duck's final game of the season. Winning the "civil war" (Oregon vs. Oregon State) that November afternoon not only completed Oregon's first ever perfect season, it also clinched a spot in the BCS National Title game. 

In that moment of jubilation something else important was happening; I started thinking about what outfit I would wear to the game. The BCS Title game was played at the Fiesta Bowl that year, and Phoenix in January can be tricky to plan for. I knew I'd have hours of outdoor tailgating followed by the evening game in a domed stadium. So many variables...

 I decided on nice jeans, a light green blouse and of course, a faithful cardigan. Since I had already picked a green blouse, that meant I had to find a yellow cardigan, and while I owned two mustard coloured cardigans, I determined neither was sufficiently Duck coloured enough for such an important game. 

Searching for a light yellow cardigan in January is one of the hardest shopping assignments of my life. The standards all let me down; Gap, J.Crew, Nordstroms - even Target had nothing to offer me. I went out looking for the perfect cardigan every day for a week. Hope was fading. The game was only two days away. My last ditch effort was to walk through NorthPark mall in Dallas and go into every single store that sold women's clothing. No price too high, no material too fancy, no brand too obscure. 

After getting laughed out of a few stores and having a Ralph Lauren sales person try to convince me that dark cream was actually yellow, I was starting to think about a backup outfit. And then it happened. In the windows of long forgotten retailer 'The Limited' hung a pastel yellow button up long sleeved cardi with a coordinating yellow polka-doted scarf. The heavens opened. The angels sang. The Lord was on my side. 

The day of the National Championship game was one of the best of my life. Look how happy I was in my yellow party cardi.

Even though Oregon lost to Auburn after they kicked a last minute field goal, I wouldn't trade the experience of the game for anything.

 It will only be topped this January when I watch my Ducks win it all in my favorite venue of them all: the Rose Bowl. 

*check the polls people: whiche conference has two teams in the top 5? Go Ducks.  

Reserved for Fuel Efficient Vehicles

October 1

I wore:

Navy J.Crew three quarter sleeved cardigan

I kicked off the journey through my cardigans with a classic: basic navy. Paired with a grey YL tee and lavender J.Crew shorts, it is basically my quintessential look. In fact, when my Young Life girls dressed up as me for Halloween a few years ago they wore colored leggings, a YL tee and a cardigan. 

Earlier this year, when I decided it was time for a new car, I started paying attention to car commercials. I am the ultimate sucker for advertising; when I was 11 Nike's "I am Tiger Woods" ad literally changed my life. I believed that I could do anything because Tiger won the Masters. In High School I drank milk because all my favorite celebs posed with milk mustaches. In college I would yell at my roommates when they tried to fast forward through commercials because I thought they were important, entertaining and helpful.

A few months ago when Fiat commercials landed in the US I was all in. Tiny cars?! Leaping off of cliffs in Italy then emerging on the beach in the states with Pitbull performing?! Snappy music?! Yes. And. Please. This is basically how I decided to buy my Fiat. 

My Fiat is my first car that I bought all on my own; I researched, studied, test drove, contemplated and told everyone I know that I wanted a Fiat for months. Finally on the Fourth of July I pulled the trigger and hit the dealership. I lied to the salesperson and told him that I "definitely knew how to drive a standard transmission" and after a few very stressful days driving around town (and stalling out at every intersection) I did indeed know how to drive it. 

It is tiny and and fun and perfect and amazing. Driving my Fiat makes me feel like I'm always on an adventure. And it comes with perks! Today, I got out of a parking ticket by telling the meter maid about how easy it was to parallel park in my Fiat (he was literally impressed and told me he wouldn't give me a ticket). Later in the day, my Fiat made it to 3000 miles, but when I called to make an appointment for an oil change they told me that Fiats only need their oil changed every 8000 miles! Then this evening, when roommate Kelly and I went to grab dinner, we got front row parking at the "green" Chic-Fil-A because my Fiat loves the environment so much! 

The Fiat is also very European, which is also how I sometimes act while wearing navy cardi. I took navy cardi on the road to Paris last summer and best friends Jamie and Avery snapped this pic of us being very European; adjusting my scarf and snarling at tourists while riding a boat down the Seine. Living the dream in a cardigan. 

A dream and a cardigan revisited

My name is Amy, and I own 40 cardigans. And by 40 I mean 57. And by 57 I mean stop judging me, it's excessive, i know.

Three years ago I set out on a deeply important quest; to work my way through my life and my closet one cardigan at a time. I made it 10 days. Less than a quarter of the way through my cardigan collection and less than .01% of the way through my life.

A lot has happened since then:

I finished grad school, I switched jobs, I had my heart broken, and I changed my mind about what I want to be when I grow up at least eight times.

I lost good friends, I made great new ones, I moved churches, and I started doing Young Life at a new school.

I got a new car, I cut my hair short, and I started wearing high heels when I want to be fancy.

Eight different people have lived in my house since 2010, I've learned three new languages, I've gotten five speeding tickets, and maybe most importantly I bought at least 17 new cardigans.

I am full of witty excuses and charming stories that explain where I've been the past three years, but lets just be real; my least attractive personality trait of complacency/lack of discipline won the day in 2010 and I fell short.

 But this is 2013 my friends. Jordan Baker reminds us that "life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall" so I'm starting over again...

 Just me, a dream, and 57 cardigans.

October 9

Designer: Merona
Colour: True red
Style: Long sleeved, button up

This cardigan has some sentimental value to me. I bought it in November of 2008 as part of my PERFECT election day outfit. Blue jeans, because I'm all american. A white t.shirt that said "vote" on it, because I care much more THAT you vote than which way you vote. Red cardigan, because that completed the red white and blue-ness of my outfit. and my elephant toms, because i am a republican after all. As I was putting together this magical outfit I discovered that I owned another red cardigan, but it was more of a rosey red and another was more burgundy red. I wanted america red, you know that rich deep colour that makes you want to break into a "usa, usa, usa" chant. I love america. It's pretty serious. Here's me being serious about america, colouring in the states as they were called, wearing my red cardigan on election night. (I know what you're thinking; christmas tree? yes. i put my christmas tree up on November 5th so that I can celebrate 50 days of Christmas. Because Christmas is right up there alongside America on the list of things i love truly, madly and deeply. deal with it.)


I wore my beloved red cardigan yesterday to celebrate another red thing i love; the arkansas razorbacks! The Hogs were in town to play Texas A&M at Cowboys stadium here in the dfw. Triple fun for me because I love college football, I love getting to see my friends from Arkansas and I love cowboys stadium. I managed to make my way down to the fifth row of the Arkansas student section and enjoyed the game with the diehard hog fans. The Arkansas student section is full of fun traditions and it was rewarding as always to be rooting for the winning team. ALSO, I got my face on the GIANT screen in the middle of the field TWICE. i feel like a serious life dream and goal of mine has been fulfilled.

I have a lot of mixed emotions about my time in exile living in Fayetteville. It was more hard than easy and more bad than good but I'm thankful to have come out of it with a love for the razorbacks and with great friendships that have eternal value. Personally and professionally it was a dark season for my soul but relationally it was rich and bright. I am so blessed to have gotten to come home to the great state after two years in arkansas with sweet friendships and great relationships that I continue to treasure. I loved having these sweet friends in town all weekend and miss them all the time. Here's me and two of my all time favs, Becca and Jessica, before the game. It was uncharacteristically HOT while we were tailgating so my cardigan was tied around my shoulders, classy style.

a dream and a cardigan...

I moved recently. And by "recently" i mean in June. So obviously mid-september was the best time to start unpacking my new house. So that I could stop living out of a suitcase I decided to put shelves up in my new closet and here it was that I made the incredible discovery that I own 40 cardigans.

I knew i liked cardigans, I do wear one almost every day, what i didn't realize is that actually i LOVE cardigans. I mean, 40... FORTY cardigans. It's possible that's a bit excessive. But here's the thing; they are all vary in different colours, styles, fabrics, button shapes and sizes and in their level of fanciness. I have every day cardigans that I throw on over my standard jeans and a Young Life t-shirt. I have fancy cardigans that I wear with dresses or to weddings. I have Easter cardigans (three that I purchased specifically for Easter last year). I have a first day of school cardigan. When faced with the possibility (opportunity?) to throw some of my cardigans out I realized I loved all of them and legitimately do wear each of them on an at least semi-regular basis.

I mentioned that to some friends who told me that I was being ridiculous, that there was no way I actually wore all of my 40 cardigans. This sounded like a challenge to me, so I accepted. This is how the month of cardigans came to be.

One might say that I simply have a dream and a cardigan.

So get excited October. dreams and cardigans. here we go.


my 40 cardigans. arranged by colour. ready to party.