Fake Cool

When superbabe Ali Stone reached out to me to ask if I wanted to do a little #collabcollabcollab on a piece from her custom jewelry line, Just the 2 of Us, 

I was ALL IN. 

Not only because I'm obsessed with Ali herself (you're not supposed to get to be pretty, smart AND talented #HATEYOU), but also because, well, her jewelry's killer. 

The line was started by Ali and her mom, Debbie, 

who I first met while working at boutique called iona in Wisconsin. 

They were definitely our most kick ass customers, so when I found out that Ali not only had drool-worthy style, but was a professional photographer, a beyond amazing blogger, and a jewelry maker,

I killed myself. 

JKJK

But seriously. 

Really not fair.

 Anyhoot.

I knew immediately what I wanted my piece to say. 

she thinks I'm witty!

"Fake Cool". 

I don't know what it is about those two words in conjunction with one another, but there's something incredibly comforting about them that I just can't quite put my finger on. 

I think, perhaps, it's the notion that, in truth, no one is really cool. 

We're all in the same proverbial boat — doubting ourselves, struggling to feel included, worrying about our qualifications — glimpsing rare pieces of ourselves that we love, but more that we hate, and working, day by day, to seem suaver, smoother and stronger than we actually feel. 

It's easy to believe that everyone around us has their acts together. Everyone's getting engaged, or buying puppies, or gloating about news jobs, while we're just struggling to not fall down the 3rd flight of stairs up to our shitty 4th floor walk up, hoping that maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to squeeze in an episode of Broad City before our body inevitably shuts down, only to be shocked right back into action at 6am sharp the next morning. 

This simple reminder, hung around my neck, helps me to remember that we're all just losers pretending to be non-losers. 

Reassuring, right?

Cheers.