HeyJaredThe Laundry Pile by Alison Gary
All the thoughts not fit to print on Wardrobe Oxygen, the style advice site I've run since 2005. Personal life, random ramblings, deep dives, and thoughts on midlife, perimenopause, music, pop culture, and what else is running through my head.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 11
- Latest publication
- Sep 20, 2026
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- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 15, 2026
Latest issues
Being a Parent of a High School Senior is Not for the Weak (opens the original)
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I am typing this while I hear my husband in our bedroom packing up for another road trip to another private liberal arts college within five hours of our home. I was supposed to take our daughter to this college tour, but I got an offer to be a guest on a live taping of a podcast so he stepped up. He’s been stepping up a lot lately; in fact I have only been on two of the college visits and that was back at the end of June/beginning of July when we went up to New York State as a family.It’s Q4, t
25 Years Ago (opens the original)
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I was the visual merchandiser for the Express store in Annapolis Mall. The actual store manager was a hot mess express, a recent hire from LA Weightloss who always screwed up the schedule and was always late. So yet again, I was taking bank deposits and opening registers instead of updating windows and training my team.We had this huge machine in the back room, about the size of a small refrigerator, which supplied the music for the store. Each month we'd receive a new cassette playlist, two hou
We can't just hope for a brighter day... (opens the original)
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This spring, Wolf Trap, a national park in Virginia that is also a fantastic music venue, reached out and offered me two tickets to one of their shows that summer. I had already bought tickets to see Tori Amos there in July, and many of the shows I was drawn to were during early voting or the primary election in Maryland (I am an election judge). But then I saw in August… Diana Ross. Diana Ross! I am not some hardcore Diana Ross fan, but who doesn’t love at least a handful of her songs? And who
End of Summer Face & Body Favorites (opens the original)
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It’s mid-August, my teen is heading back to school next week, I will blink and it will be Labor Day. Here in Maryland, it’s warm through October, but we still shut down the pool and switch out the clothes for a more autumnal vibe and those who are into the pumpkin spice whip it out even in heat and humidity.I love summer. I love the beach, the pool, I don’t mind getting sweaty if it is expected, my hair thrives in humidity. I live the summer vibe as long as possible and my summer face and body r
Reclaiming My Hair in Midlife (opens the original)
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I never really thought much about my hair. In middle school, I started coloring it different shades found in the aisles of Peoples Drug. In high school, I cut it all off, then began growing the top, leaving the bottom half from eyebrows to nape shaved. In college, it was blonde, it was auburn, it was cut in a pixie a la Kelly Taylor. After college, I continued to play with my hair: platinum, pink streaks, one night I put my hair in a side ponytail and cut it off for an asymmetric ‘do very simila
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