When I Grow Up

Top: Lands' End Canvas gingham poplin (worn here before - similar here)
Skirt: UO Cooperative zigzag
Tights: Anne Klein herringbone (worn here before - similar here)
Belt: H&M double buckle (worn here before - similar here or -ish here)
Shoes: Anthropologie Raines / Seychelles Ring in the New Year (worn here before - similar here)
Necklace: Anthropologie Grandma's Treasure Trove (worn here before - similar-ish here or here)

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When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a tennis star - my dad has always been a recreational tennis player and during his rare free time when he wasn't out playing himself, would spend it watching Lendl and McEnroe duel it out. I tried so hard to emulate my dad that my mom still talks about a barely standing baby Lisa in diapers holding a big wooden tennis racket batting around a ball in the garden.

In elementary school, the wannabe stardom bug hit and my then-BFF and I spent afternoons trying out NKOTB dance moves and working up a routine we wanted to perform on the NYC subway platforms while waiting to be discovered. If only we could work up the nerve to actually do it.


Junior high emerged within me the future aviator - I would fly the F-14 Tomcat with my RIO in tow and we would go buzzing towers and dogfighting MiGs. Unfortunately the Tomcat was on its way to retirement and I had no sway to qualify for the Naval Academy.

Late high school saw a more serious me going through the motions of college preparation - a future cardiothoracic surgeon needed the extra credit to get into a good college and excellent medical school, so of course I spent my free time volunteering at hospitals and beefing up my poorly lacking math and science skills.

In college I wanted to do nothing more than write the great American novel. I took creative writing and even jourmalism to help fine tune my writing skills, and interned with a literary PR firm, boutique publishing company and then corporate travel magazine.

Close to graduation with the great big world looming, I felt like retreating - no need to battle the great concrete sidewalk, I would go to Door County and open a quaint B&B amongst the cherry orchards and summer fishing, spending my days baking and my evenings reading by the fire.

It's been years since college and reality has hit like a ton of bricks. I have a full time job now, real responsibilities, a live-in BF, a townhome, a new pup. But I'm still not sure what I want to be next.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? Where do you see yourself in five or ten years from now?