This morning I coded your basic standard “Dear ESB: Can I pull off these Jeffrey Campbell booties?”* and it filled me [with self-hatred] [with dread] [with... nothing]. It’s a new year, and I can’t bear to post the same old shit.
And yet.
I’m not ready to wipe myself off the face of the internet.
So. For 2014, I’m telling myself: Post whenever you feel like it, and don't feel guilty when you don't feel like it. Let the blog become something else, if it wants to. [Need one more sentence here to complete rule of threes.]
Louis Vuitton via Vaunte via Pennyweight
______________________________
*NOT WITH THAT DRESS, LADYPANTS
We're not ready for you to leave either. As long as it's c*nty we should be fine.
ReplyDeleteI love your posts about writing, about movies and books, and home decor, and travel, and body types, and weird shit you find on the internet. You will have style in whatever you do. I do not read this blog for wedding stuff. Write about whatever the hell you want!
ReplyDeleteMOM, I TOLD YOU NOT TO POST COMMENTS
Delete(kidding)
Delete(i hope)
♥ &hearts ♥
Haha. Not your mom. But if that's the kind of advice she gives then LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER! <3
DeleteI, for one, would love to hear more about your screenwriting! Maybe that's too much of a niche thing, but...
Deleteagreed! your work tweets always leave me wanting more! Obviously I love wedding horror stories and advice but your fashion advice, etc could be expanded past weddings!
Deletei'm really excited to see whatever weird thing this blog becomes (as opposed to This weird thing). it's gonna be great. good luck shedding crushing burden of guilt-- get rid of it!! looking forward to reading.
ReplyDeleteI agree - write whatever you want. I wasn't planning a wedding or anything when I found your blog and follow you anyways. You remind me a bit of Sarah from Saipua, and I like it.
ReplyDeleteI don't care about weddings either but I love your writing and the commenters here. Post whatever you want! I'm like
ReplyDeleteyeah, post whatever you want! we'll stick around for it.
ReplyDeletei hear ya. i am grappling with this same thing, and i don't even have readers that "count on me". that said, i am one of those readers for you, and i would read this blog, no matter what. ... plus, you know how i feel about weddings. ;-)
ReplyDeletei love this blog and your commentary on so many topics. (and, selfishly, i already got married and you and your readers helped me find a wedding dress). but i read long before i was even engaged and will continue to read for a long time. love your tone and your honesty.
ReplyDeletewe're here for you!!
No matter the topic, I'll still be the token male.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I come to this blog is because you're a stylish writer and someone who seems to connect her readers with beautiful, thought-provoking things and ideas. Weddings are a great jumping-off point for that, but they're certainly not the only one.
ReplyDeleteI don't care about wedding stuff anymore and I definitely don't have the same sense of style that you do, but yet, I keep coming back here. So suffice to say, I'd read whatever you wrote, wherever you wrote it.
ReplyDeleteTHIS. You've got an original voice and great taste. I keep coming back here six months after my wedding. Yours is the only blog I consistently refresh, and it has about 1% to do with me enjoying wedding planning.
Delete2 years in my case.
Delete3 years and counting...
Delete3.75 here (I had to so it'd keep incrementing)
DeleteJust keep bringing on the snark, that's what I'm here for.
The Internet wouldn't be the same without you! Whatever the content, I hope you stick around.
ReplyDeleteI'm always dying to hear more about the tiny house, your job and personal style. Four years post-wedding... I still love your blog.
I like it when you give relationship advice and when we occasionally all poll our partners on weird topics. Also you're the only reason I have any semblance of fashionable taste in things, which is hilarious because I know you mostly wear t-shirts and jeans. Which reminds me- I'd wear a WWESBD t-shirt if you started selling them.
ReplyDeleteYou can post about anything. I enjoyed the posts about the table. Maybe about setting up your home/wedding/regular fashion?
ReplyDeleteI'm excited.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Post whatever you want! If it changes cool, as long as you are still authentic. Also the relationship stuff/drama is always my fav anyway, probably because it's not always the same "find me some shoes to wear" thing.
ReplyDeleteWrite what you want. Or don't write anything. I'll gladly read whatever you're posting but if it's making you miserable you are allowed to take a break. Especially since you already answered my Jeffrey Campbell bootie query.
ReplyDeleteyou know I'm not here for the weddings!
ReplyDelete(though, while we're on the topic, j.crew has a wedding jumpsuit that might give you some nice new year's cognitive dissonance.)
I will read and participate in any space you create on these interwebs. That said, I know how impossible blogging can be and you should feel free to do what's best for you. I will tweet at you when I miss you.
ReplyDeleteI think it just needs more lube. XO.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog before my engagement/wedding, 4 years ago. I read specifically for your snark. Our styles are completely different, yet I love every piece of advice you hand out. I admire the way you deliver honest advice. Weddings or not.
ReplyDeleteI'll echo everyone else - I will read whatever you write next.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that sticks out in my mind - a more general advice column? There are a million fashion bloggers, and even though you style is amazing, fashion blogging is really more about the pics. I'd love to hear more about what you think about things.
Yes! I'm excited! I keep reading this blog even though the wedding stuff is interesting me less and less (especially since I've been several years married now), but I keep coming back and LOVE seeing the posts that have nothing to do with weddings.
ReplyDeletethis is my #1 favorite blog on the internet. don't leave us!
ReplyDeleteDon't go. You don't have to write about weddings if you don't want to. The B in ESB could easily be changed to something more fitting. First Celia drops the bomb and now you are having these thoughts as well?! All my favorite bloggers are slowly leaving.
ReplyDeleteI echo the resounding "DON'T GO!"
ReplyDeleteI am newly engaged but have followed your blog for a year already. And I'm used to digging into the archives for pearls of wisdom when one blog post (or seventeen) still left me wanting more.
Looking forward to reading about non-wedding things to keep me sane!
Long lurker here. I HATE wedding stuff, but love your blog.. I don't even have any idea how I found it years ago but I have been following for ages. Echoing all the other comments here- I would read whatever kind of blog this turned into.
ReplyDeleteDitto everyone else ... I lurk constantly and appreciate your "slightly salty older sister" great advice
ReplyDeleteEcho Echo.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the don't do it if it makes you miserable thing.
But: maybe more contributors like #boobsweek oh I miss that.. love when you have guest posts about stuff life related (and decorum etc..)
maybe even though you are no longer on the East Side (right?) or a Bride but rather an Ecstatic Snarky Bitch or whatever you get the point, we are all on this roller coaster with you and yours. We all like giving each other advice as much as you allow us to.
I would miss (all of) you if you (royal we) were no longer here.
Post anything you like, just don't leave us!
ReplyDeleteI recently (December) discovered your blog via pinterest and immediately started following! I immediately liked your slogan and kept on reading. I am not a bride or close to being one, simply liked your style! Yes, write write on any topic! Best - MONA A LA MODA
ReplyDeleteSix years ago I started reading this blog. Three months from now is my five year wedding anniversary. I'm still reading. Surely it's not just wedding matters that keep me checking in. Must be you, your writing, the comments or all of the above. Keep something going. I'm sure I'll be about.
ReplyDeleteesb, the interwebs wouldn't be the same without your snark! please post whatever you want, whenever you want :) it's so fun to read your posts and the ensuing comments!! happiest new year!
ReplyDeleteAnother long time lurker adding to the cacophony...Go if you must, but I will miss you.
ReplyDeleteOne more for the chorus. I'm still around all these years after my wedding. Your writing is entertaining and you've got great taste. I'll read any blog of yours no matter the direction.
ReplyDeleteMore praise & pleas to stick around here. I don't care about weddings, & just keep coming back for your voice, which would be refreshing on pretty much any topic.
ReplyDeleteThis is the only blog I care about/care to continue reading
ReplyDeleteYOU GUYS ARE SLAYING ME
ReplyDeleteESB, I hope it is not a surprise to you that your readers read for YOU, not wedding ideas, and will follow you anywhere. It makes me sad to think you have been frustrated with the blog for awhile and didn't feel like you could follow your gut and change things up . . .
DeleteI like your no bullshit attitude and if you let this blog go in a non-wedding direction then that is what it becomes. I got married and now I shouldn't need this blog but I feel like I do still want to read it, it's so damn good. Shit sometimes I feel like asking you life questions that have nothing to do with weddings but I know this isn't an agony aunt column.
ReplyDeletebring em on
DeleteWhat if it was east side bitch instead of bride (or balloons? or baloney? or breakfast? or bullshit?)??
ReplyDeletePlease, don't leave us. I need your fashion sense, and snark, and the family of weird humans in your comments who love each other (I cried when we found friends for a commenter in London) and hate each other (sometimes we're so mean!).
We loved your toilet cleaner searches, your moving anguish, and your extensive discussions of boobs (although I disagree with the opinion that bras must always be worn outdoors. fuck bras.)
I'm not going to get married anytime soon; I stumbled upon this blog as I was writing a paper critiquing wedding blogs and the current affinity for rustic barn weddings...three years ago. I read this blog almost every day and I can't explain why. You can write whatever the fuck you want, whenever, but don't leave the interwebs...please?
As Donna Kate Rushin says in "The Bridge Poem":
"Stretch or drown / Evolve or die"
Dear ESB,
ReplyDeleteI wrote to you a while back (see the Oh honey no tag) and actually loved your response. I even went so far as to respond to it- later deleting the comment when my name appeared next to it- and even went so far as to show it to my boyfriend, the love interest mentioned in the post. We are very happily living together in my least favorite climate, since it is cold, wet and windier here than I could imagine, and vaguely planning for some sort of union/wedding linking our families and friends sometimes in the next foreseeable years. None of that is very important, and though I'm glad I provided your blog with amusing fodder regardless of whether or not I'm actually planning any sort of nuptials, since I continually come here. Yes, you and your readers have a great eye and a wise word for most anyone, but that's not important. What is important is the fact that though I hate most blogs and see them as the virtual Disneyland of thirty-something year old women who are determined to prove, regardless of their failed book deals, that they can achieve what their preteen selves imagined, I love yours. Your brief personal post are filled with such maturity and grace and are an aspiration to a silly 22-year old drunk in Scotland far from home. You're a better writer than I ever hope to be and I hope, be it in this blog or some other form, that I always have access to your voice. Thank you always,
S
Long-time reader here... your blog taught me the importance of a proper bra fitting and that hormonal birth control could cause low libido. Both discoveries were life changing (I am NOT exaggerating). I love your blog!
ReplyDeleteI'm married but I still like the wedding shit and I already have a great bra but I still liked #boobsweek. I could go on.
ReplyDeletedon't stop
Just don't stop blogging, whatever direction your blog goes...I'll be reading.
ReplyDeleteDelurking to beg you to keep writing about any ugly dress or awesome dining room table or whatever you want. I'm here for the voice.
ReplyDeleteHey lady, you write about whatever you want to write about, and we'll be here, drinking it up with gusto and leaving snarky comments (when we're not leaving really nice, supportive comments). xo
ReplyDeleteI go away for two weeks and everyone starts retiring? What is going on?
ReplyDelete(I can't decide if Google Reader going away killed blog reading or if Google was just anticipating the curve, but I can see the trend in this direction and it bums me out, even though I'm tempted as well)
Keep doing what you do, in whatever way you want to do it! I would just ask that I get the occasional ring post. I love rings.
ReplyDeleteDO IT, says the lady who finally made her blog private so she could start posting again. DO IT.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading forever, and loving it, and now that I'm engaged you disappear!?!
ReplyDeleteYou do you, but after a break, come back, yeah? In whatever form.