January February 2014

Dear 2014, Bring It! Bring on the people I’ve yet to meet.

I know they’re out there heading my

way. Cosmic hitchhikers, wild-eyed

visionaries, creative playmates, spiritual

sherpas, new friends with old souls,

teachers of one important lesson,

messengers who don’t even realize

they have a mission, survivors and

lost souls, beauty mongers and party-

makers, temporary seatmates and

sturdy companions for the long haul.

Bring on the big moments, the hard

roads, the everyday hallelujahs. The

falling down and getting back up,

the vault of heaven on a fall day,

the brokenness and being healed, the

Cover copy by Nikki Hardin, art by Ali Douglass

“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” Meister Eckhart

jan/feb

Columbia, Aiken & Augusta

F R E E

E s c a p e t h e o r d i n a r y .

Ship That Comes In,the tide that goes out, the �rst day

of spring and the last day of school,

glitter and gold stars, the pop of corks

and the best haircut ever. Bring on

heartbreak and foolishness, mistakes

and making up, good intentions and

reinvention, wide eyes and open hearts.

Bring on everything I have yet to be.

The TRUTh OR DARe IssUe

january2014

Women control 2/3

of the nation’s disposable income.

Women influence 80%of all car sales.

Women spend almost

2 of every 3 healthcare

dollars.

Women make more than 80% of all purchasing

decisions.

From the Founder

The Truth Is…

I sometimes still feel like the Plain Jane who was best friends with the popular Homecoming Queen.

I have a streak of laziness as wide as the fat in corn-fed bacon.

Moving back to the state where I was born would be like trying to stuff a baby back in the womb. But aren’t we always trying to get home?

I always thought I wanted to learn to ride a motorcycle, but I suspect what I really want is to wear black leather and sit on a motorcycle in the parking lot of a biker bar.

Contrary to what Oprah promised, taking trapeze lessons did not make me one bit braver.

I’ve always wished I were the kind of woman who wore flowers in her hair. You either are or you aren’t.

Sometimes I fantasize about a facelift and then I realize I’m too lazy to look good. I did mention the laziness problem earlier, right?

I sneer at selfies, but would I be taking them of myself if I were more photogenic?

I have an unseemly obsession with firemen and rugby players.

If I couldn’t use the F-word, I’d be close to mute. And I don’t feel one bit apologetic about it.

I’d rather limp in cowboy boots than be comfortable in Crocs.

I’m secretly convinced that I’m the type of person who col-lapses in the face of adversity. I would have given up halfway across the plains in a covered wagon. “Just leave me by the side of the road,” is my mantra in tough situations.

The truth is you can fly if you stop lying to yourself.

Nikki [email protected]

From the Editor

Opening a new business, asking neighbors to give to a cause you believe in, or maybe it’s just being brave enough to send back an incorrect dinner order - “daring” takes many shapes and forms. It’s natural to take a step back with the advent of 2014, and think about the things you will dare to do this year. There are the tried and true favorites like “say ‘no’ more” and “get a workout routine,” but don’t stop at the obvious. Ask that cute coworker out for a drink, share your secret poetry habit with someone, pop the hood of your car and learn what lurks beneath. .

Gracie [email protected]

Features

Risky Business Stacy Appel ........................................11

Lessons From The Road Stephanie Young ................................14

In Every Issue

Letter from the Publisher ................4

Letter from the Editor .....................4

He’s So Original ...............................24

Take Six ..............................................13

Skirt of the Month ...........................29

Always .................................................19

Typewriter .........................................32

Meet ....................................................26

XOXO Nikki ....................................34

4 january/february 2014 www.skirt.com

skirt! is published monthly and distributed free throughout the greater

Augusta/Aiken/Columbia area. skirt! reserves the right to refuse

to sell space for any advertisement the staff deems inappropriate for the publication. Unsolicited manuscripts

must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Letters

to the editor are welcome, but may be edited due to space limitations. Press releases must be received by the 1st

of the month for the following month’s issue. All content of this magazine,

including without limitation the design, advertisements, art, photos and editorial

content, as well as the selection, coordination and arrangement thereof, is Copyright © 2010, Morris Publishing

Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this magazine may be copied

or reprinted without the express written permission of the publisher.

SKIRT!® is a registered trademark of Morris Publishing Group, LLC.

about skirt!

PublisherNikki Hardin

[email protected]

National Art Director Caitilin McPhillips

[email protected]

National EditorMargaret Pilarski

[email protected]

Market Manager (Augusta/Aiken/Columbia)

Kate Cooper Metts [email protected]

Contributing Editor Columbia Jenny Maxwell

[email protected]

Contributing Editor Augusta/Aiken Gracie Shepherd

[email protected]

Sales ExecutiveColumbia/Aiken/North Augusta

Libby Salvador [email protected]

Sales Executives AugustaDoressa Hawes

[email protected]

Maidi McMurtrie [email protected]

Mary Porter Vann

[email protected]

Graphic Designer Michael Rushbrook

Cher Wheeler Meaghan Pafford

Photography Molly Harrell Sara Caldwell

About the Cover Artist Ali Douglass lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and has been working as an

illustrator for over 14 years, illustrating magazines, newspapers, greeting cards, advertising, and more than 30 books.

Her award-winning work has been used by clients including MasterCard, American

Girl, Georgia-Pacific, The Wall Street Journal and more. alidouglass.com

www.skirt.com january/february 2014 5



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we❤

Kobo CandleNandina Home158 Laurens St.Aiken803.649.0616

Tea for the HeartColumbia Museum of Art Shop 1515 Main St.Columbia803.343.2159

jan/feb2014

Vino Sport Wine Canteens by Oenophiliaoenophilia.com

UGG Fluff Flip FlopShoes at Surrey487 Highland Ave, Augusta706.504.3532








Lessons From the Road

I must say, at the outset, that there is nothing more relative than the experience of speed and time. Einstein knew it and pointed it out, and we’ve been toasting him in our GPS-equipped vehicles ever since. (Without Einstein’s law of relativity the satellites could not coordinate accurately with your car—who knew?) I understand the �y sees the world in slow motion and that’s how it’s able to avoid the swatter. One woman’s saunter is another woman’s dash. I get it. However.

This awareness did not make for a less artery-hardening, terrifying experience when the Glaswegian, who up till this point had obviously just been puttering along, now decided, crouching over the engine of his royal blue Ducati, to make good use of a bit of open highway and speed up.

I could have sworn that he started to hum. Some tuneless little mel-ody that speed freaks sing as they tri�e, murderously, with the psyche of their passengers. All of me pressed up against quite-a-bit-of-him could feel his shoulders, back and legs quivering with increasing delight. He was in heaven.

Whereas I couldn’t hear the traf�c around us because of the throat-rending screams inside my head. I couldn’t feel my arms around the Glas-wegian’s waist because my body was sending all useful blood to my vital organs. I was on the verge of losing consciousness, not because I was chan-nelling the airman whose uniform I seemed to be wearing and was pulling G, but because going that fast so close to the ground was an experience I just wanted to get away from. How could I make this stop? And suddenly, in a blinding �ash of insight, the answer occurred to me:

Jump Off.It’s at this point in the narrative that I’m reminded of what it’s like, at

times, to be a writer co-running a production company.Christine, my managing director, and I are rather ambitious. Our desires

for our work hurtle at breakneck speed across the cosmos of our lives. We adore developing scripts. We are passionate about our mission to showcase women over 35 and have attracted a board of directors (with credentials up the wazoo) who support us and want a worldwide audience for the stories we love to tell.

These dreams are fast dreams. And if we don’t keep up, if we look down, we can tense up, get scared and want to abort. In mid-leap.

Yesterday I dropped off a script we’ve been re�ning for the whole three years of our incorporation at a good London theater with West End connec-tions. I parked my bike and strode up to the theater, glancing at the �ve-star reviews on the posters in the window sporting names like Antony Sher and Anton Chekhov, and before I opened the doors, I thought “What if they don’t like it? What if they say ‘No’? What if I fail?” Part of my brain shouted “Get back on the bike! Go home! Go to bed! Go to sleep! FOR YEARS.” Because sleeping is something I can do quite well. And no one ever tells me my sleep-ing isn’t what they’re looking for or something they’re already producing, but many thanks for letting us see it and good luck elsewhere.

But. There just isn’t that much uninhibited, heart-launchingly, spirit-quickeningly, life-af�rming joy in sleeping. And desire and ambition as in-tense, as fuelled, as large as ours requires another technique.

The Glaswegian slowed down to neatly duck the cluster of cars ahead, and I gasped a whisper of air into my lungs, allowing some blood to �ow back to my brain. This gave me the resources to question the wisdom of avoiding terror by leaping under the oncoming rubber, chrome and steel, leaving my heart—and lungs and kidneys—in Buckinghamshire forever.

We took the next exit, and while idling at a traf�c light, I lifted my visor with a shaking hand and whimpered, “That’s a bit fast for me.”

He put a warm, gloved hand on my thigh, nodded, and from that point on we had a leisurely motor through green and pleasant countryside. Apolo-gizing for my wimpiness over a pub lunch, I recon�rmed We Wouldn’t Go That Fast Again. He was receptive and kind and assured me we wouldn’t.

“I was just trying it out,” he said smiling. “Different passengers, different speeds.” I wondered if he was thinking of other, racier girlfriends. I imagined them, clutching his middle and urging him on to greater and wilder miles per hour. I saluted them.

“How can you enjoy it?” I said, my lunch all the tastier after the adrena-line rush. “How come that doesn’t scare the hell out of you?”

He didn’t have to think about it. “I’m relaxed,” he said.Which, in the face of both raging artistic desires and land-speed-record-

breaking highway journeys, seems like a pretty good choice.

Stephanie Young is the author of 17 produced scripts for radio, television and theatre and Artistic Director of Mofardin Young Production Company. She lives in London, UK.











Striving to connect our Faith with Community

{ }Equip Classes – 9:00 Sunday morning

Worship – 10:30 Sunday morning

For more information please call us at (864)328-8375 or visit our website at www.cbc-aiken.org

Join us for our launch on January 26th at the beautiful Newberry Hall location at 117 Newberry St. Aiken SC

We stress in-depth teaching and authentic living as we strive to connect our unchanging Faith with an ever chang-ing community. We hope you will join us on the journey!




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WHEREWill Your Skirt

take younext?

Tibi skirt fromVan Jean2734 Devine StreetColumbia803.252.4339

I dreamed I packed my skirts

(and backseat cooler) and drove cross-

country by myself.



Dare to order a grande coffee at Starbucks.

The truth is...it’s only 20 cents more.







january 2014

~ N i k k i

Refrigerators on Front Porches

Great Finds at Walmart

Adorable Olsen Twins Picking Their Noses

Trailer Park Envy

Moms with Screaming Kids

Moms Screaming at Kids

Ugly Cupcakes & Bad Tattoos

Un-ironic Use of Garden Gnomes

Mr. Coffee Moments

I Hate Letterpress

10 Pinterest Boards You’ll Never See



Making Spotify playlists

Sudafed

Idea lists

Worry lists

Grocery lists

Late-night online shopping

My Netfl ix queue

Looking for my nightguard

The funny sound in the furnace

Toasty mornings with tea and avocado toastD.C. and N.Y.C.Doing wheelies with my soulMaking chili and cornbreadMy moth-eaten cashmere pajamasCheating on my iPhone with my Nikon

W h a t ’ s o n m y i Pa d :

W h a t ’ s k e e p i n g m e a w a k e a t n i g h t :L o o k i n g f o r w a r d t o :

I a m j e a l o u s o f : W h a t ’ s o n m y m i n d :

Hannah Brencher believes the world doesn’t need another app or Instagram—it just needs more love. That’s why she started writing anonymous love let-ters to strangers and leaving them around the city. Eventually, it led her to create “The World Needs More Love Letters” to spread the love. Want to participate? Check out moreloveletters.com and start writing!

N o t e t o s e l f :

“Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities, don’t compromise, and don’t waste time.”

Debbie Millman

This is the month of lying fallow while ideas germinate below the surface, of seeing old

stars anew through bare branches, of fiery sunsets burning off old dreams and a crescent

moon of new beginnings. Don't wish it away. Be the seed that grows hardier in winter,

that isn't forced to bloom out of season, that believes in its own green.

Nikki Hardin is the founder of skirt! Magazine and the co-founder of Project XX (projectxxsc.com). She blogs at fridaville.com.

january 2014

nikki

Crown & Glory rhinestone kitty ears

I have one habit I want to change this year, and that’s my diffi culty in get-

ting up early. It’s not waking early, but a cold start to my creative engine that

holds me back. By the time I’m revved and running, half the day has passed.

I want to see how the morning half lives. I doubt they have more fun, but

maybe they get more done.

M u s t - h a v e s t h i s m o n t h :

Magazine and the co-founder of Project XX (projectxxsc.com). She blogs at

Lumio Lamp in a bookSchott Perfecto tough-girl jacket

Lulie Wallace lunchbox

THE BEST USE OF

$5.00 (pack of 2)Emily McDowell Temporary Tattoos

Anne Smith’s

“100 Cups”

painting series

annesmith.net

Schott Perfecto tough-girl jacket Schott Perfecto tough-girl jacket Schott Perfecto Lumio Lamp in a book

Nikki Hardin is the founder of skirt!

5.00

SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014

Special thank you to all our 2013 Sponsors

10

Children’s Hospital of Georgia

[email protected]

January February 2014

Documents

p e t h e o r d i n

new friends

best friends

day of school

fall day

day of spring

truth isi

aiken augustaf r e ee