About

The Basics

I am a writer, editor and designer living in Seattle, Washington. I earn my keep as a marketer/PR person/copywriter/woman about town for a local coffee roasting company.

I wrote about what we have going for us for The Hairpin.

I wrote about living with my ex-boyfriend for eight months for Thought Catalog.

You can find me on Twitter and see my photos on Flickr.

Would you like to read my clips? Go here.

I publish Vintage Smith College, an archive of historic images from that quaint women’s college.

I have made several videos about unemployment.

I used to publish what we look like on the inside, a collection of photos of our inner children. I also published 4736, a Seattle street style blog.

All You Could Ever Want to Know and More. Much More. 

1. My full name is Drew Lenore Zandonella-Stannard. I did not fully master its spelling until the ripe age of eight.
2. I started this blog in October of 2002 the night before I had a twenty page sociology paper due and not a single word typed.
3. I got a B on the paper.
4. I accidentally tucked my skirt into my tights before leaving the restroom on the first day of high school.
5. I follow 401 Tumblr blogs.
6. I am a feminist. That is not a bad word.
7. I am living proof that one cannot die of kitsch.
8. I am a big supporter of the afternoon nap. See number 65.
9. I graduated from Smith College in 2006. It is not a “girls’ school without men.” It is a “women’s college without boys.”
10. I once won a coloring contest at a local grocery store. The prize was a disposable camera.
11. I make hip crafts. I do not use “craft” as a verb. I like to embroider.
12. My domestic fantasies are second only to my lust for technology and culture.
13. My future home will have built-in bookshelves. Check.
14. I save everything. Notes from elementary school, ticket stubs, ribbons, post cards, photographs, emails, pencil toppers, receipts. Nothing is trash.
15. That said, I am a very clean person with many boxes.
16. I haven’t ridden a bike since 1995.
17. I have a thing for dogs with scrunched up faces and sinus problems, but find myself writing Missed Connections to dogs of all kinds.
18. I have been in love four times in my life.
19. My television addiction is slowly being lessened by a professional life and interpersonal relations.
20. Now I just obsessively hoard episodes on the DVR and micromanage my Netflix queue.
21. I grew up in Seattle, where my parents owned their own coffee roastery and were staunch co-op supporters.
22. That said, I’d love a double tall Americano with room for cream, please.
23. My parents are two of the coolest women I have ever met.
24. They were the 350th gay couple to marry in Massachusetts and celebrated their 28th anniversary this June.
25. I am the product of donor insemination.
26. My father was a hilarious and brilliant man.
27. He died of AIDS in 1997.
28. No, I am not HIV positive.
29. I am an only child.
30. I am a fan of expensive, experimental beauty treatments.
31. Every three to five weeks I pay a sassy woman named Carol a hefty sum to bond eyelash extensions to my face.
32. I realize that acrylic nails are somewhat trashy. This does not stop me from possessing an unbridled passion for them.
33. Things I have had stenciled on my nails: hearts, stars, music notes, tango dancers, and graduation scrolls. Soon I will explore the dark world of 3D nail art.
34. I am a feminist. You can call me a feminist. It is not a bad word.
35. I do not currently nor have I ever had a driver’s license.
36. I ride the bus everywhere I need to go.
37. Therefore, I am an environmentalist by default.
38. I am a Taurus through and through.
39. I once received a spray tan that left me with large brown spots on my rear. Never again, never again.
40. I have spent the majority of my adult career talking, thinking and writing about food.
41. Please do not call me a “foodie.”
42. I have three tattoos.
43. I snore, but I’ve been told it is inoffensive.
44. I think those people were liars.
45. I’ve been known to walk and talk in my sleep.
46. I enjoy the great indoors.
47. However, I have explored the Ape Caves of Mt. Saint Helens, hiked portions of the Appalachian Trail and survived two earthquakes.
48. I used to collect massive amounts of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia.
49. My favorite piece was an oil on wood varnished portrait painted by a grizzly old man from New Hampshire.
50. The portrait was purchased for me by an ex-boyfriend who shared in my Marilyn obsession. He later came out.
51. Actually, I have dated two gay men in my day.
52. Both of them were borderline pathological liars.
53. One of them found Jesus, the other had a brief porn career.
54. I believe in God. Jesus is a different story.
55. I believe that God is a non-gendered being.
56. I voted for Kerry and then Obama.
57. I am left handed.
58. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 1998.
59. My version of Crohn’s leaves me achy, nauseous, dizzy, and glued to the toilet.
60. A combination of my medication and the disease itself leaves me perpetually tired.
61. Thus, I am a marathon sleeper.
62. Flare-ups of my disease are brought on by stress.
63. I’ve been hospitalized three times for Crohn’s.
64. Prior to my diagnosis, I missed almost five months of junior high.
65. I graduated anyway and lost fifty pounds. I looked like Mary-Kate Olsen.
66. Fortunately, I’ve since been much healthier.
67. Unfortunately, my brush with an Olsen-level body mass was brief.
68. Two months ago I noticed a new beauty mark on my toe. I didn’t know that could happen.
69. I have a chicken pox scar on the right side of my forehead and one behind my left ear.
70. I am afraid of the dark.
71. I am terrified of dying alone.
72. I am scared of becoming horribly disfigured, getting lost in the woods, or being pursued by a serial killer.
73. I am not afraid of needles, blood or domesticated animals.
74. In misguided youth I sang in an Ani Difranco cover band.
75. I did a four-year stint as a DJ for WOZQ 91.9FM.
76. I have worked as a wedding planner, a gallery coordinator and a substitute teacher.
77. In high school I won the Presidential Public Service award two years in a row.
78. The second year, I received a little button that said “citizenship.”
79. When I started this site I published via the very early paid version of Blogger. They sent me a little sweatshirt when they were bought out by Google in 2003.
80. I am a natural brunette.
81. I have been a blonde, a red-head and once a sort of off-yellow color with blue highlights.
82. 3 is my favorite number.
83. I don’t have a favorite color.
84. No matter how bad my day is, I always wash my makeup off before going to bed.
85. I can write with my toes.
86. I can play a mean ditty on the piano.
87. I’ll have a gin and tonic with lime.