the best chessboard ever. really.

my first date with jenny was to the junior/senior dance at our university. the posters advertising the event recommended that we "dress to impress"--well, jenny seemed to have a pretty good sense of humor, so i half-jokingly suggested we should go to a thrift store before the dance and pick out crazy outfits that would...you know, impress.

she agreed (boys, this is the point when you know that you asked the right girl).

the night of the dance came. we ate dinner at some restaurant and rushed over to goodwill. i picked out the tackiest outfit i could think of--a plaid blouse with a paisley skirt (what she picked out for me is of no importance ).

and for the year and half since, the deliciously unattractive concept of "plaid and paisley" has more or less permeated our relationship.

we even built a plaid and paisley chessboard.

jenny lives two hours from me in atlanta, georgia. she is a graphic designer, and i am a modern poetics major. thus, we are not only very creative people, but when we get the chance to be together, we are very intentional about our use of time--and, of course, our favorite activity is creating things together. this past christmas, we gave each other a chess set...that is, we built one together.

the swatches are 3" by 3", and cut from ties, skirts, shirts, pants, bedsheets, and--yes--boxers.

(we still debate whether the "plaid" should equal "light" or "dark." i think that plaid is clearly the lighter squares, whereas jenny maintains the opposite. feel free to give your own opinion.)

we have yet to make our own chess pieces, so currently we just use these pieces from my old wood board, but someday, we will make our own pieces, as well.

at the end of this post, i have included an image of the whole board, sporting the pieces we are temporarily using (which i hijacked from my old wooden set). but to give you an idea of what the pieces might eventually become, here is our favorite concept for the king (currently, anyway).







and now, the completed project.  the chessboard below began as a dangerously tacky outfit to a classy school dance--but now, jenny and i have been dating for a year and a half, and this board, if i dare say so, is beautiful.