When I was in my teens (and bell-bottoms were the only pants I wore), my dad told me a story about a pair he had while in college. Which, at the time, I was like, ew dad, bell-bottoms are for GIRLS! Now, however, I throw mad respect for the pants he was about to describe to me.

He talked about these bell-bottoms as if they were a long lost friend. The perfect wash, the perfect fit…we’ve all had those, haven’t we?

His girlfriend at the time (not my mom, but ALSO NAMED JULIE - and worse - her father was named JULIEN - confusion abounds!) was very into embroidery. She took his jeans and embroidered all sorts of things - flowers, giraffes, vines, you name it.

They were his favorite jeans. Over the years, they got lost, but my fascination with embroidery only grew stronger.

Now with embroidery full force in every store on the market, I’m unapologetically collecting ALL the embroidered things. And yet, I always seem to want more. (Ariel from The Little Mermaid totally gets me in this way.)