The irreverent crafter and mommy blogger takes a kitschy-cool dress for a spin.

by Mick Kelly . photo by Matt Rose

How to describe Robin Plemmons? Mostly, she takes care of that herself. Her blog is called “Balls to the wall, y’all,” which is a pretty apt summation of the way she lives her life (and normally talks). Perhaps you’ve seen her cards and painted wood blocks at shops around Asheville. If you have, you’d probably remember. Their messages range from the happy and Hallmark-ish (“Life is an occasion. Rise to it.”) to the playfully dirty, like her latest batch of Valentine’s cards. One reads: “Dry humping. Kinda fun. Mostly chafe-y.” Or, the ever-so-straightforward: “Shut up and do me.”

Truly, it seems no topic is off limits for Plemmons. The 32-year-old South Carolina native loves making fart and vagina jokes, especially on Twitter and her blog. She’s only been blogging for a couple years, but so far, the jokes are going over well. At last fall’s Blogapalooza in Asheville, she won awards for Best New Blog, Best Craft Blog and Best Overall Blog. (That last one means she gets to carry a big stick.) A few weeks ago, the Weaverville mom was promoted to Creativity Editor at a group humor site called Aiming Low.

BeforeWhen VERVE decided to give Robin a makeover, we knew it would be a hoot. And boy, were we right. She showed up to Guadalupe Chavarria’s studio in downtown Asheville carrying a bottle of raspberry beer (which she drank during the haircut), some funny cards and a bright pink Snuggie—for her “before” shot, of course. She kept stylist Sarah Becker in stitches while Becker gave her intense blonde highlights, a wavy, girly ‘do and a playful feather hair extension. Mendy Hoffman at Makeup at the Grove Arcade was equally giggly as she gave Plemmons exotically long eyelashes and bright lip color to go with a Hip Replacements dress covered in Our Lady of Guadalupe prints.

One of Robin’s favorite sayings? “Be who you be.” And she certainly was. Only now, she’s a little bit hotter.