How I wore it: what's black and white and red all over?

Why, the New York Times, of course [that's how we answered that question in NYC as kids. Is it different elsewhere?]!

Folks, I feel as if my body wants to go into hibernation. I barely made it through my run this morning and when I FINALLY sat down to work on my dissertation, I realized that I only had about 45 minutes before I was due to get ready to leave the house for tutoring and that if I didn't take a nap I would probably collapse in the middle of tutoring ... so nap trumped dissertation. What a shocker. Then I tutored and came home and...? Well, now it's so late. And I have to cook dinner. I guess it's one of those weeks that I just have to write today off. Grrr.

On the plus side, though, I really liked my outfit today!

The funny thing? This outfit would probably be almost 100% mom-approved. The white shirt is another infamous Brooks Brothers button-down (I only have three of those shirts, all from my mom, all from Brooks Brothers); the sweater vest is also a Brooks Brothers mom-gift, and my mom bought me the red pants many years ago, when I was just about to start graduate school. The funny thing is that I also had the idea to pair the sweater and shirt from my mom, who also owns the black sweater vest: she told me that she wore it for the first time with a white shirt, so I decided to follow suit today. Only with bright red pants.

I said I wanted to break out of my "skinny pants tucked into cool boots" rut, and I think I did. Now I want to go back to that rut. My feet / legs were COLD today! No, but seriously, I'm glad that I've been playing with a couple of other silhouettes and looks lately. It's good to know I can, but now I want to go back to what I truly love. And, hey, I live in Boston (-ish): for that alone, practically, owning 10 pairs of boots is totally justified - let's show them some love again, right?!

Another reason I liked today's outfit? It was totally preteen-approved! One of my students exclaimed over both the pants and the glasses necklace. The other student's mom also liked the necklace. And her daughter told me that she thought my actual glasses were "awesome." Yay! Getting compliments from 12-year-olds really can make your day, people. Although I'm not cut out to be a full-time middle-school teacher, there's something really fun about that age and about the things that kids that age find cool.

[Case in point: when I taught middle school full-time a couple of years ago, I went to work one day with my hair down, which I didn't do that often, as is still the case today. One of my male seventh graders told me that my hair looked "so cool!" I replied that I hadn't done anything - just washed it and slept on it, but I thanked him. Then he noticed a necklace I was wearing and told me that it was cool, too. "It's a good day!" he exclaimed, seemingly overwhelmed by my all-around awesomeness. Heh. Twelve-year-old boys. Love 'em. Sometimes.]

The moral of all of these stories is: if you're feeling tired and cranky, wear bright red pants. They make anything better.

Black sweater vest: gift from mother via Brooks Brothers, remixed

White shirt: gift from mother via Brooks Brothers

Red pants: Gap outlet, remixed

Black flats: Me Too, by way of DSW, remixed