How I wore it: cat-and-student-wrangling

Guys, today was the first time since Monday that I left the house (for non-gym/running purposes) and the first time since Monday that I put on make-up; it didn't go well: I poked both my eyeliner brush (remember, I only use liquid liner) and mascara wand into my right eye. I = skilled.

Anyway, today was also the first day since Monday that I had real appointments. I took Amalía to the vet today for her six-month check-up (where she was a scared good girl!), which was less scary than I'd anticipated (my husband doesn't usually work on Thursdays, which is why I made the appointment for today, but he had to go to work, so I was a little nervous about hauling the cat carrier - with squirming cat - ten to fifteen minutes on foot to the local vet. She was fine: no meowing, or worse - sticking her head out of the carrier in an effort to get away). Then I had to go to my tutoring sessions before meeting up with the Greek for an impromptu dinner date. All I wanted was to wear my new boots:

Folks, I LOVE these boots. I only wish they were a teensy bit bigger. I bought them in a 40 (9.5), and I vary between 40 and 41; they only had 40 and they were super-comfy in the store. After a fair amount of walking, my feet felt a little cramped, but nothing too bad. Anyway, for their big début, I kept all my clothes/accessories simple; normally, I'd've worn blue accessories, including jewelry and my new glasses. And I'll definitely do that next time. But for today, I wanted the boots to be the big color splash of the outfit.

When my husband saw this, he asked, "Did Nigel Barker, famed fashion photographer, take this photo?"

Yeah, let's not worry too much about this photo. I'm sure Tyra would approve. The other pleasing thing about these boots? They're waterproof. This is not information I particularly wanted to find out, but the sleety nor'easter that started a few hours ago meant that we all found out stuff we didn't need to know about our clothes. 

People. Snow. On the last day of March. See why I hate New England?!

Black shirt: from Tony's, a boutique in Old City Philadelphia, remixed

Grey jeggings: HUE, by way of Lord and Taylor

Blue boots: Is To Me (?), by way of a boutique on Arenal Street in Madrid

¡He vuelto!

PEOPLE! I am back from my vacation exile! Is it weird to say that I missed y'all? Our hotel had some sort of internet connectivity, but my dinky iPod isn't good for reading blogs and I couldn't steal my husband's iPad too often or he'd have an Angry Birds withdrawal, so... I read a couple of blogs every once in a while and commented never.

But now? Now I'm back! I had a marathon of catching up this morning and even started slowly commenting on a couple of blogs! I took photos! I'm a monster! I'm back.

So, yeah, I went to Madrid. MADRID! Oh, people. It was so wonderful, even better than I remembered; this was my third trip to Madrid, but my first time staying in the center of the city (and my first time going WITHOUT my parents, which makes a difference) and I fell in love all over again with the city. My husband and I stayed in the Hostal Madrid, right on Sol, and we went out every day, every night, and did wonderful things. I didn't take as many pictures as I'd planned, mostly because I was so busy drinking everything in. We ate like hogs, we walked like mules, and had a wonderful time exploring different neighborhoods and meeting up with a Chilean second cousin of mine who now lives in the city with his Spanish wife of Swedish origin, as well as dining with a family friend of mine. It was magical. I did not take a single outfit photo. The only photograph of the trip in which I appear is a hideous self-portrait that my husband and I took of ourselves in front of the Palacio Real.

I was actually very proud of my packing skillz for this trip: I took two pairs of shoes (the grey booties and the cognac Steve Madden Intyces), two pairs of leggings (one black and one blue jegging), three dresses, two pairs of tights, one cardigan, a couple of tops, and one light jacket. My husband was the bigger diva in terms of packing because he had to look purty for the world premieres he had last weekend in Philly (!!! It was so wonderful!) and New York.

That being said, our suitcase was pretty full when we left the US for Spain. Good thing my new carry-on bag is ENORMOUS:

Oh, hey! Remember this guy that I ordered from CSN Stores way back in the day? Well, it came almost as soon as I ordered it, but I used it for the first time on this trip, and oh boy, did I stuff it. Since I had the luxury of not taking my computer, which is rare for me, I filled it with books and magazines and my camera and iPod and two cell phones (one for the US, one for Europe) and my wallet and... You get the picture. It worked beautifully, but my one complaint is that I wish either the handles were longer or that there were an extra longer strap, because it was often too heavy to carry around in my hand or on my forearm. Other than that, though, I'm very pleased with the bag and undoubtedly rate it a √+. 

So because our carry-ons and one suitcase were topped to the brim upon arriving in Spain, I'd decided that whatever souvenirs I bought (and was bought - my husband and I decided to get our anniversary gifts for each other on this trip) had to be small and portable. I was angling for jewelry, as it's something I always love and it would travel on my carry-on. However, the famous specialty boutique windows that I browsed were disappointing and I realized that I'd have to look elsewhere for an anniversary gift. 

Until we saw the window of this store. As we walked by on Wednesday afternoon after an enormous lunch with my cousin, we saw a beautiful grey and maroon cape/wrap. The store was, unfortunately, closed, but my husband insisted on going back later so that he could buy me that exact cape. I saw the price of the cape online and balked, but the Greek insisted, and on Friday evening, I became the proud owner of a grey (with maroon border) "Paseo" model. Here I am trying it on today, looking less than chic:

AMAZING! Although I do need some work on the draping angle (never my strong suit, even with something more lightweight, like a dupatta). The cape is essentially a ginormous wrap with two flaps, which you can fling around your neck in a dramatic fashion while putting it on. If you don't fling either of the flaps around your neck, you just have a standard Dracula-esque cape. I'm gonna work on draping it a little more efficiently so that I won't entangle anyone on the streets of Boston (the only time I've been happy to come home to cold weather!). But in the meantime, the profile is pleasingly pared down:

Love. It's ridiculously warm (85% wool) and beautifully made. I'm going to treasure it for a long, long time.

Well, so that threw a dent into our packing strategies, but not too badly. The next day, we wandered over to the Salvador Bachiller store on Gran Vía and I bought my husband two beautiful leather items: an iPad case and a laptop case. I can't photograph them because both are at work with him. However, as we were returning to our hotel that evening, I asked to go down Arenal street, because I'd seen some cool shoes the night before in a store near our hotel. Well, one thing led to another and I also ended up being bought these:

You guys, light blue boots! Can you believe it? The store had a bunch of boots in different pastels, including a dusty rose color, which was nice. But I, of course, gravitated to the more turquoisey colors. The three pairs of boots they had in this color were: high lace-ups, motorcycle-like ones (like the Frye Veronica Slouches or the Fluevog Radio collection), and short lace-ups. I originally was gonna go for the high lace-ups, but the short ones were in front of me and once I tried them on, I was in love (It didn't hurt that I saw a gorgeous madrileña wearing short lace-up boots [not blue] on the metro the night before and immediately coveted my own version). So in they went.

So it's not jewelry, but I'm pretty happy with my Madrid souvenirs: light blue boots and an amazing cape.

I tried to notice what people were wearing, too, and enjoyed observing both natives and tourists. Europeans (I saw this on our flights to and from Zurich, too) seem to be less afraid of color and I saw a lot of people - both men and women - wearing fantastically colored glasses, for example. It made me sad not to have packed my blue Warby Parkers. OTK boots are big right now too and I also regretted not packing my own (how SICK are they gonna look with that cape?!). Overall I felt as if I dressed in more dark/subdued colors than other women my age - many had colorful coats and bags, if not accessories or shoes. And everyone of all ages was wearing boots, making me happy to have only packed those.

So, YEAH, people, I'm BACK! I'm happy to be here - although I could've done with another week in Spain, to be honest - and excited to be on track with all of your lives. 

Fragments of my day and au revoir

People, today I didn't like the way I looked:

It was another day where I stood inside my closet, practically begging my clothes to do the right thing and look magically put-together on me. I changed outfits three times, at least. I'd planned to wear a dress that I've owned for almost five years, but that recently has looked awful on me. I thought with my recent weight loss it would look good again, but ... ew. No. So then all my plans went to hell. All the cute outfits I had on the forefront of my mind were too warm (it hit 70 degrees today!) or waiting to be packed for Spain. But then I was running late for my tutoring session, so I just went with it...

Today was a nice way to say good-bye to Boston for the next week. You see, tonight is our last night here before we haul-ass to Philly tomorrow for a world premiere of one of my husband's pieces (other pieces will be played, too) and to New York on Sunday for the repeat concert and finally head out to the airport on Monday night for our few days in Madrid. We totally have people staying at our place, though, so THERE, thieves! Anyway, I tutored my two girls and then went off to a concert of new music at an art gallery, put on by some composition students who regard my husband as a minor god. One of his pieces was performed there, too. What can I say: he's a boss.

The rest of the day, both before and after the concert (it's almost 12:30 AM and my husband hasn't packed and I don't know when I'll be getting any sleep), has been devoted to trip preparations. I've printed out tickets, packed my suitcase, packed my carry-on, planned my outfits, etc., etc. But I was also able to do some fun things to make the trip experience a little classier. For example, we bought this luggage tag last weekend:

A Penguin Books luggage tag! The small store in Cambridge had two options and I hadn't read the other one, so I chose this one, which was also appropriate for travelling. To be honest, I haven't read On the Road. I'm obsessed with the Beats, but I can't really stand much of their writing - especially that of the "greats" - except for selected poetry by Ginsberg and, yes, Kerouac. My favorite Beat author, though, was one of the underdogs, Gregory Corso, whose poems are little gems. I recommend The Happy Birthday of Death, one of the most beautiful collections of poetry out there, in my opinion. The truth is, though, I know a lot of the Beats' biographies: I admire their lives, but not all of their output. Oh, well. The luggage tag is still adorable.

To make the experience even more fun, I decided to use this guy to type our information for the card inside the tag:

THAT's our new typewriter! And the luggage tag. And a glimpse of my green coffee table. And our rug. Isn't that a beautiful machine? It's really a work of art, but it's perfectly functional, as well. I had a lot of fun relearning how to type on a machine with real keys, typing such gems as "This is the coolest thing we've ever owned" and "I think I'm scaring the cat. How do you make exclamation points? Oh, yeah. !" Genius. Anyway, I look forward to using this machine more. My husband hopes that it'll get me to start writing seriously again (I'm really not kidding with the whole "I wanted to be a poet for years and years" thing). One thing I'd like to definitely do, though, is type out his favorite poem, one that I wrote for him when we first starting dating, and frame it for him. I love simple typed text - I think it looks so beautiful. 

(Oh, here's another picture of my typewriter - my new obsession - and the luggage tag. Because I'm a huge nerdwad:)

Artsy!

So that was a fun thirty minutes of my day. 

Another cool thing happened, which I'd hoped for, but didn't expect. My Etsy necklace arrived in the mail! It's smaller than I expected, but still lovely:

Oh, and for the record: I do not like talking about my politics or my personal religious beliefs (I'm nominally Greek Orthodox, but just to make a lot of Greeks happy), but I used to have many ties to the Muslim world at my university, both through my friends and my fellow students/colleagues. My senior thesis focused on a time in India when Islam was the dominant religion (I wrote on a Mughal emperor) and intellectually I'm quite attracted to the more mystical dimensions of Islam (speaking of which, that book - Mystical Dimensions of Islam - by Annemarie Schimmel is wonderful...all of her writing is. I'm on fire today with the book recommendations!). Long and the short of it is that I don't feel weird ordering/owning a necklace with Arabic script: on the contrary, I think it's beautiful and I can't wait to put it on as respectful shout-out for a much-maligned faith. 

Here's a close-up:

I love that detail.

Is it me or are all my pictures crooked? I totally straightened them on my computer. Maybe my hidden suspicion that I don't see straight is actually not an insane paranoia. That's fun.

Anyway, these are some photos of what's been going on in my day. Ugly outfit and bad hair day, gorgeous typewriter, and lovely necklace. Not a bad way to end a week and start a vacation.

So, folks, here's the nitty-gritty. I'm not packing my computer with me, so I won't be blogging till at least next Monday. I'll miss you all. I'll have limited internet access, so my blog-checking and commenting will also be quite low, although I'll try to do what I can. Have a great week and I'll catch you on the flip side!

How I wore it: Blarney

Folks, today was a beautiful day in the Boston area, and one that promised even more wonderful things since I got to meet the lovely (and lovely-voiced! Is it weird that I noticed that?) Cynthia today for my first ever blogger meet-up! Yay!

Being St. Patrick's Day, I was a little paranoid about the potential drunken Bostonians that I might encounter, but I was also determined to wear a touch of green, my former favorite color (doesn't that make it sound official?). I decided to go all-out spring today:

Startled!

You may notice that beneath my white shirt, I'm wearing a green top. When I was home, sans white shirt, the green was more visible. So it goes. God, those pants are wrinkly. I'm so embarrassed to have left my home in the. 

Oh, do you notice something else? My first official outing with the blue glasses! People, I dithered back and forth over whether or not to wear these. I liked that they picked up the spring theme/color of my (favorite) seersucker pants, but they're just so BLUE! My husband told me that they looked awesome and I should wear them. A lady on the subway complimented them. As did Cynthia, so I feel better about life now. I'm looking forward to wearing these more in the future now that I've finally unleashed them onto the world.

Anyway, meeting Cynthia was a real thrill, as we had a long, cocktail-fueled conversation about unsuitable exes, academia, and oof, many other things. I think I did that thing that I do a lot when I'm excited, namely, interrupt. Sorry, Cynthia! Oh, also, when I was doing less boozy math later, I realized that I may have stiffed you a couple of dollars! 

Don't I sound like the most delightful company? Who wants to meet me next?!

In all seriousness, though, I had a lovely time. Thanks, Cynthia!

Oh. Happy belated St. Patrick's Day, everyone.

Blue glasses: Warby Parker

White shirt: Brooks Brothers, remixed

Green top: American Apparel

Seersucker pants: Gap, remixed

Moccasins: Minnetonka, by way of Lord and Taylor, remixed

How I wore it: litrachoor

People, I am sorry to say that the Gap had no offerings that tempted me today. I went in to the closest store with nothing but good intentions, but I was left frustrated and empty-handed. Alas.

Anyway, after a surprisingly productive morning, I decided to dress nicely for two reasons: a) I went to a poetry reading/book presentation at one of my favorite bookstores and I wanted to look presentable; and b) I really wanted to wear my new garnet necklace. And so it went, I think:

Red pants alert! Wooo! I think I've made it perfectly evident that I really like red and black together - usually I don't even pair anything other than black with bright red. Wearing gold and garnets just seemed to wrap everything up nicely. Oh, see that tiny dot at my throat? Yeah, that's my new necklace. Here's a bigger picture, for scale:

Flash: can't live with it, can't live without it

Now you can see the relative size of the stone in proportion to my neckline. Pretty, huh? Although I love jewelry of all sizes and shapes, I especially like this kind of thing, where it's just a chain and a stone. And I also especially love garnets, although they're not my birthstone (my birthstone is the peridot, for those of you keeping track). So this necklace just worked out perfectly for me. And I did end up wearing the gold garnet earrings, although you can't see them in the picture. 

Oof, so in the meantime, I'm trying to figure out how to plan my summer. It will certainly include a trip to Greece. It would ideally include a trip to the Netherlands and at least one trip to Germany. Oy. As much as I love Hamburg, I'm excited to not to have to go back once I finish my Ph.D. [fingers crossed]

In other news, the bookstore event was cool and I learned a little about Cuban poetry and met some cool Spanish speakers. I hope I can do a little more of this kind of thing; oh, here's an embarrassing fact about me. I used to write poetry ... and even, as a teenager, READ AT POETRY READINGS IN THE VILLAGE! How Beat am I?! Too bad it was forty years too late...

Black shirt: Gap, remixed

Red pants: Gap outlet, remixed

Black boots: Aerosoles, remixed

Garnet pendant: Gilt Groupe, remixed

How I wore it: peacock(ing)

People, for some reason, I am finally kind of out of the Great Malaise of 2011. My husband's spring break is rapidly approaching (as is our trip to Madrid!), meaning that his only work today was to send e-mails, rather than correct lots of homework. So we went out for a long walk which involved lots of grocery and cat food shopping. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand ended up buying a 1935 Smith-Corona burgundy typewriter. Yeah, we're dumb. My husband has long wanted to buy a typewriter, as he's considering handwriting scores and writing instructions on typewriter. And wouldn't you know it, there's an awesome antique typewriter shop in Arlington, so, um, we went in and left with a gorgeous model!

In other news, my best friend's boyfriend, an editor, sent us five books today to thank us for putting him up. AND my advisor wrote back to me and said that we could think about me graduating THIS SUMMER HOLY SHIT (yes, I curse. A lot. Sorry, people.). AND, there's a chance I'll be meeting a fellow blogger in the next couple of days. Yes, I'm psyched.

Oh, and I wore a lot of colors today:

You see those enormous things hanging from my ears? Yeah, I based my whole outfit on these earrings:

When my best friend and her boyfriend were here, we took a long stroll up Newbury Street in Boston. As we neared Mass Ave, I saw that a Forever 21 had opened, a store which I've never visited. I've been kind of obsessed with [HOLY S, Mercedes on "Glee" is wearing a Lady Gaga top suspiciously similar to mine!] Forever 21 since I've heard about it. Cheap trendy clothes that might fall apart in a few months? Okay! However, the only store I knew about in NYC was kind of an in inconvenient location. So when I saw a store in Boston, I dragged my friends inside and walked out with two cheap-ass pairs of earrings. Including those peacock wonders. I've wanted peacock earrings since I was seven (BECAUSE THIS SAME BEST FRIEND HAD SOME!).

Whoof. Big breath. So a pair of turquoise pants, a turquoise scarf, and a purple cardigan seemed to be the way to go in order to finally wear these earrings. They're a little much, but fun.

Speaking of earrings and nice things, I got a new necklace today. Last week, when I was quite down, I - as you know - bought a pear-shaped Islam-inspired necklace. The next day, the jewelry on offer by Gilt Groupe included a pretty garnet pendant by Satya Jewelry. After dithering for a few hours, the necklace was still on sale and I decided to go for it. Do you guys get the sense that I turn to retail therapy when I'm sad? I've learned something Very Special about myself. Anyway, the necklace arrived today (I was more excited about the books, to be honest, but only for an hour or so) and it is super pretty:

I'm looking forward to wearing it. Isn't it pretty and simple? I'm excited that it arrived before our trip to Spain. I love the little lotus detail next to the clasp:

I'm a sucker for Indian-inspired anything! Would you all like a droning etymological explanation of the origin of the word "satya"?

I dithered for a while before buying this necklace because I had, y'know, BOUGHT A GOLD NECKLACE THE NIGHT BEFORE. But it was so pretty that I couldn't just let it go. However, one thing in this necklace's favor was the fact that I already own a pair of gold and garnet earrings, bought in Prague in 1997:

I already have pre-existing! matchy-matchy accessories! I'm so happy! I'm going to try to wear it all tomorrow - it's the little things, people.

So, yeah. Life is a little better! Yay! And thanks for all your support in the last couple of posts, people. You're all great.

Big-ass peacock earrings: Forever 21
Turquoise scarf: gift from tutee's parents, remixed
Purple cardigan: from my mom, via Lord and Taylor (NYC), remixed
Striped tunic: American Apparel, remixed
Turquoise corduroy leggings: HUE, by way of Lord and Taylor (Boston), remixed
Grey boots: Frye Paige Huaraches, by way of endless.com, remixed

How I wore it: it freakin' SNOWED!

Yes, people - despite the relatively balmy temperatures of the past couple of days, today it was raw and unbelieving Cantabrigians (maybe Bostonians also) were subjected to a couple of hours of wispy snowflakes. Ridiculous.

Anyway, despite more than one bout of napping on my couch under a blanket, a cat, and a mediocre mystery novel ('The Dante Club'? Does this get better, people? Have any of you even read it? I was drawn by the description of grisly murders based on the Divine Comedy, and the fact that it took place in Boston with famous historical people. However... it's just not drawing me in and I have a HUGE tolerance for silly mystery novels. I bought it on the street for $5, so I have no qualms giving it away), I actually had to get out of the house to run some errands. The Great Malaise of 2011 continues, though, people, and I really had to think about what I wanted to put on my body. For some reason, I've been yearning for color, so a bright sweater fit the bill:

However, I kind of came to revelation. The reason I'm so stymied and bored with my wardrobe? Um, I don't have that many clothes. I'm pretty sure that every single article of clothing that's in my closet you all have seen. And even if you haven't, it doesn't mean I haven't worn the crap out of it. As you can tell from this blog, I wear clothes over and over again in pretty similar styles and outfits. I'd love to explore my closet and "go shopping" in it, but...there's nothing to shop. I'm bored of all my clothes and am in a huge rut. 

Today I came to the conclusion that I desperately need a couple of things:

• at least one pair of casual non-leggings (non-jeans?) pants. The ones I'm wearing above are falling off my body and their hems are ridiculously ragged. I already have khaki pants that I love - and it took me a while to FIND khakis that I actually liked - so I'd love to find some nice, multi-seasonal casual pants (like a nice black pair that I can dress up or down, etc.).
• a utilitarian belt. With my recent weight loss, some of my clothes (particularly THOSE PANTS) need to be hitched up to my waist and all I own are fancy belts that are too wide to fit through most normal pant loops.

I think the above items are real needs, especially when trying to justify buying clothes WITH NO JOB PROSPECTS. Items I want, on the other hand:

• more tunics. I own a lot of long shirts/tunics with short or nonexistent sleeves. I'd love to find a tunic that I could wear with my leggings and skinny jeans over which I DON'T have to wear a cardigan. Preferably something colorful or patterned, like a cool plaid. 
• more colors. I'm praying for spring so hard that I apparently want to wear it. I'd love a top in green or light blue. I actually used to have a light blue spring/summer top that I wore all the time: I wonder if it's still at my parents'...
• lightweight cardigans (multicolored). I only have one cotton summer cardigan and it's black. I'd love one in an acid green or turquoise or something like that.

Fortunately, I have a coupon for the Gap that I would like to use up in the next couple of days. Maybe I'll be lucky and find something cool that will take me out of this fashion rut. 

How I'm wearing it: grey day

Hi all. Wow, what a day. I hope all of you with friends/family in the areas affected by today's earthquake/tsunami hear from them and, if you're in those areas, that you're safe.

In other news, today I had to go out tutoring my French girls, before which I whipped up a batch of my world-famous (what! My family is scattered around the world!) oatmeal-cheesecake bars. You see, I just got home from tutoring and in a couple of hours, I'm meeting good friends for Mexican food, after which we're all coming back home to watch 'Bringing Up Baby' (both my friend and I were raised on it: our [foreign] husbands have never seen it). So I wanted to have dessert waiting for them.

When I left the house, it was pouring rain and gross. Now it seems better, but I based my shoe+leg choice on the weather (boots and leggings). Again, I was absolutely stymied with deciding what to wear, up until the very end. And, looking at the picture below, maybe I should've thought further:

...eww. 

I don't know - I'm not feeling it, although I was comfy and continue to remain that way. Is it the muddy, washed-out tones? Is it my tentatively weird expression? Is it the all-too-visible thighs? I don't know. I did like, though the use of the turquoise necklace with the clothes. That's about all I can say.

In other news, though you can't tell in the photo. My hair is finally starting to settle into normalcy. I mean, I can kind of do anything with it and it finally falls into a shape that I like, without need to futz with it endlessly in front of a mirror. Hmmm...maybe I'll have short hair for a few more years again. It took me TWO MINUTES to dry it people. TWO MINUTES! Sigh. Happiness.

All right, y'all. I need to go cut up some bars and dream of margaritas. Any fun Friday night plans?

Grey cardigan: husband's, from H&M, remixed

Black top: Express, remixed

Corduroy leggings: HUE, by way of Lord and Taylor, remixed

Blue boots: Frye Veronica Slouches, by way of zappos.com, remixed

How I wore it: baby's in black and I'm feeling blue

So this morning, when I was about to go to the gym (for the first time in AGES), I found out that I didn't get the teaching job I was hoping for. I'm disappointed, less about the job (in my heart of hearts I'm not sure if I would've been ecstatic working there), but rather about how...scary the future is. No job prospects, my advisor gone AWOL again - I'm not even sure when I'm finishing my Ph.D.; my plan was to finish this summer, but with no word from my advisor, I just don't know. I'm more calm now than I was this morning, simply because my family has been so supportive.

Sigh.

Oh, well. Obviously I substituted "eating tons of deviled ham" for "going to the gym," though.

As little as I wanted to leave my house, though, I needed to go out for tutoring. I was not inspired, to say the least. The weather didn't help:

Just a basic black base, blue boots, and green accessories. My favorite "real" color (apparently people don't always like to be told that grey/black are my favorite colors) used to be green, but I've gone off it the last few years. I like red a lot now. And turquoise, of course. Anyway, yes, though, I still do like green a lot and I decided to be simple with my olive cardigan and matching earrings:

Pretty, no? They were a wedding gift from a family friend/English tutor of my husband's family. I believe she bought them in the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens. To my untrained (yet enthusiastic!) eyes, the green stones look like peridots, which happens to be my birthstone and a big favorite. I like that these earrings - for being so small - have a wonderful amount of detail. 

My outing turned out to be good for me, in the end. I realized this morning that all I wanted was to BUY something - apparently I get quite acquisitive when down. I've been scouring Etsy a lot...

I want this:

Aww, nuts! It was sold today.

This comes came from the Olives and Pearls store. 

I also want this:

I love jewelry and I love Arabic script: put the two together and it's a win-win situation!

This comes from the ArtWark store. I just put it in my shopping cart.

But the good news is that I went to my favorite bookstore (where I even asked if they were hiring. No joke.) and - with my parents' money. What? - bought four Sanskrit-based books: one on Paninian grammar; one of Kalidasa's poems; an introduction to Prakrit; and a book on Indo-European languages. Woot! 

[Did I tell y'all that I'm thinking of doing nerdy language-camp in the Netherlands this summer?]

Anyways. I'm feeling better about life, but am still a little downcast. It will pass and I'm sure something better will come out of it. 

Green cardigan: gift from mother via Lord and Taylor (NYC), remixed

Black tunic: American Apparel, remixed

Black leggings: HUE, by way of Lord and Taylor (Boston), remixed

Blue boots: Paige Veronica Slouches, by way of endless.com, remixed

Earrings: gift from a family friend

How I wore it: stymied

Today was supposed to be a low-key day. My husband doesn't work Tuesdays; I was gonna watch 'Glee' and Andrew Zimmern going to Greece. It was going to be awesome. However, an uncontrollable addiction to 'Angry Birds' (SERIOUSLY) and a concert including a new piece of my husband's happened. And I had to put on clothes.

However, I had NO CLUE as to what to put on. It was one of the few times I really just stood in my closet open-mouthed, trying to figure out what to put together.

In the end, though, I went with some basics and liked the finished result:

My black dress was fairly screaming to me from the hanger. I decided to make my standout color burgundy and went to town. Burgundy sweater, red necklace and bracelet, and burgundy boots, to which I did something new. I don't like it when a skirt hem covers part of the boot, so I folded down my knee-high red Fryes for a slightly pirate-y effect. The angle of the camera slightly squattified the effect, so take my word for it when I tell you that there was more leg visible between dress hem and folded up boot top. [By the way: I LOVE how the Fryes look folded - fun, no?]

In the end, of course, I missed both 'Glee' and 'Bizarre World.' But I had a fun time with my husband at a cool concert and felt pretty. It was a winner.

Burgundy cardigan: gift from my mom, via Lord and Taylor, remixed
Patterned modesty top: Express, remixed
Black dress: Gap, remixed
Grey tights: Gap, remixed
Boots: Frye Shriley OTKs in Burnt Red, gift from my husband, via endless.com, remixed

How I wore it: smiling and laughing and looking so fine...

Five years ago today, I had dinner with a certain Greek man. It was our second date. Our second meeting, to be precise. He had promised to cook me dinner, so I went to his apartment. Maybe it was foolhardy of me, but after a month of e-mailing and a five-hour coffee/dinner/drinks date about a week earlier, I felt as if he probably wasn't a serial killer. Lo and behold, five years later, we're married, own a house and a cat. We banter and sing in Greek and he understands me when I burst out at him in Spanish when I can't the right word in any other language. Yes, people. Today was my five-year-anniversary (as a couple) with my husband.

We had decided not to give each other fancy presents so that we could do so later, in Spain. But I got him a simple button-down from the Gap and he took me out to an amazing French bistro in the South End. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, though - he just said to dress up and meet him at his office at 8 o'clock sharp. So I did:

Look at me with my headband!

People, at the risk of getting weirdos to come and read this site (hey! More readers!), I am a whore for houndstooth. I love it so much. I bought this dress on Election Night of 2008 (the night I decided - wrongly - not to buy the Frye boots of my dreams... I can't link to them: it's too painful.) when I was out with a work friend, killing time before going to another colleague's house. We went into a Loehmanns and I fell in love with this form-fitting dress. When I first bought it, and the last few times I wore it, it was a little less appropriate, as there were more curves to hug, but I still love its shape and cut. Isn't it fun? Since I hadn't worn it since my faculty Christmas party, um, last year, I thought today would be a perfect opportunity to wear it. The yellow Fluevogs seemed like the obvious shoe choice, despite the jarring discrepancy in color. By the way, the 'vogs are getting more and more comfortable with each use: yay! 

So, yeah, that was my anniversary outfit. Too bad I had to cover it up with a cardigan. AND a fleece (I wish I were kidding, but it got COLD today after a couple of days [and a morning!] of relative balminess). Oh, well. At least my base outfit was cute...

What patterns do you like, people? Anyone else out there as much a slobbering fanatic of houndstooth as I am?

Houndstooth dress: Necessary Objects, by way of Loehmanns

Grey tights: Gap, remixed

Yellow boots: John Fluevog, remixed

How I wore it: greeter

Not many words tonight, folks: my best friend and her boyfriend are in town, staying in our place for a couple of nights. We had a long night of dinner, drinks, giggling, and reconnecting. The best kind of nights.

After going into a cleaning and cooking frenzy, I decided to look vaguely presentable in order to meet my friend and her man at the bus station. For years, my best friend wore only skirts and almost always punctuated them with colorful tights. In homage to her, this is what I wore:

And that's all she wrote. Happy early Sunday morning!

Purple cardigan: gift from my mother, via Lord and Taylor, remixed
Red dress: Calvin Klein, by way of TJ Maxx, remixed
Yellow tights: Gap, remixed
Boots: Steve Madden, remixed

For whom I wore it: who's my audience?

Last night, my husband and I had along talk about personal style and the audience for whom one should be dressing. He admitted that he sometimes doesn't like the outfits I choose and that he feels he should have the freedom to tell me, just as I should have the confidence to tell him when I think a particular combination works less well than an another. This came up because he was a little shell-shocked by how much I'd changed my hair and felt that he wasn't clear enough in just letting me know that he'd've preferred I'd gone less dramatic (he did admit, though, that he likes my haircut - so, yay?).

I'm not telling you this so that you can indignantly condemn my husband for quashing my spirit. It just got me to thinking - who am I dressing for? And should I be dressing for anybody? Part of me wanted to tell my husband to eff off because I am free to wear whatever, but...another part of me - naturally enough, I think - obviously does want to look as attractive as possible for my husband.

So what? Who do I dress for? Should I dress for anyone other than myself? Fellow Style Nation dwellers, if you wear something that a significant other hates on sight, what do you do?

[I want to assure y'all, though, that my husband made it clear that if he doesn't particularly like one of my outfits, that...okay. It's not like I'm gonna be sent home to change.]

[God, don't start hating my husband, okay? He's a wonderful man. Just a little old-world.]

Anyway, with this conversation fresh in my mind, I played it safe today when I ran some errands:

I wanted to go with something plain and simple: a black tee and khakis seemed to be just the ticket.

Wow, I'm still kind of shocked whenever I see a picture of myself. NO HAIR!

FIERCE! What would Tyra say?!

What are your weekend plan, people? My best friend since birth is coming to visit for a couple of days with her new boyfriend. I foresee a lot of eating and laughing. 

Black tee: H&M, remixed

Khaki pants: Gap, remixed

Boots: gift from my husband via a shoe store on Ermou Street, Athens, remixed

How I wore it: what up, my face?!

Dudes, today I ended up having a remarkably good (and lucrative!) day. I ran some errands and then tutored the child that I can't really stand. I was owed double fee because her parents weren't home to pay me the last time I met with her (two weeks ago). On top of that, her dad wants to learn conversational Spanish a little better (his wife is Argentine, he's American), so I got paid TRIPLE FEE today! Woo-hoo!

Anyway, while my husband still does a bit of a mental shudder each time he makes eye contact with me, I'm still LOVIN' my short hair. I love seeing my forehead (and rest of my FACE) again. I wanted to wear something cute and creative to showcase my new haircut, but I also had to deal with the fact that it was FREAKIN' FREEZING. I decided to start with a pair of warm corduroy leggings and work up from there. I like what happened:

Fun, right? I'm glad I decided to use my button-down sweater vest as butt camouflage (and thus keep the integrity of the long-sleeved black top I was wearing).

Because I had so many layers, I was pretty toasty during my freezing errand-running and subway-wrangling. I wish I'd sprung for a hat, though. Sad face.

And that's me, folks. I'm still loving the short hair and I hope you guys do, too. (And thanks for your nice comments on yesterday's post!)

Black sweater vest: gift from my mom, via Brooks Brothers, remixed
White layering tee: H&M, remixed
Black long-sleeved top: H&M, remixed
Teal corduroy leggings: HUE by way of Lord and Taylor, remixed
Grey boots: Frye Paige Huaraches, by way of endless.com, remixed

How I wore it: going, going gone!

Happy (belated) March! Do we think that spring is coming soon? I sure hope so!

Well, as you may remember, today I had a Very Special Appointment with Cheryl, my stylist. I was supposed to meet up with my husband some hours after the appointment, and go to a concert after THAT, so I had to dress comfortably, but I wanted to mix it up a little:

I used to tuck my shirts in all the time, but I really stopped doing that in college or so. Well, I'm kinda back into it every once in a while. I tucked my graphic David Bowie tee into my workhorse red skirt and decided to belt up the whole shebang. I would've preferred a wider belt, but it didn't fit well in the loops. So I went with a skinny belt. Thick grey tights, Greek boots, and a contrasting green sweater finished the look. 

This is kind of a different look for me and helped a lot in mitigating the style-rut that I've been feeling. I felt comfy and pretty rocking all day long.

Oh, would you like to know how the haircut went?

YUP! I cut it off! Cheryl did a great job and I love how I look, although my husband is kind of mourning the old hair. There's a ton of product in it at the moment, so I look forward to showcasing it in its more "natural" state. Yay!!!

People, I love having a forehead again! And I can't wait to experiment further with earrings and bolder make-up. 

Fun times ahead!

Green cardigan: gift from my mom, via Lord and Taylor, remixed

David Bowie t-shirt: Gap, remixed

White belt: from another dress

Red skirt: Dickie's brand, by way of Guacamole (a store in Philadelphia), remixed

Grey tights: Gap, remixed (?)

Boots: gift from husband from a shoe store on Ermou Street, Athens, remixed