How I wore it: I'm a cool mom

Quick update, as it's my last night of break, it's almost midnight and NO ONE IN THE HOUSE IS ASLEEP. For real, for some reason Baby Boots always stays up till ass o'clock on nights I want to turn in early. I think it's probably because I'm tense at the end of breaks and she senses that from me, so she, in turn, can't sleep.

Anyway, last night we went out to dinner with a student/friend of my husband and my husband encouraged me to wear my new Fluevogs. I wasn't planning on their first outing being with this outfit, so take it with a grain of salt:

See what I mean? The look in-person was unbearably chic and flattering. In this picture? Stumpification central. That's okay. The booties themselves are so amazing and comfortable that I plan on living with them so you'll be seeing them A LOT.

That checked shirt is from my legendary Old Navy haul in September and it's become quite the workhorse. The light jeans (which is my new favorite wash now, for some reason) were from a much more recent Old Navy Haul. 

All right. It's time to hit the sack so that I can take advantage of my husband trying to get Baby Boots to sleep...

Checked shirt: Old Navy (online)

Grey tank (underneath): H&M (Athens), remixed

Jeans: Old Navy (online)

Booties: Fluevog

How I wore it: "spring break"

I'm sure y'all are bored of hearing me complain about how I didn't get a real spring break because of baby and I have two weeks and I barely got this second week and blah-blah-blah world's smallest violin. It's true. In my incredibly privileged vacation schedule, my second week - in which I wanted to work on job applications and grades and lesson plans and turning my dissertation into a publishable manuscript  - was kind of a bust. Remember how I said Baby Boots started barfing? Well, then I got sick. On Wednesday I could barely get up from a prone position, as a random fever suddenly started spiking (although I did take and bring my baby home from daycare). Thursday I was nauseated the whole day, plus the baby had her 15-month check-up (yes, she's 15 months old!). Yesterday was my real day "off," but my brother and his family came into town for lunch and ... so, yeah. Summer, I'm lookin' at you!!

Anyways, as I mentioned, yesterday my brother, his wife, and their two kids came to visit me for a quick lunch on their way to my sister-in-law's family for Easter. I put on clothes for them, and kept them on when I picked up Baby Boots from daycare a couple of hours later. The top is from my mythical September Old Navy purchase. Everything else y'all have seen a billion times:

As usual, because I'm a terrible photographer, my beloved blue Fryes photographed as black, but they're definitely blue and I wore them on purpose because of my striped top. I freakin' love that shirt, you guys. It's a simple-ass grey and blue striped long-sleeved tee, but I love it. It's ridiculously flattering (I totally don't buy into that "horizontal stripes are unflattering" nonsense): every time I wear it at work, people tell me I look slim. At work, I tend to wear it with a scarf of some sort because it's a little too clingy on the chestal arena, but for a casual Friday at home with family, it was fine. 

I'm in a bit of a rut with that top. I tend to wear it with black jeans and boots (usually my blue rain boots, on a rainy day), but not with much else. Any suggestions, Style Nation?

Striped top: Old Navy (online)

Black jeans: Bulldog brand, via Urban Outfitters, remixed

Blue boots: Frye Veronica Slouches, via zappos.com, remixed

eShakti dress review

Some time ago, eShakti contacted me about reviewing one of their products. I chose a pretty halter poplin dress in a yellow/mustard which is, of course, seemingly not available online anymore (so no linking!). It arrived quite quickly and I must say, I am smitten with it!

(Let me just warn you, before you look at the photos, that I tried this on before putting on make-up and doing my hair and stuff. So. Yeah.)

Cute, is it not? I love the pockets! The dress is a gorgeous material, really high-quality, as advertised. As you probably know, I love me a cute halter dress for the summer, and I'm really looking forward to adding this one to the arsenal. It has full support in the bust, which I also love. 

Granted, it's a little wrinkled, but in real life, there would be some nice big pleats in the skirt. I love the details of this dress: the matching belt that came with it, the (invisible, since they're at my neck) that holds the halter together... Most of my other halter dresses tie at the neck, which can sometimes be a major (and literal) pain (especially by the end of the day), but this will make a nice, smooth line. 

I only have two quibbles and that's something that I could have solved easily on my own. As I've mentioned before, eShakti offers alterations on every garment, some for free. Because of the little free time I have in life, I decided to order this dress in a normal size, without any alterations of any sort. I should have given my bust measurements, as - I assume from breastfeeding Baby Boots - my chestal arena is proportionally a little bigger than what my normal size would imply. I also would have changed the length of this dress. This right-below-the-knee length is a little unflattering on me and I would've gone a little shorter, had I thought about it more fully. 

But those are minor issues and, again, ones that are fully avoidable and not the company's fault, but rather my own. I cannot wait to wear this dress over the summer. Although I'm wearing my mustard flats with it above, I'd probably style it in real life with my orange sandals or with the various pairs of brown, neutral sandals I own. I think this dress will be a staple for me in Greece and I can't wait. It gets a huge, unqualified √+ from me! Thanks, eShakti!

Oh, one of the dresses I wanted was this one, but it was unavailable when I ordered. I'm so in love with it - it totally fits my Brigitte Bardot aesthetic:

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Droooool, am I not right?

Anyway, folks, I'm more in love with eShakti than ever and will totally add them to my favorite shopping experience when I have a little more money to spend. 

What would you buy from there??? 

How I wore it: spring breaker

Today was supposed to be my first real day of spring break, although it's the beginning of my second week of vacation. Last week we travelled with only a day and a half of rest between the two trips and we returned home yesterday evening.

Let me tell you what today was supposed to look like: I was to send Baby Boots and my husband off to daycare/work at around 9:30 AM, after which I was supposed to go back to bed for a short nap before heading off to a massage at a nearby spa at noon (a gift from my husband for Valentine's Day...last year). After that, I was going to work on some grades and comment-writing, after which I'd go pick up Baby Boots and rock out the rest of the day, looking fabulous and feeling relaxed, natch. It would've been the first day EVER since the baby's birth that I'd have had a day off.

Let me tell you what happened instead. Yesterday, after getting home, my daughter started vomiting randomly. Today she seemed normal, but we decided to keep her home and thus, while my husband went off to work as planned, I stayed home anxiously watching the baby eat (or not eat, as the case was) and praying I wouldn't be covered in vomit AGAIN. It was, in the end, a calm, nice day, but I still wish I could've gotten that massage... and that time off. Well, there's always Wednesday and Friday..!

Baby Boots and I did end up going out for a little walk to nearby Davis Square and the simple outfit that I wore ended up being cuter than I had thought. Since I was wearing a plain black nursing tank at home with black yoga pants, I just switched out my stretchy pants for slightly fancier black pants. Then I punched up the whole thing with a green cardigan, my green leather watch, and my green Fluevogs (I figured since I talked about my fourth pair of 'vogs in my last post, why not feature my third pair for the first time? Considering, too, I've had them since August, it was high time):

I love how the greens don't match anywhere

A simple, but fun and easy outfit for an unexpected outing with the little one! 

I also need to explain how much I continue to love my new Ray-Bans. You can't tell in photographs, but the green really adds to the whole effect. It's such a new look for me, but I love them. 

This is the face I make when my daughter is napping in her stroller just a few feet from where I stand and I'm trying to make "serious blogger face."

In other news, I'm stressing a little about my contract situation. I applied, as I've said, to a hard-core postdoc in a nearby university and I'll hear by the middle of next month. But I'm supposed to hand in my contract to my school by the beginning of the month, which is the first day of work from spring vacation. I've asked for an extension, but now there's this whole "Ahh, Chalkdust might be leaving" situation, which is so not the deal, as I'm pretty sure I won't get this postdoc and I'm still waiting to hear from my department head and the head of school and ARRGHHHHGH. 

Anyone else on spring break? Anyone else had soothing plans that got sidetracked?

Anyway, this was a bit of an unexpected post, but I promise there'll be a dress review tomorrow on this here blog! Stay tuned!

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

Black nursing tank: Glamourmom, by way of Isis Maternity, remixed

Black pants: stolen from my mother, by Ralph Lauren, remixed

Green shoes: Fluevog Radio CBCs

... and this is why I'm broke

So, as you can tell, I didn't end up posting any pictures from my conference. I didn't end up taking any pictures either, so...you're welcome? Honestly, I was having too good of a time schmoozing with my former homies to even think about pausing for a minute, so instead you'll just have to live vicariously through me with your deep envy of missing this year's American Oriental Society (yes, that's the name. And yes, it was founded in 1842) meeting. There's always next year!

After that fun four-day trip to Oregon with the whole family, my husband and I had an actual two-person adult outing on Wednesday! We sent Baby Boots to daycare and hit the town. I had promised him a while ago that I would buy him his first pair of Fluevogs for our seven-year anniversary (a couple of weeks ago: he was in Japan, so we couldn't celebrate together). So I bought him these, with which he is in luuuuuurve:

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They are quite different from his usual aesthetic but I think that what was he was going for - he wanted, as he told me, to move away from his conservative norm and go for something, as he put it, special. The fun thing about these is that they look like a normal dress shoe (with a cool toe) when he's wearing them, but we all know that there's that cool buckle and lace-up fun!

And I couldn't resist. I had fallen in love with these on the site and since they're unisex, they pulled them out for my husband, and then I asked for them in my lady size. And took them home:

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I love these booties with a passion, people. They're so cool and rock n'roll. You can wear them with the zipper at any height you want and it just creates this amazing line with the leg. I think I'll be rocking these a lot with the pants that were giving me trouble. I think I might have solved this problem. I haven't worn them out yet, but I'm so, so in love. I also now have 13 pairs of boots. I have a problem.

And that's our Fluevog saga! Stay tuned soon for a dress review and more awesomeness!

How I wore it: and now for something completely different

After yesterday's fun and whimsical outfit, where I feel I got everything right, from the hair all the way down, today's (Thursday's) look was a let-down. But the weather got cold and I suddenly had to break out a much heavier look than I wanted to. The good news is that it features one of the many new items that y'all haven't seen.

Rumpled!

In early September, I made a huge purchase from Old Navy (and followed it up with several small purchases from other places), so I have an arsenal of clothes that have become workhorses that I just haven't had time to feature here. These purplish corduroy bellbottoms are from that order. Now they're obviously not as flattering as I thought, based on this picture, but I did get a bunch of compliments on them from several colleagues, so I think that the photo may have caught me at a particularly unfortunate angle/position/twist. Still, not jiving with the mental image I had of them... oh, well.

I kind of had a panicked moment of not knowing what to pair these pants with this morning (usually wear a black top with them, not gonna lie, but I wanted something different). Since I'd had good luck with fitting into my red dress the day before, I decided to go to my old nemeses, the button-downs. I layered it over a rather unusual choice of light-blue/sea-foam nursing tank and called it a day. As I said, maybe not one of my particular success stories, but I'm also gonna keep it real for y'all....

So, in fun news, my family and I will be flying to the West Coast in a little over twelve hours! Yup, my husband and I decided to blow off our respective last days of work before spring break in order to go to Portland, Oregon for an academic conference (for me). I haven't been to a conference in many years, and I haven't gone to this particular one (the biggest national conference in my field) since I presented there in 2005, but I'm pretty excited to schmooze with my former colleagues/professors/potential future bosses. I won't be updating while I'm gone, but I do hope to take pictures! 

Stay tuned next week, when I come back!

Button-down shirt: gift from my mom, by way of Brooks Brothers, remixed

Tank (underneath): Glamourmom, ordered via LactationCare.com, remixed

Purple corduroys pants: Old Navy (online)

Grey booties: Aldo, remixed

How I wore it: rinse and repeat

The outfit I wore today is pretty much the exact iteration as this. I mean, the exact, same outfit. Purple cardigan, yellow tights, boots, the works. I was actually debating not taking a photo or posting it as, hey, what's the point? No originality. But I have to admit, I was tickled with how this all worked out. I mean, I don't think I've worn this particular dress in almost two years. So right off the bat, I was thrilled to fit back into this dress, I'll be honest.

For one thing, I really like this photograph. I had just come home from daycare with Baby Boots and she was so excited to have me randomly standing in the doorway of our bedroom that she came over to where I was and tried to hand me her toy camera (I don't think she realized that I was actually posing for a picture myself). Although you can't see anything of my daughter except for her crazy hair (she takes after both her parents!), I like that moment of communication you can see between us, with her looking up at me and trying to figure out what I'm doing and me smiling down at her.

The other reason I wanted to put this up is because, dammit, I think I look cute. I'm almost indignant that I didn't realize how cute this outfit was during the whole day. But this photograph highlights all the awesome aspects of the outfit that I had almost forgotten about: the boots, the dress' shape and color, the sweater and its juxtaposition to the fun dress, the fish necklace... Dammit, this is a nice look and it wasn't till I saw a photograph of it almost twelve hours later that I fully realized it. Humph. 

So, I hope you don't mind. Exact same version of an outfit I wore almost two years ago. They can't all be winners, folks!

Purple cardigan: gift from my mom, from Lord and Taylor, remixed

Red dress: Calvin Klein, by way of TJ Maxx, remixed

Yellow tights: Gap, remixed

Boots: Steve Madden, remixed

Meet my new favorite accessories ever

So my husband came home today after five days abroad in Japan. He came home with gifts for everyone and a massive case of jet lag. I welcomed him by wearing make-up. I'm amazing. So I decided to take the opportunity to get a picture of me with my new glasses, which are now firmly in the love column. Here you are:

So here they are in all their glory. What do you think? I love them. I think it's nice to be able to see a little more of my face and I love that I still have the thick frame I love on top (where it matters). I will say, after two years of my old Wayfarers, I missed that classic Ray-Ban structure and shape (especially noticeable in the corners) when I started wearing my Pradas. Well, now I'm back to my happy structural place with these babies. Also, can I just say? I LOVE the flash of color on top and within. My kids seem to be all about it, too. Win-win! 

Hope you enjoyed this glasses interlude. Hope to come back with outfit posts this week, if all goes well. 

Have a great Monday tomorrow! 

New aesthetic

Hi, all!

Can you believe that I've had my new glasses for slightly over a week and I still haven't posted a picture of them yet?! I super love them, but I'm still getting used to them. After almost five years of wearing thick-framed specs, it's weird to be looking oddly daintier. My husband loves them a lot, and so do I; my mom said in the beginning that she liked my old frames more, but after a few days, she remarked upon how these new glasses opened up my face and added an element of lightness to my look. Well, if I were wearing make-up, I'd take a picture right now and show y'all, but as it is, I feel a new zit forming and I just can't. For the first few days of wearing them, I kept asking my husband if he really liked them and he kept on having to reassure me. I think this weekend I've finally gotten to the point where I look at myself in the mirror and don't stop to think. I can't wait to wear them in Greece over the summer, assuming we go.

In other news, I've been doing some interesting stuff: I applied to a real professorship in a university quite far away. I know it won't happen, but it felt good to send my material to them [the department knows me because they lobbied super-hard for me to go there for grad. school]. I also applied for a postdoc in a hard-core university very close to me - I also don't think that'll happen, but with a lot of late-night work and help from my husband - not to mention desperate e-mails to professors at random hours - I sent in an application of which I can be pretty proud. My husband also applied to a job out of state, so ... I don't know. While I won't have a problem with staying in Cambridge, as is most likely the case, it's kind of titillating to think that I have a plan of attack for my future.

So has anyone ever bought anything from Shappy Apple? I haven't, although I have a banner of them on my margin and am a blogger affiliate or whatever it's called. That being said, I have a sale for you!

If you something from the Ferris Wheel collection, you can get 50% off a selected dress. It's pretty awesome. I have to say, I'm kind of obsessed with the Ferris Wheel collection. Which is weird, because a few years ago, I would've totally dismissed these styles as too old school. You see, as a teenager through, um, a few weeks ago, my ideal aesthetic was the 60s - everything about 'em. EVERYTHING. But in the past few weeks/months I've become more and more enamored of the late 50s and lots of the Ferris Wheel items are evocative of the effortless dressiness I covet.

May I show you the two things I most love?

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I mean, right? Can't you just see Brigitte Bardot wearing this and sashaying down the boardwalk? Or whatever the doubtlessly more sophisticated French version of the boardwalk might be? I want this whole look, down to the top. I want my hair to look like that, only dark. 

Le sigh.

The other thing is this shirt:

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Yes. YES. I love this in its simplicity of color and shape. I could totally wear this with cute pants, cute skirts, cute everything. Also, does anyone else have a sudden craving for capri pants? 

Also, should I wear more red lipstick??? 

So there you have it, folks. Fun sale, evolving aesthetic, pretty clothes, and existential questions. That's why you come to this fine blog, is it not?

Happy weekend!!

Edited to add: The button I originally put up for the sale kept on having bugs, so if you just go here, you should find the sale with no problem. Sorry about that!