How I wore it: mustard and ketchup

Today my husband and I had a bona-fide date. We'd had kind of a bad day, worrying about finances, about Baby Boots' behavior, and about a huge computer issue (he lost his whole iTunes library!), so we thought we deserved to go out for dinner and a drink, even if we hadn't already planned it.

As it turned out, I wasn't feeling too well, so we ended up eating in a fancy restaurant in a different area of Athens than we'd planned, but it was very nice. And we had a good view of the Acropolis, which is always a plus.

I had decided some time ago that for our first nighttime outing to the center, I would wear my new eShakti dress, which I still hadn't worn out. I loved it on and so did my husband:

I paired it with my new red shoes, as I thought it would be a fun combo and would make the dress slightly more casual. I really liked the look and I was comfy all night long. Unfortunately, the support in the bodice was a little too stiff for me (as I told you in my review in March, the chestal arena part is a little small) and the wires in the boning kind of irritated me, but it was great to finally wear it out. This is definitely not the kind of thing that Athenian women are wearing these days and I liked having the sense of individuality that this dress gave me. What do you think? Success or no?

Yellow dress: eShakti, given to me free for review

Red shoes: Tsakiris Mallas (Athens)

How we wore it: ladies in green

Hello, all! We're still chugging away in good ol' Greece, trying to make the most of it while living through Baby Boots' suddenly-abominable behavior. For real. She's turning into a terror. I think it's the fact that her grandparents don't just let her BE. Anyway. My husband and I bought ourselves bikes the other day (so now we each have two bikes in two different countries!) to have a way to get some exercise and be on our own. So we've been bike riding almost every night, although I have a mini panic attack each time, as biking on Athenian streets...kinda scary!

Anyway, we haven't really done anything on our own / that deserves a cute outfit in a long time. Today we took Baby Boots to her great-aunt's place for some playground fun and dinner. She acted like a spoiled brat - before you judge, let me just say that I think she's super-tired (she wakes up TIRED, poor baby) and, as I mentioned above, she's kind of always being given some sort of order ("Come here," "Give me a kiss," "Let's play with this," "Where's your doll? Let's go get her!") usually when she's quietly having a nice time by herself. Oy. Can you tell that this has been bothering me a lot these last few days?

Anyways, so for today's outing, I decided to put Baby Boots in a green dress and then decided to wear green also so that we could match. Cuz I'm gross like that:

... I wasn't kidding.

I have to admit, I think she pulled off her look pretty well. Her bright sandals added a cheeky touch to her pretty, feminine green dress. My own green dress, on the other hand, called for its own cheeky sandals:

... My silly gladiator sandals bought three years ago! Look, they're not really flattering on, especially the way they twist and turn, but I love them. They're so comfy and they're so visually goofy and they're so awesome. The green dress you see is the green version of this dress, bought in the great J. Crew Factory binge of April 2013. I've worn it a few times, even to work once, but never featured it on this blog. I love its simple shape and bright color. 

And that's all, folks. Theoretically, my husband and I are going on a real adult-person date tomorrow, so I hope to dazzle you with another outfit post, but don't hold your breath...

Also, I'm a week away from turning 32! Crazy!

Baby's outfit:

Green dress: Zara (Athens)

Multicolored sandals: Target

My outfit:

Green dress: J Crew Factory (online)

Gladiator sandals: Madden Girl by Steve Madden, by way of DSW, remixed

How I wore it: double date!

Today was a good day. My poor husband was in charge of the baby while I worked like crazy on a potential article (should be out the door by the end of the weekend!). But we had planned on going out on a seafood date with our cousin and her husband and out we went, dammit! We left Baby Boots with her grandma and great-aunt at the latter's home and went to a beautiful neighborhood by the sea in Piraeus to eat at one of our favorite restaurants there.

Although my temptation was to dress up with a fun new dress and jewelry and etc., etc., I very consciously kept it simple tonight. I know that whenever I try too hard, I'm surrounded by hot Athenian babes wearing simple dresses and shoes, so I decided to relax and wear a simple black dress and the new espadrilles I bought a couple of days ago, and also to put on contacts for fun:

I swear it seemed light out when I took the photo...

I bought this black dress about a year ago as a potential postpartum nursing summer outfit (buttons!) and have worn it often since then, usually over opaque tights or leggings and with boots over the school year. It's scandalously short for my standards, but it is what it is. Over the summers, I wear it alone with a bright pair of shoes. Tonight it turned out to be my cheerful new espadrille-type shoes. They're fun, right? I love espadrilles, which I call alpargatas, traditional peasant shoes in Spain / Argentina. I had a lace-up pair, also red, when I was about thirteen and I ADORED them. Sigh...

Laughing at Baby Boots' antics

And that's me! Sorry for the crappy quality pictures! I'll be better next time, I promise!

Black dress: Old Navy (online), remixed

Red shoes: Tsakiris Mallas

How I wore it: second date

Hey, all! After an exhausting day of doing no work (baby woke up at 6 AM and was irritable and sleepy on and off all day), my husband and I took advantage of his mother coming home from work, ditched the kid, and went out by ourselves again. We decided to drive to Glyfada, a very posh neighborhood in Athens, and walk around, window-shop, and then get something to eat or drink.

Since the weather was slightly cooler these past few days (in the 80s, rather than the 90s), with a strong southern breeze, I deferred to the slight change in weather and wore my favorite maxi dress:

What do we think of my hair wrap? When I was doing some online shopping at Urban Outfitters, I spotted it and snapped it up. I've only worn it a couple of times, but I love it. It makes my messy buns look artistic as hell, and keeps up all the trailing hairs that are too short for the bun (which I usually keep up with baby alligator clips). Whenever I wear it, I feel like a less glamorous, more brunette version of Brigitte Bardot. Specifically here:

As I've mentioned a few times, BB has been my style icon these past couple of years and when I last got my hair trimmed, I told my stylist that I was letting it grow in the hopes of having Brigitte Bardot hair. Instead of seeming confused, Cheryl just sighed: "All those sexy long layers. Yeah, I get where you're coming from." See? Even Cheryl approves!

Anyways, I do love my big hair wrap and I think it adds a sexy, rumpled edge to my tall buns. Here's a closer look:

Okay, so the effect is slightly different...

Anyways, after a nice, rambling walk, my husband and I stopped at a bar/café and had a milk shake (me) and a frappé (him). We then drove home to see what Baby Boots had been up to (tiring out her grandparents, apparently). Although we're both exhausted as hell and I'm behind in my work, it was a fun day and a fun evening out. And we have a dinner date with my cousin-in-law and her husband tomorrow!

Grey head wrap: Urban Outfitters (online)

Striped maxi dress: Gap, remixed

Sandals: Steve Madden, by way of DSW, remixed

How I wore it: family outing

The whole family has jet lag. In my husband and me, this manifests as us not feeling sleepy until a shockingly late (or early?) hour in the night/morning and then sleeping until noon. In Baby Boots, this manifests as either a 12-hour sleeping orgy, or in keeping awake until 5 AM and then sleeping till noon. Last night was one of those nights. So today, after a terrible night, and after hours of me working on an article that I'm trying to get sent out by the end of the week, when my husband suggested we drive to his aunt's house in order to get some fresh air and visit with the family, I jumped at the chance.

I also jumped at the chance to wear a dress that I've had since... April? May? But not worn yet:

Fun, right? I love me some stripes, as you know. I got this dress from my big J Crew Factory order some time ago and it was my first time wearing it, although I've worn its identical cousin in bright green (not yet featured here) a couple of times. Although they look black, the stripes are actually navy blue, so I decided to just pair my turquoise sandals with them. I don't think that it was the ideal pairing, but I was okay with that. I added some delicate jewelry (invisible in the photo), slung my hair into a messy topknot, and off we went! 

We ended up exploring the playground where both my husband and his cousin (who's pregnant with her first child!) played as children, ordering gyros and souvlaki for dinner, and having a great time. So worth taking a shower and putting on a new dress for!!

Striped dress: J Crew Factory

Turquoise sandals: Nine West (Athens), remixed

How I wore it: summer evenings

Let's just skip over the lack of posts, yes?

On Thursday, my husband, the baby, and I landed in Athens for our annual vacation - six weeks of it, this year! I'm particularly looking forward to this time because my in-laws are slobbering with eagerness to look after Baby Boots and I'm slobbering with eagerness to get my ass in gear and get back into my academic bubble. A job has opened up in my field which I WANT, there's another one down the line that I've almost been promised, and there's a third thing, a fellowship in a university close to home for which I'm eligible to apply. So stuff is going on. I spent hours yesterday and today squinting at my computer screen and at my Sanskrit dictionary in an attempt to turn a paper I presented at a conference EIGHT YEARS AGO into a viable article so that I have an actual publication under my belt while applying. Oy.

Anyway, today [Saturday] my husband and I went out alone in the evening for the first time since... December? January? I don't know. We took it easy - we went to Kolonaki, one of the posher areas of Athens, walked around, had a coffee, and came back home. However, I actually wore a dress. My favorite dress. A dress I haven't worn in three years:

This is the exact same outfit I wore in this post (notice: three years ago): not much has changed except for my bangs - nothing, in fact, has changed in how I style it. Silly gladiator sandals? Check. Hair up? Check.  

However, this was important for me - however my body may look at any given time, this is the dress that never fails to make me feel like a rock star. And it did it again tonight. Although I have at least three new dresses that I haven't yet worn, this was the perfect "first date in Athens" outfit with which to start my summer. 

I've missed y'all!

Red dress: H&M, remixed

Gladiator sandals: Steve Madden by way of DSW, remixed