How I wore it: mismatching yeti

Today the skies opened and it rained all. Bloody. Day. Long. Even though my department was meeting a potential part-time hire today, I decided to embrace the weird and try out my early Christmas present…

…See, I'm helping chaperone a bunch of high-schoolers on a trip to Quebec in February, so I requested some hard-core winter boots from my parents for this coming Christmas. Based on Sal's recommendations in the past and the fact that almost every New England woman wears them between November and, like, March, I decided to go with Sorel's Joan of Arctic line. Although the temperatures were never that frigid today, between the pouring rain and the rawness of the day, I decided to just do the wacky:

… I wasn't kidding

Um, so yeah. I decided to just throw on my new standby, the buffalo plaid dress, and a sweater on top, but for some reason I really wanted to mix patterns (or clash hideously, however you see it), so I pulled on the Fair Isle leggings, as well. Add my paw-like boots and, um, I have a look, all right. 

… True story, I loved it. 

I don't know, I just felt like a BADASS all day long, stomping around in my big-ass boots, different patterns and colors all over the place. I don't know, it just worked for me. I mean, I fully recognize that I look eccentric at best, but screw it: I felt like a million bucks.

Here's some more clowning around, courtesy of Baby Boots and me:

Monkey see, monkey do…

Happy Monday, folks!

Sweater: Gap, remixed

Buffalo plaid dress: Old Navy (online), remixed

Fair Isle leggings: Old Navy (online), remixed

Boots: Sorel Joan of Arctic, via zappos.com

Fine leather goods

So many pretty things today, people!

First off, I took Baby Boots out for a walk in her stroller while my husband had to do some work. Since I knew she wouldn't be running around (we were running errands), but rather tucked into her "buggy-ride," as she calls it, I decided to pull out some new-to-her accessories:

Why, yes, those are little red baby cowboy boots. Why do you ask? 

This summer, we all went to Estes Park, Colorado to spend time with some college friends of mine. One day, just the three of us were walking around the town and we got Baby Boots these, er, boots on a whim. I have a slight issue with the fact that my not-even-three-year-old is wearing a shoe with a slight heel (I feel like one of those moms on 'Toddlers and Tiaras'), but she loves them and insisted on keeping them on when I kept on asking her if they were comfy today. She stomped around the house happily. 

… And let's admit it, they're adorable.

But please don't tell my mom.

I was very excited to come home from work yesterday because I knew something special would be waiting for me. When I started really getting into the Style Nation, I started noticing one particular company being name-dropped a lot when it came to bags: The Cambridge Satchel Company (linking to US site). I've always drooled over their bags - and the assortment of colors! - but the price and the pounds sterling kind of intimidated me. Well, wouldn't you know it, Gilt Groupe, of which I am a member, had them on sale last week. As I may have mentioned, I'm trying to be fiscally responsible these days, but my husband encouraged me and after thinking long and hard about color, I went with their trademark "fluoro" 15-inch "batchel":

source

Their official site doesn't have it in the color I got it, but that's the model. My color looks more like this:

source

Now that's bright! I practically glowed in the dark when I wore it tonight on my date with my husband.

Speaking of which, this is what I wore on my date out for gluten-free Italian food (I ate a whole pizza by myself. I'm disgusting):

Forgive the face: did I mention I ate a whole pizza?

It's the return of my OTK crimson Fryes! My favorite of my Fryes! And my short-ass buffalo plaid dress! Honestly, I was feeling this outfit. It was snuggly and warm enough for walking around before and after our gargantuan dinner, but I also felt chic both for the baby-sitter (one of my advisees) and the restaurant. Win-win! 

Anyways, I hope you're having a lovely Saturday night. I'm trying to train my daughter to go to bed without me gently holding her to sleep every night and I can hear her tossing and turning and whimpering in her bedroom, so I might have to go deal with that…

Sweater: Old Navy (online)

Buffalo plaid dress: Old Navy (online), remixed

Grey leggings: Calvin Klein, via TJ Maxx, remixed

Red boots: Frye Shirley OTK boots, via endless.com, gift from my husband, remixed

Return of side braid

I haven't braided my hair in a messy, loose side braid since, oh, 2011…

But my hair is getting long and I thought today would be a good day to try again. My hair is slightly shorter than it was three years ago; plus, it's layered, so the braid is a little less awesome, but it was kind of nice to let go of some control today via my hair:

My office looks homey, no?

And there it is. The braid itself is shorter because the "tail" has to kind of be longer because of the layers, but I only readjusted it a couple of times (during my free blocks, of course) and I was pretty happy with it. 

In other news, I can't believe that my hair has grown so long again! I kind of want to cut it all off again, but I know my husband will have a nervous collapse. Also, what with Baby Boots and wanting to send her to college, I don't really have extra funds to drop $50 a month for a haircut (which is what happens when I have short hair). 

That being said, I bought two new things this past week. I'm not good at limiting myself…

How I wore it: blue jay way

For some reason, I had it in my head today to wear today's particular outfit. I think, since I only have work three days this week (yesterday, today, tomorrow), I figured that between the potentially crappy and/or cold weather of yesterday and tomorrow, I decided that today would be the day to wear today's dress/tights/boots combo that I thought of. And here it is:

Because the color's not awesome, let me tell you that the dress is navy and the tights are more of a royal blue. I got this dress at (where else?) Old Navy last winter and it's been on moderately heavy rotation since then. I completely forgot that it existed between last spring and, like, last week, but I'm glad I remembered its existence. I like its shape, that fit-and-flare that I tend to gravitate to in my favorite dresses. I love its sleeve length and I don't mind the little cognac-colored belt it came with. It pairs nicely with boots in that color, as you see with today's Fryes. The dress is a little short for my standards, but apparently I've been, um, wearing shorter dresses? I don't know. I just am continuously shocked after the fact when I see pictures of myself. 

I usually get someone (by which I mean students) telling me how much they like my dress whenever I wear this one, but today only a couple of my colleagues remarked on it. My students are probably disgusted that they've seen me in it so often [I wore it a fair amount last academic year…] What did surprise me, though, is how many people (again, primarily colleagues) remarked upon my boots today. I mean, I've had these bad boys for almost two years now, and they have been in pretty high rotation since then! It's okay, though - my boots enjoyed the admiration. 

In other news, I think it's time to hang up the reflective jacket for the season… The weather's starting to get crappy (rain was promised yesterday, but it was gorgeous out and tomorrow it might SNOW) and, more importantly, today I kept an eye on the time and realized that I would actually probably feel a little unsafe and uncomfortable out on my bike at the times that I'd be riding on home. I mean, I ride in very safe areas, traffic-wise (except for one awful underpass/mass riot), and I have my extremely bright apparel, but I think I'd be stressed all day if, say, I knew that at 5 PM (the absolute latest I'm ever out on the bike on my commute home) it's already gonna be dark. I don't know. I feel like such a wimp for giving up, but I just need to figure what I value more: my 30 minutes a day of biking or my peace of mind… What do y'all think?

Scarf: Urban Outfitters, remixed

Navy dress: Old Navy (online)

Blue tights: Gap (online), remixed

Boots: Frye Paige Riding Boots by way of countryoutfitter.com 

How I wore it: leggings enthusiast

Today we all took a bike ride to central Cambridge for a playdate between Baby Boots and one of her good friends from daycare (who now attends a different center). It being a lovely day, us being on our bikes, and me becoming a typical Cantabrigian lady, I decided to come out to my daughter's friend's parents as a leggings lover. Woo!

Dat face, though…

Some fun patterned leggings (the same ones I wore here for my foot selfie last month), a hipster dress (uh, shirt), and colorful short boots, and I'm all set. For my ride, I just pulled on a hoodie and a vest and was warm and cozy in the 50+-degree weather. I was between wearing these boots and tall grey ones (my original grey Fryes), but I decided to go for the contrast, especially as I had blue on my shirt, as well. I don't know. I dug it. 

And that's me! How have your weekends been? I have two more days in which to write comments and go bike-riding, so I'm in a pretty good mood…

Grey patterned dress: FluffyCo, bought in Magpie, a store in Somerville, remixed

Grey Fair Isle leggings: Old Navy (online), remixed-ish

Blue boots: a gift from my husband, bought in Madrid, remixed

How I wore it: dressing for success…or health, at least

This week I've been feeling a little under the weather, trying valiantly to stave off a cold and get through this last week of the academic unit (another four-day weekend ahead!) - not that my classes change (yay, language classes!), but it still feels like the end of a chapter at school and for my students. I haven't gotten sick for real as of now and I think that staying active (biking when I could, walking when I couldn't bike) has been helping me: that's generally the way it is. If I can distract my body/mind from getting sick, I usually feel a little better.

Yesterday (Friday) dawned cold, grey, and drizzly after seemingly endless rains the day before. However, the weather gods said it wouldn't rain for the rest of the day and I had a certain outfit in mind, so I went for it:

You guys, as disloyal as I feel to all my Fryes (um, five pairs), I really think that these cowboy dealies are fast becoming my favorite boots. I love how my legs look in them, they make me feel like a badass, they add a certain edge to every outfit, and not a day has gone by that I've worn them that people haven't commented. 

Yesterday, I thought to wear them with an all-black palette (wow, I didn't think when I ordered that short Old Navy dress a couple of summers ago that I'd wear it all the time in all seasons), but the problem was, of course, the layering. I put my old green cashmere cardigan over the whole shebang, chose turquoise accessories (and a turquoise scarf, not pictured), and went on my way. And it was worth it: two different female students lauded my outfit to the heavens and a bunch of different people (kitchen staff, colleagues, students, moms at daycare, and a random stranger) complimented my boots. Special!

You may also notice that I'm wearing my hair down, which I rarely do. It's, in fact, the second time I've done so this school year. I'm paranoid about harming my hairline by wearing my hair up all the time, so I decided to give it a bit of a rest. I always feel like an unkempt male lion when I don't do up my hair, but I can't deny that I felt pretty sultry with it down… 

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

Black dress: Old Navy (online), remixed

Black leggings: HUE, via Lord and Taylor (Boston), remixed

Cowboy boots: Corral via countryoutfitter.com, gift from husband, remixed

How I wore it: new beginnings

Hello, all! Today was a day full of new accessories and new-ish (new to the blog, at least) clothes in general. Sometimes there's nothing like wearing new(-ish) duds to make you feel as if all is right in the world.

I bought this awesome buffalo plaid (we know how I feel about this pattern) dress online at Old Navy a couple of weeks ago and wore it once before (not documented). When I first got the dress, I planned to wear it the way I did today, but that first day, the weather was too warm and sunny for boots. Today? Right on point:

Pay no mind to the play mouse at my feet…

Baby Boots is such a ham. She loves having her picture taken and now insists on posing with me and holding my hand for the camera. 

Anyway, so that's my new dress. It's fun, huh? It's also short. I mean, thank goodness I've gotten so into leggings lately, because DAMN. I felt a little inappropriate today between my short hem and my tall boots, but -

Oh, what's that? The boots? No big deal. JUST THE SAME BOOTS THAT I'D BEEN LUSTING AFTER SINCE NOVEMBER OF 2008 AND FINALLY GOT LAST MARCH. 

I don't know where to link to, as I've told this story a bajillion times (I think), but the boots you see above are pretty much the reason I'm so obsessed with boots. On election night of 2008 (six years ago today - did you vote?), I came across these beautiful Frye lovelies in an Urban Outfitters where my friend and I were killing time before going to a party. Not knowing anything about boots (or Fryes, for that matter), I looked at the price and hurriedly put the boots down, although knowing in my gut that I'd never seen such pretty boots. Wouldn't you know it, they were limited editions, never to be made again. There was much mourning. A few years ago, Sal talked about setting a saved search on eBay when looking for a particular item, so I decided to try my luck. After years of getting e-mails from eBay about Frye Paige boots in size 10 appearing, I finally spotted this pair - my pair, in my size - for sale this past spring. After a tense auction, I won them, and here they are. I love them so much. In a perfect world, they would've been new (gently used), but whoever owned them before took amazing care of them and they're almost perfect. The leather is this buttery, soft pebbly leather that's just so good. The grey is perfect. You…see why they started my boot obsession (or compensation?), no?

I didn't get a picture of the back, but this is the full cuff detail (these are the now-disappeared Paige Cuff models, after all):

Frye Paige Cuff (Slate) - Casual Women's Boots   (see more cuff bangles)

I love that contrasting buckle on the back.

Mmmm, so anyway. I really liked this outfit. 

But, I also have to think about my outerwear choices now, as we set the clocks back on Sunday morning and now I come home after the sun sets. I want to keep bike commuting as long as I can and I don't want to feel unsafe biking home just because it's 4:30. So… I bought a really reflective running jacket. Aaaaand a new helmet, just because it was there:

Upon arriving at work. I am such a Fashion Babe, no?

The jacket is neon, obnoxious, and VISIBLE. The helmet? Ahhh, well, it's an indulgence. I've had a deep love for the Union Jack ever since I got super into the Who in college - there was a time in my life where I had a Union Jack somewhere on my person at almost all times. I'd seen this helmet around for some time now and I'd always resisted it because I had a perfectly good, serviceable bike helmet already. Well, on Saturday I went to a fancy bike store (which mostly serves twee biking ladies) to look for reflective outerwear. Since they didn't have quite what I wanted (I got my jacket at a City Sports), I decided to drown my disappointment in an indulgent new helmet. My husband thinks that I'm being a disloyal Argentine; I think I'm showing off my love for Quadrophenia. 

So, whaddaya say? Today I felt great having all this new stuff to enjoy. Do you ever feel like that?

This was the take where we yelled "Cheeeeeese!"

Plaid dress: Old Navy (online)

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

Grey boots: Frye Paige Cuff, by way of eBay