I woke up like this...

...

Yup, that's me first thing in the morning. Awful picture: no make-up, puffy from sleep... but look at all that hair!

... And this is how I'm going to sleep/ringing in the new year in an hour or so:

Yup, I went to my girl Cheryl today and chopped off a few inches. I'm thrilled. Can't wait to show you more in 2015!

(Also, I was fiscally irresponsible and bought these today. I'm so ashamed about how much money I spent, especially since I'm always bitching about money. Oh, well.)

Happy new year! 

Happy Holidays...

... from moi, Baby Boots, and Baby Boots' new play kitchen!

She has her eyes closed and she's still upstaging me...

For whatever you and yours celebrate (or don't), I hope you have a happy one! 

How I wore it: Pajama Day

Today was Pajama Day at school. Naturally, I didn't participate, but I wore a flannel-y skirt…

That's the best you get today: I'm tired

Because the colors are all wonky, I promise you I'm wearing a blue and black patterned skirt. And shoes. Boots, rather. You might recognize this skirt as one I bought five years ago, when I still worked at my old school of the draconian dress code. I would wear this skirt on ridiculously cold days and sneak boots underneath it. Now that I can wear boots whenever I want, I get less rule-breaking thrills from this skirt, but I still enjoy wearing it on cold days, and it looks great with my witchy, pointy Fluevogs. 

You'll be happy (or indifferent) to know that my corneal abrasion is doing better. My ophthalmologist says that the abrasion itself is 100% healed and I just have to take care with the structural integrity (his words - I didn't care to go into more detail) and just make sure to keep my eye(s) hydrated. Gross.

Speaking of injuries from my daughter, she just bonked her dad in the face with her head after her bath. I was sure she'd smashed his cheekbone from the strength of the strike, but it seems that a bitten tongue is the worst he suffered. Naturally, she refused to apologize, so we just stuck her in bed and said good night to her without reading her any stories. Sometimes when she's tired, she's SO NAUGHTY and I feel like a bad mama. Oh, well. At least she's down for the night…

And I think I'm next. Good night!

Black top: H&M, remixed

White tee (underneath): H&M, remixed

Skirt: Gap, remixed

Boots (not visible): Fluevog, remixed

How I wore it: TGIF. For real.

OMG, you guys. Remember how, in my last post, I told you that I'd had a rough couple of days? That my beloved new Sorels were drying because they had been caught in our awful Tuesday floods and then that Wednesday morning I had felt super-sick and was sort of bearing the brunt of that for the whole day?

Well, a few hours after I posted that, I was reading to Baby Boots before putting her to sleep: she was lying in her bed and I was sitting on the floor next to her. She got excited about something we were reading, flung out her hand and…poked me in the eye, scratching my cornea. I took yesterday (Thursday) off work because my eye was so teary/painful and went to an ophthalmologist to confirm that I had a corneal abrasion. I did and now I have to wear a "contact lens bandage" in my right eye and put in drops twice a day. It could be a lot worse, but… dang.

At least I'm not wearing an eyepatch.

So, yeah, this has been a sucky week and I couldn't be happier to see it come to an end. I hope to take it easy over the weekend and not strain my eyes too much and hopefully be right as rain again on Monday. Phew!

So anyways, since it snowed yesterday, I decided to not take my chances (I was going to wear "pretty" boots) and put on my practically-totally-dried Sorels with a new workhorse:

I don't get it: this dress really inspires me to go nuts. And wear my hair down, apparently.Anyway, I added my oatmeal sweater and new leg warmers to the whole shebang and I was marvelously comfy and warm all day. Unfortunately, I seem to have gotten a couple of blisters on my toes - maybe from walking a lot yesterday and today in these boots? I totally hope that won't be a lasting issue…

So that's my Friday! What's up with you? Any war wounds from this week?

Sweater: Old Navy (online), remixed

Buffalo plaid dress: Old Navy (online), remixed

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

Leg warmers: TJ Maxx

Boots: Sorel Joan of Arctic, by way of zappos.com, remixed

How I wore it: my first, my last, my everything

Hey, y'all! Today was a difficult day for me, I have to admit. Yesterday it rained all day long in the Boston area, rain like I've never seen - it was worse than the monsoons I experienced in India ten years ago. At one point, I stepped into a puddle that reached my knees and my poor feet were soaked for ages - Sorels aren't that effective when the water seeps in from above. So my lovely new snow/rain boots are - as we speak - drying out in my bathroom with newspaper in them. So today I pulled out my old trusty blue Fryes - boots I've worn for many winters and, as it wasn't raining too much today, I survived with warm, dry feet. However, these boots have warped from so much use, I guess (I got them a little over five years ago), and they mangled my feet today. I keep on wanting to toss 'em, but on days like today, when my other boots are of no use, they really did come in handy.

Also I had an upset stomach much of the morning, so that really put a damper on the whole day…

Anyway, at least I brightened up my mood by my outfit choices:

My green hooded tunic is actually a maternity top. I wore it a couple of times in my pregnancy and a few times since Baby Boots was born. There's not much to say about this basic outfit: green top, blue jeans, and dark blue boots. At least they look really good, despite messing up my feet. 

It will be sad to bid adieu to these boots. They were my first-ever Fryes and they served me well. As I mentioned, I got them in the fall of 2009 and for much of my life in Boston/Cambridge, they've been my main rain and snow boots, but now that they're so messed up (for real, they give me a weird limp now), I've had to edge them out of my wardrobe gradually. I won't toss them yet - not until I have proper rain boots, as well - but their time has definitely come.

As Baby Boots saw me taking photos, she wanted to be part of it, naturally:

I love that her bun and my wisps are on the same side of our heads…

You can see in this photo how my right boot especially is all messed up. You see how I'm standing, as opposed to what the heel of my boot is doing? Yeah, not fun. 

Hope all of you are well and healthy!

Green tunic top: Old Navy Maternity (online), remixed

Jeans: Old Navy (online), remixed

Blue boots: Frye, by way of Zappos.com, remixed

How I wore it: Brrrrr!

You guys, today we woke up to 18 degrees. It's probably the coldest it's been all season. I guess that's not bad, as it's December, but, man, was it hard to be outside today. I have to be outside quite a lot on a normal work day, as I pick up Baby Boots from preschool and get there and back home on foot. And, if it's not raining, I walk to my commuter rail station (about a mile), so… lots of layering for me today!

I decided to take advantage of what seems to be the only day this week that it won't rain and wear a tried and true outfit:

I bought this maxi dress in the summer of 2010 and it's still going strong. It's a little stretched, which can be an undergarment problem (as it's got a racerback), but as I wasn't going to wear it without a thousand layers, it wasn't too big a deal. I decided to pair it with an old purple cardigan and the light blue boots my husband bought me in Spain in the spring of 2011. I've worn this particular dress with these particular boots A LOT over the past couple of years and the combo never fails to make me happy. 

However, as it was freezing both indoors and outdoors for much of the day, I layered a semi-new (to the blog, at least) vest over the whole shebang:

Pardon the douchey expression…

I bought this neat-o asymmetrical vest off Zulily the year before last. It's Desigual! A couple of bloggers I love (Sal and Sheila, for starters) are big fans of Desigual and I've always admired their designs. I also like that it's a Spanish company - what can I say? Sometimes I'm very chauvinistic… Anyway, a colleague of mine turned me on to Zulily and the day I joined, they had a sale on Desigual stuff, so I bought myself this vest. It's super snuggly and all those colors means that it either goes or clashes with everything, so I'm always safe with it… 

Today I decided to wear my clothes with a set of Chilean jewelry I've never featured:

Like all my Chilean jewelry, this pendant-earring-ring set was bought for me by my father on one of his many trips home. This rock, known as "piedra cruz" [cross stone], is native to Chile and, as you see, seems to look like a cross when cut. Neat, huh?

I've been continuing to try to treat myself with more kindness and not beat myself up about my winter hibernating body. Are y'all respecting yourselves as well?

Happy Monday!

Vest: Desigual, via Zulily.com

Scarf: Urban Outfitter, remixed

Purple cardigan: gift from my mother, by way of Lord and Taylor (New York), remixed

Striped maxi dress: Gap, remixed

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

Jewelry: gift from my father

How I wore it: snuggly

Hey all! Today I wore an outfit that I had already worn in a slightly different iteration over the weekend. I'd been looking forward to it all week and little wonder:

It's all my favorite elements in one outfit! Grey, black, leggings, and boots. Man, a couple of years ago, I would've just called it a day and worn this every day. I don't think the proportions are perfect - as much as I like these loose sweatshirts, they are a little unflattering, but, hey, at the end of the day, comfiness is important, too. Maybe the sweatshirt is too long for the short dress, too. Stuff to think about… 

Also? I came to a realization last night and this morning. And this might be too personal, so I'll give you a chance to not engage for a sec…

Okay, so here it is: I'm sick of hating my body. Now this is not a mindblowing realization. God knows, Sal makes a career of telling us why/how we shouldn't hate our bodies. But honestly? I've been in a weird grapple with my body for over twenty years. That's tiring, y'all. And another stupid thing? My body isn't objectively problematic. And that sucks. It sucks that I have this perfectly fine body that I obsess about because of stupid things such as my mother's criticism when I was younger or the fact that I can't bike because it's fucking cold outside and I'm scared of biking too late at night. I mean, yesterday I had an unpleasant evening - TMI alert - I had my first mammogram. Breast cancer runs in my family on both sides and my doctor wants me to start getting checked now, as opposed to waiting till later (results came back normal: yay!). So, although I wasn't scared per se, I was anxious about the repercussions of all of this. I decided that I deserved treats. So after the appointment, my husband and I drove to the grocery store and stocked up on treats I like: roasted corn snacks and yoghurt-covered raisins. So I ate some of those, had a small dinner, and generally felt boss about life. A couple of hours later, I felt fat and gross for having eaten yummy little unhealthy-ish snacks as well as dinner.

So, screw it. I'm done. Or at least, more honestly, I'm going to try to be done. My body is capable of wonders: it walks me a couple of miles a day to go to work and get my daughter. It is capable of biking without tiring for hours. It grew a person. It enjoys intimate time with my husband. I shouldn't hate it anymore.

Who's with me? 

Grey sweatshirt: Old Navy (online), remixed

Black dress: Old Navy (online) remixed

Leggings: Old Navy (online), remixed

Grey boots: Frye Paige Cuffs, by way of eBay, remixed

How I wore it: profesh

Hi all!

Woo, I disappeared for a few weeks there, didn't I? Stuff got a little bit busy and then it was Thanksgiving and then I was busy and trying to rest and…whatnot. Hi.

How were your Thanksgivings (for my American reader(s))? Mine was nice. I had a five-day break, but it felt short. Today we went back to work, but just the teachers, as it was Professional Day.

After four (out of five) days of wearing leggings, I decided to damn the haters and just wear my teal corduroy jeggings with a sweatshirt and call it day. Even though I didn't, I wanted to feel as if I could curl up and take a nap anywhere at a moment's notice:

Yikes. I mean, I know that leggings aren't pants, but still. You know what, though? Screw it. I was super comfy and cozy all day today and got lots of compliments on my bright "pants." I think on a real day, I wouldn't dare to wear this sort of outfit - my legs are far too weirdly-shaped (thick and curvy up top and then tapering down low) for such a short, non-tunicy top. Oh, well, win some lose some…

How do we feel about it being December…?

Grey sweatshirt: Old Navy (online)

Pink striped tank (underneath): Gap

Teal corduroy jeggings: HUE, by way of Lord and Taylor (Boston), remixed

Flats: Target, remixed