Schooooooool's out for! Ever!

So as you can imagine, today was my last day of work! Yay! I didn't miss too much of the World Cup and my colleagues got to see what I looked like in pants for three days. Today I opted for total comfort and wore my very favorite pants (see me waxing rhapsodic about them here) along with a tank top commemorating my husband's favorite Athenian team (Olympiakos all the way, baby!). Although you can't really see them peeking out, I also wore my Birkenstocks. I was very comfortable and very ready for the announcement dismissing us all for the next three (or in my case, forever) months. 

I'm having some dilemmas about packing these pants to Europe this summer, despite swearing that I would. While they are comfortable and wearing them feels like wearing pyjamas, that's...kind of the problems. I may feel crisp and New England-y while wearing them, but when I see them in pictures (such as the one above and some from last summer in Athens), I feel as if it actually looks as if I were wearing PJs. And I want to present a more polished image when I'm on the streets of Hamburg and Athens. Also, on the one hand, when I'm in Greece I tend to only wear dresses and skirts and so having any pants aside from jeans is kind of overkill. On the other hand, Hamburg is famous for its fickle weather and packing all sorts of pants might be necessary. Furthermore, for the hot days in Greece that I don't want to wear a dress, lightweight pants are also a good thing to have on hand. Arrrgh! Decisions! 

I'll take them to New York with me this weekend (from where I'll be leaving for the summer) and make my decision last-minute. Then I'll just have to live with it. 

... That's how I roll.

Red/white top: Bought from an Olympiakos merchandise store in Athens
Seersucker pants: Gap, remixed
Sandals: Birkenstocks, via Tip Top Shoes in New York, remixed 

How I wore it: Babies!!!

So today was a very low-key day at Boots headquarters. I went out for a couple of hours in the afternoon to run some errands. And I basically watched soccer all day long. I love the World Cup, have I mentioned? In other news, my husband and I went out with last-minute planning and saw that movie, 'Babies,' about...babies. [Mongolian baby ftw!]

This is what I wore - I let my legs take center stage:

Although the colors are fouled up, I'm wearing my blue boots with blue stockings to match. Everything else I'm wearing is neutral, as you can see, with a plain grey t-shirt and a neutral beige skirt. I wore the exact same outfit in the afternoon, minus the tights, so I just decided to update it for a rainy, cool evening.

It may not have been the most flattering outfit, but it was relaxing to wear calming colors and bright legs. It's also nice to get a chance to wear boots, even in mid-June. I'll probably be packing the blue boots with me over the summer, not for Greece of course, but for Germany. It's very cool and rainy in Hamburg, even in the summer, and a good pair of boots wouldn't be overkill, I don't think...

Uninspiring today, but what can ya do?

Grey t-shirt: American Apparel
Beige skirt, Gap outlet, remixed
Blue tights (footless!): Gap
Blue boots: Frye Veronica slouches, by way of Zappos.com, remixed

Hint of summer vacation

Yesterday was (finally!) the last day of school for every single student at my place of work. I can't believe I attended four last-day ceremonies (two for high-school students, two for everyone else). The cool thing is that, despite faculty meetings next week, we were allowed to leave with the kids yesterday and we get today off. Which is very important, because the World Cup begins today.

I woke up feeling pretty gross yesterday and the weather agreed with me. It got cooler, by a lot, and drizzled most of the day. So despite rebelliously not wearing stockings for the past three or four weeks, I put some on yesterday as a final hurrah:

I told you guys that I could live in this dress! Since I was feeling ill and it's kind of my staple dress, it was the perfect last-day outfit. Although you can't really see them, my stockings are the bottle-green patterned ones that I've worn many times before (e.g., here). I of course wore a modesty cardigan for work (plus a jacket, to be quite honest, because cold).

I actually stayed in the dress well into evening because we invited a trustee of our building -- who happens to be a retired music professor -- for refreshments and chatting. I really needed to be in warm PJs and fuzzy slippers, but I kept it together. I even baked in this outfit! In fact, the picture above was taken after putting a batch of something sweet and delicious in the oven.

Apart from being the last day of seeing students (ever, in my case), yesterday also marked the last day I have to wear a dress/skirt to work! I plan on wearing pants every single day next week, even if it gets too warm.

So yeah, despite still feeling pretty ill, I'm quite psyched about summer vacation (almost) starting:

(I approve)

Black dress: Gap, remixed
Green patterned stockings: Gap, remixed
Black flats: Me Too by way of DSW, remixed

Back to black

So two days ago was the boys' graduation at my school and I also decided to dress a little more fancy for that. Instead of going brightly colored, the way I had for the girls, I went for my more comfortable color palette: black.

I bought this dress at a store in Boston called The Hempest. It's 100% hemp and feels like a sort of scratchier linen. I got it right around my wedding two years ago and it's become a summer basic since then. I packed it to Greece last year and it was definitely a staple for any event: I could dress it up with shoes and jewelry [my baptism, my mother-in-law's name day, dinner out with friends] or dress it down for a hot, dusty day of walking around Athens. The only thing I don't like about the dress is the strap situation -- I like a slightly less fussy strap instead of the ties. They're never even and if I wear a sweater (the way I did for work, bien sûr), I feel as if the bows' bumps are very visible. I do love the neckline of the dress and the way it makes me feel slim and pretty. My husband, who can sometimes make amazing fashion analyses of my outfits, says that when I wear it over the summer, I look like a theatre actress on her day off.

Anyway, for the rest of the outfit, I just pulled on the bright red wedges and some matching carnelian jewelry and called it a day.

Because of wanting to fancy it up, I wore contacts both that day and the day before. I wear contacts so infrequently now that it was kind of a big deal for me, but go figure -- no one else noticed. When my husband and I first met in early 2006, I looked pretty different. I had very short, Mia Farrow-esque hair and never wore my glasses, only contacts. As you know, I only started wearing glasses regularly when I got my last pair in February of 2008. I sometimes felt as if I had tricked my husband by turning into a four-eyes who deviated a lot from the girl he met two years earlier. However, Thursday night, my husband -- who claims not to prefer contacts over glasses or vice versa: he just likes variety, he says -- complained that I'd been wearing contacts too much and that he missed my glasses. I'd like to point out that I wore contacts only twice this past week and once the week before, for his birthday. Before that, I hadn't worn any since late April. I'm glad that he said it, though. I'm starting to feel as if I look a little naked without my big Ray Bans now.

With that, I'm off -- bye!

Black dress: The Hempest, a hemp-oriented store in Boston
Red wedges: CL by Laundry, by way of DSW, remixed

I wear colors when I want to

Today the girls of my school graduated and I decided to pull out a dress that I wear very infrequently. I had wanted to wear it at least once before school ended and I thought that the girls would appreciate it more than the boys, who graduate tomorrow, and would even appreciate the sentimental value behind it:

You see, I got married in this dress about a year and eleven months ago. [The sharp-eyed among you might also recognize the pattern from my header] My husband and I got married in Boston's City Hall in June of 2008 and I wore this cool patterned dress that I had bought on a whim a few weeks earlier for the first time. That day I wore bright orange sandals and very minimal jewelry. Today I decided to keep it simple with the shoes [we're not allowed sandals at work and heels are tough for me], but go crazy with the jewelry. So I wore my turquoise earrings, necklace, and ring, which matched the light blue flowers on my dress perfectly.

Although you cannot see my head or feet in this picture, you can, however, see the jewelry in all its glory. Cool, huh?

(Both pictures were taken at my place of work: shocking!)

Alas, today in the subway, the turquoise stone fell off of my ring, but I caught the noise as it fell, slid it back into place, and have resolved to get it glued back on or something. A bummer, but what can you do?

It was nice to dress colorfully today--everyone said something and I loved being able to respond, "Thanks! I got married in this dress!"

[Funny story: when I suggested wearing this dress for the wedding, my husband did not approve at all, although he thought the dress was cute -- he thought it wasn't "formal" enough for our civil ceremony. I got mad at him, he got mad at me, and when I wouldn't budge, he bought some fancy clothes that wouldn't be too overdressed for the ceremony and I wore this dress and rocked the hell out of it. Which he agreed with. That is all]

Flowered dress: Ann Taylor Loft
Mustard flats: Nine West, by way of DSW, remixed
Turquoise earrings: Banana Republic, remixed
Turquoise ring: anniversary gift from my husband, remixed
Turquoise pendant; Macy's

Schooooool's out! For! The summer!

...well, not really. But today was the last day of classes and the last day that I see a few of the kids. Sad face. After school, I stayed behind because we had a dinner honoring the senior girls, who graduate tomorrow. So I thought I'd dress somewhat pretty:

You've seen this skirt a lot before. I decided to wear it again with a simple black color scheme. The only pops of color I allowed were my necklace, my shoes, and my bracelet, which all matched in their shared color of red.

(Barely seen, my shoes are my patent-leather red wedges--you've seen 'em before, like here.)

I was comfortable all day and felt vaguely flirty, with my red accents and black/white color palette. I look forward to wowing the students all next week with my planned graduation outfits. I'll keep you posted!

Black and white skirt: Gap, remixed
Red shoes: Chinese by Laundry, via DSW, remixed
Black cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft
Black tank top (underneath): H & M

Scenes from a long weekend

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Again, it's kind of been a while. So this was Memorial Day weekend and it was pretty great, especially as classes are done for me and tomorrow all I do with my students is give them back their finals and feed them [I have baked goods in the oven as we speak], the two days after that are graduation, and then -- apart from having to go to work for curriculum stuff -- summer vacation!

[...not that all of next year won't be like summer vacation, but...]

Anyway, this weekend we had a dear friend visit us for two nights: she went to high school with my husband and settled in Philly, the town we lived in before Boston/Cambridge, so we used to see her a lot when we used to live there. This was the first time we'd hung out with her since Christmas of 2008, when we met up in Athens for a few hours. Anyway, because of her visit, we were able to do many things ... like have a party!

This dress, perhaps the shortest I own, is a hand-me-down. My sophomore year roommate didn't fit into it anymore and she passed it on to me. It's a great summer dress (I've taken it to Greece two years in a row and I wore it the first time I met my now in-laws), but I don't wear it that often because I'm self-conscious about how short it is. Frankly, this is the first picture I've seen of myself in it and, damn! Is it short... But it was just the thing for a warm evening in my new home, hosting friends and colleagues for the first time there.

Today, we went to the New England Aquarium in Boston and I made a new friend.

You've seen this outfit before: I wore it almost identically at the end of April for Greekfest 2010. The only difference is that I added a short-sleeved hoodie over it. (And I'm kissing an enormous stuffed octopus that now lives in our living room). Because of my new boyfriend's tentacles, you can't really see any details of the grey hoodie. Good thing I enjoy making out with cephalopods:

Much better. And that's the hoodie. Not very exciting, I know. But don't we love my new best friend?!

Not a very exciting post, I admit. Thankfully, what with this week being the graduation ceremonies, I'll dress up more and show you some good outfits. Laters!

Red and green dress: gift from a friend
Flip-flops: Urban Outfitters


Navy pants: Gap, remixed
Polka-dotted tube top: Express, remixed
Grey hoodie: Gap
Flip-flops: Urban Outfitters, remixed