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

This is why I haven't been posting...

... Remember how I told you guys I was really scared of bikes?

Some things change.

Last week, I bought my husband and myself bikes for his 34th birthday. This weekend, we put a seat for Baby Boots on his bike. We just came back from our first family bike ride. It was awesome.

How I wore it: nothin' but blue skies

Today we woke up to sunny skies, but the weather eventually got cooler and rainier as the day went on, which I knew would happen from obsessively checking my phone's weather app every few minutes. I decided to pull out my favorite colored jeans to make it seem sunny all day long. Although I'd never done this before, I decided to pair them with my favorite light cardigan and a striped nursing top that I'm fond of. And this time I tucked in the tank! My mustard flats and picked up the yellow accents from the cardigan, I hope, and - well - I liked the look:

Since I had gotten super-sick over the weekend and actually took yesterday (Tuesday) off as a sick day, I needed something comfortable and easy and this fit the bill perfectly. Although I don't think I've tucked in a shirt for years, I liked how this worked out. Furthermore, the neutrals on the sweater went nicely with the brightness of the jeans, I thought... It's amazing how much more I am into putting colors together than I used to be. 

Well, a movie I like is playing and I need to wash some dishes and continue with my self-imposed "improving my Hindi reading skillz" homework. 

Chalkdust out!

Striped cardigan: gift from my mom, by Ralph Lauren

Striped (black and white, though you can't tell) top: Glamourmom, by way of Isis Maternity

Turquoise jeans: Gap (online), remixed

Mustard flats: Nine West, by way of DSW, remixed

How I wore it: all dressed up and nowhere to go

Today was Easter for the Orthodox church and my husband, baby, and I celebrated accordingly. Well, more like my husband and I... Last night [Saturday], we went to church quite late and left Baby Boots sleeping, surrounded by adoring grandparents (my folks are in town!). We came home a little after 1 AM and feasted with some friends, old and new. My husband really wanted to take Baby Boots to get communion - I think he regretted not showing her off in church last night - so we went back to this same church a few hours after we'd last left it, at the time when the priest's wife told us they would be having a service before the traditional Easter Agape mass. However, after getting our asses out of bed only a few hours after going to sleep, getting dressed, and getting over there, the church was padlocked shut until the traditional mass ... which would be an hour later. So we headed back home and ate instead. Before changing into comfy clothes, though, we snapped some pictures.

I decided to finally début the white Banana Republic Mad Men dress I'd gotten from my husband for our sixth-year anniversary as a couple last year [It's kind of funny reading that post, as so much has changed. I'm STILL nursing Baby Boots now, a year later, and there was nothing wrong with my breast milk in the first place!]. I have issues with white, but I thought when would be better than a balmy Easter Sunday in May?

Now I had some issues with legwear. I gravitated toward grey tights and then I was stuck. My husband suggested my red wedges, which is what I went with, but I regret that. Any better thoughts, Style Nation?

Picture of the three of us courtesy of my father. I look weirdly disproportionate, but you can see my whole outfit in this one!

I was pleasantly surprised by the white dress, actually feeling pretty good in it, rather than self-conscious.

Meanwhile, Baby Boots is rocking a Diane von Furstenburg dress for Baby Gap that we just couldn't resist buying. In the above photo, you can see more of the pattern, but up top you can see the gorgeous pleating detail. Baby Gap is our weakness, yo.

All right, folks. Back to bed!

White dress: gift from my husband, via Banana Republic (online), Mad Men collection

Grey patterned tights: Gap, remixed

Red shoes: CL by Laundry, by way of DSW, remixed