How I wore it: eh?

Today, after much internal debate, I decided to wear a dress over leggings for my Monday. We had super-summery weather over the weekend, sunny, with highs in the mid-80s. Today promised us slightly cooler weather, but clouds, so I thought I'd take advantage of the in-between temperatures and wear something I was pretty unsure about.

… And for good reason. Behold:

I mean, the dress itself is cute. I styled it awfully: I don't think it's an "over leggings and casual mocs" kind of dress, but it's an objectively pretty dress. I bought it in the fall of 2006, if you can believe it, after a shopping spree at H&M in Philly with an old friend from NYC. It was a good purchase: I was teaching my own Sanskrit class in university (I was a fourth-year grad student) and a cute dress was a must. 

Since then, I've worn it often - I'm shocked I've never featured it here - usually with boots. However, after I left grad school and - coincidentally - stopped my 5-days-a-week gym habit, this dress was no longer my friend. It clung unflatteringly to my belly and made me self-conscious about looking pregnant years before Baby Boots was a gleam in our eyes. I did wear it while pregnant, which was great. Today, between biking and super-heavy leggings, I was fine with it and even remembered to suck in every once in a while.

But… I just don't know if I like it anymore. I look at my last outfit and I like myself so much in it! Flowy, unstructured dress, flowy sweatshirt… I love it. There's so much to this dress, with its clinginess and short, flowing sleeves, and that red solid detail that flows into a sad bow in the back -

… The least cute pin-up EVER. I look deranged.

You see, it's just so fussy. And I don't know if I do fussy anymore. 

That being said, it's damn cute with tights and boots and who knows if I'll always be working in such a casual environment as I am right now (although I do own a lot of other dresses). I always get complimented when I wear it and it reminds me of happy days in Philly…

So it comes down to your opinion, Style Nation. What should I do with this dress? Donate it or keep it in my closet for a bit longer? Help me out, y'all!

Patterned dress: H&M

White tank (underneath): gift from parents from Geneva, remixed (?)

Grey leggings: Calvin Klein, by way of TJ Maxx, remixed

Mocassins: Minnetonka, by way of Lord and Taylor (NY), remixed

How I wore it: guest star

Hi all! Thursday turned out to be a kind of tough evening in the Boots household, as Baby Boots was just not having it. I lost my patience a couple of times with her, although I was able to put her to bed before 8 PM (she was EXHAUSTED), so I spent most of yesterday (Friday) in a funk, feeling guilty about being a bad mommy and hoping for a do-over.

So yesterday I took my time with Baby Boots and we all ended up having a great evening. It helped that she FINALLY napped at preschool (for the first time since she started transitioning over from Toddlers to Preschool), that the weather was lovely, and that some of her friends were playing outside when we got home.

Something else that helped? I invited her to be part of the photo shoot:

Should've maybe combed her hair before taking the photo…

What a ham. Both the mother and the daughter. Also, who knew that my hair could be neater than someone else's at 6:30 PM? Enter Baby Boots. Her curls are untamable - she's actually got her hair in a bun, but - as the day goes - all those little curls spring out from however she's wearing her hair and just take over. 

Anyway, back to my outfit. It's pretty much identical to this, only with different shoes and my walrus sweatshirt. The weather was going to be lovely, as I mentioned, so I decided to get another wear out of my short black dress and my short black leggings. I wore the sweatshirt out of propriety and was glad to have it on my bike ride home, despite the shining sun and 70 degrees. When I look at/think about this outfit, I sometimes wonder if it comes off as too young. I'm 33, after all, a professional woman with a doctorate and a child and a mortgage. 

But honestly? Screw it. It was perfect for biking, going to preschool and back on foot, and playing in the grass with children. And that's the other big part of me. Over the summer, I had a lot of revelations about identity and selfhood (with regard to my own self) and this outfit is just inching closer to the vision of me that I most like. 

Rock and roll…

Walrus sweatshirt: supermaggie.com, remixed

Black dress: Old Navy (online), remixed

Black leggings: Adidas, by way of TJ Maxx, remixed

Shoes: Target, remixed

How I wore it: basic and stripes

Today we were supposed to get rain (not yet happened, though) and I had an unexpected respite from my usual Thursday faculty meetings, so we arranged for my husband to pick me up early from school today. So while I tend to dress up more extravagantly on Thursdays, as I don't bike, today I wanted to be comfy in case I got caught in the rain.

So I deployed boots (well, booties) for the second time this year and wore one of my new favorite button-down-ish tops. No one gasped in amazement when they saw me, but I really liked my outfit today:

Ignore the closed eyes…

Although this striped shirt is so basic, I have a passionate love for it. I bought it online from J. Crew Factory last spring, as I tend to take advantage of their sales through Gilt. I've often paired it with khakis or jeans, but never with black jeans. I have to admit, for an easy almost-Friday look, I was super-happy with it. 

It doesn't show so well in the photos, but I'm wearing my beloved Fluevog badass short black boots. Still love 'em.

Well, that's all, folks. My daughter and I are installed on the couch, watching the end of 'Yellow Submarine' (I've trained her well). And she's in a pissy mood, so I gotta go deal with that…

Striped shirt: J Crew Factory

Black jeans: Old Navy (online)

Black boots: Fluevog, remixed

How I wore it: black and blue and brown?

Hellooooooooo!

I hope all of you are doing well. We are having beautiful weather in the Boston area, balmy, breezy days that are a joy to be outside in. Last week we had a couple of cool mornings, but right now it's lovely out.

Yesterday we had an especially warm day, especially for late September - with similar weather promised for today - so I decided to do something a little different:

…  I don't know if it was entirely successful, but it was fun. I've worn this dress [second outfit] several times and this is the most casual iteration of it: the short leggings, the slip-ons… I gotta admit, I was super-comfy and happy all day. Until…

Sad peanut sauce victim is sad.

One of my colleagues was having a bowl from our school's noodle bar. With Thai peanut sauce. And it spilled all over him. He was sitting next to me. You can see where this is going, right? Some spilled on me, which - of course - I didn't notice until after I got up from lunch. I used some baby wipes on it and most came out. Too bad I don't have a job where I periodically turn my back on teenagers while writing on the board. Oh, wait…

I found out once I got home that this dress is dry-clean only (although its polka-dot counterpart is not), so between the biking and the stain…yeah, it's going out to the cleaner's. 

So that was MY Monday…

Blue dress: J Crew Factory, remixed

Black leggings: Adidas, by way of TJ Maxx, remixed

Shoes: Target, remixed

How I wore it: Texas tuxedo Tuesday

So today I was all excited to wear a favorite shirt and some jeans and I thought that they were differently colored enough to, y'know, look very different.

Alas -

It seems that amorphously colored blue chambray and grey jeans don't look allllllll that different from each other. No one laughed at me, which was great, but I think next time I'll have to make a higher contrast, yeah?

At least I had my neat-o houndstooth shoes. 

I biked today - despite inclement weather (it never ended up raining on me) - because tomorrow and Thursday I have stuff after school, so no bike. It was so worth it.

And now I must cook dinner.

Adieu!

Chambray tunic: J Crew Factory, remixed

Grey jeans: Gap (online), remixed

Shoes: Target

How I wore it: casual Monday

Hey, y'all!

After a lovely (short!) weekend, today dawned all too soon and I found myself figuring out how to get to work on my bike in cooler temperatures (it was 48 degrees when I left the house!!). So instead of cute dresses and under-leggings, I found myself considering jeans and light sweatshirts:

Today also marked my first seasonal deployment of boots! This weekend I started seeing the ladies wearing their boots around the Boston area, so I thought it wouldn't be too soon to pull out my light blue short boots. As always, I loved wearing them, but they're a smidge too tight (about a half-size?). It didn't bother me the whole day, but walking to and from preschool to get Baby Boots was a little painful by the end. 

And… that's basically it. How are the rest of you doing with the beginning of a new week?

Walrus sweatshirt: supermaggie.com, remixed

Striped tank (underneath): Gap

Jeans: Old Navy (online), remixed

Boots: a gift from my husband, bought in Spain, remixed

How I wore it: T.G.I.F!!!!

Yikes, you guys. It was just the first full week of classes and all of my colleagues and students are wrecked. Why has this year been so much more tiring than other years? I don't know, but I'm constantly exhausted, frazzled, and achy (…well, that has more to do with the constant biking/walking to get Baby Boots).

So I am super grateful that today is (finally) Friday. So I wore a cute outfit. Well, cute-ish. For my new standards:

To be honest, I don't know how much the leggings do for this (especially since they're pretty much full-length leggings and I like the knee/calf-length ones), but they're super-necessary for biking, of course. Well, anyways, I've had this dress since the spring of 2013 and have worn it a bunch. It was surprisingly good for biking, along with the leggings. I

I was hoping to wear cuter flats, but my feet were killing me after a lot of walking in unsuitable wedges yesterday and then I stubbed my toe super-hard this morning and suspect that I might have broken it. So comfy moccasin slippers it was! 

I always get excited, as you know, when my jewelry matches my outfit:

…And match it does. These two pieces are peridot, my birthstone, and pieces that I've had for years. The pendant I got from my parents for my 11th birthday, one of the first "nice" pieces of jewelry that I ever had. I wore the crap out of this chain/pendant combo: at one point, I never took off the necklace and even went swimming in it. All the wear and tear have banged it up a bit, but I still adore it. 

The ring was my 12th birthday present from my parents, bought to match my pendant. This ring means a lot to me, although I have bittersweet memories attached to receiving it. The original ring was too small for me, so we went to Macy's to get it resized. The saleswoman, upon hearing our request, looked at my hand (keep in mind, I had just turned twelve), and said, "Oh, I see. You have fat fingers." 

Yup. 

A saleswoman told a preteen girl that she had fat fingers. My mom is still furious about it.

Funnily enough, my fingers have remained the same size since then (the ring still fits perfectly around my ring finger, for which it was sized) and, hey, I'll be honest: I sometimes catch myself looking at my fingers to see if they are, indeed, "fat." Maybe they are. Who knows. I don't particularly care anymore, but - 21 years later - I can't really understand the brutal honesty that made this lady say that to me…

Green dress: J Crew Factory, remixed

Grey leggings: Calvin Klein, by way of TJ Maxx, remixed

Moccasins: Minnetonka, by way of Lord and Taylor (NYC), remixed

Peridot ring and necklace: presents from my parents from Macy's (NYC)