Professional Stretchy Pants

The Poppy Chain Boutique 

Academia: The semester's over, but the busyness continues for another couple of days. I spent yesterday chauffeuring visiting professors around town. They were very nice, but it was quite a full day and I was happy to arrive home and put my feet up at the end of the day. Today is my last day of work before Christmas, and I won't go back until January 3 - yay! I plan to fully enjoy my long break, mostly by sleeping late and eating. I can't wait.

Sartorial: Even though I had a very professional day with the professors, I couldn't work up the will to wear anything other than these leggings again. The semester is over and tiny-waisted skirts just seem like too much work now. The professors didn't seem to mind, so if they weren't sweating it, I won't either.

Double Duty

Academia: Pictures didn't happen on Friday, so y'all are getting a special treat today: weekend clothes! And weekend clothes that aren't sweatpants and a t-shirt on top of that. I wore this to church yesterday, and then to the movies to see The Muppets (which I loved... "Rainbow Connection" always makes me tear up). And then I fell asleep on the couch in it, and can I say how great it is that clothes I wore to church can double as couch napping clothes?

Sartorial: I've worn variations on this outfit a lot, but that's just because it's oh so comfy and still looks polished. Let me reiterate: church and a nap in the same outfit. Win-win. Win.

Quiet

Necklace, TOMS 

Academia: Yesterday was a blissfully quiet day at work. The students had only a final exam, no classes, so I didn't see much of them. Instead, I got work done in my office, visited with work friends that I never get to talk to because I'm so busy with the students, and left early enough to go shopping with a girlfriend. After a very busy semester, it was just the kind of day I needed.

Sartorial: For a quiet day, comfy, stretchy clothes seemed appropriate. Perfect for curling up in a chair in a friend's office, stretching my legs out while working at my computer, and walking around Target.

Ever Seen a Movie About New Year's Eve in Manhattan? Yeah, I Thought Not.

TOMS

Academia: The last day of classes in any semester is a whirlwind of insanity, but yesterday felt more insane than normal. One of our administrators was out sick, so there was a lot of scrambling to cover the million-odd jobs she usually does. On top of that, the students go into panic mode at the end of the semester when they realize they have too many absences/are failing their classes/haven't made hotel reservations for the holidays/will miss the final because they bought their plane tickets for the wrong day. Fun times.

Amidst the normal hand-wringing that shows up in my office at the end of the semester, one crazy problem stood out from the rest yesterday. A very nice, very conscientious student came by and said that he wanted help making a hotel reservation. I said sure, where did he want to go? Times Square, New York City, was his answer. Fine, I said. What day?

December 31. Yeah.

I tried to explain that Times Square is the most popular place to be on December 31 in the entire United States of America, but he wanted to forge ahead and find a hotel. He was shocked to see that every available bed, army cot, sleeping bag, and folding chair on Times Square - nay, the entire island of Manhattan - costs $500 and up on New Year's Eve. I felt bad for him - I mean, he's not from here, he couldn't really know - but OMG, dude. Just OMG. Not surprisingly, he ultimately decided to go home and re-evaluate his plans.

Sartorial: I like to bring a little color to a day of insanity and hand-wringing. Purple tights make me feel better when I have to say things like, "Hmmm, I guess you could stay in Newark. Which is not actually even in the same state you're trying to be in."

Youtube Fun Day

Yeah, it's Youtube Fun Day because I was running too late to take pictures yesterday morning, and then when I got home it was dark. So in lieu of pictures, I'm leaving you with some videos that have taken up way too much of my time at work lately.

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf in 4.5 Minutes! I've posted this video before, but it's so fabulous that it bears repeating. We don't have much need for scarves in the Deep South yet, but my Northern and Midwestern readers do, so enjoy!

The Sloths Are Coming: Hide your kids, hide your wife. Except don't, because sloths are awesome.

Love Actually: Jamie Proposes to Aurelia: Because if you haven't seen Love Actually yet, this video will convince you that you need to immediately. Sometimes things are so transparency, they don't need evidential proof.

Love Actually

Academia: So, Love Actually night happened last night. Yay! The movie was just as delightful as it always is. I can't really pick a favorite part because the whole movie is so awesome, but my top three are probably Colin Firth's stumbling proposal in Portuguese, Hugh Grant dancing in 10 Downing Street, and the whole Liam Neeson father-son storyline. Plus, my sister set up a hot chocolate bar so we could have yummy drinks and cookies while we watched. Hot chocolate + Love Actually = a perfect December evening.

Sartorial: I wore a sweatshirt and leggings to movie night, but I wore these fun tights to work yesterday. This is the first time I've tried out chestnut-colored tights, and I think I like them. They were only $5 at Target, so I may need to go back and scoop up some other colors. Any recommendations? The only other color I have right now is black. What else do I need?

Pageant, Etc.

TOMS, The Poppy Chain Boutique 

Academia: Sometimes the nicest weekends are the most random ones. Over the past 48 hours, I have done the following:

1. Had a visit from my mom
2. Been inducted into PEO (my mom is also a PEO, which is why she came)
3. Went to my godson's baptism
4. Attended a local church's Christmas pageant, which wasn't so much a pageant as a 90 minute variety show that included a medieval court performance, a rendition of "The 12 Days of Christmas" in which the partridge in the pear tree kept forgetting to hold up her sign, a musical retelling of the Christmas story with a completely immobile Mary and Joseph (they just sat there holding Baby Jesus for upwards of 20 minutes), and a giant fake boar's head. Yeah, it was weird.

And it was all delightful. At the pageant, my friend Brian went to ask one of the greeters if she had a tissue, and she made him hand out church-themed calendars while she went to find him one. I love living in a small town.

Sartorial: I wore this outfit on Friday, to work, to clean my house before my mom's arrival, and to the pageant. Any outfit flexible enough for all of that is an okay outfit by me.

Anticipation

Academia: Y'all, I fell asleep at 9:30 last night and it's now 7:30 in the morning and I'm rushing around trying to get ready for work. And by "rushing around," I mean, "still lying in bed, trying to summon the energy to get up." So today I'll just leave you with a quick list of the things I'm looking forward to most about Christmas break:

1. Sleeping in
2. Spending time with my family
3. Visiting Tybee Island for New Year's
4. Love Actually viewing with my sister (and if we can talk them into it, our husbands)
5. Christmas parties

Sartorial: I'm also really looking forward to the weather continuing to be cool so I can wear my winter clothes. Here in the Deep South, winter is so fleeting that my winter clothes are kind of a novelty. I only get to wear them for two or three months and then it's back to sandals and skirts. By March, I'll be tired of being cold, but for now, it's a pleasant break from being hot and sweaty.

How about y'all? What are you looking forward to about the holidays?

Perks

Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: There are so many awesome things about my job. A student once told me I had four hearts, which was definitely a high point. I overheard one student tell another student who was being rude that he had "bad customer service," which I wouldn't call a high point, but was still pretty funny. And at the end of the semester, when all the teachers are running around in a flurry of grading, my job is actually winding down.

As a student life advisor, I work really hard at the beginning of each semester, when the students are new and still settling into life in the US. At the end, though, they're all housed, immunized, and insured, and there isn't as much for me to do. Although now that I've said that, I'm sure someone will set their apartment on fire or break their leg or something. So this week at work has been a bit more relaxing than a month or so ago. And at the end of a long semester, that's certainly a plus.

Sartorial: Another perk of my job is that I can wear leggings to work and absolutely no one cares. Bazinga.

Holiday Food Camouflage

Academia: So remember when I said I had interesting things to say, now that I'm back from my blog vacation? Yeah, not so much about my day yesterday. It was pretty routine. So, moving on to the clothes!

Sartorial: I got this idea yesterday to wear loose clothes to try to camouflage my holiday food belly, but looking at these pictures, I'm not sure it worked. I think I just look loose and baggy all over. So in the future, I think loose + loose probably won't work. The holiday food belly will just have to hide some other way. Suggestions, y'all?

Cat Nap Clothes

Brian's Etsy Shop, Bracelet 

Academia: Hey everyone! I'm back after several days off, and I'm feeling refreshed and ready to wear some clothes. Not that I haven't been wearing clothes all along (imagine the awkwardness/chilliness if I hadn't), but now I'm recharged and have some interesting things to say about them. I think. We'll see. 


Sartorial: Mondays in the all-you-can-eat holiday season call for stretchy clothes that look dressier than they feel. The combination of Christmas cookies and leftover weekend sleepiness makes me want to sleep late and read a book all day, but since I have to do things like pay my mortgage and feed the cats, I put on jersey clothes, don't belt anything,  drive to work, and try to catch a quick nap in my office armchair at lunch. And count down the days until Christmas break, although I try not to let on to the students that I'm doing that. Even though they obviously are.