Mental Fist Shaking

Academia: I think my university is the only public institution in the US that doesn't celebrate Presidents' Day. 364 days a year, I love, love, love working there, but on Presidents' Day, my alarm goes off, I look at my blissfully sleeping public schoolteacher husband, and I mentally shake my fist at the powers that be. And that's how yesterday went for me.

Sartorial: I'm also starting to mentally shake my fist at my wardrobe. I don't have enough maternity clothes to make a full wardrobe, but none of my pre-pregnancy pants or skirts fit comfortably anymore, so every day I just look at my closet and sigh. This in-between stage of pregnancy is killing my style mojo.

I felt better over the weekend when my friend Lilly, whose due date is one week before mine, said she was feeling exactly the same way about her clothes. She always looks really stylish to me, so that gave me hope that maybe I'm not looking as blah as I feel when I get dressed every day. I think a good solid hour of shopping for more clothes that actually fit would give my style mojo the boost it needs. I hoping that can happen this week; stay tuned for results.

I know I sound super whiny today, y'all. I promise I'm not fishing for compliments, and I hope to be back to my non-whiny self in my next post. Thanks for bearing with me.

Baby A-mazing

This is a picture of me with five of my favorite people in the world. This picture was taken at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, about a month before I got pregnant.

Seriously, these people are the best, and I'm not just saying that because three of them (Cary, obviously, and Mike and Suzanne) are in my immediate family. They're all awesome, all five of them. Except now I can say they're all awesome, all six of them, because the first of our babies, Jose and Adrienne's Baby A, was born Wednesday night.

New babies are always wonderful, but the birth of a baby whose parents you know well and like a lot is especially amazing. Cary and I visited Baby A in the hospital yesterday evening and she is pretty badass. She was looking around and sticking out her tongue at us, and seemed completely fascinated with Cary. I mean, I know all newborns do that stuff (except maybe for being fascinated with Cary, since not every newborn is fortunate enough to meet him), but when the baby of our dear friends was doing it, she just seemed so advanced and cool. Best baby ever.

The next baby up is Suzanne and Mike's Baby F, due in April. Baby F is also my nephew, and therefore will clearly also be the best baby ever. And then our baby is due in August, and I'm sure we'll think s/he is the best baby ever too. So to sum up, we're having a lot of awesome babies around here, who will be so amazing that they might actually be the next step in the human evolutionary cycle. In your face, other babies.

Anyway, here's what I wore on Baby A's birth day. I didn't know she would be born when I put it on in the morning, but it seemed appropriately festive for what turned out to be a banner day for our little group.

If you look closely, you can see where my own superbaby is beginning to be visible. We're living in exciting times, y'all.

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.

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?

Happy Legs

Academia: Thanks for your kind words yesterday, y'all. I feel like I keep e-melting down and y'all keep cheering me up, so thanks for bearing with me. My mom told me yesterday that when you're going through something hard, like infertility or the death of a loved one or losing your job or breaking up with someone, you just have to keep living, and do things that distract you and make you happy. Writing this blog and knowing y'all makes me happy.

Sartorial: Another thing that makes me happy is wearing purple tights. Horrible clunky segue, I know. Just humor me. Today is colored tights day on Everybody Everywear, so I pulled out this lovely pair and they made my legs feel cheery all day. I wore this exact outfit more than once last winter, and it's one of my favorites, so y'all can definitely expect to see it again.



Bonus happy things: The creme-brulee-sized sweet potato pie my friend Melina brought me at work yesterday, the new Three Musketeers movie (so cheesy, so fun), and these two spoken-word poetry performances that my friend Debra emailed me yesterday. She says the first one is for fighting the good fight and the second is for feeling good, so if you need to fight or feel good (and who doesn't?), check them out.

Adventure Camp

Academia: All weekends are lovely, but some weekends are lovelier than others. This past weekend was one of the loveliest. I was supposed to be at a women's adventure camp with my mom and my friend Debra, but it was canceled due to low enrollment. We were all disappointed, but decided to have a girls' weekend at my parents' house anyway. And then Debra had the fabulous idea to spend Saturday at the spa.

OMG, y'all. I'd never been to a spa before. It was sooooooo good. We ate lunch by the pool in our spa bathrobes. We got manicures and pedicures. They had free chocolate-covered pretzels, which was one of the best parts. Debra kept saying, "Yay adventure camp!" and I whole-heartedly agree. Yay adventure camp indeed.

Sartorial: Since I was driving three hours directly from work on Friday, I wanted to be comfortable, and this dress is one of the comfiest I own. I've worn it with every cardigan and jacket I have, so I tried something new this time: the t-shirt under the dress. I was worried that it would look a little schoolgirlish, but I think it worked out okay. And I was comfy in the car, although not nearly as comfy as I was at the spa. Good grief, y'all.

Funky Jackie Kennedy

Skirt, Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: One of my favorite weekly activities is getting together with our four best couple friends, my sister and brother-in-law Suzanne and Mike, and our friends since forever, Jose and Adrienne, for dinner and Project Runway. We alternate houses every week and we all pitch in a dish for dinner. We're ages behind on Project Runway (we DVR), but we have a great time gasping at the drama, predicting the winners and losers, and critiquing the clothes.

And not it's not just Suzanne, Adrienne, and me who are passing judgement on the designers. The guys have just as many opinions as we do, and it delights me to hear them saying things like, "Yeah, I liked that dress, but maybe with a different shoe," or, "That really doesn't flatter her hips at all." When Project Runway isn't on, we substitute with Top Chef or other competition shows, but PR is my favorite because I love clothes and I love listening to the running commentary from the dude gallery.

Sartorial: We just watched the episode last night where the designers have to consult with men to make clothes for their wives or girlfriends, which prompted an interesting discussion about whether our guys could accurately describe our style to a designer. Mike and Jose did pretty well ("black and white" for Suzanne and "Ann Taylor Loft" for Adrienne), but being married to a style blogger allowed Cary to hit the nail on the head; he described my style as "funky Jackie Kennedy." That's exactly what I try for in my wardrobe.

I think this outfit is a little funky Jackie; the pieces are pretty classic, but the combination of fuschia cardigan, animal print blouse, and aqua earrings is a bit funky. I don't know if this would pass muster on PR, but I liked it, and my husband knows my style well enough to buy me presents, so I say I win.

Friendly Inspiration

Skirt, Brian's Etsy Shop, Bracelet 

Academia: It was back to work after a long weekend yesterday, and all in all, it was a pretty nice day. I sorted through the various comforters, pans, and pillows a departing group of students left for the use of future groups, and I took a student to orientation at her volunteer internship. I got to be out and about, which I much prefer to sitting at my desk all day. So all in all, not a bad start to the week.

Sartorial: I have stylish friends, and having stylish friends means having a never-ending source of inspiration for my own wardrobe. My friend Adrienne has this same pink shirt, except in green, and Sunday at church she wore it over a short-sleeved white button-down. I had never thought to wear this shirt over anything, only under, but when I saw how cute Adrienne looked, I thought, I can recreate that!

I wanted to color-block as well as copy Adrienne, so I paired this pink shirt with a red button-down. I ended up liking it, and will probably bust this out again for Valentine's Day, because let's face it, this is a lot of pink and red.

What about y'all? Do you get inspired by your friends? And do you shamelessly rip their outfits off like I do?

Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Not my best picture ever. My sister took it and she is really tall, so my legs look two feet long. I mean, thanks for taking my picture, Suzanne!

Suzanne and me

Five of my favorite people, and two of my favorite people-to-be. We're all wearing buttons because it was Mike's birthday and Disney gives buttons that say "I'm celebrating!" to anyone celebrating almost anything, except the birthday person, whose button says "It's my birthday!" Everyone we passed said happy birthday to Mike, and someone actually congratulated Cary on Mike's birthday. Welcome to Disney World.

Academia: One of the nicest things about living in the Deep South is proximity to Disney World. On Friday, Cary and I, my sister Suzanne and brother-in-law Mike, and our good friends Jose and Adrienne took the day off and went to the International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot.

For those of you who don't live within a day's drive of Disney, Epcot is divided into two sections: the futuristic utopia world at the front of the park (where the giant golf ball you've all seen is), and the World Showcase in the back, which is like a sample platter of the world's countries arranged around a lake. Every year Epcot puts on the Food and Wine Festival in October. They set up booths for all the countries featured on the World Showcase plus a ton more, and sell tapas-sized plates and alcohol from each country. So basically, you can eat and drink your way around the world.

Which is exactly what we did. It was a perfect day; the weather was gorgeous and Epcot is not so full of awesome rides that you would ever feel guilty about spending a whole afternoon meandering and eating, instead of standing in line. We just moseyed around, which was great for all of us - the pregnant members of our group because they needed to rest more, and the non-pregnant members because it gave us more time to drink our sample-sized beers in between booths.

Sartorial: When I go to theme parks, I dress for comfort over style. There is nothing worse than getting to 3:00 in the afternoon at Disney World and having sore feet, because you paid $80 to get in and there's no way you're leaving before nightfall, even if you feel like amputating your feet would hurt less than continuing to walk around.

I have found myself in this boat too many times, so when I got dressed on Friday morning, I picked clothes that could stand a long car ride and a long day of walking: wide-leg comfy jeans, breezy blouse (it's still in the mid-80s in Orlando), and TOMS. This is probably not my most stylish look ever, but I didn't want to cut my feet off at the end of the day, so I count it a success.

WIth a Little Help from My Friends

Academia: I was thinking yesterday how lucky I am to have the friends I have. As I've been dealing with the funk I wrote about on Monday, my friends have risen to the occasion 100%. Yesterday I was feeling kinda bad, but my friends were there to cheer me up at every turn. I had lunch with my sister, and Brian came over and he and Cary made dinner for us, and then I talked to my dear friend Debra for two hours after Brian went home. I felt so much better at the end of the day. My friends are always awesome, but yesterday just reminded me how awesome they are.

Sartorial: I felt a bit like Indiana Jones in this outfit, which, as I've written about before, is every academic's secret dream. And where would Indy have been without his friends? He would have been eating poisonous dates, trying to lift the Ark out of a snake pit by himself, and probably getting shot by Nazis more than once. I wouldn't be in quite the same dire circumstances without my friends, but I think dressing like someone who would made sense on a day when my friends were really there for me. Thanks, guys.

Feel Good, Look Good?

TOMS 

Academia: I had a bit of a frustrating day at work yesterday. I felt like I talked to students all day who were either rude for no reason, or who were asking for my help with things they should have learned how to do a long time ago and had just opted not to. But. BUT! The day ended with shrimp and grits and Project Runway with friends. Any day that ends like that can't be too bad.

Sartorial: I felt good in this outfit yesterday, although when I look at the pictures now, something about it seems a little off. Do y'all ever wear outfits like that? I might try to recreate this in the future with different accessories, because I think the core pieces are working, but it's probably the accessories that are throwing it off.

Generally, I believe that if I feel good, it probably looks good, but maybe that's not always true. I mean, I feel good in pajamas, but that doesn't mean I should wear them outside. What do y'all think? Does feeling good always equate to looking good? And what's going on with this outfit?

All Day Dress, Round Two

Dress, TOMS, Bracelets

Say hello to Atticus, Blogland!

Academia: Sorry about the grainy picture quality today, y'all. I didn't get home until 9:00 last night, so I had to take pictures inside and my camera isn't advanced enough or maybe I'm not advanced enough to take good inside pictures. I was late for fun reasons though. I have a work prayer group that meets after work on Wednesdays, and after that I had a meeting of a philanthropic organization I'm hoping to join. Spending time with friends and soon-to-be friends makes getting home late not so bad.

Sartorial: The last time I wore this dress, I called it the "all day dress," and it certainly lived up to its name yesterday. I tried to dress it down a bit with TOMS and beaded jewelry, and I was comfy, cute, and climate-appropriate from 9:00 yesterday morning until 9:00 last night. So now I know that this dress works with heels, dressy flats, super casual TOMS, in the morning, at night, in a box, with a fox, in a house, and with a mouse. And I do like it, Sam I Am.

Happy Hour, Happy Outfit

Skirt, TOMS, Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: The longest check-in week ever is finally over, and this is what I wore for Friday, the almost-last day of it (we had a welcome picnic on Saturday). Honestly, the whole week was such a blur that I'm having trouble remembering what I did on Friday, other than crash my husband's all-guys' happy hour after work. I figured, I was going to have a beer when I got home anyway. Having one with people in a restaurant seemed less pitiful than having one by myself while watching Friends reruns in my pajamas. The guys were very gracious about being crashed, and as far as I could tell, a good time was had by all. Or at least by me.

Sartorial: Check-in week always requires more professional attire than we normally wear in my department, but by the end of the week, I was tired, cranky, and really wanting to show up to work in sweatpants. Sadly, no one has found a way to make sweatpants look professional yet, so I wore the next best thing: jersey maxi skirt (no leg-shaving, thank you), cotton cardi and cami, and TOMS, the most comfortable shoes known to man. If I had had a spare minute to sit down in my office armchair, I would have fallen right to sleep.

Girls' Day at the Sauna

T-shirt, Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: I'm happy to report that yesterday was much less stressful than the day before. Our professional development week continued, and I'm having a great time hanging out with my colleagues. We have several new teachers on our faculty this semester, so my girlfriends and I invited some of them to lunch with us today. I think they're going to fit right in, because we had a lot of fun together and everyone seemed to click. I love having colleagues that I like. Nothing breaks up a tough day better than a few minutes of girl talk in between classes, and I have plenty of work girlfriends to talk with.

Sartorial: After dressing for battle two days ago, I wanted to be a little more relaxed yesterday. This was also because our PD sessions are on the other side of campus, about a 20 minute walk from our building, and August in the Deep South is the most miserably hot and humid month of all the months in all the hot places in all the world. No one goes outside unless they absolutely have to, because outside feels like a sauna full of sweaty football players from about 9:00 in the morning until 9:00 at night. So for a 20 minute hike in the armpit of a sauna-ed up offensive lineman, I went for floaty cotton and flats. And I seriously considered wearing a bikini today. But don't worry. I only do that during spring break.

Harry Potter and the Versatile Dress

Dress 

Academia: God bless my boss for insisting that I take a vacation. So far today, I have slept until 9:30, read, done some laundry, and had lunch with out-of-town friends, the kind of people I haven't known very long but are so energizing to be around that I can tell we're going to be good friends. My soul needed today.

Also, Cary and I are driving to Orlando to go to Islands of Adventure this weekend! It was a last-minute decision, but we thought we needed to escape into something fun, and what better way to escape than to pretend we're going to Hogwarts? I'm going to drink my weight in butterbeer, y'all.

Sartorial: For a laid-back day, I wanted a laid-back outfit. This dress is so comfy and cool, and with a new headband and brightly colored sandals, it's perfect for today. I know I've worn this a million times, but it's just so versatile and feels great on. It can go from laying on the couch to lunch to Cary's work party to the car ride this evening without breaking a sweat. Although it would be kind of weird if a dress did break a sweat. Maybe at Hogwarts.

Dragon Lady

Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: My experiences today ranged from medical emergency to long meetings to cuddling a baby. It was quite a varied day. I had my normal classes (except no one came to my 7:45 class... glad I woke up early for y'all). I served on a scholarship interview committee. I had a meeting about how to deal with the crazy absences we've had this semester. And then, in the middle of my meeting, a student passed out in class and the EMTs came, so I needed to handle that (the student is fine now, but it was a scary few minutes).

And then I came home, and our friend Ashley was here with her new baby A., which was lovely because I love babies and Ashley is the kind of wonderful mom who is happy for friends to hold A., and doesn't rush over to take him from you when he fusses. And A. is so precious, I just wanted to pinch his little cheeks. It was a great end to a kind of hectic day.

Sartorial: I came out of the bedroom in this outfit this morning, and Cary and I had the following conversation:

Cary: You look really teacherish today, but, um, not exactly teacherish. You look like...
Me: A hot teacher?
Cary: Exactly.

Yay. "Hot teacher" is always a nice thing to be. Cary said I reminded him of the Dragon Lady, Theo Huxtable's hot/strict teacher on the Cosby Show. The link is for my international readers; I fully expect that any American readers over the age of 25 know what I'm talking about. If you click the link, go to 2:07 to see her transform from Hot Lady to Dragon Lady. I was feeling very sexy as I headed out the door, although when my dorkiness took over and I said, "I'm a Dragon Lady! Raaaaar!" that kind of ended.

Simple Saturday

T-shirt, TOMS 

Academia: Sorry, no academic action here today, unless you count buying a white board for my office door and going to my office to hang it up. I'm really just trying to knock out one more 30x30 outfit so I can finish on Friday. We're having visitors this weekend, so I spent the day cleaning, taking piles of old clothes and furniture to Goodwill, putting the finishing touches on our bedroom redo (pictures to come!), and doing all those little things that never get done without the deadline of company coming.

Sartorial: Jeans and t-shirts are my Saturday uniform. And since our guests are from the great state of Alabama, I thought I would wear my t-shirt that honors the greatest book ever written about Alabama or by an Alabaman (or, in my humble opinion, by anyone). I got a compliment on it from the cashier at Target too. Actually, all she said was, "I read that book," but I'm taking it as a compliment. 

I'm not sure what's going on with the colors in my photos though - in real life, the t-shirt is a great turquoise and not at all the same color as the jeans. Oh well. I'm spreading hospitality and literacy through my wardrobe, and that's what matters.