Hispanohablante (Sort Of)

Academia: Check-in week for the summer term is over, and my free time and energy have returned, huzzah! Y'all have heard me talk about how crazy the first week of the semester is approximately eight billion times, so I won't go into much detail. I drove students around, I gave seminars, I answered what are now extremely familiar questions about housing, immunizations, insurance, and life in the US. Blah blah blah.

The only thing that really stood out as different was how much Spanish I got to practice during the week. We have a strict English-only policy at work; not because we hate our students' native languages, but because the best way to learn English is to use English as much as possible. So usually, I try to encourage my students to speak English with me, even though I minored in Spanish and am passingly fluent. But last week, we had several new Spanish-speaking students who really didn't speak English at all, and it was more important that they understand how signing a lease, opening a bank account, and buying health insurance works than that they get a few more hours of English practice.

It took a bit for my Spanish to un-rustify, but once I got going, I felt like I got by reasonably well. Everyone seemed to understand what I was saying at least. Plus, it's good for me to put myself in my students' shoes linguistically from time to time. Spending two whole afternoons speaking only Spanish reminded me how hard all my students are working every day to live life in English. It gave me a renewed admiration for them. At the beginning of the semester, when students are beating down my office door, remembering just how brave and determined they are helps me stay flexible and patient.

Sartorial: I wore this outfit last week on one of my Spanish-speaking days. I spent the afternoon driving students to see apartment complexes in the rain. Rainy days always make me want to wear jeans, and these pants are the closest maternity alternative I have. Actually, on a hot, humid day, they were better than jeans - the chambray fabric is lighter and looser than denim, making them the perfect summer pants. The loose top was cool and comfy in the humidity as well. All in all, not a bad outfit to spend a day in.

To Everything There Is a Season

Academia: This week is spring break for my university, but unfortunately not for me. We have our half-semester check-in this week, so I'm not getting a spring break right now. (I am taking a vacation at the end of the month though... stay tuned for all the exciting details!) So I wore this yesterday to give a seminar, answer student questions about insurance, etc. Not thrilling, but all in all, an okay day.

Sartorial: Yes, these are the same pants I wore on Monday. I also wore this cardigan yesterday, although I didn't manage to snap a picture. I'm finding that wearing maternity clothes is kind of like a 30 for 30 remix, except it's more like 9 or 10 for 150. Here's what I currently have in my pregnancy wardrobe:

5 dresses
2 pairs of work-appropriate pants
1 pair of boyfriend jeans
2 skirts
2 shirts

I plan to add to this list, of course, but for the next five months, I also plan to repeat items of clothing with no "but I have a style blog" guilt. To everything there is a season, and right now is a season of sticking with clothes that I like and are comfortable. And after the baby comes, I plan to have a season of "huzzah for normal clothes again!" shopping and skinny jeans wearing. Because I'm sure that's what the writer of Ecclesiastes 3 meant.

Trip to the Vet

Academia: I've told y'all before that Cary and I have two cats, George and Atticus. We love them dearly. George is 13 and spends most of his time looking dignified; Atticus is three and spends most of his time finding ways to slowly drive us insane.

While George has been completely indifferent to my pregnancy (as he is to most things), Atticus sensed something was different before I ever took a pregnancy test. His behavior has been a little more off than normal for the past four months. He started sleeping next to me right away, which was sweet, but he also started peeing all over our house. Not so sweet. Having our couch smell like a litter box is less than cute.

So Tuesday I took Atticus to the vet to see what his deal was. I was expecting a diagnosis like, "Your cat is a big jerk who is trying to shred your nerves one accident at a time." I mean, that's how this whole refusing-to-use-the-litter-box thing looked to me. The vet took it a bit less personally than me, fortunately, and said that my changing hormones, pheromones, and whatever other -mones are causing Atticus extreme stress. Peeing on our stuff is how he lets us know how stressed he is. The vet prescribed feline Prozac. And then I felt like a big jerk for getting mad.

So off I went to Target, where I had to fill out paperwork with Atticus's first and last name, date of birth, allergies, and medical history in order to fill his prescription. I felt a little silly ("Are you sure you need the cat's first and last name?" I kept asking), but they insisted it was necessary, and I don't want my house to smell like pee.

The vet said it can take up to four weeks for this to completely work, so we'll see. In the meantime, I'm congratulating myself on successfully tricking Atticus into taking his first dose of Prozac, and heavily investing in stain and odor removal products.

Sartorial: This is what I wore for all of that. My house may smell like Eau de Crazy Cat Lady, but at least my clothes are cute.

Pregnant Looking-ness

Academia: This has been an exciting week in the world of being pregnant. You know, for me, not for all pregnant women. I feel like I'm finally starting to look pregnant to people other than myself and Cary (and I'm not sure how pregnant I've actually been looking to Cary up until now, since I spent a lot of time standing in front of the mirror and demanding of him, "I look pregnant, right? Right? RIGHT?" What else could he say but yes?). It's nice to finally be looking on the outside like I'm feeling on the inside.

Speaking of how I'm feeling on the inside, this week I started feeling the baby kicking! It was pretty amazing. I mean, I've known there was a tiny person in there, but it all seemed a bit theoretical before. Feeling that tiny person's arms and legs moving, controlled by a completely different brain than mine, makes everything much more real.

Sartorial: With all of this growing and flailing of teeny limbs, I'm feeling very pregnant, so one thing I'm completely sick of hearing is, "You don't look pregnant at all!" I've really been looking forward to looking pregnant, and being told I don't is always a letdown.

So to combat that letdown, I picked out clothes yesterday that do everything possible to emphasize my pregnant looking-ness. I got new maternity pants from Target, so no weird squishing of my belly - just stretchy goodness. I picked out a form-fitting t-shirt with horizontal stripes. I walked around with one hand on my lower back. And no one said I didn't look pregnant. So there.

Word Play

Academia: A lot of interesting things happened in my day yesterday, but the one that sticks in my memory most is the one that happened last. A student called late in the day, begging me to help him. Alarmed, I asked him what on earth was wrong. He had a horrible toothache and needed a dentist, he said. Okay, how much pain was he in, I asked.

"Emily, my tooth f*** me!" he exclaimed.

Ooooookay. What other possible response is there besides, "I understand and will find you a dentist immediately"? None that I could think of, so that's exactly what I said, and I found him a dentist immediately. And got him the number and address of an urgent care clinic, just in case. Because dang. Just dang.

Sartorial: When I was wasn't resolving crises of the tooth-f***ing variety yesterday, I was enjoying wearing the last, and maybe most favorite, of my new maternity dresses. Happily, our cold front has vanished (high of 80 yesterday, what what), so I got to try this out blazerless and blazer...ful? What? I have a master's in linguistics, y'all. I can make up words. 

Rainy Day Tights

Academia: Two posts in a row! Yay! Yesterday was gross and gray and rainy, which was great when I was curled up on the couch with a warm rice sock on my back, but not so great when the fire alarm in my building went off and we all had to stand outside for half an hour. This happens all.the.time. in my building. Maybe someone keeps pulling the alarm or maybe a bunch of someones are really inept at microwaving. Either way, standing outside in the gray chill is not awesome, and warm rice socks are.

Sartorial: I've said it before, and I'll say it again: purple tights are designed specifically for rainy days. But not for lying on the couch. Sweatpants are better for that.

Sudafed Brain

TOMS

Academia: Y'all, I honestly can't remember what I did in these clothes. I have a cold, and my brain just refuses to reach that far back. On a related note, what in the world do they put in Sudafed to make it non-drowsy? I suspect cocaine. That's the only decongestant I can take right now, and it made me lay awake twitching half the night last night. So my options are apparently cough all night and don't sleep, or don't cough but feel like I had five espresso shots and also don't sleep. If I weren't so tired, I'd cry.

Sartorial: I remember this outfit being comfortable, I think. Except that my pants are just barely hanging on. I think I rubber banded them together, which is a pretty neat trick when you're pregnant but too small for maternity clothes. Just loop a rubber band through the button hole, and then around the button, and voila! Pants that mostly fit.

The button hole is hidden in this particular pair of pants, but trust me, the rubber band is there.

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?

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.

Pre-Tryptophan

Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: Much as I love my job, and busy as I am right now, the holidays make it really hard to sustain any kind of momentum at work. I run around all day until around 4:00, 30 minutes before I leave every day, and then find it impossible to get motivated to do anything at all. I can see Thanksgiving right over the horizon and my brain is already shutting down in preparation. It's like it can sense all the tryptophan coming its way.

Sartorial: Pre-tryptophan brain means pre-tryptophan clothes. This is definitely not my most exciting outfit ever, but standing in front of my closet yesterday morning, I just couldn't get excited about any of my clothes and ended up going with comfy pieces I knew would work together. This outfit didn't set anyone's world on fire, but I wasn't naked and two days before a big holiday, that's about all one can hope for.

Pre-Bad Hair Day

Academia: This is Wednesday's outfit, and the most important thing I can remember about Wednesday at this point is that I got my hair cut on Tuesday and this was my first time trying it out in public. I just got a couple of layers, which looked good on Wednesday, but were a disaster yesterday. I've had short hair for so long that I'm out of practice doing any kind of styling, but my sister says I need a flat iron and some heat protection products to keep it from frizzing out. Long-haired readers, do you agree? How do you keep your hair looking straight and not frizzy?

Sartorial: This was the fifth or sixth outfit I tried on on Wednesday. Just one of those days. Cary got home before me Wednesday afternoon and said he could tell exactly what kind of morning I had because of the explosion of clothes I left all over the bed. I ended up sticking with jeans and an easy blouse at the last minute. Kind of how I pulled my hair into a ponytail at the last minute yesterday, because omgfrizzymess. Seriously, y'all. Help me.

Downhill

Academia: The end of the semester approacheth. While this semester is nowhere near as wack as last semester was, the end of the semester always feels like that cartoon guy who always gets stuck in a giant snowball rolling down a hill at top speed. Weird analogy? Yeah, maybe. So I apologize for being a bad blogging friend and not commenting on anyone else's blog this week. I promise I'll get my act together soon, as soon as I stop rolling down this hill.

Sartorial: When life is busy, sometimes it's better just to go with simple clothes, and it really doesn't get much simpler than jeans and a white t-shirt. The blazer and the accessories dressed this outfit up enough for work, but I could have easily paired it with sneakers for after-work activities. And since simple clothes meant I didn't need to spend 15 minutes hemming and hawing in front of my closet, I gained 15 minutes of much-needed sleep before a very busy downhill day.

Escape and Oxfords

Academia: Just a quick post today because as you read this, Cary and I are heading out for a few days of don't-worry-be-happy escape from our lives at Disney World (which, if you've been reading long enough, you can guess is within fairly easy driving distance from where we live). I'm writing this on Wednesday night and we're trying to pack and clean, so all I have to say is yay Disney, and check out my new shoes!

Sartorial: I happened across these oxfords at Payless earlier this week and had to get them. I've been looking for the right high heeled oxfords for months, and when I saw these, I knew they were the right ones. I'm not quite sure how to style them other than with skinny jeans though. I think I can wear them with a dress and tights, but what about without tights? Will they cut my legs off and make them look short? It's still 80 degrees here, so I need a tights-less option. What do y'all think?

Recommended Reading

Academia and Sartorial: It's Homecoming weekend at my university, and when you live in a town that owes its entire existence to a university, Homecoming tends to shut everything down. The university, all of the schools, and many businesses are closed today for the Homecoming parade, and there's a big pep rally tonight. Cary and I are skipping all of that because 1) we've done it all several times before, 2) our football team kinda sucks right now, and 3) my grandmother's 80th birthday party is tomorrow. So we're at my parents' house for the weekend instead, and this is what I wore yesterday for work and the drive down.

Fun Stuff: Friend Friday is all about books today. I love to read, so I'm really excited about this. We're supposed to share either our five favorite or five that we've read recently. I'm going with my five favorite. In no particular order, here they are:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I've mentioned before on this blog how much I love this book, but I'll say it again. This is the best book ever. It has everything you'd ever want in a book. I named my cat after one of the characters. It's that great.
2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. I'm counting the whole trilogy as one book, since that's how Tolkien wrote it. Best part: Frodo and Sam's final climb up Mount Doom. It's such a great trilogy that I hate to say there's a worst part, but here it is: the Council of Elrond. Five minutes in the movie, fifty pages in the book, during which the plot completely ground to a halt.
3. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I know it's not politically trendy to like Ayn Rand right now, but I really loved this book. Beyond the philosophical message of the book, which is definitely interesting whether or not you agree with it, it had strong characters and a great plot. And now I know what "Who is John Galt?" means, so I feel like I'm on the inside of an inside joke when people say it.
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling. It was hard to pick one Harry Potter book above the rest (shout-out to Prisoner of Azkaban), but Deathly Hallows really had it all: a fast-paced, heart-pounding plot, a killer battle scene, a make-out session inspired by house elves, and formerly tame characters being total badasses (what's up, Neville Longbottom and Mrs. Weasley). Plus, the whole book (and really the whole series) was a wonderful reflection on love and death, and the power the former gives us over the latter. Definitely not just for kids, y'all.
5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I read this book approximately 587 times when I was a kid. Really, every little girl should read this book. Even though it's 150 years old, what it has to say about young women and how they relate to each other and the world still holds up.

So there you have it, y'all. My five favorite books of all time. There are tons of books that I love, but these are the five that will stick with me for the rest of my life. What about y'all? What are your favorite books?

Sister, Sister

Sorry about the pictures today. I wanted to see if I liked the flash settings on the new camera better than without the flash. I don't. 

Also, I'm still trying to figure out the appropriate amount of zoom.

Academia: A pretty normal day at work, except I got to have lunch with my lovely sister! My sister is a nanny, and as the child she nannies for gets older and my future niece or nephew gets closer to being born, her work hours are becoming more flexible, which means that we can have lunch once a week or so. It's such a nice break in the middle of the day and I love having the time to catch up with her. Living in the same town as adults is great.

Sartorial: After wearing a fancy dress and heels on Tuesday, I swung in completely the opposite direction yesterday and went as cozy as possible - boyfriend pants, slouchy cardigan, and TOMS. Perfect for a slightly chilly (for the Deep South) November day, and for sister lunch time.

$40 Anthropologie Dress!

Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: The title says it all, y'all. Part of my weekend of relaxation included going to a fancy mall to ogle the designer clothes and jewelry, at the kind of stores that wouldn't put a toe in my rural college town. I didn't expect to buy anything, but when I went into Anthropologie, my favorite store to drool all over, I found this awesome dress in the sale room. It was marked down from $140 to $40, approximately what I would spend on a dress at Target. Anthro dress for Target price? Yes, please.

Sartorial: There are a lot of things I love about this dress. First and foremost, the circle skirt. I went to the bathroom at work just to spin around in front of the mirror at least once yesterday. Second, the color and the pattern. I never knew I loved kelly green and black, but I do. Third, did I mention the price?

I felt so pretty in this all day, and I got a lot of compliments, which was really nice. I'm pretty sure I can dress this down or up, and it can transition between seasons by adding or taking away tights. Expect to see a lot of this dress, y'all. I love it.

Drink Up, Me Hearties, Yo Ho

Brian's Etsy Shop. Also, my angry pirate face. Arrrrr. 

First pictures with my new, free camera! What do y'all think? 

Academia: One of the very best parts of working with international students is getting to do cultural holidays reaaallly big. Like, wear a costume to work on Halloween big. I haven't dressed up in the last few years, but this time I figured, how often to I get to wear a costume? Exactly never. So drink up, me hearties - I decided to go as a pirate.

All the students seemed to think it was fun, albeit a little weird, that I had dressed up, but the reactions from my colleagues were way more interesting. My friend Victoria saw me in the hall and at first glance said, "Oh, are you a pirate?" Then she looked closer and said, "Oh my gosh, are you a really cute pirate?" Why, yes. Yes I am. I mean, aye. Arrrrr.

Sartorial: Honestly, I decided to be a pirate because I already had or could borrow the pieces of the costume. I've worn the tunic, t-shirt, leggings, and boots in normal, non-piratey outfits, but the addition of Brian's jewelry and Cary's Jack Sparrow hat (he uses it as a thinking hat in his classroom) took the whole outfit from cozy fall ensemble to buccaneer chic. I didn't have the Jack Sparrow eyeliner, but I felt quite swashbuckling all day anyway. Avast! Arrr! Yo ho, y'all.