EBEW: DIY (It's Acronymtastic!)

Blouse 

Academia: Here's what I wore to work yesterday - no Columbus Day off for me, y'all. It's not a holiday my university celebrates, which I guess makes sense; we should probably be celebrating Leif Ericson Day, or European Settlers Were Pretty Jerky to Native Americans Day. But a day off would have been nice. Oh well.

Sartorial: Today is DIY Day at Everybody Everywear. I am not crafty at all and never make any clothes by hand, so I had to go with the only pair of pants I've ever hemmed on my own: these jeans. You can read all about the epic battle I fought with my antediluvian sewing machine here, but here's a quick summary: the jeans were about five inches too long when I bought them (why do retailers think all women are 5'10"? How many women wearing a size 4 really are that tall?), and I had a sewing machine, so I attempted an invisible hem. After about five hours of messing up, ripping out seams, crying, cursing at my sewing machine, and accidentally stabbing myself in the foot with a pin, I had hemmed jeans.

The good news is that these are now my favorite jeans. They're so comfy, and while they were a bit pricey and took a lot of effort to get to the right length, I've worn them so much that the cost per wear is probably $2 or less by now. I'm not particularly inspired to get the sewing machine back out and make my own clothes or anything, but if I ever need to hem another pair of pants, I know now that I can.

Thrift and Thanks

Brian's Etsy Shop

This is my "I have an awesome skirt" dance.

Academia: Today I just want to say how grateful I am for the supportive comments y'all left in response to my post about infertility yesterday. I was nervous about putting all of that out there in Internetland, but I feel so great now after reading y'all's encouragement. Thank you so much. You were all so sensitive and compassionate. Surviving infertility so often feels like navigating a minefield of judgment - on why we don't have kids yet, on what we should do to have kids, on the completeness of our lives without kids - that unequivocal support from people I've never met other than online was both surprising and wonderful. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Sartorial: Today is Thrift Day on Everybody, Everywear. I'm not a champion thrifter like some of my fellow fashion bloggers (Meredith of Yours, Mine & Ours comes to mind - she's such a champion that she actually gets most of her clothes for free), but I do have one jewel in my thrifted crown: this skirt. This skirt is not only both vintage, a trendy midi-length, polka dotted, and bright red, but it also cost $5. I feel happy every time I wear it. I even dance a little, as you can see in the pictures. Any clothing that induces dancing is okay by me, especially when it costs $5.

Quest for Yellow

Dress, Cardigan, Shoes, Brian's Etsy Store

A student randomly gave me this yellow flower today. Thanks, student!

Academia: Today was pretty stressful, so I won't bore you with complaining about it. Instead, I want to talk about clothes! Yay clothes!

Sartorial: It's Yellow Day at Everybody, Everywear. I don't own a lot of yellow. I love the color, but I'm afraid of it; I'm so blonde and fair-skinned that I worry I'll look ill if I wear it. This summer, I branched out and bought these yellow shoes, but I wanted to add some yellow accessories for EBEW, and had this belt, as seen on Dotty of Dash Dot Dotty, in mind. So I headed to the mall, on a quest for yellow.

The Forever 21 in my town has found numerous ways to disappoint me, and yesterday's shopping trip was no exception: they had no yellow accessories at all, except for this owl necklace, which isn't even completely yellow. It was, however, $3.80, so I snatched it up, and got rung up by Topanga from Boy Meets World. Did you know she worked at F21 in a small Southern college town? She does. She has apparently ceased aging too, and actually appears to be forever 21. If only Mr. Feeny worked at Barnes and Noble, my life would be complete.

After being bummed out by F21 (minus meeting Topanga), I went to Victoria's Secret. I had birthday money to spend, and hadn't bought a new bra in an embarrassingly long time. I would have spent more time feeling embarrassed about it, except that almost immediately upon entering the store, I ran into a former student. A guy my dad's age. Shopping with his wife. So. Awkward. We all chatted politely and pretended we weren't standing next to a giant display of thongs, but yeah, it was weird.

So that is where my quest for yellow led me yesterday. I walked away with a necklace, some lingerie, a sneaking suspicion that Shawn Hunter might tend bar near the university, and a new number one on my list of places I'd rather not see students. Thank you, EBEW. Thank you.

Chantilly Lace

Academia: I wanted to get a jump on Everybody, Everywear and post early today, but I'm posting so early that nothing has really happened yet. So instead of a recap of what I did today, I offer you some predictions. I predict that our student medical services will call at least once because they can't understand our students. I predict that at least one student will have a weird problem that will have been impossible for me to anticipate, either involving their health or an online purchase that they want to return/reschedule/file a complaint about. I predict that I will have at least one discussion of yesterday's storm with either another faculty member or a student. I'm pretty sure I'm going to instigate that discussion - see yesterday's post on our Storm Ride of Death. Finally, I predict that at least one student will stop by just to say hello, and will probably say something that makes me laugh. Come on, that one student!

Sartorial: Today is Everybody, Everywear's Lace Day. I was a little stumped by this one because I don't really love/own that much lace. I liked lace on my wedding dress, but I'm not a huge fan for everyday wear. So I had to bring it into the outfit in small ways. If you look carefully at the hem of my skirt, there's some lace there. My scarf is also lace, which I was unsure when I first put it on because it feels a bit bridal to wear lace on my head, but now I'm okay with. This outfit also had to fit within the parameters of my 30x30. All these constraints pushed me a little out of my sartorial comfort zone, and I actually think I like it. Stay tuned; by the end of the 30x30 I may be dressing like Lady Gaga. No, I won't. I think she's tacky. Go ahead and write me off as visionless and bourgeois. Wearing a dress made of meat is still tacky.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Shoes, Brian's Etsy shop

Answer: Gone to my super-floral dress, every one.

Academia: Today has been another day of helping students find housing (and in an hour, go shopping). I've been in and out of apartment complexes all day, and have memorized the leases and advertising spiels so completely that one of the leasing agents said I should work for them. I was a little flattered, and a little I'm-clearly-spending-too-much-time-here.

Also, I had to wake up in the middle of the night last night to take Cary to work - he's taking his 5th graders to Washington, DC this week and had to leave school for the airport at 3:00 in the morning. So I might collapse at my desk am a little tired right now. Cary has our camera, so I had to figure out a new camera this morning, hence the distant and slightly blurry pictures (many thanks to Suzanne and Dr. Mike for the use of their camera).

Sartorial: It's Everybody, Everywear's Florals Day. This is the floweriest thing I have, but I struggled with how to match it to our orientation week "dress professionally" mandate. I tried tucking the dress into pants and skirts, and finally just gave up and threw on my go-to professional article of clothing, the blazer. Too bad it's in the 90s today and I spent half the day with it off. I guess I'll just have to go shopping for a lightweight summer blazer. Darn.

Hippie Chic

Brian's Etsy shop, bracelets

I have to be honest; when I heard that Everybody Everywear's April outfit was maxi dresses, I wasn't too excited. I've never felt tall enough for them (I'm just shy of 5'5"), and maxi dresses are a little more hippie chic than I normally do. I have this one because I needed a beachy dress to take to Puerto Rico a couple of years ago, so I hauled it out of the back of the closet and threw a button-down over it to make it work-appropriate.

I ended up liking it more than I thought I would, actually. I was very comfortable and I got some compliments at work. And then another teacher accidentally microwaved a cup of tea without any water in it, so the herbs in the tea bag got scorched and the entire floor smelled like pot (which I only recognized because I've been to Amsterdam, y'all). After that, hippie chic somehow seemed like an appropriate way to be dressing.