Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night

Dress, Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: New students, foreign professors, etc. etc. I want to talk about clothes today!

Sartorial: Today's visual Friend Friday is hosted by JK from Adimpleate, and the challenge was to create an outfit inspired by your favorite song. I immediately thought of "Blackbird" by the Beatles. Of all the Beatles' great songs, I think "Blackbird" is one of the very greatest. The simple guitar accompaniment and uplifting lyrics have always made me feel better about any difficult situation I've happened to be in. If you're not familiar with the song, you really should be. Listen here.

The obvious first step in dressing like this song was to wear a black dress, but I struggled to come up with the details that would really say "Blackbird." I don't have any feathers or bird-related accessories, other than an owl necklace that is brightly colored and really has nothing to do with the song. And then I thought of this awesome jacket that my dear friend Brian thrifted for me a few months ago ($2!). It's so cute, but kind of heavy and it's been 100 degrees almost every day since Brian gave it to me, so I have been waiting forever to wear it.

So when the temperature finally dropped into the 80s today, I thought of this jacket and thought, "All my life, I was only waiting for this moment to arise." Just like the eponymous blackbird! And the outfit ended up looking a little 60s, which was perfect for a Beatles-inspired ensemble.

And now it's getting late, so excuse me while I fly into the light of the dark black night. Man, the corny song references just keep on coming! I'll be here all week, y'all.

Business Time*

Skirt, James Avery 

Academia: Yesterday I gave a presentation to the hospitality council of my city about hosting international student volunteers in their businesses. It was at a lunch meeting with about 40 members of the local tourism industry, and it was my first time going to this kind of networking event, which was pretty exciting. I think it went well. I spoke for about five minutes about program, and handed out business cards afterwards. Side note: having business cards is the number three thing that make me feel like a legit grownup, after getting married and buying a house. 

Sartorial: Since this was the first time I had seen this group of people, I wanted to play it a bit conservative with my clothes. I love my jersey maxi skirt and my To Kill a Mockingbird t-shirt, but they  felt like a little too much for a business lunch. So I stuck with the basics: pencil skirt, solid colored blouse, blazer, and flats. Not my most exciting outfit ever, but I think it did the job it was supposed to do. And sometimes that's all you need from your clothes.

*Not that kind of business time.

Plain White T

Necklace

I've had questions about how my hair is looking lately. Here it is, at the end of a long and humid day. Not its best look ever, but I didn't have time to redo it before I took pictures.

Academia: I think it's best this week if I don't write about work. Everything's cranking along in check-in week, but the stress of checking in the largest semester we've probably ever had plus the stress of managing two special programs is probably not anything I need to relive after I get home from work. I'm trying to teach myself to mentally shut work off when I'm not there, so here's me shutting if off. Click.

Sartorial: I hit the Labor Day sales over the weekend and bought some basics: a simple white t-shirt at Loft ($6!) and a pair of gray leggings at Stein Mart. We're supposed to dress professionally this week, so the leggings were out, but I wanted to find a way to dress up the t-shirt, and I think this worked. I just love wearing new clothes. I think I'd try to dress up a pair of bedroom slippers if they were new. Should I make this a style challenge for myself? Make sleepwear look like real clothes? Or is that just the exhaustion talking?

T-Shirt Love

Bracelets, Relient K 

Academia: My Labor Day was a blessed relief after a long working weekend. I went to lunch and shopping with my sister, watched Saturday's Doctor Who, and did some laundry. All in all, just what I needed.

Sartorial: I had something less casual in mind at first yesterday, but on a day off, I really just wanted to wear a t-shirt and shorts. So I pulled out one of my old favorites, a t-shirt I got at a Relient K concert about eight years ago. I've shied away from t-shirts since I started blogging because they didn't seem fashion bloggery enough, but a well-worn and well-loved t-shirt can be such a joy to wear that I think I should bring at least a few t-shirts back.

What do y'all think? Are t-shirts the domain of high schoolers and sorority social functions, or can they be stylish?

Labor Week

Brian's Etsy Shop

Academia: Happy Labor Day to my American readers! I am taking today as a much-needed rest after laboring all weekend. I had two special program groups arrive over the weekend, one of which requires a LOT of hand-holding, so I worked 10 hours on Friday, seven hours on Saturday, and three hours yesterday. And today I have to take delayed baggage to some of them, which I picked up at the airport last night when I was getting another group of students. And then this week is also normal check-in for all new students. Can it be Saturday already, please?

Sartorial: I wore this outfit on Friday for a normal day at work, followed by a late-night airport pickup. I've never paired this dress with this blouse before, but I ended up really liking it. And the professor who was with the students I picked up said I looked "great compared with last year" in what I'm sure was a cross-cultural misstep and not just a backhanded compliment.

Five for Fall

Academia: How do you fix a day that starts with a bad doctor's appointment? You get an iced chai on the way to work, giggle with your girlfriends when you're supposed to be listening to a presentation, go out to dinner with your husband and good friend, and end the day on the couch watching reruns of Friends and Will and Grace. At least, that's how I did it yesterday. Clapping along with "I'll Be There For You" makes me happy every time.

Sartorial: Today's Friend Friday assignment is to list the five fall trends that we're looking forward to trying out. I'm horrible at noticing trends before they're so ubiquitous that Cary's fifth graders are wearing them, but this year I bought the gargantuan September issue of In Style, so I've done my research. Here they are, my top five favorite fall trends:

1. Ladylike. In Style says this is happening, and I'm psyched. As someone who wore only dresses and multiple plastic necklaces at once as a child and a tiara to her wedding as an adult, I can't get enough of girly ruffles, Mad Men-esque full skirts, and demure necklines.
2. Maxi skirts. This trend is still going on, which is great for me because I just now got on board and bought a maxi skirt. A skirt that keeps me warm in the winter and doesn't require me to shave my legs? Yes, please.
3. Midi skirts. This length is so ladylike (see Trend 1) and glamorous. Midi skirts are also timeless. They feel something both my mother and grandmother would have worn in their youth. I have an early 80s-ish one now, and I love it.
4. Wide leg pants. Way more comfortable and universally flattering than skinnies, and I caught on to this one early, so I actually already have a pair.
5. Bright colors. Take a look at my pictures, y'all. See that tan? That's right, you don't. We fair-skinned folks have suffered through the Year of the Neutral, trying to pull off beige-on-white and looking like a bowl of oatmeal every time. Bright colors are where it's at for the pigmentally challenged. They catch the tiny bit of color that our skin manages to produce and amplify it so we look less like the Cullens and more like people who go outside occasionally and don't even know who the Cullens are.

Incredible Growing Skirt

T-shirt 

Academia: Things I did yesterday: hiked across campus in the heat again, sprinted from my car to my house in a thunderstorm, went to the dentist, watched Project Runway at my sister's house (we DVR, so we're a few weeks behind). All in all, a pretty normal day.

Sartorial: I know this outfit bears a striking resemblance to my outfit from two days ago. It's not my most creative move, but both variations kept me cool on blazing hot days, and that's what matters in August. Also, this skirt has a tendency to grow as I wear it. It started the day at knee length, and ended up at this awkward midi length. And then my sister's dog jumped on me and got mud on it. So let me tally up: not super creative, varying length, and muddy paw prints. Yeah, I'm thinking this skirt probably won't make the trip out of the closet again for a while.