Mixed Prints, Mixed Day

Skirt, Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: I've been complaining about work on here a lot lately. Today was a long day too, but rather than talking about what made it long, I want to focus on the wins, the things that reminded me how great my job is. I talked with the student who is being helped by my friend the lawyer, and she said how thankful she was for our help. I was able to get a lot of little things done for a lot of students, like helping them make reservations in long term parking lots before they go home for the break. I went to a meeting and finally felt comfortable disagreeing with the more senior members of the administration. Little wins help make a long day feel less long.

Sartorial: It's Mixed Prints Day at EBEW. This is subtle mixing, but I tried this outfit out on Sunday and loved the stripes and animal print shoes too much to not wear it again. Having an outfit I love also helps make a long day feel less long.

The End is Nigh

Academia: The end of the semester is upon us! Huzzah! Today is the last Monday of this awful semester, Wednesday is the last day of class, and Friday is commencement. I'm not normally excited about the end of a semester, but if you've been reading along, you know how wonky this semester has been. Between now and Friday, I'm going to be caught in a whirlwind of exams, grading, committee meetings, volunteer orientations, and so on, but after Friday, I can do things like sit down to do paperwork and actually finish it in the same sitting. Yay!

Sartorial: I usually save jeans for Fridays, but I'm dressing up this Friday for commencement, so I decided to have Casual Monday instead. I wanted to wear these shoes again and my new blazer, so I picked the rest of the outfit to match. The blazer is a bit military-looking, so I liked adding some very feminine touches like the pink shirt and string of pearls. I love a little juxtaposition in my wardrobe. And for more juxtaposition, tune in tomorrow for EBEW's Mixed Prints Day!

Swelter and Simplicity

Dress, Cardigan, Brian's Etsy Shop

Academia: As promised, here is what I wore on Friday. Friday was a day of a lot of running around. I went to a doctor's appointment at lunchtime, and then I left work early to go on a church leadership retreat. The retreat was about two and a half hours away from here, and we all got to stay at a hunting lodge that looked like it fell out of the Old West. Except for the shuffleboard court and enough bedrooms for 17 people. It was pretty awesome, and we all felt like our church might be in need of some more retreats. Like soon.

Sartorial: The thermometer in my car said 100 degrees on Thursday, not counting the humidity, so when I got dressed on Friday, I wanted to be as cool as possible. I've worn this combination of cardigan and dress several times (here, here, and here), but it's cool, comfortable enough for a long car ride, and basically a blank canvas for accessories. One thing the 30x30 taught me was not to be afraid of repeating outfits on the blog, because accessories really can make a difference in the overall look of an ensemble. I loved this combination of animal prints, and I loved that I wasn't sweating buckets. Sometimes simpler is better, especially when the temperature is in the triple digits.

No Outfit Today

Well, not exactly no outfit. I did get dressed today, but I'm leaving directly from work to go on an overnight thing for church, so all I'll have time to do is snap a few quick photos and post them later this weekend. See you then!

I'm sure you were all on pins and needles waiting to hear that announcement. But my mom and aunt really would wonder what happened to my outfit post today, so I felt the need to update. (Love you, Mama and Margaret!)

Steel Magnolia

Skirt, Brian's Etsy Shop 

Do not incur the wrath of a steel magnolia.

Academia: My opportunities for badassery at work just keep on coming. Today I found out that one of my student's neighbors has been harassing her as she walks to and from her apartment. Not like run-of-the-mill catcalls. More like "you deserve to be slapped for even thinking that and your mother would be ashamed of you." But rather than slap him myself, she and I called the cops, who went with us to her apartment.

I was so ready for the officer to kick in that guy's door. I had my Indiana Jones face-melting skills ready to go. But unfortunately, he wasn't there, so no faces were melted today. The officer told the student to call if it happens again, though, so I'm holding out hope that this jerk will at least have the bejesus scared out of him, if not actually have a melted face.

Sartorial: It's such a cliche to refer to Southern women as steel magnolias, but I really honestly felt like one today. My clothes made me look very ladylike, and the events of the day made me feel like Jason Bourne. I could have blessed someone's heart while punching them in the face, I felt so steel magnolia-ish. Do not mess with my students, y'all. Bless your heart.

The Edge

Earrings

I'm a college professor. Do not mess with me.

Academia: I didn't melt the faces off any hypothetical apartment complexes today, and I didn't fight them with a whip like Indiana Jones. Here's what I did do. I called my very real friend, a real estate attorney, who agreed to help my very real student pro bono. It's not quite face-melting, but I felt as much like a badass treasure hunting professor as I probably ever will.

Sartorial: I got this shirt last week for $4.50. I'm still on the fence about whether I like it (pros: comfy and cheap, cons: polyester), but I did like that Cary said it looked "edgy" this morning. I liked pairing an edgy shirt with girly accessories, and I liked that my hair is long enough to put up in a girly bun, albeit with a ton of pins. But most of all, I liked that my shirt gave me some edginess on the very day I needed to melt some faces. Thanks, shirt.

Dr. Jones, Dr. Jones

Dress, Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: I could be wrong about this, but I think that deep down inside of every academic, there's a little academic who wants to be this guy:

Via

Indiana Jones is pretty much the coolest professor ever. He looks good, he's brilliant, and somehow he found a university to work for that almost never requires him to physically be at the university. He fights Nazis with a whip, outruns giant boulders, and wears a cool fedora. If I were Indiana Jones and an apartment complex screwed over one of my students, all I'd have to do is growl intimidatingly at them and they'd let the poor student out of their lease, which seems completely reasonable since the apartment included a broken shower that they still haven't fixed. You know, hypothetically.

Sartorial: My dress may not say, "I retrieve ancient religious artifacts from the desert," but I'm pretty sure my blazer does! I adore my new dress, but I needed to cover my shoulders for work, so I added the blazer and Cary said it looked very Indiana Jones. I got really excited and added the animal print shoes, because, you know, nothing says "badass treasure hunting professor" like animal print. Just give me a fedora and I'm ready to melt the faces off some bad guys. I'm looking at you, hypothetical apartment complex.