a colorful challenge

My girlfriend has issued me a challenge:  Can I go one week without wearing a black skirt?  This is indeed quite a challenge, especially when you consider how many black skirts I have, and how two of my recently purchased black skirts are identical twin cousins of black skirts I already own.   However!  I’ve also acquired some new, colorful skirts, in anticipation of spring, and today I am debuting one of those, in response to my girlfriend’s challenge.

I am wearing a pink jersey-knit skirt (described as “honeysuckle” on Target’s website), my brown-with-sky-blue-writing Rufus Wainwright t-shirt, and pinky-purple flats.  And today’s 72-degree weather invites bareleggedness, so no tights for me.

this morning a car parked at the gas station directly across the street from me caught fire

Oyo.  Last week was moving moving moving, which meant that I was throwing on whatever I had not yet packed, which resulted in odd and clashy combinations of purple, green, and orange.  But I am now moved, and have unpacked all my clothing, and am wearing nothing orange.

Black long-sleeved t-shirt under a cranberry jersey knee-length tunic (first completed sewing project of last year, and the fabric for which I bought at a huge fabric store in Louisville, KY with Maria last New Year’s Eve), wide-leg jeans, black cable knit over-the-knee socks, another pair of angora houndstooth black and red socks over them, and snow boots.  I’ve also got brown hooded sweater over the back of my chair.

I was able to walk to work today, y’all! Unfortch, we got 13″ of snow last night, and I began my walk before anyone had actually shoveled anything–and thus it was like walking a mile through waist-high jell-o.   But still! I walked to work!

a brown kind of day

This morning, while contemplating my wardrobe options for the day, I sensed that my brown tights and brown cardigan were feeling a little lonely, so I decided to let them out to play.  I am wearing a pink short-sleeved top with the brown cardigan, my denim skirt (on a Thursday!!!), brown tights, and pinky-purple flats.  Oh, also, I wore a lightweight brown corduroy jacket I forgot I owned.  I’m still in the market for a springtime lightweight jacket, and thanks to torntaffeta’s recommendations and the discovery of an Old Navy gift card I had totally forgotten about, I’m going to be purchasing a brightly colored trench coat of some variety very soon.

Catch-Up

Work has been hectic so I haven’t been keeping up with my daily outfit blogging responsibilities.  On Friday, I was in court in Trenton in the morning, so I wore a blue blouse and a black skirt suit.  I stopped home to change into jeans, a black sweater and sneakers to go into the office in the afternoon.  (Fun note: Friday afternoon, I met Carla from Top Chef on the train in Montclair.  I had a fangirl moment and told her that I love her.  Yikes.)

Yesterday, I wore the amazing black pants and a pink argyle sweater.  Today I am wearing my warmest gray herringbone wool pants, a black t-shirt, and a black cardigan with high-heeled black boots.  It is very cold here in New York, so I also wore my warmest coat – a red L.L. Bean toggle coat with a quilted lining.

this post is mostly about food with a side of clothes

Like Maria, I, too, am at a coffeeshop today, sipping on a cafe au lait, typing away on my trusty MacBook, updating this blog (oh, I’m such a cliche)–all before attempting to read about electronic recordkeeping, metadata for digital records, and amateur films and historiography. Sexy, yes? Earlier this morning, I went out for tacos & let me tell you, if you have not delighted in the tastiness of the Fried Avocado Taco, you have not experienced the taco as it was meant to be experienced.

As I sit here, I am wearing comfy jeans, a yellow & grey tank (my new old favorite color combo), a brown hoodie, and sort of plaid canvas faux-Chucks sans laces. Also, I am craving some pie.

weekend garb. also? a serial killer-related query.

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated, but I promise you, you haven’t missed anything.  Just more of the same.  No radical wardrobe changes.

Today, I am dressed for a day of coffeeshop work:  a black t-shirt with the Strand logo in red and white, a gray cardigan, denim skirt (it is, after all, the weekend), black tights, and my black+blue weirdo butchy mary janes.

Unrelated:  is it weird and creepy that I love so much this Sufjan Stevens song about John Wayne Gacy, Jr.?  I’m listening to it right now in my little window seat at the homosexual coffeeshop, and I want to put it on repeat.

housework, workwork, and a question

Today I am spending the day at home. I am running eight thousand loads of laundry–sheets, towels, and two weeks of outfits–and while that’s running, I’m grading papers, preparing for next week’s classes, and thinking about the revisions I need to make for my chapter draft that’s due tomorrow. And while I’m doing all of this, I am dressed for comfort and drudgery–my University of Pittsburgh t-shirt (gray, with navy blue writing and a faint image of the Cathedral of Learning) and gray fleecy pants.  If I check off everything on my list, then later I will reward myself with a trip out to the burbs so that I can hit up Half-Price Books, at which time I will shower and put on something more presentable.  For now, though, it’s work and comfy clothes.

And a question!  I am in need of a lightweight springtime jacket.  I want something colorful, fun, inexpensive, and utitiltarian.  I have some pictures in my head, and I’ve eyed some things at my favorite boutique (Target!), but I’m wondering, friends–based on what you know about me and how I dress, what do you see me wearing?  Bonus points if you can actually link me to a picture.

you can go home again

I’m at the homestead this weekend chilling with family and trying to get some work done (unsuccessfully), which means that I can finally do a massive amount of laundry (for free, in amazing, “I want to take them behind a middle school and get them pregnant” front loaders) and that you all might be fortunate enough to read about some new outfits soon. Or, at the very least, new combos of black/grey sweaters and tops paired with jeans. Exciting times, right?

Happy weekend, y’all.

Blue for a Change, and a Bit of History

I had to go to court this morning, so I am wearing something suit-like.  (I say “suit-like” because I hate wearing official, formal suits and instead have developed a whole host of pant or skirt and jacket combos that look enough like suits that I can be professional and comfortable at the same time.)  

The  pants are navy blue wool.  The jacket is a 3/4 sleeve swing jacket in a semi-obnoxious navy and cream plaid pattern.  The jacket is mostly cream.  Brown trouser socks and brown plaid flats with the suede buckles.  

I bought the jacket a few years ago at Banana Republic.  When I showed it to my mother, she gasped and then produced a picture of her from her first day of work as an assistant clerk at the Federal Courthouse in Camden, New Jersey in 1961.  She is wearing an identical jacket.  I think it’s funny that, 48 years later, her daughter is wearing the same jacket to court, now as an attorney.  We’ve come a long way and all that jazz.

sometimes my posts are late because I can’t remember how to spell my own damned username

Pink long sleeved t-shirt and dark green cowl-neck empire waist tunic made from sweatshirt-ish material.  My bell-bottomed jeans, now with 50% more crotch! (I did a bit of mending last weekend.)  Black cabled over the knee socks, dream boots, bun sticks.

I went into Rite Aid tonight, and the kid said, after looking at my ID, that I am 10 years older than he is.

Considering how old I am, he could have been half my age and still old enough to work at a drugstore.