Weekend Wear: Anniversary Outfit

My spouse and I celebrated one year of marriage on Saturday.  M. made us a yummy brunch, and we spent a good part of the day on the couch in our pajamas with blankets and books.  In the evening we went out for dinner and drinks, and then we stopped by a friend's housewarming party for a couple of hours.  It was the first time we'd been out on a date for a few weeks, and I had a really good time.

 (Shirt - New York & Co., Shirt worn under - H&M (remixed), Skirt - New York & Co., Tights - We Love Colors (remixed), Boots - John Fluevog Bondgirls (remixed), Necklace - Wendy Brandes (remixed), Ring - Boutique in Murrano (gift and remixed)

I wore a mix of very old and new items that have never managed to make it on the blog before.  I've had this top since 2003 or 2004.  I used to wear it all the time when I was a graduate student.  Back then I loved to pair it with jeans and heels, and it reminds me of a time when I was young, svelte, and had a strangely unflappable self-confidence.  This top also holds extra special memories for me because I wore it the first time I ever lectured in a big class of almost 200 students.  The past couple of years, though, since I've been a faculty member instead of a grad student, I've been hesitant to wear sequins in the classroom (maybe sequins are the key to strangely unflappable self-confidence...).  I bought the skirt in November when I was shopping with my sister in San Antonio, and this was my first time wearing it.

Like I've said, this first stretch of GAAD is pushing me to excavate my closet and wardrobe.  As promised, bit by bit I'm revealing to you some of the microhistories of my closet and working my way through a number of un(der)worn pieces.  And I still have a ways to go with this, so I'll be sitting out 30x30 this time. 

What's an item in your closet that holds special meaning for you?  What do you think the key to unflappable self-confidence is?

December 31 Dress Auditions

Happy Holidays! I've spent the last few weeks writing and biting the heads off of many gingerbread men. Sugar cookies weren't spared either. All of the writing and eating means that I need a dress for New Year's Eve that doesn't draw attention to my cookie graveyard stomach. Enter silver dress with fish-like scales and floaty sleeves.
What are you thinking of wearing for New Year's?

Weekend Wear: Second Wedding Reception

As those of you who have been reading this blog for a while may remember, I got married last January at the courthouse and had a small reception.  Since my husband is Canadian, his parents wanted to hold another smallish reception for us in Toronto.  My husband's family and some of his family's friends joined us yesterday for a luncheon reception at a lovely venue.

 (Dress - White House Black Market (remixed), Cardigan - New York & Co. (remixed), Tights - Target (remixed), Shoes - r2 (remixed), Necklace - Wendy Brandes (remixed), Bracelet - Gift from my husband on our wedding day (remixed))

It was a beautiful day and brought back many happy memories of our wedding day almost a year ago.  Sadly, we don't have much time to spend with family this holiday season, and most of the rest of this break is a working vacation for both my husband and me.  We have lectures to write for the classes we are teaching next term, and I have a manuscript to get to my co-editor and publisher by January 3rd.  At least we have a little bit of time left to visit loved ones, including our beautiful new niece, pictures, and leftover cake.

Are you able to take a bit of time off over this holiday season?  Are you visiting family and friends? Do you have lectures to write for a new semester that seems already impending?  Are you using part of your break to do some archival research like SFE is?

P.S. I met up with one of my favorite bloggers this afternoon!!  I'll surprise you with who it is in a post sometime soon, but for now I'll just hint that our heads may be cropped out of the photos....

Dressing your Turkey and Black Friday Musings

Hello Fashionable Academic readers! I hope everyone stateside had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by somewonderful friends in my university community. A tradition that was started many years ago, and continues to grow each year. The first year I attended this dinner I was so excited to be asked to garnish the turkey (aka dress the bird!). Of course, I was thrilled. Each year I try to do something a little different for the presentation and I think it just adds a little fun to the event. This year, it was carved orange cranberry bowls, endive, radishes and scallions.

I just love to eat first with my eyes. And the sides looked equally tasty! Featured here a the requisite sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts and, of course, green been casserole.

Unfortunately, I didn't' get any photos of the lovely attendees (was too busy stuffing my face!) but, needless to say, everyone looked fabulous.

Another tradition with friends, is the somewhat controversial, always a spectacle, Black Friday. Up at 3 am, elbowing for deals, as a poor grad students, it's my one chance to nabs some serious deals on clothing and other "necessities" (well at least necessary during a shopping rampage). Did you Black Friday this year? Do you go overboard with shopping in the last months of the year?

So as I write this post, sleep deprived, but full of delicous food, I am wishing you, dear readers, the most wonderful start to the holiday season and a Happy Thanksgiving.

AUH Goes to The Ball

In the middle of work and yoga challenge month, I've also gotten to have some fun while not dressed in athletic gear and/or pajamas. OK, I know it looks like I cropped the fun out here, but didn't get friend approval to upload--she's the red fabric to the right. Once in there got rid of my head for good measure. I'll leave you to guess what my hair was up to....

I love the dress because it was formal enough for the on-campus event I attended and forgiving enough of the enormous amount of veggie curry I consumed while there. I also like the neckline. And the glittering buttons. And the hug I got from our university's president when I told him I was writing my dissertation.

What do you usually wear to on-campus dinner/dance occasions? How often do you (or are you tempted to) cut off your head when you feel like your hair had a fight with a camera before the shot was taken?

9/30 Sisters in San Antonio

This past weekend I flew to San Antonio to run a half-marathon.  I had originally planned to run the full marathon, and I chose this particular race for two reasons: the date gave me long enough to adequately train (although in the end my 3-3 load and attempts to still do research did not) and my younger sister lives in San Antonio.  Her 23rd birthday was just a couple of days before I flew in, so I had gone with the plan of having a belated celebration with her once I got there.  My mother also visited my sister that week, and our trips overlapped by a day, so I was able to see my mom too.  It was especially wonderful because I hadn't seen either my mom or my sister since my wedding last January, and probably won't see them again until the summer at the earliest.  My sister agreed to make a special guest appearance here on the blog, and my mom served as our photographer.

On me: 30x30 Items: 7. Dark Wash Bootcut Jeans - Express + 13. Ecru blouse - BCBG + 22. Olive Green Cardi - New York & Co. + 29. Red Mary Janes - John Fluevog
Accessories: Flower Pin - Goody (Target)

On H: Dress - Ross, Tights - Ross, Shoes - Payless

On Saturday my sister and I dropped my mom off at the airport late in the morning, then we went to pick up my race packet and  to do some birthday shopping.  While I know 30x30 includes a shopping ban, I had told Kendi going in that I would still be shopping in part because my winter wardrobe doesn't have what it takes for an upper midwestern winter and in part because I knew I'd want to shop with my sister on this trip.  We ended up with some good birthday loot for her and a couple more wintry items for me - including pants that fit and a warm cardigan, both of which I decided to sub in for unworn 30x30 items.

My trip and our visit were great!  If you want to know how I did in the half, you can read my report on my other blog.

Have those of you in academia ended up living in places close to your families?  Are you able to visit them often?

Here’s to a Sweet New Year שנה טובה ומתוקה

While I’m not Jewish myself, I am fortunate enough to have friends with whom I can celebrate the holidays. I thought I would showcase some of the food and people attending this year’s Rosh Hashanah dinner. Our ever-gracious hostess provided her guests with an amazing evening. The traditional apples and honey, round challah and tzimmes were of course a big hit. But so were the lovely salads and desserts.



In honor of the New Year and with a nod to the round theme of this holiday, Herr Doktor sported a lovely shirt featuring embroidered geometric patterns.

The hostess and I pause for a photo during the preparations before the other guests arrive

This year Rosh Hashanah is really early in the fall. So for me, the Jewish New Year and the new academic school year are really close together. I am excited for what I hope to be a pretty great start to the New Year. I have set a dissertation defense date in mid-October and I’m applying for several postdocs and other jobs. So fingers crossed, it will be a new beginning for me and that makes me excited. How about you? Does the start of term make you feel like you can begin anew? Something about the fall air makes me want to buy No. 2 pencils. Is that weird?

A Gift to Me

My very generous in-laws sent M. and me some money a little while back for defending our dissertations and graduating with our doctoral degrees.  Since it wasn't enough to cover a trip back across the Midwest and to purchase gowns and hoods for us and since we weren't really able to mark the occasion the way we wanted because of the move, I knew that I wanted to spend my money on something celebratory.  I wanted to use it for something I wouldn't otherwise buy for myself - something that every time I looked at I would feel a sense of my accomplishment.

I had been coveting and stalking the Wendy Brandes Boleyn Necklace from afar for months, so I knew that it was what I wanted to spend that money on.  It arrived this weekend, and I couldn't wait to wear it!  I wore it for the first time yesterday. Even though I wasn't teaching or going into campus, I had a lot of work to do on Labor Day.  There was a lecture to write about family life and gender roles in the Renaissance, a writing project to get off my desk, and photos of a sixteenth-century manuscript to go blind over for another project I'm working on.  In other words, since I was spending the day largely thinking about things that occurred during the sixteenth century, it seemed fitting to wear a necklace inspired by a sixteenth-century queen.

 1. Dress - Vintage Sears (via Leproust Vintage and remixed), Cardi - Anthropologie (purchased last month), Shoes - Kensie Girl (remixed), Necklace - Wendy Brandes

Although Wendy will make the necklace with the letter of your choosing and my first name doesn't start with the letter B, I knew that I wanted the "B" hanging at the bottom of this chain.  And it's not because I have an Anne Boleyn obsession - in fact I rather dislike her.  But you see, my last name does start with that letter, and I thought this necklace was the perfect way to commemorate the fact that I'm officially Dr. B.  (I know you're shocked that my last name isn't really de Moda!)

I love the necklace, and I anticipate wearing it at least two more times this week.  It was totally worth the wait, and I can't thank my in-laws enough for providing the fundage for its arrival into my life.  Have you ever given yourself a celebratory gift or reward when you accomplished a major milestone?  Is there anything you have been coveting and stalking from afar for quite some time?

And don't forget that you could celebrate yourself by winning a piece of Wendy's gorgeous jewelry!  Just enter our current giveaway for a chance to win one of her Little Woolf Necklaces.

Doctors at Dinner

Last Friday I took my husband out to dinner to celebrate his successful dissertation defense.  Since we had plans to go for ice cream at our favorite local shop and then to walk further downtown to see our city's major display of fourth of July fireworks, I knew that a comfy pair of shoes was in order.  I love heels, but if I know that I'll be walking a mile or so, I almost always opt for flats.  These Steve Madden's that I picked up for $19.99 at DSW are currently my favorite pair.¹

  1. Dress- Calvin Klein (remixed), Cardi - Target, Flats - Steve Madden (DSW and remixed), Purse - Gift from Herr Doktor (remixed), Flower - Goody (repurposed and remixed), Sunnies - Esprit (thrifted and remixed)

After dinner, we took our ice cream cones and ate them in one of our favorite parks.  I chose a scoop of sweet corn with black raspberries and one of wildberry lavendar for my waffle cone.  Yum!  Then we walked over to a friend's house for a drink with a few friends, including thechemist-coture and Herr Doktor.  We ended the night by walking towards downtown to watch the fireworks, enjoying a fantastic display and finally stopping at a bar for a final drink (mine was a diet coke since I was driving) before coming home.

I have to admit that I'm still over the moon about the fact that both M. and I have defended in the past month.  Friday was a perfect summer night and a great way to celebrate!  Now, I'm off to finish packing for my Italian honeymoon.  For those of you who are in the states, what did you do to celebrate the fourth of July?  Do you have any summer vacation plans? 

Dr. M!

My brilliant, handsome, and kind husband M. passed his dissertation defense this morning, and he looked quite dashing while doing so if I do say so myself!

 I gave him the Kenneth Cole tie that he's wearing for good luck.

We'll be celebrating his doctorate tonight with dinner and fireworks!  (I don't know why I didn't think to plan my defense right around a holiday with fireworks....)

(Fourth of July Fireworks, New York Rockaway Beach, 2008)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and, for those of you stateside readers, I wish you a safe and festive fourth of July!

Girls' Night Out

I timed my deadline for my dissertation format check and re-submitting it to my committee to coincide with the arrival of my dear friend and Dutch colleague, the Dissertating Yogini.  When M. and I had originally planned to get married in a big wedding on June 6th, one of the first things we did was tell the Dissertating Yogini that her presence was needed, and we arranged to buy her ticket to the states.  Although in the end M. and I decided to semi-elope and got married at the courthouse back in January and had a small reception at our home, we told her that we still hoped she would come to visit us in June.  I'm so glad that she decided to still make the trip!

After spending the afternoon chatting and after a low key dinner at home, she and I put on our high heels and went with a couple of other girlfriends to see SATC2. Dissertating Yogini looked very chic in a pair of her harem pants and tango shoes.¹ And I couldn't resist wearing my Wendy Brandes swear rings in honor of Samantha Jones.²

1. Pants - Object

Shirt - Mango

Shoes - Comme Il Faut

Grey blue turban - from India 

Scarf - from India

Pearl and Bead Necklace - from India

Watch - Carl F. Bucherer

2. Dress - Calvin Klein

Cardi - Necessary Objects (remixed)

Shoes - Christian Louboutin (remixed)

Rings - Wendy Brandes (remixed)

We also needed to do some yoga before sitting in the theater for two and a half hours....

I won't go into a detailed movie review here, but I will say that, as someone who loved the series, both movies have been major disappointments.  I also don't buy the argument that just because a movie is there for fluff and escapism that it should be exempt from criticism.  The series was witty, edgy, and fundamentally about the deep and believable friendship of the four women.  The movies for me have been tone deaf in a recession and have turned the characters into caricatures of themselves.  There were, however, a few funny moments and even more hilarious moments created by the four of us girlfriends pointing and snickering at the movie. 

Have you seen SATC2 yet?  What did you think of it?  And don't you think I need a pair of harem pants like DY's?

Yellow With a Pop of Neutrals

Since the semester is over at SLAC and I'm not teaching this quarter at R1 institution, most of my days are now spent working from home.  Although there are occasional days when I get into a good work rhythm while drinking my second cup of coffee on the couch and decide to stay in my pjs most or all of the day, most days I find it helpful to workout, take a shower, and get dressed.  Like Herr Doktor, I find getting dressed for work a useful way of setting boundaries when writing at home.  The other reason to get dressed here lately is that I've also had a fair number of friend defending their dissertations, which means going out to get a celebratory beer or dinner (even though I usually can't stay out too late) with them.  I wore this outfit¹ a few days ago to spend the day working at my writing desk and a few hours in the evening celebrating the successful defense of a friend and colleague in my department.

 1. Dress - Signature by Robbie Bee (remixed)

Belt - NY & Co (remixed)

Socks - Target

Scarf - ??? (thrifted and remixed)

Shoes - Mia (remixed)

I love wearing outfits that are largely neutral with just a few pops of color.  However, that day I decided to flip the paradigm and wear a big solid block of color with some pops of neutrals.  The scarf is brown and grey so I added a grey belt and socks and brown shoes.  I have to admit that although I rather like the style of visible socks with cute shoes or even sandals that is trendy right now, that day I was wearing socks purely for practicality, as I had a couple of painful blisters and, even with band-aids on, I wanted an extra layer between them and my shoes.

I have to submit my dissertation to my committee members and the grad school for formatting approval early next week, so I'll be spending most of the weekend finishing up final revisions before my defense.  I do have a wedding reception to go to on Saturday evening, though, so that will give me a chance to get dressed up, to get out of the house, and to see some good friends.  What are you up to this weekend? 

Dress Donation

After much thought about which charity to donate to and after much procrastination about removing my lovely dress from my house to take it to the dry cleaners, I have said goodbye to my wedding gown.  I considered donating to Brides Against Breast Cancer, but I didn't want to have to ship the gown across the country because it didn't seem particularly eco-friendly.   I also considered donating it to Goodwill here, but the potentiality of it ending up as a Halloween costume bothered me.  So I decided to have my lovely in-laws (who were here visiting this past weekend) take it back with them to Toronto and take it to a fantastic charity, The Bride's Project, for me.

As much as I loved my gown, I really didn't want to have to move it across the country this summer, especially because we don't know where we'll be after next year.  While I can appreciate the idea of hanging on to a gown so that a beloved daughter or niece can wear it one day, I don't know if I'll ever have a daughter or a niece or if I did if she'd fit into my gown or even want to wear it. Donating it made the most sense to me.  I hope some other bride will be as happy in my gown as I was.

I'll always have the pictures.

(Yep, that's a man under my skirt and it wasn't my husband!  It was thechemist-coture, and he was un-bustling me.) 

Photos by Julian of Julian Allen Photography

So, what about you?  Have you or would you consider donating your wedding gown to charity or buying a wedding gown second-hand? 

Over the Weekend

First of all, I want to thank you all so much for your comments yesterday about our interview!  M.'s status was approved and he is now a conditional resident.  We'll have to submit more paperwork in a couple of years, but I'm glad to have the better part of an expensive and time-consuming process out of the way.  I love my husband, but I've been pretty tempted to use using this for leverage when it comes to household chores and deciding who goes to pick up our takeout and dry cleaning. 

We went out on Saturday night to a party at Ann Underfunded Humanity's place, and it was a great time.  I had intended to take some photos of the party, since a few stylish academics were about the place, but once I had a glass of wine in one hand and a plate of food in the other, that ship had sailed.  In fact, I only remembered to get photos of my own outfit after we got home that night.¹  So these were taken with the nighttime profile setting on my point-and-shoot.

 1. Yellow Dress - Signature by Robbie Bee (remixed)

Black Dress - Y Boutique (remixed)

Shoes - Ann Klein (remixed from my wedding)

Belt - From another dress (remixed)

Purse - Harrods (gift and remixed)

I also feel compelled to come clean about something goal-related.  Over the weekend I was supposed to run a half-marathon, but I decided not to the night before the race.  I've been having a really hard time getting in my long training runs and even some of my shorter runs in as I deal with this last round of revisions before my defense and the chaos of finishing up the semester at the small liberal arts college where I've been a visiting faculty member this year.  I decided to remove running from the list of stressors for the time being.  I'll still run when I feel like it and to relieve stress, but I won't feel anxious or guilty because I only ran 2 miles instead of 12.  Right now I just don't need anything else causing me anxiety or guilt even if it means not meeting my goal of running three half-marathons this year.

What tactics do you have for dealing with stress? How are you doing with your goals or New Year's resolutions?

Celebrating Good News

I'm really excited to finally be able to tell ya'll good news on the job search front.  Recently I received a job offer from a Midwestern University.  Although I wish the job were tenure-track, the job market has been really terrible this year, so I feel very lucky that I have landed a job as a Visiting Assistant Professor!  It is such a relief to know that I will be employed.  The teaching load is reasonable, and my future colleagues seem very nice.  Hopefully I'll get something tenure-track next year, but for now I'm really looking forward to starting this job in August!  I will be moving over the summer to my new Midwestern location and there is much to do between now and then, but, in the meantime, M. and I decided we should take an evening off to go out with friends and celebrate.

Last night we were did just that.  We went out for dinner with my best friend and his husband, and then met up with a few more friends for some drinks at a wine and tapas bar.  I had decided that I wanted to wear a little black cocktail dress -- even though the occasion wasn't really that formal.¹  Sometimes it's nice just get dressed up and feel pretty.

 1. Dress - White House Black Market (repurposed bridesmaids dress and remixed)

Sandals - Steve Madden

Belt - from another dress

Earrings - Target (remixed)

Necklace - Boutique in Santiago de Compostela (remixed)

I was hoping there would be more pictures from the evening, but I was more focused on sipping wine and chatting than on forcing people to pose and M. to snap photographs. 

How do you like to celebrate good news?

A Married Megarita

I got married this past weekend at a zoo with about 75 family and friends, and although I did this very "quick and dirty," I knew from the moment I got engaged in December that I wanted a fabulous dress. I have never been a traditional wedding sort of girl, and I don't look good in white, so I knew I might have some difficulties finding a dress that suited.

I wanted a cocktail dress, because I like my legs.

I wanted something that was a beautiful color, that made me look and feel wonderful, and was not red or purple or something that would give my family coronaries.

I wanted to look good, but not super sexy. I wanted to show skin, but not have some aunt say "whore!"

I wanted something sleeveless, but not strapless, because I like my arms but not my bony sternum, and I knew I'd be sweating like a field hand.

With two of my favorite girlfriends in tow, I scoured the Atlanta retail markets for dresses. Retail people, when they heard that I was getting married at a zoo and that I wanted a non-white cocktail dress, were ecstatic and got very creative. I tried on gold lame skin tight meowzy dresses (BCBG), coral sheathes with matching platform stripper shoes (Karen Millen), black dresses with flowers that seemed most fit for cruise wear (Betsy Johnson), and a LOT of animal prints!

I had no ambitions for the dress I tried on (at Macy's, for those who wonder). It was off white, sort of a pearly color that was pink as much as it was gold. It had a bow in the back, which made me think "Alice in Wonderland" and not in a good way. But when I walked out with it on, feet in the high heels I'd thrown in my purse, my two girlfriends took deep breaths and said, "now you look like a bride.

I hadn't know until then that I wanted to look like a bride. Indeed, I was still very unsure as I bought the dress ($180) and the insanely beautiful gold heels ($60) and the shawl ($24). And yet when I put it all on the day of my wedding, I was blown away. I felt like a golden goddess. I was pretty and feminine in a way that seemed effortless. (My hair was another story, and my expenditures at the MAC counter are probably legendary at corporate headquarters, but this is about dresses.)

The dress mattered. Friends and family stopped dead in their tracks when they saw me, told me I glowed, and everyone fell over themselves to praise my silly pearly cocktail dress. They were pleased, and I was delighted, because the dress was more me than any boufy, sequined, bustled, bodiced madness. Say yes to the dress, professors, but say yes to your dress. You will never regret staying true to your own fashion and style.

Date Night

So I've been gone for a few days.  A friend of mine from grad school, M., and I went to Virginia Beach to see a good friend of ours, and I also ran the Shamrock Half-Marathon while we were there.  I'm sore from running a race I hadn't been able to sufficiently train for and exhausted from traveling, but the show must go on.  I have a lot of work to get caught up on before tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to catching up on blogs in the next couple of days.

Before we headed out for our mini-break, M. took me out for a birthday dinner and drinks.  We went to one of my favorite restaurants and had delicious Italian food and a good Spanish wine.  I wore some of my new birthday loot¹ and an old favorite.²

 1. Dress - Liberty of London for Target
Tights - We Love Colors (remixed)
Shoes - John Fluevog (remixed)

2. Trench - Michael Kors (Filene's Basement and remixed)

I have had the trench for about five years, and it has served me well on three different continents.  At some point I lost the belt to it, but I still love it anyway.  It's one of those garments that has so many good memories attached to it that it will probably fall to pieces before I'm willing to give it up.  It reminds me of many of the evenings that I spent with the friend that I visited in Virginia Beach before she moved there.  It reminds me of my trip to Morocco.  It reminds me of November in Madrid.

Do you have any pieces of clothing that you associate with particular people or places or that invoke memories?

Birthday Festivities

So far I've had a really lovely birthday.  One of my best friends came into town yesterday afternoon and stayed the night with me.  After a dinner and ice cream with some other friends of ours, we came back to my place and watched a dvd, drank some wine, and laughed heartily at the antics of our dogs.  Bailey and Jack truly made it an epic slumber party.

In the morning we got up and went to meet up with some other friends for a delicious brunch at one of my favorite restaurants.  It was a big group of academics representing the disciplines of History, English, Chemistry, Theatre, and Natural Resources.  My darling friend had to take off early to go do some fieldwork in the forest.  I think she might have changed for her day in the woods, but she was rocking shorts over tights (We Love Colors and a birthday present from me) with knee socks before she had to go.

thechemist-coture also had to flee shortly thereafter as he had an experiment going in the lab and had to get back in time for the next step, so I quickly ordered everyone to gather round for a photo, as we were all looking quite put together, including M. who was taking the picture.  Please excuse any weird squinting, as the sun was directly in our eyes.

Ann Underfunded Humanity¹ and I² took a few photos, though, to showcase our outfits before I headed off to partake in one of my favorite birthday traditions: a day of shopping by myself.  Occasionally, I will allow someone to accompany me, but most people don't have my stamina for perusing the racks in thrift stores and Filene's Basement for hours.  I'll show you my birthday loot over the next week or so.

1. Dress - Anthropolgie

Shoes - Naturalizer

Hose - ???

2. Dress - Shabby Apple (gift from my mom!)

Cardi - August Silk (thrifted and remixed)

Tights - Target

Shoes - Kenzie Girl (remixed)

Earrings - Gift (Stacia Davis Moore)

Ring - Gift (hand-made in Columbia)

AUH got this dress on sale from Anthropologie.  Isn't it gorgeous?  She better keep an eye on her closet the next time that I'm over....

So my mom sent me this Shabby Apple dress for my birthday.  I had been seriously coveting it, but I'm not sure that I love the length of it for my figure.  Everything else about the dress is perfect, and I honestly love this color with my complexion and hair color.  What do you think?  Should I get it hemmed to knee length?

Hitting the High Notes

On Sunday, LHdM and myself took our respective husbands out to the opera and a Valentines day dinner. I love to dress up for the theatre. And a second perk of dressing up (in addition to listening to a wonderful symphony or in this case a phenomenal opera performance) is getting the chance to see what everyone is wearing! During the intermission as I watched people milled around I noticed a few sour notes (Ugg boots at the opera??) but mostly got some really great ideas for some fashion trends I’d like to try. In particular I spotted a gentlemen wearing a great double breast pocketed button down shirt in a military-ish green. In fact the outfit was sort of a twist on military dress (epaulettes and various small pockets) with some black pants and a silver silk skinny tie. I know most of you must be scratching your heads right now, because how could you make that look formal? But it really was a great look although slightly unexpected at the opera! Do you skew traditional when attending events like these? Or do you go out on a limb? One of the trends at these performances is to see and be seen, so which do you catch yourself doing more?