Archivist Fashion in Providence, RI

Yesterday was the spring meeting for the New England Archivists (NEA) in Providence, Rhode Island. Three of my friends and I took the train to Providence on Friday evening. We went to a cute restaurant near Brown University (the meeting site), and then spent all day Saturday at the meeting. The program was excellent, and we looked fabulous.

In fact, the weekend turned out remarkably well considering that, as an April Fool's joke from Mother Nature, it snowed in Boston on Friday. It did not snow a lot, but any snow is too much snow for April. I must say that I was not prepared for the snow. I wore flats, and my umbrella broke. By the time I arrived at the train station on Friday to meet the girls, I was looking (and feeling) rather bedraggled.

I managed to pull myself together on Saturday (which was a beautiful, sunny day) and wore one of my new Ann Taylor blouses (one of two that I purchased on extra clearance). It is a long-sleeved, button up, navy blue blouse with ruffle detail along the neck and buttons. A gorgeous material, cotton-silk blend, was both comfortable and warm for the day. I paired the blouse with a khaki skirt and my gray suede pumps. A small gold necklace with tiny flowers (my sixteenth birthday present from Aunt Sue) was the finishing touch.

One of the best things about archivist meetings are the vendor tables where they have all kinds of goodies. I managed to snag a gold pencil and a silver pencil as well as two miniature boxes: one that would be used for moving books or manuscript collections, and an archival Hollinger box. Score!

Although the girls and I were exhausted by the end of the day, we learned a lot, met some interesting people, and were able to relax. A quick pizza dinner in Providence, and we caught the evening train home to Boston where Pablo and George (husband and cat) were waiting with hugs.


Since we hadn't seen each other all day Friday or Saturday, Pablo and I went for an ice cream date this afternoon. He had coconut chip ice cream in a waffle cone, and I had strawberry ice cream in a waffle cone. Even though it is a bit windy outside, the day is sunny and fairly warm. We sat on a bench in Brookline, held hands, and ate our ice cream. All in all, a lovely weekend.


Happy April, welcome spring... and the here I go for the last month of school!