What to Wear for the Royal Wedding?

Pajamas. Yes, I am sleeping through this one, 100% convinced that anything I might gain from watching the wedding will be just as valid in the replay as it is in the live version.

If it's any consolation, they're my dressiest pajamas.

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!

Uninspired

What is is about the end of February that makes it so difficult to get excited about style (or anything)? Even though we haven't had such a hard winter over here on the Left Coast, I am longing for the sun and tired of wearing the same winter wardrobe day after day. Brown pants, black pants, denim skirt with tights... *yawn*. On one hand, I am pleased to have a reasonably sized selection of clothing. On the other hand, I am so ready for a change.

The only moderately interesting fashion choice I've had to make recently revolves around the fund-raising auctions that seem to crop up at this time of year. We have already been to two of these events -- including one last Saturday -- and there's a third on the horizon this weekend, a benefit for the non-profit where I work. Attending two charity events on back-to-back weekends in the same smallish town presents a unique fashion challenge. I know that I will see many of the same people at both events, and I also need to look fabulous at both events, for different reasons.

Last Friday, the day before the Habitat dinner, I totally scored a little black dress from the clearance rack at Target. Voila!

I wore this to the dinner with black stockings, black heels, and a velvet trimmed grey cardigan from H&M. While I wasn't as warm as I might have liked, I felt great about how I looked -- for the first time in ages. Because it's so simple the dress is very versatile and can be styled to wear to work later on (with red shoes?).

Best of all, by wearing this little number, I was able to save the distinctive dress I bought a few weeks ago for the event this coming Saturday. I can't find a photo of it online, but I'll post one this weekend.

Stylish Lunch Bags for a Girl-on-the-Go

I have high expectations for my lunch bags. They must be both cute and durable. I tried using those gift bags you receive when shopping, but my water bottle inevitably spilled or my fork punched a hole in the bottom. Either way, the result was a ruined lunch bag.

Several Christmases ago, my Aunt Lynne gave me a wonderful lunch bag. She purchased it at the British Museum gift shop, and it has an Egyptian motif. I have carried it almost every day since. It folds flat for storage, it can be washed with a damp sponge, and it is easy to carry. In short, an almost perfect match for the 'cute and durable' criteria, especially because it carries my water bottle and tea cup and still leaves room for lunch.

Being so well-loved, this poor lunch bag is being to wear around the edges, and I fear for its eventual demise. Also, it is not insulated, and I am only in one place long enough to refrigerate my lunch perhaps twice a week. For Valentine's Day, Pablo surprised me with a new, insulated, polka dot,  lunch bag that he picked out himself. I'm a lucky lady! It would not be a stretch to say that I adore everything about this lunch bag. It has a zipper, it is a great color, it has polka dots, it is insulated, and did I mention that it has polka dots...

I will still use my Egyptian lunch bag on certain days, especially if I need to fold it up and store it in my tote bag. There are some situations for which it is not appropriate to arrive lunch-bag-in-hand, even if you are but a harried graduate student.  But, for the every-day-dash, I will use my new polka dot bag. Like the Egyptian lunch bag, my water bottle and tea cup fit nicely, and now I can enjoy my string cheese as if it were fresh from the refrigerator. Life is good!

First Week of Classes: What to wear?

The "what to wear" question has always haunted me. Even as a little girl, I would spend a bit (cough) a lot of time trying to decide what skirt looked best with my sparkly-pink, fringed cowboy boots. (I refused to wear pants. I had a firm skirts only rule that lasted until I was almost 10). The years have gone by, I outgrew my pink cowboy boots, and yet am still unable to blithely breeze into my closet and pick out an outfit. I have built the 'outfit picking' exercise into my day's ritual, so that before bed, I know exactly what I will put on in the morning.

This week, I find my ritual complicated by two factors: It is very cold in Boston right now, and it's the first week of classes (good impressions must be made!). If I were to write a want ad for this week's outfits, it would go something like this:

"Eager archives/history graduate student seeks stylish, warm, and functional outfits. Must be compatible with snow boots. Also seeking indoor footwear that fits into tote bag along with books, notebooks, and pens."

Want ad in hand, I dove into my closet and picked the following three outfits:

Vintage houndstooth pencil skirt with red cashmere turtleneck, black fleece-lined tights, and black patent flats.

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Gray trousers with blue ribbed v-neck sweater, vintage scarf, and gray suede pumps.

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Silver-gray skirt with black drape-necked sweater, black fleece-lined tights, and red plaid pumps.

With these three outfits hanging in my closet (one for each day of class), I can concentrate on other important pre-class exercises such as note-taking.