academichic

Sources:

• Top: Forever 21
• Shorts: maternity consignment store
• Tank: Old Navy (tall size)
• Necklace: Tilly Bloom
• Sandals: Jeffrey Campbell (I’m not tired of them yet…)
• Bikes: “Oliver,” a 2010 Raleigh One Way (for N.) and “Sammy,” a 1986 Schwinn Le Tour Mixte (for E.)

End Notes:

Over the weekend N. and I had the delightful gift of free babysitting (thanks, sister-in-law P.!) and the chance to go on a bike date picnic in a nearby park to watch the fireflies. (I’ll be sharing more about the date itself on S.’s bike blog in the near future.) It was a beautiful night and also a great reminder to me of why I should celebrate my legs during this year’s Dress Your Best.

My legs have always been “there” and I’ve rarely been that impressed with either their aesthetics or their extraordinary functionality. Unlike A., S., and L., I’m not a marathoner or a serious runner. I can’t say that my legs have carried me tremendous distances or that they’ve overcome great adversity. They’re kind of pale and kind of…normal.

But, since beginning biking last year, my legs have acquired greater value in my mind. It’s not because of their athletic prowess — because honestly I don’t really ride that far or that fast — but simply because they have allowed me to participate in an activity that my husband loves and that I, in turn, have come to really enjoy. My legs have taken me on many a bike date exploration of our city with N., with little e., and with visiting friends and relatives. It’s become our “thing” that we do…together. We bike to our respective jobs, to church, to the grocery store, to friends’ homes. And when I pulled out little e.’s trailer and hitched him up to my bike for a library run, all on my own accord, I think husband N. almost burst with pride.

So thanks, legs, for giving me the ability to spend a special kind of quality time with my family. You may not be hardcore or super long or super toned or super anything, but you’ve given me a great gift. And I’m celebrating you by wearing short shorts.

Sources:

• Shirt: thrifted
• Belt: thrifted
• Shorts: maternity consignment store
• Sandals: Old Navy

End Notes:

I don’t know about S., but on days when I’m just feeling really HEAVY from being pregnant, it’s nice to throw on something thin and light and floaty and just pretend that gravity has no affect on my ligaments.

Both A. and L. have worn their “short shorts” lately, and I have to say that I am really loving my own navy short shorts during this pregnancy. When I was pregnant with baby e. I wore maternity bermudas quite frequently. This time, however, I’ve embraced the shorter length especially because it allows me to play with some different proportions, like this one. Plus, I happen to like my legs in general and they seem relatively non-plussed by all the other pregnancy changes in my body.

Higher-waisted shorts, like the ones I wore last summer, are probably my preferred shorts silhouette overall, but I’m going to go ahead and say that over-the-bump maternity shorts sound like a bad idea. I’ll just wait for a while, thanks.

Sources:

Take #3:

• Striped Tank – American Eagle
• Shorts – Gap Outlet
• Hat- Banana Republic
• Sandals – H & M
• Earrings – gift from S.

Take #4:

• Pink Skirt – Limited
• Striped Top – Banana Republic
• Belt – Thrifted
• Grey Shoes – BR
• Earrings – gift from S.

Endnotes:

Here are takes 3 and 4 of my self-imposed stripe challenge.   I think takes 1 and 2 were both much better, but I am happy to finally get my hat on the blog.  Several months back, before it was sun hat season, E. and S. convinced me to wear this hat.  I wore it a few times before chopping my hair and then was hesitant to pull it out again after the haircut.  I’m not convinced it is the most flattering look, but it sure is practical!  I wore this outfit at an outdoor festival over the weekend and it was nice to keep the sun off my head and face and it hid my increasingly  post-rain curly/frizzy hair.

Take #4 looked better in my imagination, but I do love the bright color pairing and that I got to use my newly thrifted belt again.   I wore this for my first day of teaching summer school yesterday and then took the pictures after finding out the class was canceled due to low enrollment.  I just couldn’t manage a picture in which I didn’t look at least slightly dejected. Looks like I wont have as have many teaching outfits to show you over this summer, so hope you don’t mind seeing some writing duds!

A.

Sources:

• Tank: J. Crew
• Cardigan: Banana Republic
• Necklace: South Moon Under
• Shorts: BR Outlet
• Shoes: BR

Endnotes:
I wore this to our last day of faculty meetings on Friday, and now that those are done, my grades are in, and my comments are written, I’m not totally sure what to do with myself. Being a boarding school teacher is a funny life because you’re 24/7 for 9 months, and then when the kids leave, there is this big hole left behind. Not that I don’t have hundreds of hours of sleep to catch up on and hundreds of books I’d like to read this summer… and at least a dozen that I have to read… but I miss the students and I miss being in my classroom everyday. Talking to grown-ups all the time is not nearly as fun as talking to 14, 15 and 16 year olds. Especially when talking to grown-ups means faculty meetings and trustee retreats!

About the outfit, it’s pretty neutral: navy, mustard, putty, and my favorite olive studded flats. In summer (and fall, and winter, and spring) I especially like to wear bright colors, so this is a very subtle palette for me. Maybe I was thinking that I’d blend in to the surroundings at the faculty meeting? Either way, this outfit does get me thinking about our up coming Dress Your Best weeks (starting next Monday!) because it showcases something I’m very proud of: my muscular legs. Start thinking about what you’ll be showing off!

Sources:

• Striped Top – Gap
• Shorts – Banana Republic Factory Outlet
• Red Flats – Target
• Earrings – Aldo (altered by me)
• Bracelet – gift from S.’s mom

Endnotes:

Here is my second blue and white stripe based outfit.   It’s nothing ground-breaking, but here you have it.

I know you aren’t all fans of shorts this length, and I’m still not %100 confident when wearing them. But, I do, as many of you mentioned, feel more comfortable pairing them with a top with sleeves, and particularly this boat-neck, square-cut, three-quarter sleeve knit top that is all wrong with my skinny jeans. I certainly wouldn’t wear this outfit to school, but it was perfect for sitting outside with  iced coffee  and a friend.

On another note, what do you think of these earrings?  Since my new haircut I have been on the lookout for large dangly earrings and I love wood accessories for summer.  So, when I spotted large wooden disks hanging from a jewelry rack this weekend I grabbed them.  Unfortunately, when I turned them around I saw that layered on top the wood were two intricately decorated gold disks – just not at all my style.  They were cheap so I bought them anyway and did a little DIY (I just used pliers to remove the gold disks).  Now, I’m not sure if they are too big.  Thoughts?

Sources:

• Shirt – American Eagle
• Shorts – Banana Republic Factory Store
• Tank – Urban Outfitters
• Earrings – Gift from S.
• Sandals – H&M
• Sunglasses – Banana Republic

Endnotes:

This is certainly not my most exciting outfit (though I do think it looked much better in person than in these i-phone photos) but it was quite the exciting afternoon!  This year A2 and I joined a CSA on the recommendation of E and N. We picked up our first box of goodies two weeks ago at our local farmer’s market, but this week I decided to drive the 45 minutes to the farm to spend a couple hours picking some of my own produce and getting some sun with friends.

It was hot. Really hot. So, I wore shorts (short shorts), a tissue thin button-down over an almost as thin tank, sandals and my aviators.  I picked these shorts up on the cheap at Banana Republic Factory store a couple weeks ago and have been living in them ever since.  I bought them because they actually fit both my thighs and my waist (well almost anyway).  I would have preferred them to be an inch or two longer and still feel a bit self-conscious in them.  What about you? Are you a shorts person?  Do you feel comfortable in non-Bermuda-length shorts?

The combination of thin plaid button-down, shorts, and big red canvas basket were perfect for a couple hours on the farm.  We got to pick three different kinds of peas and then make up bags full of  already harvested lettuces, greens (kale, spinach, etc), turnips, radishes, garlic scape, broccoli, and more.  We also picked pints of the most beautiful and delicious strawberries, but were down one before we ever even made it home!

As we drove home with our haul enjoying the beautiful scenery (and consuming a  pint of strawberries and some snowpeas) we brainstormed a feast that would not require anything but our fresh veggies and some staples that were already in the pantry.  We shucked peas on the back deck with a bottle of whine and got to cooking.  For some reason I just fell in love with the rainbow swiss chard.  It comes out of the ground in these beautiful vibrant colors!  After photographing it, I put it in a vase to use as our centerpiece and to eat later this week.

All in all it was a wonder afternoon spent with friends and dirt and an equally wonderful evening spent with more friends and great food!

The weather swings in academichic central lately have been crazy, swinging up from the fifties to the nineties in a matter of a few days. Which means my wardrobe choices have been something like this:

Sources:

Cold:

• Cardigan: Target
• Tank: Old Navy Maternity
• Skirt: Old Navy Maternity
• Wedges: Naturalizers, via DSW

Hot:

• Hat: Banana Republic
• Scarf: gift from S.
• Top: thrifted (and worn backwards)
• Shorts: consignment shop
• Shoes: Target, thrifted new
• Clutch: c/o Crystalyn Kae (don’t forget to check out Crystalyn and other independent boutiques through our boutique consortium!)

End Notes:

S.’s post on sharing — or not sharing — maternity clothes also brought to mind a recent reader question about what to bring to a clothing swap, that is, how do you decide what clothes to give away or exchange?

I love it when I go to a swap and people have brought clothing that is still a) in great condition, b) not obviously dated, and c) is accompanied with the giver’s desire to find someone who really looks GREAT in that article of clothing. When I’ve culled through my closet, either for swaps, for donations, or to simply pass along to a friend, I am pretty ruthless about putting anything that I haven’t worn within the past year into a “consideration” pile. If something is still essentially new — I bought it on clearance and wore it once but then never again — I might first consider putting that up on eBay to make a few bucks. But, most of the time it’s something that either doesn’t fit my body quite right or a different silhouette that I attempted to integrate into my wardrobe but just didn’t work out. In that sense, I guess I tend to think of clothes-swapping as an opportunity to right my past shopping wrongs, rather than simply a means of cleaning out my closet.

I was delighted to see S. wearing that turquoise top in her pictures! That top got the cut from my wardrobe because it was just wishful thinking and a lot of tugging that kept that empire waistline tucked below my bust. Since I knew that my torso length was unlikely to shorten during future pregnancies, it was time to let that top go. Now we both win! The deal is, clothes-swapping can actually be a humbling experience — to go back through your closet and acknowledge that you did not make the wisest choices. But it can also be incredibly fulfilling when you can be happy to see someone else looking like a million bucks in a garment that didn’t really do much for you.

Ultimately, I think a lot of these questions relate back to the notion of building a versatile, workable wardrobe that does what you want and says what you want it to say. Although these hot and cold outfits are fairly different from each other, I do think that they give some insight into how my style has changed a little since my last pregnancy. I’m a bit more daring with trends — shorter shorts with a draped top, for example — and I’m finally on board with stripes. I’m a hat lady now, too. On the other hand, the brightly colored shoes are still a big part of my repertoire, and I don’t see myself swapping those out any time soon!

How do you decide what ends up in a swapping pile?

Underutilized, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

• Turquoise cardigan: Gap
• Tee: Forever 21
• Belt: thrifted
• Shorts: thrifted, chopped
• Tights: Hue
• Wedges: thrifted

End Notes:

(Whispering) You guys. I’m actually done with my 30 for 30. I ended up wearing two outfits yesterday and actually photographing both of them. And just in time, too, since it’s about to get absolutely frigid in Academichic central and I’m feeling the need to upgrade to some thicker layers.

As I scrolled through my first 28 outfits, I realized that I had only worn this turquoise cardigan once so far. That surprised me, since I’ve had this cardigan for five years or so and consider it to be a great wardrobe workhorse. In any case, I loved the saturated blue-green paired with a barely blue tee, and I’m starting to think that these maroon tights just might go with…well, everything.

Now, I need to go bake some pumpkin chocolate chip bread for chili night at A.’s house this evening! I’ll show you my 30th outfit on Monday, followed by recap of all 30 outfits.

Pre-Defense, originally uploaded by academichic.

Post-Defense, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

Pre:

• Blazer: C&C
• Eggplant top: Banana Republic Factory
• Belt: thrifted
• Skirt: Gap, old hand me down from SIL
• Tights: Hue
• Booties: Steve Madden Ollie
• Mini brooches: Forever 21
• Scarf: Chinatown NYC (below)
• Coat: JCrew (below)

Post:

• Tunic: Tucker for Target Electric Blooms
• Gold belt: thrifted
• Shorts: thrifted, chopped
• Tights: Target
• Bracelet: gift from A.
• Oxfords: Civico 10 via DSW
• Euphoria: self-made

End Notes:

Remember that big qualifying exam I took two weeks ago? Yesterday was my oral defense portion, followed by the scary moment when the professors ask you to leave the room while they deliberate your fate.

In an appropriate reflection of my anxious state of mind, yesterday was bitterly cold and gray. We snapped these pictures literally right before I left for campus, and you can tell that I was nervous and jittery. Let’s be frank: sometimes, not even a great outfit can overcome nerves.

But…after being thoroughly grilled for over an hour, I passed! Hallelujah! And this is how I felt about that:

Today’s outfit — in all its pattern mixing, wild colored, gold highlighted, ruffles and wool glory — is a fairly accurate representation of my thankfulness and excitement over clearing one more big academic hurdle. Today’s outfit is not about being pretty or flattering my body to its best advantage. Today’s outfit is about being exuberant and playful and not worrying about rules or requirements for just a little bit.

16 November 2010, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources (November 16):

• Button down: thrifted
• Cardigan: Gap
• Belt: thrifted
• Skirt: Gap, hand me down from sister-in-law
• Tights: Target
• Booties: Steve Madden Ollie, via DSW

End Notes:

I’m glad you liked my little photo narrative of my Monday. Today’s post is unfortunately far less entertaining as I’m playing a little bit of catch up with outfits from yesterday and today.

This (kind of) plaid button down shirt was an eleventh hour pinch-hitter in my 30 for 30 list, swapped in an effort to make me give up my security blanket “mom jeans” and try to figure out a way to incorporate this rarely worn shirt into my regular closet rotation. I blogged this once before, soon after I snagged it at Goodwill, but I never quite managed to style it in a way that felt like “me” rather than a costume piece.

I’m not sure that this look it quite there either — though the patterned tights and booties help edgify the preppier cardigan-over-button-down combo — but I think I’m getting closer. I swear I’ll figure this out by the time I’m through with my 30 for 30.

But since you all know my list, I’m also taking suggestions on how else to style that plaid button down!

17 November 2010, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources (November 17):

• Cardigan: NY&Co (gift from mother-in-law), edited down
• Ruffle top: Banana Republic Factory
• Belt: thrifted
• Shorts: thrifted and chopped
• Tights: Hue
• Oxfords: Civico 10, via DSW

End Notes:

Today the strictures of the 30 for 30 challenge were exceedingly beneficial since I had to dress in a hurry. I just grabbed a top, a sweater, shorts, and tights and hoped that they would all work together. And I think they do.

While I didn’t initially intend for my 30 items to have such a cohesive color palette, dominated by gray, navy, marigold, eggplant, and olive, I think the end results definitely reflect my color predilections of the moment. If I stop thinking in terms of individual garments and focus more on color combinations, I think I’m more likely to end up with some pairings — like this one — that I wouldn’t have normally tried. It’s kind of a lot of frou up top, but I think the boxier shorts in a menswear glen plaid wool keeps it all in check.