What I loved this week:

Turkey dinner doesn’t count, does it? OK, in that case,

Berets. I don’t really care if some people think of them as passé, pose-y or downright ridiculous. I love these hats. I am assembling a little collection and already own four different colors. They are the best accessory for cold nights. I like the constructed wool ones by the way, not the knits.

My high heeled black boots. These make you instantly dressed up even if you are wearing dark leggings and tunics. Put your coat on and you are ready to go!

My Maybelline lip stains. I’ve been looking around for a good lip stain for years now and had become disappointed by Cover Girl and Tarte versions. Maybelline’s is so far the best I found on the market. I own two shades: Cranberry Crush 65 and Cherry Pop 75. They provide a smooth base for a top coat of lipstick or a shiny gloss.

Chocolate pecan pie

Sometimes the whole point of dinner is the dessert at the end, although I usually am too full at that point! I wish I was reckless enough to order dessert first or have just dessert instead of the actual meal. Sometimes I hate my goody-two-shoes personality!

Being Thankful

This year I am thankful for:

-my health

-my tolerant and patient husband

-my wonderful and supportive family and the chance to visit them this year

-my friends who always host Thanks Giving dinners and haven’t let me roast a turkey in all these years!

-U.C.C. and Dr. Jeannie

-my wonderfully supportive advisor

-Shopping Gods for some unique finds

-Blockbuster and Netflix for providing much needed distraction at the click of a mouse

-Dark chocolate, macaroons, cream puffs, cupcakes, white chocolate cookies and Walker’s shortbread butter cookies for helping me deal with stress!

-my cats for being wonderfully hug-able

-….

-…

…

Yes, yes, thank you all! Without you this year would have been very hard to get through!

-Ooh, and a wonderful outfit for letting me eat as much turkey as I could!

“Tangled”

I read that “Tangled” (based on Rapunzel) is going to be the last Disney fairytale for some time (here and here) which will be sad. In the age of Japanese anime-inspired cartoons, Disney’s well-made happy ending low violence fairytales are a refuge from all the hustle and bustle and disappointments of real life (especially for adult viewers!). So it is with mixed feelings that I go out to see “Tangled”.

Editor’s note: (11/24/10) We ended up going to Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows part 1 instead of Tangled. My statement, however; remains true. As wonderful as cartoons like Monster’s Inc, Up and Ice Age have been, they are no match for Dumbo and Bambi! Also I have to watch Tangled before the New Year!

Brrr, it’s cold!

It is so cold you can see your breath freezes (not really, no!) and it is also wet and rainy. Outfit transition from day to evening goes something like this:

Those days…

You know, one of those days when you keep saying to yourself “gosh, I have to start doing some actual work” and “gosh, I have so much to do” and then you keep promising to do more and accept more and more responsibility and then you kinda collapse under the sheer weight of all the things you have to do? And then nothing gets done? Yeah, one of those days…

p.s. and yeah, I have a thing for matchy matchy. Like you didn’t know!

What I loved this week:

My family! Thank you for the great gifts! I love every single thing but most specially the striped top, gloves and the leopard print trench coat.

Aviator sunglasses. They are classic, light and look good on everyone.

Rain, rain rain! Watching the beautiful gray skies, dark green hills and foggy landscape.

Gingerbread latte

I gave up on trying new flavors (or even seasonal flavors) in my coffee. First because I am not a coffee-drinker, secondly; they all taste the same. Well except for Salty Caramel which is just salty. Salt in your coffee or hot chocolate? Ugh!

Hello Blue Jay

Why do I associate Blue Jays with winter? There is this picture in my mind of a little Blue Jay sitting on a branch in the middle of snow. The perfect color combination!

We don’t get snows (or blue Jays for that matter) down here in southern CA but I can dream, can’t I?

Cranberry

…and ash…or dove?

Whatever you want to call it, I love the liveliness cranberry brings to gray.

Cranberry

…and cream

I love this color and right now so close to thanksgiving I have cranberry sauce on the brain. Despite the fact that I had to add a brown cardigan to the outfit, I liked this color combination.

Come back tomorrow to see another cranberry outfit!

Sick days

Dragging yourself to do errands when you are not feeling great requires the most comfortable outfits. Just what the doctor ordered!

What I loved this week:

The brand “Free People”. They offer gorgeous clothing and accessories if a little on the pricey side.

A nice headband. I am thinking something in more muted colors and embellished with bows or flowers.

A large nice cup of hot chocolate. What can be cozier than drinking hot chocolate and watching the fall foliage in a chilly afternoon? I specially love the Mayan (or spicy) hot chocolate.

All Fires Extinguished

Does this outfit look suitable for Fire-extinguisher training? Well, the more important question is how am I supposed to lift a heavy extinguisher by myself? And that whooshing noise is scary, don’t you say?

I guess the critical question is why I need Fire Safety Training at all. It is all due to the little thing called Working in a Laboratory. Yuck!

Overdoing it!

Remember I was pretty excited about this leopard print trend? I spent a lot of time (starting from midsummer) collecting my favorite pieces in this print…and now? I don’t want to wear any of them. Everyone and their great aunt are wearing leopard print! It is like the only fall trend that OC has adopted this season. It looks as if everyone owns at least a cheap polyester top or a pilling cardigan, some in the most garish colors like yellow and mustard with sickly green dots… ugh!

I am so heartbroken over not being able to wear my obsessively selected accessories.

Just sad

You are in a bad state of affairs when even the prospect of going shopping doesn’t make you happy. Ah, the joys of academic life! That’s why I’ve gone minimalist, no time for froufrou. Sad, really!

One Black Tank

I took the day off to rest and regroup. I was feeling tired and drained. It’s all the worrying without doing anything practical! Anyhow, simple, comfortable and chic is the order of the day.

Oh, hello, my plaid and ladybug-ed bag! I’d forgotten how much I love you!

What I loved this week:

A simple black tank top. I had forgotten how it would go with every jacket and cardigan, with jeans and skirts or low neckline dresses… I rediscovered a favorite. Well, ok; probably I hadn’t worn black tops much in the past couple of years because of keeping my hair color black… just too much black to look good! But now that my hair is a little lighter, I can enjoy my black tank top again. Oh, joy!

Looking for a new black turtleneck. My old one is at the end of her long (7 years) life and is misshaped and pilling and has absorbed too much lint. I am saddened by the prospect of throwing her away. She has been a faithful and loyal friend, dressing me up instantly, working well with formal pants and informal jeans and all color of skirts, adding an extra layer under dresses… I’ll be missing you, my dear friend.

Finally finding the perfect leopard print scarf. I’ve been looking for a thin scarf with a nice realistic pattern and sophisticated colors for months now. So happy that hunt is over.

Ummm… this was a rather dull post, wasn’t it?

TGIF

What can I do except dig into my retired-for-the-season warm weather favorites?

Too many things to do, to little time. And let me tell you, sometimes missing seminars is not such a great idea, especially when your advisor is the one presenting.

I am so ready for the weekend!

The tried and true

…are the tried and true for a reason. They work! They stand the test of time! They keep you cool in 90 degree weather in November!!! So today, it was back to my summer uniform. Really people, it is too hot to do anything constructive like plan an outfit or daydream about autumn-y breezy days and coats and faux fur!

Et Viola!

OK now, remember yesterday? Even hotter (96°), but I think I nailed the outfit today, thanks to Anthropologie’s recent Look book.

A hot autumn

SO very unusual, after enjoying a little rain a couple of weeks ago, now we are back to hot summery weather. What to wear, that’s one question I can not find right answers for!

What a long day

It is still 12:30 (noon!) and I feel drained. Something is seriously wrong with me!

Gardeners are working with power tools outside my window, making a racket; and I can barely keep my eyes open! I have to go home and nap.