Happy Halloween

Which vampire goes Fang-shopping two hours before going out for the night? This one of course! At least, I remembered they are necessary!

Truth be told, a vampire costume was my last resort. I was hoping to be able to dress as Alice but as much as I tried, I couldn’t convince Dear Hubby to become the Mad Hatter. And the White Rabbit was so out of the question!

Well then, I was the vampire and Dear Hubby came as my dinner, no costume needed!

p.s. yeah, I know! I have to work on my scary poses!

What I loved this week:

My amazing friend who spend three whole hours working on my camel coat and making adjustments and alterations. Thanks to you, dear friend, this winter I won’t freeze to death! Thank you, thank you!

The three sweaters I bought from Anthropologie for the price of one, thanks to them being unexpectedly “on Sale”, my birthday discount and a gift card. How I love thee, my sweets!

Halloween and the dressing up for it. Chocolate, candy and pumpkin cookies! I still have not finalized my costume but what do you think of going as a vampire? Too cliché? I have mostly been a witch and a fortune teller in previous years, so vampire is a step up for me! Maybe I should go as fairy queen? Help me choose, please; I don’t have much time!

Thank the Shopping Gods

After attending a class, I went to enjoy and indulge in my twice yearly shopping spree at my favorite store. The day was sunny, the weather warm with the occasional breeze to keep it interesting and my intended items were unexpectedly “On Sale”. Thank you Shopping Gods, thank you!

I totally forgot..

..the keys to my office! That was what I yelled when I finally find a parking spot and started running to our weekly meeting. Well, all I can say is that thank goodness for my officemate being present in the meeting! Yeah, this story had a happy ending!

Rinse and repeat

I should ask forgiveness from Sartorial Gods for repeating outfits (with minor adjustments) but I’m sure they know it: These days I’m sleep deprived. Too tired to think and plan.

p.s. World, meet my new bag. I’ve been crushing on her for 6 months now. I kept visiting her in different stores. Now finally, she is mine, mine, all mine! Yoohaaa haa haa!

And she is a big girl! She measures 12” by 14” and can easy hold my notes-binder, my text book, pencil case, my lunch and the bag liner/pouch I keep my makeup bag and wallet and cell in.

Exhaustion

Some days you just want to get home, take a nap and indulge in herbal tea and chocolate cake. You don’t even want to write witty posts for your weblog. Going around the campus twice in a day does that to a person!

A day for play?

No, not really! Although in the afternoon I’m going to revisit a handbag for the tenth time. …and no, it’s not that gorgeous snakeskin! Just a regular one.

What I loved this week:

Merchandise presented by a couple of vendors in our little campus fair. One is from the weblog “oh, hello friend.” I bought a couple of little floral pins and brooches, a pair of earrings and a cute bow necklace from her and I love every each one. She has an Etsy shop too, although while she is on vacation her shop is closed.
A certain Snake skin handbag. I start salivating over it, first seeing it featured in “In Style” magazine, November issue. Then I met the bag in person … err…(in the flesh? Oh, OK)… in real life and fell head over heels in love. World, may I present you to the object of my desire, Beirn’s Jenna chain-stitched tote (number 2).
…and the third one… Oh, well; between my birthday loot, lots of window shopping (colorful pashmina scarves, cute shoes, gorgeous handbags, lots of fur coats) and a couple of good books; it is hard to pick just one. Here, you choose for number 3:

Busy day

Due to some computer problems I am a few days behind in posting.

Friday turned out to be a really busy day. I attended my class and then enjoyed a little time browsing the booths of some clothing and accessory vendors in campus. (Yes, this little fair comes to our campus twice a year.) Then joining my husband for lunch, going to mall for 4hours of walking and window shopping, home trying to fight my virus infected computer, dinner and coffee shop afterward. What a long day!

I should admit, this outfit held up well for the whole day.

To brighten the grays

Aside from all shades of green, a really great color for gray days is cranberry red. It’s eye catching and it is happy.

The first time I wore my dove gray dress I was in a hurry. So I went monochrome even with accessories. I wore the dress with gray shoes and pewter gray bag and light and dark gray freshwater pearls.
But I liked today’s color combination much better.

Birthday Day!

Couldn’t wait to start wearing my new coat! Yeah, yeah!
The thing with bright colors is letting them taking center stage and to keep every thing else neutral and sparse.
So despite the chilly air, no scarves or hats for today, just a bright royal blue coat to keep me warm!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, no worries; I am alive and of today a year older. My long absence these days was due to a hectic life, a couple of abstracts to be submitted to conferences, some emotional up and downs and my computer being infected with some new virus or a malware (malworm?!).

Pretty busy, my friends!

And then my birthday… let’s not talk about age and getting older and stuff. I get pretty depressed just thinking about the digits in my advance age!

As for birthday presents, I am in love with my new inky blue coat and wonderful new perfume.

The Rain these days

… has me wrapping myself in layers, tops, dresses, cardigans, trenches, hats, scarves… the whole nine yards! I’ve also become very dependant on my old trench coat.

When life gets tough…

Working on a couple of writing assignments, surviving a few thunder storms and a few deadlines and finally dealing with a lot of pent up anger, these have been high stress days for me. When life gets tough, my outfits tend to get simpler. Under stress, I prefer more layered and comfortable looks than tailored clothes. Call it a defense mechanism!

Lesson learnt

I guess I slightly over did it with today’s outfit, not that I mind! I was deliciously toasty the whole day. Wedge boots have all the comfort of flats plus the height advantage. I just wish these were available in cream or a light tan color. Then my boot life would have been perfect!

First Rain

The day starts with “Dang, The rain was supposed to be tomorrow!” And continues with “oh gosh, what should I wear now?!”. See, my prepared outfit was for a half cloudy day, not rain and drizzle and wind and 63 degree chill.
So I wore a variation of one of my last year’s outfits (this and this) and shivered the whole day!

What I loved this week:

…maxi skirts for Fall. Our crazy hot weather has been in 90s this week and I’m dreaming of cool autumn days, gray skies and a nice breeze. A soft dark maxi skirt that flows a little with the wind would look so picturesque. Wear it with a short jacket, a pair of platform suede booties and a big scarf and it looks perfect!

… The book: “It's In the Bag: What Purses Reveal---and Conceal” by Winifred Gallagher. This little book was a fun read for a bagaholic like me!

…an initial gold pendant. So dainty and delicate, so personal and so old fashioned. A nice way to make a statement.

Classes are

…taking over my life!

Getting ready for classes early in the morning is tough (and yes, 9:00am is early for me!). Add to that our hot weather and my new morning run (I’m always late for this class) and tough becomes super tough!

I should add:
1- Wednesday morning, after a quick discussion with dear hubby about his black shorts, I went to my closet to get ready and was surprised to find my black city shorts on top of “Wear these” pile. I hadn’t worn those shorts for 2 years, hadn’t seen them for at least 1 year. How they ended up on top of that pile is a miracle in itself. So I took that as a sign (and honestly couldn’t be bother to plan an outfit) and wore them. How is that for being innovative?
2- With my classmates wearing short shorts and cut-offs I was in good company. Just wish I was young enough for shorter versions. But hey, grad school should mean having some dignity, huh?
3- World, meet my new flats. They definitely merit their own special introduction considering I searched for them two whole months. They are very comfortable and can act dressed up or down. And no, I’m not going to talk about that blister below my right ankle!
4- Wide leg jeans may mean casual Friday but when the weather is hot, jeans are just way too much.
5- It feels really good when someone says “I like your outfit” and asks where you bought a certain article.