All the Frills: Joggers

For reasons I do not entirely understand, I desperately want a pair of joggers. I am 100% I will look like a total idiot in them but I honestly don’t care. I’ve got my eye on three in particular:

These printed ones from ModCloth

These, from Vince Camuto

And these, from Simons

Weekend Reading:

• God I hate Melania.
  
• Even if she is invoking one of the tropes of medieval and early modern queenship.
  
• I’m not at all into the World Cup but this was an interesting take.
  
• The patriarchy doesn’t just hurt women.
  
• The Supreme Court has made a series of deeply troubling decisions lately. And it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

Again With the Cape

I’m glad that, before the full heat of summer hit, I was able to get in one more wear of my cape. I can barely put into words how attached I am to this piece – I purchased it on a lark and it very quickly became one of my favourite things in my closet (side note, I basically have little T-Rex arms in it if I try to raise them, which I find endlessly amusing). I grew even fonder of my cape when I paired it with this lace-sleeved shirt.

pants: Simons / booties: Aldo / cape: BB Dakota / shirt: Contemporaine

All the Frills: Eleven Months

Eleanor recently hit 11 months old! She officially has a couple of teeth, loves being outside at the park, and adores hanging out with Conkers (who is elderly and very good natured and puts up with her excellently).

Weekend Reading:

• I mean I guess they’re in love?
  
• Again, fuck Sessions and every single other person associated with the Trump regime.
  
• This guy’s ex-girlfriend is a pretty awful person.
  
• Oh the folly of this balloon madness!
  
• I want to visit this place.

Walks With Eleanor

Now that the weather here is nicer, we’ve been trying to go for a walk every evening when I get home from work – and I’ve been really loving it! It’s a nice way for me to unwind after sitting indoors at the office all day and Eleanor seems to sleep a bit better when she’s had a healthy dose of after dinner fresh air. She’s started to notice dogs and squeals with glee whenever we pass one. Usually I get home and toss on some walk appropriate clothes and take Eleanor in her carrier (as in the first photos) but I got home a bit later than usual one day so we just put Eleanor in her strolled and I went out wearing my work clothes; in this instance it worked out well because it provided the opportunity to get some blog photo outdoors in natural light.

pants: Simons / shirt: Simons / necklace: Stella and Dot / shoes: Aldo / jacket: Joseph Ribkoff

Shedding

I love this shirt so much – it’s sort of like this coated lace material that looks vaguely like black snakeskin – but little bits of always fall off whenever I move in it, so it’s basically like chronically shedding which makes wearing it a bit of a pain. Anyone have any thoughts on how I could prevent that?

pants: RW and Co / shirt: found at Winners / blazer: Calvin Klein via Value Village / necklace: Stella and Dot / ring: Stella and Dot

All the Frills: Home Gallery

Here are some close ups of our redone gallery wall. There used to be a huge bookshelf here but we moved that out of the way, got this narrow accent table to anchor everything on the wall and then went to town in terms of hanging these. I love the way it turned out!

Weekend Reading:

• This is such a brilliant move and I very much hope that more galleries and museums follow suit.
  
• Any one else freaked out by snakes? You may not want to read this.
  
• Ditto for this one if alligators freak you out.
  
• I feel like this dog’s fate was entirely predictable.
  
• This piece on incels and the men’s rights movement more broadly is terrifying. 
  
• Fuck Sessions.

Operatic

Worn to the opera – I usually go to the opera a few times a year with my father but, with Eleanor on the scene, it’s been about a year since I’ve made it to a performance. Needless to say, it was lovely to get dressed up a bit and see the show (Don Giovanni, in this instance ... which has a super weird vibe in the #MeToo era).

shirt: Urban Outfitters / shirt: Target / shoes: Aldo / jacket: Simons

Winter's Now Forgotten Death Grip

I took these photos in mid-April when it was basically still winter here (winter had a real death grip this year and basically just lasted until close to the end of April, as I've now mentioned a few times...God, I'm boring). Now that it’s warm out I’m looking forward to talking Eleanor for lots of walks and to the park and the zoo and just a whole host of other outdoor activities that we can now finally start to enjoy! And, of course, I'll be constantly complaining about the heat because that's how I roll.

pants: Simons / shirt: H&M / blazer: Zara / boots: Steve Madden

All the Frills: Adieu to Adornment

I recently dramatically downsized my nail polish collection. Ever since I got too big with pregnancy to comfortably paint my toes, I’ve been painting both my finger and toe nails a lot less and so I finally decided it was time to prune my collection and keep only my most favourite shades. To make myself feel better after having to make so many difficult decisions, I bought a super cute little box from Ikea to store my reduced collection of varnishes in.

Do you frequently paint your finger or toenails?

Also, in other news, I recently had a piece published with a digital humanities initiative called The Map of Early Modern London. It's on Queen Anna of Denmark and you can read it here after June 9, when it goes live.

Additionally (and I'm really excited about this one), a new book on Anna of Denmark and Henrietta Maria recently came out and the author cites me and my VERY early on Anna of Denmark that I published ages ago in this journal called Quidditas. It was a pretty nice surprise!

Weekend Reading:

• I’m just reeling from the tragic news about Kate Spade. And really touched by the thoughtful pieces about her legacy as a designer that have been crafted.
  
• I love trying to puzzle out how and what Eleanor is taking in as I play, read, sing, and talk with her.
  
• This was such a distressing and awful thing to read.
  
• Damn it. This is really awful too. Why is the world such a miserable place sometimes?
  
• Okay. This is a palette cleanser because the setting for this fashion show was pretty much the most perfect I could have imagined.

Birthday Girl

Worn out for a birthday dinner with my helpmeet. It is soooo nice to have an excuse to get a bit dressed up and head out without Eleanor, and I’m glad we could make it happen for my birthday.

dress: H&M / jacket: Zara / shoes: Strategia / pin: my grandmother’s

All the Frills: Picturing Namesakes

When we did a little redecorating recently I also used it as an opportunity to make sure that I had a picture of each of Eleanor’s namesakes hanging in her room.

Her first middle name, Elizabeth, was easy as I already own about 15 framed portraits of Elizabeth I. I cut out and framed images from a Rifle Paper Company queens desk calendar to have a more whimsical portrait of Elizabeth (in this case a take on the Armada portrait) and also put a small version of the Ermine portrait I already had in Eleanor’s room.

Her first name, Eleanor, was a bit harder to find an image for as Eleanor of Aquitaine was never the subject of a portrait that has survived. So I settled for an image of her tomb (and I do need to get a photo of Eleanor Roosevelt in here as my Eleanor is named like 80% for Eleanor of Aquitaine but 20% for the former First Lady).

Finally there was her second middle name, Medea. And this one was the real challenge as the only real images of Medea are depictions on Attic vases and pottery, none of which really print and frame well as they’re three-dimensional objects being photographed. So I spent a lot of time doing some digging and came up with this print of a costume decided for an eighteenth-century French court ballet production of Euripides’s Medea. I think my digging paid off!

Weekend Reading:

• This is such a moving piece.
  
• Some of these “fashion” fails are just hilarious.
  
• I can get behind a lot of the episodes on this list.
  
• Well it’s obviously a mark of class privilege to even have the ability to take an extended parental leave, this essay resonated with me as I’ve seen the degree to which my partner is lauded while on leave with Eleanor (certainly to a degree that women performing full-time childcare rarely are).
  
• This guy was really attached to his bag. And I get it.