All the Frills: A Touch of Fringe

I purchased this kimono/wrap on a whim when I saw it on sale for $13. And honestly, I don’t think it’s working for me. While I desperately want to dress like a modern day Stevie Nicks, the fringe on this thing falls out all the time and the lace just isn’t me. I’ve only worn it a couple of times and always feel really awkward in it. So I’ve resigned to put it into my Halloween costume box (which, I’m not at all embarrassed to admit, is very large).

Weekend Reading:

• Please read this opinion piece by the brilliant Jessi Klein. The last part made me weep.
  
• It makes me feel queasy to think about what some of these women endured.
  
• Is anyone surprised that female trial lawyers have to deal with rampant sexism?
  
• Thank God this trash’s appeal was denied.
  
• This is an incredibly forceful denunciation of Stephen Miller.

The Paradoxical Summer Turtleneck

I am so obsessed with this shirt I got at Saks Off 5th. It’s high necked but has short sleeves and is more or less backless, and made out of this sort of silvery black material. Next time I need to get a few photos without the blazer (I snapped these running out the door to work) because it is just such a unique piece in my closet.

shirt: Laundry / pants: Zara / shoes: Primark / blazer: Calvin Klein via Value Village

"Summer" Pleats

And once again, the summer goth has returned – this time with a pleated skirt. I eventually lost the jacket as the day warmed up and showing that extra bit of skin made this a bit more summery (okay, not really but I’m trying here).

skirt: Laundry / shirt: F21 / jacket: Simons / necklace: Aldo / shoes: Spring

All the Frills: The Office Shrine

Well, somewhere along the way, somehow, I managed to turn my little office nook into a shrine to Eleanor. Seems about right.

Weekend Reading:

• Obviously there are major problems with this sort of vigilante justice, but still, part of me applauds this woman.
• This article is long but brilliant (it features memorable writing (“it was a McSting”) and incredible characters (“Joe Maggard, a disgraced Ronald McDonald actor who was convicted of making harassing phone calls while posing as the clown”). Someone needs to convert this into a screenplay (I've since learned that's in the works!).
• Seriously, what is wrong with these women?
• Having people glibly and incorrectly interpret this poem is one of my pet peeves.
• Well, clearly this shark heist is the crime of the century.

Relaxed Work Wear

I am really cranking out the all black looks this week (I swear, I sometimes do add a pop of colour to my outfits (okay, not all that often, but it does happen!) but I was just really feeling black this week). Anyways, this was work for a pretty casual day at the office where I had no meetings and basically just wanted to be comfortable. I love working in a pretty-casual office and really only needing to get gussied up when I have an external meeting.

The bag I'm sporting in these photos is an old one from Zara that I've had for years and I am sorry to report that it's basically on it's last legs and will likely totally fall apart in the new few months. It will be missed!

pants: Simons / shirt: Dynamite / shoes: Aldo / purse: Zara / necklace: Stella and Dot

Resting Dork Face

I wish I didn’t have such a dorky and unfortunate expression on my face (unfortunately that seems to be my baseline) because I really love this dress and every time I try to get decent photos in it they just never seem to work out.

dress: Simons / boots: ASOS

Summer Goth, Take Two

I’m still busting out my classic summer time goth garb, temperatures be damned! Such is my love of an all black outfit.

dress: H&M / cardigan: Pins and Needles / shoes: Aldo

All the Frills: Anne Boleyn

This is a little game I like to call “how many pictures of Anne Boleyn can one person have in their house?” Turns out a lot. Which is actually a bit of an accomplishment, considering how few decent portraits of my favourite of Henry VIII’s there actually are.

Weekend Reading:

• My helpmeet and I never debated the issue of me taking his last name when we married (it was always understood I would keep mine and there would be no hyphenating, also was publishing articles and one day a book under my last name and didn’t want to abandon it) but we definitely talked a lot about Eleanor’s last name. His preference was for us to hyphenate it (but I put my foot down because eventually that ends up, a few generations down the line, in too much hyphenating for anyone’s good)). I personally wanted to make the statement of giving her my last name. It was important to me, both as a feminist gesture and because I’m the last person in my family with my name and it dies with me unless I pass it on (whereas my husband has two brothers), and because, let’s get real, I did the heavy lifting in pregnancy and birth. It meant a lot to me that give her my name. All that is a long-winded way of saying this article resonates with me, and is both very interesting and very frustrating.
• The wildfire in Greece is so tragic.
• I LOVE this artist’s work.
• This opinion piece is brilliant. Why can’t we start judging mothers less? Seriously, it’s something I think a lot about.
• I’m so excited for the new American Horror Story!

The Day My Baby Almost Strangled Me

I am obsessed with this necklace that I found at my local Saks Off 5th for like $20. Unfortunately so is Eleanor and she has the grabbiest of grabby hands these days. And that’s the story of how, literally minutes after these photos were taken, my sweet and lovely child nearly strangled me to death. Let’s call it a learning moment.

Also, funny story, when I was wondering around Saks Off 5th, I several times approached a rack of something or other and starting looking at very items, intrigued. And like 4 times, after that initial inspection, I went to look at the tag to see the size and price and saw a label that read “Ivanka Trump.” My response, unplanned and knee jerk and uncensored, was to forcibly eject the garment from my hand and say audibly “ugh,” “gross, no,” and “fuck no.” It was visceral.

shirt: Joe Fresh / jacket: ASOS / necklace: Saks Off 5th

Photo Woes

It is seriously getting so hard to make it outside to actually take photos. I increasingly have to make due with a few photos snapped hurriedly in the morning before I leave for work because, when I get home, Eleanor is in full play time mode and simply won’t sit still long enough for us to venture outside for a few photos. It’ll have to do for now I suppose!

pants: RW and Co / top: H&M / blazer: Calvin Klein, thrifted via Value Village / necklace: Stella and Dot

All the Frills: I Blame the Pineapple

It all started because I wanted this cute green t-shirt with a bedazzled pineapple on it. Not my usual style but I thought it was nice and wanted it. But, as usually happens with me, as soon as I got it into my cart, I started thinking about how I should really maximum the shipping fees and order another thing or two. Then I remembered the $50 gift card I still had. Then I fell totally into a rabbit hole and wound up ordering all of the below from Simons (I got the pineapple shirt too, of course). Sigh. The good news they’ve all arrived and all fit and look great. But still, it’s like I was in a pineapple induced fugue state or something.

Weekend Reading:

• The world waited with baited breath for this tomb to be opened ... apparently it contained a lot of sewage water.
  
• Good for this woman!
  
• I 100% believe summer is a vicious monster.
  
• I guess spraying pig’s blood everywhere is one way to get revenge.
  
• This piece on Google’s digitization of books is really fascinating.
  
• This was a super interesting read on the topic of gender.

Balancing Hot and Cold

There wasn’t too much that was special about this – my city was briefly placed under a heat advisory due to the ungodly hot weather but my office building doesn’t care about that and ensured it was still incredibly cold inside all day. So I went for something that would be moderately cool (a sheer layered dress that’s loose fitting so has a lot of air circulation and sandals) but also offered a bit of warmth (leggings (and those were also for modesty’s sake with the sheer, short dress) and a blazer). Honestly, I made pretty good choices as I was reasonably comfortable in the heat for the odd bits of the day when I was outside but I was also not overly cold in my icy office.

leggings: ASOS / blazer: F21 / sandals: Aldo / dress: Simons