All the Frills: It's the High Holidays For Me

Well, it’s Halloween. My absolute favourite time of the year! Obviously, my house is fully decorated and several parents in my community are organizing a little outdoor Halloween parade so the kids can show off their costumes, so we’ll be taking Eleanor to that and will possibly stop at a few houses that look like they have socially distant trick or treating stations set up. One of my cohort friends is organizing a small (fewer than 10 of us) get-together (everyone in a mask and making sure people stand/sit an appropriate distance apart). So, I will get a chance to wear a costume this year (I’ve got a Medusa one that I’m very excited about) and, while it’s not Halloween as I’m used to it (is anything the way we’re used to anymore?), I’m still excited.

 

Weekend Reading:

• Historic jewelry! 
  
  
• I loathe Amy Coney Barrett and this false narrative about women, career success, and family that she’s now so intertwined with. 
  
  
• The surprising history of the cardigan – spoiler, it involves sexism and misogyny. 
  
  
• This was a really fascinating read about equity in classical music – seriously, I learned a ton reading this and it really gave me pause for thought. 
  
  
• Ah, this takes me back to grad school and the process of publishing my book. I think I easily got about 200+ rejection letters and emails during that period, most for elusive tenure track jobs. I will admit, that constant stream of rejection, paired with the odd success, was formative.

Lighting Woes

It’s staying dark in the morning much longer these days, and the sun is setting earlier, which means it’s time for my annual lighting woes. Guess I better get my ring light out of storage. And move that Lego Millennium Falcon box. And maybe put shoes on next time for photos (the product of not actually having the leave the house to go to work, I am more or less in a constant state of shoe-lessness these days).

tunic: Simons / leggings: Old Navy / necklace: The Bay 

Feature: This timeline of Blackness, immobility, and visibility in Europe 1600-1800 is an amazing resource – if I were actually still teaching European history this would 100% be on my syllabus.

All the Frills: Getting Seasonal

I’m officially settling into fall over here, with a fire in the morning while I have my coffee and fairy lights and candles in the evening as I lounge on the couch. It’s the greatest time of the year! How are you settling into fall?

Weekend Reading:

• This pandemic is going set women back 100 years. 
  
  
  
• I have soooo many thoughts about recent events on my beloved Real Housewives of Potomac and this piece captures many of them brilliantly. 
  
  
  
• The world is a mess right now. Let’s distract ourselves with some royal tiaras. 
  
  
  
• Clearly I have some perfumes to try. 
  
  
  
• This room of miniatures is amazing. I wonder if I could someday have a space like this?

So I Guess It's Basically Winter Now?

There’s something about the combo of green and leopard print that just puts a smile on my face, especially amidst all the fall foliage colours. I’m ever so happy that fall is upon us, by the way…although here it's almost like it's almost ended as we've already got snow flurries and the temperature is already below zero. Good thing I also enjoy winter weather I suppose.

 

leggings: ASOS / shirt: Simons / shoes: Spring / sweater: Simons / necklace: ModCloth 

Feature: This is a great piece on Black artists being seen 

Finally Fall

I’m just twirling into fall over here – exuberantly!

leggings: Old Navy / poncho: Fraas / shoes: Aldo 

Feature: Want to subscribe to some great Black content creators?

Cold Shoulder

Usually I stay away from shoulder pads, but I couldn’t resist them in this dress from Zara – I just love the look (although I still plan to mostly avoid shoulder pads.

leggings: Simons / tunic: Zara / shoes: Spring / necklace: Aldo 

Feature: This is amazing work to document a series of forgotten histories.