End of Dress Week

I've decided to end dress week early, and unfortunately, on a bad note.  I bought a pair of brown thick tights hoping it would keep me warm on days I wanted to wear skirts.  While the weather has been unseasonably nice the last couple afternoons, it's been about -12 when I head off for work, necessitating some more layers.  Having also just got a pair of green leather shoes for $7, I thought it was the perfect time to debut both items.  Paired with a pencil skirt and a short sleeved blazer, I thought I had the perfect blend for fall.

And then I left the house, and it all went wrong.

The tights, as I had suspected, were too long.  This is an odd thing to happen with the "one size fits all" variety, but I figured they'd shrink in the wash, and were probably just stretched out from when I had tried to wear them another day, but couldn't pull together an outfit.  But they continued to stretch out, to the point where they definitely looked like I was stealing a supermodels tights.  Not to mention that when I took them off, I discovered they had multiple holes in them.  I guess that's what I get for buying cheap tights!

Then the shoes were a problem.  I was definitely between sizes, but I figured, at $7, I'd buy the size up, and just throw in some insoles.  However, the insoles didn't help the fact that I have narrow heels, and thus, the shoes kept slipping off in the back.  While this is fairly common for me and shoes, the vamp on these shoes are so low that when the heel slips out, the whole foot is out.  I lost my shoe multiple times in the course of my morning.

And finally the skirt became quite the issue any time I went to get on or off the bus.  There aren't any slits in its construction so going up steps proved to be, undoubtedly, hilarious for the rest of the bus, as I walked kind of like a penguin.

And then this morning, I woke up with a killer cold.  The thought of trying to struggle with tights, and creating an outfit from a dress / skirt that would be warm enough to stay comfortable all day (because I always tend to get sick on days when I work multiple jobs and have class) just seemed like it would take too much brain power.

At least yesterday had the joy of a sushi lunch, and enough time without Scott to allow me to thoroughly enjoy his new TV!

Purple people eater

I didn't realize that I was piggy backing on Sheila's dress week until I went to upload the pictures.  All right, Monday was a skirt, and I can definitely see tomorrow turn into a skirt too, but I'm still counting it, considering how infrequently I work skirts / dresses even a year ago.  Part of the reason for not realizing this trend is that I do frequently change part way through the day to accomodate my various roles in life.  For example, re-organizing my household so that Scott could play video games without keeping me up at night, and so I could regain my desk which I had sacrificed believing he would be out of the apartment in mere weeks would have been difficult in a narrow skirted shirt dress, which had I worn this morning.

However, here it is, in all its glory one my stop at home at lunch, seconds before I stripped it all off in favour of jeans and a sweater for classroom comfort (my university is notoriously cold).

The purple tights were apparently a bit much for this small Canadian city, as I got quite the looks, mostly of disgust.  However, they mostly inspired me to keep iton all day.  Alas, the prairie winds prevented me from entertaining this notion.

Scott said, as he watched me pose (starring at my poor dying flowers he got me for our anniversary), "Haven't you worn that before?  Why do you need to take a picture of it?" and i stuck my tongue out at him.  Of course, as I go to post this, I realized that I never taken a picture, which probably would have been a better come back.  I believe it was about a year ago, maybe a little less, so again, it was definitely time to take a picture.

Post 200, aw, I had planned to do something nice...

but Scott's still living with me, limiting my closet space, etc. etc.

It's been a rough couple nights for us.  Neither of us are feeling all that well, nor are we sleeping all that well.  So this morning I decided: "Mind over matter" and thought that a super bright skirt would cheer me up.  I don' think it worked.  However, it was the first time I'd worn it in years, so it was nice. 

French Vanilla Steamer, please!

I love Fridays, especially Fridays when Scott doesn't work, because then we both have the day off.  While days like today limit the amount of time that we have together, it's still nice to take a few minutes for a morning cuddle, rather than both having to fight each other for the shower on our ways to work / class.  I've been trying really hard since our anniversary (which was Tuesday - all right, not that long ago, but still) to take time every day to think of the awesome things about him, particularly when I'm tempted to start getting grumpy about little things he does, like slurping his coffee while I'm trying to read for class.  It seems to be working well.  Right now, rather than thinking "ah!  He's using a metal fork on my T-Fal pan!" I'm thinking "he's making me supper... and is about to pour me a big old glass of wine!!"...

In any event, Fridays generally mean one of two things.  I either wear pajamas / loungewear all day (generally on essay days) or I kick things up a couple notches and try to look polished (generally on days when I have to meet up with profs).  Today was the latter, but I didn't intend to put too much effort into my clothes, as I would be writing essays before and after the meeting.  However, as a wonderful stroke of luck, this outfit came together nicely.

It debuts my latest creation - my "MJ Pithy Hat" based off the hat Kirsten Dunst wears in the Spiderman movie.  It just happened to match my shirt, which I thought worked really well.  The rest of the outfit is the winter version of something I've worn before and loved.  However, the cowboy boots only made it for part of the day - the still have some breaking in to do.

But my favourite thing is still the hat.  It makes me feel European for some reason.  French, more precisely.  When I stopped by the coffee shop on my way home (after having a paper torn apart by a prof, I always treat myself to something, it takes the sting out!), instead of getting my usual caramel steamer, I went for French Vanilla, so it had to feature prominently in the pics!

Sometimes you just need a push

I had an hour to kill last Friday while I waited for a friend to get off of work for an impromptu lunch date.  I took the time to walk around campus, enjoying the fresh air, and a bit of exercise.

On Saturday, rather than calling Scott at work to tell him to pick up a few things for supper on his way home, I walked to the grocery store before heading to the library.

Today, I got off the bus two stops before I normally do just to have a little walk.

And slowly, but surely, I'm finding my head is balancing a little more easily.

It also helps having people "around" who understand how sometimes life just sucks the energy out of you - thanks, Erin!

I love this combination.  I've worn it before, and obviously not enough, since it does seem to add a little spring to my step.  It's very matchy-matchy, but I'm ok with that.  I love the layered tights.  The shoes, however, are cheap.  And they don't fit right, nor do they look right.  As much as I love the little cute button I think I'm going to have to pry open the vault doors and go shoe shopping.

Just not feeling it

I took one picture of what I wore last week.  It's what I wore on Saturday while I was being painfully unproductive.  Even after taking it, I thought posting it would just be too productive in itself.  Every day I feel a little more guilty about not posting any thing at all.  While I don't know if I have that strong of a following, and whether they've noticed that I've been MIA for the last few weeks, I just don't have the energy to this, and I don't know why that is exactly.
I'd like to say it's becuase I'm very busy with grant proposals, essays and seminars, which is partially true, but that's the reason I use for not cleaning my apartment (and yet I still managed to making it to knitting on Sunday, and to a movie on Friday)
I'd like to say that it's because I just haven't come up with any good outfits, but I am pretty sure I looked damn cute on Wednesday. 
I'd like to say that I'm on a strict budget and not shopping has made it difficult, but there have been very few items that I desperately want.  
I'd like to say it's because Scott's been sick and there for the bedroom is "Germ City" that I've been trying to avoid... but he's on the mend, and I'm no more inspired than usual. 
And I have this nagging suspicion that it's because I am really unhappy with the new city in which I'm living for a variety of reasons.  And while close frequently give me the confidence to persevere through situations, I just don't feel like putting in the effort.  It's easier to be grumpy in bad clothes, than to convince myself to see the sunny side in great clothes. 
Maybe this week will be better.  Maybe today will be better.  But optimism seems so much easier when I'm in my pajamas than when I'm starring at my closet.