Better than a birthday gift!

My birthday was Tuesday but I got a real present in late March with the announcement of this year's grantees from the National Endowment for the Humanities. My book project was selected to receive a small but prestigious grant. You can read about it here. I am very excited and proud because their process for selection is quite rigorous. It feels legitimizing and gives me a (much needed) confidence boost.

It almost goes without saying that I am so. behind. on. blogging. I wish that I had more time for it but my (non-family, non-pregnancy) priorities are (out of necessity) my book project, my tenure dossier, my teaching, my committee service responsibilities, and my consulting work. These things are how I provide for my family and how I fulfill my career ambitions. They take precedent. I do still take outfit (and weekly bump) photos. I am amassing a huge backlog and will eventually post them. I just don't have as much time as I need to be able to do all of the things I want to do.

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Birthday Emilia!

This year, Emilia turns 3 on Thanksgiving. It seems fitting incredibly for my first child to have arrived during a time when I'm prone to reflect happily and with gratitude on the many blessings in my life. I feel truly lucky to watch her bubbly, precocious, delightful personality develop. She is full of enthusiasm and curiosity. She is a fierce negotiator with sound reasoning skills. She can be strong willed and stubborn but she has a very keen sense of empathy and is quite kind. I am biased but I think she's wonderful. Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Although this holiday feels a bit less full without Chris's stepfather and without Speck the dog, I am still glad to spend it with many of our extended family members. I reap the very tangible benefits of geographic proximity constantly and am so lucky to live near my parents and siblings and Chris's parents and siblings. I am glad we can be here for Chris's mom during a very difficult time. I am glad to see how close Emilia has bonded with everyone.

I am grateful for my husband, who is a true partner to me and who's intellect and humor and affection continue to captivate me after 12 years of togetherness (5 years of marriage). Our family benefits materially and logistically from his strong work ethic, his handiness, his ambition, and his skills in the kitchen. I feel closer to him than ever as we have shared in so many happy celebrations and milestones but also experienced great loss.

I am grateful for my job and even more so that my job feels like a career. I am really lucky to get to meet optimistic, driven young people full of promise and resilience. I try to help them reach their potential and progress toward their goals. I also try to remember what it was like when I was in their shoes. I hope to honor the fact that every one of them is held dear by someone so I should treat them accordingly. I am grateful also for my colleagues who have been supportive and encouraging as I've progressed toward tenure. The mentoring I've received has been beneficial tremendously and it is a pleasure working with so many intelligent and enjoyable people.

I am grateful for the opportunities I have been afforded and how they have helped shape and refine me as well as my view of the world. I am grateful to have lived a life of tremendous stability and security. It is something that can be easy to take for granted but something I need to remember, particularly in the context of what is happening in the world.

I am grateful that the world is full of so many helpers and good people who maintain optimism in the face of very frightening and upsetting conditions. I am grateful for those who fight for fairness and humanity in the face of corruption, injustice, and terror. With the tragedies and atrocities that unfolded over the last year, it can be tempting to take a cynical view or to let fear overtake one's sense of humanity. It is disappointing particularly to witness the political tone and tenor during this election cycle, as it has quite clearly opened up safer spaces for some people to be bigoted and hateful toward anyone they deem "other." It is actually beyond disappointing. It is outright scary. But I still think that reason and decency and kindness and civility will always prevail. I hope that those public figures who are capitalizing on a fearful time to fan the flames of racism will learn that fear mongering and hatred are not effective or sustainable tools for governance in a democracy.

I hope that generosity, kindness, and goodwill will define the coming weeks of the holiday season and I wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Boden Sale is on Sale (Haul)!!!

Boden was kind enough to send me a $10 gift credit via email in celebration of my birthday (last weekend). Then they announced that the sale and clearance items (as well as full price stock) are an additional 15% off with coupon code 5V6G so I went on a little spree!

I had other account credit from previous price adjustments and voucher deals so it cost me nearly nothing out of pocket. I was finally able to snag the Deer Print Parka at 60% off. I don't care if I will need to hold onto it until next winter. It is so cute and also down and feather-filled which I expect will be warm. The best thing about it is it is unlike any other coat in my closet. I also bought a dress that I am considering for Mother's Day (if in person the tunic I bought for Emilia matches).

By the way for any Pittsburgh/SWPA readers, I noticed on the David L. Lawrence Convention Center website that the Boden Sample Sale is coming back on May 2nd! They call it a liquidation sale on the convention center website. Regardless, I can't wait! You can read my sample sale guides here and here.

I stopped with my above haul for now but am considering a second order. What are you buying?

Printed Cities OOTD and a mid-semester check in

I wore my London print Millie skirt to campus the other day. And that night I fell down a "London print" wormhole, searching for other options. Apparently Cath Kidston has offered many London themed prints. I am unfamiliar with Cath Kidston so if anyone can speak to sizing, please let me know.

This semester has been intense due to my teaching two new courses at the same time. It's daunting to keep up with two syllabi worth of new readings, new lectures, new assignments, new exams, new evaluation rubrics, etc. I should have planned my rotation more carefully to avoid having two new classes run in the same term. I do love the subjects and think the materials are resonating with the students so it's not for nothing. And to quote Leslie Knope quoting Theodore Roosevelt in the Parks and Rec series finale, "Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is a chance to work hard at work worth doing." Whenever I feel bogged down by my job I try to remind myself of the good fortune in getting to do this work and have this kind of career. I really do love it even if I don't always like it. And that quote really helped remind me.

I am also trying to work on a journal article and revise my book. I'm continuing to advise Covey and occasionally blog for that. And on top of everything, we've been doing some home improvement projects (that Chris handles primarily but I take over childcare, pet care, and other household duties that we otherwise try to share). So there are many plates spinning but spring break is around the corner and then we'll blink and the semester will be over. 

This week it was Chris's 35th birthday so it has been fun to celebrate him. Emilia made pictures and bent wrapping paper scraps around her most treasured figurines "for daddy." I reflected with awe over how much work he has done on our home on top of working full time (in a demanding, stressful, high-pressure environment), cooking more than half of our meals, being a present and loving husband and father, and teaching a class. He's really amazing and I'm lucky to get to grow old with him. Happy Birthday, Chris!

Details:
Old Navy waffle knit shirt
Boden skirt
Spanx tights
Ferragamo My Joy flats

Mid-30s OOTD

Last weekend I turned 34 and so it seemed fitting to take some stock. I pulled old favorites from my pre-pregnancy storage and sorted through what fits and what doesn't. I'm not ready to part with pieces that don't fit until I am finished with breastfeeding but since I am not finding much to covet in stores, I've been itching for more variety in my wardrobe. I was gifted this Kate Spade dress by my mother-in-law for my birthday last year and although I've worn it a few times I am not sure that I ever posted it here. I like the color combination and dot print but because it is sleeveless, I only really wear it during sweater weather. I'm not a fan of sleeveless and feel both cold and overexposed when I try it out. But it seems inescapable in all the recent Kate Spade offerings.

Why is that? What happened to the steady rotation of solid short sleeved shirt dresses from Kate Spade? Bring me your Jeanettes, your Stefanias, your Calistas, your Violettas, etc.! Are these styles really "out of style?" Maybe I am just aging out of my old brand favorites?

Outfit details:
Kate Spade Deborah Dot Willa dress
Aqua cashmere cardigan
Spanx tights
Aquatalia boots (there was a bit of snow that day)

Another year older...

Today, I am 32. And as I settle further into that phase of life during which people find it increasingly polite to avoid any direct age-related inquiries, I feel more comfortable than ever in my own aging skin. When I was old enough to understand it, my parents told me about how my father struggled with turning 30. To him it marked an end of carefree youthfulness. But I should clarify that my parents have always struck me as profoundly youthful. Age for them now seems to be more about attitude and affect.

On some level, the very thought of being upset by my age feels silly. I'll take 32 year old me over 22 year old me any day of the week. This time ten years ago, my self-esteem was abysmal. My long-term relationship was swiftly deteriorating. I was about to graduate from college and my future was frighteningly uncertain. Although I was lucky to have great friends, few responsibilities, and lots of free time to do fun things, in retrospect I am glad to be through it. Don't get me wrong. I don't feel any regrets over my 20s but I am just happy they're over.

I think about my life now and feel pretty great. I'm a product of the learning and the experiences I endured as an insecure 22 year old. And sometimes I wish I could go back in time and provide comfort that reassures someone so uncertain. For this reason I do try to hug my little sister often. She is ten years younger than me and although she has a lot going for her and is about to graduate college with a cumulative gpa that exceeds my best single undergraduate semesters, I also realize that even the most exciting of transitions are still hard and sometimes fraught.

I wore the above ensemble to deliver a keynote address to the new inductees of our freshman honor society. And I wanted to hug them too because they just successfully weathered such a major transition, from high school to college. Transitions can be difficult but at least they make us more resilient and better capable of weathering any change to come.

I am glad 22 year old me decided to take some time entering the workforce before pursuing an advanced degree. I'm grateful that I eventually began graduate study and met a special someone doing something similar. And I am happy to report that both my early-20s ex boyfriend and I found more stable, more fulfilling, and more mature relationships with our new partners. From my vantage, all of the above is evidence of how good it is to be older... to get older.

Of course it has taken me a bit longer than I expected it would to feel this way. I really identify with  the internal monologue scene from Singles during which Bridget Fonda's character reflects on how teenage her viewed the ages of 23 and 25. I thought as a teen that my life trajectory would closely mimic my parents, who married at 23, had kids by 26, and were settled into careers right after college. But at least within my social circle, an ever-lengthening American post-adolescence has changed the landscape of what it means to be in your thirties. For me, it no longer carries the same connotations it once did when my father was struggling with the existential questions brought forth from being new to this same age bracket. Still, it's funny and unsurprising how birthdays (both the welcomed and the un-welcomed) provoke reflection and stock-taking.

I have a lot to be grateful for and there are a lot of exciting things I'm anticipating in the coming year. So amid the process of taking stock, I welcome the next phase of my life with open arms.

Outfit info:
Kate Spade Calista dress (bought this time last year) (similar KS; similar other)
BP cardigan
Burberry Brit trench (this season's version here) from (Larrimor's)
Spanx tights
Marc by Marc Jacobs pumps (similar here and here)
Vintage initial necklace (gift from my secret santa), Target bracelet, Betsy Johnson watch

Anthro Birthday Haul

April flew by. And I've been so busy wrapping up the semester at work that I almost forgot to use my birthday discount coupon! Yesterday, I planned to buy a full price floral print dress, the Chartreuse Shoots. But the fit was weird (review to come) so instead I found myself in the sale section uncertain about what to do. I could have just not bought anything. And I almost went home empty handed. But I grabbed two pieces that I like in theory. I am not sure that they work for my wardrobe in practice. So I am going to sit on them with the tags attached while I give myself time to decide. First up was this dress:

I love how Sarah and GeoinCalifornia look in this Contemporarian Dress. But I am hesitant because of the bareness of the back. If I want to wear it in warmer months then there will be an immediate bra issue.

I also got this Tea and Roses sweater. I thought maybe it could be an interesting piece to have. It's unlike anything I own. But I don't know if I can actually figure out how to integrate it into my wardrobe.

I am not sure if I'll keep either piece. I need to try styling them with things I own to see if they're worth holding onto. But I am glad I was able to use my coupon.

Springy celebratory ootd

Marc by Marc Jacobs floating lotus dress

Gap cardi

Chloé flats

I wore this to have my bday celebration with my parents and siblings. It was fun. It was also a few weeks ago at this point! I am behind.

 
When I was little my mom took a cake decorating class. And throughout my childhood I always had the most elaborate, professional-looking, home made cakes. The entire house would smell of vanilla and I would get my own little piping bag with icing to try to create the roses and designs she made with such ease. I never got the hang of it. And I probably should ask her if she could teach me. She has the steadiest teacher hand. Relatedly, she also has the best penmanship of anyone I've ever known. I, on the other hand, get the shakes under pressure and my left hand could never craft the perfect cursive and printed letters of a schoolteacher. Now that I'm grown I feel funny asking my mom to put in the intense amount of labor required to make me a cake. Instead I did request that she visit my favorite hometown bakery (the Mon Valley based Keystone Bakery which I prefer to the much more beloved South Hills favorite, Bethel Bakery) to buy a cake. It was as delicious as I remember!

Mapping D'armee OOTD

D'armee dress from Anthro

Cartography cardi from Anthro

Spanx heather brown tights

Gucci wedges

Gifted beaded necklace

Chris was kind enough to order me the khaki colored version of the D'armee dress. I coveted it for both nerdy reasons and for aesthetic reasons. It made an excellent birthday gift and I wore it to campus the next day with the cartography cardigan. Its multiple hues of green were emphasized by the olivey khaki of my dress and the forest leather of my shoes.

Kate Spade Friends and Family Haulage

How nice of the folks at Kate Spade to time their Friends and Family event so closely to my birthday, when I have spare gift funds and an urge to indulge! Thanks to Roxy from Effortless Anthropologie, I was given a heads up for this event in advance of the email. I picked out what I wanted before the 25% off coupon code, FFSPR11 went active and snagged both items.

I had long coveted the Journal Bon Shopper tote bag, with its newspaper classified ads print. I study the history of media and although print has become something of an embattled industry, I am an avid newspaper reader, receiving home delivery of the New York Times and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. When I saw this tote, I immediately wanted it. As much as I love the book clutches, a tote bag fits my 'carry everything' lifestyle. To paraphrase Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club, you never know when you may have to jam! The best part is that my tote was already on sale so I got 25% off the sale price!

I also snagged the Calista floral print shirt dress on sale. As much as I coveted the Violetta, (blogged here) the color combo and shape evoked a formal version of my Two Wheeler shirt dress. And its discount was not as steep as I need, even with 25% off. The Calista is unlike anything I own, with its all over carnation flower print. I haven't met a flower I didn't like but I really love carnations. To celebrate holidays when I was a kid, my dad would always give me carnations. My mom would get roses and I would get carnations. Although this flower can be controversial, I've always loved that memory. Can't wait to see these pieces in person!

For guys Jack Spade friends and family is on too. Use code JACK25. But you have to move fast because these codes expire tonight at 11:59 PST. Are you buying anything?

Quick Birthday Snap

Nanette Lepore Cafe Sheath

Testament drape cardigan

Streets Ahead bow belt

Shoes from random store in Brazil

I wore this to birthday shop and to birthday dinner with Chris's family on Sunday. My MIL was trying on her potential Anthro finds but I already finished. The dress was a birthday gift from her last year. So it seemed fitting to the celebration. I didn't find anything at Anthro that day. But I have a few reviews I'll put up soon. Thanks for reading!

Hudson and Houston

Tibi dress

Spanx tights

Macys cardigan

Nine West pumps

Alice + Olivia coat

I wore my beloved Tibi dress (Anthro called this one the Hudson and Houston) to campus for a VIM (very important meeting). It was a hit! I felt confident but professional.

Today I am celebrating my birthday. Chris sang to me a bit after midnight, but the celebration really began earlier in the evening when we had a delicious meal at Kaya. We made it just in time for the happy hour drink specials. Local ramps and fiddleheads were in two of the dishes we ordered! YUM! My purple hyacinths decided to bloom, despite the dreary freezing rain. My parents, tech savvy as they've become, sent me texts marking my exact minute of birth. And Chris greeted me with the smell of homemade Belgian waffle batter, cooking in the waffle iron for breakfast! I will share the wonderful gifts I've received later this week. But in the meanwhile, I want to share with you my favorite non-"Happy Birthday to You" birthday song (from The Simpsons):

Lol!

Ritual Consumption: Birthday Shoes

This little blog is going on four years old! To be fair, I've only been blogging with more-than-semi-monthly regularity for about a year. But regardless, I have a few ideas to celebrate and thank everyone with a giveaway.

Years ago I had a livejournal. Eventually I made it private but much like my old LJ, I like to revisit my previous years entries and look at how I celebrated milestones. On this blog, since it is material-centric, I like to remember my outfits and what I wore during travel. I also enjoy seeing the gifts I bought for others and how I indulged myself for my birthdays. My annual tradition used to be to buy a cute bag but in more recent years I've ended up buying myself a pair of shoes. The above were my score for this year. I saw the seaming on the toes of these Chloé flats and loved how they were evocative in a subtler way of the Paddington bag. I already have the Paddington lock flats. And I've come to find my Chloé flats blend comfort with durability more so than MBMJ or Tory Burch or any other flat favorites. If it isn't clear from the photo, I gifted them to myself early (bday isn't until April 5th) and have worn them quite a bit since!

How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you buy something for yourself or drop hints? Do you forgo gifts altogether and go out for a fancy dinner or throw a party? Are you low key and try to let the date go by unnoticed?

Shorts on Short Curvy me

This running around weekend outfit has also been a running around weekday outfit for me, of late. I am wearing it to my parents' house where I will celebrate my dad's birthday. I wore it to accompany Chris to his Apple Store appointment in Shadyside. I wore it on many dogwalks, one of which involved straying too far from home knowing it was going to storm. Speck and I got DRENCHED only minutes after the above photo was taken. For so long I refused to wear shorts for fear of how unflattering and stumpy they made me appear. But the practical has overtaken my desire for stylishness. And I finally bought some proper shorts this week for the first time in years.

Forever 21 grommeted heather blue shirt (from the sale rack) (similar here, here, and here)
Old Navy Bermuda shorts (similar here and here)
Tory Burch Orchid Pink Patent Revas (similar here and here)
Anthropologie crystal initial necklace

It is fitting that the week of my dad's birthday also marked a few former Beatles-related announcements. I am going to try my best to get my parents great presale seats for the Pittsburgh concert of Paul McCartney. And my dad implored me yesterday on the phone to seek out youtube videos of Paul McCartney's serenade of Michelle Obama with the song, "Michelle." My dad's enthusiasm, love, and knowledge of music have inspired me my whole life and given us so many moments through which to bond and make memories. My parents tell me he would dance around their bedroom, serenading Beatles songs and post-Beatles songs when I would fuss as an infant. My dad has also said that having his first born child in 1980 brought him comfort through the deaths of both his mother and his idol, John Lennon. So many of my fondest feelings about family connect deeply to music, thanks mostly to my father who eventually followed in the footsteps of his own father before him and became a music teacher.  For all of the above reasons, the McCartney concert announcement feels, in a solipsistic way, like a gift to our family in addition to a boon for the city of Pittsburgh!

BTW, a new very stylish and coincidentally curvy blogger, Pearls Lace, and Ruffles is hosting a giveaway on her blog! Check it out here.

Base 10: Gift roundup and gift outfits

People often speak, think, and mythologize about the past and their own lives in terms of decades. The last week marked the first days of my third. For this particular milestone, I was showered with love, friendship, and gifts. And because this blog is mostly about materiality, I'm going to share with you some details on the latter category.

Beautiful flowers (from my parents and my neighbor), additional stock for my liquor cabinet (featuring my favorite gins, micros/Belgians, and wine from various friends), hot rollers, and a garment steamer from my parents.

A set of wooden salad and serving bowls from my parents and some lovely bracelets/cuffs (similar ones here) from my sister. Gardening stuff and a collection of classic films  (not pictured) from my brother.

This Nanette Lepore Cafe Sheath dress (similar here) from Chris's mom and stepdad. An Amazon giftcard from his dad and stepmom. Beautiful Bloomfield artwork (not pictured) inspired by the street where I live from my future stepsister-in-law and her partner.

The Gatsby bag by Jenny Yuen (similar here) and vinyl copies of She and Him Vols. 1 and 2 from Chris.

With the Anthropologie birthday coupon I bought myself some gifts. The Reed Shirtdress (similar on sale here) shown with Linea Pelle belt, Burberry flats on the left, Chie Mihara t-straps on the right. Two-Paths trenchcoat with Steven Director pumps on the left and Chloe zipper flats on the right.

Epic gifts for an epic birthday!

30th Birthday Party Action Shot (ootd included)

You can't see the people singing to me  (and upsetting Speck, which is why I am holding her) but you can see my dress, illuminated interestingly in my friend Michael's iphone pic by another camera's flash.

Marc by Marc Jacobs lace dita dress (similar lace but printed on a dress here, cute budget summer lace dress here, fancy summer non budget here).

Curled Zinnia or Cathedral Garden and Birthday OOTD

Leifsdottir's name for the above pictured dress depended on whether it  was sold by parent company, Anthropologie or by department stores like Nordstrom. But the saturated floral prints on this silk dress remain the same. I got it for a final sale price on Gilt Fuse. And I wore it on Saturday, this past weekend. 

I also got my Anthropologie birthday gift in the mail: an odd candle "necklace" and a 15% off coupon for in-store purchases.

My birthday was very fun and because I was attending the Pirates' home opening game, I dressed accordingly. Not fancy but comfortable. Tomorrow I will dress up for our rescheduled dinner reservations. I was too tired and not hungry, post-game so I asked Chris to change the plan and he obliged.

Postgame, my hair was windblown, my face was flushed from unintentional sun exposure, and everything was wrinkled. But I had a blast. Chris took this photo which is obvious from the lack of care in angling and shoe inclusion. I took one of him too, sporting his new Clemente jersey. 

I am thrilled to show you my birthday gifts. Hopefully some time this week!

Recent Bday Acquisitions

Between my birthday celebration and the spate of recent sales, I have few new items to throw into my dressing repertoire.

Chris gave me the most incredible brick red, 8 hole Dr. Marten Boots. He also got me Fresh Lemon Sugar perfume, a Jessica Kagan Cushman Bangle that says, "I Want To Be The Girl With The Most Cake," From the Hole song, "Doll Parts," A steam punky book locket necklace from Etsy, and the Griffin Clarifi iphone case, which adds a macro lens feature to the iphone camera! All that on top of throwing me an amazing bday party, taking me to many different bday dinner celebrations, and generally being the sweetest fiancé!

I am so excited for the spring of grunge, as evidenced in the outfit I assembled to try on my Docs.

Ruelala.com held a final sale boutique with items from many different designers.

I selected this Shoshanna jacket, and the MBMJ Claudette dress (to be featured in my upcoming monogamous dressing post). Chris got a sport coat and sweater from the men's MBMJ boutique.

Hautelook had a sale of vintage sports merchandise so I grabbed shirts representing Pitt and the Penguins. And Old Navy, along with Gap and Banana Republic held their 30% off friends and family promotion.

I stocked up on basic tshirts and flip flops. Bloomingdales held its private sale.

I got an amazing deal on a Marc by Marc Jacobs Dr. Q Huge Hillier hobo in Tan, as well as some sale hosiery.

I am so excited to wear all my new goodies!