Snakes and Ammonites

This skirt refuses to show its true colors.

 It is GREEN. This is a closeup of my lap.

And this is my lovely fossil ammonite/turquoise necklace:

 And this is what was underneath the jacket:

The jacket is new to me, Liz Claiborne via eBay. I have a new affection for snake/lizard all of a sudden. I would love some shoes in this pattern. They seem like an interesting take on a nude shoe.

Now, everybody liked this outfit, and I liked the concept, but I was very conscious of my pudgy waist all day long. My waist and my neck are where I show my age, I think. Plus I HATE pinchy nylons.

If you haven't seen it already, there is a fantastic article making the rounds about what fashion judgement means to the poor, especially men and women of color. As someone who routinely judges people by what they are wearing in interviews (and elsewhere), it gave me pause. The comments in both locations make for thoughtful reading as well.

This is how I found the article, at John Scalzi's blog:

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/10/30/why-i-wear-what-i-do/

and this is the original article.

http://tressiemc.com/2013/10/29/the-logic-of-stupid-poor-people/

Fun Things I Saw This Weekend

A good week, followed by a great weekend.

First I went to Evanston for a Chicago Humanities Festival talk, the first of four I'll be going to. They had a lot of appealing stuff this year.

Walking from the train to the campus, I saw a new piece of sculpture on a rooftop.

It was a gorgeous day to walk around campus, and I saw this piece of art on my stroll.

I don't know the actual title, but I refer to it as Han Unfreezing. I sent a snapshot to Ben for his amusement.

The CHF talk was entitled, "A Neuroscientist and a Medievalist Walk Into a Bar . . .", which entailed two Northwestern professors of the above disciplines talking about what their work had in common. The highlight was a Powerpoint of Shakespeare submitting Hamlet as a grant proposal and the resulting critique. Very funny and smart. The next program I'm going to see is the founder of Redmoon Theater talking about his goal of somehow staging Moby Dick, possibly with puppets.

In the middle of the week I went to the Illinois Library Association annual conference, held at Navy Pier this year. It was a grey, cool, slightly menacing day, perfect to spot ZOMBIES ON THE ROOFTOP:

Every time I walked by that window I twitched a little.  I was only at the conference for one day; my boss and I were part of a panel discussion in the afternoon. I caught a great morning program about reorganizing spaces and staffing from the directors of the Arlington Heights and the Palatine libraries. Not everyone will agree, I know, but I admire some of these large changes libraries are making. I think if you base them on data, get your staff involved, and make them in a few stages (not in one terrifying upheaval), they are laudable. Balance in all things.

That presentation and a board meeting and wrapping up a six page nomination for a library award made for a full week! On Saturday I met Heidi and Pam for this:

Oh, it was so ROMANTIC and DREAMY and FABULOUS. And Harry Groener was just marvelous in the title role. Then we went to Riva and had beautiful delicious food and talked about where we want to go on vacation. Since we couldn't come to any consensus on a European trip, we happily alighted on Canada! Technically another country! So we're discussing Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, which I am totally up for. Yay!

On Sunday I drove out to visit a friend and her new-ish baby (five months old) and got to chat with her, her husband, her older child (so adorable) and snuggle the baby for an hour or more.  Lovely, lovely Charlie. No pictures of them because they are not MY children. I do hope that Ben reproduces.

I ran around so much on the weekend that I feel like I need another one. 

Rounding Up

First of all, I discovered the amusing Tumblr Librarian Shame, courtesy of The Swiss Army Librarian, and this is what I posted:

 

It was the same day I wore my new-via-Ebay Vince Camuto blouse and my less new Halogen blue knit skirt. I even wore my blue glasses. All that blue was very soothing.

The next day I wore another favorite, my black Talbot's surplice top, with a pleated silk skirt and my black and white Everybody peep toes.

Heather's favorite outfit ever.

On a Rotary Thursday, I wore this Jones New York cardigan and a Talbot's eyelet skirt and my Aquatalia gold pumps. It was a little too eye-catching for a visiting Rotarian and I felt like swatting him away. Shoo fly.
 

And the last outfit I bothered to photograph included a Boden skirt, a pale grey top, my pink cotton cardigan and grey boots.

This outfit could definitely be improved. I'd like a classier pink cardigan (maybe) and definitely a purple pullover top that is heavy enough to wear on its own. I have a pretty purple silk blouse, but it doesn't look right with this skirt. It wasn't quite cool enough to wear my gray cashmere sweater.

It is decidedly fall now, and I've been busting out the boots (yay!) and eyeballing my jackets and trousers. I started writing down everything I wanted at the moment I wanted it, which is usually when I'm picking out an outfit. It makes for an interesting list so far, and hopefully I'll post it next week with some comments.

This weekend I am celebrating Heidi's birthday by seeing Cyrano starring the demon mayor of Sunnydale, Harry Groener. I'm very excited. Mr. Groener got rave reviews in the role, and is of course known for things other than turning into a giant snake and eating the high school principal.

BLACK and White? Or Black and WHITE?

Sam Edelman's Petty Ankle Boot in black and white, about $125 at various places.

Circus by Sam Edelman Holt boot, about $100 here and there.

So - white in front or white in back?

Wishing Well

I was thinking about the shopping list I made last year:

1.  Casual, hooded, short-ish, warm coat   $100
2.  Brown-ish handbag  $45 and real leather!
3.  Beige ankle boots   $105
4.  Red short boots
5.  White lace tee
6.  Leopard-print top 
7.  Leather gloves with Thinsulate lining

I did find the leopard-print top eventually, from Jones New York, for about $25. The boots and a decent version (I bought a crappy one) of the lace tee still elude me. I should say that I have located the boots, but not bought them because I'm not sure how much I will actually use them. I definitely need to buy new gloves this year. Talbots used to sell lovely long leather gloves with either cashmere or Thinsulate linings, in an array of colors. *sigh*

Every once in a while I will be trying to put together an outfit and find myself thinking, "If only I had a . . ." It occured to me I should write those down, to see if they hold up over a time. That would be the ORGANIZED thing to do.

The result is that I don't have much of a wish list right now. I asked my sister-in-law, who works for Estee Lauder, for perfume for Christmas this year, as I am on a quest to smell nice. This must be an old lady thing; I will be one of those 70-year-olds on the bus reeking of Oscar De la Renta.

Wine and Taupe and New Baubles

Cool enough for boots! Boots and bare legs mean lovely Indian Summer to me. I got a fabulous pedicure last Friday, an hour of candles and panflute music and hot towels and sea salt scrubs and what looked like yak butter. I felt like Jennifer Aniston. But then the weather turned cool and I had to hide my ruby toes away.

A wine-colored Ann Taylor tee and my old faithful J. Jill skirt and Born boots. I'm wearing my ID badge to sort of break up the large expanse of bosom there.

This is my major expense for September, a tortoise and gold Michael Kors watch from Macy's. I tried on several different styles, but watch faces are quite large these days, and many of them felt kind of ponderous. This watch is still substantial, but the rectangular face makes it more wearable.

I also gave up and retired my beloved Fossil wallet. The card slots were so loose that my credit cards would fall out randomly, and the snap no longer worked on the little coin purse. Boo. However, I do really like my new wallet from The Sak, and it has the same open flat features that my Fossil wallet did.  It is a bit heftier, but it goes nicely with my summer and winter bag and is easy to see in a dark purse interior.

I love this brand. I have a large, soft yellow leather shoulder bag, a case for my Nook (adorable but I never use it) and a wee convertible pursie that can be carried as a wristlet or hung over my shoulder on its skinny strap. I have a feeling I'll be carrying this wallet for years.