Lesson Learned

Just a hint of cool in the air. Living south-ish is so strange during the fall. The mornings are gorgeous, the afternoons are baking hot, the evenings turn me into a weenie, shivering and pulling my hands into my sleeves.

This jacket and I are still figuring one another out. It was my very last purchase in the States before we left for China (thanks, Ebay) and I'm very, very glad I own a great quality mid-tone trench. But, it's heavy weight and the belt loops are quite far back, so I'm always nervous that the belt is slipping out. Is that a legitimate qualm?

I have a bunch of other coats, jackets and blazers, as well as more shoes!, arriving soon in our shipment (which we had picked up in Houston in late June). We were supposed to receive it last Sunday before the week-long National Holiday, and the Customs tracking system even told our agent the paperwork was ready and customs would be open for pick up on Sunday, the holiday "make up" day... but the employees of the warehouse all decided to just up and take the extra two days off. So, we are rescheduled for a Friday delivery this week. Moral of the story: if you move to China, expect to pay an arm and a leg anyway, so cough up the cash to pack a third suitcase or just coerce your friends and family into bring two 50-pounders when they visit. It will take just as long to get your goodies by visit as it will by shipment.

Well, now we know.

Jeans: Gap Real Straight...Tank: thrifted...Trench: J Crew Madewell via Ebay...Shoes: Nine West...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

Like Sardines

Isn't it fun when life gets busy and fun and you get super blasé about documenting anything for your blog?

And when you return you have this junker outfit that you managed to capture? Nothing actually fashionable, or creative, or interesting.

Whatever.

We've been occupied, and I like it. Hop over here for a quick rundown of what we've been doing.

Jeans: Gap...Buttondown: Banana Outlet...Shoes: Sperry via DSW...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

And a quick story: it's National Holiday, which means almost everything of significance is closed. Like President's Day or something. Except it goes on for 7. whole. bleeping. days. Which should be awesome, except it means everyone either travels, clogging airlines and trains, or plays tourist in town. We thought we'd do the cool thing and do more exploring our new city and wound up in a sardine-like nightmare bus getting out to Tiger Hill. I don't know if you guys saw it on Instagram a while back (@katebmcclure and @robertwmcclure) that we started a hashtag #tallguyinchina. Rob is so out of place in so many situations, standing literally heads above the rest of the population, but a packed bus is a special form of torture. His rear end usually ends up right in line with someone's oversized backpack, or his head gets mangled in the plastic hold-loops in the standing room area. I love the idea of public transit, but, sometimes you just gotta buck up and pay way too much for the bodily comfort of a speedy, just-the-two-of-us cab ride back across town.

We will not be going anyplace interesting for the rest of the week. We'll try again during a normal weekend.

Hope you guys are well! Any absurd stories?

Long and Slow

I've been in the midst of a funny couple of weeks. 

First: the news. I am going to be working at the School of Music office! Since the School is brand-spankin' new and kind of groundbreaking in its intention to teach music curriculum in English here in China, there's a lot of materials that are going to be put out bilingually. And some of the ladies already on staff have international experience and a pretty great English foundation, but it needs a little polish... so I get to put my thumbprint on reworking and crafting exciting new English language documents and press as we're getting off the ground. 

But, in true China fashion, getting the details worked out, contract drafted, and registration completed is taking forever. So, I'm still not working and didn't get to help prepare for the opening premier concert this upcoming Sunday. Which is a bummer, since this is our first POW! introduction to the Suzhou/Shanghai music community. And it sure would have been nice to place a critical eye on the materials, but oh well. Next project. When I'm officially on the team!

Also. We tried to prepare the paperwork for getting our shipment of boxes through customs and because Suzhou is in Jiangsu province and Shanghai (and the port through which our stuff arrived) is kind of its own thing, we needed stamps and approval from both customs' offices. Meaning backandforthandbackandforth travel to Shanghai- a day-long waste of a day trip each time. Foooorget it. Rob's colleague swooped in and saved the day by calling her shipping agent from earlier in the summer, who will be managing the rest of the paperwork and having our items delivered for us. And she's crazy capable, so I'm very grateful.

Moral of the story. It all takes literally four times longer than you think it should and is at least 7 steps more complicated. All of it.

Sigh. Of relief!

Jeans: Gap...Tank: Banana Republic...Cardigan: thrifted...Shoes: Target

Worn over and over and over

Sweet Audrey of the deservedly popular Putting Me Together is hosting... One Piece Many Ways. And since I've been sweating my way through most of the crappy looks I've been wearing, taking a walk down memory lane seemed like fun.

So... what have I worn the crap out of?

  

  

  

This maroon skirt is so easy to grab and go when I'm feeling rushed, and it works with the majority of my tops. Does it create looks that are super diverse? Maybe not. But it's a great basic and easy to wear. Blacks work, tans work, greys work, leopard, turquoise, orange, crisp white, taupe, bright red. A nice, plum maroon skirt is one of the few bottoms other than jeans that made the cut when I purged and moved my little wardrobe. And I wore it through all four seasons. 

What are you wearing the daylights out of? Is it easy to remix or is it a statement piece that you feel great in? I want to know!

Plain Jane

Being on the far side of the Pacific has, style-wise, been a little funny for me. First, I chucked some of my long time favorite articles of clothing because I literally wore them until they shouldn't be worn any more. Loved them to pieces and put them into a garbage can in the days before we left Houston. So, I'm down about 30%. Second, I kept a lot of my simple, classic, wholesome American gal clothes. Simple skinny jeans, a few buttondowns, lightweight t-shirts. Things that aren't risky or fashion-forward, but are just solid workhorse items. A glorified capsule wardrobe, if you will.

And I didn't keep summer clothing, you guys. Bad choice.

It's a great mix of perfectly slouchy sweaters and layer-able stuff with slim-fit pants. So, come fall and winter, I'll be golden, but for now, I'm sweating my buns off and rotating between this skirt and shorts (which I hate on my skinny legs- ugh, chicken knees) and a few tanks and tees.

And this desperate deficit of options, lack of first-month-in-town positive bank balance, and having a simple wardrobe means I'm stickin' out like a sore thumb. China's a little funny with fashion. Sometimes ladies look so mis-match chic, young and fresh in their boutique fashion (there's literally thousands of small clothing stores along the coolest shopping avenues here), I look like a bowl of vanilla ice cream. But sometimes these adorable young women wear the dowdiest or hodgepodged or hello-kittied looks. Perhaps another day I'll take my camera out and about with me.

Skirt: H&M...Blouse: Target...Belt: Target...Shoes: Nine West...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

Solo

I'm alllll alone today! It's Rob's first day of the school year, and he's off to meet 'n greet the first ever new class of students.

On the docket? As many girly movies online as I can find. I'm 45 minutes into Little Women. Yes, yes, yes.

Skirt: H&M...Blouse: thrifted...Belt: Target...Shoes: Chacos...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

Conundrum

What does one wear for meeting the Dean of the School of Music for the first time? Especially when the group dinner is being held at an undisclosed location? Rob and I (and all of the other new faculty we've been spending time with) all freaked out and didn't have an answer.

Neutrals. Definitely neutrals. And not too fussy.

So, this super lightweight sweater for the warm evening should do the trick. Loose, it won't touch my torso too much and make me sweat, but it's pretty covered-up.

Pants or skirt? Skirt. No, pants. The sweater looked a little weird tucked in. 

Heels or flats? Well, heels would look nicer... Crap, all my nice pumps are in our shipment. These flats will be fine.

Maaaaan, I got brutal with purging my wardrobe before this move. My dress and shoe situation is a little pathetic. And my "getting ready and looking decent" routine is a joke.

Jeans: Gap...Sweater: thrifted...Shoes: Aldo, via Buffalo Exchange...Belt: Target...Scarf: Liberty of London, thrifted...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

This is Certainly a First World Problem

So, we've decided to cough up the cash for a second VPN of my very own. Rob is a technology nut, so he loves to have access to "checking" all of his stuff (read: screwing around in a cycle of email, facebook, Detroit Tigers score, overandoverandover). And some of his screen time is legit, but mostly he likes to spend his down time mindlessly surfing and hogging our mode of bypassing the "Great Firewall," so I insisted that I get my own VPN to blog.

Oh, a VPN is a Virtual Private Network. It essentially skews signals to indicate that my computer's IP address is in America when, in fact, it is physically in China. Since I am physically in China. Normally, Chinese internet blocks websites such as YouTube, Facebook, Blogger, etc.

Being in a country that blocks most of the online goodies has been a little strange. Without the VPN turned on, I can read through my blog list on the Bloglovin' app, but not on the computer. Feedly flips me the bird either way. Pinterest works both online and through the app, so at least that's good entertainment. I can see and post Instagram photos, and can even send them straight to Facebook for our friends to see. But, I can't go to Facebook, can't post new content on Blogger, I can't click on almost any blog to comment, and, most importantly, I can't see Marion's content below the Read More line. Big fat bummer. 

Without competing with Rob for use of the VPN, I will be able to blog in peace, take my time uploading photos, writing and linking all at once in the Blogger editor (I've been writing word documents and copying them in. The formatting boogers itself every time, which is obnoxious). 

So, in short: I've been super absent, and I'm sorry. Before the move, I didn't have time or focus enough to blog, and now I don't have easy access to it. And, even though I've been reading a whoooooole bunch of  your blogs, I haven't been able to say hello, compliment all of the lovely looks you ladies have been featuring lately, cheer you guys on in your recent life-stuff, or sympathize with your head or heartaches. I hope this technological coup lets me say "Hey" a little more often.

Pants: Target...Tank: thrifted...Shoes: via DSW...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

Pros and Cons: China Edition

Things I am finding that I miss.

• Cotton Balls. I used a "cotton pad" to remove my nailpolish, and it's like a disintegrating wet nap.
• Rubbing alcohol. I had no idea how useful this stuff was in my every day life until it was gone. 
• Paper towels. While I appreciate the reusability of rags, I would really prefer to do some of this move-in massive not-a-dustbunny-of-my-own-creation cleaning with a paper towel and then throw that shit away. 
• Ditto on Swiffers.
• Trustworthy fish. I would really like to try to cook a wok-prepared steamed salmon meal at home, but everyone is telling us to steer clear of fish. 
• Granola Bars. Except I dispelled this one earlier today- we found some really overpriced Oats and Honey bars at a specialty international grocery. Beaucoup bucks, but comforting and great energy. Now, if only I could find Nutella...
• Access to furniture shopping. It really isn't a "thing" here. There is no Target furniture section or Pottery Barn. The nearest Ikea is 2 hours away by public transit and train. And my furniture is all really crappy. 

Things that I kiiiinda prefer over here.

• My nail polish remover smells vaguely of vanilla, rather than chemical and fake vitamin E.
• Way less wasteful packaging and a cultural norm of tiny garbage cans. Our trash situation is heavenly. 
• A cultural norm of daily produce shopping. Um, fresh and fabulous.
• Using an umbrella daily as a sunshade. Pale skin is fashionable, so I'm like the queen bee already, but practically, it makes walking around on these hot hot days a little more bearable. 
• Having no choice but to slow down. It's too hot and I know too little of the language.
• Ginger scented dish soap. 

The evenings are getting down to only 88 degrees now! We're sweating like mad still, but at least I have some kind of desire to look halfway decent after 7 pm when we go out for dinner with friends. That's a step in the right direction!

Dress: Target...Belt: Target...Sandals: Chacos...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

Dog Days? Nope, just an extended record high.

Uuuugh, I'm getting really sick of these hot days. Suzhou and Shanghai have been "Red Alert" and record highs (highest recorded temps in 140 years) for days on end, and no real relief in sight. One day last week, the government flew planes over some clouds south of the city and dumped dry ice to force some rain to bring a little relief. Which lasted about 4 hours that night.

Two problems:
1. I'm sweating through all of my summer clothes (my hot weather collection got largely donated because it was either some poly blend or falling apart).
2. My "summer looks" are a rotation of the same four tees and the same one pair of shorts. Because I don't wear shorts. But I have to wear shorts. Or I'll croak.

Two perks:
1. With no dryer, our washed items are hung on the outdoor patio and are dry in literally 45 minutes.
2. I'm more hydrated than I ever have been before.

We're really wishing we could do more exploring the city, but it's way too hot out. We feel like we done our fair share of trying out the busses and successfully doing runs to the market, so we'll sightsee in September when it's cooled down a little. Function before fun for now.

Oh, and if you guys want to hear more about life over here in China, hop over to McClures in Suzhou. Warning: you might see photos of dead chickens and baby tushes in slit pants. Both are normal over here.

So, what have I been wearing?

Booooooring. But it's too hot for anything else.