Furball

I was introduced to the most strange and wonderful mashup of hangout conventions.
A Cafe. With cats wandering around. In a rented apartment. Running as a real business. In a gated community highrise, unmarked and on the 7th floor.

I still have no idea how my colleagues at the office found out about this place, but it was seriously fun. We went during a weekend a little while back and I'm really considering taking my kitty to check it out sometime during the break. If she'll stay in a purse to travel on the bus. Don't know if she'll let that fly, though.

So, was a black sweater a good choice for visiting a room full of hairballs? Probably not, but I sure enjoyed myself. Miles and Eddie were wildly curious about where I'd been when they smelled me later.

 

Close Enough

The snowboots kind of ruin most of the could-be good looking stuff I wear lately, and I'm not totally sure I care. This was from a few weeks ago before my break, and we did have a meeting for which I changed into nice looking ankle boots, but, let's be really real. I spent the whole day in these bad boys. Best investment I made before I left the States. Thanks, LL Bean, for making a shortie pull on fuzzy lined boot perfect for both my daily commute and frigid office as well as pajama dog walks.

What about you all- any guilty pleasures you've been wearing lately and deciding it's "good enough" for winters that just never fricking end?

 

Neutral Overload

Ladies and Gents, I'm in the midst of Winter Holiday. Thaaaaank goodness.

Moving on. It's time to adios these pants. They were once really great thrifted, lined wool, perfect light grey trousers. But they're getting a few more moth holes and the lower rise means they don't do the job of covering all of what ought to be covered anymore. And I only have a finite number of long-hem blouses to cover that mess up with. So, thanks, grey trousers, for coming overseas and helping me out through a solid handful of early 2nd trimester cold winter workdays. But you won't fit from here on out this winter, and any amount of weight that sticks around for next season will help you to remain unwearable. So long.

That said, this outfit was a stinker. Not a total bust in real life, but it photographed way more mono-tone than it was. The sweater is a little darker oatmeal in person, but, it was still pretty one note. Well, now I know. The look was saved only by this half up-do that actually made my hair look good. A tiny bit beehive, but mostly just out of my face chic. I'll take what I can get.

Have you worn a dud outfit lately? Am I the only one with no shame who actually posted it for the good ladies of style-blog-land to see? (Actually, I know for a fact that a handful of the women I follow have posted and mentioned "meh" looks lately or did a "worst of 2013" post, and that's why we're internet friends. Honesty is the best policy.)

Stretch Dresses

Being a beanpole and pregnant all at the same time is proving to have it's own set of interesting dressing conundrums. I'm finding out pretty quickly that while pants (toootally unbuttoned and worn with a belly band) are my most layerable and warm option for the cold and clammy Suzhou winter, there's something tragically uncomfortable about the situation. I'm finally getting a little bit of a belly, but that must be nothing but other organs migrating north. Because this kid is still hanging out way low. Which means I'm trying to cram not only pregnancy weight, but the entire body mass of a 20 week kid below a waistband. All you mommies and pregnant gals out there- how did you carry? Any tips for my sitch? I'm going to go try looking for a maternity fashion store out in the city over the weekend, but I'm not feeling very good about my chances of locating anything even close to flattering.

Let me paint you a word picture of one young mama to be that I saw in the fall who was probably around the 35 week mark. It was daytime highs of 65, no real need for bundling, and this lovely gal was wearing the following: a dull ivory turtleneck under a Cosby sweater, which was in turn under the most humpty-dumpty in jodhpurs pair of overall-jumpsuit hybrid khakis I've ever seen. And the scary thing? Darting and seams that made it tragically clear that the offending leiderhosen were meant to be maternity wear.

I will not succumb, I promise.

So, moral of the story is that I will be seeking many opportunities to buy el cheapo stretchy dresses from H&M in a few sizes too large to maintain some semblance of ladyhood as I get more and more basket-ball-y. I'll cross my fingers for Rob to find a pair or two of maternity pants when he goes back to Houston in a week to bring back for me, but I'm going to have to find a way to keep making my regular pants and repurposed dresses work. Because if my fears are confirmed, I will not be doing any Chinese maternity brand shopping.

Chomp

I'm repulsive and I'll admit it. 

I haven't really had cravings so far in this pregnancy, per se, I've just been eating large quantities of things. Usually it's pretty normal like a big helping of fried noodles, or 3 too many dumplings, or more than my allotted half of a cart-food filled Chinese pancake. I can stand to gain a little weight, so it's not unhealthy yet. And pretty typically I eat healthfully (except for when I gobble up more than my fair share of potato chips once every three weeks, but that was a pre-pregnancy habit anyway). So, I asked Rob to bring home fruit the other day when I sent him to the veggie market to get peppers and onions for dinner prep. And he brought home a lovely bag full of tiny clementines.

Which I demolished in one sitting. Imagine one of those boxes of Cuties clementines. Half of that whole box was in this bag and I laid waste to it in under 20 minutes. The quantity was a little outrageous, but the speed was what really made me ponder my life choices at the end.

It's better than a weird pickle or smelly Chinese dehydrated fish-snack craving, I guess. I'll be sure to let you know when that kicks in.

...stretching just a liiittle too tight.

Nearing the End of Semester 1

Well, folks, I think all of the Western World's holiday breaks have already come and gone. And China has only had a 3-day celebration of the new calendar year (which I worked Saturday and Sunday prior to it to "make up the days")... so I am really looking forward to rubbing in my sloth when the Soochow University semester ends next week. 18 week semesters (!) deserve a nice long break, so I'm especially grateful that the whole country builds in a nice long hiatus to celebrate Chinese New Year. 

Rob is heading to the States solo next week and I'll be hanging with my critters and kiddo bump (who is still smallish) here in China. I'm a little sad not to have the opportunity to travel to use some of this extended break time, but I'm not going to say a peep because it's several weeks of quiet, training and adjusting with critters, and the chance to do some shopping without having to work around any sort of schedule. I like that.

Updates and the New Year

Well, hello, you all!

I went a little blog-MIA for a while, which turns out to have been a very good choice. My administrative role at Soochow University turned into a major project management role, which turned into a traveling and cat herding position. I got back in mid-December from a 2 1/2 week concert/ audition/ recruiting tour to Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. And within 1/2 a day of my return, I went back to the airport to pop over to Ohio to shop, visit family, and make the final arrangements to bring my critters to China. 

It was my first time to many of these places, so for that reason, managing the recruitment tour was awesome. And I've done a lot of planning and organizing in many of my past career incarnations, so I know I was a good point person for handling and planning a lot of the logistics and press materials. But, wow, was it exhausting, and completed on a way-too-abbreviated timeline. Never again.

Gangnam  Street Vendors in Seoul. So many fruits and dried fish. 

Singapore views. There's a pool and casino on the top of that boat shaped thing.

View of Hong Kong from up on the Peak. I was so glad for a relative day off during the trip with Rob to show off my sister and brother-in-law's ex-city of residence.

Hong Kong's Peel Street. It's steeper than it looks.

Beijing Bell Tower near the hutongs where we bought a bunch of great little percussion instruments.

As soon as I got done with the tour, I hopped on a plane to go to Ohio for a preplanned pick up trip for the animals. Really sucky turn of events was that my grandmother passed away the day before I was due to leave. Really wonderful turn of events was that the memorial brought ALL of my dad's side of the family together, including all four of us siblings and cousins minus one. The family time was beyond a gift, and exactly the kind of joyful reunion my grandmother would have treasured. We won't talk about the inappropriate high-five I gave my cousin in the funeral home on accident. 

Four siblings and a Dad photobomb. I couldn't love it more.

One of many Euchre games in the hotel lobby. My cousins were all learning at a second game going on behind me.

I returned to China with the dog in baggage and the cat as cargo, so, as of Christmas, my critter kids are finally here and home for good. I'm still working full days until Soochow's Holiday Break (which centers around the Chinese New Year) in mid-January. And Rob is heading back to America for a few weeks to visit with friends and family, but I'm staying in China! A quiet house, no real responsibilities, a schedule that is really all my own. I can't wait! Most of our friends on faculty are leaving to go elsewhere for all or most of the Holiday, but at least one of my Office colleagues is a Suzhou native, so we're here together. Oh. My. Gosh. Girl Time. And loving on my critters. 

My babies in their new apartment. The adjustment is slow, but going okay.

The whole fall season of blogging was also relatively piddled away due to three things- 

1. My computer is getting scary slow and can't hack photo editing and uploads very well anymore. I'm grateful it's lasted our family for 4 years of intense use (Rob's DMA studies and music writing software, then on to me this past winter and all my literally thousands of photos), but it's time to say hello to a new computer instead. 

2. My daily looks in the office are dictated by what can be layered like crazy for warmth and simplicity. Whole-building heating systems aren't a "thing" over here, so between having to be long-john compatible for travel on public transit and a more walking-lifestyle (something I really love about living here), it has to be a good balance of warmth and appropriate layers for wearing inside in the office all day, too. Which is tricky. A lot of my really great winter layering outfits from years past are now total crap because 3/4 or J Crew-esque rolled sleeves in any capacity are going to make my fingers purple all day. Ditto for a single undershirt layer. Lots of black pants and black sweaters- boring as hell, but you can pack tons of layers under a black sweater and somehow still look like you aren't the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Boring? A little. Perfectly professional looking? For sure. Allows me to be lazy as sin in the mornings? Oh, my gosh, yes. Fool-proof.

And the big (well, still relatively little) 3. There's a kid on the way. I was keeping it pretty quiet from colleagues through December so I didn't get the wilting flower treatment during the Tour, because there's really nothing more degrading for a capable person than to be babied when you're conscious about not hoisting heavy crap and wearing sensible shoes during early pregnancy. Aside from a little help lifting my suitcase and avoiding sushi and wine, I didn't want to detract from what had to get accomplished during our travels.

A Mid-May kid! We are  both so happy and I'm pleased as anything that this kid finally looks like more than a big lunch. 

So, joining the crew in the middle of May, there's now a little 20-week dumpling that has made my pants tight and my bathroom runs frequent. And aaaanyone who's read this blog for longer than a minute knows I've been impatiently waiting for mommyhood, so I'm so thrilled about the opportunity to experience this crazy journey in our new international home! 2014 is, somehow, going to kick 2013's ass in the big, cool, exciting life changes department. 

Bonus, we're not finding out the gender- how many huge, awesome surprises do you really get in a lifetime?!- but Rob is still really pumped about a gender-neutral dinosaur theme. It's the most lovely thing.

Dear friends, Happiest New Year to you all. I may have disappeared from the community of blogging for a little while, but I've been reading up on what everyone's been up to, keeping tabs on all the Thanksgiving and Christmas fun, and enjoying the heck out of the joy that's been so present across the fashion blogging realm lately. All best to each and every one of you as we step into this fresh start and the new year.

Loud Fall Looks

A month between blog appearances is normal, right? Whoops.

So, what's been up in Suzhou, China?

1. My cool new job at the School of Music got really ridiculous really fast. I am now the International Recruitment Tour Manager for a joint audition/ recruitment concert tour in Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. Which is awesome. But it morphed out of a very casual concept and there's big holes in information and I'm still learning what got glossed over and what was a very informal arrangement versus a venue booking. Which has a lot of bearing on press materials. Oh, and we're only 30 days away from departure now. Way stressful and complicated for being thrust into management of a major project.

2. But, I get to travel with the group for all 6 cities! Many are brief stops (2 jam-packed days), but I will add three countries to my list of "been there's." That's pretty cool!

3. I also travel back to the US in mid-December to pick up my babies. My critters will have been MIA from my life and couch for almost 5 months. And it's been literally the worst. I am a pet owner, through and through. I'm meant to take care of fuzzy things and fall asleep with fur in my face. I'm beyond excited to have them here.

4. Other points of excitement for the trip to the US include buying coconut oil, baking soda, rubbing alcohol, and clarifying shampoo. My options for bathroom stuff here has been slim. Whitening lotion (my skin is plenty pale, thank you), creepy tonics to clean scrapes, and moisturizing shampoo which make my hair lay plastered flat to my head in greasy strings are not doing it for me.

5. Despite the crazy-busy of getting a brand new school up and running, life is good! We're adjusting, finding great places to eat, found our favorite veggie vendor, we're making friends and figuring our new city out. A few pop-over trips to Shanghai and Wuxi (for the nearest Ikea!), a little hanging out at local expat haunts, a lot of enjoying the fall weather.

Jeans: Gap Always Skinny...Sweater: Gap...Scarf: H&M...Bag: Longchamp knockoff...Shoes: Sperry via DSW

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?