Duuude.

I've been really out of my own blogging loop for a while. I've been sort of keeping up with some reading, mostly keeping in touch through Instagram, but what I've gathered is that Capsule Wardrobes are "in" and they're filled with neutrals and stripes.

Well, I guess I've been accidentally capsule wardrobing for a really long time, then.

I'm taking the capsule-chic one step closer to lazy and have been doing two things with what I've been wearing lately. 1. Replace a lot of dead and dying clothes (China water is really mineral-y and makes clothes crunchy and gross much more quickly. Goodbye, old worn out favorites) with pieces that are a little oversized, since my intention is to be pregnant on repeat and knock out the whole "let's have lots of kids" thing bing bang boom style. And slouchy/ comfortable works in pregnancy, post-partum, and toddler chasing. 2. I'm buying the bulk of my new favorites in the men's section. Been doin' that since my belly got big, like here, here, here.

Flip

Ladies, I need advice. Kiddo is still hanging out breech (actually, it's a little more transverse) at the beginning of 32 weeks. And I know I have no real need to be nervous yet, but what worked for you all to flip and spin your little ones in utero and how did you make sure it stuck? Kindly remember that I live in China, so special products and special spa treatments are both non-options and my ability to communicate safety concerns with masseuses and acupuncturists is limited. Please and thank you.

Second, I love/laugh that this adorable swing jacket that I usually wore belted (like here, or here) is now beautifully fit for my rapidly widening pregnancy hips. And this ridiculous new pair of maternity pants so perfectly walks the line between casual and work-wear appropriate. I love them mucho. I can't wait to wear them with not-sweaters and jackets as the sun keeps popping out to say hello.

Standing Out on St. Patty's

I was so hopeful these jeans would fit still. I bought them on clearance in a size above my normal and dryer shrunk the crap out of them the last few years pre-pregnancy. Now that my hips got all wide and funky, they're a little too tight, but I couldn't not wear them- this springy color combination was begging for white jeans. And the most fun part is this weird little scarf in my hair has been my St. Patrick's Day go-to little bit of green(it has green cherries and little fuchsia vines on it) for years and years now and I just decided to go for the loud and bright complimentary look. And all my adorably reserved office mates thought it was the most awesome thing ever.

So, moral of the story is this: in the last week of work, wear whatever you want to and all your colleagues and every other Chinese person on campus will stare unabashedly at you and your pregnant belly. No disguising being one of the only white girls working at the University and dressing up anyway, let alone sporting a huge baby bump, so give 'em all something spring-like to stare at.

Raising a Neckline

We have a joke about my upper half- "small but mighty." I have a little more going on now than I ever have before, but let's be really real. I will never have what could be termed a rack. Which means I don't fill stuff out. Which means I have the potential to show off a lot more camisole than I want to.

Enter my 3rd grade-level sewing skills.

I discovered a while back that 10 minutes with a needle and thread and stitching a few tiny pleats into the shoulders of lowcut pieces makes me like my shirts just a little better. While I appreciate the good work my camisoles are doing in keeping either wind off my back or functioning as a sweat barrier (depending on the season), they should always remain an undergarment, not a visual contrast to a v-neck.

< Nope. No black camisole, please.                 That's better. And visually simpler. >

 

Super easy fix! Flip inside out, gather 2-3 tiny pleats to the front side of the shoulder seam, throw a few stitches in across the trim to make sure it's secure, and that's it!

My other low-cut top quick fix? Throw a scarf on and hide it.

Gaaaah, I'm lazy.

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

Whirlwind Week

Pants: Zara...Blouse: thrifted...Cardigan: Target...Shoes: Naturalizer

It's been a wild week and getting more nuts! We sold our Honda Fit on Tuesday (I cried. It was such a good car), and went to see my friend's dress rehearsal of Chinglish, which was an excellent play. A friend from Arizona was in town visiting his parents, so we went to dinner last night and ate a disgusting amount of sushi. We've been packing and selling things like crazy after we posted a bunch of things in the university's online advertisement forum. Poor Rob has spent two days doing nothing but answer questions like "Yes, it's a pretty standard crock pot. No, that tall shelf can't be shortened. Sure, you can come look at it, but it has to be before Friday at 10."

And that's because Friday afternoon is his Doctoral Hooding Ceremony. And Saturday at the buttcrack of dawn is Graduation. Which, by the way, might get rained out, so each candidate only gets two tickets for the Field House, and our group includes a spouse and two parents. (Oh, yeah, and Rob's parents are arriving tonight!) Bromance's family is here too, and his cousin is joining the group, so if we can't weasel our way into any extra tickets, his mom and I are going to spend our morning watching the televised version and drinking mimosas together. I sure would love to see them graduate since I'm so sick of student-hood, but spending time that way isn't a terrible alternative.

So, I'll see you all next week! Maybe. There's been a lot of friend time each evening, lots of arrangements to make, but at least we're getting it all done earlier than later. Phew, I'm overwhelmed and exhausted already!

Navy, Mint, and White

Jeans: Gap...Tee: UO...Blazer: Gap...Scarf: Suzhou (Rob's little token from his interview trip)...Shoes: Nine West Outlet

Um, so blogging took a back seat. Sorry 'bout that.

Stuff I've been up to:
Post-gala wrap up. Always.
The Orange Show "Un-Concert." I still owe you guys a little bit about that.
Garage Sale with our neighbors two weekends ago. Got rid of a handful of small stuff. We'll plan on another one June 1. Hopefully we aren't without furniture for too long!
I also packed up my first 50-lb. duffel bag. We're gathering boxes to do a slow shipment later in the year with books and winter clothes. Three months to go and our house is already a wreck.
This past weekend was the annual composer weekend away. Mmmm, sunshine and beers.
Lots and lots and lots of friend time. We haven't gotten much of anything productive done most evenings.

P.S. I have no idea why I don't wear this navy blazer more. It's lightweight, has nice slim sleeves, and is the perfect cropped length. It's a no-brainer. I also purchased myself glasses after my first vision check in a few years and went for these totally rad green hipster frames. Geek chic with a little flair, no?

Failing

Pants: Zara...Sweater: Target...Scarf: Target...Coat: Armani Exchange...Shoes: Target...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

I'll quit complaining soon, but geez, Louise, taking work home even after I stayed until 7:30? I think that means the office is severely understaffed. I also think I'm glad that this position is finite; even if I have the potential to learn a lot, I don't get a chance to concentrate and learn, so I'm half-assing my way through grants writing and reporting, making crap up about programs, being told after a 3 minute flip-through by the Executive Director that it's all "a little off," and then she re-does it herself. Um, that's not giving me any training, guidence, or a clue. And if I'm asking questions about the program I've never seen or read more than a short paragraph about (written by the prior super space-cadet Director), I'm probably not going to have a great understanding of what I'm pulling out of my pocket and written output. Ugh. Moral of the story: this is not my best fit position, I was promised training and received none, I'm dropping balls because I don't know any better. But I'm not there forever, so I'll buck up and do my best. Four months of madness won't kill me, right?

And it's really too bad because the organization does seriously awesome things! I don't want to wreck the financial standing of a 56 year institution because I don't have the experience or focus to put together solid grants. Sigh.

Downer posts will end... NOW!

Good Blogger? #NailedIt

I just realized that I'm blogging a lot less out of laziness. Taking photos on the way out the door became a whole lot less fun once the dumb spare garbage bins got stashed in front of my aluminum siding backdrop outside. And getting home from work at 7 or after almost every night isn't super condusive to getting excited about non-family/neighbor/friend/critter time, ie. uploading photos.

And then I realized, nope, it's not even quite those excuses. I just reeeally don't want to disturb my lap cat. She has been a permanent fixture all winter. And when there's a doggy behind wedged close into you, it's just too cute and sweet and snuggly to move. So, if you've wondered where I've gone, the answer is a "creating a butt-print fossil on the sofa with my animals."

Oh, and what the hey, here's a look from my failed attempt at getting to a theater to see a show with a freebie ticket, but then getting clogged in construction, missing what maaay have been an entrance to parking, getting stuck on an entrance ramp to the freeway, getting off the freeway far far from the dumb theater, and getting waved past the secondary parking I knew how to get to once I finally got back to it. Already 10 minutes late and still not parked? Forget it. I wasn't meant to see Man of La Mancha.

Pants: Zara...Sweater: F21...Scarf: Target...Jacket: Armani Exchange via Buffalo Exchange...Shoes: Target

Graphic Balance

Pants: Gap Really Skinny...Sweater and Cardigan: Target...Scarf: Target...Shoes: thrifted

So, what did Kate wear to an Early Childhood Winter Conference to man a table at 7 in the morning last Saturday?

Well, it sure wasn't crummy jeans and a variety of ill-fitting yoga pants, like most of the teacher attendees. No joke. There was a lot of bad hair, cat sweatshirts and bad posture running around the community center. Ladies, you continue to give teachers a very, very, very bad reputation as dumpy and unconcerned non-fashionistas. I understand that it's Saturday and very early, but daaaaang, it's a professional conference!

I kind of knew I'd be groggy and mad about leaving the house at 6:15 to get to the southern side of town in time (coffee stop, fog, and poor directions were all factors) so I went with something easy- tan, cream, and black with a little black and cream floral pattern mixing to balance the look out graphically. Not bad for an early morning, huh? Let's also have a little hip-hip-hooray for dry shampoo and claw clips for overnight twirly hair.

And are you all linking up? It is Wednesday, after all. Pleated Poppy's What I Wore Wednesday.

Cough, Sniffle

Pants: Theory via Buffalo Exchange...Sweater: Gap...Shoes: Steve Madden...Necklace: thrifted...Shades: via TJ Maxx...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

I may have a cold. Or, I may have knocked it out with a tremendous dose of cold remedies and immune boosters. I may have also overdosed. I will know more about whether or not this one will get me soon, I guess. Lots of tea and cold-eze until then. (Keep your fingers crossed, I don't want to ruin a pretty hefty streak of alluding illness. And missing work would be annoying.)

It's already been a long week, I went into the office for several hours both Saturday and Sunday to finish fixing the database and to print over 1000 sponsor letters. Starting this morning, we're asking our host committee ladies to pop in and sign letters being mailed to folks they know. And on Wednesday and Thursday, we're begging volunteers to help us to tri-fold three pages together and stuff them into envelopes. By Friday, if they're not out of my hair and mailed off, I'll probably Hulk out and shred them all.

That's a lie, I'd be the staff member responsible for reprinting. Don't want to do it again.

Happy Chatter

Pants: Gap Really Skinny...Sweater: F21...Blazer: Banana Republic...Scarf: Target...Shoes: Naturalizer...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

We had another neighbor night- games! I can't tell you how much I enjoy these nights of chattering and friendly competition. We all have a pretty similar sense of humor and enough absurd pop culture overlap that word games like Catch Phrase get especially funny. The 3 1/2 word clues that turn up an excitedly squealed right answer are always the best.

Well, it's going to be a late one and a long weekend- we're doing another mailing on Monday... and I can almost guarantee that we won't finalize the dumb letter until 2:45, which means that I won't get to not work this weekend since I'll be too busy checking my mail merge document and printing over 1100 letters. Ugh. Do something awesome on my behalf and fill me in, okay?

You guys are all awesome. Happy Friday!

New Week Kickoff

Pants: Zara...Sweater: Target...Scarf: thrifted...Shoes: Calvin Klein via Buffalo Exchange...Coat: BB Dakota via Piperlime...Mittens: who knows

I'm heading out bright and early this morning, we have a coffee date for Auction stuff for the Young Audiences gala. BTW, we've decided on Pop Art Soiree as the theme... Does anyone in Houston who might want to support arts in education have a connection to Kate Spade? We want a donation to our auction baaaad.

Anyway, the weekend shaped into a pretty good one. Friday night was dull, Rob got sucked into going to a classical concert and I would have just napped, so joining him was a no-go. Saturday, he sat in on a sight reading session, for which he didn't write a piece. Super lame and long for him. Window shopping wasn't a terrible alternative for me. And Sunday. Oh, Sunday- lazy morning, a few hours of silly data entry, and an excellent curry-filled evening. Natalie, Matt- rockstar beginning to the week! I'm so happy you were game to join our Sunday tradition of a too-big dinner and cheapo beers.

Happy Monday, you all!

Minty Winter White

Pants: Gap Slim Cropped...Sweater: Target...Scarf: Target...Shoes: Cole Haan via DSW...Earrings: Target...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

It's Winter White link up day over at Work Clothes, I Suppose... and I'mma guessin' there's going to be a steady stream of cute stuff going on over there. Check it out! I'm so pumped!

We're doing a Secret Santa kind of exchange at work later today, which I'm really looking forward to. I filled up a really adorable citron/lime-outside-and-white-inside oversized cereal bowl with a little package of homemade cookies for my person. There's a lot of strange senses of humor floating around the office, though, so some odd things might show up.

Speaking of exchanges, we attended a holiday party at a neighbor's place last week and did a Yankee Swap/Nasty Christmas/White Elephant. My guy and I aaalmost ended up with the best gift I've ever seen for this type of game, but lost it at the last turn. It was a box filled with frozen vacuum sealed steaks and potatoes. How great is that?! So creative! What's the most awesome White Elephant gift you've seen? Strangest? Creepiest?

Don't forget to prepare yo'selves for tomorrow- we're donning our favorite Holiday themed look, our best Holiday Party look, our sparkliest snowflake imitation, out most pathetically cozy lounge look and linking them up for the Holiday Look link up. Right here. Tomorrow. Wahoo!

Almost Busted. Again.

Pants: Theory via Buffalo Exchange...Blouse: thrifted...Cardigan: Target...Bag: D&B via Buffalo Exchange...Shoes: Target...

Guess who was nearly caught taking photos (by, count 'em, FOUR neighbors)? I would have taken pictures last night before the sun went down, but I had to sit in the carport, in the shadows, for over 20 minutes before my path to the back yard was clear. Because I'm a wimp. Golden hour came and went and I took pictures with a way-too-high-for-comfort ISO and edited the crap out of them. They look poopy, I'm aware, and I apologize. Buuuut, I am so proud of how this blouse turned out and wanted to show off a little. I found it for way cheap and way oversized and took my first crack at altering a sheer, silky fabric. I took in about 1 1/2" on either side and sleeves, revised the side seams of the high-low hem to make a nice, easy angle. It took a little "doing" but I did it. Huzzah.

We have another night of doggy playdates lined up today- our morning walking shifts for our neighbor's dogs ended and were taken over by different neighbor, but we were on the schedule to do Wednesday and Friday evening... Which means the lady dogs are hanging out in our apartment for the evening! I'm telling ya, I need a menagerie. Dogs, guinea pigs, fish, kids, cats, geckos... (I might be best served by following my mom's pet-aqcuisition advice to keep down the numbers: "Only take pets home that match." She brought home a guinea pig once during my childhood simply because it was the same solid golden color as our golden retriever.) My guy wisely says "no" to extra critters.

Happiest Friday, you all! Have a great weekend.