Coming Up for Air

Posted on March 3, 2014 by E Jo

Man, I can.not. wait for Spring Break. Just two days to go until I head for parts northward where I get to visit with my adorable niece and nephew, and get some precious days off of work (and, I suppose, hang out with my sisters and their husbands). This last month has been totally chaotic and did its very best to make me cry in public as deadlines overlapped one another and assignments just kept coming in and coming in. I’ve got to take work with me when I travel but I’m definitely taking the weekend off completely. Though I said that LAST weekend and I ended up doing my typical “work all the days” trick so… Anyhow, since I’ve just been trying to keep my head above water, there’s been a lot of repeats and generally underwhelming sartorial decisions throughout February. But by the end of last week, I decided I needed to pick my game up a bit in order to keep myself awake.

Sweather, t-shirt, skirt: Target; Tights: Hue; Boots: Corso Como

This t-shirt is from the Jason Wu for Target collection of a couple of years ago and has an adorable little black and grey wagon wheel print. The shirt itself is pretty transparent so it’s strictly a layering piece — and one that I tend to forget about. The bow is a little twee for me sometimes but pairs nicely with the v neck sweater and the pencil skirt.

I don’t have much to say about this, really, apart from observing that one way you can tell I’ve been busy/ stressed is that my nails aren’t done. I think it’s going to take Spring Break for me to get back on that habit.

Dress: Old Navy; Scarf: Bought in Berlin; Tights: Spanx; Boots: Jessica Simpson

So, yesterday morning it was 25 Celsius/ 77 Fahrenheit here. Two hours later it was 0 Celsius/ 32 Fahrenheit. Which is a ludicrous change in temperature in such a short time. This place I live in is weird. This morning I woke up to -13 Celsius/ 9 Fahrenheit. So, as any other smart individual would do, I put on my shortest dress & tights and went to work. I am, obviously, some sort of super genius.

The dress is new so its shortness came as a bit of surprise plus it kept riding up my tights as I walked & in the wind. Altogether, then, it was the best possible choice today.

So… March has definitely come in as a lion, right? This means we’re due some lamb-like weather soon, right?

Prego Profesh-ish

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Academic Writer

StyleNation, February is almost over and I’m betting MANY of you across North America are more than ready for the end of this crappy stormy month.

Outfit #1: Off-campus meeting

In other news, I’m on research leave but still occasionally have to get out of my pyjamas. For instance, I wore this relatively casual ensemble for an off-campus meeting with a research assistant:

Cotton jersey tunic: Boden (new to blog); White cotton cami: ??; Wool/acrylic stripe drape-front cardigan: (remixed, via Winners); Maternity under-belly dark-wash skinny jeans: Indigo Blue (via Motherhood Maternity – worst store name ever – new to blog); Black leather riding boots: Blondo (via Brown’s, remixed ad nauseum on this blog)

And here, just because I have it, is another view. Can you tell I’m trying to emphasize the baby belly? People keep missing that I’m pregnant. Case in point: upon learning that I am almost 7 months along, a woman I met at a meeting last week said, “Oh, that’s exciting! I thought you were just chunky!

Outfit 1: Things are exactly as they appear

I wore this for a fantastic but very long day on and off-campus during which I co-hosted multiple events with multiple guest speakers. I needed to be super-comfortable.

Wool/acrylic beige and silver cable 3/4 sleeve cardigan: H&M (very old but new to blog); Cotton jersey blue and grey stripe ruched maternity dress: Isabella Oliver (via the indie prego store down the street, new to blog – also, it can be worn post-pregnancy because of all the wicked ruching!); “Silver” bead necklace: craft fair (remixed, old); Brown tights: Hue (plus-size, for my prego comfort); Brown leather boots: Browns (remixed)

Here’s another view. Apologies for cutting out the bootage. It was very early, and I was in a HUGE rush:

Sadly, even with this fantastic dress, things got dire, comfort-wise, by hour 16. Also, tights are the worst if you are (a) pregnant (and thus have ridiculously sensitive skin on the back of your stupid legs), and (b) sitting on hard chairs for much of the day. That said, the dress held its shape all day. Also, its horizontal stripes emphasized the baby belly and minimized the “chunky” talk.

Do you use fashion to help others know/recognize things about you?

How so?

Getting Back in the Game

Posted on July 15, 2011 by E Jo

Dudes. I’m back. All of a sudden it’s over a month since I last posted. Mostly this is because I’ve been away — wedding prepping and attending (of which there will be a separate post soon) and cottage bobbing. But I’ve returned to the world of work and regular outfit photographs. I’m behind on commenting but I’ve been reading all your blogs over the last month and you guys are bringing it which has been inspiring. I’m firmly into 100/38 degree days and working in a coffeeshop mode so it’s been really easy to fall into schlub wear. But, in the desire to overcome my holiday inertia, I need to up my sartorial game.

Here are two attempts to kickstart things:

Top: Joe

Skirt and faux-snakeskin flats: Old Navy

This top is a conundrum. I love the idea of it but am afraid that it fails in the execution. Namely, it mostly looks sloppy rather than cool and architectural. It doesn’t help that heather gray is a dumb fabric to wear in super heat for sweat-related reasons. Also, from this angle, it’s a total boob deflater — and while I’ve got some to spare, I’m not entirely sure that’s what I’m really looking for in a top.

Dress and tank: Target

Wedges: Aerosoles

This is the dress I bought months ago after seeing Anne wearing it. Somehow, though, I haven’t blogged it as A-Dubs recently brought to my attention after I wore it when I spent a (delightful) day with her in Toronto. The dress is great and — most importantly — was not stained by the full glass of red wine I spilled on it while at the cottage.

And, finally, because he hasn’t featured for awhile and because he needs to confirm to his adoring fans that he’s recovered from some recent health issues, here’s the mini FR — copying Jude and Kameko with the bum shot.