Hey, y’all, it’s finally the end of the week! Whew. Although this was a short week with Monday off, it still felt incredibly busy and I’m grateful that I made it through. My to-do list felt heavy with a million tiny tasks, both at work and in life, and I had to keep shrugging off the feeling that I was forgetting or neglecting things. I was, in fact, neglecting things and messing things up, but at least that only happened at home and not at work. I feel like the most important thing I can do is be present and mindful in class and with my students and I did manage that this week — but outside of work? I was a forgetful, careless, mess! Oh well.
This week I was mentally ready to start wearing fall-weather clothes, but here in Alabama it’s still in the 80s-90s every day and recently even more humid than it has been all summer. We are dying here. Dying. On this morning’s run, for example, I had to stop and pour water over my head several times and it felt like my skin was on fire. On fire, yet improbably damp thanks to the humid air’s refusal to let my sweat evaporate. But I digress. My point: I want it to be fall, but it stubbornly refuses to be. Why can’t the weather system just mold itself to my needs once in a while? Huh? Rude, is what that is. Rude.
So here’s what I wore:
Monday Off: Thanks to the Labor Day holiday this week, I did not have to dress up for my usual Monday Lecture. Instead, I snapped these pictures of what I wore on my morning run, kind of as a joke. Ha. Ha. Ha? It turns out that, unintentionally, I swathed myself entirely in Nike products. I must have been channeling Track Town USA.
Tuesday Honors: I really could not resist the allure of boots with a dress on Tuesday. If you’re paying attention, you can see that I’m already repeating this dress. Thanks to documenting everything, though, I can tell that the last time I wore it was on a Friday, to a campus event, and I have not worn it in front of my honors classes yet. Thank you, past self. Dress: Simply Vera. Belt: Target. Necklace: Target. Boots: Frye. (A rare non-vegan shoe and an even more rare splurge from last fall! I can’t buy any more boots until at least 2021.) These cute tortoise glasses are from Zenni Optical, home of cheap specs. Sadly, I have to inform you that this is the second pair of these frames I’ve had from them and both pairs broke in the same spot, so I won’t be replacing them with another pair from Zenni. I do like to have a pair of brown tortoise frames for the rotation, so I may wind up trying some from Warby Parker.
Wednesday Lecture: I really liked this outfit in terms of the look, but it wound up being a bad choice for lecture. I have to use a clip-on microphone that attaches to a clip-on battery pack so I can walk around the room with the mic. It’s pretty great, and makes me feel like I’m in a music video or something, except you need something to clip the big battery pack on, get me? This outfit had no belt, no pockets, and no waistband. I had to clip it to the back of the dress’s neckline, where the little antenna on the battery pack proceeded to tangle and molest my hair all through class. Lame. Dress: Talbots (thanks to Claire’s hand-me-down pile!). Shrug: Old Navy. Necklace: Target. Shoes: Target.
Thursday Honors: I don’t think this is a very exciting outfit, but it’s comfortable, serviceable, and looks professional enough, I guess. I do really like the flower detail on the top. I’d love to substitute a grey blazer for the cardigan, and I shall, when the weather cools down. Top: LOFT. Cardigan: Target. Trousers: Gap. Shoes: Target.
Friday Office Work and Meetings: I wound up wearing this today and…yeah, I don’t love it. It’s boring. I was just not wild about anything I pulled out of the closet this morning. I was pretty set on the idea of jeans because it’s Friday, but I wanted a blouse instead of a t-shirt because I have to attend two meetings with grad students and faculty, so I wanted to look reasonably dressed. I don’t know. Eh? Blouse: H&M. Jeans: Gap. Belt: Target. Shoes: Target.
Do you hate clothing sizes just as much as I do? Can I just rant about that for a minute? I understand that there isn’t much consistency in women’s clothing sizes. Some of this is definitely due to brands that keep putting smaller labels on bigger clothes, i.e. “vanity sizing.” It’s easy to tell which brands do this — I have tried on some shorts at LOFT in a size two that fit me. I do not say that to brag; I say that because it’s just completely wrong and ridiculous. I am 5’9, weigh 140 lbs, and wear a 34D bra. I am slim for my height, but I am NOT a size two. That is utter bullshit. Most places I shop, I will find things that fit in 4, 6, or 8, depending on the brand. In the more (relatively) high-end places where I shop, I can expect to need a bigger size, but at places like Old Navy, I’m on the smaller end. But see the Friday picture above? The blouse I have on is a size 14; the jeans are a size 4; the belt is an XL*. Whaaaa? The same holds true for a lot of people I know — I remember talking to one friend a while back who told me that she had items in her closet, all of which fit, ranging from 6-16. This just shouldn’t be necessary. It makes it SO hard to judge what will fit, and online shopping with any brand you haven’t bought before is a total crapshoot. Do you experience this same nonsense?
*I got out of the habit of wearing belts when I was fat because the biggest size belt I could find at Target was XXL, and it wouldn’t even remotely wrap around me. Now I know why: because an XXL is probably about a size 8-10, and I was a size 20. Bullshit!
Raveling Out 
GAHHHHHHH sizing. That’s all I have the energy to say.
I thought I recognized that dress 🙂
Also, I NEED that gray blouse. MAN, I wish there was an H&M around here within reasonable driving distance. Why won’t they just sell clothes online? WAH.
Next time you’re visiting me, we can go to the H&M in ATL. This blouse is one of the things I often see there over the years — it might be sort of a staple of theirs.
Yeah, inconsistent sizing drives me nuts. Like, I know that in most things, I’m going to be a 10-12 and a Large. But in some cases, I’m a Medium, and sometimes and XL is too snug. Which, you know, feels super unfair. Then again, I can go to Old Navy and try on 3 of the same item in the same size and get three totally different fits. So. Yes, it all sucks.
Suckage! It’s the worst when you see something you like and it should be your size, but it’s grossly too small and your size isn’t available. GRRR.
Fortunately this is really only an issue for dudes in the case of shoes and tshirts. But why women’s clothes are not just sized in inches or something I will never understand.
That would make it so much easier — then belts and pants would have to be the same size, not, say 4 and XL! (OMFG)
Ah, so much good stuff in this post! First, my vote for outfit-of-the-week goes to Monday, of course, because runners are always hot. But out of the dressy outfits, I like Tuesday best. It could be because I am also dying, DYING!, to wear boots again. Which brings me to my next point: I am really torn about buying some Frye boots. They’re really gorgeous and expensive–I love the aesthetic of their stuff, and I figure that for the price, they’d better last forever. But I feel sad about buying leather boots. It’s like, Really? I deny myself stuff all the time because it’s not vegetarian, and I guess I’m just feeling annoyed/frustrated by feeling even more restricted because I probably shouldn’t buy leather boots.
I’m not bringing this up to be some sort of leather police, but only to say that I can understand why you own non-vegan boots. Also, I respect your telling us that they are non-vegan. I tell people all the time that I am not a “perfect” vegetarian, and sometimes people like to pick fights with me about it. I tend not to be friends with those people 🙂
I was really torn about buying the boots, too. The thing that eventually swayed me was when I thought about having to buy new, non-leather boots every 1-2 years because they wear out faster, versus getting a pair that would last forever. I also got them at a great price (over $100 off via amazon), which meant the cost per potential year of use was really low. I’m very happy with the quality!