Weekend Driver

It’s another edition of me running errands looking like a total nut job (I sort of think obnoxious printed leggings and a faux fur trimmed cardigan give that impression). Aside from looking somewhat like a dangerous lunatic, I did drive the car all over town that day – I’m almost ready to take the license test!

leggings: Zara / cardigan: thrifted via Value Village / top: Simons / boots: Target / purse: Zara / glasses: Clearly Contacts

Good Riddance

One of my favourite bands, Santa Cruz punk outfit Good Riddance, recently played a couple of shows in Edmonton. And even though I got clocked upside the head pretty good in the mosh pit, I had a kick ass time. And this is what I wore.

pants: RW Winter and Co / shirt: Simons / necklace: Aldo / purse: can’t recall / shoes: Camper via Gravity Pope

All the Frills: Friday Art Party

This week I’m featuring two of my favourite pieces of art – the first is this lovely print on canvas (complete with suitably gilded frame) of John William Waterhouse’s Lady of Shallot (which also happens to be one of my favourite Tennyson poems, incidentally). I love me a good Pre-Raphaelite piece and I stumbled across this one tucked away in the back of this amazing estate auction warehouse that my helpmeet and our roommate (who I miss like crazy ever since we moved) used to frequent in Connecticut as we hunted for antiques and other cool things.

The second print is this lovely William Blake number. This one I’ve had for so long that I can’t even remember where I originally found it but it’s definitely a personal favourite – I’ve always found Blake’s artistic works to be really striking.

Weekend Reading:

• Still hungering for more fashion from the Met Ball? Refinery 29 has you amazingly well-covered.
  
• The fabulous grand dames of NYC.
  
• The most perfect set of advice for busting up a wedding ever.
  
• Fascinating read about communities of both bigotry and tolerance in the Ozarks.
  
• The early modern equivalent of Pantone.
  
• For the book lover.
  
• Oh wow this is sad. There are some real idiots out there.
  
• Amazing – having spent a ton of time in NYC while in grad school, I am always entranced by the hidden places.

Summer Shade

Readers of this blog are, by now, pretty aware that I dislike summer and summer more or less dislikes me. But my natural aversion to hot weather and the sun doesn't mean that I don't have a soft spot for summer fashion (I have a soft spot for the fashion of all seasons, really).

I was recently approached by the wonderful folks at Warby Parker about three new collections that they're launched, Summer, Spectrum Sun, and Architecture for Humanity. And there a lot of drool-inducing frames - many of which I would love to sport this summer. Warby Parker also has their wonderful Do Good program, in which (for every pair of glasses sold) they either donate a pair to someone in need or give funds to non-profit organizations like VisionSpring. Warby Parker also works with organizations that train entrepreneurs in the developing world to establish businesses selling affordable eyeglasses within their communities. There's a lot to appreciate about this brand and company...and their fashionable frames are just the beginning. Here are a few great pieces from their collections.

Seriously, how great would some of these look with this summer outfit?

Or with this oh-so-cool swimsuit from ModCloth?

Or these great summer dresses, also from ModCloth?

Dangerous Lunatic

Do you ever have those days where you are just stressed, tired, and generally feeling pretty frazzled? I had one of those days last week and my way of coping was to layer on all my most comfortable pieces and leave the house looking a bit like a hobo. And then, of course, share that response with you all. Even though I fully acknowledge that I look a little strange here and the scarf with the oversized cardigan is probably unnecessary, I was still comfy as hell and this outfit was the perfect anecdote to the day I was having. I think my facial expression pretty much says it all here.

Thankfully it's a long weekend here in Canada so I get to spend the day lounging at home and recovering from the stresses of last week. Oh, and sending congratulatory messages to my remaining friends at Yale who are graduating today - welcome to the Dr club you guys!

pants: RW Winter and Co / shoes: Toms / top: F21 / scarf: Hudson’s Bay Company / cardigan: ModCloth

Record Store Day

I wore this out a few weeks ago when the helpmeet and I ventured out on Record Store Day to see what we could acquire. We actually did not too badly for ourselves (I found a Hole album I’ve been looking for over the last two years!) but the lines and crowds were definitely a little nutty. Still though, we walked away with some great vinyl and, now that we’ve just bought our first house, we have a lot more room to store things like that.

pants: Zara / shoes: Camper via Gravity Pope / blouse: Talbots / jacket: Target / sunglasses: Aldo / purse: Michael Kors

Lurking in Leopard

Look who got her hands on the most awesome sweatshirt ever made – this gal! You guys, it’s a sweatshirt with a bit of leopard print silk-esque fabric on the front. I’m in heaven.

jeans: Kensie / shirt: thrifted via Goodwill

Wedding Sequins

My cousin and his wife tied the knot before Christmas in a Jamaican destination wedding. Wanting to make sure that all their family and friends got a chance to celebrate with them, they recently hosted an evening cocktail reception/dinner….which was pretty much the perfect occasion for me to bust out my black sequin dress.

dress: ModCloth / shoes: ASOS / jacket: vintage via Value Village / necklace: c/o OASAP / clutch: ASOS

All the Frills: Sweater Weather

Even though it’s not really sweater weather anymore (although it did lightly snow in Edmonton last week), today I’m featuring perhaps my favourite piece out of my constantly expanding sweater collection. I practically live in this Aztec print number from Sheinside during the fall and winter and wish I didn’t now have to move it to the back of my closet in preparation for the onset of summer.

And these are just two random instagram shots that were too cute not to share - one of my cats effectively settling Catan and then getting a congratulatory bath/snuggle session.

Weekend Reads:

• Learn about George Washington’s dentures (he bought teeth for them from slaves) and various other dental ailment.
  
  
• If you live in London, go see this exhibit at the V&A!
  
  
• All I can say is that I want the loaf of bread cat.
  
  
• I have always been fascinated by Phineas Gage. This is a great article.
  
  
• Hats off to the Ladies at Go Fug Yourself for their amazing coverage of this year’s Met Costume Institute Ball – I’m drooling over so many gowns.

Office Casual

I love that I work in a casual office (strutting into meetings wearing my tiger t-shirt paired with a blazer just feels soooo right).

t-shirt: Target / blazer: F21 / pants: Dynamite / watch: Swatch

Un Bel Dì

My friend recently had herself some swanky birthday drinks at Edmonton’s ritzy Hotel MacDonald. And it happened to fall on the same night that I ventured out to the opera to see Madama Butterfly (and I’m not even ashamed to admit that I teared up a bit during Un Bel  Dì).

So, all in all, it made for a very fancy evening for this gal. But the weather was a little on the chilly side so I opted for a coat and longer skirt.

skirt: Vero Moda / blouse: Simons / jacket: Target / wedges: Aldo / monogrammed clutch: Etsy (I think)

All the Frills: Home Library

Over the past year or so I’ve been working at growing my collection of books. I’ve always had an inordinate amount of scholarly and academic volumes (a PhD will result in that), but my collection was lacking many of the great “literary classics”.

So I’ve been actively looking for interesting editions of selected titles to add to my bookshelves. As I engaged in this I realized that, in some instances, I was going to wind up with multiple copies of things (for example, I have a lovely, display edition of Shakespeare but also a more utilitarian set of the collected works and some individual editions of plays that I’ve thoroughly marked up and annotated and am unable to get rid of – so now I just have multiple editions). I was also lucky enough to find some amazing editions of classics scholarly works, like Fernand Braudel’s history of the Mediterranean in the age of Philip II. Here’s a peek into my expanding collection.

Weekend Reading:

• Iconic LA landmarks rendered in cake!
  
• Will the costumes in the upcoming Jem movie live up to the cartoon’s high-fashion spirit? I, for one, will be bitterly disappointed if they don’t.
  
• A collection of laughable signs from the folks at Buzzfeed.
  
• This is so bizarre – a graveyard of ET video games from the 80s judged to be so awful that they were buried en masse in the New Mexico dessert.
  
• The evolution of modern fashion and its class underpinnings/linkages can be traced to the 30s…this is a fascinating read.
  
• I stumbled across this awesome etymology website – which is perfect for me because I can only access the Oxford English Dictionary at work because the U of A library has a subscription and I can only access a limited number of Yale library resources as an alumnus.
  
• I both love getting yelled in a profane manner and being told what to make for dinner.
  
• How academia resembles a drug gang. This could also have been subtitled “I knew it!”
  
• Some of these are not all that great, but 4, 5, 6, and 8 sure are!
  
• Anyone interested in a little vacation planning inspiration? I’ve seen a few of these in person and now I desperately want to see all the others.
  
• The graduate students at Yale (where I gained my doctorate two years ago) are still working hard at unionization – I’m so happy to see this moving forward (it’s been a long road)!
  
• This piece about exploding whales is grotesquely fascinating.