How I wore it: the kids from Piraeus

Today my husband, mother-in-law, and I ran some house errands. Considering that I spent all of yesterday in a pair of my husband's old shorts and a ratty grey t-shirt (and that I wore the exact same "ensemble" for the rest of the day today), I decided to go wild and wear an actual "outfit," although nothing very different from what you've seen me wear before:

As you can imagine, here in Greece, Melina Mercouri is an iconic figure, not just for her skill as an actress, but for her endless campaign to get the Elgin Marbles restored to Greece. In fact, our favorite café in Plaka, named simply "Melina," is a full-on tribute to her. It was in just that café the other day that I saw a picture of her from an poster of her most iconic movie "Never on Sunday." She  was wearing a very simple, late 50s outfit: a tight tank top tucked into a tight pencil skirt. It looked something like this:

(image from videospot.co.za)


Now my own outfit didn't have much to do with the original inspiration; it wasn't so much a direct translation, rather a re-interpretation; furthermore, I felt care-free and summery in my bright red pencil-esque skirt and my grey tunic top - an outfit I've worn before both for work and for vacation - especially with the addition of my bright red sandals. I bought those beauties last summer on Ermou Street, from - I believe - a shoe store called Tsakiris Mallas. I'll probably be doing a more detailed post on them later.

Anyway, it was a good couple of hours, but it was also nice to get back to my unofficial "house uniform:" a girl's gotta nap...

Grey tunic top, tucked in: American Apparel, remixed
Red skirt: Dickie's brand, bought from a boutique in Philadelphia, remixed
Red sandals: Tsakiris Mallas (?), from Athens

If matching your shoes to your jewelry is wrong, I don't want to be right

I think the title says it all...

Black dress: Gap, remixed
Black modesty top: Express, remixed
Turquoise sandals: Nine West in Athens

FINALLY!

So I've tried to go shopping about three times in Athens so far this vacation and ... nothing. Mystery novels, conditioner, and moisturizer had been the only things I'd bought so far. Fun sandals to replace the silver ones? No. Cool European bohemian maxi-dress? No. JEWELRY? No (but let's hold out some hope for that, because there are only eight more shopping days until my birthday). I mean, I won't be working next year, but the Greek economy is in the crapper, I have more money saved up than usual ... I'm practically THROWING my hard-earned euros at storeowners. Alas... I had decided to just stop looking for anything until today: I made three purchases!

First off, while walking (and walking, and walking), we passed by my favorite Athenian street (Ermou) and ended up at Nine West. Oh, look, turquoise sandals! I love turquoise! Bam!

I know, right? They're like walking on a cushion. That is my new favorite color. That goes with my jewelry. And my skirt. Just like that, I decided to renounce all sandals (even the gladiators!) and leave them in Athens just so I could bring home these beauties to the States. I'm that fickle. But look!

I will probably be wearing them tomorrow. And for the rest of my life. 

Upon deciding to take them, the saleslady informed us that if we got one other item, like a bag, we'd get 10% off the purchase. Never being ones to shy away from a challenge, both my husband and I zoomed in on an adorable salmon/pink handbag. BAM!

(it's less pink and fluorescent than it looks in this picture)

Cute, right? I've never brought it up on this blog, because it's a little too painful, but I love handbags. When I lived in Philadelphia, I had a million pouring out of my closet. When I moved in with my husband, I bought a new closet mostly to house my handbags. When I moved everything to New York, I was "the teacher with the cool bags" (at least, so I imagined it). Then I moved to Boston, where I have about three purses on rotation. Only one of them is big enough to hold my laptop. Another is my first and only designer handbag (Fluevog!) and it's gorgeous, black with turquoise trim (...what?), the third is a small, lady-like purse. Anyways, I like huge bags, the bigger the better, but I'm very excited to add this girly one to the rotation. It will be coming home with me. While I was staging this very official photo shoot in our upstairs bathroom, I opened it for the first time, and look:

An extra little purse and leopard lining!

As we skipped on to Monastiraki, I felt kind of bad for asking my husband to stop by another handbag store, as he had just generously bought me a pink handbag (yup, he paid for my stuff). He said that it was worth checking out and I prattled on and on about how the Holy Grail of handbags for me would be a nice grey leather one (just as it was for boots). I had a grey handbag for about two hours: I bought it with my grey leather booties from Aldo, but after a couple of months of very little use (also quite small), its zipper stopped working and I chucked it. So we get to this cool store and...well, call me Galahad:

Enormous? Check. Grey? Check. Different handle situations (including that one in the middle with the three ridges that I'm not quite sure how it works)? Check. Big enough to carry my computer? Along with the majority of my closet? Check and then some! Super on sale? CHECK!

I'm a rock star.

How I wore it: What's opera, doc?

Last night, my husband and I went to the wonderful and enchanting Herod of Atticus theatre in Athens (it's on the base of the Acropolis, no big deal) to see the opera "Aida," being presented as part of the 2010 Athens Festival. Last year we'd gone to the same theatre to see Daniel Barenboim conduct a program of Beethoven and Berlioz. My husband is a very serious classical musician and I'm an opera fanatic (and ex-semi-serious choral singer), so "Aida" was right up our alley. Unfortunately, it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Athens yesterday. Granted, the opera was at night, but it was still swelteringly hot and there were thousands of people crammed into the ancient Greco-Roman theatre. Conditions for fainting. I did not, though, so - vittoria!

Here is what I wore:

You can see the patina of sweat all over my extremities (this is after the opera). I kept the palette relatively simple, relying on a favorite black tank top and what I refer to as my "baptism skirt." See, this rather shockingly-cut [for my standards] tulip-shaped wonder was bought for me by my godmother when I got baptized Greek Orthodox last summer. The tradition is that your god-parent buys you all new clothes (including undies and shoes) to show that you're a new person in the eyes of the church. My godmother bought me this skirt (it came with a matching silver sparkly belt that I - thankfully? - can't find at the moment, although it made the waist definition a little better, especially considering that the skirt is quite loose on me), along with a patterned blouse and teal sandals. While I loved all the pieces she bought me, I especially love the skirt: I keep it in Greece, but it's very nice to come "home" to. While it is quite matchy-matchy, I don't care - I wore my big turquoise necklace and (quite invisible) matching turquoise earrings. And, of course, my silver sandals which desperately need replacing, although they're so damn cute.

I was also able to observe high Athenian fashion last night, as - despite the extreme heat and the outdoor venue - any theatre event is one where ladies will be dressed up to the summer nines. What I could most tell was in fashion were long maxi dresses, much like in the States, but with more details. Usually strapless, the fabric below the waist is quite blousey, loose, and billowy, but the bodice is ruched / crinkled very tightly. This is a perfect example of it, although last night's Athenians seemed to prefer more bright colors and patterns:

(photo of this BCBG dress was found via thecharmcat.com) 


Anyways. That's my situation and the situation of the women around me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go to my in-laws' home and become one with their A/C.

See yas!

Black tank: H&M, remixed
Turquoise skirt: gift from my godmother from a small shop in Piraeus, Greece
Silver sandals: from a shop in Herakleion, Crete, remixed

Some like it hot

So I might be literally melting as we speak. I've always been a hot-weather fiend, but living in an Athenian apartment without air conditioning these days might be pushing it a little. My husband and I sleep with two fans trained upon our bed - I often wake up in the middle of the night pawing at my face in order to get my hair in some kind of control ... HOT [in all senses of the word: HA! See what I did there?!].

Anyway, today was spent pretty leisurely. We built some IKEA furniture (it follows us wherever we go), lounged about (what dissertation?) and then spent the evening / had dinner with my husband's aunt/uncle/cousin/cousin's fiancé. For that, I decided to wear my favorite summer red dress. Because I styled it from the neck down exactly the same as I did the day I featured it on here, I did not take a full-body picture.

(Might I add? My aunt and uncle-in-law, not to mention their daughter ... and her fiancé, now that I think about it ... have seen this red dress so often. I wore it the first time I met the family and have worn it constantly and whatever, maybe they now think I only own one dress. I can live with that.)

However, I did style my hair and jewelry very differently from when I last wore this dress. My normally accessory-loathing husband confessed to me that he loved it when I wore headbands, so - since I'm actually taking some sort of care of my hair sometimes - I decided to rock a headband and let it all hang out:

Notice the eerie red light to the bottom right. Nothing very special: a picture of my wild locks with a semblance of order and a hairband cleverly matched to my dress.

Oh, I also wore my glasses and my gold Spartan earrings instead of the black ones I last wore. I go CRAZY with changing stuff up around here.

Anyways, as usual, while wearing this hairband, I felt subtly retro with my bangs and long hair and kind of wished I were in a Godard film. Oh, well. Maybe one day, my dream will come true and some cool fashionista will come upon me on the street and say, "By the way, has anyone ever told you that you're the spitting image of a 60s girl? You should have my collection of vintage Pucci." Oh, well.

Good night! I need to sit in front of a fan for several hours!

Striped hairband: Gap, remixed
Gold earrings: Spartan jewelry store, gift from my father-in-law, remixed

Awkward...

Oh, hi. 

Yeah, so how 'bout that local sports team? How've you been? Good? Great. Me too. I mean, yeah. I'm in Europe. You know how it is...

- Oh, why keep pretending? I haven't posted in days and days. And I know, no one reads this, but I don't care. I feel guilty, guilty I tell you. I don't have a great excuse. I generally have liked how I've been dressing. My hair has its ups and downs. I just ... I keep wanting to bust out an amazing "I bought three pairs of the chicest sandals ever in Athens" story, but it's just not happening. I've been out shopping, but the only things I've bought are mystery novels and conditioner. Glamorous! I'm too tired to take pictures of myself by the end of the day and our apartment is so bloody hot that I usually look wilted anyway. I'll make a better effort, I promise, but... I just wanted to say hi. And that I'm still alive, for the one reader that reads this (hi, future me!). 

I'll be a better girl. I promise. 

French & Pretty

So the other day, as is my wont, I was surfing the web and looked in on Louise's site. Louise Ebel, a real-life muse and darling of the Parisian fashion/art/you name it world, is kind of who I want to be in life (no big deal...) and her photographs are a glimpse into a world much, much cooler than any that I or any of my friends inhabit (no offense, y'all). Anyway, I was struck by her most recent photo shoot. I also caught an immediate girl-crush on her friend Alix and found her blog and here it is. Enjoy!

In other news, I know that among my dozens (haha!) of followers, there must be a few Sanskritists (...heh...heh), so you will truly understand the glee with which I state that I just finished looking over a manuscript fifteen minutes ago. I'd been working on this guy for a month, matching it against the critical edition I'm trying to create, and now I'm done with it. At least four more to go! Wee! What does this really mean, though? My husband is finishing up a HUGE work project tonight, which means that tomorrow we'll both be in super-vacation mode and will probably head into the city center and chill in Athens like villains. I can't wait... I really want to make an event of this.

In even more news, my silly silver sandals are about to go the direction of my blue jeans: the zipper on the left one keeps on opening and making it very scary to take walks on hilly, terrain-y Athenian streets for fear of slippage. Despite all of my protestations of summer thriftiness, I might be "forced" to buy sandals tomorrow, perhaps on Ermou Street, in order to replace them...life is tough.

Geia!

An open letter to my jeans

Dear Blue Skinny Jeans,

First of all, thank you for a great year and a half. Although I think I've only featured you three times on this blog, I've worn you a lot, in at least three different countries. I first bought you a year and a half ago, to replace my first pair of black skinny jeans that were developing a suspicious hole between the pocket and waistband, and by God were you there for me: I took you to Greece a couple of times, I took you to Germany, I wore you through Crete, I took you back to Germany and wore you to Greece one more time. And that's just for travelling. I've worn you countless times at home - you're my default jeans, the only actual solid blue jeans I have that live with me. You've gone up and down with my weight fluctuations and, due to your wonderful stretchy quality, I didn't even notice those fluctuations until I tried wearing other pants. You tucked into boots well - all boots - and you look good with flats. A little dorky with Birkenstocks, but then again...who doesn't?

But now? Oh, Jeans, the time has come: you're doing that thing some jeans do where you wear away at the inner thigh. It's not really noticeable yet, but it will be, soon, and that's why I think it's time for us to say good-bye to each other.

May I add, Jeans? What's up with wearing away after a measly year and a half?! Are you trying to tell me that my thighs are massive? Because, thanks. I got it. I've known myself for almost twenty-nine years, Jeans. (Also? Most of that is muscle. Asshole.) Seriously, though. SERIOUSLY! A year and a half! Oh, don't try to tell me that "all jeans do this:" bullshit. I've owned a lot of jeans in my time, and yeah, after some time most of them wear away in the inner thigh - I do have broad, muscular legs, and there's chafing, and I know this happens: it's happened to almost all my jeans, all my corduroy pants, even some other pants. BUT NOT AFTER SUCH A SHORT TIME. I mean, come on, Jeans! I bought pants at age fifteen that started doing that my freshman year of college - that's three years of hard use (after at least twenty years of existence because they were vintage)! I've owned other jeans that I wear constantly for over three years and they're fine. They're not even stretchy, but they're fine. 
No, no. You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just frustrated because I'm mad that you're leaving. I'm mad that I've owned you and you've been so great for me in a pinch and ... we just don't have any more time together. It hurts, Jeans. It hurts.

So, thanks. Thanks for keeping me comfy and somewhat trendy for a little over a year. And I hope you forgive me for leaving you crumpled up in the bedroom until I get rid of you.

Love,
Chalkdust and Boots

Travel Style: Where are my keys, I lost my phone!

Geia sas!

So I'm successfully installed in "our" home in Athens, Greece, living right next door to my in-laws (can't get more Greek than this, everyone!). My wonderful, fantastic, generous parents-in-law built my husband and me a home in the course of about a year and this is the first time we're living in it. It's so wonderful to have your own little crash pad (or enormous party apartment) in your favorite city in the world.

Our trip from Germany to Greece was uneventful and comfortable. Since Hamburg was going through this insane heat wave, I knew that I couldn't wear my Frye boots to travel in because I might die of ankle-fever. And since I have to hold a funeral for my jeans soon, I thought I'd just wear them as a last hurrah for the trip and wear a certain tank top with them that - due to outfits/packing - I won't wear again till I'm back in the States:

RAWR!

Note my Gaga-inspired Fashion Claws (thanks for that, Fug Girls!). And, just, the general awesomeness of my Lady Gaga racerback tunic. I will admit that a) this was a remarkably comfortable outfit to travel in, and b) I got way fewer looks than I expected.

A good trip.

Lady Gaga blue tunic: H&M Hamburg
Blue jeans: Bulldog by Urban Outfitter, remixed
Silver sandals: some store in Herakleion, Crete, remixed

Möchtest du mit mir zum Café gehen?

Hallo!

It's the beginning of the end of my time in Germany. My advisor and I had our last meeting yesterday and, in two days, I'll be in Greece with my husband, ready to start a real vacation (while still editing manuscripts, natürlich!). Anyways, as my university's term is also ending soon - next week - there was a departmental lunch in a trendy-esque café in Sternschanze. The heat is back on in Hamburg - as it will be for the rest of our time here - and I wanted to dress summery and decidedly non-academically. Hardly believing that I haven't worn this dress in two whole weeks, I wore my favorite black dress again, but changed around the details so that it was quite different from my last wearing:

I tend to wear this dress with very somber, traditional, black-matching accessories. But, since today I wanted to wear my decidedly not black big gladiator sandals, I decided to switch stuff up. I have no problem mixing black and brown - I don't even think that's considered a taboo anymore ... Anyways, because of the brown sandals, I decided to go with more "earth tones," wearing a striped modesty tank top in the brown family, as well as gold - rather than silver-based - jewelry.

I didn't notice until I got the picture up, but I like that the stripes on the tank top under my dress echo the horizontal lines created by my sandals. Not on purpose, as I say, but a happy coincidence.

Today was my first 2010 outing with a relatively short dress with my tall gladiator sandals. Every person in my neighborhood did a quick once-over at my legs, but nothing overtly hostile was said, or implied. And whatever - my photos convince me more than ever: these sandals rock.

On an end note, I can't wait till my bangs grow out again - I fear that each trim they've had (all of two, one professional, one by me) has been too short. I think the ideal length is eyebrow-trimming. Soon, my pretties, soooooooon...

Tschüs!

Black dress: remixed
Striped tank (underneath): H&M
Brown gladiator sandals: Madden Girl, by way of DSW, remixed

How I wore it: loooooooose

Hallo!

As we speak, I'm watching the Spain-Germany semi-final and the people outside my window are going nuts. My husband and I are, too, but we're rooting for the other team. Which is why we're safely tucked away in our apartment and will not be leaving it until tomorrow.

The weather got a little more Hamburg-normal yesterday, mid 60s and partly sunny. Today it warmed up again, to the low-mid 70s, but I still decided to go crazy and actually wear pants to my advisor's office for the first time in two weeks. [Aaahh! I've been here for two weeks! Weird!] Because I only packed two pairs of pants - and one of them is not long for this world, which ... more on that later - I went with the "good" pair, the seersucker. And I wore my beloved grey tunic over it, in my tried and true tunic-over-pants aesthetic which I totally blame on my 2004 summer in India wearing salwar-kameez all the time:

You finally get to see my beloved tunic untucked, which is the way I wore it for years until, well, this spring!

Anyway, it was a nice, cool outfit and eminently sensible for my dusty Alster walk to and from my advisor's office. I didn't add too much to it, but, as they say, the devil's in the details...

Usually when I wear these pants, my default color story is turquoise. I tend to wear turquoise accessories, such as jewelry et al., with them, or, in this case ... my scarf!

I completely messed up the zoom on this shot, and reached for something last-minute, but I actually really like how the shot turned out, so I kept it thusly. I know y'all appreciate it. Anyway, so, yeah, my scarf - just to add to more of the West-East fashion aesthetic, I added a dupatta.

So here I am with all this blue going on and my natural instinct would be to wear my turquoise jewelry, so into matching am I. And it was a big mental struggle not to wear my turquoise earrings, to tie the whole look together (guys, I think my matching obsession is messing with my quality of life - oh, well, I've never been spontaneous). However, I really wanted to wear my pink ruby ring. And, such is the level of my neurosis, that I couldn't wear my turquoise earrings with it (stones versus faceted gems rarely go together in my world), so I gulped and wore tiny diamond studs instead.

But again, I'm so neurotic, that I wanted to add in something else to tie in the pink ring. So what better than my new hair love, a headband?

 
Meet my multi-colored cloth headband! I bought this way back in the fall and wore it couple of times to school (to great acclaim among my female students), but kind of forgot all about it, especially as it tended to ride back on my head. However, I did pack it for the summer and thought it would work today. Done and done!

Tschüs!

Multicolored headband: CVS
Grey tunic: American Apparel, remixed
Seersucker pants: Gap, remixed
Turquoise scarf: Indian stall from the Prudential Mall in Boston, remixed
Sandals: Birkenstocks, via Tip-Top Shoes, remixed

Red, white...and grey?

Today I had a meeting with my advisor preceded by the first Sanskrit class I've attended (as a student) in over four years. Intense. It was also cooler than the last few days, so I'd been dithering as to what to wear for hours before I got dressed. I decided to go with a reiteration of this outfit. However, I made a few changes: I left the grey tunic untucked and I didn't wear pantyhose and red shoes, but rather my black Birkenstocks.

... The effect was ... interesting. I actually really liked the tunic over the skirt, when I saw it a few months ago while I was getting ready to wear a similar outfit, but I didn't wear it to work like that. Today I was too lazy to tuck in, so I thought I do this. I think if I'd had classier shoes, it would've looked okay, but with the Birks, it looked a little too much as if I were going to go backpacking through the Pyrenees with a guy named Gunther. So you don't get a picture.

I have been experimenting with hair accessories, though, so I thought I'd play today with a headband. A few years ago, Gap made some headbands that mimicked the look of a scarf tied ever-so-jauntily around the head, but with none of the actual, sometimes difficult, tying. I bought two, of different patterns, and went with them while I was growing out my hair. They were relegated to the bottom of my "hair things bag," which lives in my childhood closet anyway, until this summer. I thought with the bangs and stuff that I could maybe do a bit of a retro look with the scarf-bands and big earrings. And, whaddaya know...

Look, Brigitte Bardot I ain't, but I actually really liked the look. It added some visual interest, height, and volume to my usual tried-and-true bun. I'll definitely be something that I continue over the summer and beyond.

Now let's just pretend that the rest of my outfit is nearly as flattering as the top bit.

Striped scarf headband: Gap
Grey tunic: American Apparel, remixed
Green earrings: H&M, remixed

It isn't surprising she certainly can - can-can!

So it's extremely warm here in Hamburg (I was going to say "hot as balls," but that wasn't classy or poetic enough for me). Yesterday it went up to 93 degrees Fahrenheit and today promises the same. With a beating-down sun. Don't get me wrong, I love the weather, but the apartment in which we're staying is very unventilated and night-time sleeping can be a little torturous.

Anyway, I decided to début my new Gap maxi dress yesterday and see how it held up in the heat:

Cute, right? I think its long, fluid lines are extremely flattering, despite the horizontal stripes thing. Might I add, by the way, that I think the 'horizontal stripes are unflattering because they make you look fat' myth is all wrong? I think it depends on the stripe: I have a bunch of horizontally-striped garments that I love and feel make me look more svelte. For more debunking of popular fashion/beauty myths, check out Sal's opinion: the comments are fascinating.

Anyway, despite the dress' length, I found it quite comfortable for over-90-degree weather yesterday. As I have to walk on the banks of the Alster lake to get to my professor's office, the slight breezes that the lake provided were felt in my flowy dress. Despite the picture showing me in my ratty flip-flops, I actually wore my silly gladiator sandals for the outdoors and the dress and shoe melded perfectly: horizontal lines all the way down to my tippy-toes!

Let's take a moment to talk jewelry. I've mentioned my carnelian jewelry before, but I've never shown it to you in all its glory:

My aunt-in-law (also my godmother) and her family gifted me this necklace/earring set when my husband and I got engaged. I'd say it's in the top rotation of my jewelry box. As you can see, the necklace sort of has a fountain of silver chains from which hang "drops" of orange carnelian and the earrings have two chains each, with their own little orange drops. I love this set because it's unique and deceptively simple. I especially love that the chains/drops "explode" at my neck, giving a sense of disorder and chaos. I don't wear this set much in a professional setting, because I feel one needs a pretty open neckline for it, but when the summer- (or party-) time hits, they are almost always with me.

Anyway, despite the fact that only my advisor and a few random Hamburg citizens (oh, and my husband) saw me, I felt pretty, elegant, and European-summer-appropriate. What else can one ask for on a blazing hot Friday evening?

Tschüs!

Striped dress: Gap
Flip-flips: stolen from parents' closet, remixed
Carnelian set: from Byzantino store in Athens, gifted from my uncle/aunt-in-law, remixed

How I wore it: Lady in Red

Woof, what a day it was yesterday. After all the drama with my computer, I got a free upgrade to the second most-modern OS (yay!) on Wednesday ... but the entirety of my computer was wiped clean (fail). I think my German certified Genius wasn't that much of a Genius. Either way, I have fancy new stuff and my computer is mostly back to normal. Mostly.

Anyway, Wednesday, apart from Mac trauma, was a lovely day. My husband arrived in Hamburg from Athens ... just in time for our second wedding anniversary! Yup, we got married on June 30th, 2008, just a day after Spain won the Euro Cup. Because it was a special occasion, I wanted to up the ante in the glam department: I wore my contact lenses, my top summer dress, and fun accessories:

Now I play favorites all the time ("That's my favorite movie!" "But you said the other on was your favorite!" "No, that's my favorite Hindi movie. There's a difference."), which always manages to frustrate my absolutist husband. But whatever I may ever say, this red dress above? Is my favorite. Summer. Dress. It's simple: red, linen, not even that particularly flattering from the side and the back, but whenever I wear it (and I've owned it since 2005), I feel like a million bucks. What do you know? Red dresses are a must. I kind of have a history with this dress. I first spotted it at H&M about six or seven summers ago, but for some reason I decided I wouldn't buy it. Which was ridiculous. It was TWENTY DOLLARS. And, like the sucker I am, I rued that decision for ... well, years. Finally in the spring of 2005 it was mysteriously in stock again and I snapped it up. I haven't regretted it since. TWENTY DOLLARS, people - it's worth, like, a cent per wear at this point. The first time I actually wore it in public was that summer, in Philly, to go to a bird-oriented poetry/film event at the Institute of Contemporary Art. My then boyfriend was out of the country for the summer, as was his wont, and I decided to dress up. I put it on, took one look at myself in the mirror, called home and said, "I have never looked better than how I look right now. RIGHT NOW." And it's true (hey, I even got young hipster grad. students to hit on me!). I pack it to Greece every summer, I wear it in the States every summer - summer isn't summer without it.

Now the sandals. Heh heh ... what to say about those? I bought them last spring because I had pined for stupid calf-length gladiator sandals for a year and critics be damned. I LOVE THEM. I always get looked at oddly in the streets (especially in Athens) when I wear them, but they're so comfortable it's like walking on a little padded cloud. And hey - it's my way of wearing boots year-round. Here they are in their full glory:

Cute, no? Not as unflattering as I feared, either.

Anyway, I actually used a fun accessory in my hair, but, unfortunately - due to losing some data in the upgrade - you can't see proof of it. It was a black cloth rose on a hair elastic that I'd never actually worn outside. Usually I have so much going on (bangs, glasses, earrings, conservative job) that I just can't wear something ridiculous in my hair on top of it all. But, what with my contacts yesterday and my relatively low-key accessories, I wore it ... and it was adorable. That is all.

Anyway, I'm off to deal with my dissertation some more and act paranoid about my computer. Poor baby. Tschüs!

Red dress: H&M
Gladiator sandals: Madden Girl, by way of DSW