the weekender: they’re on to me

So yesterday, right before class was to start, one of my students and I had the following encounter:

She: You know, you always wear a belt around your waist when you’re in class, but you don’t dress that way when I see you in your office.
Me: Yeah, I know. Tuesdays and Thursdays when I don’t teach are my casual days.
She: You could dress like that in here, too. You don’t have to dress up for us or anything.
Me: … Well, yeah. I know. But I’ve got a lot of rule that I like to abide by for classroom attire.
She: Wait, like your own rules or someone else’s rules?
Me: Oh, well, they’re my rules. It’s a costume, you know? I feel like it’s important to dress professionally and it makes me feel more authoritative.
She and Me: (awkward laughter)

What! How did they figure this stuff out? Am I that obvious? Anyhow, it makes me want to change up my look a little, find some sort of middle ground between the casual and the overly formal. All this is compounded by the fact that I’ve just gotten word that my teaching schedule next term, in the winter, is less than ideal; I’m teaching from 7-8:20 in the evening, two days a week. And those two days? The same days I’m taking a 9 a.m. seminar. So those teaching days are really going to suck a little bit. Therefore, I’ve got some things I’ve been thinking about changing in my wardrobe and some inspiration from my pinterest that I’m drawing from.

The palettes are all pretty similar to each other, so obviously I have a look in mind, and the shapes are pretty familiar to what I know, so it’s not too much of a change. But I think these looks have a little bit of a casual polish that I’m struggling to find: not too fussy or formal, but also not sloppy or personality-less.

But let’s crowd-source this: what do you all think? Will this kind of look work for the classroom?

p.s. the outfits are all stolen from and linked to my pinterest boards and the color palettes were made here.

friendly Friday: Falling in

Every week, the Fashion Beauty Friend Friday group comes together under the guidance of Katy Rose and answers some questions as a group. This week, as September explodes us into fall, we’re all talking about our “five favorite fashion trends and how [we] plan to wear them this season.”

Fall is to me (and many other academics) as January is to most folks: it’s the beginning of the year, the start of the new and the end of the old. For me, it means a pretty big lifestyle shift. All summer, even when I was in the classroom, I’ve been casual, comfortable, and not too worried about how I dress. But in a few weeks, I’ll not only be in the classroom as a student again: I’ll also be standing up in front of a class again — and this time it’ll be as an instructor in my own right, not as a TA, and that adds a whole new wrinkle to my wardrobe choices. So my fall choices are as follows:

(1) Classic Wellie-style rain boots to survive the return of Oregon rain

(2) Menswear inspired looks (that don’t lose their femininity) for teaching

(3) Classic cuddly sweaters

(4) Slouchy knit hats (I make these myself!)

(5) colors colors colors!

friendly Friday: dreaming and wishing and hoping

Now and again, when the trade winds blow just right, I spend my Fridays thinking about questions for the Fashion and Beauty Friends group that Katy at Modly Chic poses. This week, our topic comes from this thought: we all have dreams, goals, aspirations. Putting them down
on paper is often the first step to realizing those dreams. So!

1. Fess up – if you could do anything professionally what would it
be? I want to be an English professor, which is why I’m in a Ph.D. program. If I’m being really specific, I want to teach at a small but rigorous liberal arts college, teaching upper division English courses in postmodernism and literary theory and working in the composition program, both as a teacher and as an administrator, working to make composition programs better and more useful. I want to have small class sizes and actually teach my own classes, but I also want to have time to devote to my own research and to conferencing, publishing, writing, etc. I want to live near the campus (preferably in the Pacific Northwest or some other wonderful place that isn’t LA) so that I can invite students over to my house once in a while for coffee and cake and literary conversation. I want to be involved in campus clubs and events, as an advisor perhaps for the English honor society or the campus feminist club, and I want to sing in a faculty choir. I want to defeat the two-body problem and have a few dogs. I want to be the kind of mentor that I so loved as an undergrad and be really and passionately involved in my students’ lives while also continuing to push myself as a scholar.
2. What draws you to this? Oy. Well. I was an actress for a long time, most of my childhood in fact, and it took me a while to realize that though I love performing, I wasn’t intellectually stimulated by the work; I like to think about how a play works rhetorically as much as I like to perform it. This lead naturally to academia, which is intellectual theatre through and through. I like reading and thinking and talking about things and researching and teaching and writing and thinking some more and staying up late and getting lost in books and drinking too much coffee and getting caught up in an idea and reading and reading and reading. So really, I have nothing else to do with those desires.
3. When did you first start dreaming about this ideal? It wasn’t until I was in my junior year of undergrad that I realized I loved academia and wanted to be a part of it forever. But once I realized that I had what it takes (and I do still wonder all the time if I have what it takes), then I was on the path and nothing was going to stop me.
4. What’s holding you back from going all in? I am all in! Honestly, this is not a reasonable thing for anyone to do, this whole Ph.D. thing. If there was anything else I could do or loved to do, then I would try to do that, because I’m looking down the barrel at a long, hard slog through my doctorate and into an uncertain future that carries no guarantee of a job or a career or even a paycheck once I’m done. Here’s what a Ph.D. looks like: I’m already thousands of dollars in debt from my undergraduate degree. I’ll spend 5 or 6 years here getting paid subsistence-level wages to teach the classes professors don’t want to touch, taking really difficult seminars, getting my ass handed to me by professors, taking a round of brutal exams, sitting oral exams, and then writing a dissertation. After I defend that thing (which, by the by, should be anywhere from 300 to 500 pages long), I’ll be sent out into the job market where hopefully I’ll land a tenure-track professorship somewhere in the country I want to live and at an institution that I want to work for and near enough to wherever my partner (also a Ph.D.) landed that I can make a life there. Oy. So I’m all in, baby, whether it’s a wise choice or not.

This picture accurately sums up my feelings on the Ph.D. process: I can run screaming from this huge thing with claws and teeth that wants to tear me apart, or I can fight it back as hard and try to rip it up before it gets me, or I can embrace it and love it and try to make something beautiful out of it. I’m working on living the latter choice.

5. Sometimes the first step is the hardest… what’s one step you can
take now on the way to realizing your dream? I’ve just got to keep working, one step at a time, towards a future that I can feel proud of. If I try to think about the big picture (see above), then I get al bogged down in the overwhelming craziness of it all. Instead, I try to just think one year ahead at a time — this year I’ll take some classes, teach some classes, speak at some conferences, begin crafting my exams reading list, etc. — and not get too fixated on what’s coming in two years, three years, four insane years on. That’ll happen on it’s own, so my job is to be here, where I am, now and let my future work itself out on its own.

advice request: office decor

So, my dears, as the summer speeds to a close (seriously, it’s August?), I’ve started thinking ahead to the new school year, which starts in late September. There are many things I’m thinking and fretting about, plenty of stuff to plan and worry over: new classes, my first term teaching, applying to and (hopefully) presenting at a conference in the Fall, finishing a conference paper that I’m presenting at the MLA in January, and etc. Heady, right?

But you know what I’m fixating on? My office. At my uni, first year Ph.D. students don’t get our own offices because we work as TAs instead of teaching our own classes. So sometime this summer I will get the keys to my office, officially marking me as a second year student and a soon-to-be instructor of my very own class. And yep, that means that I’m thinking about how to decorate my office. Recently, I’ve been pinning some images, products, and crafts for my future office and here’s my request: will you all tell me what you think looks like something an adult would have in her office and what you think looks too childish or unprofessional? Because that right there is what I’ve been frightened of. You know, like a reasonable adult human.

This mobile, with it’s lovely color scheme, would be so easy to make and I think it would add a nice jolt of color and movement to the window. But: does it look too much like it belongs over a crib?

This office organizer is made out of old shipping boxes, of which I have hundreds, and could be so useful. If I used a more professional color scheme, would it work?

Same story with these old cereal boxes turned into file folders for the desktop. With the right paper, it could work, right?

I love vases and planters and succulents, so I’m planning on having a few of those, but wouldn’t it be fun to have them wrapped in cork? It would be like having a bulletin board on everything. I’m seriously thinking about this.

I also like the idea of making planters on the windowsill out of old cans. I have a lot of old tea cans lying around and am a big tea drinker, so this seems fun, too. Or…

… in old teacups! Or…

… in animals, dinosaurs, etc. Fun, right? Or too much? You tell me: what will work?

daily dose: restful Friday of fun

Tasks
1. craft, musicals, and snacks party with some lovely friends

Trappings

oops, caught me admiring my strong legs — gotta find joy in yourself, right!

skirt — thrifted shirt — Old Navy, ancient shoes — White Mountain (new babies!) scarf — vintage

Tales

Today is my day off and I plan on enjoying it! Some friends are coming over for a crafting-musicals-yummy-food fest and I am really looking forward to just hanging out and laughing a bunch and drinking ice tea and making pretty bits and baubles. I felt a little silly this morning when I was getting dressed, thinking “I must look way too fancy for sitting around in my living room!” but the truth is, a flowy skirt is great for sitting on the floor in, so comfy and loose. And these shoes? No way I’m taking these shoes off — they’re the first fully new thing I’ve bought in a long time and they are perfection. Now I know I’ve got to back a statement like that up, so let’s get a closeup of them:

Oh, beauties. Seriously, I’ve been wanting a pair of clog-ish sandals all summer and the other day, while out shopping, I happened upon these, marked down 40%. Love at first sight! And not only were they seriously reasonable of price, they are seriously comfortable to wear. I feel like I could walk forever in them! So even though I’m just sitting around the house, I decided they should come along with me. And they’re so gorgeous, I decided they needed a beautiful pedicure to compliment them. I think crazy orange (or, as Essie calls it, “Geranium”) is the perfect summer color, you know? So cheerful I can’t help but smile! If you want to see more creative and fun mani and pedi experiments, check out Lifestyles of the Thrifty and Shameless where there’s a whole manicure party happening!

So how do you all celebrate your days off?

friendly Friday: summerish

The brilliant Katy Rose at Modly Chic links up fashion and beauty bloggers via the FBFF google group, asking weekly questions about blogging and life. Check it out here. This week, Katy asked for us all to give our top 5 summer trends.

I need to admit something: I’m not very trendy. Nor do I invest much in summer clothes, as summer in the Pacific Northwest last only about a hot minute before the rains start again. But here’s what’s on my radar for this summer:

And my final summer trend: big, glorious, no-heat curls:

No joke: I used absolutely no heat on this and you all know how straight my hair is naturally. In the summer, when it’s too hot to blow dry, I love to use this vintage technique for curls that I learned way back when (theatre camp, I believe). Here’s a great video that describes the process I use — it’s so simple and a great, no-fuss way to do your hair in the summer. Nothing makes me feel more summery than big, bouncy, messy curls!

Now back to the barbeque preparations! I’ll be back tomorrow with pictures from our fest.

friendly friday: whoasies toesies, whoosies shoesies

The brilliant Katy Rose at Modly Chic links up fashion and beauty bloggers via the FBFF google group, asking weekly questions about blogging and life. Check it out here.

1. What is your go-to pair of shoes? In the winter, I wear my favorite brown boots pretty much constantly. Actually, since I live in the rainy Pacific Northwest, I wear those brown boots most of the year, with thick tights or with bare legs depending on the temperature of the rain that month. But in the summer / dry months, I’m a big fan of simple ballet flats, which I own in a variety of colors, textures, and styles. I’m wearing some right now, in fact! But if I want to get all dolled up and feel like a million bucks, I wear one of these:

Yep, I display these shoes in my closet because I love them so. On the right are my prized pair of Cole Haan 5-inch velvet pumps. They’re from his Nike Air collaboration, so even though they’re sky high, they’re pretty darn comfortable. Plus, I got them at a resale store, never worn, for $50! On the left are a pair of Ann Taylor LOFT red satin pumps, which I wore when I was the “Best Man” in a very non-traditional wedding. Also seriously comfortable.

These are by Deena and Ozzie. I got them, also resale, for only $15. They’re my go-to teaching shoes when it’s dry enough to step out of boots. I’m trying to figure out how I can take off the laces, though, which I think compete with the long line they give my leg. Any ideas of super-secret tips?

Oh, my plaid darlings. I got these when I was traveling through Croatia (random, I know) and I absolutely love them. They’re not quite as comfortable or well made as the others, so I did once sort of drunkenly fall down the stairs in them, but I love the Burberry look of them so much that I wear them out anyway.

2. What goes into your shoe buying decisions? Comfort and practicality for everyday shoes, pizazz and sassiness for going-out shoes. Since I do a lot of different things day to day, I really need shoes that don’t make the end of my day more exhausted and worn out. Especially on the days when I work retail (weekends, at the moment, but over the summer and all of last year I worked full time retail), I need shoes that I can stand in, with only minimal breaks, for 6-8 hours. Ooft. And when I’m teaching, I need my shoes to be comfortable enough that I can stand in front of a class for an hour without looking shifty and awkward. This summer, I’ll spend a month teaching for 6 hours a day, so I’m sure that will bring about a whole new adventure!
3. The majority of shoes in your closet are what color? Sadly, shades of brown dominate my wardrobe. It’s not that I don’t love a shoes of extraordinary color, but because I am, you know, super poor and cheap, I have to buy shoes that will have the most wide applicability.
4. When it comes to designer shoes what are your favorite brands and why? Hmm. I love Michael Kors and Cole Haan, both for their designs and for the quality of their product. But I’m not too well versed in brand loyalty because of my predilection for thrifting and my small budget.
5.  If price wasn’t an issue, you’d own which shoe? Hmm. Well. To be honest, I’ve loved every pair of Chi Mihara, Frye, and shoes I’ve ever seen. In fact, I want all of these pleasethankyou:

daily dose: big confessions

Tasks
1. Teach
2. Work work work. Today is one of those nut-bar days. I have a small paper to write, reading to do, research to start, a Passover Seder to plan for this weekend, and courses to work on building for the summer. It’s on, baby!
3. Meeting
Trappings

Blouse — H&M
Jeans — Old Navy Sweetheart, thrifted
Boots — Civico 10
Scarf — Himalayan Street Fair
Cuff bracelet — free box!

Tales
Guys, today, as I prepared to get dressed, I realized that I was in a bind: I had at least four scarves I wantes to wear with my outfit. And then I realized something else: I have a scarf, ahem, issue. So I said to myself, “Self!” (I said), “Self, own up. Tell the world the truth.” Therefore: Hello, my name is Martina and I am a scarf-aholic. And here’s the proof:

Let’s get a sense of what this all means. Lightweight: 8 scarves. Mid-weight: 5 scarves. Heavy stuff: 4 scarves. And I have a, you know, whole giant wish list of scarves out there that I still want. I guess I think of this as a collection and I feel pretty good about my additions to it. Every one of the heavy scarves are fair trade, bought from small-scale vendors in various parts of the world (California, Berkeley-via-Himalaya, Holland). The mid-weight collection is either homemade (the red cowl, the coral scarf) or fair trade, with the exception of the white scarf, which is from H&M. The lightweight stuff is the most nutty hodgepodge. There are a few international gifts (the stripey blue one from Syria, the shimmery orange-green one from India, the yellow from Brazil, the grey from Canada), a few from Cost Plus (purple, white-and-cream), and then there’s the coral print one, which is, you know, actually a table runner that I couldn’t put down. Erm. So it’s a collection with a lot of history and importance to me… but it’s still a collection that I am constantly thinking about adding to, which has a commodity-fetishism to it that does give me at least a little pause.

So I’m left there in my musings and my addiction. What say you all? Are you scarf fans? Do you have a collection? What do you think about these sorts of collections?

escapist fantasies

Hiya kiddos. So today is not my day. The rain has returned and I’m sleepy and Wednesdays overwhelm me a little. Therefore, instead of sharing my jeans-and-a-t-shirt look that I threw after TAing this morning, I’m going to share my most recently pinned inspiration photos to get my and your creative juices flowing.

Things I want to make:

Things that inspire me:

Sometimes I think about how amazing it would be to have a whole wall, a whole room!, just floor-to-ceiling covered in inspiring quotes, letterpressed or otherwise wonderfully typeset, all matted and framed in different colors. Dream design!

Things to try on:

Alright, now it’s your turn. Inspire me with your most favorite images of late!

looking for MAXimum inspiration

See what I did up there? That little gem of a non-pun on the concept of the maxi skirt/dress look? That’s how you know that my brain’s not quite with us yet. Nonetheless, we forge on, even if there’s blue pen all over my face from where I dozed off on my notebooks yesterday.

You see, not only am I apparently in need of some extra zzz’s, I am also in need of some clothing inspiration. It’s about to be the April Everybody Everwear challenge. If you’ll recall, I did my EBEW rendition of polka dots last month and it was not only fun but actually reintroduced me to a style I’d forgotten I could wear. I think it showed me the fun and re-invigoration that can happen when I push myself into new fashion territory. But this month’s challenge is the maxi skirt/dress and I am fully at a loss. I own nothing maxi. I’ve never owned anything maxi. My entire association with anything remotely maxi-like is from my time in the theatre. So this is a for-reals challenge for me.

Therefore, here is my best shot at maxi skirt/dress inspiration:

And here’s what I think I might be able to pull off:

* These images are all from Chictopia, posted by fabulously fashionable ladies and shared through Polyvore. Click the images for a link to the Polyvore, which has all source info.

So I guess this all means that I like my maxi-outfits to be some variation on this basic formula:

Wish me luck veering into MAXimum territory (that was a good one, huh?)!