Let's keep them awake Saturday morning!

I'm teaching a 3 1/2 hour class Saturday mornings this quarter. I decided a little bit of bright color might help keep the students awake and alert at 8:30 am. :)

This suit is one of the ones I bought when heavier, but I bought the pants in two sizes anticipating the weight loss. The smaller size pants fit perfectly now, and I just take my jacket off while teaching so it isn't too obvious that it's big. I'm a big believer in buying two pairs of pants for classic suits, even if you don't change sizes like I do. The pants always wear out faster than the jackets, and the jackets are the really expensive part. Two pairs of pants allows the overall suit to last much longer.  (Of course I don't do that for really trendy suits, since I don't plan to wear those for a decade like I do with my classics.)

Suit alternative

Given my shortage of suits that fit me, I'll be doing more blazer outfits this quarter. I love how this one turned out. Sorry for the poor photos. 

The soft drapey blazer was extremely comfortable - I even left it on while teaching, which I rarely do. And the color combination worked perfectly. The blazer is a nice rich blue, lighter than navy, with the blue and white striped shirt and the grey boot cut pants - it worked!  I always find it to be a little more work to put together a blazer outfit - but sometimes it's worth it. :)

These types of blazers are really in right now. A lot of times they are paired with crop pants. I wouldn't advise that. Both the blazer and the crop pants are shortening. I was a lot happier with this pairing since the pants are lengthening and provide some balance to the cropped boxy flowy jacket.  

Just how many black sheaths does a girl need?

I'm drooling over this dress from White House Black Market and am constantly tempted to order it.

But then I remember that I own:
- A black mid-knee-length sheath with elbow-length sleeves (and a lovely wide square neck)
- A black knee-length sheath with an asymmetric neckline and a front slit
- A simple sleeveless black knee-length sheath

And of course:
- A mostly-black colorblock sheath with 3/4 sleeves
- A solid purple sheath with cap sleeves
- A navy puff-sleeved sheath
- A royal blue sleeveless sheath with a slim v-neck


But I don't have any dresses that look quite like this!  Oh if only this were dark grey.

It's time for a closet cleanout, and if I end up getting rid of a few dresses, I might let myself add this one.  But I have to do a thorough cleanout first and see just what's left in there!  Even I think that 3 black sheaths is probably enough.  ...  Probably.

Back to school

I was sick going in to the first day of class. Combine that with sabbatical quarter, holidays, and class starting early Monday morning, and I'm sort of just glad I made it. (And let's just say it was a close call for one section. Remember when you were a student and the prof wasn't there for the first few minutes. And just when you were hoping class would be cancelled the prof showed up? I'm that prof now.)

I figured it was worth showing that every once in a while I forget earrings and have unpolished nails. :). Luckily, I have a few good default suit outfits, so without having to put too much thought into it, my suit, shirt, necklace, shoes and belt worked. Phew. And I love this shirt - the fit and little pleat detail plus the color are all great for me. Unfortunately most of my default outfits are too big for me now, so expect some new stuff going forward. :)

(Suit: jcrew, shirt: express, necklace: banana republic, belt: Ralph Lauren)