Days 34-39 | Out of Office

It’s been a while since I last posted, mostly because I was scrambling to force five days of work into a three day workweek, and then because I was finally, blissfully, on vacation. It’s true that I’ve posted under busier circumstances in the past, but this time I was also contending with a bad breakout that kept me in a sort of spiral of despair where I just wanted to be very woe-is-me and not engage with the world for a while.

But now it’s Saturday. I’m on vacation. My skin seems to be clearing up (sort of, maybe), and I have a lot of good outfits and new stuff to show you. This is an image heavy post, so I hope you enjoy it!

Day 34 – Monday

Wearing VETTA Boyfriend Shirt, Eileen Fisher Wide Leg pants (thrifted, similar here), Everlane Day Heels (gifted)

Lately I’ve been pinning a lot of Eileen Fisher inspired outfits to my secret fashion Pinterest board. I’ve never experimented with an all-over loose and flowy look like this before, but I ended up really liking it, especially with the heels.

Day 35 – Tuesday

Wearing wool& Brooklyn Wrap Dress (gifted), Eileen Fisher Edge Slides (thrifted, similar here)

Earlier this year, Portland-based brand wool& reached out to me about a collaboration, and I replied honestly that I couldn’t see myself wearing a wool dress in the middle of DC summer, but that I liked their ethos a lot, and maybe we could work something out for the fall. They said they could understand my hesitation, but also completely schooled me on the characteristics of Merino wool.

What I know now is that Merino is temperature regulating (it’s frequently used in active-wear), breathable, MACHINE WASHABLE, anti-pilling, and odor resistant. I wore this dress in the 95-degree heat on Wednesday, took my normal half-mile walk at lunchtime (the ultimate sweat-rating test for new clothing), and decided that my original perception of Merino wool was very, very wrong.

I have a lot more to say about this dress and about wool&, but that’s coming up in a fun mini-wardrobe experiment later this month, so stay tuned.

Day 36 – Wednesday

Wearing Tradlands 105 Seville Shirt (gifted), VETTA Peg Pant, Blake Goods Center Bar Belt (gifted), Everlane Day Glove flats (gifted)

This Audrey Hepburn-inspired outfit was definitely on the verge of looking like an actual costume, but I loved it all the same. What I didn’t love was breaking in these new Day Gloves from Everlane. By mid-afternoon, I had mummified my feet in bandages, and by the end of the work day I just had to say uncle and swap the flats out for sneakers.

My poor feet have been through a lot this summer as I have attempted the breaking in of several pairs of leather shoes, and now there is basically no spot on them left unblistered. I don’t really blame the shoes – pretty much any pair of good leather shoes is going to have a necessary break-in period – but I do need to start being nicer to my feet. More on these Day Gloves (which I do like, despite this brutal initiation) once they are more fully broken in.

Day 37 – Thursday

Wearing J.Crew 1989 Scoopback one-piece swimsuit, VETTA Boxy Blouse, Everlane Easy Chino Shorts, Keds, Madewell Canvas Transport Tote

An important thing to know about me is that my hometown is basically the 4th of July capital of the United States. We are fiercely devoted to our 4th of July traditions and they rule the culture of our town in a very conspiratorial day-time television drama kind of way. My high-school has a Miss 4th of July pageant. The lines in the center of our main road are painted red, white, and blue all year long.  Most years, I would wear coordinating holiday themed outfits with my best friends and go to the parade.

Despite the fact that I now live in our nation’s capital, I’ve never really felt that same 4th of July magic so impressed upon me from my teenage years in Bristol, Rhode Island. I don’t dress up anymore, and I certainly don’t schlep into the city to listen to our President talk about the famed airports of the Revolutionary War. This year we made a picnic at a local park that we like along the Potomac, played cards, and hung out until the afternoon storm swept in. I did see a bald eagle steal a fish from an osprey in a dramatic in-air battle, so I’m sure that’s a metaphor for something.

Day 38 – Friday

Wearing LOFT wrap dress (thrifted), Eileen Fisher Edge Slides (thrifted), Vintage Dooney & Bourke bag

Hello from somewhere other than my living room mirror! Determined to do vacation-y things on my short vacation, I convinced my husband to drive us up to Baltimore for an afternoon to visit the art museum and the Guinness Brewery. I was very insistent that he take my photo in this beautiful gallery, and specifically next to this painting of a bunch of dead birds.

This is an outfit that I’m really proud of because it’s 100% thrifted, and made up of items that I took my time searching for. I think it really speaks to how far I’ve come in this journey of learning how to dress myself – namely that my shopping habits are no longer limited to randomly stepping into stores during emotional moments and panic-buying some cheap trend item from the clearance rack. Not to get too slow-living blogger cliche on you, but I feel a lot more intentional with my style now, and I consider that an accomplishment.

Day 39 – Saturday

Wearing Tradlands Les Femmes Tee (gifted), Everlane track shorts (no longer available)

I’m about as off-duty as it gets today in a tee, shorts, and not a speck of makeup (v unusual so please enjoy the glimpse of the volcano pimple threatening to erupt just beneath my left eye).

My blogger bud Jasmine of The Pleb Life has been inspiring me to explore the great wide world of graphic tees, and at the same time, the kind folks over at Tradlands sent me a few things from their new Les Femmes collection to try out. I’ve been eyeing this particular collection because I adore the beautiful artwork by illustrator Jordan Grace Owens and I like the idea of supporting female artists by literally wearing their art out into the world.

The tee has a sort of grid of additional illustrations on the back, which I will attempt to show you via an extremely professional over-the-shoulder mirror selfie:

Beautiful, right?

P.s. Through tomorrow, Tradlands is having a spring clean-out sale, with some items discounted as deeply as 60% off. The Les Femmes collection isn’t included, but you can save 15% off your first purchase from Tradlands with my discount code GOBLINSHARK15.

If you’re thinking about making a purchase from Tradlands because you liked the way I styled something here, I would sincerely appreciate it if you clicked through and made your purchase using one of the links published in this post (it doesn’t cost you anything extra!). In addition to being a purveyor of ethically-made, high-quality clothing, Tradlands has a top-notch affiliate program – to put it plainly, for small bloggers, Tradlands has one of the most generous commission deals out there. Any purchase you make using my links supports me in a big way. (And hey, if you’re a blogger yourself, you can apply to that fantastic affiliate program via Tradlands website, here!)

I hope that this has been my last extended absence from the blog for a while. I’m feeling more energetic after getting some good news at work last week (I got promoted!) and having had this vacation to rest up after a long June with zero days off.

Back tomorrow! Probably!

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