Yesterday

I escaped briefly from the papers, grading, lectures and other writing, picking the rainy weekend day to play rather than today's mild sun. After completing some chores, I met Cindy and picked up some baby/toddler clothes for my niece from the Gap (who had their 30% off Give and Get promotion). I didn't realize I had to say something to get the 5% donated to a non-profit so I'm a little miffed about that part of the very fine print. But I got Charlotte three nice items and another 40% coupon off one item on a Wednesday so I'll use that for her final Christmas gift. This means I have officially started my present buying for this year.

After hitting up H&M to look at the (horrid) Jimmy Choo collaboration which lived up (or down) to my very low expectations--tons of remaining clothes, by the way if you like that kind of club-wear or bad 80s redux--we went to J. Crew where I nearly bought another bracelet. I have decided it will have to wait until the book is in the mail, which should be imminent. Cindy got a great cardigan and we headed to Inven.tory for the latest Save Fashion. The stock was a mess and pretty much overpriced/not my tastes (again), but I did pick up two pairs of Devotte sandals (same style of flats--one brown, one bright blue) for just $45 each. They are also very comfortable and will help me eke out my Africana flats for a couple more summers (I hope). We checked out INA which had no Mayle and Tokio 7 which had one tiny and very worn black cardigan. Then it was  dinner at Spice with Evan and Adrienne, before Ev, Adrienne and I headed off to see An Education, which was great. I had two minor quibbles--Peter Saarsgard's accent was a little all over the place and the final letter--which was wrong in so many ways that I can't go into here lest I spoil the film for anybody. Great clothing, however (definitely some dresses I'd love to own like the purple frock worn in Paris and some of the eveningwear), and the main actors were great. The period details were pretty good, but not Mad Men perfect.

And for all this I wore Margarita in black, with a black J Crew long sleeved t-shirt, my Vince cashmere cardi, Fiorentini and Baker grey boots, purple tights and Ludovine in black. Cindy wore her Amalfi Federica, her new cardigan, black tights and black Belle shoes.

Today, I'm writing lectures. Then I have a pile of grading waiting for me--the ones I want to leave til last are, of course, the ones I have to grade first. As for clothing? Pina in black, my Vince cardi, Devotte brown flat sandals. I still need to get some shoes/ankle boots for the winter or fall that are comfortable enough for teaching, not suede and work with skirts. I just can't wear the Lola clogs all day long--at least not yet. They have taken me over 2 years to break in and I think they're nearly there.