In That Dream Moving Slow Through the Morning Light...

blessings Christmas Clothes coat daily wardrobe Denim happiness Pants

In That Dream Moving Slow Through the Morning Light...

uyguguygu   18.25   Comment  

Winter's here. It's been very cold this past week. Well, except for today, where it was in the 50's! But it's still cold in the mornings. I drink cups and cups of tea in my classroom in an effort to stay warm before school starts and the heat kicks on. 

Lucky for me I have a brand new coat to keep me warm. Down, on sale, from Land's End. Warmer than any of my husband's coats so finally I'm the one turning the heat down in the car when we are on our way to places!

Coat: Land's End Cire Down Parka

Jeans: j. crew Matchstick Jeans

(Yes, it is true. These are the only jeans I own. I own four pairs of them.)

Shoes: Anthro

Purse: Longchamp Le Pliage

Listening:

Ten things for 2013

Ten things for 2013

uyguguygu   15.22   Comment  

Here are ten things that are making my life lovelier this year. They are small things, nothing fancy, just little things I've loved having around in my life this January. 

1. Workbasket

Inspired by the idea of 18th and 19th century women's workbaskets I decided to corral many of my personal projects and things to do into a basket to be taken out in the evenings and worked on a little at a time. 

2. 2013 memory jar

I found this clever idea on Pinterest. I'm looking forward to opening it up on January first of next year and looking over all the wonderful things we did in 2013.

3. A stack of new and old favorites to read

I received a lot of books over the holidays and I've been utilizing paperback swap - there are lots of books to read around here and I've been curling up with them in the evenings. 

4. My planner

I purchased this last summer but it's still going strong, looks beautiful, and keeps me organized. I know exactly when everything is happening, I can jot down ideas in the blank pages and the book club book of the month on the top of each monthly calendar. There's even a spot for two lines of daily gratitude. I like to use Washi tape to block out larger projects, workflow, or time off. 

5. Our new couch

Finally, the wait is over. We have somewhere to sit!

6. Grey suede booties

I bought these in November in anticipation of holiday parties but they have turned out to be incredibly comfortable so I've been wearing them to work a lot. It's hard to find shoes that match my school's incredibly strict dress code, look nice, and don't make you want to soak your feet in a tub of ice after chasing twenty-six 8 year olds!

7. Letters to and from

I'm a dedicated letter writer and I look forward sending and receiving more of these dear missives from dear friends. 

8. French press

We've been long contemplating switching from our regular drip coffee maker to a French press coffee maker. We've been holding back because said drip coffee maker works perfectly fine. We received this French press coffee maker as a gift so there's no reason not to switch now!

9. Reorganized desk/workspace

The couch prompted a reorganization of our living space. I decided to move the desk behind the couch so I could look out the window as I worked, I cleared off a lot of random things that we really were not using, and I found some pretty things to hold supplies, pens, and stationary. We used the couch to split our living room into two distinct spaces: one for working and one for relaxing. It's been really great to have a better flow in our main living space. 

10. New Workout Clothes

January has been a bit of a wash for working out. I had a week in between bronchitis and an injury that's waylaid me to get my workout on but I know as soon as I'm cleared to head back to the gym I have some super cute clothes to wear while doing it! 

Denver Prep

Denver Prep

uyguguygu   14.39   Comment  

This is one of my favorite go-to looks - denim, tweed, and leather. Those materials are enduring in the world of fashion and when put together they work perfectly. Thank you to my Mom for the Tweed and velvet riding jacket. She gave it to me when I was 16 - she wore it when she was in college and I've been wearing it steadily since then. It's a sturdy piece of clothing and always timeless! 

All of these gorgeous pictures were taken by the amazing Jessica Triggs. Thank you so much, Jessica! You guys might remember she did my all time favorite photo shoot of the vintage ball gown. 

Sunglasses: Pilgrim

Pearls: Vintage

Jacket: Vintage (actually was my moms!)

Shirt: Gap

Skirt: Gap

Tights: Unknown

Socks: Target

Boots: Frye

Best of '12

Best of '12

uyguguygu   12.21   Comment  

2012 was a solid year. Now that it's coming to a close I have a chance to look back and reflect on some of my favorite things from this year. While there were many, many amazing things that never even made it onto this blog here are, in no particular order, five of my favorite things that happened this year:

1. Sleeping in a ghost town in the mountains

I've always been a huge fan of ram-shackled ruins, if you haven't guessed by now.  The scenery in this area is the most beautiful in Colorado, as well. This camping trip took the cake, even if our tent was broken, it was raining for part of the trip, and I ended up sleeping in the car. 

2. All of the mountain bike "W's" this year

Sometimes we call winning "Taking the W." I had the chance to race a lot this summer, in several different places. I think I won five races this summer and a series overall as well! Not too shabby and I hope to improve upon those results in 2013!

3. Easter in Santa Fe

Santa Fe seems to be our holiday town. We spent Easter weekend there this year and we also went for Thanksgiving. It's really a beautiful place, full of art and classic southwestern architecture  Can I also say I'm slightly obsessed with The Shed, the best (and most difficult to walk in if you're tall) restaurant in Santa Fe for classic New Mexican food? 

4. Driving 4,000 miles in a giant loop around the eastern half of the United States

This was the trip, as two guys I met in a hostel in Nashville told me, of a lifetime and I didn't even realize it until they had pointed it out. They had worked and saved for a year to do what I had flippantly decided to do. I was able to ride my mountain bike in 8 different states on some amazing trail systems, see both sides of my family, take my grandmother-in-law on a roller coaster, go swimming in a classic southern swimming hole in a pebbled river in the smokies, camp all by myself for the first time since before I was married, couch surf in a beautiful home filled with books, head out to Nashville's honkey tonk bars with fifteen people from eight different countries, and so on... 

5. Jessica's photo shoot

One of my favorite things ever is to take pictures. I also don't mind being in front of the lens, either, especially when you have someone as fun and patient as Jessica taking the photos. The pictures that came out of this session are deserving of framing - she is an amazing photographer and doesn't mind heading up to the archives room of the library and shooting away in front of the card catalogues! I don't think there is a better combination than libraries and vintage ball gowns.  

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

uyguguygu   11.30   Comment  

For Christmas this year JR and I are spending a little time on the East Coast, amongst the history and old buildings and horse farms...and best of all both of our families came too! 

I hope that you are having a wonderful time with your friends and family, too! 

Each of you is loved and appreciated!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright!

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright!

uyguguygu   22.19   Comment  

It's been a while since I've posted - I've been convalescing from some sort of virus. As a teacher I rarely get sick...but when I do I get really sick. There's something going around at school, many of my students were out last week and some of the other teachers are also feeling poorly as well! 

That being said...it's Christmas party season around here! I love holiday parties because they give you a chance to pull out those party dresses you never get to wear. Last weekend, before I got sick, I got a chance to go to the first one of the season!

Dressing up for the holidays doesn't have to be intimidating - I always try to figure out who will be attending, I read the invite for the dress code, and I interpret it without over thinking it. Most of the time simple clothes are best.

 For work related things, particularly for J.R.'s company where he is one of the younger employees I wanted to make sure my clothes were fresh and modern but still had a sense of propriety about them to be respectful to the older ladies and gentlemen that would also be attending the event. I also knew that every single woman there would probably be in a "little black dress" or some sort of holiday colored confection so I chose to go with a creme colored dress to stand out in the sea of black. For a little holiday flair I added burgundy tights, a set of four thin bracelets in gold, carbon, copper, and silver, and grey booties. 

We shot these pictures in the dark  on our way down to the party on campus at ILIF and the halogen light was turning everything yellow - switching to black and white provided better, clearer pictures! 

Dress: Madewell

Bangles: Madewell

Shoes: Dansko

Tights: Target

Small Bits of Wisdom

blessings contentment dance grace happiness Life

Small Bits of Wisdom

uyguguygu   21.07   Comment  

This much I know is true: It is not about what you have in hand at the end. It is about the things you do to get there, the string of choices you make, the cultivated life. Even after you leave things behind in the dust, when they are a tiny speck of a memory in the corner of your brain you will carry that movement with you into the future in the memory of your bones and muscles and synapses. 

Difficulty teaches you resilience. Need teaches you gratitude. Failure teaches you patience. 

(Sometimes I just like to dance. Don't tell my former dance teachers!)

"I’ll leave you with two pieces of advice: Choose to struggle with something — we live in a culture of the quick and easy and it has made us impatient and lazy. When you commit to something that takes work and see it through to the end, it will develop you as much as you develop it. Second, invest in art — I am not just suggesting my art, but any art that you like. We are a society that looks at everything and beholds nothing. Good art is something to behold and will bring you a sense of peace and stillness in a world in constant motion." - Jake Weidmann

We Are the Reckless...

blessings Clothes Colorado daily wardrobe fall happiness Life Music Pants

We Are the Reckless...

uyguguygu   17.30   Comment  

Paper writing today for grad school. I always like to wear impractical shoes when I write papers and these shoes are pretty impractical. It makes sense to me - I basically walk from the car to the coffee shop, from the counter to my table a few times, and most of the four or five hours I just sit there, clacking away at whatever I'm supposed to be writing.

I caught these pictures just before I went out to write my paper. Today's paper is a research paper on whether or not literacy coaching is effective. The results were unexpected (which I like) and interesting (which is an added bonus). It'll make a good narrative. I actually like writing papers, strange enough. It's meditative work for me. It's a very different job than my day job - teaching. 

Sometimes I sort of regret not going 100% academic when it came to grad school because I missed out on both collegiate cycling and being a full time grad student and all the tweed and bookbags and morning coffees and crisp fall air and the fun new school supplies that come with being an academic but I'm hoping I can do that when it comes to my Ph.D. 

I've been listening to Daughter lately. Youth is my favorite of her four song EP. 

I think I'm responsible for about a quarter of the 5 million plays on this song. 

PS: Happy Thanksgiving, for those of you stateside. I'm thankful for so many things. 

Shirt: Urban Outfitters

Jacket: Unknown

Tank Top: Gap

Necklace: Forever 21 (robot) and Gatlinburg Artist Collective (Hemlock)

Jeans: j. crew

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Denver Debutant

Denver Debutant

uyguguygu   19.05   Comment  

While I was in Kansas City this summer my lovely friend took me to this fantastic vintage store. When I tried on this particular over the top gown I felt a bit like a debutant. Which, of course, in my book is a good feeling because in my brain one should always feel like a debutant. 

I still have no idea where I'm actually going to wear this dress but it's been added to my collection of largely impractical dresses. I have dreams of a spring season ballet or a trip to the symphony with other friends who still enjoy playing dress up.

Luckily my amazing friend Jessica offered to take pictures of this dress and gave me a reason to wear this dress, do up my hair, and twirl around Denver for an afternoon. Jessica takes pictures with the Heartflip Collective. You can check out her other work here. 

All pictures in this post by Jessica Triggs. She's amazing!