And I love it, all of it. If someone had told me when I was a kid that this would be my life when I grew up, I would have been utterly content.

After all, I was the otherwise obedient child who read under my covers at night by the dim light of my nightlight and then swiftly pretended to be asleep when my mama would come to check on me. I was the child who preferred reading to playing, to watching television, to playing video games, to practically everything. I was the child for whom books was the ultimate pleasure, a world where I could see and experience all things and all places and all times.

I’m still quite romantic about books. I still believe in the transcendent power of stories.

I also just really, really love books. I love the smell of books – the crisp smell of new paper and the musty smell of old tomes. I love how a book feels in my hand, I love the texture of the paper as I turn a page. I love the experience of curling up with a book in a comfy place. It is probably unsurprising, therefore, that as much as I embrace and often prefer the digital versions of newspapers and even magazines, I don’t like e-readers. They aren’t bad per se, but my attachment to the experience of reading actual books and to books as objects in and of themselves makes reading e-books a comparatively cold experience.

(I’m actually not a huge fan of Gertrude Stein. I think her work is fascinating and important, but it doesn’t move me. Elizabeth Gaskell’s novels have been on my reading list for a long time, but I’m determined to read them this summer. Then again, my summer reading list seems to add a few titles every other day, and Gaskell’s novels have been on the list since last summer.)

(Mostly, I picked these books because they matched my outfit!)

Sweater: vintage Philippe Adec silk and cashmere red sweater (hand-me-down from my mama)
Jacket: Marc Jacobs (old)
Shirt: J.Crew
Shorts: Q40 glam leather shorts (also worn here and here)
Tights: J.Crew
Shoes: J.Crew
Accessories: Chanel sunglasses (hand-me-down from my mama), Forever 21 headband and teal earring (worn as brooch), Herkimer diamond earrings from Principessa (gift from Yubo)
Nail Polish: essie turqoise and caicos
Lipstick: NARS Jungle Red lip liner and Red Lizard lipstick
Books: teal giraffe notebook by Florence Balducci for Anthropologie (gift), Selected Writings of Gertrude Stein, The Cranford Chronicles by Elizabeth Gaskell

So yes, wrong side of bed today and all that.

Still, I absolutely love my job; it’s hands-down the most rewarding and enjoyable job I’ve ever had so this morning wasn’t a complete wash in the least. I started one-on-one conferencing with my students on their papers this morning as well, and that’s one of my favorite parts of teaching writing. You can do so much with a student one-on-one that just isn’t possible in a large group.

Except for brief periods where I wanted to be a ballerina (tutus! need I say more?), a singer (I have had a longtime and ongoing infatuation with female singer-songwriters), and a lawyer (like my mama!), I’ve really always wanted to be a teacher. I adored nearly all my teachers growing up, and the idealist in me has always wanted to do something that made a difference in the world for good. In my last year of college I was actually applying to teaching credential/education MA programs with the goal of becoming a high school English teacher, but the birth of my first child sort of derailed those plans. In the past several years, I’ve tried a few other careers, but nothing seemed to fit. So it makes me really happy now to be doing something that I not only believe in, but I really, really enjoy.

Since I was in such a rush this morning, I wasn’t really thinking about anything in particular when I threw my outfit together this morning, but I like how it ended up. I nearly always try to buy clothes that I know I can mix and match with other items in my closet. You know those magazine articles that show how you can wear one shirt 5 different ways? That’s how I think when I shop. If I can’t imagine several ways an item can be worn then it really has no business in my closet to begin with.

I’ve never really worn belts before this year so I’m hesitant to buy them because I’m not always sure how or what to wear them with. This little blue bow belt was an impulse buy last year during one of Nordstom’s big annual sales, and I almost regretted buying it after it hung in my closet unworn for months afterward. Lately, though, I think I’m getting the hang of this whole belt thing.

I think belts and other accessories are great ways to incorporate trends without a big commitment. For instance, neon colors are really big right now, but no matter how much I love these uber-popular neon bags from The Cambridge Satchel Company, I can’t afford to spend that much on something that I’m not ready to commit to wearing for the next 10 years at least. But this neon yellow belt from J.Crew? I think I could splurge on that (maybe next month though?), and I know I could wear it a ton of different ways. And then the canvas bag I’m wearing from fieldguided is a nice little nod to neon without being totally overwhelming or breaking the bank.

I’ve talked about this before, I think, but that’s part of why I really like nail polish as well. Not only is nail polish just plain fun, but it’s an easy, low-commitment way of incorporating bright and silly colors. I don’t like manicures (I know, I’m weird) so I buy my own polish and paint my nails myself. It’s not always never super perfect, but I feel better about buying one new nail polish color a month than I would about getting a manicure every few weeks.

My mama, however, is always a little appalled by my nail color choices, I think. I admit that perhaps I take a little teeny bit of pleasure in her mildly disapproving “tsk tsks” though. Maybe in another ten years I’ll have completely grown out of this little bit of post-teenage rebellion.

And then on the opposite spectrum are my pearls, a wedding gift from my grandmother, that I know I’ll be wearing when my own grandchildren are getting married. My grandmother originally bought me a very, very long string of freshwater pearls, which she then had split into two lengths – the long one I’m wearing now with a pearl shortener clasp (also a gift from my grandmother) that makes it a few inches shorter than it would be otherwise – and a choker length necklace that I wore on my wedding day. As a set I can wear them so many different ways.

Shirt: Mikkat Market (also worn here)
Dress: laurie b. cashmere and tulle shift, worn as skirt (also worn here)
Tights: J.Crew
Shoes: J.Crew
Bag: fieldguided
Accessories: Nordstrom blue leather skinny bow belt (similar at Forever 21), Forever 21 bow hair clip (old), pearls (gift from grandmother) worn with pearl shortener clasp (similar here), Herkimer diamond earrings from Principessa (gift from Yubo)
Nail Polish: essie turqoise and caicos
Lipstick: NARS Dragon Girl Velvet Matte Lip Pencil