Please excuse me.

I'm going to be gone a while.
I'll be working like mad writing my thesis and then taking an amazing trip as a reward for getting it done. I'll miss you guys, but I have a really bad habit of blogging when I should be working and my thesis just isn't getting written that way. When I get back I'll be relaxed and happy, I'll have lots of time on my hands, and I'll be blogging to keep myself from going crazy while I look for a job. Oh, and I should have a new hair color by then too.
So, please excuse me? And meet me back here around the first week of June?

The Urchin.

I wore this urchin look for most of my twenties. Not these same clothes, but this same feeling. A dress or tunic over intentionally ill fitting cropped pants with maryjane type shoes. I'm wearing it today for a couple of reasons: a) I'm trying to ascertain if I think 'the urchin' is a still a serviceable look for the much sturdier forty-sumthin'-year-old me, and b) I'm going to walk down to the service station to put air in my bike tires and then ride back and this is a pretty good walking-slash-bike riding ensemble (although I'll wear a sun hat on the walk and a helmet on the ride.)

I'm thinking that the urchin is a look that could be glammed up a bit and translated into chic summer wear. Perhaps a light colored dress or tunic and cropped linen pants? Kind of like this:

'The Urchin' done by The Clothes Whisperer.

She's quite young and quite thin, of course. And I'm less young and way less thin, but I think it could work. One of my concerns is that it's not a particularly figure enhancing look, which on my frame can result in my looking all over huge, instead of just huge in places. But when it's hotter than a hundred degrees sometimes figure flattery has to fall by the wayside, no? And if the tops are carefully selected to be just loose enough to be cool without falling into over-sized territory, I think it could work. (Apparently, I also think that repeating, "I think it could work, I think it could work," like a mantra will help too.) I guess I'm going to have to try it and see. In any case, I don't hate this look on me- but I do think it needs to be, shall we say 'elevated', a bit to be really appropriate for me. As it is, it's suitable for bike rides and, perhaps, trips to the Farmer's Market. As I do ride a bike and visit the market (and sometimes even do both together) I'm calling it a practical, if not soooooper stylish, ensemble.

I'm a sucker for sneakers with toe caps. Currently, I'm obsessing over these.