Sunday, November 17, 2013

his girl friday


Being an unpaid intern working in an office and within the court system requires me to dress a certain (boring) way. Gone are my days of ripped tights, cut off jeans, old flannel, and beat up boots. Now, these are the days of pencil skirts and loafers and freaking out that every small snag in my stocking will lead to an unsightly run that will ruin my credibility as a capable working girl.
When I started my first internship, working as an advocate for victims of domestic abuse, I found myself in court with a bunch of attorneys and judges and feeling rather unprofessional and childish in my full skirts and bad shoes. Both my mother and my sister work at Nordstrom and so they took me out shopping for some new clothes to wear! I love all of my new blazers and skirts and tailored pants, but I am starting to get the itch to wear fun things again. 
When ANTHOM contacted me about being a blog sponsor, I looked through their collections and immediately said yes - they carry so many stunning pieces! I started perusing with the intention of seeing what they had in stock that would be office appropriate, but quickly snapped out of that mindset, realising that I am too quickly becoming boring career lady who stays in the office after 5 every day. So, with a clear mind, I thought about buying this dress (because it's beautiful, duh) but ended up with this hat. I know it will sound totally lame (and it is), but I saw that it was wool and that swayed me. The coming winter months are guaranteed to be chilly - Minnesota has a pretty good history of that - and so a wool hat that probably won't give me hat hair seemed like the perfect fit. (As a side note, I can attest that this hat indeed does not lend itself to unsightly hat hair - hooray!) I look freaking bad ass in it and have already gotten loads of compliments on it, including from the guy in class who always comes late and never says anything. The hat's style is also called The John Wayne so, you know, bad ass.




Besides my beautiful new hat courtesy of ANTHOM, I'm also wearing an H&M shirt from the second hand store, a Halogen brand skirt from Nordstrom (which is dry clean only, so, you know, THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE), and my new fave The Loft brand cardigan from the second hand shop.
I'm also wearing Cinderella of Boston shoes and Nordstrom brand tights. Lemme talk for a minute about Cinderella of Boston, though. Every time I say that I wear kid's size shoes, I am met with a room full of snickers. It's a bit irritating and it's like, "I'M SORRY I DON'T HAVE NORMAL PEOPLE FEET" but seriously, it's really difficult to find normal shoes that look professional. Most shoes in my size (a 2 and a half kids) light up or have Dora the Explorer on them. They're often pink and foam or animal print. Sometimes they squeak. Often they're adorned with little satin or velvet bows. None of these are things which I want on my precious baby feet, and even more so, none of these are things that I want to be wearing around an office where I'm trying to get people to take me seriously (which is already really difficult when you're only 20, are 5 feet tall, and have youthfully curly locks). Enter Cinderella of Boston. They're a shoe company that stocks quality, totally professional and chic shoes in small sizes. Here I'm wearing the Julie style which is totally beautiful and which, now that I own this hat, I wish I had in the purple colour, too.


Sorry about the clenched fists! It was freezing, damp, and windy out. Winter is just around the corner and the only thing making me tolerate the impending weather, besides the fact that it's impossible for me to move out of state right now, is the thought of snow. Beautiful, lush, heavenly snow!
p.s. There's no snow in the forecast for the next two weeks so that's lame, but, you know, this is Minnesota.
p.p.s. Even though I just hinted about Minnesota being lame, check out this awesome Buzzfeed article of 38 Things Minnesotans Are Too Nice To Brag About. (Hint: it includes Prince, Bob Dylan, Lucky Charms, Scotch Tape, Fitzgerald, and Betty Crocker. Did I tell you guys about the dream I had where I was the new Betty Crocker spokeswoman?)








I'm trying to grow my bangs out gracefully. I'm sort of trying to make them look like Elizabeth's. In fact, I'm trying to make my ENTIRE LIFE look like Elizabeth's. Starting with my kitchen and a fluffy puppy with a clever name.
Okay friends I'm off for the night! The Paradise is on in a little bit and it's the finale so I'm very anxious and also very sad. That show has been sustaining me through the week for more than a month now. It's my Sunday night tradition, that last little bit of uplifting entertainment before the 9 to 5 grind and homework. Gah, I love period pieces. xx

9 comments:

MILEX said...

Impressing

Jenna Leigh said...

How adorable! hOPE you come and stop by my blog,
http://abeautifulheart07.blogspot.com/2013/11/ask-jenna.html

Anonymous said...

Chloe, This is such a great outfit! I think it looks professional but still fun, and that hat is awesome.
You look fantastic as always.
Thank you for the kind words on your Twitter page.

Sonya Mann said...

Purple hat, pinstriped stockings = YES

Anonymous said...

Your purple hat is so cute and it looks great with your purple top! I'm dreading teh day I have to dress professionally but you do it so well. I espeically love your pin stripe tights :) xx

Anonymous said...

Chloe, You need to make and eat that Tater Tot Hot dish if you want to gain weight.:-)

~ K said...

I am not looking forward to the day when I have to look 'professional'. I have to in my job sometimes (when I go to conferences and such) and it's such a bore.

To me I think you should be taken seriously based on how good you are at your job and your skills not whether you wear Dora the explorer shoes or not ;)

bluehairinbelgium.blogspot.be

Handbags for Less said...

Love it, great look.
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Ali Hval said...

How cute are you?! I just really adore your pictures. The colors in the background are glorious. And I love the way that your purple hat pops!