Equus

So I wanted this:

Then I was thinking seriously about these Rachel Roy boots as an alternative:

But they don't seem to be available anywhere yet, and I think they might be a little cheesy. So I went to my trusty fall boot source, Dover Saddlery, where your $200 will buy you something that is 50x the quality of something like an Aldo boot and will last way beyond one season. There, I discovered my old friend the half chap:

A half chap is a sleeve of leather or other material that you put on over a boot, bootie or shoe. It hooks under like a stirrup pant. Imagine what you could do with these and a pair of oxfords ... instant boot! In my case, I already have a pair of high Ariat boots, I just want to have that extra layer for looks.

The ones above are only $39.90, saving me approximately $300 on a new pair of boots.

There are also versions with fringe! Imagine the possibilities here.

Image source (top): Jak + Jil Blog.

Fall Into the Trap

Today I stumbled into the Gap and I was kind of amazed. First of all they have a sick promotion, 2 for 1 sweaters and shirts - Fall transition stuff too, not unwearable sale stuff. I got a couple of things but most importantly I fell into a double trap! I bought a jacket which is 1) an "it" item for Fall that every friggin' one is going to have 2) a mass version of something that could easily be found at a vintage/army-navy store.

Here is it on Sincerely Jules:

Isn't that so well-styled with the bright dress? I love it. Anyway, the jacket was soft and wonderful. Here it is online.

I hate feeling like I'm going to see someone wearing this and I'm going to be wearing it and we're going to be secretly winking/barfing to each other about it as we pass. So I think I'm going to customize the back:

I like the white paint. I'll tell you what I'm not going to write though: QUE SERA, SERA. [EYEROLL].

Also let me make a boring public service announcement: back up your computer if you haven't lately. I just had a scare with an external drive which was really acting as my main hard drive. It just stopped spinning, wasn't recognized, etc.

That being said, if you ever think you've lost an external drive DO NOT send it off into the ether to have your "data recovered" for $1000 or whatever until you or someone professional checks to make sure it is the drive, not the ENCLOSURE. I saved $900 today, thanks Lizzyville.

BACK

So I'm back. I don't know how this is going to work out, probably like every time I got back together with someone I broke up with.* I may get that creepy disappointed feeling and wish I hadn't told my friends we were getting back together, but I'm going to see how it goes. I missed my blog!!

This photo illustrates a certain intangible that obsesses me: circumference of openings (what the ... well, you just have to trust me on this one). Have you ever noticed that the bagginess or openness of a shorts-leg AND the top of a boot are SO IMPORTANT? If the boot or short is tighter or looser ... the whole look falls apart. Anyway, I thought it was amazing to see both phenomena so perfectly illustrated in this image from a wonderful blog called Song of Style.


* I married the exception.