I love the whole prep aesthetic, and especially anything nautical, but I always feel a bit of a fraud when I try to borrow it. My ancestors were not exactly the sailing type. I get nauseous on small watercraft. Still, I can’t help but love me a good anchor motif. This skirt was a foregone conclusion as soon as I clapped eyes on it at Value Village. Even though it’s a straight/A-line style, which I normally avoid.

It happens to be my first LL Bean piece, and colour me impressed. You can see that a lot of thought went into the details (the striped piping is a particularly nice touch), which makes the skirt seem more expensive than it (likely) was. Definitely more expensive than the $10 I spent on it.

I really didn’t want to go overboard with the nautical theme (the post title is more than enough), so I nixed pairing the skirt with anything stripey. Chambray goes with everything, and I tend to think of it as a “style neutral” – it complements any number of styles, without drawing extra attention to itself – so it seemed like a good bet. Red shoes because I never don’t love a good red shoe … plus, I don’t have a pair of white ones. (Note to self: why is that?) And there you have it.

I am a massive baby when I’m sick. The massive-est. I easily put my 3-year old* to shame. Happily for my family, I had an uncharacteristic sickness-free streak of nearly 6 months this year; unhappily (for us all), the cold that ended my lucky streak was a real mean SOB. Ugh. That’s all I can say about it. This is me, 4 days into it and completely over everything. A sleepless night watching over the (also sick) baby really helped my complexion … not at all. So, bring out the red pants. That will distract everyone. Genius!

You know what I just realized? Not wearing black – the safe default – when I’m feeling under the weather really helps me look less like death warmed over and more … everyday pasty. The more you know, etc.

* Yesterday was my son’s birthday. I’m still working on processing the fact I have a THREE year old. Three years that felt like an eternity, yet were gone in the blink of an eye. Like, whoa. We love you to bits, monkey.