what (not) to wear

there are a million things to do before leaving town for my aforementioned travel to the north. that translates into me working a half-day tomorrow. at least i've picked out what to wear, and trust me, i struggled with this quite a bit. see, a suit is appropriate for this trip, however, i never wear suits! so as i dug into the back of my closet, i felt dread at the realization that the jacket would probably fit fine, but skirt very well might not. my holiday feasting was less than month ago and the skirt� well� it's a size 2 (albeit a size-inflated one), while the jacket is a 4. luckily, everything fit fine. but since the northeast gets bitter cold in winter, i decided to go with pants instead of the skirt. but the question remained: "what do i wear under the jacket to keep me warm enough"?. would my silk shirt or sleeveless shell suffice, or would i be better off w/ a turtleneck?

i spent all of saturday searching the mall for a basic, dressy looking, thin/fine-knit wool or silk top, preferably a turtleneck. i searched high and low, but alas to avail, no luck! every top was a v-neck, had a casual cotton t-shirt-y look, or had some totally inappropriate-for-a-suit decorations. how hard can it be to find a basic cream-colored/off-white top, right? well every time i thought i was in luck, i would spy what looked to be a basic-looking white top hanging on the rack. . . only to turn it around and realize it had some stupid trendy accessory attached to it, like sequins, embroidery, lace, beads, buckles, bow-ties, or shit like that. needless to say, i left the mall empty-handed. you'd be surprised how hard it can be to find basic wardrobe items, when you really need them!

but all's well that ends well! as luck would have it, the deep plum-colored turtleneck i got for x-mas looks lovely under the jacket. so no worries about cold weather. my black ann taylor pant suit looks smart and professional, i think.

in other semi-related news: i've sunk to new lows. at first i thought it was my work ethic sliding, but i realized that wasn't exactly it. the work ethic is fairly intact. it's just that lately, at work, i'm sorely tempted to push the envelope on what constitutes "business casual". i'm tempted to let my occasional sassy "fuck it" attitude rear its head. why not be comfortable, and wear yoga pants, or my soft, comfy low-rise workout pants to work? could i possibly get away with it? after all, i tell myself, "they're black. no one will notice. no one will care." in a perfect world, i'd have the liberty to wear lucy clothing to the office, whenever i feel like it. but more on my love of lucy apparel another time...