all the leaves are brown

I've got the usual Tuesday Blogger's block. What is it about this day that renders me so speechless?

(coat: TJMaxx; cardigan: Target; dress: Charlotte Russe; scarf: F21; boots: Seychelles)

I adore this jacquard swing coat--I'm starting to realize that I actually have quite a few coats (and none of them are very warm or practical!), but I tend to play favorites. My trench coat has been the topper of choice since I bought it back in August--this is the time to play with all of my funky blazers and other fun frocks!

peter peter (pumpkineater)

So my fun fall weekend didn't exactly go as planned... but that's okay. On Saturday, K and I drove to Salem, MA to experience some early Halloween festivities. Oh. my. god. Don't ever do it.

First of all, it took forever just to get into town, and then we couldn't find anywhere to park so we ended up paying $15 to park in a lot with all the other suckers. We walked downtown and it. was. a. madhouse. I felt like I was going to be trampled at every turn, and the quaint historic little town had been completely carnivalized beyond recognition. It was like everything that is wrong with Disneyland--mile-long lines for every attraction and haunted house (and most frustratingly for the ladies' room in the Visitor's Center), exorbitant prices, strollers everywhere--even the graveyards were absolutely crawling with tourists. It was a major disappointment.

After attempting to escape the crowds and explore off-the-map corners of the downtown area, we finally just threw up our arms and left. It's a shame, because I remember visiting Salem my freshman year of college and having a grand old time sipping hot cider and strolling through the empty streets (and the haunted houses were so scary!). We decided that we are definitely off-season people, and maybe we'll go back next year in like... September.

(dress/fur collar: H&M; necklace: DIY; shoes: Seychelles)

This is what I wore when we picked out our pumpkin yesterday. Again, I had a full fall day planned, complete with pumpkin patches and hay rides and all that good stuff, but it was miserably cold and rainy all day. We ended up just driving down the road to a local farm and picking out a few gems (one for carving, two for cooking... and a miniature gourd that I want to attempt to carve as well). I'm going to make a pumpkin and lentil soup and K is going to make a pumpkin pie.

Sadly, the foliage was pretty decimated by the recent rain/wind storms here in VT--the tree branches already look like creepy bare bones! Just in time for Halloween :)

warm weather wants: coats

You guys, I'm in love.

As I've said before, I generally try to steer clear of Modcloth these days. I can't really afford to spend $60 on a dress, let alone $120-$260 on a coat, and I do pride myself on being thrifty and realizing that there are some things I just don't need. Still, some cosmic tug caused me to click over to the site recently (okay, I thought to myself: my birthday is coming up, maybe I'll buy myself something nice...). Gulp. I want, I want! Covetousness comes but (twice) a year--and now it is here. I literally do not think that I could choose just one of these coats to purchase. If it weren't so expensive, the plaid-and-shearling would probably win, but I'm equally enamored of the top two options: a classic brown zigzag or those adorable bows? Oh my gosh, but the white batwing coat with the fur collar--or the Navajo print--and I've been dying for a fur...

Swoon.

saturday style icon: brigitte bardot

Despite being one of the sexiest woman of all time, Brigitte Bardot still managed to maintain a level of class that surpasses any sexbomb our generation can produce (*cough*Pamela Anderson*cough*). Her style was (when she decided to dress--the number of nude/seminude photographs of Ms. Bardot on the web almost equal the number in which she is clothed [much like Jane Birkin, I might add]) decidedly understated--lots of black, lots of basics, simple patterns and full-coverage clothing.

Simone de Beauvoir summed up Brigitte Bardot's appeal and named her a "locomotive of women's history" in her 1962 essay "Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome" (and because I adore Simone dB, I'll use her words gladly): "In her role of confused female, of homeless little slut, Brigitte Bardot seems to be available to everyone, and yet, paradoxically, she is intimidating....(T)here is something stubborn in her sulky face, in her sturdy body....There is nothing coarse about her. She has a kind of spontaneous dignity..." (source)

Bardot claimed that she was exactly herself onscreen, and her blatant sexuality and vague vapidity does seem to translate into her everyday life--actor/author John Gilmore once said: "I felt a beautiful warmth with Bardot but found it difficult to discuss things in any depth whatsoever." Trop dommage. I suppose sometimes beauty really is just skin deep... or clothes-deep ;)