the big giant post of autumnal inspiration

While I dally around town with Christa today, I thought I'd leave you with these pictures of things that are exciting me about the approaching season.
I love the fall - the school clothes, the supplies, the weather...

The accessories!



I am loving the stitching on this big bag -



It's from Free People, which has just opened a store near me...Free People, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters are all the same company, you know, and they have so many things to see - and terrific installations in the stores.



I'm also still loving these Marisa Klass necklaces -
But they are EXPENSIVE and so I can really only hope to use them as inspiration.



Is there ANY earthly reason why I couldn't make one of these?



One reason I can think of is that I need assistance with the choice of thread - or is it wire that I need? Should I go get a book on beading from the library?

I am smitten with this coat -



or, more precisely, the idea of this coat...



As well as this skirt -



perhaps a bit longer though.
And not with the coat. That would be a bit too much.





How much do I love this cardigan?
Not $228 dollars worth, that's for sure. But the asymetrical business and buttonholes and big collar are just great.

I already own two variations of this:



but can someone remind me to try it with a blouse under it, rather than a tee?


I am in need of a jacket for the fall -



and I like this one, but I think those sleeves would bother me - maybe.



Better?

Finally, I have had all my hair cut off.
I suppose it was shoulder length, but I've spent the last few months pulling it back and clipping it off my face so it wouldn't drive me crazy.
And then I saw that Nicole Kidman movie, Birth?
And, see, in this Nicole Kidman movie, Birth, Nicole has (in the form of a wig, I am guessing) really short hair. And we spend most of 90 minutes staring at Nicole as she stares.



She does a lot of staring.
And acting with her neck muscles.



And to keep them from becoming strained, she wears this thick gray scarf a lot.

So. Yeah. Not a great movie, but a good looking movie, in which Nicole Kidman's hair did an excellent job of making me want it. (But not in wig form.)
(I did find the very last scene, with Nicole in a wedding dress in the ocean? moving.)

I begged K, at the end of the movie, to lop off my hair.
I felt that if he were to cut it, it would make him compliant in the idea of the hair cut.
(K does not find short hair attractive. On women.)
But, being the genius he is, he declined.
And 'declined' is a euphemism for what he said, which was more on the lines of: not on your fucking life would I cut your hair.
Which: what?
I cut my own hair ALL THE TIME. It would have been no big deal for him to hack off my flimsy ponytail. (ack, it looked so so so crappy)
I tried to persuade Middle, who's hair I've been cutting for years.
No. Dice.
I was in a frenzy.
A FRENZY I TELL YOU.
So, yesterday morning at 8:30 I was at the barber shop.
You wanna me to cut it like a boy? asked the barber who has trimmed my hair upon occasion.
Maybe like a girl... I offered.
He thought for a while, wondering where to begin - what to do.
And then it dawned on me: Remember when Mia married Frank? I asked.
He smiled.
Like that.

And I like it very very much.
And I did worry that K would not like it at all.
And I worry that I look like this:



instead of this:



Turns out, K said he thinks it looks cute...which I'll take.


I'm taking tomorrow off. (And seriously considering winnowing out my blogroll.)
For Show and Tell Thursday (now capitalized)Katy would like to see our toothbrush holders.
(I know we have shown our toothbrushes. This is different.)

See you then.