Double Day

Today I did a double at work (7a-11p) and I decided to dress like a cowboy. I'm wearing a cowboy hat, blue shirt, blue flannel overshirt, jeans, sneakers, and cross dogtags. Sadly I don't own any cowboy boots. I wonder if anywhere sells good vegan cowboy boots?

Cowboy me.

Saturday

Today I work my normal 3-11 shift. I don't feel very inspired in terms of fashion so I dug out my red sox baseball cap, paired it with a red shirt and jeans, and called it a day.

Selfie in today's hat.

Fierce Friday: Funeral Hat

Today is Friday the 13th. It's also the day of a mock climate funeral protest at Worcester City Hall. With those things in mind, I am dressed up in funeral attire. I did think about going in drag because women's funeral hats are much more dramatic, but I opted for laziness instead. I'm still going to tell you about funeral hats and European women's mourning attire, though...

Drawing of four women in mourning attire.

Advertisement for mourning attire.

Another advertisement for mourning attire.

Mourning dress really took hold in the Victorian Era following the death of Prince Albert in 1861. Queen Victoria wore her black mourning clothing (called "widows weeds") for the remainder of her life until her death in 1901. Many chose to follow her example so mourning attire became fashionable and was seen as the decent thing to do following the death of a loved one.

Queen Victoria in Mourning Attire

At its peak in the Victorian Era, widows were expected to wear mourning attire for two and a half years following the death of their spouse. The first year and a day were "full mourning" during which a widow would wear only black clothing and accessories, and she would also wear a drape of black crape over her entire garment. The next nine months were "secondary mourning," during which she would partially remove the crape but continue wearing only black. In the next three months the widow removed the crape entirely but still wore only black. The last six months were called "half mourning" and somber colors of ordinary clothing were gradually introduced (think grey, white, and purple). Of course my concern right now is hats. Women in the Victorian Era began mourning with long veils and as mourning progressed the veils got shorter and the hats and bonnets went from simple to fancy.

Two Women in Victorian Mourning Attire

Mourning fashion changed somewhat during the Edwardian Era, but it was reduced even more during the World Wars because so many people died that almost everyone was in mourning for someone. Women continued to wear darker clothes for about 6 months to a year after the death of their loved ones up through the 1950s, but this trend continued to relax until the present day when many folks don't even wear black to the funeral itself.

Drag Queen Tiffany Diamond looking amazing. When I die, I hope someone dresses like this to my funeral.

Ok. All of this lead-up bears no resemblance to my outfit. Sorry! I just dressed like I normally would for a funeral. I had my black suit, black tie, and grey shirt, plus black lipstick and nail polish. And a black funeral hat to complete the outfit! Here are some pics of me and of the protest:

Me looking serious in my mourning attire.

Me looking happy and excited in my fake funeral attire.

People at the protest in front of a fake coffin that says "Goodbye All We Love" and "Mourn The Earth."

Protesters carry the fake coffin in a funeral procession for the Earth.

And a bonus picture of me with my brother's puppy Freyja after everything was over and I was back in my normal clothes:

Me in my funeral hat and a purple and white striped shirt with my brother's puppy licking my face.

On a less funeral hat note: Today is also the first shift of my preceptorship. It's overnights on an adult floor at a hospital about 45 minutes from my house. Wish me luck!

Boring Day.

The only think I did today was work. I wore my green military cap, mushroom shirt, a green necklace made for me by a friend's kid, jeans, and sneakers. The shirt has mushrooms on it and it says "Amateur Mycologist with Questionable Morels."

Selfie of me in my mushroom outfit.

Zoo Day

Today was my day off so I took Love Bug to the Southwick's Zoo in Mendon MA. We had a blast! I wore my leopard print baseball cap for the occasion, along with a black t-shirt, a lips necklace, jeans, and black sneakers.

Me in my zoo outfit.

As far as we were concerned, there were three big highlights of this zoo:

1) The petting zoo. There is an area with a herd of pygmy goats that your'e allowed to pet. Love Bug was fascinated by the goats and would have been happy to stay there all day playing with them. The goats, meanwhile, were curious about his wheelchair and whether it might be tasty. And as an added bonus, the woman working in the area was incredibly sweet and helpful. I have about a zillion photos of the petting zoo, but Love Bug is in all of them so I can't post any. Sorry! Here are some random zoo photos instead:

Tortoise.

Zebra.

2) The deer forest. I think this was my favorite part of the zoo. The deer forest is a section in the zoo where deer roam free and you can purchase special food to feed them. Love Bug couldn't quite get the hang of holding the deer food out for the deer. He kept either closing the food in his fist so the deer couldn't get it or accidentally dropping the food on the ground. But he was happy to see the deer and they came right up to eat the food he dropped. 

Deer at the deer forest.

3) The woodland express train. We got to see elk, herons, turtles, ducks, and some random local birds. Love Bug was thrilled to be riding a train. I spent much of the train ride convincing him to stay in his seat since he was so excited he kept trying to launch himself out of the train. 

Elk that was walking next to our train.

Heron in the local wetland next to the train tracks.

Other nice things about this zoo: 

* They have food available. It's overpriced which I honestly expected, but it was tasty.

* There is an area with rooms for nursing mothers which turned out to be a perfect place for diaper changes. No gross bathroom floor diaper changes for us!

* The staff are all very kind and helpful.

Voting Day and Dolphin's birthday!

Today was my friend Dolphin's Birthday so in honor of her I wore this French-inspired outfit:

Me in my French-ish outfit.

I'm wearing a beret, a striped white and navy blue shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

And in case you also live in Massachusetts, I'm just going to let you know that you need to vote today! I voted - you should too!

Clinical Day

Today I had my first public health clinical followed by an LGBT Asylum Task Force meeting.

For my public health clinical, I'm working with a school nurse. I'll be going to the elementary, middle, and high schools in this clinical and I'm really excited about it since school nursing is a type of nursing that really interests me. I love working with kids and the hours of school nurse jobs are honestly ideal for a single parent since I'd be on the same schedule as my kids.

Since I had to look professional for my clinical, I wore a floral button-down, blue vest, cap, and slacks. I was nervous as first but I had an awesome first day. The nurse I was shadowing was wonderful and I liked the kids and the job so I was happy.

Me in my clinical outfit.