At Last (and we're not talking Etta James, here)

Finally, Fall Has Arrived!

Thank goodness.

If I'd had to endure one more ridiculous day of June weather with October light (you know how it just has that lovely pale orange cast?), I was going to...well...

I know there are more than a few of you out there in the Infintessimal Readership (ahem, Miss Scarlet) who are thrilled with the temperature drop. Sweaters, scarves, here we come!

So The Bean and I had a lovely day yesterday, starting with lunch with a dear friend in Georgetown.* Naturally, as part of lunch discussion (after baby and H talk), fashion came up. LatinaTerp was thrilled to have the rest of the afternoon, Bean-free (she has two lovlies), to do some wardrobe updating. The first thing on her list? Boots.

Now longer-term readers know that I have a love affair with boots - unrequited, for the most part. Apart from my amazing, honeymoon-bought Daslus, I search and search and search, to no avail. A big part of my dilemma is my calf size - I inhertited my dad's great, muscular calves. This means that 98% of the boots out there zip to within about an inch of the top before they start pinching. I know I'm not alone, either, in the calf-size dilemma - large or small calves, it's a problem. It's a discussion every fall, just like in this week's Talking Fashion.

There are manufacturers out there that make "larger" or "smaller" calf sizes, but apart from trying them on, quite frankly, there's not a whole lot a gal can do. You never know, based on cut, exactly where they'll fall.

But despite my dilemma, I search on (it usually takes me 3 years to find a new pair, which I subsequently wear to death. My first favorite pair I bought in Cambridge, England, on a jaunt with a dear friend, and wore them until the soles cracked right underneath me.) Here are a couple of my favorites for this season...

Gidigio for Carbon - these would ground a flirty little dress or skirt and frilly blouse. Think schoolmarm on crack.

Rockport (yup) sold at L.L. Bean (yup again). As a girl who grew up in "horse country" (the occasional fox hunt would dash through our backyard), I'm sucker for an equestrian style. Don't bother wearing it over your jeans (ugh, why torture yourself with skinny jeans?), but if you dare to wear this season's cozy sweater dress (I'm getting flashbacks to one I had 10 years ago), they'd be perfect. Or just plain old with a suit or skirt for the office.

I'm also a sucker for anything "hard," like Frye or Harley. Check out zappos.com for a great selection of Frye boots.

And what did LatinaTerp end up with, you ask? Earrings, 2 skirts, capris, and sunglasses. But no boots.

*Much to my dismay, I dressed my daughter in her absolute preppiest outfit (polo dress with whales). It was the dress on top, I swear!