Express: What to Wear When You're In a Messy Mood

Last weekend changed a lot from my original plans - all for the better, I'm very pleased to say. My husband was meant to be going to New Jersey for work on Saturday, but the post-Sandy gas shortage  (ummm, NSFW link, guys) left him stranded in New York, with our usual favourite Zipcar totally out of action (not at all their fault, I hasten to add). Stranded in New York, with no possible way of getting to the middle of New Jersey, on a Saturday. Wow, sometimes life really screws with you. What a nightmare*.

We made the most of the unexpected good fortune by going to Smorgasburg. Usually I'm all like argh about Brooklyn - such a faraway wasteland with no cabs - but I had been to Williamsburg recently and it's actually embarrassingly easy to get there, and nice once you are there, and (importantly) easy to leave from. I had also been wanting to go to Smorgasburg for ages. A food festival, every weekend? Yes please.

Every single one of these tents - and the ones you can't see to the left -
sold amazing food. I am pleased/appalled I limited myself to three.

I planned out what to wear very carefully** and wound up in one of my favourite tops, which also happens to be one of the best examples of discount shopping I've ever done. It's a mostly pink Marc by Marc Jacobs trapeze-style top, which was originally around ~ $200. When I saw it, it was on Gilt*** for $100. And then - then - I got a 'perk' through Klout. Because my Klout score was between 40 and 60, I could get 60% off anything on Gilt (up to a maximum of some amount I don't remember).

Hello, $40 Marc by Marc Jacobs top.

This was probably the last chance I would get to wear it in New York until April, at least without covering it up with a big coat. I just wore jeans**** and my black boots and my black cardigan with it. It was a Saturday - time for casualness and eating.

The really lovely thing about Brooklyn is you can see Manhattan.

And eat I did. Turns out that glorious top was a good idea for more than one reason. See how busy that pattern is? Busy and small? That is the perfect sort of pattern for hiding food spills, which is really great for me, because I have the sort of hand-eye coordination - or hand-mouth coordination, whatever - that results in me eating like a drunk three year old. On this particular day, I ate and drank:

1. An Asian hot dog with pickled carrots, cucumber, jalapenos, and pate
2. A piece of maple-bacon on a stick (like a hunk of bacon. I'm a little embarrassed, but mostly proud)
3. A 'personal' key lime pie (personal is not the equivalent of small, in this case)
4. A bottle of San Pellegrino

And look, you'd never know.

Looking for more food? Probably.

H1 ate the same or similar, but because he mastered eating like a grown-up when he became a grown-up (probably before, actually, knowing him and his tidiness) he got to wear solid colours. Like this. Isn't he handsome?

The legendary H1 - not just mythical.

It was a great day. New Jersey, you were not missed.

*Nooooooootttttttt. 

**Lies. This did not happen, it was luck.

***If you have not been to Gilt, you must go to Gilt; it is AMAZING.

****Uniqlo. Obvs. Japanese denim is the BEST.