Almost Back

When last I wrote, I was preparing to take off a couple of days from the Blogosphere to slap together a new and improved website for our business, effortlessly and all-easy-peasy-like.

When, oh when will I learn?

I won't bore and belabor you with the infuriating details, but suffice it to say that it was a lot harder than I though it was going to be. Really a LOT harder.

But it's done, and the new site is up and I will be back around to see everyone at the Lovably Layered Patti's Visible Monday link party and catch up with my correspondence eventuality. I still have some cyber-business related chores to tackle, but I can see the finish line ahead.

The photo above is all I have to show you this week, and I'm sorry that it's not a What I Wore photo, but it is a pretty good graphic representation of how my week went.

Now that I can think of something other than my revenge- fantasy desire to choke the life out of a couple of tech-service reps, I can tell you that I was able to take a few minutes break this week from real work and steal a peek at the the fall style issues of the big, glossy fashion magazines that are just now arriving. Wow! Lots of new ideas to consider, and when I'm done with all my chores I'm going to start my Fall-Winter 2014-15 Lust List. It's part of my style-obsession hobby to luxuriate in plans for fall purchases. And it carries the added benefit of helping me stick to planned purchases rather than the kind one makes when one finds oneself in TJ Maxx after a couple of glasses of wine with dinner and no list in hand. Or is that just me?

But even though I just love fall, there's no hurry this year. Another reason I don't have a WIW photo for you is that I'm really enjoying wearing some of my favorite, feel-fabulous summer looks again that you've already seen. There's still time to try some different combinations, and I hope to show you some as we have lots of summer left down here in Steamy Old Nowhere.

I can't tell you much yet about what will be on the Fall List, but you can be sure there will be shoes. Lots of shoes.   

As Boho As I Go

On the fly today with plenty of excuses why I'm still absent in from my usual haunts in the Blogosphere (only one of which is any good: I've got to redo our business website from scratch with a program I'm still learning and it's slow going. I've added that to trying to figure out the best use of various new-to-me social media as a replacement for traditional advertising. Whew. Yes, indeed. )

What I Wore yesterday for the Sunday trip to the Big-ish City

This is about as Bohemian as I've gone in recent years. In the late 60s and all through the 70s, I had periods of folky-ness with everyone else, and a full-on-but-brief descent into an Earth Motherish period in the 90s. But since then, not so much. So, just a touch of Boho here with the print and paneled construction of this feather-weight skirt. It has a smocked-elastic waist that goes several inches up under the crop top, so no cami is necessary for modesty. Nice for the summer heat and flattering at the waist.

The crop top is made with a substantial embroidered lace front that holds it's structure. It's also very soft and cool with a tee-shirting back panel. Easy-peasy and casual.

However, I did have to take up the hem 3 and 1/4 inches, which was a pistol because the skirt is made of curved hem panels, lots of them. But that little challenge pales compared to the amount of fabric that had to be hemmed. I measured it twice just to make sure, 'cause I didn't believe it the first time. The hem measures just a little over 33 feet around. Whew, again. I'm no fool. I used the machine to hem this mother.

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Back to the virtual grindstone. But first, I'm popping over to Perkily Printed Patti's Visible Monday .

Stop by if you can ... it's so much fun!

White Dresses, Flowered Midis and Smartphones

I'm a party girl today. Pictures first, then, of what I wore to some lovely, summery linky-parties:

I'm finally getting to come out to play with the always- glamorous Sacramento of Mis Papelicos at the current Share In Style with her partner for this week, the very lovely Alicia, our own fabulous Spashionista. Their theme is Flowers. Yummy idea.

Of the skirts I've made for myself this spring and summer, this wrinkle resistant, faux-linen skirt is my favorite. I like my florals to be a little stylized, and although these big blossoms break the rules for petites, I love them anyway. They make me think of my favorite white-floral fragrances, an obvious choice to wear with this combination as well. As if I need an excuse. And the top is from Calvin Klein, happily had at a deep discount at TJ Maxx. I see why it was on sale; it was boxier even than you see here and hip length. I cropped about half of it off and I just love the effect of the drapey fabric and the tailored front detail .... nice to have a little breeze going to show off the movement. I wore this out to dinner with Dan, and I felt fabulous and smelled really good as well!

My  LWD ... for "How I Wear My ____"

And later in the week, you'll see this LWD at How I Wear My _____ , hosted by that ultra-chic and unstoppable team comprised of the fabulous Adrienne at The Rich Life on a Budget and the gorgeous Jill at Everything Just So. The theme this time is White, so I also submitted the skirt and top above as one of the ways I wear white; in a creamy shade combined with other neutrals.

 I've never had a LWD, and thought that this summer might pass without finding one. But my style-luck has been with me of late, and I found this Crown & Ivy eyelet embroidery dress at a summer sale. I wear white with trepidation, but I love the cut of the upper bodice of this very forgiving sheath style dress. It wasn't too short, too young, too tight or too expensive, and once I tried it on, it was true love. I liked it best with my little coral d'Orsay pumps (hope these stay around for a while, 'cause I have a mini-collection of them now) and a cute cork clutch.

When I wear this combination, I can't help remembering that deep down, under this old lady skin and psyche, there's still that California girl from 1968 who wants to dance in her dress, barefoot on the moonlit beach of a summer night.

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An update on my post mini-disaster phase:

After last week's Snicket-ish series of unfortunate events, you'd think that I'd choose to kick back and savor the simple absence of catastrophe.

But no. I just couldn't manage it. I was still too adrenaline-pumped to quit, so I let Dan draw me into further adventures with communication technology, right after the router debacle. Not really up to the level of adopting a Transformer as a pet, nor was it a mini-disaster like the flooded business, but still a little daunting; we changed mobile carriers and got our first smartphones.  Woo hoo.

Ch-ch-ch changes, especially for Dan. He has to bid his battered old flip phone goodby. We're learning our way around new phones in between doing everything else, but Dan is completely in love with the ability to do it all by voice. Voice texting, voice generated email, voice Google searches, voice generated grocery and to-do lists ... all that has eliminated his frustration with little buttons and big fingers. He maintains that phones are for talking, and it seems that technology is finally his friend. And our bill is cut in half (!!!) and we have tons of data and voice that we didn't have before. Worth the effort, absolutely.

As for me, I'm looking forward to being able to use new ways of communicating with customers and keeping up with so many of you guys that use Instagram! I have Twitter loaded, but no account yet. I will figure it out sooner than later.

But what I want to know from you, my style-and-tech-savvy friends, is how you use your mobile technology to support your personal style fixations? I need to make this little smarty-pants-phone work pretty hard for its keep. Obviously, it's easier than ever to shop on-line, but what else can a smart phone do to to make my life easier or more interesting in the wardrobe department? Any ideas?