Some Mules, Some Culottes and a Satchel Walk Into a Bar ....

... and although I can't come up with a punchline here, I was so cool and and happy wearing them on a very hot evening, I don't mind leaving that title-set-up flapping in the breeze without its punchline.

I found this pair of denim culottes (with the tags still on them!) while closet diving. I vaguely remember putting them in the "alterations needed" pile some years back, and although I don't remember what I was going to do with them, I slipped them right on and was as tickled as if they were a brand new purchase.  This flowy tunic is just one of a dozen shirts and tops I'll be able to wear with these. 

Whether the top I choose is shorter or longer, this silhouette just cries out to me for a dressy heel, so ... ta-daa! Meet my new black mules ... with a tiny, cushiony mini-platform for comfort and that extra height I never mind pretending to own.

When I first saw this little satchel, I didn't mind a bit that it had bright yellow panels on either side, with warm and cool beiges and some subtle black trim.  I love that it's a color interesting a lot of designers this season, but for me it's a problematic color to wear ... just like it seems to be for a lot of women. Seems like everyone and their giddy aunt is wearing it on a tote this year as a good solution, so this little bag seemed like a fun variation on the theme.

And since I'm loving yellow, blue and white together this summer ... ta-da Part 2!  I bring you an inky blue, rough denim shirt (with popped collar, of course) with my blue and white batik culottes.  A yellow belt, the new satchel and I'm set. 

These culottes were only recently a pair of long palazzo pants that I felt looked more like sister-wife-wear on me than a garment meant for traipsing lazily about on the cool tile floor of an Italian villa.  Snip-snip, hem-hem, and there we are.  I haven't seen any printed culottes here in South Fly Over yet, so that's a problem solved.

Nude, buttery-soft leather mules make me so happy with this outfit.  I love these.  In fact, this particular pair of shoes (which I have been looking for more than a couple of seasons!) have inspired me to make a serious effort to wear the shoes I love much more often than the ones I just like or seem merely practical at the moment.  If I got hit by a WalMart truck, I'd hate to croak knowing my especially-beloved shoes where not worn completely out.

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At the very last minute as usual, I'm ducking just under the wire to attend the Season Finale of Patti's Visible Monday . Sincere thanks to you, Patty, for the wonderful past year... and I'll look forward to Fall even more than usual for the season premier of your brilliantly cast link-up!  Ahem.

Come on over to see the red-carpet looks at VM.

Artifacts from my Way-Back Machine

I'm always interested in bags and shoes. And shoes and bags. Always. But this year, stores and the glossies seem to be offering so much more of them both to love, so I'm not surprised that they are so especially intriguing to me. Some years for me it's skirts or dresses or tunics. This year looks like it's shaping up to be the Jan's Year of the Accessory.

We are enjoying strangely extended mild spring temperatures this year, with lots of rainy days, so I've been enjoying a few more days that I can keep comfortably wearing the perfect-for-me, long sleeved, crisp, white and black tailored shirts that I discovered last year. They'll make way for similar-but-sleeveless tops in the miserable heat that is coming soon (and as you see below, the transition is already underway) but I've been digging the unexpected extra opportunities to wear them with my recent and typically Jan-Come-Lately discovery of straight leg jeans on the skinny side. This very simple combination just begs for a great shoe and notice-me bag ... I know "third pieces" are not supposed to be about the shoes, but I think they can often function that way with very casual outfits. There are so many fresh looking shoe shapes, many of them creative iterations of retro classics, that it's easy to focus on feet-first outfit planning. A bag, too, can make a huge difference in how polished a basic shirt-jeans combo can look.

I was shoe shopping when I found this Boho-beauty, and it was a huge accessory crush for me at first sight. I had a similar bag long ago, a much loved and more rustic version in the way-back, that sported antiqued brass metal rather than the shiny and sleek silver fittings of this more polished design. My current tastes don't usually run to strongly Bohemian looks, although it has never gone away and seems to be enjoying some extra fashion-passion from trend lovers, classicists and vintage enthusiasts alike. I was there for the late 60's version and have frequently dipped a toe into some revivals in the decades between then and now. We eldest are so often cautioned that "if we did it the first time around we shouldn't do it again" but this bag, for me, is an illustration of why we absolutely should do it again and as often as we wish.

One of the things I love about having lived through the decades of style that I have is that I can enjoy the evolution that allows past favorites to reappear, renewed and reinvented and with refreshed relevance.

It occurs to me that the white, sleeveless shirt-waist, complete with popped collar was typical of the late 50s-early-60s. By the late 60s and 70s, it would have been looking dated, and the fringed bag would have been paired with quite a different look ... my straight leg jeans wouldn't have arrived yet and the bag would have paired with bell-bottoms. The wooden platforms were throwbacks even then to the 40s and 50s, and now I'm happy to reintroduce them (yet again!) to other pieces from other decades. Like the rest of the pieces, it's become a classic in it's own way, and I am delighted to field the compliments I've been getting. I fully admit to enjoying again the swish of fringe when I walk, without going full-on hippy chic from the Summer of Love. This slightly sleeker version of the my grubbier, rougher, Woodstock-era carryall has evolved, and so have I. (Just from the era ... I wasn't AT Woodstock.) Neither of us are exactly the same as we used to be, but both of us in our current versions are more versatile, more useful than we were then.

And if that isn't a perfect excuse inspiration to indulge in a new bag in a style from my youth, I don't know what is.

(The color isn't as true as the photo above, but you can see

what a nice drop it has from the shoulder.)

  

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That's it for this week ... come with me over to Pretty Patti's 

Visible Monday and see what all the glamourati are up to!

Ketchup

It does NOT seem like almost a month since my last post, but it's that, just short a couple of days. Wow. During my absence, we've had thunderstorm-intense weather with lots of rain (we did need the rain) followed by some gray, chilly days and all that has been unsettling for tornado wary folks here. Dan and I spent a lot of these weeks annoyed and inconvenienced by March Madness nonsense and dealt with customers staying at home because of tax time (an annual non-treat for us, too.) We've spent an inordinately large chunk of the lost weeks reestablishing our stuff with a new primary health-care provider ... another ultimately good thing, that. 

 But my last nerve finally shredded last week because I was still afoot after the old-car debacle of some months ago, and Dan had to coax me down from the tree-tops with a promise of car shopping. At least I thought it was my last nerve, but I found I had still had some left to be frazzed during the compulsory shenanigans pulled by the local, good ol' boy used-car dealership in the process. I have no proper words for this experience, really. But I do have a decent vehicle that ought to be returned into my anxious arms tomorrow after a critical bit of repair is finally completed. So, that's really good and I can only rejoice that it's about freaking time at last !

So, that's some of what I've been doing. Oh, yes ... I almost forgot having to face the dreadful, cold squeezies of the Mammogram Monster. But the result was clean as a whistle, so more good news to report. Yay.

During all this day to day stuff, I did manage to take pleasure in the change of seasonal wardrobe and bring a few items from last month's list out to play! Look ... I managed photos as well!   

So nice to be able to jazz up old favorite combos with a fresh pair of kicks. Keds Double Ups, in this case, and I was delighted with the slightly thicker sole, matching red pin-stripe and red laces! Delightfully and magically, the red laces relieve some of the gunboatish quality that old-school tennis shoes sometimes have. I'm not crazy about how I look in large, flat RED shoes, so they've been worn since then with rolled up BFs, sloppy T shirts and my coolest sunnies. They work better in that context on a short girl, I think, and make a trip to the grocery store a little more fun.

 I wore this on a trip to town on one of those thunderstormy days and tried a nude shoe where I might have worn a bolder color. The otherwise uninteresting and matronly top worked pretty well with pale coat and shoes and a mid-blue pair of skinnies.   I always get compliments when I wear this coat, and I like that it makes a faint swishing noise when I walk. Nice to get one more time to wear it before it gets too hot.

I always go after handbags and shoes if I'm unsettled about everything else ... so here you see a pale pink, white and nude one from Call it Spring (JCPenny) with my favorite rose gold-tone accents.

I couldn't make this photo do justice to the rich cognac color blocked with black in this Sorial tote. It's much better IRL, as are the cognac mules. I could really fall hard for these "straight leg skinnies" from Old Navy. They may be my new favorite jeans cut as they definitely remind me how elongating and curve-flattering a longer line can be.  I like this current iteration of the straight leg; it's like my old style, wider, straight leg stacking jeans married a pair of skinnies and had these!

Ah. That's better, closer to the real life color. Along with black and white, I'm seriously attracted to brown, blue and black combos in all the possible variations for this spring, so there's more to come.

I've been wanting these windowpane pixie pants, and got them at deep discount. Not as huge a pattern as the black and white plaid version I showed you not long ago, and closer to flattering, I think. I'm enjoying wearing fitted shirts like this one with a collar to pop, and the close-but-not-tight fit feels like a good thing. 

Speaking of shoes and bags to make me feel grounded; I love this chunky heeled and thick strapped pair (Steve Madden) and adorably cheap-and-trendy clearance bag from good ol' Charming Charlie ! I'll get the good out of it with all the black and white graphics that are appearing on my radar. Stay tuned.

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So.  That catches me up, and I'm off to check in (sooner, I hope, rather than later) with all the Glamazons and Glamoratti at the Lovely Patti's Visible Monday .  I need to see what you're all up to!

Spring Crashes In

Rather than her usual dignified and gently gradual arrival, spring's appearance here felt more like a teenager slamming through the front door and flinging herself dramatically on the couch, shouting "I'm HOME!" in case you somehow missed all the commotion. Two weeks ago, my pasture was snow covered at 28 degrees, followed by another week of mostly rain with temps in the high 30s, turning my pasture into a soggy gray-brown mess. A couple of days ago it was 74 degrees and sunny, followed by a couple of days of soft rain. There's green grass that's suddenly all over the place and some of the white-blossomed trees are already in bloom, but today we're under our first major thunderstorm alert with tornado watch at 78 degrees.

I wasn't ready for this kind of arrival. Although I knew logically that spring would be here any minute, this winter seemed eternal, and I was not ready for this Snow's Gone-I'm-Here-Right-NOW entrance. Consequently, I'm suddenly digging around for warm weather clothing, and our springtimes don't last very long so we could be into summer in nothing flat. Yikes.

Happily, I can now wallow in a satisfying fantasy of looking and feeling lighter and more optimistic after the weight of this last winter. To last winter's receding back I shriek, " ... and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!" I always look forward to winter's arrival, but am particularly relieved to see the back of this one.

Google Keep is a list-making app on my phone that I've been using to record notes on Spring Stuff that Appeals and Interests. This year especially, the array of retro ideas that designers are re-approaching is extra fascinating. I'm charmed with the idea of evolved versions of my old favorite statements and silhouettes. Since I'm old enough to have loved and worn earlier iterations, it's like personal validation to see them enjoyed and appreciated again, with fresh inspiration applied in current context. Feels good to know what was groovy then still shows some potential now ... just like me!

More playtime with old playmates, but with the advantage of hindsight. I have questions, though. The best part of fashion revivals is that they're not exactly the same as the first time around. So how, exactly, does that translate, and how, exactly, is the old good idea made new and better? Here's some of the ideas that interest me the most:

Consider implications of modern Boho elements.

I actually wrote that pretentious little exhortation to myself, but it's not a bad bit of advice to me from me. See, although I love the Romantic era as well as Bauhaus modernism, I have a hard time integrating them into a single visual idea. After a few seasons of fascination with more minimal silhouettes, my little soul is craving a bit of Boho. Maybe. Where do I put it, though, and how to play with it this time around? No set opinion on this just yet ... stay tuned.

Shoes! A broad subject always of interest to me with several elements:

1. Platforms ... shop the closet!

As a short woman, my joy at their renewed availability is palpable. And I'm smug that I didn't pitch my favorite ones in recent purges. Out they come.

2. Big, blocky heel sandals, lowish & high

These haven't been around much in recent seasons, and I'm happy to see them again. The first time around they felt rebellious, as we differentiated ourselves from our mother's stilettos. Nice to have both shapes playing nice in the store windows!

3. Mules

Here's evolution; I wouldn't have worn these on a bet when I was a younger woman. They had a louche quality to them when famously worn by bad-girl bombshell actresses of the late 50s, suggesting high-heeled bedroom scuffs, festooned with marabou pompoms. They've changed a lot and now look more modern and a bit tougher with a higher vamp or strappier versions with a chunkier heels. I like that remaining hint of their slightly sinful past along with what seems to my eye a more sophisticated, cooler construction. They've come a long way, baby, and I like the new iteration a lot.

4. Red sneakers ... just because.

Got 'um, love 'um. My size goes early, so very specific shoes are always a first seasonal purchase. So cute, I think. You'll see them soon. As Dan said, though, they're "very un-Jan-like" but that's probably the best reason to add them to my mix.

5. Nude Sandals and Shoes

I have several pairs of these, in different shapes and styles, all much admired but rarely worn. They go with everything, are said to lengthen the leg, but they always seem the second best choice. But with such a strong emphasis on neutral colors, I intend that this will be the spring-summer when I figure out how to best style them. I really want to know how to wear them to best effect. Any ideas, tips, rules I don't know or silly-wild-ass-guesses are welcome.

Graphic dress and shift dresses
Sewing projects!? Yes, I think so. Stay tuned. The two ideas combine in my imagination. I love the idea of a graphic print in a shift shape. A classic shape that is noticed again and welcomed with pleasure. Below, I recently pushed the season a bit and gave this bright shift it's first outing. Making it cower beneath a blazer and pairing it with work shoes isn't the best presentation, but you'll see it again in sleeveless comfort as the weather warms.

(Shift dress from JCPenny)

Long tunic tops / Asymmetric tops with leggings or skinnies

I love this look, and I love how easy it is to wear, dressed up or down. Especially with cute summer sandals. I'm all over this one, but I know when I'm this dizzy for a look, I'd better check twice in the mirror for proportions.

Chokers

I welcome these back too, and I love the sleek, minimal ones. Maybe these are the elusive, summer-time Third Piece solutions to my personal style puzzle. A good style principle, but always a challenge in hot humid climes.

Suede? Really? Suede for summer?

Interesting. What if I made an easy Ultrasuede tunic or even just a minimalist top? (Not likely to see any of this in stores around here any time soon.)
A recent Dillard's sale netted a ridiculously low price on some light cognac-ish suede sandals that I adore, and that might about all I can manage for this intriguing idea.

Straight leg jeans

Here's where I have lots of questions. I dug out some "straight" leg jeans from my past, but nowadays they look like wide leg jeans. Terms have changed, shapes evolve, and I've found that a modern take on this cut is basically a skinny that is straight from the knee but not tapered to the ankle. That's what I'm using as a working definition while I figure out if these can be flattering on me or not.

Again, stay tuned.

(I'm serious.  I need some feedback about modern straight leg silhouettes and how to wear nude shoes to best effect.)

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I'm heading over to the Inimitable Patti's at Visible Monday

Come see how spring is evolving for a whole lot of fabulous people!

My Mojo Calls Home

Thanks so much to all of you who wrote and expressed sympathy for the loss of my mojo. I wanted to let you all know that she finally called very late last night!  She was happily inebriated and all giggly, declaring loudly that she was okay but not coming home until the weather warms up a lot, and that I'd just have to manage by myself for a while. She wouldn't tell me where she was calling from, but I could hear raucous laughter and steel drums and what I thought might be crashing surf in the background.  Of course, I checked caller ID but the number was blocked. Bitch.

What I want to know is where she got the money for a plane ticket.

So, I'm on my own for a bit but you deserve an update.

The weather here, like so many places, has been too rainy, snowy, windy or just plain cold to photograph outside.  So I finally got a bit of blank indoor wall space cleared where there is some decent light.  I sort of like the effect of the natural light, but I see that I'll need to devise some kind of fill light-reflector-thingy as the shadows intensify my wrinkles facial flaws a bit more than I'm thrilled with.  I'm comfortable with the better focus in my new camera showing more of them, but I'll be damned if I let them be exaggerated.  I'm getting better with the camera as well, so I haven't completely wasted the time away from the blog!

As you know, we mostly take these on our way out of the house when we head into the Big City for supplies.  This was on a miserably cold day, and on top of this I wore a big old coat, big old scarf, and fleece lined gloves. 

Photographing indoors invites more dog bombs.  Here you see our elderly boxer, Sophie, wondering why Mom is standing here all weird and posey-like.  She's also asking to go with us, but it was not to be.

Last weekend it warmed up considerably, and we had a very mild, 60ish-degree Sunday, so I decided to go all peep-toe in a pair of Ralph Lauren mules I lucked into.  Some recent closet diving netted my old minty trench ... I'm sorry that I wasn't able to capture its elegant, slightly shiny texture.
I have to remember to wear this outfit again.  Salespeople were amazingly attentive, like I had money or something. Had to be the coat.

.As one does this time of year, I've been feeling like the Goodyear blimp, so I'm pleased that these monster plaid pants don't look too bad.  Especially with my perfect-for-me, curvy and crisp white shirt.  I had a nice day wearing this outfit.

I'm off to begin catching up with all of you over at the Incredible Patti's Visible Monday !  I'll be over to check in as soon as possible.

Missing My Mojo

Sometimes I just loose track of my mojo, my moxie, my swagger, my game. Not for long, usually, but recently it's gone walkabout.

Mojo: "Self-confidence, Self-assuredness.  As in basis for belief in ones self in a situation ... ability to bounce back from a debilitating trauma and negative attitude." 
          Urban Dictionary Online

"A quality that attracts people to you and makes you successful and full of energy"

        Cambridge Dictionary Online

In situations like this, the only reasonable thing to do is to show you photos of cats.

This is Lucy, one of my herringbone tabby sisters that let us live with them. It was taken in twilight, handheld, in very bad light with my shiny new camera that I'm trying to learn how to use. Pretty snazzy little zoom lens, not especially fast and therefore surprising in this low-light situation.

Our newest family member is Mi-ke ( close pronunciation Me-kay, Japanese for calico; "three fur"). She was born in our garage and is still so much a baby. Doesn't she have a great face?

This is not a cat, of course. It's me in an old London Fog trench-coat that I found while doing some closet diving. I paired it with black Pixie pants from Old Navy, a fairly recent Bisou-Bisou surplice blouse and some cute mules I finally found at good old Target.

I've not only mislaid my mojo, but I've lost my brick wall on my porch. The wall is still right where I left it, of course, but this new lens that I'm so fond of requires more distance than I have between me and a three foot drop off the porch. So I have to find a new place to make my shoot-and-run photos. I'm trying the north-lit garage front. Not ideal, but I persevere. I do like it that, along with the lovely sharp lens, this camera has a very nifty "soft focus" tool right in-camera ... and I don't feel even a little bit guilty about using it.

By the way, if you see my mojo wandering around, would you please tell it to come home? 

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Even mojo-less, I can still find my way to the Always Sleek and Chic Patti's Visible Monday . Hope to see you over there!

Attitudinous Me

Attitudinous : "(informal) Having a bold and possibly unfriendly attitude; sassy."

Yes. That would be me on Sunday, still tired after a satisfyingly busy but unusually physically taxing Saturday night. I was not so much feeling unfriendly as fiesty-ish with a "mess with me today at your peril" approach to life and a warning to those who might cross my path while brandishing their own problematic attitude.  We woke up to a very cold and rainy-icy morning, and neither of us was roaring to hit the long road to the Big City, but hit the road we did.

My soggy little soul wanted my warmest and coziest coat; faux fur, not quite vintage, and one I pull out on days when I need to wrap myself in a little spirit-uplifting glamor as well as some substantial warmth. It has that 50's dress-up-fur-coat styling, and really needed a bit of toughening up with my highly attitudinous, lug-soled Ralph Lauren lace-up boots, and my big, old studded shopper. The sleeves need my ancient, long leather gloves for complete comfort in this weather, and my big, red and black plaid scarf just begged to complete the outfit, so I obliged. All old friends, all well used and all completely and reliably cozy on these coldest, dampest days.

It's nice to have some attitudinous pieces in the closet, just for days like this, 'cause if you are not completely up to showing the world a bold face, you can, at least, let your outfit hint at one.

(No, the hem isn't wonky. The coat is lined with soft, heavy satin and the big, wide sleeves allow it to slide around a bit ... I sort of like the louche, 70's-style attitudinous feel it gives to the whole get-up.)

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WooHoo! Instant attitude improvement: It's Visible Monday  at the Voluntarily and Happily Unemployed Patti's link up!

More Guidelines Than Resolutions, Really ...

So many of my style-bloggy buddies don't make a pile of resolutions for the New Year. Imagine that! Old cultural customs die hard, but it might be time to rethink this traditional process that causes us to make long lists of lofty self-improvement goals that we may or may not even remember past the first week of January. It is telling that we usually embark enthusiastically on this hopeful project just after coming through a joyful-stressful Very Important Big Holiday season. We've just concluded an intense and often expensive family celebration, after which we ritually finalize the year with an often calorically rich, frequently boozy, and occasionally embarrassing New Year's Eve ritual. That's followed by a sometimes regret-filled New Year's day spent on the couch, recuperating from the always unintended excesses of the night before. It's then that we decide to re-assess everything.

Of course I'm not talking about YOU, dear reader. Perish the thought. I'm talking about almost everyone else.

I'm always drawn to the idea of "doing better this year," but I just can't take it too seriously. As you may know from last week's post, I dance around the commitment that it takes to grimly impose FIRM RESOLVE on a goal (hello, instant failure) by softening the commitment level to a more gentle and foible-forgiving aspiration.

So far, here is my list of wardrobe and style improvements that I may or may not accomplish in 2015, and for which I certainly will not feel even a moment's self-loathing if I forget it all by spring.

1. Keep my end of the closet tidier.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha. I always imagine how that might be done, but rarely get past a half-hearted seasonal weeding. Frankly, the most effective way of gaining more usable space for myself is to pester convince Dan to clean out his end. Poor baby. He is saintly in his tolerance.

2. This is the year that I transform our extra room into my dressing room.

Speaking of Dan, I need to pester urge him, somehow, into lots of help in making this aspiration a reality, and sooner than later. We talk about it a lot, but it's always in the planning stages. I need to remind him that he could have our whole bedroom closet all to himself if I had a whole room for my wardrobe, including shoes and accessories. Would I resort to bribery? Oh, yes. Of course.

3. Keep adhering to the "Love It or Leave It "rule that worked so well last year.

It's always good to put at least one fail-proof aspiration in your list. It's especially effective to aspire to something you've already largely accomplished or perfected. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and be proud to claim it again.

4. Seriously, renew your commitment to closet diving and constant remixes.

Some of my best outfits lately have been new/old match-ups. It's masses of fun, and very satisfying. Remember that all my pre-pixie cut items look very different on me now, so let them see some sunshine.

5. This year, remember to be my own best style adviser.

Old age is a wonderful time to rely on the personal taste you've been constructing for a bunch of decades. Taste, at it's best, can evolve and change but still define your best core aesthetics.

6. Take the time to write scorching letters to style and fashion institutions, blogs, magazines and individuals that are dismissive/insulting/condescending or just ignorant about how older women actually still have and maintain style lives.

Not much feels as good as punching that "send" button. Join me in this one, if you like. We should start a movement.

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On another subject entirely ...

I have a lot of coats. You will see more of them in the coming weeks. Winter always seems short when it comes to getting all the chances that I'd like to wear some of my favorite wardrobe staples. The outfit underneath always seems more important, somehow. But for two nights in a row last week, I had anxious dreams ... not quite nightmares, but more like quandary-solving dreams ... about styling a particular coat I haven't worn in a couple of years.

I have no idea why I dreamed of this coat. To dream of a particular article of clothing one night seems like mere stage-setting for my usual subconscious issue-processing during sleep. But two nights? In a row? That's a clear sign to make a blog photo of it.

The plaid is a dark purple, black and cream.  The cut is sort of retro-swing, and it does move beautifully when I walk. It's Nine West, and a couple of years old.  Aren't these the prettiest shaped shoes?  And such a great color ... from Gianni Bini, like my boots from last week.

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I hope you have a wonderful and peaceful beginning to 2015.

Late Breaking: Joining up at Patti's Visible Monday ... I also hope you come with me to see what we're all up to!

Year End News from Nowhere

News Flash!!!!!

Yesterday. Big City in West Nowhere. Regular Unleaded Gasoline: $1.74 a gallon!!!!!

I never thought I'd live long enough to see it drop below $2.00 a gallon. That is all.

Good things can happen even if they are just little. Even small victories can taste sweet. But this is a Very Big Deal for us as we have to drive so much, so often. And as much as I am not in love with my crappy old car, I am pleased to be reminded just now that it gets over 30 mpg. ( I'm not so pleased to report that after all last week's repairs, a headlight has gone kaputt. The good news is that if this keeps up, I will have replaced so many parts that it will no longer be an old car. The fun just never stops. But we are still moving down the road with a few dollars more in our pockets after a fill up ... and that feels pretty good this time of year!)

... And in Other News from Nowhere ....

One Major Holiday down, one Major Holiday to go. I wish you all a Very Happy New Year with lots of love and thanks to you all for reading my silliness and writing to me about it. Please go safely and stay out of trouble on this always boozy holiday. Nothing bums me out more than to see mug shots of my friends (or worse) on the news.

Reviewing my last year's *New Year's Aspirations for 2014 ... How'd I do?

I'm no fool. My character is not upright enough for the staunchness of resolutions. I love a good challenge as much as the next woman, but I refuse to set myself up for failure. I can set some priorities, identify improvements that need to happen, and fantasize how life would be if I actually had my act together, but if I don't have a lot of stern resolutions to live up to I do a lot better. Let's take a very quick look at last year's list, and see how I did.

My Facebook Blog Page:

Well, it's there. I forget most weeks to even post my own blogs. I'm not much of a FB kind of person.

Redesign website:

Did that! Done.

Find a better way to keep in touch with bloggy friends.

The idea was to read more and write less. Stay current. I often don't get around to read everyone's blogs before I bend to the self-imposed pressure get out my own weekly post, or even get to respond to all the kind comments from the previous week. Much of it has to do with my very busy Wednesday-Sunday schedule. I know we all have limited available blog-cruising time, and mine is pretty much limited to Mondays and Tuesdays. I have to really hustle to get a post up so I can join Visible Monday, and that's when I can do most of my catchup. I did, however, make my sidebar blogs-I-read list more usable, so I give myself a very few tiny points for that. Much improvement is still needed, though, so I persevere.

Try to find some different backgrounds for photos.

Major Fail. Still working on that.

Get a current avatar that reflects the changes.

Good news: I'm finally happy with my haircut. I love my long pixie, and while I don't think it is wildly flattering or makes me look any younger or slimmer it is, I think, a more proportional look for me, and it just feels like the most authentic version of me thus far.

So, I finally made a new Gravatar. About time, wasn't it?

(These are more about my wardrobe than the blog...)

Spend more time recombining (wardrobe) items.

One of the best things all of my bloggy friends do for me is to inspire me to do this. Like everyone else, I wear my favorite things a lot, but I've found that I get stuck putting the same pieces together. All my bloggy buds have taught me to mix it up, and provide the inspiration for specific new combinations ... so thank you all for helping me increase my sartorial mileage!

Renew, recycle, and reuse!

Props to so many of you who have encouraged me to get off my butt and actually use the few sewing skills I actually own. I've always had to do the basics, but I was more creative and bold this year because of your example, bloggy sewing-divas and artists. You know who you are.

Continue to try to find a decent resale/consignment shop and actually use it.

I'm crap at this. There just are none here that work for me. I'll continue to keep scanning my radar for them, though.

Try it on before you buy it. Really.

This was the year when I made this rule one of my shopping modus operandi. I've left so many items behind in the fitting room ... and saved myself a chunk of change, and more than a little heartbreak and self-loathing, I know. It's also taught me how favorite brands usually fit me, and that's a time saver as well.

Love it or leave it.

Putting this into practice has been one of the best habits I've cultivated this year. It is a huge money saver, of course, but this year I've really enjoyed combining items that I already love. I'm embarrassed how long it's taken me to understand that it's a lot easier and more fun to combine pieces that I really love wearing than trying to shoehorn in items that are just meh just to get the good out of them. Duh.

* I haven't compiled Aspirations for 2015, yet. Stay tuned.

Yes, you just saw this jacket last week.  But in the spirit of

closet shopping, wearing the pieces I love the most, and trying new combinations, here it is AGAIN. But with a Missoni for Target dress I haven't worn in some time but love a lot, a Call it Spring messenger that suddenly feels fresh with these Gianni Bini equestrian-esque dress boots.

A better look at the boots ... this is True Boot Love.

They are in my possession because of a non-traditional 

collaboration with Santa. But I'm happy.

*****************

Before I conclude this last blog post of 2014, I'll leave you with a final news item. I've been a bit of a Doris Downer lately, I know, and this December has not been an easy month to enjoy. In keeping with that theme, on Saturday night, the son of a dear woman-friend that we hadn't seen in a while stopped by the restaurant to let us know his mother was in the hospital, fighting off a desperate and very frightening illness.

We stopped by the hospital on Sunday afternoon to see her, and you all know that terrible feeling of worry and anxiety that marks this kind of hospital visit if you've lived very long. We finally found her room, but I'm pretty sure you can also identify with the sickening little clutch you feel around your heart when you find the room empty of the patient you're looking for. We found a nurse, and she solemnly informed us that my friend had gone downstairs to the chapel. After a mutual sigh of relief, we then had to decide whether or not to bother her and invade her privacy there, but we really wanted to see her, so we headed to the chapel to wait for her to come out.

We found the chapel, and just outside of it we also found a small crowd of very happy people, laughing and talking and taking photographs. And there, in the center of the crowd, we found our friend sitting in a wheel-chair ... in a lovely dress, in full makeup, clutching a bouquet of flowers, wearing a white veil and a big smile.

My friend had just married her Significant Other of many years, surrounded by their families with music and flowers and cake and lots of joy.

Isn't that just the best, most amazing thing? I'll chalk that up as one of those rare, sweet, year-end mega-victories I've been looking for.

                                   *****************

I'm joining the Bubbly and Intoxicating Patti at her year-end edition of  Visible Monday  ... where we all go to be much more than just visible!

Bah, Humblog! And the Seasonal Wisdom of Doctor Who

Let's not kid ourselves. This time of year can be our most joyous, but for most of us, the lead-up to a splashy Christmas and party-hearty New Year can be the most stress ridden and difficult part of the season. A lot of you are nodding in sisterly and justifiably cynical agreement, but there's always some Perfectly and Perpetually Poised Pollyanna who (with humiliating accuracy) reminds me that stress is a construct of my own response to internal or external forces that affect my life, self-imposed and over which I have complete control.

To her, I reply "Bah-Freakity-Humbug, and please go peddle your superhuman self-control and serenity somewhere else, girly! I'm doing the best I can with what I got."

I'm not good at managing my pre-Christmas angst. It's always our slowest time of year at our restaurant as we're so deep in the hinterlands and 40 miles away from any Christmas shopping areas. One eats where one shops, and we fall off everyone's radar. I get it, but knowledge aforehand doesn't make the annually inevitable financial pinch any easier to manage. And every year, there's some treat from the Universe that makes it all just a tiny bit more difficult. This December, Dan blew up his car ... I gave him mine to use and one of its fairly new tires promptly disintegrated on his way to work. That got fixed, but the process meant we had to be closed for half-day of much needed income. The good news was that the tire warranty netted a prorated refund of half the purchase price of the blown tire. The bad news was that three days later, the breaks on the car noisily and dangerously insisted on being replaced, at just over twice the cost of the tire refund.

But we and the car are safe and operational, so (knock on wood) it's probable the seasonal worst is over. I'm breathing again, keeping fingers and toes crossed that no more mini-disasters befall us and that just a little business will come our way. Both seem possible as the holiday proper nears, and we will be able to enjoy two rare, whole days off in a row together ... with food, drink, prezzies, movies, books and a family tradition, this year's Doctor Who Christmas episode!

In the midst of this week's automotive and business drama, I remembered my favorite modern holiday quote; it's from the 2010 "A Christmas Carol," a Whovian intragalactic re-imagining of Scrooge's transformation through the power of love and the Christmas spirit. The Scrooge-esqe, deeply cynical, old rich guy, Kazran Sardick, says:

"On every world, wherever people are, in the deepest part of the winter, at the exact mid-point, everybody stops and turns and hugs. As if to say, "Well done. Well done, everyone! We're halfway out of the dark." Back on Earth we call this Christmas. Or the Winter Solstice. On this world, the first settlers called it The Crystal Feast. You know what I call it? I call it expecting something for nothing! "

I certainly don't agree with his assessment of charity, loving kindness and generosity of spirit, but I was struck by the idea of being "halfway out of the dark" because that's how it feels to me so often.  I love of a lot of things about winter, but there is an undeniably strong, genetically hard-wired urge within all of us to draw nearer to the bonfire or the hearth fire, not just for warmth, but for the protection the fire light brings from all the dangers that lurk beyond in the dark. Our ancient ancestors had different things to fear, but even today we are wary of what may be waiting for us in the dark.

We still have to travel the rest of the way through an often harsh and sometimes frightening and destructive season.
I've always loved the Solstice especially because at that balance point, we begin the second half of the journey back into the light. Also implicit in Sardick's statement is the reminder that although we may pause and celebrate our triumph over the dark and the revisit the hope of more gentle seasons to come, there is still a way to go. But so far, so good.

So, sometime during the Christmas Eve Mexican dinner Dan and I will have, or during the Chinese Take-Out Christmas Day-all-day-feast, we'll pause and raise our glasses and send our good wishes into the aethers with a delicate clink to sound their coming. Our toast will be the words of Doctor Who himself; "Yeah. Christmas. Halfway out of the dark," because we know that in the second half of winter, the light becomes just a little brighter every day.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Christmas and Boxing Day, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Pancha Ganapati, HumanLight, Newtonmas or Festivus, I send you all big, smothery cyber-hugs with my best wishes that you enjoy ...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !

Linking up with the wonderful Maricel at Tardis Tuesday! over at her always interesting site, My Closet Catalogue .  What a great Whovian Idea!

Big Old Mixed-Up Pink Creamsickle ...

On very rare occasions I decide I want to go for demure.   And last Sunday I had a yen to wear my cream and pink sweater that doesn't get to get out and about often.  

There's a reason (or three) I don't wear this little sweater that often, and when I do feel demure, I don't feel that way long.  I thought about wearing some girly pumps, but after a couple of tries decided on my slightly military-looking black chap boots instead.

That's better.

But the best part of this mixed feminine-masculine outfit is that it works with my mixed metal rose-gold and silver watch. 

It's by Rotary, and one of my collection of automatic skeleton watches. I don't often bother to show the details, but I wear them all the time and this one is especially pretty. 

Hard to get the rose gold just the right color here, but you get the idea.  I love to see the workings move when I check the time.

I wear it with this little rose gold and silver ring with wee-tiny pavé diamonds.  I wore my original engagement ring out long ago and just have never had the stones reset.  So I often wear some other delicate little ring in it's place. This one is a favorite.  It's a better photo to show the color of the rose gold of the watch, too.

Feminine-masculine is an old style option, but the rose gold-silver combination feels fresh and interesting to me.  Even though the outfit is not that big a whoop, the accessories are what made it fun to wear.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pausing amid the pre-holiday crazies to stop over at the Always Lovely Patti's Visible Monday ... come over and see what the Grown-Up Glamourati are wearing!