Real Dora, as photographed by my daughter when I stepped out of the house for a minute yesterday.
Tiny Dora, as discovered by the same daughter on an outing to Tractor Supply.
Which is the easier Dora? I ask you.
In other news, The Lamp magazine has removed the paywall from this new, luminous translation of "The Dream of the Rood," by my brilliant friends Jane Scharl and Tessa Carman. This is a must-read.
I am also looking forward to reading from my novel as part of a panel presentation at the Catholic Imagination Conference this fall in Dallas. Until day before yesterday, I was assuming that this panel was a paper-presenting kind of situation. Imagine my joy and relief upon discovering that in fact I get to read fiction I have already written, instead of a paper I haven't written yet. That changes the whole complexion of my summer, let me tell you.
Today, meanwhile, I got up wearing the purple bamboo swing dress I slept in last night and walked Dora for about an hour before coming home for coffee. The linked photo, by the way, isn't from today, but I look almost exactly like that right now. Identical outfit. Wearing a dress to sleep, among other things, really does help me propel myself out the door with the dog in the morning, to get a substantial walk in before the day heats up and I affix myself too immovably to some chair. These bamboo dresses are nice for sleeping, too: lightweight, very soft, breathable, pretty temperature-regulating. They don't perform as well as wool, maybe, and definitely aren't as sturdy in their construction as my wool dresses, but I find them comfortable in all kinds of situations. It's nice to know that even as I gradually, over time, begin to replace them with Wool& dresses (which is my very long-term plan), they will still hold a place in my whole wardrobe scheme, even if it's only as nightgowns and what I guess I might call schlubwear: the clothes I wear to walk and bathe the dog, or do heavy gardening, or go hiking. I do still prefer wool as a fiber for outdoor activity, but more and more I think I'd like to guard my investment dresses just a little more, so that they really do serve me over years, even decades. I think about the wear my Camellia sustained over the hundred days of my dress challenge --- okay, she stood up pretty well, all things considered, but that level of wear did make an impact. It is nice to have alternative options to rotate in, so that no one dress bears the whole load, and nice to have dresses that aren't quite such investments to take the real hits.
I'm about to climb in the tub, wash my hair, and consider the rest of the day. When I reappear from that process, I might or might not still be wearing the purple swing dress. Stay tuned.
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Aaand, boringly, predictably . . .
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No good reason to find something else to wear today.
*this dress still feels and smells fine, despite having been slept in and walked in on a fairly warm, sweaty morning
*it looks fine for a casual Saturday
*I haven't worn it in a while, so why not lean hard on it while I've got it out of the closet?
This purple sometimes feels a little bright to me, but really, it's pretty good for my coloring:
This is my usual naked face next to the kitchen window: not direct sunlight, but some natural light, at least.
The same, with a more upbeat expression:
The bright, true purple sits right on the edge of being too much, I still think --- almost more contrast than my coloring needs. BUT I think I've got enough contrast in my face to pull it off. And because green and purple highlight each other, colors in this zone play up the green in my normally indeterminate eyes.
Anyway, I feel good and cool and ready for pretty much anything today. I am also noting how much I like the short sleeves and scoop neck of this dress, which underscores my attraction to the Wool& Maggie as a considered purchase. I think I'd wear the heck out of a better dress in the same style, especially if it's a little longer than this, enough to make it work in less casual settings. Of course, now they have the summer midi in marine blue, too . . . this complicates my decisionmaking significantly! It's a beautiful dress, just the right length . . .
The thing that makes this kind of stressful, aside from the overwhelm of having multiple choices, is that they so often sell out so quickly. There's that pressure to decide and buy, because if you don't, you might miss your chance, especially if you know you're only going to buy ONE dress, not several. (I'm honestly amazed at the number of Wool& dresses people seem to acquire --- not judging anybody, because I really can't blame people for being in love with these dresses, and more power to them, but holy cow, that's a lot of money! I would like to fill my closet, eventually, with more of these dresses, and move some of the less-well-made dresses to the outer edges, but this is a multi-year proposition, as I see it . . . ). Anyway. It's been nice to spend tens of days not even thinking about new clothes, and I'm not sure I'm happy to have shifted over into thinking-about-purchasing mode. On the other hand, I want to walk into that conference feeling on point, not pieced together out of things that will do. Maybe I shouldn't care, but I do. So anyway . . . decisions, decisions . . .
PS: I am really kind of attracted to that garnet summer midi, too, especially if it's a red on the burgundy side, rather than a brown red. This would make me have to rethink my whole shoe plan, since I wouldn't wear red shoes with a red dress . . . and I think overall I'd get far less wear out of a red dress. It would be nice to be in the kind of position where I could just buy one to fill a hole, but I don't think I'm there yet in terms of being able to justify a $138 purchase.
I think I'll go read The Dream of the Rood.
LATER:
Having been outside and worked in the garden and thrown the ball for Dora, I'm back to thinking about clothing again.
I posted my 100-day album from last year's dress challenge in the Wool& Facebook group, where I've been visiting again since I started thinking about an exception to my no-buy year. Dangerous move, but I have been doing it. It has been fun to revisit photos from the 100-day challenge, and to realize how quickly and easily I forget outfits I've made and liked. Of course, scanning those photos reminds me of outfits I really wouldn't wear again, and wouldn't have worn to begin with if I hadn't been trying to wear one dress creatively, but anyway.
It's nice to remember my little Camellia dress when she was new --- I did mention wear and tear over a hundred days. She's still in good wearable shape, and I still wear her often, but she definitely has a lived-in look and feel this year that she didn't in the beginning. I'll still pack her for any travel I plan to do. She'll go to the beach with me in a couple of weeks. She'll go with me to take the kids back to college in August. I know she'll come along to the conference, even if I don't wear her for the big panel moment. I'm reminded how much I really liked this look, for example, with my cheapo blue marled longline cardigan. Cheap and synthetic though it is, that cardigan does bring a polished sleekness to anything I wear it with, which is why I keep it. Here's the same combination again, still pretty early in the challenge. I could see its really looking like a coordinated piece with a marine-blue Maggie dress: hemlines wouldn't hit at the same place, which is actually ideal, but the colors would be quite close. A pop of red on my feet . . . still really dreaming of that pop of red on my feet! But I could wear Camellia in more or less the same combination, or with some other cardigan or jacket, for a day when I'm not presenting. She's not too short to be okay in this kind of situation, and she'd be lighter than Sierra, who otherwise would be my alternative go-to. I've worn Sierra in Texas heat, and she was okay, but definitely on the warm side. I'd be afraid to commit to her for an October event, though she too will certainly make the trip and get worn at some point.
In fact, I'm going to have quite a road trip around that conference. I'm going to be reading with Marly Youmans at City Lights in Sylva, NC, on September 27, and Marly wants me to come and stay for a few days, which means I'll leave home probably on the 25th. I need to be in Dallas by the 29th, probably, though I could turn up on the 30th. So probably I'd leave Sylva/Cullowhee the morning of the 28th, spending that night with my mother in Memphis, then ideally the 29th with my daughter in Dallas. Move into hotel on the 30th. Conference 9/30-10/1. Then maybe another extra day with my daughter and college kids, to go to Mass, visit, do something fun. I can flex on this end, depending on how busy my daughter is with work. She says that suddenly their home-staging business, which was kind of languishing all spring, has exploded with the onset of summer and possible shifts in the housing market. What things will look like in September, I have no idea and neither does anybody else, but in any case, if she's super busy, I can move along back to Memphis, seeing my mother and mother-in-law, then home by mid-week, that first week in October. If I took three wool dresses, that would be really all the wardrobe I'd need, with a rota of shoes and accessories to flex with situations and weather. That's kind of fun to consider.
Meanwhile, two weeks from today, God willing, we'll be at the beach! We go every year to Dauphin Island, Alabama --- not the Carolina coast, which I guess is weird since we live in North Carolina, but my mother can still drive herself from Memphis to Dauphin Island in about six hours, so that's where we go. Also, we love the Alabama Gulf Coast. Among other things, there's an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Catholic churches, which is fun. The island itself is relatively unspoiled, with no high-rises. Though there are some condos (we stayed in one last year), it's mostly beach houses. It's quiet and beautiful, with lots of bird life. I had been feeling kind of eh about going this year, but now that it's two weeks away, I find I'm dying to be there.
Last year I was agonizing over creating a capsule wardrobe for the beach. It's funny to look back on that now. Most of the items I was considering are things I now no longer own, for one reason or another. Of those pairs of shorts, for example, I still have the sage-green ones, but I probably won't even take them with me this year. If I did, I probably wouldn't wear them. I don't wear them much as it is --- though at this time I'm not considering outboxing them, because they are one of those itch-scratching items I would miss, even if I don't reach for them often. ANYWAY, this year I plan to throw in some dresses and call it good. I know that's what I'm going to want to wear. Little short bamboo swing dresses: PERFECT. Wool swing dresses? Chef's kiss. Those things, a small selection of cardigans for church and freezing restaurants, some sandals: good to go. I don't even have to think about coordinating outfits, since most outfits will consist of a dress, period. Maybe not even shoes, unless I'm going somewhere inside. No tops-and-bottoms fiddle. Just dresses. That will make me perfectly happy.
Finally, snipped from an Elyse Holladay email I just received:
- You don't have to buy anything this weekend. You can; there are some good sales. But sales aren't a reason. Is it already on your wishlist? Is it going to serve you well, or is it just cute and novel and maybe even filling an emotional need?
- The best thing your clothes can do for you is support you and help you be present. If you're feeling uncomfortable, fussy, like you're wearing a costume, or just plain wrong, go change. You're allowed.
- Verbatim from a client #insidetheunfolding this week: "Repeated actions or thoughts (habits) change your self-image. Habits reinforced over time contribute the evidence that shapes your identity. Style is a habit; getting dressed is a habit we have a chance to practice daily
