Obligatory lush garden shot with bonus roll of weed cloth. I love how, along this back section, walking down the little stepping-stone path is like moving through undergrowth --- even though really it's all just stuff in containers. The cosmos are taller than I am, though, which is pretty cool.
Off to walk Dora, wearing a non-swing dress outfit today for my July 4/3 Challenge:
These thrifted sage-green twill Gap shorts are seeing a lot of action this month, thanks to the challenge, in a color combination similar to last Friday's. This time, instead of bamboo, I'm wearing linen: a thrifted Gap linen hoodie that I've had for I forget how many years, but have not worn nearly enough. It's everything I love --- lightweight, soft, muted, natural, casual without being aggressively sporty --- but its boxy shape makes it a little tricky to style. I like it over the narrow shorts here, though. I don't have quite the fluid/structured, feminine/masculine dichotomy going on, but I think it works fine. Blue EVA Birks, because I seem incapable of putting anything else on my feet. Wearing the dusty-rose bamboo bralette/crop top underneath, since the top's neckline is a little open.
Here's an attempt at a rear shot, so you can see the hood:
I'm glad to have taken this one out of its mausoleum at the far end of the closet to give it a whirl. I've often thought I should pass it along, because I wasn't reaching for it, as they say. But I'm grateful not to have done that. I only needed a nudge to make myself create an outfit with it --- and these shorts, with their narrow, vertical line, were the very thing.
Dog is complaining in her crate, so I guess I'd better let her out and hit the greenway trail.
LATER:
Affirming my love for linen after a long walk in the humidity. It wasn't so hot, but the summer air is . . you know, summer air, not spring or fall. Even in long sleeves, I stayed cool, and whatever sweat I produced evaporated quickly through the light, breathable fabric. I'm not sure I'd ever thought of this hoodie with these shorts before, but I don't know why, because it's a really nice, wearable combination. As always, I find the shorts easy to wear, even though as a general rule I don't love shorts. The main thing I like about these is that they're not only slim in their cut, but long enough that when I sit down, my thighs don't splorge out. Now: I do not hate my thighs. They are perfectly nice 57.5-year-old thighs. But last summer, wearing the two pairs of shorts I summarily outboxed, I found that I really hated shorts that cut into my thighs at too high a mark, if that makes sense, creating that spilled-out look that makes you feel fat even when you're not. I like these shorts because they don't do that at all. They make me consider how much I'd like a fairly narrow skirt as well --- this top, for one thing, needs a narrow, streamlined bottom. It doesn't work at all over a swing dress. That's one thing I'll add to my acquisitions list for when I'm ready to buy again: not a pencil skirt, necessarily, but maybe something like one of these Hawaiian Rip Skirts. I like the shape a lot, and a pattern like the one I linked would be something I'd wear year-round. BUT they're mostly polyester. Boo. I would like something that looks just like this, but in a natural fabric.
Other things I am considering for the acquisitions list, though I wouldn't buy them all in one fell swoop:
*linen big shirt (possibly to replace my old thrifted blue pucker-fabric shirt, which is not a natural fiber and doesn't breathe all that well) Eh, don't even know why I put this on the list, except that I was thinking about linen. I do like linen. But I'm not sure I'd prioritize a big shirt at all.
*linen unstructured jumpsuit: basically this, but not that expensive and either sustainably produced and/or secondhand
*another wool dress, most likely a second Sierra, in either mauve or vintage blue --- my current charcoal-heather Sierra is, again, my most-worn and hardest-wearing clothing item by miles. In fact, this would be the #1 priority on my shopping list. If I could, I'd get two. In fact, I'd not get other things on the list, in order to get two more Sierras. I like this dress that much. I know my size and love how it fits. I wear the dress I have everywhere, in every kind of situation. Here's hoping those colors, or other good ones I want, are available in my size when I'm ready to buy again.
*a pair of winter boots that are good to walk in --- maybe something like this. Again, I have Xero shoes and like them a lot. I generally make some kind of "shoe investment" in the fall/winter, and these might well be this year's shoe investment. I'd like something that could dress up or down and stand up to daily wear, including dog walks. They do also make a cute rain bootie at a reasonable price that might be an even better option for the kinds of activities I'd want it for. I'd prefer the hunter green to the black, but (as much as I generally don't wear black) the black *could* work for me.
I should probably rank these items in order of priority. The top of the list, again, would be occupied by at least one Sierra dress. Then boots. Then anything else, for which I'd honestly just kind of surf Poshmark --- I would like at least one more little bamboo swing dress, if they offered a color I don't have but could wear, like pink or a good shade of green. I would really like one more skirt, preferably in a straight sarong-type shape. I'd *like* a linen shirt, but don't really need one. I would like a natural-fiber jumpsuit, if I can ever find one I like at a price I can manage, but again . . . putting these things on the list makes me realize what I really do wear, mostly, and what I'd wear a lot more of if I had more of it.
But all of this is basically procrastination, because I have work to do.
STILL LATER:
Other stuff I've thought of for an acquisitions list, again in no order of priority, though I do know what I would think was more important:
*more leggings, in wool and bamboo. I loved both pairs of cotton/bamboo-blend leggings that I bought last year, but I'd really like to add some wool ones and gradually begin to replace all my synthetic-fiber leggings. I wear leggings so much in cold weather, especially since I mostly wear dresses --- I really would like to up my stash of actually-warm ones.
*more wool socks (though I really have a pretty decent sock collection)
*at least one more cardigan, in actual wool. I have lots of cotton ones, a couple of cashmere ones, and a few synthetic ones that I still like, even though I prefer natural fibers. I'd really like at least one cardigan in a shade of pink, and maybe a burgundy. I have P L E N T Y of blue and green and gray cardigans.
Funny how on the eleventh of July I'm thinking about winter clothes. All winter I fantasize about summer clothes, but now that we're in the middle of it . . . things just start to feel so basic. It's too hot to wear layers, mostly, though I'm really glad my current challenge is pushing me to wear some more interesting combinations than I might ordinarily wear. But I start thinking about sweaters, and leggings, and tights, and boots . . . even though it'll be November before the weather cools down enough to wear those kinds of things! Meanwhile, looking over my Style album, so many of my least-favorite, least-successful-feeling outfits were outfits I made because I was cold, not because the elements actually went together all that well. I think part of the problem was footwear --- my good-looking winter footwear (tall boots, Doc Martens) is not actually all that comfortable for daily wear. My Docs are pretty good, actually, but are on the big side, and I'm not as comfortable walking in them as I could wish. My dream winter footwear would be cute in the way Docs are cute, but softer, more flexible . . . fun, stylish footwear that would literally walk anywhere, which is why I keep looking at those Xero Chelsea boots. We'll see what's available in November, but I want to make a note of those.
Maybe out of season is a good time to take stock of what one has for the season one is out of, as well as what one would like to have for that season. In truth, I am very well set up, and mostly what I want is really a want --- which is okay, actually. I don't really love that want-vs.-need dichotomy, as if you deserved to have only what you need, and to want something were morally specious. I think it's fine to get something because you want it, and you don't have to rationalize that away. On the other hand, I think it's also good to have time to determine whether you really want something or not, in the same way that it's good to check in with yourself to see if you're really hungry before you eat the leftover pizza calling your name from the fridge. I mean, you might end up eating it just the same, and that might be totally fine, but it's probably good to be doing it as a conscious choice, not a reflex.
Anyway. Things I'll be glad to see again, going into the winter:
*my Doc Martens. Just because. My kids wear theirs year-round, but I save mine for cold weather.
*my tall camel boots. I'll have had them --- three years? four? I can't remember. They aren't especially fine boots, but they have held up well through a lot of wear, and are my go-to when I want to look instantly sharper and more polished.
*all my leggings (navy, grays, stripes, marble-pattern, magenta)
*all my cardigans and sweaters (too many to enumerate here, even though it's just one drawerful)
*my wool Snag tights, which I now have in four colors
Really, what I have is an abundance, and I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful for all the clothes I have that go with me through the year, season to season. I'm grateful that right now it's summer, when I'm enjoying so many things that have to lie dormant all winter. I'm grateful to live in a place where we do have seasons, with all their variety and beauty, all the pleasures attached to them.
And with that, I should turn my thoughts to dinner. My husband has brought home a gas grill --- it was his mother's, but her apartment complex has banned them, so now it's mine, with her compliments. We have a charcoal grill, but that's a his thing --- I have wanted a gas grill to keep outside the back door on the patio, that I can cook on myself without having to do all the charcoal wizardry, even though in truth I could probably do the charcoal wizardry, since I am good generally at building fires. But now I have this gas grill, and possibly I could cook something on it tonight, which would be pretty cool. I should probably go and investigate the whole food/cooking situation.