Golden tomatoes (I don't remember the exact name) ripening photogenically on the kitchen island.
My pre-dog-walk morning-coffee view:
Repeating yesterday's dress for now, since I know I'm going to change for this party we're going to tonight:
Despite a couple of sweaty wearings in as many days, this dress remains pretty fresh, and I'm happy with it. For various reasons I don't think I'd consider wearing it out to a party at this stage --- it probably would never have been one of my party dresses, even from the beginning, and now it's sustained a couple of stains that even color removal didn't eliminate --- but for everyday knocking around, it's a nice option. I continue, as I've said, to love the color (even though my Birks, which I slipped on when I got up, are a little matchy at this moment). Though I'm wearing a total no-brainer outfit, I still feel reasonably put together.
Today's agenda:
*dog walk
*bathe and hair-wash (things I have to make myself do in the teeth of summer acedia)
*tinker with poem
*anthology proofreading, which I'm behind on thanks to other projects this week
The novel is ready to be set up for printing, as of yesterday, which seems like a huge milestone. Also, I can't remember whether I've mentioned it here or not, but a story that had been languishing for nearly a year in the slushpile at a journal I like (Relief: A Journal of Art and Faith, where I've published fiction before), finally got picked up, with an enthusiastic note from the fiction editor. It's a story I've worked hard at over a number of years and feel very proud of, so I'm delighted that it will finally appear in print. It's the last of the stories in my collection, as it currently stands in its publisher-less manuscript form, to be published in a journal, which I hope is a good sign. I have been returning to that collection MS lately to consider its composition and reread the novella which closes it, because that's the thing I'd very much like to find a home for next, if at all possible. The poetry manuscript is looking close, but I keep writing poems and thinking that they fit, whereas at the moment I'm not writing stories and would really like to kick this collection out the door and into the world.
Eventually I am going to have to get up out of this chair and walk the dog. I'm sure I'll add more at intervals later in the day, as events develop . . .
LATER:
I have walked the dog and washed my hair but done eff-all else, to put it bluntly. Having a tough time being motivated, maybe because it's Friday, maybe because it's summer . . .
So I'm very productively combing through Instagram hashtags for ideas and inspiration for styling my wool dresses, because I'm BORED. This is precisely the moment at which I would persuade myself to buy something, a little happy new something (even if it was thrifted), to buoy my spirits, but NOT GONNA DO IT. What I am going to do is settle on a dress to wear tonight, and then I'm going to wear it.
I do wish this stupid dye would get here. I should just have taken myself off to Walmart and bought some instead of ordering it straight from the company, because as far as I can tell, my order (placed on Monday) hasn't shipped yet. I feel ratty about it because I am BORED, and there is nothing in the world that I want to do so much as to turn an item of clothing another color. This growth-in-virtue business is for the birds.
I did wash my hair, and I put an awful lot of gel in it, and am hoping that I'm not going to regret that later. I washed it with some sulfate shampoo to clarify it, then a lot of conditioner, followed by great gollops of gel, brushed through with a wet brush to distribute it evenly. We'll see how it all turns out.
LATER YET:
Gel hair. Not quite dry, definitely not fluffed out or anything final. It is unbelievably stiff, but I have high hopes. "Use more gel," they say. Well, okay. I have used more gel. I've done several rounds of diffusing and will do at least one more in the next hour, before we leave.
Still not sure which dress I'm going to wear. I'd been set on Maggie, but then I pulled Sierra out of the dryer, where I'd put her to draw up a tiny bit after hanging on the drying rack all night to dry . . .
STAY TUNED.
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OK. I went with the luminous blue Maggie, because I haven't worn her enough, and how could I not? I usually like her with a belt, but tonight I think I'm just going to let her swing. She'll feel cool and airy and simple, classy without being too much.
I do love this dress --- again, so much more than I like how she looks on the model at the website. I'm glad I took a risk on her, because she's going to be incredibly versatile, especially going into the fall and winter. Depending on what other colors they decide to add, I'd definitely consider buying another one at some point. Garnet would be kind of fun . . . or mauve . . . or if they decide to restock marionberry, I'd look at that as well.
Fantasy shopping again! At least it's cheaper than actual shopping.
Time to finish getting ready --- a party is just the thing to revitalize this rather nothing day!