Rain and cold --- 39 now, with a high of 42 --- and our heat is out. I'm sitting in the kitchen with the oven door open and the oven on, and planning lots of woolly layers for today.
Yesterday, though I kind of didn't think about it, was our 1-year anniversary with Dora. Here she is, riding home on my lap, a skinny little thing . . .
. . . not really much more than a puppy, as I can see more clearly today than I did then.
She's past two now, still young, still a little crazy, but coming along pretty nicely.
So we'll be going out to walk in the rain soon, which I'm not that jazzed about, but anyway, a belated happy gotcha day to Dora, who neither knows nor cares what day it is, as long as treats are involved.
My goal for this week is to bang out all five of my Sun essays for the next two weeks, since next week will be nuts. I also need to continue to make progress on this book review hanging over my head. AND I'd sure love to write something of my own. That's the problem with all this writing work . . . it tends to occupy the available space in the writing part of my brain.
Out to walk in a minute. Undoubtedly I will put on this same coat/scarf combo from yesterday: the puffer coat my daughter gave me for Christmas about three years ago, plus an actually me-made scarf. I do crochet, sometimes, at intervals of about thirty years. Alas for me, I'm incapable of following a crochet pattern, but I can kind of make it up, as I did with this wool scarf. It's not pretty, but it is warm.
So that was yesterday, on my way out the door. Here's the rest of what I'm wearing today:
My cozy charcoal-gray Wool& Sierra dress, over an Icebreaker base-layer tee that I got for my birthday. I love this dusty rose color --- it play so nicely with the grays and blues which are the staples of my wardrobe. Thrifted bamboo/cotton leggings over, again, an unseen base layer of merino tights. Because it's wet, and because I was bemoaning my lack of rain boots, I pulled out these old snow boots, which I don't wear that often. They're kind of loose in the heel, for one thing. But the thought --- I should really get some rain boots, because I need something waterproof --- prompted me to remember that I have these, and that they have really not gotten much wear in the years I've had them. I will have to play around with the fit. I'm too lazy right now to take them off and put socks on with them, especially as once I get back from walking, I'll probably slip on my Tari boots for in the house.
But I kind of like the look here.
One of the fun things about following so many Wool& wearers is seeing what other people wear with their dresses, that maybe I wouldn't have thought of. Everybody's aesthetic is not my aesthetic, which is always good to acknowledge to myself. But furry duck boots with a dress? Yeah, I can totally comfortably go there.
So I'm warm and cozy and comfortable, but to me this does not seem like a "nothing" outfit. It feels intentional, with elements that go together well to create a self-presentation that doesn't feel at odds with who I am. As always I'm overthinking things --- and that overthinking would frankly bore half the people I know, like they'd be mystified that I spend time thinking about clothes like this --- but I've experienced, often enough, such an uncomfortable dissonance between what I'm wearing and who I feel like as a person, that this seems important to note. Maybe I look weird in this outfit, but I look weird in the precise way that I am. So there.
LATER:
Written much (but not nearly enough!), walked in the rain with Dora, talked to the furnace guys, who will come tomorrow afternoon. At least it's nice to cocoon by the study fire while everything is so dark and dreary outside.
AND . . .
My last birthday present has arrived. I wasn't expecting it until tomorrow, but it came today!
The black-heather Audrey from Wool&, which I'm glad to have gotten because they seem to be sold out for now. This has seemed like such a popular dress that I'm surprised they hadn't sold out sooner than they did.
Trying her on here with the Icebreaker long-sleeved tee I was already wearing, which I wanted because I had hoped it would go well as a layer with Audrey.
First review: I like this dress a LOT. The fabric is a little heavier gauge than dresses like Camellia, Maggie, and Fiona, but not nearly as heavy as Sierra. It feels still silky, but a little more substantial.
I sized down this time, which I think was a good call. I have felt that I was on the line between medium and small in at least the swing-style dresses --- my Maggie feels a hair too big. I didn't want my hemline to be really down to my feet in the Audrey, and I think that that was a good call. The small hits right where I wanted. I also expect the dress to relax a good bit, as my Camellia did with a lot of wear, and I'm glad both the neckline and armholes aren't quite as generous as they might have been.
As you can see, the black heather is indeed more like a smudgy dark charcoal. It's still pretty dark, and I think in a lot of instances would probably read as black. I could probably get away with it for choir occasions, which are fairly rare in any event these days. But it's still a color that feels comfortable to me, not too harsh and color-draining. I haven't worn the dress by itself yet --- I really love the rose-pink-mauve of this Icebreaker tee --- but I think it's going to be all right.
I had been thinking for a long time about all the outfits I could potentially make with this dress and am looking forward to experimenting. For one thing, I have this old silk-velour big shirt that I'd like to wear as kind of a dressy jacket, but the proportions just look wrong with a shorter dress. With a dress this length and shape, I think that will work as, potentially, a holiday outfit. I've also liked all the photos I've seen of people wearing this dress with shirts tied over, both button shirts and tees. Again, I think the long line of the skirt will make that work really well for me. All my merino tees will go with this dress, either under it or layered over. All my cardigans will potentially look good with it, and pretty much all my shoes that I can think of offhand. I think I'll wear it a lot through the winter, and continue wearing it through the summer.
So . . . somehow, in what was putatively a no-buy year, I've gone from two to FIVE Wool& dresses. But I really think that's enough for now. I'd weeded a lot out of my closet over the last year and change, and at this point, I've honestly got something to wear for every conceivable circumstance and occasion, without having so many choices that I implode.
I don't think I'm ever going to declare a no-buy year again, because at this point I'm pretty sick of even pretending not to acquire things. On the other hand, I'm not unhappy with the outcome, and I don't feel guilty. With the exception of this little birthday burst, things have come to me pretty gradually, and all of it has come with a lot of forethought.
I did put my Sierra back on, actually, because I liked my original outfit a lot. Still wearing the winter boots after my second outing in the wet, because I just can't be bothered to change. Also, they're warm. They are a little big and clumpy for walking, so that I wish I'd sized down, years ago, when I bought them, but I can add thick socks, which should help. I'm actually glad to start wearing them more, after their years of gathering dust.
Anyway, taking a break after a day of trying to strain out an essay about Dante Gabriel Rossetti, without knowing what my point really is. Somehow I think I'm not going to get all five essays written this week, but that could be okay. I'll have some time at my mother's this weekend, and then the couple of days after Thanksgiving at home, when we're all just sitting around. Things will get done.