This looks as though it might be a large picture. Actually it's a Christmas ornament on the sash of my dining-room window. I've been repeating Mary images, but there are still some I don't think I'd thought to photograph until now. Trying to post as many different ones as I can this month, before we return to our regularly-scheduled program of garden photos and morning kitchens.
Podcast interview today at 11, so of course in my mind it's going to be impossible to do anything between now and then. Still, I need to wash my hair and walk the dog and gather my thoughts.
A LITTLE LATER:
Bathed and dressed, with still-dripping hair. Decided to continue the Maggie love, since both these dresses have gotten less attention this month than some of my others. Here's Maggie T-for-Teal, up for a third May wearing, to tie with most of my other dresses, actually. She's simple and easy and cool, and plenty covering for a Zoom chat. The difference between the medium, which I wore yesterday, and the small, which I'm wearing today, is pretty negligible: length is close to the same, though there's maybe a smidge less fabric, which I do appreciate. The neckline feels a little less loose in the dress, also a thing I appreciate. The seams still sit right at the edge of my shoulders --- maybe a tiny bit higher, but not much. All in all, I love the fit of this dress, which feels graceful and drapey, not like a t-shirt trapeze. And since I have 3 --- really 4, counting my Pact cotton sheath dress --- sleeveless designs, I appreciate having short sleeves that work for summer, but are easy to layer with cardigans for colder weather.
I might well put on either a cardigan or my linen big shirt again, because it's quite cool in the house this morning.
And I just love this color, which I'm still counting as Marian blue. Seems fairly close to the cloak in the painting represented on my Christmas ornament above. It would be great on an apricot-complexioned redhead, but it's good with my pink skin and ash-brown hair as well. And it's a good color to wear on Zoom.
Going to take the dog out and meditate a bit more on the podcaster's questions between now and 11.
AFTERNOON UPDATE:
Podcast in the bag. It was a lovely conversation, which is what I've come to expect of this host, and fun to talk about both Motherland and Works of Mercy. I've walked with Dora to the post office to mail the dress I sold yesterday on Poshmark --- may this be the beginning of watching (a little bit of) money roll in. And I've uploaded the first of three Sun essays for week after next. All in all, a PROductive day so far. Putting the PRO in production all up in here.
Meanwhile, my second pair of Poshmarked leggings has arrived, so I thought, since I'm taking a work break, I'd do a little fashion show of leggings with this dress. So here we are, showcasing all my current pairs of leggings:
1. Old purple synthetic crop leggings.
There are things I don't love about this photo. Maybe it's the way I'm standing, but my dress looks kind of overlong for these leggings to work. And while purple and teal do work well together, there's something about the dusty purple with the teal that's not quite right.
I've kept these leggings so far because they're in good shape, they're soft, and they perform well. Of course, these are reasons that make them candidates for sale, too. They've been one of my staples for Advent and Lent, but I might ponder whether I really still need them or not. I don't mind the way they feel, but when I wear them, I am aware of their fiber content as not my ideal. If I were traveling, I probably wouldn't choose them for a capsule wardrobe, because other leggings perform better with repeated wears.
So: Hm.
2. Bamboo-blend marble-patterned leggings.
I bought these bamboo/organic-cotton-blendsecondhand in the winter of 2021, right before my 2022 no-buy year (which wasn't, strictly speaking, no-buy at all, but we'll keep that between ourselves). I continue to love them: they're soft, they're warm, they're breathable, they have a nice high rise that makes for a smooth fit. They can go a good number of wears before they start to smell at all and need washing. While I understand that there's a lot about bamboo that's not ideal, environmentally speaking, it's still a real high-performance fiber, doing a lot of things that wool does for a fraction of the cost. These would definitely go with me on a trip where I needed leg coverage. I'll keep and wear them until they fall apart, and then I'll cut them off for bike shorts.
3. Bamboo-blend striped black/teal leggings.
Yeah, ditto these. I just love them. I got these leggings, also secondhand, about the time I got the marble-patterned ones, and they're even more a favorite than the others. They're soft, warm, etc --- and they're also fun. Also a must in a travel capsule. Also going to be bike shorts one day, when the knees wear out.
I'll also note: a shorter dress probably looks better with this kind of leggings look, although I have really liked my other Maggie with navy leggings and red Mary Janes. In the winter I generally wear leggings as if they were tights, with boots.
4. NEW (to me) Allbirds "true navy" merino-blend leggings.
These came today, and wow, I love them. The medium fits well. They're warm, soft, cushy --- just great. In fact, they feel REALLY warm, though maybe it was just that I'd been taking leggings on and off in the bathroom and was kind of hot myself. They're a bright-ish navy, a little brighter and lighter than marine blue, but that won't bother me, really. Meanwhile, they make a terrific dark neutral with this dress. Merino, tencel . . . I forget what else is in the blend right now, but they're just great, especially for the price, which was significantly less than what any wool brands are listing for secondhand right now. I'd bought my daughter a pair in black (also secondhand) to wear in Italy, and had been thinking about some for myself. Now that I have them, these would certainly go in a travel capsule, as well as being a staple of my winter wardrobe.
5. NEW (to me) Pact red cotton leggings.
And finally: these are fun. Red is kind of a bold leg choice, but I like it. This shade is lovely, a kind of soft cherry red. These leggings felt instantly cooler when I put them on after the Allbirds, which makes me think they'll be good in transitional seasons --- though given the vagaries of our North Carolina winters, I think I'll probably get a ton of wear out of them all through the cold(er) weather. I'd probably include them in a travel capsule, though I'll have to see how they perform between washes. Cotton can hold onto smells, and of course it doesn't wick moisture the way wool and bamboo do. BUT it breathes, which is a major point in its favor. And it might be enough, while traveling, to spritz the crotch with alcohol or hand sanitizer and let it air between wears. Anyway, they're soft and comfortable and, again, fun. AND it's good to have found out that if I buy more Pact leggings, I'll definitely want large, not medium. They have a lot of pretty colors and patterns, so I could see picking up more, though not right away. Still, they are an eminently affordable option for natural-fiber leggings, and Pact does make very high-quality clothes for the price.
Here's the whole leggings lineup:
Unlike the rest of my wardrobe, it feels like not a very coherent palette. On the other hand, tights and leggings are a place, maybe, where it's easy to introduce different notes. I would still really like some aqua/blue-green leggings . . . that would be a fun color to mix in with my whole wardrobe, as would a brighter teal. Not today, however. I need to concentrate on things going out of my house, not coming in.