Goldenrod and friends in the park at the end of the greenway trail, yesterday afternoon. I love goldenrod, and they tell me it's not what makes me feel so awful in the fall, so I love it even more. I'd gladly have stands of it in my garden. I should remember those seedheads forming and go back with a baggie.
Meanwhile, this is it, folks! Friday! I don't usually pant for Fridays this way, but then I don't usually work solidly from Monday to Friday. Mind you, "solidly" is a word I use loosely here. Teaching one class a day hardly constitutes "working solidly." But it's a more regular work schedule than I've been used to in years and years, and I'm glad to get to the end of the week, to have this recording phase tied off. I'll need to go back and edit things in the course page, update some handouts and .pdf versions of class powerpoints, since I changed the powerpoints the day of the class they'd been made for, but that's still the bulk of the work done.
And then I'd better get cracking on the next course, for which I've done nothing so far.
This morning I need to
*bathe, wash hair, and dress
*review today's class powerpoint and make any last-minute tweaks
*walk the dog
*pack for a night and a day at Marly's
Weather report: another nice day here, with a high of 80F. It's 62F right now, fresh and cool. Temperatures are actually pretty similar in Asheville and the mountains over that way: a few degrees cooler, but not cold. I'll take some leggings, but I probably won't need them. Maybe my light pullover for the evening and morning. My gray puffer jacket is at Marly's house, where I left it last spring, so if it really got cold I'd be set, but I don't think it's going to be. Still, I will reclaim my jacket and be glad to see it.
And it'll be fresh and cool enough to wear dresses with sleeves. Fiona and Willow have been waiting all week for me to wear them, so I'll wear one today and pack the other for tomorrow.
I'm kind of hoping we'll get to the upscale thrift store in Highlands tomorrow --- yes, I'm on a purchasing pause (and it's getting harder and harder, because my yen for some new large piece is very strong at the moment!), but I told myself I'd let myself shop at this thrift store if we went, especially for cashmere and linen, and for any skirt that looks likely.
I did decide to pass along the second black skirt I'd ordered week before last --- actually the weekend before the week before last, which I thought would be plenty of time to receive it before needing to wear choir black last Saturday. And nope! Lucky me, I got one of those sellers who have to be reminded to put something in the mail by Day 5 after you order, and it arrived this past Monday. And . . . eh. Other than being longer than the Kosher Casuals skirt I did wear for choir, it was nothing special. The fit was a lot closer than I really like. And it was so obviously polyester. The Kosher Casuals skirt is a nice heavy cotton with a touch of spandex --- an obviously well-made, nicer skirt.
But how often I'm going to wear a black pencil skirt . . . I just don't know. I wouldn't mind having the same model in another color, actually, because I do like pencil skirts, and they're fun under a swing dress/tunic. BUT I'd like to find more twirly skirts, preferably in linen, to wear over dresses. I also keep eyeing Not Perfect Linen pieces on Poshmark --- a sleeveless pinafore/jumper to wear over a wool dress? a jumpsuit/romper??? --- and my heart desires them, but if anything holds its value more than Wool&, let me tell you, it's Not Perfect Linen, and I just can't see plunking down a hundred dollars for a secondhand piece in what is supposedly a purchasing pause, however much I think it would refresh my existing wardrobe. Choir black I can justify. Things like socks: yes. Crop tops? I categorize them as underwear, so yes. Large core wardrobe pieces? Gotta draw the line somewhere.
But this thrift shop has had nice linen, as well as cashmere and alpaca, and I've given myself permission to indulge a little. Their prices are not Goodwill prices, but they're still solidly secondhand prices. I think I paid $48 for the alpaca cardigan Marly talked me into last time. It was more than I had intended to spend. What I had intended to spend was $0. But she assured me that that was an excellent price for a Peruvian Connection piece, so in the end I bought it and haven't been sorry (a constant theme here, in case you hadn't noticed). This year, if we go, and I hope we do, I will go armed with the intention of finding something and spending something, and we'll just see how that plays out.
I am thinking . . . while I finish my coffee, before I go wash my hair . . . that my Camellia dress is nearing the end of her active life as a core piece in my wardrobe. She's not there yet, by any means. But she is starting to look faded again, and thin. I could redye her a second time, to refresh the blue . . . that might really do it, and I certainly won't rule it out as an option. I think I'd go for a Dharma/Jacquard dye this time, not Rit, maybe in the same Sapphire Blue I used for tights and leggings back in the summer. But she's feeling distinctly worn. Now, so far this hasn't meant that I don't wear her. I wore her just this week on Zoom, in fact, and was happy to wear her. And I still wear her regularly for hiking.
But I can see wanting to replace her as a nice dress sometime in the next year. She's sprung some holes, which I've mended fairly invisibly --- but at some point she's going to start to look mended. More than that, though, the fabric is starting to seem to wear thin. I don't know whether I'm imagining it or not, but she looks and feels thinner than some of my newer dresses in the same knit. The time is going to come, and I can begin to see it coming, when what she's good for is sleeping and schlumping around in, but not much else. I'd probably still hike in her, since I wear bike shorts under, and I don't think she'd ever be actually see-through --- the more I can save my newer dresses from stress by dishing it out on older ones that have already been through it, the better, I think.
Anyway, I still hope to do a 30-day challenge encompassing Advent, and to use that reward code for a new spring-summer dress that would serve me --- as a nicer dress --- in Camellia's place, while she rotates to occasional, outdoor, and night wear. I guess what I'm getting at here is that I don't envision really having more than 8 or 9 dresses doing active duty, even though I buy more. What I do envision is that some dresses will begin to wear out. I can see Sierra entering that phase at some point, too, even though she's found new life as a fit-and-flare dress lately, and I hope that trend continues for a good long while.
OK, going to wash my hair, put on a dress, and pack another!
Here's what I ended up putting on: Fiona, always a winner. The teal will look good on camera, and I can add a cardigan or jacket if I want for some extra polish when I teach my last class session. It's still pretty warm, so I've gone with my Birk Balis again for footwear.
This was one of my travel uniforms in Norway, and I always felt good in it. The shape and color of this dress provide, perhaps surprisingly, an instant lift. It's so simple, yet it's the dress I get compliments on, from total strangers when I'm out and about.
Anyway, better walk the dog and let my hair air-dry some.
LATER:
Here's the smiling face of a person whose class is done, whose hair is dry, and whose plans have changed. Some last-minute complications on Marly's end have necessitated our shifting our visit --- I'm planning to go now on my way to Memphis at the end of the month, which should work out better for all involved. I was looking forward to going, but you know, I look forward to a weekend here just as much.
LATER STILL . . .
OK, so not going to the upscale thrift store this weekend, though I probably will get there the last week of September, which is the new visit-Marly plan.
I do keep kind of looking at the Wool& site, which is not good news! But I think. . . hmmmmm . . . I am interested in that Talia dress. What if THAT were my fall/winter dress, and I bought it when it comes out in October, instead of waiting for November, and did a 30-day in it? Could I? Would it work as well as a plum Fiona? Do I want another of this dress I'm wearing today (the answer is not no), or would I go for something similar, but v-necked and green?
Yeah, so stay tuned about all that. Because honestly, I like that dark-green Pine color a lot. I can think of a lot of things I could potentially wear with that dress. But then I feel the same way about the Fiona. Decisions . . . which fortunately I have no shortage of time to mull over.