In the flatlands, but pining for the mountains. Still and all, it's been a nice time so far.
The centerpiece of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra's program last night was the world premiere of Chris Brubeck's Double Guitar Concerto, featuring a classical soloist and a blues guitarist, Vasti Jackson. It. Was. Smoking. Hot. Not exactly what I'd been envisioning as a symphony experience, but unbelievably good. I can't even really describe the experience, but I'm glad I was there.
Wearing today for Sunday Mass:
Miss Maggie B opens the new month. I really like her in this blue-on-blue tonal look with the J.Jill navy linen-blend cardigan I bought on Poshmark some months ago, plus my thrifted Birkenstock Papillio shoes. This is such an easy, comfortable outfit, but I feel put-together and polished. I hit a 9 a.m. Mass, came back to my mother's for a quick bite to eat, then went to pick up the Texasgirl at the airport. Now she's here, and we have some hours to hang out and get ourselves regrouped before we head out to this wedding at 5.
As always, I love this glowy marine blue and these simple lines. I could wear this outfit for the wedding tonight --- I won't, but it's nice to know that I could. The fabric is sheeny enough to be special, though I lean on this dress pretty steadily for everyday wear.
Looking back at the month just gone, here's a tally of which dresses got worn how much:
The winner with 5 September wears: Maggie T-for-Aegean-Teal
Tied for second place with 4 wears: Audrey, Camellia, Fiona, Sierra, Willow
And with 3 wears: Brooklyn and Maggie B --- the two dresses I've chosen to open the new month.
I'm kind of laughing at the "travel capsule" label, which I'm affixing to this week's posts even though what that means this time is "all the dresses I currently own, plus honestly too many shoes." I keep packing my hiking boots just in case, then not wearing them. And you know how it is --- once you start tossing shoes in an extra bag, you might as well toss in more shoes than you had originally planned. So this series of posts is not some minimalist packing expo. I had no plan. I just threw it all in. And then I picked up stuff in these consignment shops in the mountains (like the Thai Silk Thing I wore to the symphony last night).
Anyway. I have to say, it is nice to have eight dresses to cycle through. They tend to stay pretty fresh this way, including fresh in my mind. I'm way out of the habit of wearing the same thing day after day, and I don't think I mind that. I keep rehearsing in my imagination this idea of doing a 30-day challenge, and it keeps feeling like no fun, so I just don't. Not saying I never would, but it's definitely not what I'm pining for right now.
Meanwhile, though it's not that small, I think my wardrobe really is a capsule, or maybe a series of interlocking capsules. It's nice that I can just toss in all these dresses with a small selection of accessories --- not like I'm going to be wearing my pullover again any time soon, but I was glad to have it in the mountains --- and make any outfit I want, basically, without having to repeat combinations unless I just want to.
I know I say basically this same thing all the time, but it keeps striking me as low-key miraculous. I was never good at getting dressed. What I figured I could always count on was that I'd get someplace and feel awkward --- that what went together in my mind didn't really, or wasn't the right thing after all. I was so very, very reliable at getting it wrong. And now . . . I'm not. It's a weird feeling, but I like it.
And now I'm going to shower and lay out my clothes for the wedding. More anon.
What I wore to the wedding:
Basically the same outfit as the morning, but with Brooklyn and the long necklace and my hair pulled back. Fun wedding, but I tripped and fell in the dark parking lot going back out to the car and skinned up my left leg, so that's kind of a bummer. Could have been a lot worse --- I am obviously very tough. But I am going to bed now and hope I don't bleed through the bandaids.