People do all kinds of fancy, creative things with these grapevine wreath forms from the dollar store. I . . . don't. I've had that wreath form for pretty much as long as we've lived in this house, and some years I'm a little more motivated, but mostly I'm not. I did pick up some new red ribbon to add to the old patterned ribbon, but that was it. And it's bright, simple, and cheerful, with our little twinkling porch tree, which I plan to leave up through Candlemas. I couldn't stand indoor decor that long --- I leave Nativity scenes up after Epiphany, but nothing else. But I think a simple twinkling porch tree will be lovely through the long afterglow of the Christmas season.
The torrential rains of yesterday have swept everything clean, and we're back to sunshine. It's chilly but not terribly cold: above freezing, at any rate. Looks like being a pleasant day.
My plan: to walk the dog, lift weights a little, do a little hand-laundry (all my merino tights could use a refresh, for one thing), then buckle down to an essay or two, to try to get next week's writing off my desk early in the week. Then I've got to sit and make a careful last-round-of-shopping list for groceries, and gather whatever stocking stuffers I'm going to get. Just sent an APB to the progeny, reminding them to acquire and bring theirs to give.
The house is pretty much company-ready, with beds made and everything basically clean.
I haven't talked much lately about what I'm reading --- at the moment it's David Copperfield, which I'm rereading after having spent last year reading all the Dickens novels I hadn't already read. And I'm almost finished with The Peregrine. I set my Sigrid Undset book down somewhere and need to pick it up again as well. And of course all this poetry, all the time.
Wearing today:
*Wool& Fiona (medium) in Teal
*Secondhand Aran gray wool zip-up hoodie cardigan
*Secondhand J. Jill purple cashmere scarf
*Secondhand bamboo-cotton teal-striped leggings (repeated from the other day)
*Devold wool socks from Norway (hidden in my boots, but also teal)
*Secondhand Birkenstock Melrose boots in Graphite
I'd been feeling a little discouraged about Fiona and my mending job --- thinking of course this is what happens to nice dresses that I like, and believing that she'd never be quite so nice again. But honestly: my mending is not great, but you can't see it in the photos I took this morning. Nobody will ever notice it. And after a mend and a wash, Fiona was ready to go, so I put her on, and here we are, happy as ever.
Again, this is the dress of mine that total strangers have exclaimed over --- somebody passing me on the greenway last summer remarked that my dress was "gorgeous." I do love her an awful lot and always feel pretty when I wear her. It's good to remember that a hole or snag isn't the end of the world, and isn't the end of the useful life of a piece of clothing.
I am getting a wee bit tired of purple. This is, however, good practice for Lent, when I will be more than a wee bit tired of purple by the time it's all over. I just hope I'll keep wearing this scarf, because I do love it. It's so soft and light, very much like those expensive-brand scarves you see advertised. It makes a great shawl in warm weather --- would be a perfect item to travel with and throw over bare shoulders to go into churches.
I'm also thinking what a good acquisition these dark-gray boots have been. They add instant polish to any outfit, and I just love them. I especially love how comfortable they are for walking, as an alternative to barefoot boots and shoes. Today my feet are feeling that they want a break from barefoot --- I've been on my feet a lot this weekend, between walking and housework, and my feet and ankles don't hurt, but do feel tired. The extra support of a Birkenstock sole is very welcome. Meanwhile, I am pondering anew just how much of a difference the right shoe makes, aesthetically speaking, to an outfit. In summer everything is easy: just add sandals and go. In the winter, when I need to add warm layers to my legs, it's been harder to get the equation right, so that I'm both comfortable and (in my own mind) presentable. As much as I love ankle boots, these taller boots are great for wearing leggings with socks and still looking not completely like a dork.
I'm just feeling better generally about my outfit combinations: they feel right, balanced, and put together, and also consistent with what I envision as my "style." I look back at many of last winter's photos and think: what was that woman thinking? What I think that woman was thinking was this: I know how I want to look, but these are the clothes I have to work with. It's paid off, I think, in terms of my own satisfaction, to have added the items I've added to my closet since last winter --- core dresses, yes, but largely accessories like these boots, which help me pull together, in reality, the look I want.
As we approach the new year, I remind myself that I'm not making resolutions --- but one little rule I'd like to apply (and break if I feel like it) is not to buy anything new in 2024. I'm not going to set a limit on what I buy, at least publicly. I might privately resolv-- consider setting a limit on the number of a certain kind of item. And there are budget limits, though my own income from my work tends to come in big waves, and when I get paid, after I tithe, I tend to jump on the opportunity to buy things, because I don't know when the next big wave will come. It's not a great pattern, but it does keep me from spending the household budget on my clothes.
Exceptions to any rule like this are underwear and tights. Even with mending, I will probably need more merino tights before next fall. I might also count shoes as an exception, though honestly most of my shoes have come to me secondhand. My Birk Floridas, which I got cheap on Ebay and wore hard through a couple of summers, have now truly fallen apart, so I will probably look for a comparable replacement --- sandals that I can just put my feet into without having to buckle anything. Birk Mayaris are always going pretty inexpensively on Poshmark, so come the spring I'll probably start keeping an eye out. Otherwise I am fairly well set. I would love one more pair of Mary-Jane-style shoes for the summer --- I wish Xero Cassies came in more colors, but I might try to pick up a pair in black, just for a change from red. We'll see.
With that, I think I'll go dry my wet-refreshed hair and walk the dog in the sunshine.