Stowe Hall, Belmont Abbey College, after Mass today. The husband had to run up to fetch a folder for his seminary class tomorrow morning, but I elected to sit outside in the sunshine and take pictures of the tower and the sky.
It is really a gorgeous day, high of 71. At this writing, I've ditched my Sunday shoes and my cardigan and am lazing on the porch swing in Birk sandals and no sleeves. We've been out to brunch in Cramerton, and I've washed and hung a load of laundry --- not servile labor on a day like this, just pleasant and meditative.
Wearing today:
*Secondhand Erika&Co. vintage floral cotton-linen pinafore, bought December 2023, last worn New Year's Day, if memory serves me. It was due for an outing. Wears in 2025: 2
*Secondhand Not Perfect Linen Bay tank top, bought January 2025, last worn February 6. Wears in 2025: 6
*Very old (as in roughly ten years) thrifted Talbots cotton cardigan, originally dark brown, redyed with Rit Wine by me two (?) years ago. So many years of wear I've lost count, but still going strong.
*Secondhand Birkenstock Papillio Mary wedges, bought fall 2023, second year of wear.
This was basically a perfect outfit for a very transitional-weather day: cool enough for rapidly warming temperatures, but not too rushing-the-season. I guess I can start using the winter-into-spring label, because that is where we are --- winter into spring characterizes February here for sure. A week ago I was getting off the plane into a snowstorm, but today I'm lazing in the sun with my shoulders bare and my feet in sandals.
Cotton has been eclipsed by both wool and linen as my favorite natural fiber, but a cotton cardigan is still a very good item to own, especially in this weather.
This weekend I have made three more secondhand clothing purchases, bringing my total to six so far --- of an allowance of ten for the year (yeah, we'll see how that goes). I have been enjoying my pink wide-leg jeans so much that I bought another high-rise pair in the same size (though not the same brand) in lavender. These were, again, $14. While I hope I wear them for many years, they certainly don't represent a large investment, just a bit of fun. Of course they'll be useful in my large, flexible Lenten capsule, but also they'll just go well with most of my other clothing: blues, greens, other purples, pinks, this off-white linen tank that I seem to be bent on wearing out already, it's so wonderful and versatile.
In fact, my most recent purchase is another of these NPL tanks, this time in Dusty Blue. This new one is a Small, and I'm a little worried about the size, but we'll see. I've worn Small dresses and bodices in NPL clothing, so I hope that this will fit well, if not as loosely as the Oatmeal top I'm currently wearing. The price was right: $30, when they often resell for $80. If it doesn't fit, I can resell it. But I have my fingers crossed. A light dusty blue linen tank would go with everything: under dresses, paired with my two skirts (green cotton-modal Garnet Hill lantern maxi; blue floral vintage rayon April Cornell maxi), paired with my three pairs of trousers (pink wide-leg, lavender wide-leg, Levi 550s). If it fits, I will wear the living daylights out of it, as I'm doing with the tank I currently own.
And I bought a blue Smartwool tee, whose crew neckline I'll probably cut out. It has a funky geometric design whose colors looked right for my wardrobe, and I could use a tee that I haven't cropped. The wool tees whose hemlines I have shortened work very well under things --- I didn't like the bunching of a long hemline under dresses --- but now that I've cycled jeans/trousers back into my wardrobe, I'd like more tops that I could tuck in.
So . . . I keep saying to myself that I'm set for the spring and summer, and in truth, I probably am. At any rate, Lent is coming in less than a month, and it will be a no-buy zone, which will give me time to think.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking about my Texas trip and what to pack for a travel capsule. I am feeling far less minimalist about packing, since I'm taking the car and don't have to fit everything I need in a carry-on. I am allowing myself to think about what I would really like to wear, as in discrete outfits. As fun as capsule challenges are, I find that I'm feeling averse to any such thing, especially when the weather promises to be variable: too warm to bundle up in boots and tights, too early, coolish, and changeable for full-on summer mode, though I should be prepared for really warm temperatures as well as colder ones.
Things I know I want to take, in no particular order:
*This NPL tank
*Pink wide-leg jeans
*The Birk Papillio Mary shoes I wore to church today
*At least one linen dress
*At least one skirt --- can't decide whether I'd rather wear my floral rayon or my green lantern maxi
*Obviously at least one wool dress, though which one(s) I'm not sure
One outfit I could envision wearing for this conference: Black Heather Audrey with my periwinkle Flax tunic, which I haven't worn in some time but really like over that dress. I could possibly wear this NPL tank under if I needed another layer. Birk Papillio Mary shoes on my feet. This would be a good outfit for the day of my panel reading. Beyond that I really don't know.
Things I'm doing on this trip:
*Stopping in Memphis to see my mother and mother-in-law
*One full day in Dallas (2 nights) seeing kids
*3-day literary conference in Belton, farther south and probably warmer than Dallas
*Picking up the TXgirl on my way back from the conference, driving to Memphis so that we both can see her grandmothers
*Home again, probably the next Monday
So, casual visits, probably several dinners out, seeing and being seen at conference, panel presentation, and driving. That sums up what I'll be doing.
So I shall keep thinking, and also watching the weather forecast for week after next.
But for now, I shall also soak up some Vitamin D right here at home.
OH ALSO: I shall read Scene 2 of Comedy of Errors.
AND
Another hair-wash that I'm happy with. Today I used Head&Shoulders for my first lather, because I just want to stay on top of the dermatitis, and I don't trust anything else really to work. BUT I lathered again with the Humby Organics bar, which yet again satisfied me with the amount of lather it produced --- I could have used less and had a perfectly satisfactory lather, really. Then the conditioner, which I have to say tops any bar conditioner I've yet used. Again, a little goes a long way, and it really does provide a good bit of slip. You can squish it into your hair with a lot of water, and it makes your hair perfectly combable, without being too gunky or built-up later.
I rinsed out the conditioner and applied two good pumps of LUS 3-in-1, roughly half of what I'd use if I weren't using a separate conditioner. Brushed out my hair with the wet brush while it was soaking wet, brushing up and away from my scalp in sections. When I got out of the bath, I scrunched and squeezed out excess water with a microfiber towel and let my hair air dry for almost an hour before diffusing.
Now, the weather is warm and damp, which makes a big difference in how my hair behaves. But you can see how wavy it was, and still is, in my outfit pictures. I'm not ready to let go my beloved minimal-ingredient Head&Shoulders, but I do like the results I'm getting with the Humby Organics shampoo and conditioner bars. I think I'll keep shampooing with both for the sake of my scalp --- this way both will last longer. I do like lathering twice, giving my scalp a good clean with the silicone scrubber the first time, then using my fingers the second time. The shampoos I'm using are moisturizing enough that I'm not stripping essential moisture from my hair in two lathers, but I do get both hair and scalp good and clean.
I'd love for my hair to stop falling out, of course. The shampoo bar is supposed to be formulated to help with that, but we'll see. Meanwhile, when I look at photos of myself, it seems that a good bit of new hair is growing back in, and that it's silver, which I do not mind at all.
EVENING UPDATE:
It's been such a nice day. So full of sunshine and relaxation, even though some of the relaxation involved laundry.
I'm thinking I should maybe make an outfit plan for the coming week. The weather is going to be weird, very up and down, mostly in the 40s and 50s Farenheit (sigh), but with a day of 70-degree weather on Thursday. Then back to the 50s.
Ideas:
*Levi 550 jeans with turquoise cashmere pullover (or blue cotton Liz Claiborne pullover and a wool shirt under? blue cotton pullover OVER the cashmere pullover?) and Tari boots
*Wool& Iris Blue Sierra dress with pink long-sleeved base-layer tee, black cashmere footless tights, socks, Keens boots (it's going to be wet a lot this week, I think, so no suede Birk Melrose boots for me)
*Wool& Pacific Brooklyn dress with Connemara cardigan, navy wool tights, either Keens or Tari boots
*Old Navy pink wide-leg jeans with green merino-cashmere-mohair-cotton-blend pullover, over NPL Oatmeal tank, with socks and Tari boots
*NPL Dark Blue-Gray Smock dress with pink merino cardigan and Birk Rosemeads (on the 70-degree day)
*Wool& Audrey over blue WoolX cropped tee with Pure teal cashmere cardigan, tights of some description, Tari boots
*Saturday-night Mass (because I'm leaving for Memphis next Sunday): NPL Grape Wine Smock dress over Banana Republic lavender merino sweater with Red Velvet Cake tights and Tari boots
As always, I reserve the right to change my mind about any of this. Some of my new-to-me purchases will be arriving, and I might very well try something on and not take it off again.
OR I might try it on, say, hm, not really, and put it back up to sell. You simply never know in this game. My aim generally is not to plan to resell things, but that's always an out if something doesn't work. I am pretty good, I have to say, at buying things that I will wear, at least for a while. My goal is to be good at buying things that I will wear for at least five years, but sometimes I do move things along if they don't seem to work as well as I had thought they would. You really do have to give yourself an out. Someone else might as well have a chance to enjoy an item of clothing that you are not enjoying as much as you had hoped.
I also generally go shopping in my own outbox whenever possible. Sometimes the answer to a perceived need is actually something I thought I wanted to get rid of. So far I haven't sold anything that I really wanted back, but I do take things back occasionally. For instance, I think I might keep the sage-green Gap shorts I've had up for sale for . . . two years now? Nobody has really bitten. Meanwhile, they still fit. And I seem to be wearing trousers again. I have liked the color and the cut (very narrow, slim-fitting longer shorts) and have some things I like wearing with them (my blue Indian cotton-gauze tunic, my Flax periwinkle tunic, a variety of button shirts, possible this NPL tank . . .). So I might just keep them for the sake of variety in my own closet.
OK, well, enough ruminating about clothes. I do think about other things, but sometimes I have to make myself do that. Clothes maybe aren't the most intellectual hobby, but they sure are fun and diverting.