December Dither

 With more couth I would've worn this outfit for Thanksgiving: 

the Collection café capri in antiqued floral, a cambridge crewneck from 2008 and the antique gold mary jane heels so wonderful I no longer pine for the spencer patent trimmed crackle metallic mary janes 

aka Emma Pillsbury's favorite shoes.

I think the antique floral print is rich and splendid. The fabric, 76% silk and 33% cotton, is quite substantial. It feels like two layers woven together. Could very well be since the reverse side barely shows any print show-through and has a different texture.

Highly recommended if you like crazy fancy pants.

Showing the shoes snapped up from Yoox but they are no more there.

Is it wrong to be in love with a pair of shoes?

 As threatened promised, here's what I wore for Thanksgiving:

This year's was a wonderful confluence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah that I was completely unaware of since I'd been buried in work.

But look what we saw as we're fixin' the candied yams.

Is this one of those signs Jody talked about?

What the weatherman tells us for today.

And what it looks like.

But I'll be planning and packing for a week-long trip to places where the weather is difficult for me to imagine.

This (washable? faux fur) is likely the foundation for my trip.

With apologies in advance to ruth, Naomi, Heidi and anyone else I will likely offend, I will likely wear this on travel days:

With any luck, I may see some ...

That's a surprise snow storm the last time I visited my dad. 
Spending time with him will be the very best part of my trip. :)

 

Stay safe and warm and don't let the stresses take over.

Let me know what you're up to and I'll try to keep up.

See y'all in about a week.

Wash and Wear

I won't say why or how, except I didn't cause it, but this icon trench was filthy. At first, I thought I'd relegate it for dire circumstances ... like if I knew I had to be packed onto a bus with a football team

that for some reason could not shower after a sweaty game.

But the coat was grungy enough I doubt I'd wear it even then.

Oh, I thought about taking it to the cleaners.

But I don't love the idea of spending a zillion dollars on something that may not come clean and I don't love the idea of dry cleaning chemicals. And since the football team scenario was unlikely, made one of those "what do I have to lose" decisions and threw it in the wash. Delicate cycle, cold water. Tumble dry low.
Surprise, suprise. It came out just fine.

And while it's not as crisp as before and should be lightly pressed,

I now happily wear it for the best situations.

I wore the washed trench over the above outfit when I went to:

With some good friends and we had pre-theater dinner here:

I ate every bit of:

British Columbia King Salmon

eggplant purée, soy bean, tamago, Thai curry and jasmine rice

Carried this:

Kate Spade book clutch.

And was not disappointed in any way. 

The evening far exceeded every expectation.

 

Many have wondered, some have asked and I said I'd try it so

I washed the minnie pant in bi-stretch wool.

Same way: delicate cycle, cold water, tumble dry low.

I measured before and after, the width shrunk by about 3/16".

Like jeans after they're washed and dried, they felt tightened up. 

Still quite wearable but more legging-like.

The bigger difference was the length, they're shorter by about 1/2".

 

 If you study the above carefully, you'll notice the more snug and bunched up washed minnie pant on the right. Slightly shorter.

For reference, I'm 5'2"-ish and wearing the regular length size 00.

Not sure if I prefer them before or after the wash and dry but I sure wish there was a way to shrink the waistband by about 2".

Then they'd be perfect. Like my recent evening out.

 

So have you had wash and wear dastardly disasters or surprise successes?

Pepper Patch

I had a personal pact to post this pack of pepper tweed things

way before now. Of course, I failed miserably.

I bought them at the end of the Fall 2012 season sale priced and with an extra percentage off so I thought it odd they came back in the suiting section full priced then went on sale again and now the dress has sold out a second time and only the jacket and skirt remain in limited sizes

in the final sale section.

 

Maybe they're the same things maybe not.

Though the item numbers are identical, I know mine are black and ivory while what's currently on sale has navy ivory for the color choice.

Whatever. I'm thinking they have the same fit and fabrication so reviews could help somebody if the pepper tweed things pop back.

The fabric is 52% cotton/48% polyester (at least there's more real stuff than not).

It's loose enough a weave I could carefully work an Art Deco hat pin into the material, being careful to not go through the lining.

(Hat pins often have dull, threaded ends that don't pierce cleanly through fabric.)

I really like the dress, for once I didn't feel as if I'd want to

shorten or nip in a garment for a better fit.

Here, I decided to wear some fun, vintage plastic jewelry.

And of course a reprise of the tweed dweeb below, worn with the short-sleeve chambray shirt (the short sleeves avoid the fussiness at the cuffs and I like the rounded collars with the collarless jacket). The skirt fits surprisingly slim, I'm not used to skirts fitting around the waist. This one is sitting slightly high waisted instead of riding on my hips like most.

In case you're wondering, yes, I am wearing tights.
They're beige with tiny polka dots but it just looks like I have pasty legs, which I do.

Pepper tweed cons: the loosely woven fabric will easily snag (my vintage crystal bracelet caused a few before I became keenly aware to keep it away), the loosely woven fabric can also get out of shape (you can see above the uneven skirt hem) and though more than 50% cotton, I still wish for a 100% natural material, silk for the poly content would be lovely.

Pepper tweed pros: easy-to-wear, basic colors (whether black ivory or navy ivory); classic cut and a nice, close fit (at least for me); a lightweight tweed good for most seasons (for where I live and this tweed will also travel well); the loosely woven fabric can be worked to easily make snags disappear.

I've layered two necklaces collected over the years, these are from the 1920s, I believe.

The pepper tweed inspired me to pack a little more punch
with pieces from my vintage/antique jewelry collection.
I go in and out of these phases, should I stay put in this one a bit?

Did you pick up or pass on the pepper tweed?

Oh and does anybody remember I promised the ultimate chambray/denim shirt smackdown? Trying to be comprehensive stopped me from getting started. So silly wabbit, I will post one each week until I'm through them all. First one in a couple days and I'll take requests.



A Very Late Thanksgiving

You call that a gravy boat?

This is a gravy boat.

You're supposed to read that

with this in mind:

In addition to big bird (a 23.7 pound turkey)

we did 10 pounds of candied yams

five pounds of mashed potatoes,

two different stuffings (they filled two extra large roasting pans),

two kinds of cranberry sauce,

some peas so we can pretend we ate vegetables,

and had pumpkin pie and ice cream.

 

We did not host dinner for 20, there were only five of us.

Which is why I was glad I didn't glam,

I had all these ideas but I wore this (perfect wear for peeling potatoes and stuffing stuffing):

This is obviously an awfully tardy post.

And an awkward segue to say thank you.

(With all good intentions I meant to do it way before now.)

First to M of Apples & Pencil Skirts

and rynetta of jcrewismyfavstore

for giving me

Then to Andrea of Tweed and Toile

for awarding me

And last but certainly not at all the least

TC of What I Bought Today

and Danielle of Chocolate, Shoes, and Debate

for bestowing on me the

There are questions to be answered and other bloggers to nominate.

But I figure I should get on with at least the thanks

so I'm not even more delinquent with each passing day.

{hangs head in shame for realizing how overdue I am}

Is it really true better late than never?

And can overalls ever work with heels?



Chie Cha-Ching

So these are actually the first pair of Chies I own,

though I told you about those first.

I can't believe I actually have two pairs since I thought Chie Mihara
shoes are priced way beyond what I'm willing to pay.

But! I found shoescribe.com and these babies were mine.
Hint: I'm a straight to the sale section kind of shopper.

Here's what's shocking: The heels are 3.25" but I thought

"tradeshow shoes" the first time I put them on.

My wide forefoot had plenty of room, my toes were happy.

 

After wearing them an entire workday to be certain,

I wore them to work a conference.

If you have ever staffed a tradeshow (as opposed to attending a conference),

you know that's the true test for whether shoes are comfortable.

 

I was on my feet for probably 12 of 14 hours one day.

Walking up and down stairs, going from one end of the show floor to the

next exhibit hall to the next, coordinating with TV crews and reporters,

attending a meeting and a reception and ...

 

At the end of the evening, I did not want to rip the shoes off.

Oh I was tired and my feet were just a touch sore, but I did not feel like

cutting my feet off as I have thought with other shoes.

I love these and they lived up to my initial expectation.

 

As for the outfit ... I know some of you are thinking 

attire for when the leaves turn and the temps are cooler.

Well, our leaves fell; big clumps of pine needles rained down my office windows yesterday. But it wasn't due to a chill in the air.

It was HOT. Likely the hottest day of the year. And still scorching today;

it is 5:45 p.m. and 97 degrees outside.

 

How goes your summer?



Happy Birthday to Me

It's not yesterday, today or tomorrow.

But it was recent.

 I wanted to share my treat with you, my bloggie buddies.

Because it's really good.

A little cotton string and tag to check commitment

(and yes, it's attached where you cannot replace it after removal).

Another dust cover photoshoot.

Isn't she a beauty?

These are the second pair of Chies I got from here.

A great place to shop (once you get used to the navigation).

 This on the site made me laugh:

I see you like shoes. So do we.
I think we'll get along just fine.

Big sale ongoing. Free standard shipping.

Additional 10% off this weekend if you shop from your mobile.

Not trying to enable. But in case you wanted to know.