Introducing...teeny blue enamel leaf earrings.

This additional *inherited* jewelry post was unexpected. I thought that I had already featured all of the jewelry I could wear without alteration, but while I was organizing the rest of the things I received I found these cuties.  How'd I miss them?  When I picked these up I didn't think I could wear earrings anymore because of the large holes in my ears. But it turns out having big holes in your ears is perfectly adaptive for wearing clip-on earrings. Having no actual ear in the pinchy-est part of the earrings almost completely alleviates their usually migraine inducing tightness. And- bonus- they seem much more secure than I remember them feeling on my unstretched ears. This realization practically has me dancing with joy. Suddenly, I'm dreaming of a world of gorgeous vintage clip-on earrings just waiting to be mine!

The weather has not been cooperative with my outfit photo efforts. These pictures were taken at a reasonable hour in natural light and still they're blurry. At least I don't feel like it's my fault this time.

This I what I wore today to make an epic three store shopping trip to get everything we need for our Thanksgiving feast. I wore pretty much the same outfit last night (different shirt, no hat) to see Bye Bye Birdie at the Davis Musical Theater. Normally I seize any opportunity to dress up for an evening out, even community theater, even though ours is a very casual community. It was raining and cold and I just couldn't work up the enthusiasm for anything fancier than jeans and boots. Turns out this was a good thing- it was so cold in the theater I never took my coat off.

Red, white and blue.

This is what I wore for a tough day online resume submissions. I swear these sites are designed to make an applicant feel so incompetent she's ashamed to have made any claims to computer proficiency on her resume! I spent so long agonizing over the cover letter touting my excellent time management skills that I was timed out of the application process and had to begin again. At which time, this seasoned manager who is able to adapt easily to the changing needs of business, and handle high levels of pressure with decorum and aplomb, began screaming at her husband for not being helpful enough. Luckily, he is not one of my references.

This necklace is reputed to be made of ancient Roman glass. Years ago I worked for The Museum Company and we sold lots of this iridescent glass jewelry. The story goes that the glass was recovered from a cache of discarded glass near the site of a glass factory believed to have been in operation in Israel during the holy roman empire. So, this piece of glass would have been, basically, trash. The substandard glass pieces created at the factory would have been tossed on the refuse pile, buried for centuries, excavated, refashioned into jewelry, and sold at the mall. I have no reason to disbelieve this chain of events; I told this tale to customers myself, hundreds of times. I'm not saying it isn't true, either. I've just become a bit more skeptical of the claims made by retailers than I once was. Whatever the truth is, this is a pretty, glittery, shimmering piece of glass- I don't really care what it is beyond that.

Possibly ancient glass and silver.

The five dollar blue patent flats make their blog debut.

If only I were a comic book character...

I wouldn't even have to be a super hero. Just so long as I was only visible in two dimensions. Okay, I'd never really wish to actually be two dimensional. I celebrate my many dimensions and multifaceted personality. However, I can not celebrate my profile view in today's outfit.  I'm working from home today so I tried to see if I could style this dress in a way that made it seem less sweet and girly. This is a dress which typically earns me compliments whenever I wear it, and it's stayed in my closet because of this, but it also never quite feels like me.

Today I tried to toughen it up a little with orange fishnets, platform sandals and a thrifted brown leather man's belt. I'm calling it a qualified success. I do think that the accessories work to create an overall look that is a better fit for me, but there's no getting around the fact that the dress itself is just too small for me at the moment. Even wearing spanx, which I normally wouldn't do during the day, and standing up as straight as I possibly can, my stomach sticks out more than I'd like. And if I relax and let it all hang out it's much, much worse.

Tummy trouble!

What you can't see in these photographs is the copious bulging back fat. I saw it in the mirror so I assure you, it's there. I think spanx tend to exacerbate the lumpy back problem if one's not careful. And I have no desire to maintain constant vigilance over escaping back fat.

I have such trouble with spanx. I'm willing to admit that they do help in some ways, but they seriously let me down in others. I'm pragmatic- I do realize that there's only so much one can expect shape wear to accomplish. It's just that I'm not sure that the results are worth the trouble.  It's not only the wayward back fat issue, there's the epic struggle to get them on in the first place. If I spent the ten minutes I would have to take to squeeze myself into spanx every morning doing crunches I wouldn't need the spanx at all. If I wore them everyday, which I don't, precisely because they are so difficult to get into.

The last time I purchased a new pair of spanx the salesperson told me quite seriously that I needed to put them on by stepping into them. I still can't imagine what method she thought I might employ to get into them if she hadn't offered me this advice. Suspend them on a hook and take a running jump with both feet? Dive into them head first like a circus performer from a high dive platform into a tiny pail of water?

I will make the effort to step into my spanx (gently, one leg at a time) for special occasions but those times are not always completely problem free.  Special occasions for me often feature celebratory beverages, and while it's one thing to spend ten minutes struggling into a foundation garment in the comfort of your own home, it's another to find yourself trying to do so tipsy, wobbling on your high heels, in the narrow stall of some public bathroom.  Oh, I know they have that open crotch thing, but it is very psychologically difficult to urinate while you still feel like you have your pants on, and if you can drunk pee in a bar bathroom while holding your spanx open and not piss on your hand or your spanx, then my hat is off to you- you're a better woman than I!

Please focus your attention on the pretty amber ring and not the lipstick on my teeth.

In any case, even with spanx, this isn't a dress I'd be comfortable wearing in public right now. I'm much happier with the way I styled it today than I was the last time I wore it, so I won't get rid of it. But I am going to take it out of my regular closet and store it until a later date.

Spotted!

Some bloggers can frolic in photos and not look lame. Not me, but I try!

This sweet black and white polka dot scarf was a recent gift from a dear friend. (Hi, Carolyn!) I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with scarves. I admire them on bloggers and street-stylers from around the globe and on stylish ladies in the flesh, closer to home. Is it possible that there's another way to add as much panache to an otherwise ordinary outfit as with an artfully arranged scarf? I think not. They are relatively inexpensive, (for the most part- and yes, I do covet some of the exceptions,) often practical, fun, and present no pesky fit issues. And yet, I still have trouble wearing them.

Being the kind of person who thinks spending large amounts of time analyzing all things appearance related is time well spent, I dedicated myself to seeing if I couldn't isolate what my personal issues around scarf wearing are. This is what I came up with:
 
Scarves can fill up the space between my shoulders and my head too much. I have a fairly small head, a weak chin, and not a lot of hair. In spite of the weakness of my jawline my neck is actually reasonably long and slim looking. Too much scarf volume in this area can completely obscure this positive feature and make me look like a chinless, neckless wonder. Too large a scarf and I feel as if I look like a nervous turtle about to draw my tiny head in and hide.

The interaction between scarves and my chest can be problematic. I've got enough visual bulk in the chest area already. Heaping great swaths of scarf on top of it doesn't help. And I can not abide a longer scarf that falls over my chest leaving its fringed ends dangling in midair several inches from my body.

Perhaps still a little turtle-like from the side? Do you see it too?

So, I think what I've done here works pretty well. The scarf is nicely away from my neck and the fringed ends are at the back of my neck and not hanging off my boobs. The polka dots jazz up what would otherwise be a tepid jeans/T-shirt/cardigan combination. And I get the satisfaction of feeling that I conquered one of my fashion demons. Even if it took no less than a dozen tries to come up with this.

What happened to my new jeans, you may be wondering? (If you weren't you are now, ha!)  Well, they are too small, dammit!  I did try them on, but I was wearing tights at the time. They seemed like they would fit without the tights, and they were stretchy, so I bought them. I historically have a very hard time making the right pant size decision.
Case in point #1: I bought an ex-treme-ly tight pair of bright red jeans on the recommendation of a sales girl who warned me that- "premium denim stretches a lot; you have to buy the smallest size you can get into." I wore those ass hugging red jeans eight times without washing them and they did not stretch one bit.
Case in point #2: I did not listen to the sales girl who told me that my linen pants would grow with wearing because I thought- "young lady, you don't know what you're freakin' talking about. These pants are practically crawling up my backside already, a smaller size would be obscene." Yep, you guessed it- five minutes of sitting down and I practically had to hold up my pants when I stood up again. Turns out she knew exactly what she was freakin' talking about.
Now, when I wore the (in my opinion, too tight) jeans from the first example I got a ton of compliments, and not just from creeps either. So I thought- "maybe I need to start buying pants that fit a bit more snugly; maybe I'm like one of those people on What Not to Wear who think things are too tight when they actually fit." And now I'm the proud owner of more pants that are too small for me. I'm storing them and hoping that my recent re-commitment to healthy eating will mean I can wear them soon.

Introducing... the pearl bar pin.

Finally, the last piece of *inherited* jewelry makes an appearance:

It took a while for me to figure out how I could wear a piece this delicate and sweet in a way that still felt like my style.  I'm pleased to say that I've managed to find a way to wear all of the unaltered family heirloom jewelry I brought home, with the exception of one piece, which I am returning to my mother.  I still have several additional pieces that I'm planning on reworking to make them more wearable. I'm hoping to get them up on the blog, with before and after photos, as soon as the reworking is accomplished. Stay tuned, but don't hold your breath. I'm a busy lady lately.

The angle of this shot resulted in a bit more revealing shot than I anticipated.

This is also the first outing of the vintage skirt Chris found for me in a Phoenix thrift store. I was shooting for an English country house in the thirties kind of effect- sort of a Mitford sister at home on the family estate look. I'm happy with the result, but I do worry that I'm a bit thickly built for this look. I don't want to cross over into Queen-Elizabeth-out-walking-her-corgis territory. Although, now that I think about it, I really liked most of the outfits that Helen Mirren wore in The Queen, so perhaps I wouldn't mind as much as I thought I would.

See? It's a very respectable outfit, really.

I felt wonderfully feminine in this skirt today- like some classic film heartthrob's girl Friday; the sweet, hard working girl whose charms are easily appreciated once the glamorous femme fatale has been eliminated.

I was desperate to own these shoes when I bought them but have yet to get through a whole day wearing them. I always have to carry an alternate, more comfortable, pair.  I love their sturdy, practical, vintagey look but they are so stiff I am beginning to despair of ever breaking them in.

The fine line between ridiculous and fabulous.

I can't decide if these gumball sized sixties clip-on earrings are ridiculous or fabulous. In the past three weeks I've put them on and removed them at least twenty times.  That's not counting the three or four times today. It's only sheer force of will that's keeping them on my ears now because I'm just not sure. The line between ridiculous and fabulous can be razor fine, and I'm constantly in fear of slipping to the wrong side.

I've forced myself to wear these today in keeping with the spirit of Visible Monday.  Being visible- being noticed- means accepting the possibility that everyone may not like what they see.  And that can be awfully tough for me to do.

You see, I think these baubles are something I'd be likely to admire on someone else. But I also think that they're something that 98% of the world would see and think- "those are some earrings you've got there, lady!" (You've got to imagine those words dripping with sarcasm.)  Now, I know that the people I imagine are thinking these nasty things are probably not wearing anything I would, in a million years, want to wear, but somehow I still want these imaginary nasty people to think I look great. Why, I wonder?  Why would I care what they think of me if I don't think much of them?

Since I'm pretty sure I can't have it both ways- some people are always going to find my 'fabulous' ridiculous- and since the alternative would be never trying for fabulous and just playing it safe, I think I'd rather risk looking ridiculous in the hope that the two percent of folks out there whose style I covet think I look interesting.  However, this is often easier said than done.  Especially now as I'm getting older. Standing out feels like inviting criticism.  Catching someone's eye means opening myself up to the possibility that they'll see me and think I'm too old, or too fat, or too kooky, or just trying too hard. Ouch! Some days that possibility is more than I can handle. Other days I can manage to say- "Everyone else be damned; I'm dressing for myself." And for the two percent of super stylish folks who think I look fabulous- that's you guys, right?

I must admit that blogging certainly helps.  It's not only provided me with a reason for challenging myself and a forum in which to do so, but it's given me an opportunity to see myself in a more gestalt way.  Looking at these photos I realize that these earrings I've been kind of obsessing about aren't as over the top as I imagined them to be when I was looking in the mirror. Go figure.

I'm not doing that again!

The title of this post was originally intended to refer to the vow I've made not the post pictures of clothes unless I'm actually wearing them. Sadly, now it may also make reference the fact that I left the taking of these photos way too late, and they SUCK. The combination of early dark and more than the usual number of failed outfits left me at the mercy of artificial lights and flash. Will try not to do that again either. 

In the early, early days of this blog I imagined my *Thrift Haul* posts as a regular feature. I had yesterday's post all written and ready to go before taking the photos. While taking pictures for the post I realized that a post dedicated to showing clothes on hangers was completely counter to what I want for the blog.

In the first place, it couldn't be more boring.  Even the most beautiful, interesting, crave-worthy garments in the world need a body to bring them to life. (And who am I kidding? Nothing I own fits that description.) Secondly, it was always my intention to exhibit what I wore, not what I bought. To my mind, style isn't about shopping as much as it about mixing and combining and juxtaposing disparate elements to create something that becomes more than the sum of it's parts. It's not about having a closet full of things. It's about the interaction of those things with each other, with the body, and with the world at large. Sure, shopping fills the well, so to speak, but you don't get to call yourself an artist just because you bought a box of paints. And it's artistry I aspire to. Maybe I won't ever achieve virtuoso level, but practice certainly improves proficiency, even if it doesn't result in perfection. Practicing style means actually wearing clothes, not simply buying them.

That said, I'm only going to post clothing I'm wearing from here on out. I'm going to try harder to sharpen my skills as a self stylist. No more lazy look-at-what-I-got posts. Unless I'm actually wearing what I got. Today I took yesterday's black and white knit dress and serious black pumps out for a spin.