Zombie Pacman

 Dress: Zombie Pacman Dress from Lands' End via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn an extra garment for a month)

Cardigan: Avenue

Socks: Sock Dreams

Shoes: Fluevogs

I wore this dress 3 times in one week. I didn't want to ever stop wearing it. I also wore it with lime green socks & cardigan, but never got any pictures of that version. I wore this dress to Tai Chi, work, & to total my car. It was soooo comfortable; the fabric was hefty, a perfect winter weight dress; a flattering fit; & a great length to wear with knee socks without showing any skin. Lands' End clothing runs a tad big, which is good news for me. I am normally a 26/28, but their largest size, 3x, fit me perfectly. They call this a polka dot pattern, but to me it looks like zombie pacman, others thought it looked like popcorn. But not dots. This is another, why did I send this dress back?! Kate owns this dress. It is also lovely on her. 

I was driving to work in the morning & it had been snowing for a while & the roads were slippery...& as I was merging on the road from a curvy onramp, my car slid on over into oncoming traffic. No one was hurt. But my poor Super Boo Subaru! The insurance adjuster said it was totaled because it was over 10 years old. I LOVED that car. Super Boo surprised me with it 3 years ago. We have replaced it with another Subaru in green. Super Boo Subaru the Second. Stupid winter. 

Super Boo's Birthday

 Dress: Floral Dress from Eloquii via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Cardigan: Lane Bryant

Shoes: Born

Necklace, Bracelet, & Earring: Wendy Baker

I wore this most lovely dress on Super Boo's birthday. It was like wearing a watercolor. I felt pretty all day. As soon as I sent this dress back, they retired it. If you are a size 14 or 18, you can own this dress for $32. Sadly, they were sold out of my size by the time I found out. I may have cried. It runs big, I am normally a 26/28 & the 24 fit me perfectly. The fabric is heavy & lays wonderfully. And the gorgeous colors & pattern...better than a bouquet of flowers! 

Super Boo & I went to the Olbrich Conservatory for his birthday, then out to dinner. On his birthday, I make out a list of possibilities for the day, things we could do at home or out in the world, as well as events happening in the community. He picked Olbrich, Samba (for dinner), & an art exhibit called Real/Surreal (we ran out of time & are going to go another day). 

I love spending time with Super Boo. He makes me happy & I am a better person with him in my life. He pushes me to face parts of me I'd rather ignore & I need that in my partner. He is intelligent, funny, kind, loving, supportive, & thoughtful. He is willing to be silly with me, as well as serious. He reads to me. I feel lucky. I like our life together. I feel fortunate that I get to spend my life with this man. Every birthday, every day. 

Art & Music

 Dress: Lace Cocktail Dress from Kiyonna via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Kate's Dress: Portia Pin-up Dress also from Kiyonna

I wore this dress to attend an art show opening & to see The Sills with Kate & Angie. I thought perhaps this dress was too tight at first, but I ended up loving it & feeling quite sexy. I adore the way black lace looks when there is a contrasting color underneath. I originally had black lace stockings on, but my (now deceased) lace stockings have so many holes in them that they were making me feel crabby & ugly. My mood improved as soon as I took them off. I am trying to hunt down new ones, but I can't find any. Help? 

I am kinda loving this huge metal flower.  I wouldn't be able to kill it & Oscar the Pitbull would not be able to destroy it. It is perfect really. I'd like a garden full of metal flowers, please!

Adorable Kate wearing the pin-up dress in a gorgeous tropical print. I own this dress in leopard, but flowers are fun too. 

Glowing girlie, bathed in light. 

An original screen print by one of the guitar players in The Sills, Jim. Drunk people kept touching it & one particularly annoying guy asked if any of us had a pen so he could sign it. No. Drunk people just aren't my scene. 

Stuffed Pig

 Dress: Delilah Dress from Igigi via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)
Shoes: Payless
Necklace & Earring: Babil & Bijou

I wore this dress to work & to take a trip to Costco with Super Boo, where I made this pig friend. I liked this dress, but LOVED the skirt pattern. I wish the whole dress was that pattern. The waistband hit at that strange in-between place of not quite under the bust & not quite natural waist. I'm not sure who that is flattering on. But it was bright & a gorgeous pattern, so it was a great one time wear dress. I could have put more effort into accessorizing, but I was running late that morning. I have a haircut appointment next Wednesday. It can't come soon enough. Bangs! Can't see!

One of my goals this year is to make friends with a pig, a live pig, which is why this adorable stuffed one stood out to me. There is a homeless farm animal shelter near Madison, Heartland Farm Sanctuary, & I would love to become a volunteer for them. In the spring, when it is warmer. They have quite a few pigs living at their farm, along with goats, chickens, ducks, sheep, donkeys, horses, & turkeys. Below is Ellie, she's a miniature pot-bellied pig & is potty trained. Isn't she adorable? 

Tai Chi & Bright Leaves

 Dress: Jersey Wrap Dress in Leaf Print from Vicky Tiel via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Cardigan: Avenue

Shoes: John Fluevog

Necklace: Babil & Bijou

Earring: Me

I wore this vividly printed wrap dress on Monday 2 weeks ago to work & to Tai Chi class. During break at Tai Chi, a classmate thanked me for wearing this dress & brightening up a dreary winter day. I loved that this dress was so happy looking, it made me smile all day. I was sad to send it back, but just yesterday it was added to the GB shop & I bought it for $20! Get it while you can. It is a lovely thick fabric & wrap dresses are just so flattering. 

Tai Chi classes have still not improved my balance & grace...but it has only been a month. I got us the Tai Chi Fundamentals DVD by Tricia Yu from the library so we can practice at home. She started the Tai Chi Center of Madison where we take classes. 

Bernina!

Dress: Skater Dress in Heart & Star Print from ASOS via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Shoes: Doc Martens

Necklace & Earring: Babil & Bijou

I wore this dress to go to my friend Angie's house and get a sewing tutorial & have dinner. I LOVE these skater dresses from ASOS! I think they are SO flattering on me. However, I am not a fan of grey, so this was a one time wear for me. I was pretty excited that I had a star necklace & earrings to wear with it. I don't think I have any socks with stars though...can that really be true? I *know* I have some heart socks somewhere, but I'm not that organized. 

Angie is letting me borrow this amazing Bernina sewing machine for as long as I actually use it. I took a 5 minute video of her giving me a tour of the machine, but here is a photo of it in action a few days later. I am making curtains for Super Boo's office. This machine is sooooo relaxing...it just hums along and sews through 4 layers of this heavy fabric without hesitation. Very different from the frustrating sewing machines I've used in the past that would clog up or break a needle every 15 minutes. 

Years ago, when I was in my 20s & people still used answering machines, we came home to a message from a woman that was looking for a walking foot for her Bernina. I thought it was the funniest thing because I didn't know what any of those words meant  & I kept telling people about the message until someone understood it & could explain it to me. Now, I have a walking foot & a Bernina! Though I still don't know what to do with a walking foot. 

February 2: The Girlie Birthday

 Dress: Flirty Flouncy Wrap Dress from Kiyonna via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Kate's Dress: Cap Sleeve Floral Dress from Spense via GB

Sandals: Born

Necklace: Vintage Miriam Haskell

Earring: Wendy Baker

 

I wore this summer dress to visit the conservatory at Olbrich Gardens with the girlie on her birthday. Oh, it was heavenly. Like a tropical vacation. For $2! 80s, humid, & the fragrant floral scent *sigh*...I was relaxed the rest of the day. What a lovely escape. 

 Kate looked adorable in her floral dress & red tights. 

This dress has *way* too much white for me, I much prefer the colors in Kate's dress. However, it is the flirty flouncy style from Kiyonna that I am in LOVE with. I own this dress in black with white polka dots. And I adore it on me in red. 

So much sunshine!

Buttons on the back...

I have had this Miriam Haskell necklace for more than 20 years and this is the first time I've worn it. I never had anything light enough before. 

Kate's Birthday Wine Tasting

Dress: Lace Print Dress from Lucie Lu via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Necklace/Bracelet/Earring: Vintage parure by Robert DeMario

I wore this stunning emerald dress to Kate's birthday wine tasting. Why did I send this dress back? Gorgeous! It was a great fit, but I'm glad I sized up as this dress runs a tad small. The waist was a bit strange as it fell in-between empire & natural waist, but it still worked somehow. The neckline was high enough on this dress to make it work appropriate. I LOVED the deep green & the lace print. This jewelry parure was one of the first things I ever purchased from ebay back in 1996 & this is only the second time I've ever worn it. I thought it added a touch of glamour & made this dress more evening wearable. 

Kate is a collector of wine. These are only the reds she opened, there was another table with 4 whites. Once upon a time Super Boo & I used to do wine tastings at our house where everyone brought bottles that were $15 & under and we bagged them and gave each wrapper unique names, such as: Big Black Sex Cop (Six Feet Under reference), I Can Really Taste The Pea-ness (Iron Chef reference), Libidinous Lesbionics (Daily Show reference), & Who's Your Daddy? Now wine tasting is *serious business*. Not that I entirely mind. /tangent. All of the wine was YUM. My rating scale goes from YUM to YUCK. Kate has excellent taste in wine!

I most often make the girlie carrot cake for her birthday, but she requested chocolate red wine cake this year & sent me 2 recipes. I made them both. One was from Smitten Kitchen & the other was from Food & Wine. They were both delicious, but I liked the Smitten Kitchen one *slightly* more...plus, it had thee most tasty whipped cream topping made with mascarpone...I don't think I'll ever make whipped cream any other way! I doubled the recipe so we could use it on both cakes. 

Kate looked adorable, yet I have no good photos of her to share. So I'm not. She wore a red/black maxi sweater dress from Igigi. 

Muffin in Blue

 Dress: Julia Pleated Dress from Kiyonna via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Cardigan: Lane Bryant

Boots: Antique Gold Gripfast 

Necklace & Earring: Babil & Bijou

I wore this dress to work a week ago Friday. Look at me wearing blue. And gray. And this ridiculously busy & modern print. Who am I? You can tell I never wear blue because I don't have any accessories to pair with it. These are the *one* blue earrings I own. I liked the pop of red in this necklace because it matched my nails & I carried it through by adding red lips. I guess I have to stop being surprised that I like blue. I now like blue. I also liked this dress. The gathers under the bust were flattering and the neckline was perfect. 

Red & Gray

 Dress: Carissima Dress from Igigi via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free month)

Cardigan: Avenue

Socks: Sock Dreams

Shoes: Fluevog

Earring: ebay

I wore this Igigi dress to work & to Tai Chi class on a Monday 2 weeks ago. I am really not a gray person. But somehow, this dress worked for me. I loved the texture of the gray part. And I thought the color blocking on this dress was flattering. It looked like it was going to be a form-fitting dress, so I ordered a size up & I shouldn't have as it was a bit big. I felt the dress needed some color so I added a touch of red with my socks, lips, nails, & enormous shoulder duster earring. 

Stop & Stare

 Dress: Stop & Stare Ruched Dress from Kiyonna via Gwynnie Bee (click link to get a free month & help me earn a free garment for a month)

Shoes: Ariat

Necklace: Kari Beth

Earring: etXarte

Bracelet: Vintage

This was the outfit I planned to wear to see The Sills for the 3rd time 2 weeks ago Saturday. I ended up keeping on the red ASOS dress I'd worn during the day instead. The lace & leopard print together may have been a bit much. The leopard pattern was lighter than I would have liked. But really, I'll be honest, it came down to me feeling like this dress was just too tight on me. Not too tight as in, it was uncomfortable. It wasn't. But too form fitting hugging all my curves this is what I look like naked kind of tight. So I didn't wear it. And that makes me feel sad. Or perhaps I really just didn't like the dress. I can't seem to separate the two. And *that* bothers me. So I'm putting it here for you to see. What do you think?

Angie & I went to this house to see The Sills. It was the *perfect* venue. The hostess was warm & welcoming (and a fellow marriage & family therapist who recognized me as someone who spoke to her class). It was like going to a friend's party. A really cool friend that is friends with a really cool band. We were offered hot apple cider (with or without rum), and there were homemade chocolate chip cookies & other things to nibble on. We had excellent comfortable stuffed living room chairs to sit on, out of the way, where we could listen to the band & people watch. Perfect. The only other band I've seen at someone's house was October Project about a decade ago with Kate. But we had to sit on metal folding chairs. Still in someone's living room, but not as nice. I think I need to seek out more people who host bands at their house. 

Kate hated this necklace, & I *have* only worn it twice in all the years I've had it. But. The gun has a knife that swings out. I thought that was fun. Or something.