do you catch my drift?

I'm still here.  Trying to stretch the few pieces of thrift-store-bought clothes that currently fit me to suffice until I successfully transition back into the tons in my closet that DON'T fit me today! Here, a denim vest, light-colored denim skirt, bright top and colorful beads fashioned by a sweet child in our church.

I see a bit of elastic waistband showing here.

This is something I will avoid in the future.  

In my opinion it is NOT attractive 

and it makes it too easy to "drift" into sloppy habits

(if you catch my drift)!

here i go again...

If you've been "with me" for awhile, you'll know what I mean.

a cut above casual

 The $5.99 CUT...

(and dangly earrings and blue plaid bracelet)

The attempt at CASUAL. 

Knit pants, long white knit top, wool vest,

Everything from my closet, drawers or jewelry box and all thrifted
except for new fishnet trouser socks.
I got my inspiration from the French countryside!

a grey sunday morn...

close up to our tree...

A casual wool vest brings color to an otherwise drab palette. All clothing items thrifted, including the Christmas tree pin on my vest!  Photos of the Nativity Display will be posted later today.

See a few Nativity Display photos HERE.

30/90

We slept great in our simple and comfortable lodge room after traveling 529 miles after church yesterday!

A change of tops, and I'm off and running this morning!  I'll explore a nearby town while my husband is in meetings.

While reading about the 30/30 challenge* several bloggers are participating in, I realized that I just might be the Original AND Perpetual 30/30 participant!  Actually, my practice is more like 30/90...30 pieces per season (90 days)!

Though it doesn't make for exciting fashion blog posts, it DOES fit my budget and personality.

*Go HERE for the original explanation of the 30/30 challenge.

 

...a closeup of tan shirt, denim vest, trusty gold belt, and current favorite earrings.

Picture This

A tree fell during the storm last night. Can you see the barriers to my left?  It lays across the street this morning awaiting Power Company scrutiny since it has downed power lines.

I'm out here wearing my comfortable sleeveless dress.  The denim black vest covers a part of my arms I'm not comfortable exposing.  It is SO hot and humid.  It's difficult to be "stylish" without bearing more skin than I want to!


Yesterday I found a trundle (if that's what you call the bottom part of a single bed) at my favorite thrift store.  The mattress had never been outside its cover.  We hauled out the double bed in our guest room and set up the single with trundle.  That meant I had to rearrange some pictures on the wall.

I thought I'd show you some of them.  They've all been purchased at thrift stores except for the tulip painting which my mother-in-law painted... 

It's a lot--I know.

Too Hot to Handle

I don't handle heat well.  And it has been hot and muggy!  I had this outfit along with me in Kentucky this past week.  I wore it one evening after a shower to wash off the dust of a long, arduous hike.

This morning I will wear it to church.  The dress was given to me by a friend; the vest is from my closet - thrifted, I'm sure. 

For those who wonder, I had a very satisfying and refreshing time at the Abbey of Gethsemani.  I've posted about it in my other blogs listed in the sidebar:  flowers and other scenery in the garden blog; hiking experiences in the healthy living one, and thoughts and reflections in my main blog.  Of course, you're welcome to visit any of them if you have time and are interested...

Mother's Day Garb

I had hoped that my cell/phone camera might fix itself.  Obviously, it didn't.  But after downloading this picture AND looking at my options for taking pictures, I see that I had disabled the "intelligent shot" option which would take care of some of the brightness and clarity issues I've been having!

Ah, well.  No time to retake today.  Look for better things tomorrow!  This is my Mother's Day garb.  Suede skirt, white blouse with a crocheted vest over it, accented with gold-buckle belt and a few strands of gold necklaces and gold earrings. Everything was "closet shopped" this morning!

I'm off to enjoy Mother's Day with all its pleasures.

(If you want to know how I REALLY feel, read my post on my other blog.)

Brooches Rock!

 

 Tuesday at our No-Longer-Red-Hats luncheon, we had a jewelry exchange.  I came home with matching brooches. They are large and colorful.  Today I'm wearing them on my black denim vest...which I'm wearing with a long denim skirt, white blouse and black belt!   I think these brooches ROCK!
 

brooch  (brch, brch) also broach (brch) n.

A relatively large decorative pin or clasp.

Welcome Warmer Weather!

The carry-over?  My black, long-sleeved T.








 Newly thrifted capris, old denim vest, and white studded belt with ivory necklace complete my outfit today.

Oh, this feels good!

HAS THIS BEEN TRIED BEFORE?

...I don't mean "has this OUTFIT been tried before?"  (I HAVE worn everything I'm wearing today before.  Not in this exact combination though...)

But what I mean is would it be an adventure to try a week of wearing one item  from the day before the next day? (Yeah, I can see that this is a lot like the Capsule Challenge.  For me, it just wouldn't require the same amount of planning. ahead of time.  I'd only have to think "one thing" instead of "ten things".) Today I'm carrying over the white blouse.  The ruffles around the bottom and cuffs of the sleeves make extra accessories unnecessary for my activities today which include...

...helping set up, prepare, serve, and take down the simple meal at our community Lenten dinner and meditation over the noon hour.  In the early evening, I'm meeting a friend for coffee.  I want to honor and celebrate her birthday which occurred over last weekend.

Black denim vest

White "stretch" blouse

Gray skirt

Black suede shoes

Dark stockings

ALL THRIFTED and WELL-WORN

Just For Today

...taking today off after an exhausting week of vests!

I'll be mending a nasty tear in my most comfortable chenille robe, drinking hot teas with lemon to ward off a cold, trying to finish "Secrets of a Family Album" by Isla Dewar, and generally puttering around the house at a lazy pace.  I'm wearing my long, comfortable black corduroy skirt with a  long-sleeved T.

DIDN'T KNOW I HAD SO MANY (VESTS)!

 

Call me determined - or call me crazy...I wanted to complete the week of vests.  Still riding high on comments about my OTHER red vest, I decided to give this one a try.  Hadn't worn these red shoes yet (thrifted a month or so ago) and maybe shouldn't be wearing open toes on such wintry days.  Maybe I'm just plain tired of vests! 

Maybe I'll try a pair of denim capris under this denim shirt-dress.  Don't hold your breath!

inVESTed still...

A man's leather vest today!  Brown with two pockets and belted with a stretchy brown belt with pink features in front!

I pulled out a white, ruffled blouse to feminize the look. Several brown bangle bracelets and brown leather shoes complete the look.  Everything is thrifted -- nothing recently.






Feeling a little left out since we have no live felines at our house, I am featuring an oil painting I found at a thrift store last week.  The colors are vivid and the cats quite charming in this amateur piece.

The Vest-Train Keeps on Rolling!

I bought these interesting black jeans yesterday for $1.00 (all ladies' slacks/jeans/sweaters were $1.00).  The legs are flared at the bottom; the fit is comfortable.




Accessories include a gold & silver belt and a short multi-chained necklace of gold and silver.



I couldn't pass up this unusual wire wall-hanging.  I wonder where it came from?!  I also bought a few vintage fabric pieces.  I will show them later. 

VESTED INTEREST

 Pleased with the way the vest perked up my outfit yesterday, I decided to wear this one!  Belted.

I'll be meeting a friend for lunch at the Olive Garden and running a couple of other errands. 






Here's the complete outfit....all items have been thrifted at one time or another and worn MANY times - again, just not in this combination.

Silver clunky earrings, a silver bracelet, and a silver heart on a necklace chain are my jewelry accessories.

MONDAY, MONDAY

I'm sure I've worn everything before--just not in this combination.  It's a stay-at-home day--so nothing fancy.  I ventured out on the front porch for this photo.  It's wet everywhere!  The snow should be melting if temperatures fall at all.  It can't happen too soon, as far as I'm concerned.  

black denim vest (matches black shoes)

necklace with brown and black stones

burgundy Tee

and subtly brown plaid slacks 

All thrifted.

RE. THE "Can you be TOO dressed up" QUESTION

A relatively new blogger, a young collegian male, weighed in on the question - maybe unaware (maybe not) that it was floating around this week. I recommend his post!  It is well stated, short and to-the-point.  (I also happen to agree with him, AND he's a fan of thrift stores!)

It's always more important to be slightly overdressed than underdressed.

I don't have a 9 to 5 job outside my home. However, it's important TO ME to feel that I'm prepared to meet the public without apology about my personal appearance.  Dressing up gives me incentive to keep the house "up" and to take pride in various responsibilities.  Dressing up saves time.  I don't have to change clothes to go out and have fewer clothes to wash and dry. 

Of course, if it's a "dirty work" day, I dress appropriately, but I've found that I can accomplish most household chores while dressed in my typical wardrobe.  Aprons are a GREAT invention!  Today I'm wearing a Pendleton cranberry colored skirt that I found in a thrift shop yesterday, a white T-shirt from my dresser drawer, and a denim vest.  White studded belt and silver earrings complete the look along with navy blue stockings and navy blue shoes.

After seeing the photo, I decided to wear a darker denim jacket instead of the vest.  It just seemed that there was too much "white/light color" on the top.  Once again, a photo saved the day!

Can an Old Dog Learn New Tricks?

Except for the quality of this picture (cellphone being my only camera option), I'm rather proud of this look.   I shall have to search to see where I got the inspiration to give credit where credit is due - but I saw a denim vest layered under a black and white jacket SOMEwhere, and I went to The Closet to see what I could come up with.

(The necklace is outside the outfit right now just for showing off.)

If I pay enough attention to the wonderful fashion blogs out there, I just may get this "layering thing" figured out!  Maybe you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

UPDATE!  Style Artisan is where I saw it! See it for yourself - and a lot of other good stuff, too!

 The colors are pretty true on this close-up.  This is the Lands End knit dress that I bought this week from the 50 cent rack at a thrift store.  One of my "fashion goals" is to learn how to successfully layer my clothing, and I thought this would be a great piece to experiment with.

Today of all days, my phone-camera is not cooperating.  But I'm determined to post! I have chosen to wear this vest and a gold belt over it.  You won't be able to tell from the picture, but I'm also wearing green leg-wear that matches the dress color closely. As usual, everything has been thrifted....some earlier than others.