Sunset Colors at the Grandview Trail

I mentioned earlier in the blog that very often, I don't plan where to take photos of my outfits. And yet, somehow, in a magical way, places, colors and details come naturally together to support what I wear that particular day. I don't know how it happens, I just know that it happens. It happens all the time with me, and not only with outfits. As a very intuitive person, I guess I can say that it is just the way I live my life. I don't try to plan. I just feel my way through it. And so it happened that one beautiful evening when Justin and I took off to explore a new trail south of Tacoma - the Grandview trail.

Winter Day in a Zoo

I am leaving for a short holiday break with my beloved one, and while I am getting ready for the trip and organizing the house, so it is nice and clean for our return, I thought I'd also post a few posts of my outfits and our family days lately. One of which was... yes, a trip to a zoo!

Reversible

Unlike my faux fur vest, which I made reversible by getting a pair of scissors in my hands and cutting off the label on the furry insides, this boiled wool jacket was actually meant to be reversible by its designer - the label was attached with only two little stitches on the black side of it. I wear the red side more often. But I see the potential for the black side as well. Most of the times, I wear this jacket with black pants (black linen pants back in October), but I also wore it with a pencil skirt.

Purple for Happy Days

To all of my readers who celebrate - Merry Christmas!

Most of the time, I don't think a lot about my outfits - I don't build them piece by piece, detail by detail, thinking through every option. I simply open my closet and see what "talks" to me this particular day. I go for a piece with which I feel this strange sort of connection at a given moment, and then I just build the rest from it - intuitively.

Let It Snow: Part 2

Part 1 is here.

Since snow is such a rare visitor here in Seattle, we love to come out and play when we get a chance. This time, we were digging our writers' closets for some good finds, appropriate for playing snowy/wintry outfits!

Mary Poppins, Mary Janes and Letting Go

Before I come back to the snowy post, part 2 (part 1 is here), I thought I would tell you a story about one typical winter day here in Seattle. The temperature was around 50 F (or 10 C). The sky covered us with a fluffy warm blanket of clouds and sprinkled a dust of rain. I wanted to wear something casual to the movies and suddenly felt like my denim shirt (I don't wear denim very often) and picked this rich wine colored blazer instead of a coat. The umbrella was for all of it - the rain, the blazer, and the movie I was about to watch.

Let It Snow: Part 1

Part 2 is here.

I woke up this morning while it still was dark outside, though something was noticeably different when I glanced over toward the window, looking to see what time it was. I looked back again. It was nice and white, and even though the sky was still dark above my head, above our little cottage, above the whole town and the Sound, the ground was light, covered with little sugar coating. SNOW!! First one this year. I am so happy to live in our mild climate. I am happy that snow here by the coastline is mostly decorative and usually melts by noon.

When my family woke up, Anna and I picked a couple of outfits to show off in this lovely little snow. Justin suggested that we take photos as soon as we can - and he was right. Everything melted just a couple of hours later!

Camel and Teal

Bold Colors and Black Ruana

I started wearing bold colors much more often, and combining them much more boldly than I have ever done before.

Sparkly

I have never worn sequins like this before - I maybe had things with just a touch of sequins in the past. But I couldn't help but try on this purple sparkly top at Lane's Bryant a couple of weeks ago. 

"I would definitely wear it myself," said Anna.

"She knows she is sparkly," said Justin.

My "Uzbek" Dress: Part 2

Part 1 is here.

After I tried the dress with my purple cardigan and faux leather jacket, I just put on a few other things quite spontaneously - and I think they all worked!

My "Uzbek" Dress: Part 1

Part 2 is here.

I was playing with my clothes recently, trying to find a way to combine pieces which I added to my wardrobe this year to the pieces which I have owned for a while. One of the most challenging pieces in my wardrobe, I found, was this beautiful Ikat dress which I purchased over a year ago, but had no success styling until just recently.

Not Your Common Pea Coat & Colorful Life

The thermometer is slowly going up here in Seattle. It shows 38F  today and supposedly will be in 40s by  tomorrow. Yey! Aren't you guys happy for us, Seattleties? I do hope so! I am Russian (even worse - Siberian) and I am soooo happy for all of us here. Let me tell you, in the past few years I completely forgot (lucky me!) how to dress for cold. I mean, I do remember it theoretically. Wake me up in the middle of the night - and you'll hear a coherent lesson about what to wear in freezing weather, it is our specialty as Russians (especially Siberian or Northern folks). So my brain still remembers. But (and that's a big but!) my body did forget! It completely forgot what layers mean, what kind of layers, how many layers... and how does it feel to come inside after a short walk in freezing temperatures and watch with amazement how your body just crashes becoming something jelly-like very fast.

Online Style Party: How I Wear My... Red

Jill of Everything Just So and Adrienne of The Rich Life on a Budget co-host what I call an "online party" on a monthly basis. I learned about it just recently, and absolutely admired the idea (one of my favorites is How I Wear My Animal Print from October 2013). It is inspiring to see so many wonderful women around the world doing fun stuff with their personal style! The theme of December was How I Wear My Red, and I've decided to participate for the first time. Please take a look at all the photographs at both Jill's and Adrienne's blogs:

How I Wear My Red at Everything Just So

and

How I Wear My Red at The Rich Life.

Shoe Shopping or Shopping Shoes? + Sneak Peek

There was actually a coat shopping plan that day. But shoes were also on my mind. The truth is that they almost always are. You see when I told you that I have wide feet, I wasn't kidding. All my life it has been a challenge to find a pair of shoes which A) I will love to look at, and B) I will love to wear. Shoes are just such an uncomfortable "garment"! I love shoes. But mostly just visually. In my dream life, I walk barefoot.

Parka's Life and Adventures

It's freezing here in the Pacific Northwest - rare for us! It just keeps getting colder and colder. They say it is one of coldest spells in Seattle for years. Here is hoping that we will have only a couple more cold days, and that will be it! For many, many years!

These days, I just don't feel like many layers. I still wear my boiled wool jacket, combining it with pencil skirts and turtlenecks or cardigans for quick errands around town (no photos just yet). But when it is below 30 F, I get into my parka! And even though I don't feel like shooting new pictures of my parka outings, I thought that it would be great to find old photos of me in my parka and to dedicate the whole post to this wonderfully cozy number. 

Reflections

I have just realized that the last post was my 40th post. I am 40 years old, and this is my new blog (not the first blog I've ever written, but the first one in English and the first one about style, clothes and all that stuff), and I have written 40 blog posts in short 3 month (I started in early September 2013). That in itself calls for celebration. But I started thinking what this blog actually added to my life and my understanding of myself. It is the very reason I started it 3 months ago (and started researching about 5 months ago). I have started this blog to get to know me better. And I did, in a few different ways. Am I done? Far from it!

Winter Teal

We have freezing temperatures here in Seattle for the last few days. It was 37F (just above 0C) during the day, and it is in 20sF (below 0C) at night. I don't know about you guys, but I am wearing my down parka these days and only think about being stylish. Oh no. Please don't make me answer this question... again! I live in the US for almost 12 years now. Just how many times do you think I heard this question in the past?

Well, just once then. But that will be it!