Jewel within a Jewel

This is how this outfit struck me when I looked at the photos - a bluish grayish jewel within an orange jewel... 

I started missing my lighter weight clothes (or Summer clothes if you will). Even though it was 50 F and sunny today, it felt penetrating, too early for light dresses yet. And then, of course, without a doubt, there will be soon plenty of opportunities for wearing my beloved dresses and sandals, and in Summer, I usually miss my warmer clothes. It's a circle. So I thought I'd honor the weather, and the Winter which is slowly becoming Spring... but while it is still Winter, I will honor it by wearing something cozy, but mixed with something lighter too. And that's how this sleeveless dress by Chico's became my choice.

The blue gray sleeveless ombre dress, with a whimsical design reminding me of Russian fairy tales. They call this type of fabric "knit", and I'm finally learning to differentiate knit (thicker, firmer fabric) from jersey (thinner, sometimes flimsier fabric). Knit holds its shape really well. Jersey flows and repeats the shape of your body.

I added a heather gray (my favorite shade of gray) turtleneck and tights for warmth, and voila - a sleeveless dress becomes a cozy winter dress, almost a sweater dress look! But blues and grays seem too cold on their own, and I was looking to add a little warmth and extra interest to this winter look. Orange is often my favorite choice for accessories, and I adore my burnt orange wool coat which did not have many outings this winter. So I'm bowing to the Winter that is leaving us soon by wearing this beautiful warm coat, but at the same time I'm bringing my warmer days favorite orange lipstick and clutch, to call on Spring.

The necklace is one of my recent favorites - I wear it a lot, but haven't shown it here on the blog yet. It's by Lane Bryant. I love the vintage inspired shapes, the variety of them, and the mixture of metals. It goes with everything, from a fancy dress to a simple tee shirt.

The booties are from Pikolinos ages ago, love them very much - so comfy! 

And one more thing today. With all our adventures and explorations, I forgot to mention that my last post was actually #200. Congrats, In The Writer's Closet! Well done! And since it's all because of my closet, I think it's the right time to actually feature it here, on the blog. Dear friends, please meet my humble closet - well, honestly, not so humble any more, it grew a lot in the last 200 posts, I mean literally - it grew! There are many pieces that I owned years before blogging, and many more pieces that were added in the last couple of years, many of which are brand new, and quite a few are thrifted. 

I have reorganized my closet (not finished yet) literally a couple of days ago. These are Winter time clothes, some of which will go into containers for a few Summer months. My Mom painted the inside with golden yellow - it is such a warm feeling to open the doors now. I put in a couple of IKEA wooden shelving units (which we own for many years, so zero spending there), instead of old hanging clothes organizer, and the closet got an instant upgrade! I keep tees, sweaters, cardis, ponchos and shawls in the vertical shelving unit, and jeans and some skirts that don't need ironing in the horizontal unit. Everything is visible now and easy to find! On the hangers, you can see button down shirts, blouses, vests, then skirts, dresses and overalls. Again, visible and easy to find.

We just got rid of an old bulky chair which I found on the curb a few years ago (we donated it to Goodwill), and this sleek upgraded chair, which was found at an antique mall a few years back, is now next to my closet - the space got much roomier. On the walls, there is a new-ish collection of art prints - Washington State lighthouses by a local watercolor artist. I found the whole collection at Goodwill and changed the frames (except for one) for a lighter, less "serious" look. We actually have visited all of those lighthouses.

Next to my closet, we had a space which was a little difficult to define. Potentially a closet space (the doors were removed), it also has a big window to our backyard. Two years ago, my Dad made shelves for books and boxes on the right, and a kind of a window seat. I really love the idea of keeping this space open, but we live in a relatively small house (about 1000 sq ft), and since building and playing with my wardrobe is a current hobby which is growing fast, I needed to come up with a solution for my coats, jackets and blazers - it was getting too heavy for one rode to hold most of my clothes... We bought another thick wooden rode at Home Depot ($18), and my father put up another shelf for shoe boxes or whatever, and also the rod for my coats and jackets. We use a linen curtain to close the "new closet" which is pretty easy to open to get some light into the room. I'm really pleased with what we've created, considering the starting point. And even though, I have not organized everything yet, the space is already much more usable and even charming. I have not thought of it until I started writing this post, but my clothes in the the newly organized closet space also feel like a jewel within a jewel - many jewels, in fact!

And the very last, but not the least because it's Anya's milestone - she started pointe shoes at her ballet class yesterday. She takes dance lessons, on and off, since she just turned 3, from creative movement to hula, then ballet, hip hop and jazz. She performed in a variety of dance shows, and was the lead for Petra and the Wolf, an all-female performance based on Sergei Prokofiev's musical tale. After taking a break from dance last year, she decided, completely on her own, to come back to her old studio, and I am so very proud of her (I wrote a bit about her last recital in December 2013 here). I learn from my kid constantly! A jewel within each of us will only shine if we truly believe in ourselves and pour our energy into building our dream, paying attention to the dream, not to the obstacles. I see my role as a parent not in pushing my child into directions I "envision" for her, but in providing her with loving support in every step she takes, no matter how her own vision changes with time... The young ballerina described pointe yesterday as "an interesting experience" (honestly, guys, it is really very hard - I watched a little). My parental duty was to attach elastic and ribbons to her new shoes - I poked my fingers with a needle plenty of times, but it seems like a candy compared to all the labor she has to do to own the art of dance.

I wore this dress also here

The coat here and here

These and other orange accessories here and here

Dress and turtleneck - Chico's

Coat - Lands' End

Tights - Hue

Boots - Pikolinos

Clutch - Urban Expressions

Necklace - Lane Bryant

Earrings, ring, bracelet - Chico's

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Linking up with 52 Pick-me-up: Baroque.