Like First Flowers from the Sleepy Earth

Hello my dear friends,

I'm lacking words for now, but wanted to say hello and that I think of you and will return to posting and commenting very soon. For now, I want to share one of the latest outfits (yesterday, to be exact) - fun for going out for Indian lunch buffet and an old favorite comedy (Tootsie is playing in movie theaters, if anyone is interested). The coral sweater with the playful zipper detail is new, the rest of the outfit is familiar to you (the cotton pants which I bought for only $12 on clearance were previously shown here and here). Enjoy!

Mother & Daughter Look-Alike - Please Vote

Do you remember this photo from my post Blue Eyes, Red Pixie, Healthy Salad, Light Heart?

I entered the photo contest held by my favorite "hang out" place - an absolute heaven for women, Olympus Spa, for Mother's Day this year. I wrote about my love of banya (as we call this sort of thing in Russian) in this post.

I'm not the one who usually enters contests, to tell the truth. I wanted to write that maybe that's why I don't usually win contests, but come to think of it, in my years studying at university, I actually won a few competitions of an academic sort - was either best or won a second place at yearly grammar contest (Russian grammar, obviously, cough cough) and student's linguistic conferences. But I don't think I ever won any creative contest - it probably has something to do with the fact that I'm not really competitive by nature, I always want everybody to win... But when I read the announcement for this photo contest, I immediately thought of this photo taken by Justin just a couple of months ago, and I decided - why not try this time? I love this photo, and I love this spa! 

I think if you go to the photo gallery, you will find the whole thing very touching and beautiful - how many of us, in so many ways look like our mothers... Voting is open till April 29, 2015. You can vote for our photo HERE (contestant #40) if you have a FB account (I don't, which is a bummer in this case because I really don't have many people to ask for their votes, other than a few "real life" friends, and you, my blogging friends and readers). Thank you if you do! It would be so wonderful to have more opportunities to visit my favorite spa for free or get a gift certificate, and take my Mom when she visits again!

J'Adore

I adore jumpsuits. The very first one was custom made for me when I was only 11 or 12, my daughter's age now, and I am still astonished that it was actually my Mom's idea. I was a little self-conscious to wear it - no one had one in my small town, and even though I often do things no one I know does, back then I had very mixed feelings about my changing body (insensitive comments did not help). It was a gorgeous number in deep beetroot color, with long gathered at the bottom sleeves as well as legs, with a little collar and a zipper. The one mistake the seamstress made was not taking my growth into account, and at that age girls grow especially fast. As a result, I did not wear that jumpsuit a lot, and eventually Mom brought it into a consignment shop for someone else to enjoy (she later told me that she saw a girl wearing it).

A Year Ago, in May

Yep, I wore both of these outfits just about exactly a year ago, but have not posted either of them in my blog, decided after looking at the photos that they were nothing really special. Now when I look back, I actually like them. It happens in life sometimes that we appreciate things more when we look back, not as we actually experience them. Seems silly, but there it is. It also happens the other way around, and I guess it's just a natural part of being a human - insightful in some ways, and oblivious in others, we are sort of both, a sage and a fool all in one person. 

Like an Angel, Only Different

Seeing an outfit of the beautiful Austrian blogger Curvy Claudia made me realized that I can create a very similar all white outfit from the existing pieces of my wardrobe. Why this outfit has not happened to me earlier? I really couldn't tell. But I have a suspicion that maybe I felt that all white is not really for me - I don't believe I ever had many white things. All the three pieces here are relatively recent purchases (and all, weirdly enough, from Lane Bryant, bought of course on a really good sale, each piece at a different time). I remember having a snow white short Spring coat as a teenager - my auntie donated hers to me, and it felt so luxurious and out of a different world in the small working town where I grew up. Later, when I already was working for a publishing company and made my own living, I ordered a custom made long off-white coat - I ordered it from my other auntie (as a matter of fact, they are twins) and loved it to no end. It was elegant, dreamy, very dandy, and I was getting tons of compliments wearing it. 

Where Have You Been All My Life

 

That's exactly what I said to this Skirt when she arrived on the doorstep of my house.

She has a good weight - not so light that you wonder from time to time whether you forgot to put a skirt on today.

Her color is divine (you may argue that it's mustard yellow, but they call it "Harvest Gold", and I'm sticking to it).

She is so comfortable - stretchy and soft at the waist.

She flows beautifully with every move.

She is fully lined.

She is luxurious.

She is a beauty.

She is perfect.

What did you say? 

There is no such thing?

Oh, but there is!

Blue Door

 

At the end of March, Anya got a week off school, and Justin took a few days off work, so we could bring our big family to the beautiful Oregon coast to enjoy the Pacific Ocean. I mostly wore jeans and brightly colored linen shirts under a cozy boiled wool jacket, but I also packed this maxi dress for lounging at home and strolling to a wonderful little restaurant just a few steps down the street. It was a peaceful and restoring Spring break. I will work on photos as soon as I get more time on my hands. For now, I want to share with you this little photo session. Blue Door is the name of the cottage where we stayed. But it can also be an imaginary door, similar to the one from a psychedelic new wave song White Door. You cannot get lost in an imaginary jungle, and there is no sense to fear an imaginary animal - it won't eat you. But an imaginary door you can open.

Earth Tones

Earth tones are my long time favorites, so when I put this outfit together, it felt like I had owned it for hundreds of years, even though many pieces are fairly new to me. What surprised me about it was that a little girl at IKEA's Smaland, dressed in an adorable floral dress herself, stopped playing and stared at me through the glass as I was passing by, and a teenage hostess at the restaurant, as Justin noticed, was watching me on the way in and on the way out. Not just the fact that someone would watch me surprised me, but that it was this particular outfit - it's anything but loud, and to pay attention to such a subtle style, there really must be something special in both of those young girls.

Zestful

I felt incredibly alive wearing this outfit today - of course sunny mild weather has also something to do with my cheery mood, but even now looking at the photos, I feel zestful. 

Cardigan Crazy

I went a little crazy lately - on floral blouses and long cardigans. The blouses were all found at Goodwill, so no feeling guilty there. This particular one came home with me from our mini-vacation in Oregon, and I just adore it. It reminds me of blouses my Mom used to wear back in the 1980s (and of course I also got to wear at least one of them, with a pussy bow and very similar sleeves). The fabric and the floral design seem so charmingly old-fashioned, and oh those colors! I will admit, it is irresistible, and I just want to wear it all the time. 

Reset

I'm a born redhead. I mean, literally I am, it is not a figure of speech. My Mom tells me that I was born with red (and, apparently, long!) hair. I'm not really surprised - my father and everyone in his family have copper hair, and there are a few redheads on mama's side too. But my baby red hair turned into blond, then into medium brown - though it always had a copperish tone visible under straight sunlight.