Playing with Neutrals

So, the Summer is coming to an end as we speak (though to me, it ended on August 31st - you see, Fall starts on September 1st in my Russian mind every year, no exception). But our playing with fashion continues, and why not play with neutral tones for a change. I love bold colors, but from time to time I feel inclined to wear neutrals - it's refreshing, as if I push an invisible restart button of my style.

Navy Blue Love and Paintings by Ivana

I have heard that blue is the most common favorite color, but I must admit it had been my least favorite color for as long as I could remember, to the point that when I would get something blue as a present, the whole thing would puzzle me, like...'do you know me at all? have we ever met?' If the answer to these questions had been yes, you'd have known that I had no use for anything blue in my home. I've always loved greenish blue hues, but not "blue blue" ones. I wonder why? I don't recall any negative associations with it, no bad memories as such, but pure blue (no matter light or dark shades) used to seem depressing to me. And it really had nothing to do with the English use of the word blue as meaning "sad" or "depressed" - I learned it only after I moved to the US, which was 16 years ago, and I had been living and speaking other languages for twice as along at that point. In my native Russian, oddly enough, depressing feelings are commonly seen as green  - we say "тоска зеленая" (green anguish) or "позеленеть от злости" (to turn green with anger) which I personally don't agree with, to me green is a color of peacefulness and cheer. But I had similarly strong negative associations with the color blue. Until a few years ago, that is. And then I started warming up to different shades of blue.

Modish Matrons #21: Baroque

Hello dear friends and readers and MODISH MATRONS fans!

It is time for our new theme, and I thought that March would be perfect for BAROQUE!

Bonjour

French countryside, that's what Justin named this outfit. On a gray rainy day it seemed almost like an escape to a far away romantic place...countryside...maybe in France...and maybe even in a different century. Considering that it was raining cats and dogs all day, such a soft-colored and lighthearted outfit might seem inappropriate to some. Wouldn't it be much more practical to wear a raincoat and wellies of a sensible dark color? Yes, it would. But I am with such style icons as late Lynn Dell, one of the brightest stars of the wonderful blog Advanced Style (and the inspiring documentary under the same name) who used to say, "I dress up every day for the theater of my life." Or, as another style icon and my beloved blogging friend Vix says, "Dress for the life you want, not the life you have." 

Arboretum in Autumn

 

This Fall, when it comes to dresses (my favorite item of clothing), I am looking at budget options. I learned to trust my intuition, and when I feel a nudge to look at a certain store, even if it is not my usual shopping spot, I don't second-guess myself and don't ask why. This strategy pays off - I find plenty of beautiful, feminine affordable options. Perhaps the most unexpected find was the red dress from my previous post (HERE). Target started doing much more in terms of stylish plus size clothing in the last couple of years. The red dress that many of you liked so much is by Ava & Viv, Target's plus size line that they launched two or three years ago. At the price of $35, it won't break any pockets. It is my first purchase from this brand, so I really can't say much about the quality, other than I am pleasantly surprised. We will have to see how it holds up, of course. I can recommend to pay attention to the Who What Wear line as well, which offers both straight and plus sizes. I also found quite a few great dresses at Old Navy, including this beautiful Autumnal boho number. With a 50% discount, it came down to $32.50. So even if you are on a budget, there are wonderful options out there right now for us, plus size girls. Don't be afraid to experiment! Trying something new keeps our wardrobes and our lives exciting.

Modish Matrons: Folk Art

 

Welcome to Modish Matrons - a link-up that once a month offers you a theme to play with and an opportunity to get together to share our diversity and love of fashion and style! Add your link in a special place at the very end of my post, and please visit my beautiful co-hostesses Tina and Beate to see their interpretation of the theme!

Barefoot from 90 to 60

Have you put away those jackets and cardigans yet? Well, if you live in the PNW, hopefully, you put them not too far away. After a few hot days, the temperature dropped significantly, which suggests outfit adjustments. In this post, I'll show not one, but two outfits from this week - I wore both of them while hanging out in my neighborhood.

My Birthday Suit

I know what you think! Uh-uh, no such luck today, guys! That was the 1973 birthday suit! This is the 2016 one!

Now

I am who I am. Today. Now. This is me. I can be totally satisfied with the thought of who I am - or not. It is up to me. Being just a little human girl, as my then 5 year old daughter put it (yes, about me! she always had somewhat mothering feelings towards me, as long as I can remember her), so yes, being just a human girl, I am not totally satisfied. I think it's OK. It's just in our nature to not be totally satisfied - it helps us to move forward.

Why I Haven't Left When I Left

As you might remember, a while ago I decided to leave this blog - I felt I said all I could say, and the rest seemed like repeating myself, and that is the last thing I ever want to do. My romance with style did not end with leaving the blog, and for the first few weeks I felt fine - I continued playing dress-up and even felt a strange feeling of freedom not thinking about how my outfits would look on photos. 

Snow and Vintage + Write and Link

Snow makes a rare appearance here by the Sound, so rare that every time it's a festive event on its own. I can't say I miss seeing snow (especially having snowy mountains as a magnificent backdrop year round), but whenever I see it, it brings my inner child out to play.

Colorful Coastal Christmas

Merry Christmas, my friends and readers!

This year, we decided to take a mini-break and escape to the beautiful Oregon Coast. On the plus side, at least for us geeks and nerds, it is practically deserted this time of year. If you're a party person, the Oregon Coast is definitely not the place to be right now. On the not-so-plus side, winter on the coast means high winds, heavy rain and the possibility of floods. I'm not used to such strong winds, they almost knocked me off my feet, though locals take their dogs for a walk on the beach just as if it was just another sunny day. We also took walks trying to catch breaks in the weather. In general, I wanted to stay warm and cozy, but still look and feel festive and just a bit glamorous. 

Gentle Hues

As many of you these days, we are busy with all sorts of holiday preparations and festive events. Yesterday, Anya had a concert in her school. Justin and I were impressed. Her school has a few choirs, groups, bands and an orchestra - a strong music department with talented teachers who undeniably are on fire to do something really amazing with and for kids. Anya is in two choirs - a girl's choir and a mixed choir of girls and boys of 7th and 8th grade. When I was a kid, we had subjects like art or music only once a week. She has 2 hours of choir every day of school! The kids were fantastic, singing and playing not so trivial pieces in beautiful arrangements, skillfully done, with lots of heart. 

Last Days of Summer

Thank you all for your kind words and wishes! You are my favorite, lots of love to you all! :)

We had a great summer this year - I hear it was the hottest on the record, and certainly an extremely dry one too, with many forest fires and burn bans lasting all summer long. To me it was much hotter than I prefer, but not nearly as hot as summers are in many parts of the world, including my homeland (which not many people realize about Siberia - 100 F and humid is quite common there). Here, temps did not go as high as 100, the hottest days I remember were in mid to high 90s, but it was consistently in the 80s for probably the whole three months, which is much more hot days than I care for (just how many days I can spend on the beach? certainly not 90 in a row). I admit I feel exhausted by the heat, and lots of things I would like to do I put on hold until the heat is over, but I still managed to do lots this summer, including daily writing and, oddly enough, lots of cooking experiments. This is still by far the most wonderful place to live, of all the places I've lived or visited, and if this was our hottest summer ever, I'm game. On to my outfit now. 

Blue, White, Red & Polka Dot

I showed this dress a couple of times before (in a Winter mixed patterns outfit here, and with pearls last Summer here), but this time I wanted to play with the classical combination of blue, white and red. You know what's funny? Even though this color combination is popular and beloved by many, I have done it... for the first time! They say there is a first time for everything.

The Best

You guys! Thank you for your such wonderful, heartfelt comments on my book publishing news. You guys are simply the best! Of course, I am very thrilled, and as you can imagine, my mind is quite preoccupied these days. I left the "book thoughts" only for a little while to enjoy the Father's Day weekend with Justin, the World Greatest Dad ("and Husband", added Anya), and we had such a wonderful, relaxing weekend. Other than that and Anya starting a month long theater camp (read: I started a month long driving there and back, twice a day camp), I am focused on my writing. I tend to be extremely focused when I work on something that matters to me a lot, so no wonder, blogging takes a back seat for a while. I don't know how frequently I will be able to comment, please do not take it personally - and know that I treasure you VERY MUCH. :)

Oh Summer!

Oh Summer! 

Days are endless, nights short, sunsets and sunrises - amazing. 

No school, no tests, no uniforms. Cooking. Grilling. Farmer's markets (we've just been to the one that recently opened in our neighborhood). Red wine. And white wine too. Sun. Hot sand. I want to soak in as much sun and warmth as possible. But I also want to work, more than ever. These Summer days, I received an unexpected offer to publish a book. After being shortly in a state of disbelief and doubts, I reminded myself that life is what we make out of it. I can sit here in my room worrying that my writing is not good enough, not mature enough yet and decline the offer... or I can just dive in, do the best I can and see what happens. Guess what I am choosing. 

Days Passed

I seem to be taken with days of the past (or days passed?) lately. It's Downton Abby now - I'm well into season 5, and it's the mid 1920s. I think both my outfits and places for our photo shoots are affected by this. We discovered this gorgeous building about 3 months ago - you probably remember it from my post Abandoned Beauty. The long weekend was a good time to revisit - the weather was mild, the rhodies there are in full bloom, and the park never seems to be too crowded. Perfect for a little romantic getaway.

Where Is My Driver?

Fancy a little time travel with me today? 

I'll be taking you back to the 1930s which seem to resonate with me lately. 

Do not expect pure historical research and accuracy though, just go with me, pretend! 

What should we take as our time machine? Something like this beauty, perhaps? 

Sexy Spectacles

I do read in my readers, I promise. I also recently hemmed a pair curtains which needed to be shortened, and it was so much easier to do wearing glasses. But I'm also discovering (not having to wear glasses before, thanks to my 100% vision, right till I turned 40) that glasses can add so much to my style expressions (Justin even suggested that I order "fashion statement" glasses, without special lenses) and that glasses can be sexy, or rather that I can feel sexy in glasses.