Modish Matrons #27: Road Trip

When back in late 2017, Tina, Beate and I were planning our Modish Matrons for the year of 2018, I got an idea of a Road Trip as a theme - I thought it was quite fitting for the end of Summer, when many folks hurry trying to squeeze in just a little more vacation time, and not necessarily even a long vacation, maybe just a day or two away before the Summer is over. For my fellow Americans, the first weekend of September is also an unofficial end of Summer (a long Labor Day weekend) before the new school year starts, or at least this is how it is done in our local school district, which I think is pretty smart.

Please visit my beautiful friends TINA und BEATE to see what wonderful and unexpected road trips

they took at the end of this Summer!

Little did I know back in December 2017 that this August won't be filled with free spirited day trips which I love so much, and that the wind will suddenly change for me and take me in a new direction. At first, I was a bit disappointed that my vision for this Modish Matrons post wasn't about to be fulfilled, that instead of our leisurely mini-vacations during the weekends, when Justin is out of the office, we'd be on the road to my work... wait a minute, on the road? And then it hit me like lightening! Life has even more road trips in store for me - only now, in connection with my books, my writing, and meeting my readers as well as other writers. And that is an incredible gift!

When we took these photos, we were literally on a road trip to a library in the city of Kirkland, northeast of us, to meet a new to me author Rena Arzumanova. As it happens often with me, I stumbled on this event unexpectedly, but since I was already on the roll with my own coming out as an author in my community (both the local community where I live, and the Russian speaking community in the greater Seattle area), I was open and eager to meet someone who also writes books and meets with her readers. I read a few texts by Rena and fell in love with her writing. And even though, it was a mid-week evening and it was not easy to get there for us (traffic around Seattle is a killer in rush hour), we did it! I was absolutely delighted with both Rena's writing, and personality. I love people and am fascinated by all the very different characters that I meet, and I value them all for who they are. But I also can tell when I see a rare, real gem of a person. I love writing, and I celebrate all kinds of talents and expressions of creativity, and yet as a reader, I am picky when it comes to books. I am looking for so much more than beautiful language, skillful composition and intellectual ideas. What I'm looking for in a book is so much more exceptional that all of that, and it is soulfulness - when you read the words and realize that they are coming through a writer from something bigger that the writer herself, no matter how big a personality, how intelligent, educated or insightful she is - you realize that what touches you so much when you read her words, comes not from her mind, but straight from her soul. I am looking for books that leave me filled with love and light after I read them. And all of it, I found in Rena's stories (she calls herself a storyteller rather than a writer).

As I put on this skirt (bought last Summer) and T-shirt, I realized that the outfit I created was very symbolic indeed. The colorful stripes going to all directions remind me of road maps (not too different from the map Tina chose for her post, see the collage above), or even of subway maps with all the different colors for each subway line/route. Depending on what road you take, you will end up in a place you already knew about - or in a completely unexpected place. And sometimes, despite the maps, we do get lost or deliberately decide to just go wondering about, following our noses. And those are also very exciting and necessary-to-life road trips - we are trailblazers at that point, pioneers who step into a new territory, with our own vision where the roads don't exist just yet, but where there is a huge potential to build them.

St. Petersburg (Russia) subway - future plans. Photo source

I also couldn't help but notice how perfect the message on my T-shirt was for this theme. You know me - I don't really wear T-shirts much, but when I saw this one, I couldn't pass. I know that to many of my American friends, it will deliver a patriotic message - but to me it goes beyond patriotism. It is the motto I live by in the last five years since I took the courage to live a writing life. In a way, I've always lived a writing life, because I started writing when I was a little girl, and before I actually knew how to write, I was already composing poems in my head. But only 5 years ago, I took the courage to get rid of everything that was in a way, focus on building my biggest dream, and finally start manifesting it in my life - first with this blog (2013), then with my books (2016), and now with coming out of the writer's closet and feeling completely FREE to be true to myself (this beautiful Summer, August 2018). That feeling of freedom, once you've experienced it, you will never want to let go!

So here is my story for today. Once again, I am amazed how our collaboration with Beate and Tina pushed me to grow both as a fashionista and as a person. You'd think, it's only a fun fashion link-up, well, more about style than fashion really, though they are, undoubtedly, connected. But there is so much more to it! You can treat themes as an order to create a certain "look" - but that will shrink your own creative ability! Instead, look at it as an infinite possibility to look within yourself and reach a depth you never knew you had! Let yourself be FREE to create from the point of being true you, and don't ever assume that you know exactly what that means. Stay open-minded, as much as you can at this moment. We are to ourselves the biggest mystery there is to life.

Photos by Justin

T-shirt - Lane Bryant

Skirt - Eloquii (2017)

Denim jacket - Old Navy (2017)

Shoes - Dansko (2017)

Book bag - borrowed from my husband

Accessories - old finds or gifts

Linking with Visible Monday

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