Meet Me at Twilight

 

Sometimes, to get unstuck, all we need is to break loose from the tension of the old patterns. That will allow us to see a new possibility, a new opening that most probably was always there, dismissed as unsuitable, as "not good enough"...

Modish Matrons #35: Trip to Paris

Welcome to May Modish Matrons!

TINA invited BEATE and me to take a trip to Paris this time. I have never been to Paris, and in the light of recent events, all I could think of was the fire that destroyed Notre-Dame de Paris. You see, we come up with our themes in advance - we got them all lined-up back in December (if not November) 2018, and no one of course could predict that Paris would be on our minds so much this time of year... I must admit that it is a bit difficult for me to abstract my mind from the fire which happened just a couple of weeks ago, but it is comforting to know that at least the structure was not damaged, and with time, generous financial investments, creativity, dedication and labor efforts, the beautiful and legendary cathedral will be rebuilt. And then all of us who have not had a chance to visit the old original Notre-Dame de Paris, will be able to visit its new incarnation.

Modish Matrons #30: Iceland

If you ask me why Iceland even came to my mind when I put together the list of themes for the 2018 Modish Matrons back in December 2017, I couldn't explain - it just did. I have never been to Iceland and I didn't know the first thing about it. Obviously, I had to visit and learn. Or at very least commission sending a photographer to this intriguing far away place. The things we do for blogging, right? 

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 #22: No Matter the Weather

Happy Easter and welcome to Modish Matrons, 

the party where my dear friends TINA und BEATE and myself get together to celebrate style and creativity! Each month, one of us offers a theme, and April was Tina's turn. "No Matter the Weather," said Tina, leaving it wide open to interpretations. "Hmm," said I and scratched my head trying to find a focus for my outfit.

Spring Again

Spring! And Earth is like a child

who has learned many poems by heart.

For the trouble of that long learning

she wins the prize.

Her teacher was strict. We loved the white

of the old man's beard. Now we can ask her

the many names of green, of blue,

and she knows them, she knows them!

Earth, school is out now. You're free

to play with the children. We'll catch you,

joyous Earth. The happiest will catch you!

All that the teacher taught her—the many thoughts

pressed now into roots and long

tough stems: she sings! She sings!

Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)

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!

Modish Matrons #20: Simply Red

Hello, my dear friends and readers, and welcome to the month of February with MODISH MATRONS! This time, Beate of the Little Railroad Keeper's House offered a theme, and we played with the title for a while, until we came up with Simply Red, remembering the music band (back in the early 1990s, I was a huge fan of MTV, exotic to post-Soviet Russia, and Simply Red was one of the most memorable groups then). Anyway, the idea behind the theme was wearing lots of red at once, and if Beate wouldn't have emphasized it from the beginning, I'd probably settle on one, maximum two red items. But since her thought was to play with red in abundance, I took all the red things out of my closet to see what combinations could work, and came up with this one. I must say I love the result and once again I'm thankful to my style buddies for ideas that help me grow!

Replace with Goodness

Sometimes, I get into a particular style (or rather it gets into me), and I just can't stop experimenting with it. This time, it's boho. I often hear that boho looks very organic one me - in fact, they say that it feels very me. To tell the truth, even though I love boho, to me it isn't very me, really. I appreciate its free-spirited vibe and whimsy, which does indeed feel like me. But I crave for a little more structure in clothes. And I think it is not only visually or how it literally feels on my body, but also emotionally, or spiritually, if you will. I think it's my inner craving for more structure in my life lately. I think that I am looking for a balance between freedom and structure.

Extraordinary

I believe it's our very first April photo session, even though I've posted a few times this month already, but those were all March outfits. It's a subtle difference, but it's there. There is a little more sun, even on rainy days. The temperature is a little warmer, even if evenings are still cool. And days are a little longer, so we can enjoy walks later in the day.

On the Sunny Side

Time flies when you're having fun, they say. I guess we've been having lots of fun lately, because I didn't even noticed when March ended and April began. We've been busy reorganizing, both our cottage living and our inner living, and while I am not ready to share my thoughts on the inner part just yet, I can tell that the latest house project is repainting Anya's room and getting a few new pieces of furniture, which we haven't done in years! So it is very exciting, and I hope to share some pictures soon.

Let the Sun Shine

It's raining practically every day here, it seems, for weeks. Dribble, dribble, all day long. We didn't have much time or photographical weather, for that matter, for an artistic shoot lately, but whenever there were 5 or 10 spare minutes, we snapped pictures of my daily outfits, and on that particular day last week, we even got sun! 

Surprising March

Happy International Women's Day to all my women friends and readers!

March surprised us with the weather even more than February did - we had snow again! Not a big snowstorm, but it was snowing on and off all day long just a couple of days ago, even here by the sea. The pictures are from this weekend when we went grocery shopping, and it was a cold and windy (notice the upright flags!) day out, so even a fur collar did not feel or look out of place.

Spirit of a Place

I had lots of fun creating and wearing this outfit. For a brief weak-kneed moment, I wanted to change into a different coat, but decided to go a little out of my comfort zone and over the top with this furry thing (previously shown HERE), playfully marrying Winter with Spring in my attire. 

Iconically North American

I usually share more or less elaborate outfits on my blog, but on those days when I feel overwhelmed and crave simplicity, I am drawn to loose dresses in natural fabrics, much like this chambray number. I wore it quite a few times lately, enjoying the modern lines, pockets, high-low hem and of course polka dots! Polka dots just make everything better, don't they? 

Ferry to Bainbridge

 

A couple of months ago, I shared pictures of two dresses on my FB page, mentioning that at that point I liked them both equally, though I purchased only one, and at the time of ordering I had a very strong preference. The intriguing part of my story was that I couldn't remember which one of the two dresses I picked. 

Local Language

This coming Spring marks 15 years of my making the US my home - and 10 years of our family making the Pacific Northwest our home. When you relocate to a new place, there is always a lot to learn, including learning a new language. And I don't only mean a national language - English, in my case. Justin is a born and bred American, but for him too there is a need to learn to understand locals from time to time. Let me show you just a couple of examples of how and why. One occasion would be simply spelling and pronunciation that don't go hand-in-hand. While it's often the case with the English language, there also are other languages that get involved - like French or local Indian tribal languages. For instance, if you're driving I-5 visiting from out-of-state, you might read the name of the city Puyallup as PY-all-up, as in "pie", or perhaps POOY-all-up as in "pooh" (Winnie the, of course), and good luck asking about it then. The locals pronounce it PYU-all-up. Tricky, huh? Yet it's just one example, and every place has plenty - something that only locals know like the back of their hand, and what takes a lifetime for newcomers to learn.

Tender Transitioning

It was a rainy day in Seattle, and when I looked in my closet, I felt like I had nothing to... well, you know. Until I spotted this Spring-y dress under another dress (storage issues!) and thought to myself, what the heck! It isn't Spring yet. But it is coming. Camellia in our yard started opening its very first buds at the end of January. Birds are singing in a very Spring-y voice! It was snowing later, but so what? The snow melts here quickly anyway. It knows Spring is just around the corner - not behind the mountains, as we say in Russia.

Modish Matrons: Russian Winter Fairy Tale

Happy New Year!

Here at In The Writer's Closet, we begin it with a new, updated version of our monthly link-up that will start on the 1st of every month and stay open for a whole month. If you are on Facebook, we'll appreciate if you like our new page MODISH MATRONS, and thank you to all who have already liked us! Our team - Tina, Beate and myself - would love it if you get inspired by our themes, but feel free to join us as you are, too. Other than a new date, we also arrange our themes differently now - we take turns, so each month one of us presents a theme that inspires her, and it is represented in our collages too:

Dear December

Hello December, 

You greet me with raindrops falling from your heavy gray sky. With cold outbursts of wind that feel prickly against my cheeks and mess up my hair. With your short, barely noticeable by a night owl light spans. With long dark evenings that remind me why since the beginning of time, people celebrate light in this darkest of all months.