I've Come Out of the Closet!

Hello friends, 

Long time no see! I've just realized that I haven't posted in this blog since May. I missed sharing my outfits! So please feel free to praise or critique me - from you, my loves, I accept it all. I missed you and this form of creativity and connection with like-minded people a lot! I can only hope that some of you have missed me too. :)

I Voted!

So it happened, my friends - I voted! Justin and I received our ballots in the mail, filled them out and dropped them at the official voter's drop box this very evening. (Anya is not old enough to vote just yet, but she will be very soon, just in a couple of months, ready for the next election.) 

Family in Fall, Sauerkraut Recipe and New Home

In my last post, I wrote about traditional Fall celebrations in the US which my family and I love, but this time of year is even more precious and beautiful to me for many personal reasons. You might notice it too, life usually brings us things in clusters. One such "cluster" is birthdays in my family. Of course, whenever a few people gather, some of them most probably were born reasonably close to each other, and it's especially true when we talk about a large family. I mean, there are only 12 months in the year, aren't there? But some such coincidences seem more like serendipity or kismet, if you will.

Modish Matrons #40: Fifty Shades of Fall

I love Summer, especially here in the Pacific Northwest, for its warm sunny days without extreme temperatures or humidity. But by the end of the season, I am really looking forward to Fall. I adore the Autumnal crisp fresh air and magical soft light, the changing colors of leaves, and the promise of a new beginning every single Fall, no exception... And I adore Fall fashion.

Life, Style and All that I Love

Have you noticed? I changed my blog's header. There used to be a vintage picture of a lady typing on a typewriter, with the subtitle of the blog "Writing, Style and Other Treasures" (I just knew even then that I wouldn't be able to stick to only one topic). I loved blogging under that cute and quite minimalistic header, but after almost 6 years of blogging the time came, when it felt right to change. 

Sharing is Good for the Soul

No worries, friends, I didn't finish all these fries by myself - 

I shared it with my friend the Crow!

April Showers, Fridays for Future and My Contribution to the World

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments on my previous posts!!! They brought so much joy to my heart, and I mean it. I do miss interacting with you guys, and I feel like I am very much behind each of your real life series. I lurked at your blogs a few times in the past few months and have every intention to catch up some day, though it is still challenging at this point. I thought that my workload would be lighter in April, but boy I was wrong! After finishing with one gig, I continued keeping myself busy with new ones, and after family time, trying to keep the house in at least a tiny bit reasonable state of chaos, and time to rest and recharge, there is very little time for blogging and fashion. But it isn't a bad thing, and even rare style and blog encounters can still provide fun as well as a break from other activities and responsibilities.

From January to March

Hello friends,

This is a catching up post before we get to Spring at full swing here In The Writer's Closet. I gathered a few outfit photos which were taken any time from January through February and most recently March outfits...and of course, some of the life events which went with them.

Sequins Are a Girl's Best Friend

I didn't know this line when putting on this outfit for the opening performance of the new professional regional theater program in Tacoma, and yet I wore sequins as if I knew.

Fall Fun & Food

Hello my dear friends and readers,

This post is more of a "slice of life" post than a style post, which some of you, I know, prefer to pure fashion/style blogposts. I will share some of our Autumnal outings and my Fall recipes, so if it's your cup of tea - I hope you enjoy it to the fullest (pun intended)!

Hidden Village

 

Last Saturday night, feeling exhausted and a little chilled after the whole day spent outdoors, we stopped at the closest restaurant we could find, which happened to be a vegetarian and pescaterian Thai place in Bellevue, WA. We are neither, but sort of naturally leaning that direction in the last couple of years, and we love Thai, and our dinner was amazing! Anya got wide rice noodles with "veggie meat" (you wouldn't know the difference, honestly), Justin had pineapple rice with prawns, and I had pad thai with mixed seafood - delicious! No wonder I look as pleased as punch in these pictures! 

Our First Festival: Flavor of Federal Way

Hello my dear friends and readers,

First I want to THANK YOU for all the love and support you gave me here on the blog as well as on my social media, and via personal messages! I deeply appreciate your kind words and wishes - I read them all! I am eager to tell you everything about my experience of Flavor of Federal Way, the Multicultural Festival that we were honored and excited to be a part of.

Summer Patchwork and Back to Who We Are

Just as quilt makers collect various scraps and fabric pieces which may or may not end up being a part of a quilt, as a style blogger I am also left with a variety of "scraps" - pictures of my outfits which were sometimes created purposefully and thoughtfully, with an intention to become a "quilt" - a post about a particular ensemble; while other times happened almost unintentionally, randomly, on the way to an event (or sometimes at the event), with very limited time and/or lighting for a decent photo shoot. I collect such picture "scraps", Justin's photographs of my outfits (my form of art) and from time to time combine them to create a post-quilt with all those lovely scraps... And so I've done with this post, showcasing 5 outfits which will tell you a few more stories of my Summer. Many pictures and words!

Falling in Love with Life Again

Summer, I'm in love! This Summer, I'm in love - in love with this Summer!

I have a reputation as a positive, warm and light person, someone who is full of sunshine and completely in love with life - and while all of it is true, another part of the truth is that the last few years were hard, in various ways. My family and I were thrown challenges so difficult to deal with, that at some point, it seemed like I fell out of love with life - something I never knew could happen to me. A very few people and things were helping me to hold myself together, and I am so grateful for all of them. Blogging about style and meeting you, my far away blogging friends, have been a huge part of it. Without even realizing it, you've been helping me to go through the process of dealing with life's unexpected twists, grieving, doubting and reinventing myself. It was a courageous, genuine, honest journey, and as a result of it I know myself so much better now and I've became so much stronger. Particularly this Summer, it feels like I'm finally approaching the end of this long journey. I was struggling to find my way back to JOY and LOVE of LIFE for what feels like such a long time, and now it finally feels like I'm back, as if this Summer's warm and caring hands nursed me back to life... It's been sunny, warm, at times hot, with some cool days (a welcomed relief!). And we've been busy - but a good kind of busy, you know? Of course you do!

Fish and Butterflies, and Life Updates

While Seattleites, Tacomans and their neighbors are experiencing a heatwave here and now, let me take you a week back in time when we were still in the mild mid 60s F with some raindrops thrown in for good measure here and there. Such weather was perfect to take my fish dress for another outing - so she wouldn't feel abandoned after her trip to Washington DC last month... besides, I promised you then to talk about my travel wardrobe! (HERE)

State Affairs: Trip to Washington DC

Despite all the jokes said by my husband's American friends about him being married to a Russian spy, you can hardly find a person standing as far away from politics as me. Yet, sometimes politics affect my personal life and demand me that I take action. I won't get into details as to exactly why I had to go to Washington DC, as it was a purely practical reason, and way too complicated and boring to even talk about it. Trust me when I say that I postponed this official business for as long as I could, a bit too long for my own good really, and there was a sudden sense of urgency when I finally plucked up the courage to deal with it. It all went well in the end, and the whole appointment took only 16 minutes, which became the most expensive 16 minutes of my life to date. I could of course fly to DC on my own which would reduce the spending by far, but what fun is there in that? We don't do things for purely practical reasons in our household, so when Mama had business in Washington DC, everyone else suddenly found things to do in Washington DC too! So fasten your seat belts, 'cause here we come!

Forty Five and Full of Drive

We are back in Washington State, returned from Washington, DC! To most non-Americans it probably sounds like it's not a biggie - wouldn't these two Washingtons be close to one another? In fact, everybody knows about Washington the capital of the US, but not as many know about Washington the state. But to those who know, it's obvious just how different these two Washingtons are - different in nature, climate, history, subculture, spirit, vibe, style and definitely very different location, as the capital city of the US almost could not be further from our state. We are 2,763 miles or 4.446 km apart, which is more than the distance between my Russian hometown Krasnoyarsk and the capital of Russia, Moscow (4,150 km)! And would you believe that before our trip I did not know that? I honestly thought that it would take three or four hours by plane to get there!

Long After

May has proven to be a surprising month on more than a few occasions, and it brought surprises this year as well - involving unexpected trips, new cities and airplanes. But before I leave for my unexpected trip, I thought I'd stop by to say hello and share photographs we took in Tacoma's Point Defiance Park in early May. May is also the prettiest month with the abundance of blooms in magnificent Northwest gardens. I hope you enjoy the season, wherever you are! Have a fantastic week, and I'll be back soon with news stories, pictures and comments!

Cannon Beach, Oregon: Ocean, Muffins and Puffins

The pictures for this post have been sitting in my blog drafts for almost a month now without posting, not sure why - perhaps because I don't like to end things. But I do like to have a closure, so here you have it - PART THREE (final) of our early Spring mini-break in Oregon State. Click here to read PART ONE and PART TWO.

More Oregon vacations from previous years in these posts:

MAY 2015 

DECEMBER 2015 

AUGUST 2016: PART 1 and PART 2.

I also invite you to look at my old Russian blog for a zillion photos of Portland, Oregon that we took during our first few trips there (prior to this blog):

PORTLAND JAPANESE GARDEN 

(considered the best Japanese garden outside of Japan) 

and PORTLAND: CITY OF ROSES, BRIDGES, TRAMS AND BOOKS.

Both posts written in February 2013, with pictures from 2007, 2011, 2013 taken by Justin and myself (yes, I used to bring a camera wherever I went, for many years!).

And now on to the final destination of this year's trip.

Portland: Bread and Bridges

Eats and paths, what can be more essential than that? Especially when it comes to travel. In today's post, I'm taking you on a little getaway to Portland, Oregon, where we spent a couple of days of our family Spring break. We will explore some Portland paths (a.k.a. Bridges) as well as learn about local eats (a.k.a. Bread), and my hope is that we will discover some of the elements that make Portland Portland. Of course, it's only a brief glance, and I hope it'll be interesting to those of you who have never been there and might plan a trip in the future. With Portland being only 2.5 hours from our home, it's surprising that we don't visit more often. Justin and I were there last time 5 years ago during my parents' stay, and for Anya it was her first trip.