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.

The Kiss

Last weekend, practically by mistake, we found ourselves in Olympia, the state capital of Washington. I'm saying "by mistake" because our plan was to visit Tumwater Falls (my 2016 post HERE and 2015 post HERE), which is on the way to Olympia, and when Justin mistakenly took an exit just a few feet apart from the exit to Tumwater, I said, "Let's go to Olympia, then!" I am saying it was "almost" by mistake, because Olympia has been on my mind for a while now, and I think we haven't visited since we took a tour of the Capitol when my parents were here two years ago (lots of pictures and historical information in my 2015 post HERE).

Ode to Culottes + Video

I'm even happy that the weather is on the cool side these days - I have the chance to wear new items from early Spring (or even not so new), but some things I did not have a chance to wear this season because we got hot days starting in late March, which is surprisingly early for our part of the world. So now when it's mid 60s and breezy, I enjoy layering. 

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.

Shall We Dance?

Set Sail

Justin surprised me with a proposal to take a ferry, visit our favorite town, have a nice dinner and go back home late. Not that it was something unusual for us, we have little trips to places we love quite frequently, but it was in the middle of the work week, in the evening, and that made it unusual. So my outfit also had to be unusual - maybe not for some women who are 100% confident in their bodies (do such women even exist?), but for me. I'm braver when I'm with him. I knew this dress would be out of my comfort zone - I wore it before, what can I say, the looks from men I get when I wear it, are much more favorable than the looks from women. I understand. I also used to be so freakishly self-conscious about my shape, even when really, there was absolutely nothing to freak out about, that I know exactly what's going on in those women's heads. Don't worry, ladies. I don't consider myself so perfectly perfect that I can wear dresses like this one. But the difference between your and my outlook on such dresses and my shape is that I'm not looking for anyone's approval. Not anymore. I know who I am, I know what I want, I know that if I never do things that make me just a little bit uncomfortable, I will never grow. I'm not saying I never worry about what others think of me. It's probably nearly impossible to never ever think such thoughts. But I don't let those thoughts stop me. If I like something, if it seems like fun, if I want to try it and see how it feels - then I'm game, with or without approval. 

Friendship Story

I don't know about you, but I sometimes put pieces together just for fun - I hang them on a tapestry rod in the living room, so I can glance at my "work in progress" from time to time as I read or write. This work sinks in to me, new ideas come, new details are added, something gets removed... all while hanging there on the tapestry rod. Then I transfer the work in progress from the rod on to my body. It's still in progress at this point, because as all of you know, things rarely look the same on the body as they do on hangers. Sometimes, it's so completely wrong (and I loved what I saw on the tapestry rod) that I don't even bother to photograph my ideas. Other times, I proceed to photograph, and then it can be either - "yep, it works" or "nope, it doesn't." 

I am not super analytical. I can't always figure out in advance what will work for me and what won't. When it comes to the creative process, I follow my heart. And when I started my style journey about a year ago, I bought pieces which I though would work, or I wanted them to work. And some of them became favorites, and I wore them a lot, while others mostly spent time in my closet. It's not that I don't like them - most of the time, I think I just haven't found good companions for them. Good friends. We all need good friends. Those who see us for who we are and love us for who we are. Not less, not more. I'm sure you know what I mean. Clothes are really not so different. Each piece can be brilliant if it has a good friend - the one which helps it shine.

Inspired

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments on my last post. I will do my best to respond to everyone as I usually do, and catch up with all of your new posts as well. I am always touched when you show interest in life back in my home country and ask me questions. Since we are exploring personal style here, I thought I'd mention a few style blogs in the Russian language which are definitely worth of checking out, so let's come back to this by the end of this post, OK?

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

When my daughter was 7, she wanted to be a rock star for Halloween. We bought her a sparkly outfit, and I got the idea of a make up and a hairdo which she agreed to. I was pretty happy with my accomplishment, especially given that I am not all that interested or experienced in creating make-ups and hairdos. I was anticipating her looking in the mirror and giggling happily ... what a cute little glamorous rock star she was. 

Anya looked in the mirror and instantly broke into tears.

- What's wrong? You look so pretty! Don't you like it?

- No! I like MY face!

Green on Green on Green? Yes, Please!

Thank you for all the kind and sweet and fun comments you've left on my and Anna's latest posts, and for your congratulations on my 100th post as well! To tell the truth, I would have easily made it my 300th post by this time. I always have so many more ideas what to write about than I actually write. The majority of my writing never sees pages - either paper or computer screen. That's just how I work - I always "write" in my head. :) I also have more outfits to post (there are two or three sitting there in my computer files which I haven't posted yet). Sometimes I think I'm just afraid to either bore or overwhelm people if I post too often (which never happens when I read the blogs of others - if I love the blog, then it's never too much for me to read). Sometimes, I am just not in the mood to post. There are also such things as commenting on others' posts and replying to your comments (which I love to do), but they all require time and energy, because I love it to be meaningful. I will be sure to get to commenting and responding when I am in the right place. Sometimes I just need much more "me" time than "in the world" time, especially when I am getting ready to write something of my own. But even when I might appear to be away, I am definitely here, and if I don't respond right away, it only means that I am in my own world for now. :)

Silk Story

I really like the way this outfit came together. Effortlessly - that's the word. I will admit that it is my favorite of all possible ways.

First Picnic

Spring is here!

On Monday, we had sun and clouds, and thunder, and hail, and lightening.

On Tuesday, it was lovely - sunny, about 60 F.

On Wednesday, it was glorious - 63 F which felt more like 73 F, with sun and very high blue sky all day long.

Lucky me, Justin took a day off, and our daughter had a short day at school, so we were able to go to our very first picnic this year. Now, that must be some sort of record. In the previous years, we started having picnics in April. Very, very unusual. Spring is very mild, very slow here, with average temperatures in 50s. It actually felt like Summer to me in the past two days!

Spring Spirit

Spring is usually in the air by the end of January where I live. Garden stores start offering spring flowers - it's always primrose first, - camellia bush begins to blossom by my kitchen window, and I go through my wardrobe in search for spring spirit. 

Spirit of the Sea

It's my favorite fashion season now. I love all the layering opportunities Autumn brings to us. I love the wonderful warm colors of the season. But, I enjoy Spring as much as Fall. And for quite a while now, I have been thinking to include some of my older photo shoots with Justin, the ones we did before the beginning of In The Writer's Closet. This one is from last Spring, to be exact on Mother's Day which was May 12, 2013.