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. :)

Happy New Year!

To all my friends and readers, a very Happy New Year! 

May it be kind and healthy to you and yours! 

New Black & White

In almost 7 years of blogging, you got to know me - I'm a dress and skirt kind of girl. But I've also always been a big fan of pant sets - they can look chic, powerful, artistic, and completely out of the ordinary, just like this one. First, I fell in love with the bold graphic design: black and white is always in style. But I am also mesmerized by those faces drawn practically with one line!

New Year, New Happenings

Hello beautiful friends,

I haven't had the chance to greet you and wish you a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR yet!

They say that distance makes the heart grow fonder, and that's so true - the longer I don't post and chat with you, the more I miss blogging and all of you. At the same time, it's harder to go back to the old routine of posting regularly. So for a while at least, there won't be any regularity here. But I do want to share some of my life happenings as well as outfits with you.

Outfits and Buildings Telling Stories

It takes time to build a unique collection, and that goes for creating a unique wardrobe as well. Some of you might remember the story of this tapestry coat (OCTOBER 2017), how doubtful I was, keeping the coat in my shopping cart while browsing Goodwill, then leaving it behind, driving back home only to return to the store to rescue this jacket the very next day. I don't know whether it is vintage or not (the label doesn't suggest vintage), but it is well made and I have no regrets purchasing it, even though I did not really need another jacket. But that's the beauty of being a collector - you certainly don't need to add to your collection, but if a new find brings you joy, then that's the right thing to do! And so this jacket joined my general collection of jackets and coats, and is now also a part of my particular collection of tapestry jackets and coats (see my other tapestry coats in APRIL 2017 and MARCH 2019). Unlike many modern pieces which only imitate tapestry (while being prints), all of these pieces are actually made of woven fabric.

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.

Modish Matrons #32: Knits

As always, my friends Tina, Beate and I welcome a new month with a new style theme, and February we dedicated to KNITS as it was Tina's turn and her inspiration. We've done knits last year as well, and back then I chose my favorite knitted items: long cardigans and a knit skirt (click HERE to see). This time, I knew I wanted to do something different, and at first, I turned to my favorite knit dresses, or sweater dresses as they are often called. But at the end decided to do something else instead...

Happy Holidays!

I will not be myself if I don't wish you happy holidays and don't share with you some of our latest outings and other slices life generously offered at the end of the year. So without further ado, let's dive in!

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? 

Tartan and Snake Print; Freedom and Gratitude

To all my American friends and readers, 

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is my most favorite of ALL the American holidays, and I am so happy to celebrate my 17th Thanksgiving this year! I am truly thankful for my life, for everything that it throws at me, good and bad, I love it all. I really came to believe that contrast is what shapes us - what helps us to sort out the infinite ways of life, choose what feels right to us (to each, their own!), and what makes us who we become. It's easy to feel gratitude for good times, but I've learned to love my disappointments and crisis just as well, because like nothing else, they really teach me to focus on what I want to experience, on what I actually want my life to be. If everything comes easy, then how can we know what is important to us and what is not? How could we learn to appreciate? And how could we ever be able to make choices and stick to our dreams? And our freedom to dream and freedom to make choices is what it's all about to me. That's what I celebrate on this day, and I am deeply and forever 

grateful.

Back to September

Hello my dear friends and readers,

November has been a busy month so far, and to tell the truth I haven't even taken any new outfit photos yet. But I still have some unposted outfits from the past months, and why not use the power of our imagination, and instead of documenting what's happening right now, get into a time machine to travel a couple of months back?

Velvet in the City

What I like about velvet pants the most is the fact that I can feel dressed-up and be as comfortable as if I was wearing pajamas. Especially pants like these, with roomy legs and elasticized, stretchy waist - nothing gets too tight, nothing pinches, nothing irritates or restricts movement. I bought this pair last Spring for their gorgeous rich color (what would you call it?), and wore them recently with light long coats and sneakers, for different occasions, locations and moods.

Flamboyant in the Office

I wore this outfit to an important appointment earlier this week, and to me it is an example of expressive personal style even when you want to look professional and pulled together in an official/business/office situation. Honestly, if you're not required to wear a uniform at work, or you're not going to meet a president of  a country or the Queen, there is no reason not to have fun with vivid colors and bold patterns. If a part of you, like me, is flamboyant, there is no need to be afraid to come across as a bit flamboyant - it only will be genuine.

5 Years and 500 Posts!

Dear friends and readers, join me in the celebration of 5 years and 500 posts of In The Writer's Closet! Some time back in the Spring, I noticed that I was getting pretty close to the big round number of 500. That presented an interesting opportunity and challenge to write the exact amount of posts to sort of happily coincide with my 5th year blog anniversary. But then I realized that to me, it would feel too restrictive to try to fit in a certain number of posts... What if I would not feel like posting so often? Or, the opposite of that, what if I would had so much to share that I arrived at the 500th post too early? So after questioning myself like that and not having any answers, as I don't possess a crystal ball, I decided to let go of this intriguing idea and simply allow things unfold naturally. If it happened organically, then so be it, and if not, then oh well, it wouldn't be the end of the world. And so I forgot about the idea. But some time in mid August, I realized that I am indeed arriving at the number 500 without any special efforts, and more than that - even though the actual date of my first post was September 9, I can choose to celebrate on the 5th as well, so here I am, 

5 years, 500 posts on the 5th! 

FIREWORKS!!!

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!

Having Fun with Style

I wore this outfit a week ago, and I couldn't wait to share it with you - I love it so much!

(Insert many sparkly heart emojis right here!) It is one of those outfits when I truly and freely had fun both creating and wearing it! And I can see many different variations of it in the future.

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)

Going Back and Forth in Time, Gifts from Bosnia and Herzegovina & Gloriously Overgrown Garden

Do you like when I share with you combinations with my old clothes? New purchases are exciting, and I do enjoy my new clothes very much, but at the same time I love wearing something I bought last year, and two years ago, and four or five years ago, and on some occasions even much earlier. My goal as a fashionista is to have a closet full of stuff that I love and collect over the years. I do make some mistakes (I call them experiments), but it's gradually getting there. So here I'm wearing another mix of old and new from my closet. I wore it yesterday, on a cool and drizzly day, cool enough for a thin sweater. But I will get to it later in the post, because at first I wanted to talk about...

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.

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.