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!

Solstice, New Hat and Love

Hello again, dear friends and followers!

HAPPY SOLSTICE!

I know, it's been a while since my last post, and I can't tell you how many times I tried to reconnect with you all, but something just didn't click. Thank you to those of you who reached out via email, Instagram and Facebook, I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. I also would like to say thank you to people who buy my books. I don't know how you find them, whether you read my blog or not, but I want to say that it touches my heart every time when it happens, it just doesn't get old! I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Life has been a whirlpool of changes, events and emotions in the past several months for all of us, and even those who fortunately didn't have personal losses still experience loss and grief. Psychologists say it is normal at times like these.

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.

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.

Red with Teal or Blue

Ta-daaa! To those of you who put bets on the color of my second beret and guessed red:

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I bought three berets this Fall: gray, blue and red. I thought that either I would share them all with my daughter, or that she would choose the one(s) she likes and make it (them) her own. And since she has just discovered her love of the color red, I was almost sure that she'd choose the red one, but to my surprise she chose the blue one instead, perhaps to match her new wool coat. The blue one was also the smallest of the three and just wouldn't fit all that extra fluff I have in my big head, so it seemed like a perfect choice anyway.

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!

Pleated in the Park

Hello hello!

It's been a while since I posted or replied to your sweet comments. I have a couple of outfits I haven't shared yet, and the final post about our Oregon vacation is still in the making. To ease into things, I've decide to start with the improvised photo shoot that I had with Anya last week.

Lucid Dream

Yesterday, I took my family to listen to a lecture by one of the leading thinkers of our time, bestselling author Deepak Chopra. I have just finished his free 21-day meditation course which he offers in collaboration with Oprah Winfrey, and this was my second time meditating with them. (If you're interested, you can find more information and sign up for a newsletter HERE.) I really enjoyed this experience, so when I learned that Deepak would be in my American hometown Tacoma, I bought three tickets for my whole family to attend. (His next events would be in Zurich, Switzerland; Hamburg, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; Eugene, Oregon; Paris, France; London, UK; Amsterdam, Netherlands and São Paulo, Brazil - an impressive international list.) It was a week night, so of course everyone was tired - really, it's hard to make it after a long day and in the middle of a busy week, and Anya even fell asleep a couple of times during the lecture, but at the end we all were happy that we made it - we felt uplifted, energized, and in the long run we all benefited from this event.

Outshine the Sun

No worries, Pacific Northwest! 

When sun is hidden behind the clouds, I will come to the rescue. 

Two Magic Ingredients

Inspiration comes from all sorts of sources, sometimes unexpected ones. I don't know what you thought when you first saw this outfit on me, but I know what two little girls in a movie theater thought when they whispered to each other and giggled, looking at me wearing this very outfit. And what do you know, they read me as an open book!

Potpourri

 

A Merriem-Webster dictionary online defines the French word potpourri (literally: "rotten pot", a name for a meat stew popular in 17th century) as "a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices that is usually kept in a jar and used for scent" or as "a miscellaneous collection". In the last September post, I decided to bring you a potpourri of my outfits, suitable for a transitional season. I wore these ensembles either in Spring of this year or in Fall a couple of years back, and even prepared photos for publication, but for whatever reason changed my mind and did not post them before, with one exception, when I posted and then changed my mind and deleted that post (yes, my mood can be that changeable - women, eh?). In this mix, I threw together a bunch of colors, shapes and styles; some leaves, petals, and even some bark; and a few classical paintings to make my potpourri more interesting and palatable. Have I stirred up your curiosity? No more introductions then - dive into my recipe!

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).

Mountain Peaks

Yesterday was the day to admire and conquer some snowy mountain peaks. To complete that challenging task, I started with my bimonthly visit to Erica which always makes me feel like I'm on the top of the world. Erica is my hairdresser and one of the first people I got to know after relocating here from another state. We know each other for almost 10 years now, and I can't imagine my life without her. As usual, I had a fresh pixie cut, great chat over a cup of chamomile tea, and waxed my eyebrows and upper lip where I have some random hair. I also returned to my favorite and I almost want to say natural copper red (after a side trip to brown for the last couple of months) - I was born a redhead, literally, but then changed into a blond, and finally dark blond as I grew up. So it really feels like coming back to myself when I color my hair copper red. Thanks, Erica! I think everyone needs their own Erica in their life.

Oopsy Daisy, or Curiouser and Curiouser

 

A "daisy" here refers to the clusters of daisies we witnessed as we walked along the trail we choose for a walk last Sunday, which felt almost like fields of daisies and foxgloves covering the softly rolling hills, very poetic. And an "oopsy" refers to my orange linen pants (previously worn last Summer and shown here: JUNE, JULY, AUGUST in all sorts of inspiring places, so you might want to check out those posts if not for pants, then for beautiful nature and wildlife, which by the way will be plentiful in this post, and I really need to finish this loooong sentence right here ... I'm sure I will hear a sigh of relief now ... there!).

July in the City // Июль в городе

This linen kimono and trousers set is one of my absolute favorite purchases ever. I bought it back in March, and when the parcel arrived from London, I just couldn't wait for the weather to get warmer. It so happened that I had to wait for almost 2 months! I know it's still only early May, but to me, it's an ultimate summer city outfit, and when we got a couple of summery days (which ended with an unbelievable for this city series of thunderstorm), I was eager to wear it.

Этот льняной брючный костюм стал одной из моих самых любимых покупок. Я выписала его из Лондона еще в марте и просто не могла дождаться теплой погоды. А ждать пришлось почти 2 месяца - затяжная нынче весна! И хотя на дворе всего лишь начало мая, для меня это идеальный летний городской наряд, поэтому когда к нам на пару деньков заглянуло лето (закончившись невероятными для этого города грозами), мне не терпелось поскорей нарядиться.

Birkenwald at the Seattle Art Museum

Last weekend, we had a rare opportunity to spend all day together as a family, and since it was rainy outside, I picked a trip to a museum. I wanted to catch the last chance to see the Jacobs Lawrence: Migration Series exhibit offered by the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), and it was absolutely worth it - if you're interested, you can check out my Russian article about this exhibit HERE and see the whole series which contains 60 panels telling the powerful story of the Great Migration in the album I shared on my FB page HERE (the album is public). But it wasn't all we wanted to see in the museum, and while we loved the Lawrence exhibit, it is closed by now, but the other unique temporary exhibit we visited, called Seeing Nature, is open till May 23, so if you're in town, get your tickets now, I guarantee you will thoroughly enjoy it!

Is It a Sofa? Is It a Bird?

This outfit is very me. The big and bright yellow poncho made of a thick heavy fabric with rich texture that reminds one of the late 1960s/1970s upholstery fabrics is most definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I happen to love it. It brings much needed sunshine to gloomy days - in fact, that's usually when I want to wear it the most, on gray cool days, which we have in abundance this October. To make the impact even stronger, I tend to pair this poncho with yellow pants too. 

Summer Vacation Capsule Wardrobe. Part 1: Casual

It's been a while since we took a long vacation. By "long" I mean anything more than 3 days, really. We often take day trips, and a few times a year, 2-day or 3-day trips, but staying in a hotel more than that feels quite generous and even extravagant. We felt like we all needed a nice long break and a change of scenery, so one day, practically on a whim, we found ourselves booking a suite in one of our favorite destinations - Seaside, Oregon. We got lucky because in the middle of the peak season, less than 2 weeks ahead, we got the loveliest 1-bedroom suite on the 4th floor, overlooking river and ocean.  It had a full size kitchen, so a couple of times I prepared home meals, which saved us some money. We also had a washer and dryer in the room, which we used only once, but theoretically, we did not need to bring much clothes with us at all. We opted out of the daily cleaning service which also saved us some bucks. All in all, it's a wonderful option for a family. The hotel has a swimming pool and hot tub, offers free breakfast every morning and free happy hour every evening (wine and beer for adults, snack and drinks for kids). If you're looking for a place to stay in Seaside, OR, I can heartily recommend Rivertide Suites - check them out. And no, it isn't a sponsored post.

Barefoot from 90 to 60

Have you put away those jackets and cardigans yet? Well, if you live in the PNW, hopefully, you put them not too far away. After a few hot days, the temperature dropped significantly, which suggests outfit adjustments. In this post, I'll show not one, but two outfits from this week - I wore both of them while hanging out in my neighborhood.

Happy Valley: Trip to Sequim

Back in May, Justin surprised me with a little getaway to the beautiful Olympic peninsula. He reserved a room in a nice hotel for a couple of nights, we packed a few things, got gas for our faithful Outback and left for an adventure on Friday night. It is only a couple of hours from our home, but that way we could get plenty of rest and an early start the next morning.