Christmas

Hello and happy holidays to all!

Thanks for taking time out to visit my blog

This festive time of year goes by in a blur of activity

It's so much fun, but also very hectic

Remember to take time out for yourself to keep life in balance

 It's always a bit of a challenge for me during this time of year

In the spirit of the season, I've got my red on, of course!

This is an old favorite dress

 that has been in my wardrobe for over six years

 It is a sleeveless fit and flare classic,

 and can be worn during all seasons

with a little imaginative layering

I have worn it for special occasions all year round

 in different ways

 I love the giant abstract print,

 and the super full and flouncy skirt!

For this time of year, I am wearing the dress

 with an ivory cropped cardigan layered over it

 that has interesting toggle button closures

 

The bracelet I am wearing is very special to me,

 because it was a gift from my mother-in-law

She bought it on her post graduate

 trip to Europe in the 1950's,

 when she was in her 20s

 I know she had many cherished memories

 about her experiences on that once in a lifetime

  holiday abroad, through Europe with here best friends

 How exciting it must have been, and what memories

 she made wearing this bracelet!

I choose the 1950s vintage red collar necklace,

but later took it off,

 because I but decided it was a little too much!

Here are some more accessories,

 because now is the time to put on the glitz, right?

Wearing an ivory folded fabric headband,

 gold tone circle earrings,

 and another cherished piece of vintage 1950's jewelry

 This sweet little gold tone running dear brooch

 was a gift to me from Roger 

We bought it while on a Thanksgiving trip to Pennsylvania 

years ago, at an antique shop 

For a bag, I chose this 1960's tan embossed hard shell one 

 It has a twisted metallic cord strap of gold, silver and bronze

that can be worn as a shoulder strap or tucked inside

so it can be used as a clutch

For shoes, I choose cherry red pointed toe

 slingback Mary Janes-perfect for the holidays!

That's my Roger standing under the Kissing ball-

he is quite a ham for the camera!

Matching my dress in a festive bright red sweater vest

Some colorful Christmas cookies from the bakery- 

umm, they are not going to last long in our house!

Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful holiday season!

 

Fun and Festive Holiday Outfit

Hello and welcome!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog

during this busy holiday season

For this week's post I decided to style an outfit

 in the "other" Christmas color-green 💚

I thought I would give green a little love for this post,

 since red is so prominent right now

 There are so many beautiful shades of red in the stores

 for the holidays, but not much green

 

I am wearing a deep forest green floral print dress

 with a flounce hem, and short puff sleeves

The print is bright pink with golden yellow leaves

 These colors seem Christmasy and festive to me

and too dark to wear in the spring and summer,

which is probably when this dress was intended to be worn 

The weight of the fabric seems too heavy 

for the warm months, as well

 A bit of an odd one, but I think now is a good time to wear it!

Worn under a bright pink lady style cropped cardigan

with the waist sash that came with the dress as a neck tie 

Christmas green and pink-why not?

Carrying a bright pink handle bag

The chain strap is adjustable to be

 shoulder or crossbody length, as well

Accessorizing with gold tone leaf motif

 vintage clip on earrings from the 50s,

 and a gold tone twist bangle bracelet 

To finish the outfit, I'm wearing comfortable block heel two tone Mary Jane slides

Table decor is complements of Mother Nature!

Christmas tree?

No, fancy cauliflower that the market only sells 

During the holidays!

I hope everyone is enjoying a lovely holiday season!

 

December is a Month of Festivities!

Hello, welcome to my blog and thanks for stopping by

December is such a fun month of the year!

It speeds by in a whirlwind of

festive events, parties and get togethers,

 for everyone to enjoy during the holiday season

You know what this means-

  there are lots of opportunities to get dressed up

👗💎🎀💃👡

 Our fanciest, bling-iest clothes can come out of the closet

Not that they can't come out at 

any time of the year, but December is great

for wearing them all together!  

Do you like the prospect of

 getting dressed up for special occasions?

I sure do!

For this week's outfit, I chose a comfortable but festive outfit

  to celebrate my December 1st birthday!

The satin jacket makes this outfit special

 It is a cropped style in the currently trending

 wine or burgundy color,

 perfect for wearing with high waisted pants and skirts

 It could also be worn over a dress

 A jacket like this is such a versatile separate,

 plus the color is practically a neutral

Pieces like this are nice for special occasions,

 because the fabric dresses up the outfit

 and the jacket can be worn in so many different ways 

An easy way to go if you have different 

events with some of the same guests in attendance

I am wearing the jacket today with a chiffon

 wine, magenta and purple 

geometric print blouse underneath,

 and tailored black straight leg trousers

 

Adding a little more bright color and bling

 with my magenta bow motif chain strap bag

For jewelry I've chosen some shiny gold tone pieces

 A collar necklace of small curved rectangles

 (chiclets) all the way around,

bar earrings and a bar hinged bracelet

Black pointed toe low wedge heel tassel loafers

 to finish the look

Here's a picture of Roger and I

Roger is matching one of his whimsical

 Dr. Seuss ties to my jacket

He has collected a lot of really fun ties over the years,

 and always manages to come up with one

 that will coordinate with my outfit!

Here is a close up of the tie-

it is a conversation piece, for sure!

Hope everyone is having a lovely December

Enjoy a piece of my confetti 

birthday cake!

 

 

Thanksgiving

Hello and welcome,

thank you for stopping by my blog today!

 I would like to wish everyone who celebrates

 a heartfelt Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you are enjoying the holiday

 and have much to be grateful for this year

For my Thanksgiving outfit this year, 

I chose a monochrome dress,

 in a beautiful shade of sky blue

 It is a bit of an irregular color choice

  for Thanksgiving, but refreshingly different

 I am on a mission to get the fancier items 

  in my wardrobe out of the closet, and worn 

What better occasion to get dressed up

 than a festive family holiday!

This dress is a very elegant crepe

 wrap style with beautiful draping

I ordered it from Nordstrom,

  intending to wear it for a special occasion earlier this year,

but was not completely happy with it

As pretty as it is, it is a bit overwhelming on me

I think I might do a little altering on this dress

 Maybe decrease the volume of the sleeves a little bit  

What do you think?

Anyway, I chose a gorgeous new-to-me

 vintage black and gold beaded bag

 to complement the dress and shoes

The bag was an unlikely find

 at the shop where I take items for consignment

It is a large shop curated with mostly nearly new and new clothing and home decor,

 but occasionally a vintage treasures can be found!

Gold jewelry was the natural choice,

 since I had already decided on this bag with golden beads

Wearing a tubular open cuff bracelet,

 teardrop shaped dangling earrings

 and one of my favorite vintage necklaces

The necklace is very unusual in brass,

 made of three fishes with red rhinestone eyes

For shoes I chose the best 

special occasion pair I have ever owned!

  They are versatile enough to wear during the day,

 and very comfortable 

They are a slingback pump, with a kitten heel 

 in a neutral leopard print-a classic!

Do you have any special double duty shoes

in your wardrobe? 

  I have had these for quite a while,

and they have held up remarkably well,

especially considering the entire shoe

 is covered with clear sequins! 

Roger picked a burgundy shirt

 with a multicolored tie

 featuring the "Peanuts" cartoon characters

He chose it because of the football theme,

and because the character "Lucy" is wearing a dress

the same color as mine 

 Plus, watching football on Thanksgiving

is an American tradition, after all!

Close-up of the tie-poor Charlie Brown!

Our Thanksgiving theme table scape

  I hope everyone enjoys their long holiday weekend! 

If you are traveling this holiday season, stay safe! 

 Please join me on 

Monday, December 2nd for the beginning of a month

 of festive holiday outfit ideas!

 

Plum Pullover Plus Slip Dress for November

Hello, welcome,

 and thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

Today I chose a simple color block outfit

in plum and black,

 dressed up with some special accessories

 The plum, or berry color of my pullover sweater

 has been very popular this season,

 along with all the shades of red

My sweater is a semi sheer crochet knit pattern,

and I am wearing a black slip dress underneath

This combination provides the perfect amount

 of layered coverage and warmth

for our current autumnal weather

  

 I think plum is a very good color for fall 

It is seasonal, but not too dark,

as the fall and winter colors sometimes go 

 I haven't done much shopping 

in the brick and mortar stores so far this fall,

but online, I notice many shades of red

   and brown seem to be dominating

 Much more than I expected

Will you be adding any red

 tones to your wardrobe this season?

How about brown?

If so, it is a good time to purchase 

There is such an abundance and so may shades

 available to chose from

Truly something for everybody! 

 

Carrying a light tan half circle bag

 with a quilted fold over flap,

 to brighten the overall color

of the outfit up a bit

 

For jewelry, I chose gold tone finishes 

A vintage hinged wrap bracelet,

 a birds-on-a-branch necklace

purchased years ago, that I still love,

and wear frequently,

 and reticulating open teardrop shaped earrings

I added a few more accessories

to spice up this simple outfit

 A vintage swirling, psychedelic print

 black and white scarf from the 60s,

 and a black sequin and tweed fabric sash belt,

tied in the back

Also wearing a black and white polka dot hairband

for a little subtle pattern mixing

 (It got left out of this picture) 

For shoes I am wearing classic light tan and black

 block heeled sling back spectators

They go so nicely with the bag,

 I will have to use this pairing again

A previous outfit from winter 2022,

with a cardigan sweater in a similar plum color

over a wild geometric print dress-

quite a different look! 

Loving my crockpot at this time of year,

a quick and easy-dinner that cooks itself!

Stay warm and have a great week!

Black and White Plaid with Red for Fall

Hello, welcome, and thanks for stopping by my blog!

In the spirit of the fall season,

 I think a little plaid is definitely in order-

also some autumnal red!

 Today, I am wearing a sleeveless summer dress

modified for fall

 the dress is in black, taupe, and white

 To make it seasonal,

I layered a pucker textured,

 short sleeve blouse over top of the dress

Red is such a trending color now,

 with two shades in the Pantone palette 

  from New York fashion week

for the fall/winter '24/'25 season-

Scarlet, and Red Orange

Or, if you are across the pond,

you are probably seeing a lot of

 the beautiful and classic Cherry Red,

from London fashion week

I love my reds, and have already worn

  some form of Red Orange three times

  this season, all in October!

If you like, go back and check out these previous posts

  I started October with a poppy print

 in shades of red and orange,

 in a dress on my "Autumnal Color" post

 I wore the red blouse in today's post

layered on top of that dress

 The following week,

 I styled a solid Red Orange long cardigan sweater

 in my "October is for Orange" post

 Lastly, I wore a new item, a red orange vest,

 in my "Happy Halloween" post

That's a lot of one of my favorite colors

 to wear in one month!

Are you pulling out some shades of red from your closet,

 or purchasing any new items in red this season?

This plaid dress is quite a challenge to style,

 but I keep it, for when inspiration strikes

Actually, I pulled it out of my consignment box,

 because it doesn't seem to have a season

It feels slightly out of place 

 in spring and summer,  

because of the bold black in the plaid

It is equally challenging in the fall,

 because of the bright white background,

 and the fact that it is sleeveless

 Poor dress is having a bit of an identity crisis-

let me know if you think I've made it work! 💃

My bright red ring handle bag

 can be carried as a clutch or a tote

 (as in the photo above)

 I love it when items can do double duty!

I chose some chunky silver tone

 jewelry pieces to accessorize,

that complement the silver tone hardware on the bag

Textured hoop earrings, a pony DIY pendant

 and a chain link bracelet

 with a rhinestone pave heart charm

To finish the look, a pair of double strap

  black suede, block heel Maryjane pumps

Here is a photo of the last time

 I styled this plaid dress on the blog

 It was for the opposite season,

In May, 2023 for a post titled "Spring Plaid" 

I hope you are inspired

 to pull out those outliers in your closet

and give them a try

  Have a great week,

and I hope to see you next Monday!