Looking for Spring

Happy Thorsday, little friday, thankful thursday and more!   The girls and I are ready for spring.   Ironically, I’ve heard we are to be below average temperatures through mid-March.  Whatever.  We enjoyed the near-60s yesterday and got in a very long wog.  (Walk + jog = wog, credited to the basically blogless J)

photo.JPGThankful?  I’m really thankful for the ability to destress in nature, with the dogs.  My girls are brutal trainers, and those who follow the girls on Facebook might know that I have a new personal best time now, because the girls were on a tear after missing their walk yesterday due to rain.   But I’m also grateful for our wonderful neighbors – more than one – whose truly neighborly ways allow us to roam about 7 miles worth of roads and trails. 

I’m also glad that we got a taste of spring yesterday. 

What are you thankful for today?

Lendperk?

Have you heard of Lendperk?   The Budget Babe introduced me to them yesterday.   I probably would have signed up already if she hadn’t called them the Netflix for dresses.   See…  Netflix didn’t work for me.  Here’s a little insight into the weird mind that is me.

I can’t be bothered to walk to the entertainment hutch-thing, open doors, figure out which device is the DVD player (because I learned Monday that I can’t manage the BluRay’s remote), toss whatever disc the Knight left in there somewhere, insert what I want to watch, and play.  I can however, use “guide” and “list” on our DVR thingee, so I watch NCIS and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives over and over when the Knight isn’t home to operate the audio-visual equipment.

Anyway.

A dress I covet

A dress I covet

In theory, Lendperk seems to have been designed for me.  Here’s more insight into who I am…  while I have favorites I enjoy wearing over and over, I really like mixing it up.  I rarely remember if a friend has worn something before, unless it was something I coveted.  (Yes, I was raised Catholic and know that’s a sin, but green is my favorite color, my eye color, and I just can’t help it.)

What say you?  Should I give Lendperk a try?  February is shot, but March has a League-wide meeting of monumental proportions, and April and May are chocked full of socials, meetings, ceremonies, and other reasons to have extra dresses that I haven’t worn over and over on hand.

Lendperk

The brands they offer are not designer, and they range from Modcloth to J Crew.  They run from truly casual to what they call formal, or what I’d call fancy cocktail/party frocks.  For instance, while this Modcloth pretty is considered formal, I’d wear it to our community celebration awards ceremony or our May/annual dinner.  The ceremony is daytime and I typically wear a true “day dress” (meaning Sunday best or dressy business) while the dinner is obviously in the evening and as the master of ceremonies, I’ll wear something cocktail-ish.

Have you heard of Lendperk?  Should I give them a try?

World Spay Day

Waiting to meet the new vet...

Clingy mess & me, waiting for the vet

Ironically, we went to the vet on World Spay Day.

Of course, it wasn’t for THAT; it was time for Sissy’s regular eye appointment and her annual visit.  You can read about that here.   The cliff notes version is that her pressure is fine, she and the new vet got along well, and life is good.

Never mind the cold, heavy rain, making our walking trails all sloppy again.  Sissy had a good report, and that trumps everything.

How do your cliff notes for today read?

 

Flight

article-2284001-184118FB000005DC-571_634x870Just so you know, I don’t watch awards shows.  I do enjoy the morning after reports, including the fashion reviews.  I couldn’t tell you the last time I went to a movie in a theater.  I’ve never watched a movie on demand, and I dropped Netflix a couple of years ago.  I can’t/don’t wear strapless or trains, but isn’t Reese fabulous?

Have you seen Flight?  (Warning… spoilers in that link.)

The cast includes some of my favorites – Denzel, John Goodman, Tamara Tunie – and the Knight liked it enough to bring it home and suggest I watch it.  Generally, we agree on movies, so maybe it’s my frame of mind, but I’m just not into it.  I already know that good people do bad things and that bad people can do good things, that we have to be responsible for our actions.

I watch movies the way I read books though, so I’m suffering through this, waiting, watching, looking for whatever my husband and his firehouse crew thought was so good.

How do you manage a movie or book that doesn’t meet your expectations?  Fight or flight?

 

Pinning Fitness

While the bulk of my Pinterest pins are recipes I mean to try when I have time and energy to do more than click and save, there are a couple of boards I do actually use/try almost right away in a lot of cases.   I’m not perfectly consistent with where I put stuff, but my thought process is that Health is, well… wellness-related, although it does include some yoga/stretches for back pain, but you might also find similar under Fitnessand still more fitness-related pins can be found under Hit the trail! which is where anything related to running, walking and/or hiking can be found.

Pinterest is probably my favorite time suck – er… social media site.  I don’t have to remember to snap a photo or upload it somewhere (Instagram) and I’m not even going to touch Twitter.  I just don’t get that one, maybe because I don’t get the whole concept of brevity either.

Anyway, Pinterest is especially handy for my fitness “ooooh shiny!” moments because I can access it everywhere and anywhere.  I can pull up that playlist on the trail, in the gym… wherever I am when I realize I need it.   Same with yoga routines.  Sure, I bookmark them on my laptop, but what happens when my iPad and I are waiting for a meeting to start and I have a moment to center myself and work the kinks out before the others arrive?  Yeah.  I do these things… you don’t?!

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My go-to yoga pin from Women’s Health

Do you pin?

Do you have a favorite … whatever site?  Pinterest?  Instagram?  Twitter?  (And seriously, if you love Twitter, why?  Can you explain it to me?)

Pet Love

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I spy…

Happy Thorsday, little friday, thankful thursday and everything else.  Yesterday was Love Your Pet Day.   Did you celebrate?  We accidentally did, as the girls are at work with me today, and were yesterday as well.

Being the DIVA Queen, Sissy is quick to note any favoritism not going her way.  There’s a hint of evidence… can you guess what injustice she’s spotted?

photo.JPGYeppers…  That spoiled baby-brat is not only on the desk, but brought a stinky, slimy, nasty toy with her.  I will tear a page or two off my blotter tomorrow when little doggy feet and icky doggy toys aren’t on my desk!

Thankfuls?  I’m thankful my girls get to come to work sometimes, that my mother inlaw dotes on her furry grand-girls, that Sissy gets to meet our new vet next week…

What are you thankful for today?

Phil Lied?

Okay.  A few weeks ago, this hairy dude named Phil saw his shadow and winter was over – or however that works.  So can someone explain to me why we have cooler weather and snow (albeit flurries)?! 

2077423-p-MULTIVIEWI’m ready for spring now.  I’m eyeing boat shoes and lace tees, and loving the spring hues.   Here’s what I have in assorted carts.  I can make a case for all of them, but I’m not sure I *NEED* any of them.  I do *NEED* truly nude pumps, with a heel 2.5-3″, but I’m having trouble finding real leather in a color that isn’t taupe or nearly pink. 

But will I *REALLY* wear the boat shoes?  I wore the daylights out of them in high school, but then I wore shorts and mini skirts, and now I wear capri pants and dresses.

p14769317regHowever, I’m pretty sure I’m going to order this lace top.  I could wear it now with my PANK wool pencil skirt and my grey ruffle skirt, my green ankle cords, my PANK jeans, my wine jeans and then all spring and back into the fall with my chambray skirt, my blue/green/white Lilly P skirt, white cropped jeans, my coral cropped jeans…

Okay.  I’m ordering that one.  Thanks for talking me into it!

p14889246v130aI also really want this boucle jacket.  Yeah, I know just a few posts ago I threw 3/4 length sleeves under the bus, but these two items are exceptions, because they’re otherwise perfect for me and my existing wardrobe. 

Looks mint, doesn’t it?  It’s actually lime, turquoise, cream/white, black/navy…  (I can’t tell on the last two).  It would work with my navy ponte dress, my three different chambray dresses, my turquoise and lime tees, white or cream tees… 

I didn’t make quite the same convincing argument for that one, but I might order it anyway.  What do you think?  I don’t have but a couple of not-winter-weight tailored jackets.

426142_A813_FF_75BI’m also craving the Land’s End dot cardi, but I can’t choose between the navy and the coral.  Navy, I can’t wear with my navy ponte knit dress, and the coral, I can’t wear with my coral crops.  I do have another coral cardi and an orange cardi, but I also have a navy “boyfriend” cardi…  I think I just talked myself into the navy.

I can wear it with my red dresses, my chambray dresses, my green dresses… virtually everything that isn’t navy or black, and I don’t have much black at all in my wardrobe.  I couldn’t wear the coral with my reds and I’ve also already purchased a pale pink denim jacket for spring…

Are you ready for spring?

 

 

 

Viva Vintage Vegas!

Happy Presidents Day.  To celebrate, Gretchen and I watched Killing Lincoln last night.  Sissy slept through it, but Gg loves sounds and didn’t want to miss a single horsey noise.  The Knight was at the firehouse, so he missed our little movie night.  It’s based on the biography of the same title, and Tom Hanks was the perfect narrator.  It’s also worth noting that the actor portraying Lincoln is from Charlottesville.  Kudos, Billy Campbell!  I especially liked the way he played Lincoln the father…

End of night photo with APFor once, albeit as I was going to retrieve my coat from the coat check, I remembered to get a photo.   The beauty on the left is a dear past president friend.  Her charming hubby snapped the photo for me.  It’s also the only photo I have of the two of us, despite a friendship spanning several years!

My dress was a long, sleeveless sheath.  If you look closely at my left shoulder (far right), you can see the neckline/arm hole.

My wrap was a happy coincidence.  I wore it on Valentine’s Day as a scarf, and realized it had some of the same copper color as my dress.  Given that we had snow flurries off and on all day and it was quite chilly for sleeveless dresses and dressy sandals, I was grateful to have a little something about my shoulders.  I always marvel at how in dressier settings, men – who in my experience tend to prefer cooler temperatures – are supposed to be decked out in heavy jackets, long-sleeved shirts and ties, while the women – many of whom, like me, are always cold unless it’s 80 degrees in full sun – are in strapless and sleeveless dresses, often with bare toes and/or legs.

Anyway, my heartfelt gratitude to those of you whom patiently suffered through my parade of what to wears, what to wear withs, etc.   I was comfortable and enough sweet friends greeted me with kind words about my appearance, so…  thank goodness I don’t have to obsess about what to wear again… this month.

Photo #1 of scarf thing

As a scarf

Anyway, you need to see this wrap.  It was a Christmas gift, and I’m sure it will be worn again and again.  This photo is from Valentine’s Day.   To wear it this way, I merely looped it around my neck and pulled the fringed ends through the hole.

Above, I put my head through the hole, centered the fringed ends down my back, and pulled it forward as far as I comfortably could.  It drifted back and I found myself all but choked several times, but a quick tug and readjustment restored order, even if I do hate an ensemble that requires “fiddling” to stay put.

Photo #2 ... See the hole and seam?  Can be worn a host of ways.This is what it looks like all spread out.  I haven’t removed the tag, because I wanted to share the information with you, but sadly, it’s in a language that is QUITE foreign to me.   I do know my benefactor got it for me at The Cameleer.

I’ve also experimented with wearing it with the fringed ends to one side, where it appears more like a stole.   I think there are novelty yarns that would yield a similar result, and I might have to give them a try…

#3... Colors!

Doubled onto itself left, single layer right

Here is a close-up of the colors.  They’re some of my favorites, so again, I see many wears in this scarf-wrap-thingee’s future.

It was a great evening, even if I didn’t win anything other than a few funny money chips at the gaming tables.  We had a good time with friends for a good cause, dear to my heart.

Are you honoring Presidents Day in some way, or is it just another federal holiday that isn’t a day off for you?

Diamonds and Pearls!

It’s not too late (if you’re local) to join us…

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The celebrating 80 years of community service is what I’m most excited about, but I reserve the right to change that if I win diamonds or pearls!  Raising funds to give back to the community is a good reason to party too. 

Any sparkle and shine in your weekend?

Happy PANK, pink and red day!

I hope it’s just my relic at work (both internet and computer) and you can see the girls’ valentine.   I know at least two of you have seen it, so that gives me hope…

Anyway, happy Valentine’s Day, Thorsday, thankful Thursday, little friday and everything else!  

December 2011 010On a day about sweethearts and love, of course I’m thankful for the Knight and the sweet fur-girls.  They really make my life complete, and joy-filled.  I’m also thankful for my friends and family, and for each of you.  I’ve met some truly inspiring, special people through blogging, and I’m so grateful for your friendship and wisdom.

You’ll forgive me for recycling last year’s Valentine’s Day photo, right? 

What are you thankful for today?