I promised pictures...

Here we see the fact that I am losing control of my hair.



I need a haircut, but I can't justify a $40 trip to see Jonas with my Vow of Frugality. That suit BTW is my Easter outfit from three years ago, sans hat, a pale blue vintage Mr. John straw turban.

Here we see yesterday's church hat and the pink that will not stop.



And here we see the last hat that I bought before my Vow of Frugality.



This is the one that I bought from the milliner on Etsy, who was so nice, even after I complained about her textspeak.

Why do I look like someone just poked me in the side in that picture?

Sunday

I looked like a breath of fresh spring air at church this morning. I know this, because someone came up to me and said, "You look like a breath of fresh spring air". Why, you ask? Undoubtedly, it was because I was wearing pink and white. Now, if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I loathe pink. But several years ago, I bought an inexpensive lot of vintage hats that included an amazing pink/black/white striped Christian Dior toque. A gorgeous hat. However, I have had nothing to wear with it, because I avoid pink like the plague (except for the occasional shoe or purse). Last year, I bought a bright pink, almost a hot pink, linen sheath trimmed with an organza ruffle and a matching ruffled-trimmed jacket embroidered with a pale pink rose. When I say this thing is pink, I mean it is really, really pink. Nauseatingly so. And worse than that, it doesn't really go with the hat. :-(

So today, I wore a sheer white organza lampshade hat (a past Easter hat) and low-heeled white slingbacks and carried a white leather purse to cut some of the pinkness. Dogwood colors, as it were.

And the Gay Boyz loved it. :-)

I'll try to post a picture of the hat later. I'm at the office right now, writing an opening statement for my hearing tomorrow.

Frugality Pledge

Natalie McNeal of the Frugalista Files was on Talk of the Nation this afternoon, and I am inspired. I'm going to take a frugality pledge of my very own. Granted, I'm just going to pledge for the time between now and when I leave for Scotland to see how it goes. I'm not going to be quite as draconian as Natalie (I have to have my dry cleaning), but I'm going to try several of her ideas and see how much money I save.

Here's the plan:

1. No shopping. None. Zero, zip, nada, niente. No Ebay, no Etsy, no sales, no vintage, no nothing. This part should be easy, because I have everything a single woman could possibly want.

2. No buying new books. This means that I will have to renew my library card, so that I can still participate in my book groups.

3. No eating out. This means that I will have to cook more often and brown-bag it to work. I may have to make some exceptions when I'm on the road, but the one thing I can do is avoid fast food. It's expensive, it's bad for me, and I tend to use my own money to buy it when I'm travelling. If I stop and eat at a sit-down restaurant when I'm on the road, I use my company credit card.

4. No entertainments that cost money. No concerts, no movie theaters, no plays, no ballgames, no new DVDs, no new CDs. Of course, the library has DVDs...

5. No air conditioning until June. This may be tough, but I'm almost never at my house during the hours of the day when the house is the hottest, so I should be able to manage.

New Purse

I bought this purse yesterday on Etsy. It's handmade by an Etsy artist and made of upcycled and recycled leather, suede, and vinyl. Isn't it fabulous?



And that will be my last Etsy purchase for a while. :-\

Happy Earth Day!

Picture of me in my aqua finery on Sunday:



This hat, which I bought at the Van Heusen outlet a couple of years ago, is actually comprised of tiny stripes in aqua, green, silver. It's really pretty in the sunshine. I carried this purse with my ensemble:



Picture of me from yesterday wearing a vintage cellophane straw pillbox hat:



You can tell I need a haircut. :-\

I'm back!

I was in Oak Ridge for four days last week for a hearing, but I'm back in Nash-Vegas and happy to be home. There will be more hat pictures soon, as I have started breaking out the spring/summer hat wardrobe. :-)

Are you in, or are you out?

Flip flogs are apparently on the way out. Thank heaven. I loathe the damn things. They don't look good on anyone's feet, and they just scream, "I am too lazy to dress myself properly!" :-p

I like the classics.

Classical music, classic literature (within limits), classic cuisine...

...and spectator pumps. I've wanted a pair for ages, but most of what passes for spectator pumps anymore are either outrageously overpriced designer variations or streetwalker chic (how did that happen?). Anyway, after much looking, I finally bought this pair of late 80's era pumps on Etsy for next to nothing:



When they arrived, I noticed that they have never. been. worn. Ever. No scuffs on the outside, no wear on the soles, no wear anywhere. Pristine. How fabulous is that?

We had a brunch at work today to honor the editor of our publications, who is leaving to take a job in San Diego, and my ensemble got many snaps from the brunch crowd. No hat, but I'm wearing one of my j.t.b tunic tops (made in the USA) in black with a Pucci-esque floral design in pink, coral, yellow, white, and pale green, my black French flood pants with the buttons on the seams (they really were made in France; I got 'em at Janice Ann's), and an absolutely adorable pair of casual black Hush Puppy platform slides embroidered with pink, white, orange, and pale green flowers.

Hey, it's casual Friday. Somewhere.

Anyway, the fact that these shoes seem made to match this top is just a very happy accident. Even Jeanette, who has a very 60's mod meets Boho hippie chic personal style, liked my ensemble. :-)

More Boring Shoes

I bought these on Ebay today:





I love these shoes, but they're Coach, and I'll be damned before I pay Coach prices for shoes made in China.

Costume Jewelry

Nejyerf expressed some curiosity about my jewelry box (it's actually an upright chest), so here are a few photos (not very good quality, unfortunately) of some of my collection of brooches:

Thermoset Brooches


Enameled Flower Brooches (three of these were my mother's)


Enzell Sterling and Gold-filled Brooches


Van Dell Sterling Brooches

I stopped at the dry cleaners this week, because I stop at the dry cleaners every week. I probably spend $250-$300 a month on dry cleaning, so my dry cleaners, Judy and Patty, love me. :-) Anyway, not everyone is as conscientious a customer as I am, and sometimes they just leave their clothes at the dry cleaners, unclaimed. After about a year, Judy and Patty hang these abandoned clothes out front for other customers to buy.

And so I did. I bought a gorgeous off-white cotton damask three-piece suit, a black evening suit with bugle bead trim on the jacket, a plain black skirt (you just can't have too many), a white lace-trimmed cotton top, and a cream cotton top. All for 24 bucks.

And so, this morning, I wore my new off-white suit to church. It has a knee-length straight skirt, a boxy jacket with 3/4 sleeves, and a simple collar. I accessorized it with a black knit shell, cream slingbacks, vintage oversized black/silvertone pendant, vintage moonglow black lucite bangle, vintage Mr. John black/white hat, and vintage black vinyl clasp bag with faux lace-up details. It made a pretty striking ensemble.

I'll try to take a couple of pics.

Boring shoes make me sad.

But boring shoes don't aggravate my knee, so boring shoes, it is.

I bought these shoes today:


BTW this is the pic from the Ebay listing. I can assure you that I would never have
(1) a pillow covered in that hideous quilted tan fabric, or
(2) a couch covered in that hideous floral fabric.

I also bought these shoes:


ETA: I decided not to keep the pink shoes. I just don't like pink very much.

Hatless in Nashville

I'm not wearing a hat today. My hair was absolutely perfect when I put on the pomade this morning, so I decided to forego a chapeau.

And then the rains came. :-\

More Hats From My Collection

The theme today is blue. Hey, I like blue. I'm preparing to reconfigure the hat room and move the winter hats to the back, so I'm featuring a few of my blue (in whole or part) winter hats, before they are pushed into obscurity. Enjoy.


I adore this hat and the way the feather is used as if it were ribbon.


This hat is Adolpho.


I can't remember who made this hat.


This hat doesn't have a tag anymore. I am wearing it today with a black double-breasted short jacket, black/white striped trousers, black velour mules, red/silvertone thermoset brooch, and a red leather tote bag. Looking pretty sharp, if I do say so, myself. :-)


This hat is Michael Chang.

And yes, I bought all of these hats on Ebay. :-\

I am absolutely strapped for cash...

...so I have decided to sell my hat collection, in toto. :-\