It doesn’t sock to be me

One pair looks like the one on the right, the other the left.

What, another sock post? Yes, because I bought these two pairs at REI today. I even paid full price for them and I didn’t even mind. Why, you ask?

HAHAHA

BECAUSE I GOT A PAIR OF KEEN BOOTS FOR HALF OFF. Hahahahahahahaha. Ha!

You know what, it's size 7 but I'm not complaining. It fits just fine.

OMG check it out. they have them in different colors!!!

purty!!

gaw!

Soxy

If these stayed up they would be cooler.

A reader asked how my socks were doing. Thanks, reader.

My over the knee striped socks from Target are doing well, but I did notice that one of them started to pill right away. I’ve been wearing the 3 pairs in pretty heavy rotation, at least once a week (and lots of laundry). I find that it stays up pretty well when I’m wearing my boots but if I’m just using it as a leg warmer and wearing them with regular shoes they tend to sag down. I’ll stick to wearing them with my boots.

I bought another pair of socks at Target last week, this time thigh highs. This sags more than the over the knee because it has longer to sag. I’m not crazy about the lump it creates in my pants. I love the colors though. I’ll stick to their over the knee socks even though it’s not perfect because it does get the job done. Why did I buy these again? At least they are cute.

Keep the questions coming, everyone!

Caveat Emptor: SRSLY

Dude wow, totally cute colors.

Some of you may be wondering, “Say, what ever happened to that whole eBay thing with Aki?” Well, wonder no more. I thought long and hard about whether to and how much I should disclose about this whole process, how much I should gloss over or downplay. On the one hand it’s sort of really embarrassing to lay it out as it is but on the other, it might actually help some of you. Or at the very least it will make for some good entertainment. So here it is. And yes, you’re welcome.

So one night I just decided to jump right into the whole eBay thing that I’d been “neuharthing (avoiding doing something that is hyped up even though you think/know you might actually enjoy it)” for a long time. I’ve been thrifting and bragging about it a lot lately so everyone started telling me I should just start eBaying instead. Finally, I gave in and logged on (yes, I already had an account so I’m not really completely new to this, just not a regular at it). I didn’t know where to start so I entered “Ella Moss,” a brand I know and love and have owned in the past. If you’ve been paying attention you know I’m a sucker for stripes. Immediately a cute purple striped shirt popped up and there were only a few minutes left on the auction and no one had bid on it. Well what the heck, right? I put in an amount and waited a few minutes. Then pow! I got an email saying I won the item. Wee. Easy breezy. Fun times. Good times. Dude. Wahoo. Somewhere in the back of my mind though, I was reminding myself that I had a “no V-neck” rule. But whatevs, it’s only $10.

Cute. Hello!

I was feeling kind of high so a couple days later I went surfing again and found this cute little dress/tunic thing by Ella Moss. That is super duper cute. One other person had bid on it but it was still pretty low. And it was about to end in a few hours. I putzed around the house doing chores and lazying about thinking about it and checking up if anyone else had bid on it. Finally when the time came I found myself being drawn back to my computer and plonking in an amount. A few moments later I got an email again: You won! Weee. I am unstoppable. This is too easy muwahahaha. Lalalala (Again, in the back of my mind I am thinking hmm that is a V-neck Aki. Also, am pretty sure I’m NOT a size small).

Sometime after I bid for my third item, my first two prizes came in. Now that it was REAL real, I was feeling kind of scared and anxious about it because what if it turned out really stupid? So believe it or not I didn’t open the packages for a day or so. And even when I finally opened them I did it in secret and put it on the dresser to rest for another couple of days. Finally, when I was feeling brave enough I tried them on, alone.

Even though this is a size S, it still fit me. There was nothing wrong with the fit.

This first shirt was actually the right size. And the V-neck part turned out surprisingly to not be a problem. Even the empire waist and the ties on the sides which I thought might be stupid didn’t bother me so much. But what did bum me out were the sleeves. They were slit up top so that it flared out at the shoulders. I don’t like ANY fussiness with short sleeves. I like my shoulders and upper arm sufficiently covered, it’s just a thing. I’m not asking whether you think I look ok or not, I just don’t feel comfortable in it. So I feel like it was a miss. So then I tried on the next item.

Actually cute, no?

Um.. I was thinking it was more of a tunic shirt type top but it ended up being more like a dress. I paired it with black leggings and boots here because a pair of jeans made the shirt bumpy and bulky. This was also a size S and I’m pretty sure that it would have looked and felt much better as a M. I am undecided on this. I love it. But would I really ever wear this? I know myself. I am thinking probably not.

So I’m beginning to think that eBay is really dangerous and a big gamble and that you’re paying basically only for the privilege of trying on the clothes. If you don’t like it, too bad (as most sellers do not take items back and you really are bidding at your own risk). And in their defense, there’s nothing wrong with either of these pieces. In fact both were in great condition and I couldn’t even tell that they had been previously worn.

James Jeans in size 27. It really looks good on this person, doesn't it.

I’m pretty sure my legs aren’t this long and the description even said the inseam was 32 (I think my inseam is something like 16 inches). I was a bit nervous about this third item but I do own a pair of James Jeans in a size 27 so I was feeling pretty confident about it. Then it arrived. It fits. There is nothing visibly wrong with it.

But it turned out that the fly wasn’t button but rather one of those metal hooks. And the pockets weren’t normal and they are the kind that flaps out when you bend or sit down. It’s not totally terrible. But I wasn’t looking for “not totally terrible.” So… again, even though there is nothing really wrong with this one I feel like it failed the “Would I really wear this?” test.

Most people would be learning at this point, right? You would have probably stopped here. But no, not me. Maybe the first 3 items not being perfect was just a fluke! So Miss Denial spent a couple of more hours surfing and looking and poking around. Then… voila!

Super cute colors and design.

Ella Moss again, but this time in a size L so it’s got to be comfortable. Also, long enough to wear with black leggings and boots again. And I love love looooove the collar. I love cowl neck. It looks totally cute and adorable right? I pounce on this. I’m ok to spend a little more this time. It was worth the rush I felt when I received the win confirmation email. And this time, in the back of my mind I was thinking “Hmm, wonder what the heck a ‘kimono sleeve’ is… oh well, whatevs!”

You want to know what a kimono sleeve is? I thought it was just flared droopy sleeves. No. It’s like an actual kimono sleeve. Like you can store stuff in them. FOR REALS.

Who needs a purse when you can store your wallet and iphone in your sleeves!

Arghh crappola! I love everything else about this shirt. Well, except for the fact that there is a slit in the shoulders again so there’s the bared shoulders thing I hate. Oh but I love the stripes and the colors. And the collar! DAMNIT. So as a consolation I did wear this out once, but with a black cardigan over it so only the really cool parts were showing.

Sigh. I’m too exhausted now to continue at this point. No, I’m talking about this blog entry, not eBay. Even though I had some failures I think I will try again. But next time I will probably ask a lot more questions and be much more careful. None of this was eBay’s fault. I just need to be thinking more next time. I’d list out all the lessons I learned during this process but I’m too tired tonight. What do you think the lessons were? And have you had failures? I only hear good things about people’s experiences. C’mon. I can’t be the only one accidentally buying weird shit. Fess up!

What the Hair!?

10 points off of Gryffindor!!

Hello readers. Are there days that you look in the mirror in the morning and find yourself muttering curses under your breath at a certain boy wizard?

Most days, my hair looks fine. I sleep on it and I wake up with fashionably flippy curls on the end and look kind of sassy. Effortless casual. Bedhead. Don’t even have to brush it. There are days though, that I’m really channeling Snape. Heavy, greasy and weirdly peanut shaped. I think we all have that. Bad hair days and good hair days, just in varying degrees.

This is what I wake up with on most days.

HOWEVER. My friend J and I have been discussing another kind of bad hair phenomenon for a couple of years now and I thought I would reach out and ask our readers if we are going crazy or if there really is something going on. For a long time my hair was shiny, smooth, clean and fresh, all the time. About two years ago I started noticing that it’s often tangly and mangly and not very smooth. I wondered if it was just aging and the effect it has on one’s hair because I’ve heard of that. I also wondered if it was due to pregnancy hormones because I got pregnant in 2007. Then I talked to my friend J and she told me she has been experiencing something similar. Sometimes, I visit my parents in Oregon and come back with great hair. Once I traveled to Phoenix and experienced awesome hair there as well. I considered that it was the shampoo I was using. I’ve switched to what my parents were using, gone salon, drugstore, high end, low end. It doesn’t matter. Locally, my hair is blah. We started wondering if it had something to do with the water supply. Are they messing with our hair water? Are we just paranoid? Does anyone else have this experience? I haven’t had very nice hair in Seattle for about two years now. Seriously, am i CRAZY?

Too Much

Wednesday Survey: 1) What do you own that you have  too many of? 2) How much is too much?

 

My latest acquisition sits on top. My first Sevens.

Me, I have 10 pairs of jeans. Designer jeans. No one needs that many. I feel like 5 is enough, maybe even too many by some people’s standards. No one wears their jeans only once but if they did, 5 would give you enough for the week and then laundry. I actually (TMI?) wear one pair for the week so I really only need 1 or 2. Whatever. I have 10, ok?

 

1 Pant, 3 Ways

 

Free and cheap stuff!

One day in August, I stopped by the consignment store on Phinney called Labels (recommended by several friends) and found the perfect size 28 Citizens jeans for $48. Before you get all worked up about the price, please keep in mind that they usually go for thrice the amount. It was in good condition, and sold “as is” due to the fact that the pants were shortened but still keeping the original hem. I don’t care. I have to hem off another 2 inches anyway. Please note in the picture that the hems were somewhat worn but that was on purpose. It came like that, it’s the style. It wasn’t worn down by the wearer. Don’t ask, man. I found out a few years ago myself that there was a term called “original hem” when getting your pants hemmed. Please also note that my son has the profile of Alfred Hitchcock. It’s adorable.

I took it home, washed it a few thousand times, then hemmed it to a length where I can wear them with my Danskos, as I have several. What I didn’t realize at the time was that my left leg is slightly shorter than my right. I gradually found this out as I observed the wearing patterns of the cuffs of my pants. After only 2 months my beautiful wonderful pants started to look ratty and frayed.

 

Gross, right? Ugh, I was so mad. Everything else was perfect.

I was heartbroken for a few days but brainstormed and decided that I could make these my “boot pants” as my new Merrell boots are flat and a couple inches lower than my Danskos. So voila! I hemmed it up another couple inches and tucked the worn edges in and now I have a brand new boot jean!

 

The pants will live again.

Don’t worry. Once those hems get grodied out I won’t wear them as cut-offs. I don’t like hems riding up on my heels but I don’t like dragging them either. It really is a fine science. I’m still working out the kinks. I love having a sewing machine, it’s your friend.

 

 

 

 

My Own Private Oregon

I really love the one on the right. I wish the left one didn't end with pink/white but I like it enough.

Hi everyone, I’m back. As Robin mentioned, we have all been busy. Last weekend, I drove down to Oregon to visit my parents thinking that I would be there for only a couple of nights. As it turned out my dad needed a triple bypass instead of the originally scheduled angioplasty so I ended up staying for a whole week to keep my mom company and lend moral support.

My big dilemma: I had only brought 3 Tshirts!! What to do (Yes, I know open-heart surgery is serious business and we were all very worried and everything turned out just fine and everyone is feeling better but I’m trying to make this about fashion, work with me here)? I thought that it would be a perfect opportunity for me to dash out to the Old Navy and purchase a few “fire clothes” to tide me over. See? That’s how you do fire clothes. Sadly however, during my week long stay even though I went to Old Navy 3 times all I found was a cute little Beatles shirt on sale for the little one. There were a few shirts I may have bought had I only brought one T-shirt. But since my mom does laundry I didn’t feel the pressing need. Bummer, I wanted to see what I would buy. The shirts I considered buying were $8 each and were long sleeved scoopneck Ts in various colors. I think the tipping point for me would have been if they were 3/4 length. Most long sleeve Ts are too long for me and go flapping around and I don’t like to fold my sleeves. You lost a sale, Old Navy.

 

We have the exact same one in white I purchased at the Gap but in a smaller size.

I did however purchase 3 pairs of over the knee socks at Target, all Xhilaration brand. It also just happened that my sister bought my niece 2 pairs of striped knee socks on the same day. So it was all about striped socks this weekend. It’s ok though because I was looking for socks to wear with my new boots, remember? Besides, I have to regroup and strategize about my next clothing purchases (I’ll talk about this in another post later) so I don’t want to do any impulse clo buying at this point. Even if it’s tax-free.

 

I went with over the knee because I was afraid plain knee highs would ride down as I walked. I'll let you know how it goes.

This person is all about stripes. And she usually wears pants, i think.

P.S. I’ve always hated the word “hosiery.”

Hard to hold a candle . . .

Brown knit Maggie London dress, orange textured tights, brown shoes, gold chain necklace

. . . .in the cold November rain

~Axl Rose

pjd writes:

Hey, Robin. We need some winter posts. Casual cute weekend coats to wear in winter, for one thing. Shoes. Are you still wearing all those high heels or have you switched to boots and tights for winter? Boots. If one doesn’t like all those buckles and things on their boots, what are the options? What about colors for your wardrobe? Have you changed in the winter? Summer’s formula was a pretty top and a nice pair of shoes with dress pants. What is winter’s formula? Thank you.

Thanks for asking, pjd!  I agree with Axl Rose, who I know you hate, but it is so true: It’s hard to hold a candle in the cold November Rain.  This means it is freezing and wet out there, so who really wants to wear anything but their jammies? Much less care about whether we look GOOD?

Well, I care.  I’m on “max conserve” these days, which means spending no money.  So I need to get creative with winterizing the wardrobe I already have.   Lots of mixed dark neutrals, vivid color where I can fit them in.  Not so many light colors, although I like the look of “blush” or nude/pink with charcoal gray.  I’ll start with shoes today:

Long skirt, boots, jacket

Long skirts with boots.  I’m wearing some of the same long dresses I wore in summer, now with knee-high boots.  Underneath, comfy warm tights or even black silk long underwear.  I think I’m going to experiment with silk long underwear tops under short-sleeved dresses. Has anyone done this successfully?

Cute tights.  I’m wearing my knee-length skirts with cute tights and boots (in the rain) or other heels (if it’s dry).  I used to boycott all nylons and tights (what Malcolm calls “Tatching Socks,” because they attach at the top), I hated them so much I never wore skirts in the winter.  Finally one day, I had to find something to wear for a funeral right after I had a baby, and a black skirt was my only somber/postpartum option.  And maternity tights were pretty comfortable!  So hey, maybe I just need tights that FIT BETTER.   Good quality tights are stretchy and come in all sizes.  They should not give you a stomachache.  Or an anywhere-elseache.  They should be snug but not dig in. They should be nice and warm.

Don’t restrict yourself to “black goes with black, brown goes with brown” rules for tights.  There are lots of ways to color-coordinate your tights: Monochrome, color-contrast, or texture.  Mix dark neutrals! Brown tights with a black skirt can work if you also do brown/black mixed on top.  I like to wear dramatic tights for work, but I don’t like to show off a lot of leg when I do that. 

Sofft glossy croc-print, $108

Slacks and sturdy heels.

I park my car a five minute walk in the rain from the front door of my office.  I’ve got a few pairs of sturdy, walkable heels that aren’t too delicate.  Resilient patent leather or vinyl, nothing strappy or suede, solid heels.  Sofft and Circa Joan & David are both good for this. I wear thick taupe or black knee-high nylons, a bit thinner than a full trouser sock.

Open-toe tortoiseshell pump over black socks. I think it is a confident "I love my shoes" look. I also like how it echos the print-over-black of the top. These are Semantiks tweed trousers and an Eddie Bauer jean jacket.

Open-toed shoes with socks.  Yes, I went there.  I love my Cole Haan Air Carmas too much to put them away until spring.  I will admit it looks goofy at first, but it is a Style with its own class and tradition; you can see it in old 1940’s photos of open-toed shoes with seamed stockings.   They key is to look like you’re doing it on purpose: “Yep, see my socks?” not “eek, don’t look at my socks.” No nude hose, and contrast is good. 

Boots and Pants. I haven’t mastered this yet.  I probably need mid-heel ankle boots. I just can’t get over them though, they look so lame in the store, all stumpy like that.  I don’t like the way tall boots bump against the pant leg.  I fear pants with boots will make me look like a bad real estate agent.  But I need to work on this, because the top of my socks are starting to get wet. 

Also, I really don’t like tucked boots into pants (Meg asked about this).  If you’ve got any kind of hips, the bottom of the pant leg needs to somewhat balance out the top to avoid an “ice cream cone” effect.   Like skinny jeans, this look works best on very young or very narrow women. Which is good, because it’s the skinny jeans that tuck in, anyway. So how about “if you already rock skinny jeans, go ahead and tuck them into the boots” for a rule?

As far as boot embellishment.  Try stuff on and post examples, and see what works.  Post ideas if you can and we’ll talk about it.  Some buckles look silly until you walk around in them and get used to the idea.  I used to hate ALL embellishment on shoes, but “plain” isn’t necessary better.  But there are lots of great “plain” options — both boots in my pictures (Brown Cole Haan and Black Aerosole) just have hidden zippers.

Circa Joan & David, wine patent buckle pump, $48 at 6pm.com

Sweater dress, print tights, black boots

Wednesday Survey: Alive and Well

Tahari suit skirt, 2005; Aerosole Boots, 2008; Classiques Entier print top, 2008; hammered-metal necklace, 2009; Cardigan, 2009

Good morning, no we have not dropped off the face of the planet, we are just busy with life’s important matters.  I’m grounded from shopping.  In the sense of “grounding my Glorious 747 of Fabulousness” not “grounding my child by making him stay home while the rest of us go see Ghostbusters.”  I just really don’t need any new clothes as much as I need new brakes on my car.  But even though life is crazy (CRA.ZY.) we are still dressed well and feel great about the way we look.  Believe me. 

Even with little time and no money, I wonder how we can like our style.  Instead of thinking “I can’t afford that right now,” what do we learn from wanting it?

Wednesday Survey:

• What fabulous wardrobe purchase would you buy right now if you only had the money and the perfect place to wear it?

• How would you describe it in three words?

Post links and I will import them into the post and we can see what everyone is thinking about these days.

Burberry All-weather poplin coat, double-breasted with epaulet shoulders and belted cuffs, $975.

Everyone thinks of changing the world . . .

1. Blue striped cardigan with faux buttons, wool

. . . . but no one thinks of changing himself.”

~ Leo Tolstoy

So we went Macy’s to “Shop for a Cause” with our AHOPE coupons.  AHOPE is an organization that supports African HIV+ Orphans and international adoption.  I like to daydream about adoption (My dayream goes like this: I want another child! Hmm first I need to be a foster parent.  Wait that would take a lot of work.  I don’t even have time to feed the cat. Maybe I don’t need another child?) 

It’s a personal thing.  Kids are good and adoption is great, so no one should rule it out completely.  In the meantime, we can change the world in little ways.  Shop for a Cause is a promo/fundraiser for charities all over the U.S.  The charity sells coupons for $5, you get 25% off. Macy’s gets more customers, you get a good deal on anything priced over $20.  Why Get Dressed met at Southcenter, where we got to see other charities participating by selling their coupons in person at Macy’s.  This included a Seeing Eye Dog group. And WOW if there is anything cuter than Seeing Eye Puppies, don’t tell me!  I will definitely adopt it.

2. Long cotton plaid shirt with shirred back elastic

Our contingent consistent of dmama, our special guest, and myself.  I’ll admit we had to push ourselves a bit to get out of the toddler department (two daughters and two sons between us).  Southcenter Macy’s has a premium denim department with accompanying premiumdenim-worthy designer tops, so that’s where we started.

We have three contrasting body types, self-identified as Apple, Citron and Pear(Tall).  Wouldn’t it be fun to all try on the same thing and see what we could learn?   Even if it’s buugly and way out of our comfort zones? So we did! My observations:

1. Striped Cardigan. Stripes are WAY out of my comfort zone, for reasons I can trace to childhood.  I was the “flowered” one and my sister was the “sailor striped” one. So, no stripes for me. Aki on the other hand loves them.  This sweater was a bit itchy and she didn’t like the shoulders on her so much.  I wasn’t crazy about the nautical stripe/ military collar, but the structured shoulders work on me. The trick with this sweater is it doesn’t REALLY button. It just hangs like that. It hangs well on me, so I bought it. But I will confess I later returned it because 1. I hadn’t worn it for weeks and 2. It cost more than I thought it would — only one of my discounts applied so I paid $68 instead of the $38 I had hoped for. Cute though.

2. Plaid shirt. These colors were bad.  If we’re going to do plaid, shouldn’t we do an all out Tartan palette?   Go for high-contrast, go for forest green and navy blue. This was like Clan Miami Vice with the pastel 80’s thing. It was also that thin, thin cotton that you just know is going to wrinkle like crazy and shrink when you put it in the dryer, which you’re surely not supposed to, but who wants to be more fussy with a cotton plaid shirt?  It also is really long. I used to always want my shirts really long to cover me up.  Now I realize it truncates my leg line and makes me look top heavy with a big butt.  The length and shoulders were good on the Very Tall person.  The butt coverage worked on the small-hipped Apple person.  The structured shoulders and collar worked on Citron (stabilizes weak shoulders and draws attention away from bust/tummy). Other than that: fail.

3. Ruffly Purple Mess.  I grabbed this pretending it was a joke.  Really I loved that color — that gorgeous true purple that isn’t marred by any 90’s-looking burgundy tones.  I loved the floral. I loved the ruffles.  Can I please have a dance recital now? No, I cannot.  This is too short for a dress and too long for a top, so apparently we’re supposed to wear it with leggings.  The empire waistline CAN WORK, because it emphasizes the ribcage which is my smallest measurement.  But then the ruffles made me look pregnant all over. Like even my butt looked pregnant.  Also, I hate to buy things that don’t fit in my life (practice law, schlep kids to Target, pull weeds in the rain). But then sometimes I really want something silk and ruffly.  I think I just need to expand my life to find better places to wear them. Not this particular top, though.

4. Indigo lace top with ruffly cap sleeves. You can really see the different shoulder effects with this one. Cap sleeves are tricky — they can make small shoulders look slouchy and broad shoulders look flippy.  This is sheer lace (I’m wearing it over a brown camisole) so a person would need something under it.  It has an exposed zipper, which some of us like more than others.  It has a weird sleeves-attached-to-neckline thingy, I wouldn’t rule it out but it is almost a halter top which means it’s hard to find the right bra.  I don’t hate it, it’s just not quite right.  And if you DID love this, what would you wear it with? Skirt and boots? Gray pants? I really don’t like blue tops with jeans.

3. Blue lace zipped top; 4. Purple ruffled tunic with empire waist

4, 3, 4.

We also shopped coats, which I summarized previously, without having much luck.  We proceeded to hit a series of children’s stores (Macy’s childrens department was a bit of a disappointment) to stock up on cute things for our cute kids, and then we burnt out.  Overall, a good day! I ended up making an AHOPE donation on behalf of all of you who wished you could come but didn’t make it.

Oh and someone got a bra fitting . . . ALWAYS worth it!  A new bra might be the surest way to focus on taking care of your own self, starting where you are right now (instead of waiting to lose weight, wean your baby, get a new job, or whatever might be holding you back).  It might sound like a grande rationalization for spending money — which I will be talking about more this week — but it’s easier change the world if you truly feel good about yourself.  And looking good is part of this.  And good clothes are part of that.

Probably not the purple ruffly thing, though.