Outfit Post: Olive and Orange

Lately, I feel like my life is in holding pattern: waiting to pack, waiting to move, waiting to get on with things. Which means, I’m bored. Insanely bored. And a bored Dawn is not a good thing.

Usually, I channel my boredom into writing or knitting, but that would require me to be home. And being home reminds me of not-so-great things. So instead, I’ve been working on decorating my new house. Which would be fine except I have no room measurements, questionable pictures, and a spotty memory of what it all looked like. Still, Bug and I have been dragging our kids around to furniture and design stores, and doing our best to help the economy. Normally, I’d wait until we were in Virginia to do all this, but most of the furniture has an eight-to-ten week turn around and I don’t want to live in a furniture-less home for two months. Plus, most of the stores had sales over the weekend and I like a good bargain.

What does that have to do with my outfit? Well, I’ve been obsessing about colors. I love pattern and texture and pops of color, and keeping that in mind, I decided to pair orange (one of my favorite colors) with olive (a nice, solid neutral). I also love these tights – they’re fun and give a bit of textural interest to the outfit.

Street style…maybe…

The Outfit:

Dress: Orange sweatshirt dress by O (random Dutch designer)

Jacket: Really old Ann Taylor loft jacket. This is one of the few pieces I didn’t give away even though it’s six sizes too big. I’m praying it can be taken in that much.

Tights: Wolford Mikado tights in myrtle

Boots: Repetto Rampage in suede khaki (which is really olive green)

Bag: Older Orla Kiely

Necklace: Covet San Francisco (I wore this last week doubled)

Sunglass: Prada (The Colonel refers to this as my “Bee” sunglasses.)

Cuff: Dawali multi strand cuff in burnt gold.

The Schedule:

5:30am – Wake up with full-on panic attack. After much back and forth with Bug, I agree to take my meds and, thankfully, fall back to sleep.

10:30am – Wake up again. Bug took my early morning dentist appointment, so I could sleep, and had already feed the kids and started them on school.

11am – Watch the boys’ performance of Gangnam style and shower.

12pm – Bug made lunch for all of us.

1pm – Head downtown to make a few returns. Ended up shopping O.o

6pm – Head home and make dinner (homemade pot pies. I’m trying to use up all our food before the movers come).

8pm – Boys to bed

9-12am – Hang out with Bug and do a little work.

And if you haven’t already been exposed to the amazingness of Gangnam Style, here you go. You’re welcome.

Outfit Post: Toeing the Line

 

Now that I’m back in San Francisco (temporarily), life has resumed its normal rhythm: kid activities, sports, running, and work.

Exciting, I know, but that’s what life is: lots of mundane, tiny things that make up a great, big, exciting whole.

After a few days of eighty-degree temperatures, the fog has returned to San Francisco, which means I get to wear tights again. I actually built today’s outfit around the tights. Patterns can be tough to pull off – they can either go a little too streetwalker or not entirely daytime appropriate. Or worse, too little girl. But I think, by pairing these Wolford gray pinstripe stockings with a solid, classic-cut dress, I struck the right balance.

 

 

The Outfit:

Dress: Navy, keyhole sheath from Banana Republic petites (bought in Paris, doesn’t seem like the US carries it?)

Shoes: Club Nikko

Tights: Wolford

Jacket: Banana Republic

Ring: antique sapphire and diamond

The Schedule:

8:00am – 4 mile run

9:30 – 11am – homeschool

12 – 1pm – lunch

1-2pm – work

2-3pm – go out for a walk

4pm – prep for Nightingale chat

5pm – 6pm  – Nightingale chat

7pm – dinner

8pm – 11pm – work

 

Outfit Post: San Francisco – Feeling Foggy

Ahhh…the fog. Anyone who waxes romantic about it hasn’t lived in it 365 days a year. Most people don’t realize San Francisco is a foggy, chilly, damp place that quite possibly was torn from somewhere in Ireland and plopped down on the west coast of the US. This would also explain the abundance of Irish accents floating around the City. And the Irish football teams in Golden Gate Park.

After being gone for several months, it’s hard waking up everyday to a constant gray, dampness. Doesn’t exactly lead to lifted spirits.

And yet, there is a certain beauty to it.

Giving the fog my best, “Don’t you dare” glare. It didn’t work.

One thing that is nice about being back in San Francisco is I can wear “winter” clothes again. As much as I loved being able to wear sundresses  – during the summer, for the first time ever in twelve years – I missed my cool weather clothes. I’m a sucker for tweed, cord, tights, scarves, jackets, and cashmere.

And I’m not the only one. While in Paris, Bug picked up this orange, wool coat. It’s loud and bright, and you cannot miss him in it. I think it looks fabulous.

He’s flashy.

Early this morning, we took a walk through the Presidio, sans kids, and on our way home we passed a little jewelry store. Being only 8am, it was closed, but we window shopped for a bit before heading home, where Bug made a huge breakfast of eggs and potatoes – just like he used to before I left for Paris.

A little later, while I home schooled our oldest boys, he and the Colonel went out on a few errand and returned with two new necklaces for me. One I had eyed in the window and the other was something he picked out himself. I think he did a great job.

This necklace can be worn long, doubled, or draped. It’s the one Bug picked out for me.

The Schedule:

5am – Wake up

7am – Go for walk

9am – Start home school for the day.

10-11am – Housework will the boys work on math.

12am – Run down to Half Moon Bay for chicken feed

1:30pm – Shop for dress shoes and slacks for Pudge who starts social dancing tonight.

3:30pm – Lunch

4:00pm – FIND OUT WE GOT THE HOUSE IN VIRGINIA!!!

6:30pm – Pudge leaves for dance class, the rest of us play poker

7pm – Little ones to bed

8:30pm – Pick up Pudge and his friends

11:00pm – Attempt to go to bed (Jet lag is killing me!)

The Outfit:

Dress: Chambray shirt-dress from Sun Hee Moon.

Tights: Wolford Lara Tights in cordial.

Bag: Tweed Burberry that was a Christmas present several years ago

Shoes: Navy Nine West Loafers

Sunglass: Prada

Necklace: Covet, San Francisco