All things EARTH...

[MJC]

I may have mentioned the dinner dress code for our next cruise is country club casual. I'm thinking that this dress might be nice for dinner one night, but I can't decide which color. I'm leaning toward the coral, but then again I have so little green in my wardrobe right now and it would look awesome with my acid green alligator sandals:

 

http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product/product.aspx?item=W6014B&rPFID=207&sk=O&h=M

 

It's cotton, but in the photo it has a nice linen-like look. But I'm a bit concerned that it's that super thin cotton. Hmm.

Edited January 2, 2016 by MJC

[laurspag]

Margaret, that is a cute dress. It definitely seems in line with country club casual. I think that you could wear either color. I am picturing you in the green one more so than the coral, but it's not because there is anything wrong with the coral, but I think you will really, really shine in the green. Plus you have those sandals. Why not get some extra mileage from them? The fabric on that dress doesn't look thin from the pictures. Sometimes, you can see the outline of a woman's leg underneath, but you can't at all that with this dress that I could see.

 

Sally, one of my biggest pet peeves is when a knit shirt stretches out of shape. Believe it or not, one of the best lines I've found has been at Target. It's the same one that Anita buys - Merona, I believe. And they do carry some great earthy colors. I am looking for tanks, and tops with sleeves also. I like them to be semi fitted or to have a shape to them, which the Merona tops do.

 

The only catch with the Merona tanks is that I really could use a wider strap. They go over your bra strap well, but since the strap isn't very wide, I'm constantly adjusting. I hate it when my bra straps show!

 

Since I am considering that coverup from Target, I should look and see what color tops they have in stock.

 

I started getting some things out to do some wardrobe planning for the February cruise. I had two orders that were supposed to arrive today, but have not. I'm not sure what is up with that - our weather here is fine. There is a little snow on the ground but nothing to prevent deliveries. I was really hoping for those to come in too!

 

I'm thinking a bit more about the things I've learned lately, and I hope to apply them. For example, a darker top with a lighter bottom. I have a few Merona tanks in midtones or darker colors that I can take, and the shorts I ordered were in lighter colors. I was just hoping for wider straps. I am going to look through my short sleeved tops as well.

 

I have some of my dresses hanging out. I may start with those that I am 100% certain will be going. So far, that is my formal night gown (ivory lace Ralph Lauren dress) and my Michael Kors snake print maxi. Ironically, these were both great clearance deals.

 

After that, I'm not certain so I will line things up that I am considering, and I'll take some pictures. One of the things I have been thinking about is that we have my time dining. We have booked 7:30 each night, and we will be going to Chops once as well. I tend to treat Chops as "date night" and usually step it up a little bit, so that my dress choice is more cocktail like. When you have MTD, you don't sit with the same people, and I would imagine there will be a different number of people each night as well. I'm just wondering how that translates with how people dress? I guess it's the idea of not getting to know your table mates.

[Sailor_Sally]

I may have mentioned the dinner dress code for our next cruise is country club casual. I'm thinking that this dress might be nice for dinner one night, but I can't decide which color. I'm leaning toward the coral, but then again I have so little green in my wardrobe right now and it would look awesome with my acid green alligator sandals:

 

http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product/product.aspx?item=W6014B&rPFID=207&sk=O&h=M

 

It's cotton, but in the photo it has a nice linen-like look. But I'm a bit concerned that it's that super thin cotton. Hmm.

 

Margaret , I have this dress in their cotton slub fabric and it is thick and much prettier than the picture .I also have other items from JJill in that fabric & I really like them.

http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product/product.aspx?item=W6011H&rPFID=10&sk=M&h=M

[Anita Latte]

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

Margaret, that looks like an easy dress to wear...easy to slip on to dress for dinner. No worries about a special bra, etc. I like the green one, surprise, surprise!

 

Laurie...a while back I purchased a kit for helping to keep a bra in place. The gadgets it came with included lingerie tape, etc, and these:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Strap-Tamers-Reusable-Concealers-Pack/dp/B0064BL882/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

 

They are very handy, especially if you are bothered by slipping straps or showing straps. I think there were only 2 or 4 in the kit that I bought. I bought the kit from Target.

 

Sally...that dress is really, really pretty. I'm enamored with the embroidery and what almost looks like sequin? detail on it. And that color is one of my favs.

 

One of my goals for this year is to work my way through my fabric collection. I have spent many years hording fabric. I did reduce my stash greatly when we left Texas. My thoughts were that I shouldn't invest a lot of time and effort making something when I was in the midst of trying to reduce my clothing size...

 

BUT, I've now decided that I going to treat my fabric stash as a sort of self directed sewing class to help hone my skills. I still have hopes to be smaller...but I'm not going to be upset if I work hard on something and then aren't able to wear it for more than one season. With this decision made, I'm really excited to get my sewing room cleaned up again! (Putting Christmas away will help my room to recover into a workable space again!)

 

DS goes back to school on Tuesday, so the road to the workable sewing room will truly begin on Tuesday.

 

So fun to hear about the cruise wardrobe planning! The cold hit yesterday...it feels like winter again. I can't imagine thinking about warm weather clothing right now! Especially swim suits! Brrrrrrr.

[Anita Latte]

I have a super dumb question- but where do you find out what season you should be wearing?

 

Hi Tiffany. Margaret posted the link to the blog that describes the color system, I guess, that we are talking about here. If you actually read through this thread, you will find reference to some elaboration on the whole color theory, some fine tuning if you will, that really places your "best colors" into a more restrictive definition. But the basic idea on that blog is actually fairly simple.

 

Googling the idea will bring up a ton of information. Probably more than you want...and then you can easily get overwhelmed with the idea. The basic premise is that you will look better in warmer colors or in cooler colors. Most colors have a variation that can be described as warmer or cooler...think about how there are orange-reds (usually warmer) and blue-reds (usually cooler). One or the other will generally look better on you.

 

So temperature is one variable in determining your "season".

 

The other is whether or not you look better in a clearer color or a more muted color. An example I think is relatively easy to visualize is a clear, almost bright, green like the one associated with St Patty's Day versus Army green. A classic car paint red versus brick red. Sunny, happy yellow versus mustard.

 

When you combine these two variables into four different combinations possible, you get four seasons, or four elements in the blog linked to earlier. You can pay someone to help you determine...or you can do the different tests you can read about (really just trial and error with color). Selfies will go a long way toward helping you see how different colors really affect your appearance in photographs.

 

Welcome and Good luck!

[Sailor_Sally]

Laurie , Our last several cruises we have done MTDining . We rarely make reservations.We just go when we are hungry & never had to wait . The tables for two are very close so we usually end up talking to the people next to us . I did not notice any difference in how people dress in MTDining as compared to set dining . I enjoy both types of dining but since we sometimes skip the dining room and go to the buffet MTDining is better for us .

 

Anita , That moss dress is so much prettier in person . It has a lot of embroidery that gives it kind of a hippie look . I wear it with a gold cuff bracelet & have gotten lots of compliments .

Edited January 3, 2016 by Sailor_Sally

[MJC]

Sally, I definitely noted that green and gold dress when I was surfing, it's so pretty and I like the gold embellishment. I was tempted but since I don't look so good in that grayish green I decided to pass. I can see how it would be perfect for Anita, though, and really wonderful with some gold sandals.

 

Today I'm going to go through the pants in my closet. Since Coldwater Creek no longer sells the ones I used to get for work, I thought I'd try some of the JJill offerings that are on sale right now.

 

Yesterday we did a Kondo on DH's dresser drawers. He didn't know that's what it was, but I took advantage of his icing time to assist him in the purge. Helping him to dress these past few weeks has given me an opportunity to toss some of his older things (he keeps them way past their prime... holes, tears, you name it) and generally assess what he has and what he needs.

 

Because of where the incision is, pants and underwear have been an issue as far as comfort. For your future information, two words -- boxer briefs. He's been living in Champion jersey pants, so we ordered some more of those yesterday. His sweats with the gathered ankles are too hard to get on without assistance.

 

I'm enjoying my new Fitbit, and an added benefit is that we use it to track how far he's walking every day. Like me, he is very self-competitive, so it helps him to push himself in a positive way.

 

Laurie, I'm wondering if you decided to try out that red Athleta suit.

[laurspag]

I'm thinking a lot about Kondo-ing lately. Is that a word? Maybe not, but you all will know exactly what I mean. I've been doing that in spurts. With the holidays and all, I kind of stopped a bit but I'm back at it this weekend.

 

Before I could do anything though, I had to put Christmas away. Since we decorate the entire first floor (kitchen, living room, dining room, family room, hall and mudroom) it took quite some time. We ran into some issues, in part because I normally don't help in that area. Since my husband is generally off the week of Christmas and New Year's, I usually gather things into one room a little at a time, and he puts everything away while I'm at work. I'm not sure if the issue that came up was because I was messing up his system or what, but we ran out of bins. We ended up using some things that we had around for storage for now. The ironic thing is that I really wanted to go through things a bit and weed out some of the older things that have seen better days, or those things that I don't have much of an attachment to.

 

Anyway, I got a few dresses out and grabbed my shorts and a few tops from the under the bed storage to start the day, and my daughter walked in. Once I got to talking about outfits, that planning side of me kicked in and I soon had things all over the room.

 

I actually stopped mid-way through and headed downstairs to work on putting away Christmas. Because of that, when I got back upstairs to my clothing, it was dark out so the pictures will be so-so. The lighting in our room is not very good.

 

I want to mention, Anita, that it was cold trying on those sleeveless dresses and my bathing suit. It's kind of good that I ended up splitting it up into two sessions overall.

 

Margaret, I have that red swimsuit, the coverup, and the skirt. I got these in the summer when Athleta was having one of their semi-annual sales. However, in all honestly, the swimsuit was a bit too small when I got it and I saved it, hoping I would lose more weight. Today is the first time I have had it on in months, and it fits really nice.

 

I tried to get a good picture of it, and I found it was photographing orange. It's not orange, it's saffron red. I think what that tells you though is that there is an warm undertone to it. Here is the best overall picture I got of it, and this is not far off from the color overall. It truly does look different in different lighting. I have the skirt with it in this picture:

 

 

One thing I love about this is, not only is it bra sized, it has an underwire. I'm a bit self conscious in it right now, since there is no skirting or ruching or things like that, but I feel like it will be a nice swimsuit for our trip.

 

I did order two of the three that I posted links for, since I hit a big one day sale with free shipping. I will see which one works best. That order should be in on Monday or Tuesday for me to try out.

 

Here is the long sleeved coverup. The fabric is very, very lightweight and breathable. I think this would dry in a flash.

 

 

I felt like I knew exactly what dresses I wanted to bring. There is a part of me that is on the fence still about one dress, but all the others are definite. Most even have their jewelry picked out!

 

Here is the lineup:

 

 

The iffy dress is the orange one. There is nothing wrong with it...I'm just undecided.

[laurspag]

Starting with my formal night dress, I am still deciding the jewelry for this particular outfit. I this that the lace is beautiful and I like having a necklace that doesn't compete but at the same time, I want it to complete the outfit, to bring it all together. Here are a few options. The dress seems to photograph fairly well here, with the overhead light.

 

 

Interestingly enough, I've worn this necklace on formal night a few times before, with the red taffeta dress.

 

 

In this picture here, the necklace is warmer than it photographs:

 

 

I originally had an antique style necklace chosen, more of a pendant style with a small ruby. I think it works with the dress, but it appears a bit lost, like it is too small? I then have a bracelet with a ruby look gemstone to carry over the color. But the necklace and bracelet just don't work right together.

 

I probably have a lot of options right in my jewelry box, but I like the look of the pearls, and adding a bit of color at the same time. What do you all think?

[laurspag]

This dress here is really beautiful. The actual color name is duffle. It is a brownish olive color. I think Anita would look awesome in this color. ;)

 

I remember when I posted the picture of me wearing it, and I had chosen the wrong sandals and necklace for it. I was thinking about why it didn't work. The v on this dress is great, and actually goes down a ways. However, it isn't showing anything it isn't supposed to because it's a good fit and crosses over a little. However, it's not a wide V, and I needed to try on different things with it. This was my favorite:

 

 

This is probably one of my most worn necklaces. I've had it for quite some time, and it just seems to work well with so many things.

 

This dress here was the first one I grabbed out of the closet. I love this dress. The colors don't photograph the best in my room, but there is no black in this - that is a dark brown, and then there is this golden type color, and the same color that the solid hi low dress is. They are calling the color on this duffle as well, because of that.

 

Whenever I have a print, I tend scale back the necklace. This is a really good necklace because it is simple, yet visible. I guess my real problem is that I don't do dainty, lol.

 

 

Since the orange dress has a built in necklace, my focus is for bracelets. Anita's mom, Pam, once discussed balancing out jewelry, and it has stuck with me. I think these work nice from a style perspective, and the overall feel seems like it would fit right in with smart casual.

 

 

I don't think I got a good picture of the neckline, but it's not solid gold:

 

 

Although there is a muted quality, this is probably a better fire dress than earth, though my daughter thought it a bit "dull" for her.

[awhfy]

Laurie, love them all, especially the twisted pearly necklace. Melody

[laurspag]

The last dress is for our date night on the cruise, when we go to Chops. You've seen this dress in a picture previously, and we all agreed that is probably a fire color. I really like the neckline a lot, and this is where that note from a few weeks back about Lord and Taylor come in. I found a few things that I thought would work well with this dress, any rather than let me buy them myself, my husband bought them for me for Christmas.

 

 

[awhfy]

Love the turquoise dress--what store? I'd really like that, & I seldom wear short dresses. Melody

Edited January 4, 2016 by awhfy

[laurspag]

Melody that was from Lord and Taylor. I had a really good one day sale coupon and free shipping. I'd search under !

Laundry, which is the brand. I think that is by ShellI Seagal. Not sure if my spelling is right.

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

[awhfy]

I'll look, thanks. We don't have lord & Taylor here so it'll depend on the return policy (& cost). Melody

[awhfy]

Thought id share a picture of my girls & I . Melody

[laurspag]

By the way, were you able to find that one dress in Stein Mart? I keep waiting for the gold one to go on sale. We don't have one if their stores around here.

[laurspag]

What a wonderful picture, Melody!

[laurspag]

The daughter that is in front of you has a very similar skin color and tone as you. Is that her natural color? I only ask because of our discussions about season and color analysis. They are both beautiful.

[awhfy]

Thanks. Both girls are natural hair color (mine was redder than the shorter one, she has my green eyes. The taller one has my DH hair & dark brown eyes & my Irish white skin. They look pretty good for 45 (tall) & 42 (short) don't they.

 

I haven't made it shopping since before Xmas, too busy with grands (they leave Weds). Melody

[Sailor_Sally]

Thought id share a picture of my girls & I [ATTACH]372642[/ATTACH]. Melody

 

Your daughters look like you . They are very pretty .

[laurspag]

Well, my shorts from Ohio arrived and the two swimsuits!

 

I'll start with the shorts from Ohio. Actually, they are from JC Penney. But they started their trip to my house in South Carolina. They went to Ohio, then Pennsylvania, to Buffalo New York, to East Syracuse, New York and then they should have been delivered to my house the next day. Except they went to Ohio. I have no clue what went on there, but they made their way back to East Syracuse and were delivered today. They all fit great. I'm so glad I choose different styling than I have in the past...I was going with shorts that were too long, and I hated looking frumpy. But then I thought that I couldn't wear anything shorter. They aren't really short, they have a 5 inch inseam, according to the online description.

 

Now the swimsuits. I actually have pictures of myself in them. Eeek.

 

Well, I get very nervous putting on swimsuits. I think one of them looked pretty good. My daughter described me as athletic, lol. But I look proportioned. I can't think of a better way to describe it. I didn't feel overwhelmed by my bust size?

 

I'm kind of scared to do this, but here it goes. Don't laugh too hard! It never dawned on me to turn or take more than one picture. The swimsuit is a rust like color, I feel like I've come a long way, but that I still have a way to go.

 

Would it be an overshare to post a picture of me wearing a swimsuit in my kitchen?

 

The other bathing suit is okay. I really don't think I will keep it. I think it might be the one you thought was dated, Melody? It's not bad, but I have that frumpy look. It isn't that the style is dated, but it just isn't the right style for me. I have a few different things that I am looking at right now, but I will say that with a swimsuit, I have to really love it to wear it.

[awhfy]

Laurie, I can't see the picture

[laurspag]

I didn't actually post it yet, Melody. I wasn't sure how anyone felt about seeing me in the kitchen in a swimsuit.

[awhfy]

Ah, don't worry about it!