When is clutter not clutter?...

When it's display...

So, recently I got around to two tasks that had been on my 'to do' list for a while.  That mirror at the top of the photograph?  Yup, that's been leaning against my bedroom wall for about two years.  I have now hung it on said wall (no scrutinising the angle at which it hangs, or its dusty state, please) and no longer have to stoop to see myself in it.

I also managed to nail up two strips of moulding and thereby got six pairs of shoes off the shoe rack in the hallway that was filled to overflowing.  It was a very simple job, and here's how I did it:

1. Buy 2.5m length of pine moulding
2. Leave length of moulding leaning in the corner for a while to acclimatise
3. Keep meaning to get around to putting up that moulding
4. Finally determine that today's the day
5. Measure the width of a pair of your shoes - remember to this across the widest part and with the heels a little way apart, I didn't and it's only by sheer luck that each end shoe squeezes on
6. Assess how many pairs of shoes you will be able to fit in the available space
7. Take your moulding and saw lengths of (width of shoes) x (number of pairs)
8. Do a lot of strange holding up shoes and lengths of moulding to figure out how high to put them.
9. Figure out which nails will be short enough to go all the way into the wall without bending
10. Position the moulding as levelly as you can (lesser mortals use spirit levels for this sort of thing) and tap in a nail about a quarter of the way in from each end
11. Hang shoes!

What I learned during Lent 2014

I don't think there's really much value in doing A Thing unless one evaluates the effects of The Thing, at the very least in terms of insights gained.  So I've been thinking a bit about what wearing the same 30 items of clothing for 46 days has revealed to me...

Once I hit on a combination that works, I tend to stick to it

A lot of the things I posted throughout Lent were definitely Outfits.  And the same Outfit cropped up a number of times.  Often these items that go together have been purchased at or around the same time.  In other areas of life I think I reflect this too - I have Ways of doing things.  Mostly I think they are the most efficient or effective or thorough ways, but mostly they are just the way I first learned to do them.  Sometimes with some post-hoc justification.

I wear things for years

That khaki skirt?  I think I've owned that for at least 8 years, possibly longer.  And while relatively recent purchases feature strongly on my Lent list, there are items in my wardrobe that go back to my school days.  Which is before we get onto the heirlooms that I have inherited from various friends and relations.

I have favourites and like to wear a uniform

That jersey blazer?  It was mere weeks old at the start of lent and it was worn 16 times.  Nothing else was worn more than 6 times.  And the items that were worn 6 times each were all worn to work several times.  So either that striped jersey blazer is just my ideal item of clothing (and it might be - it works with trousers, shirts and dresses, it can go to work but it casual enough for the weekend, the arms are ever so close to being long enough and it's very comfortable) or I could do with adding something to share the burden.

Lent is at an awkward time of year for this sort of experiment

My first few outfits feature a lambswool jumper, a heavily-knit tunic and thick opaque tights.  By the end I was in summery dresses with thin or no tights.  If the aim of the game was to cut down on clothes it would probably be most meaningful to carry it out twice a year in winter and summer, allow for layering and a few mid-weight things for transitional seasons and chuck the rest.

I am toying with the idea of putting some of my clothes away for the summer.  I live in the kind of climate where very few things are only worn in one season, but there are some things (woolen skirts, for example) that I'm not going to want out again until September or October.  And as my in-use storage space is limited, giving everything else a bit more freedom to move might result in it being easier to see and thus get into rotation.

I own a lot of clothes

This was revealed more by the Big Holy Saturday Spring Clean than by the 30-item exercise, but even though I was wearing the same 30 items for 46 days, I only scratched the surface of the clothes that I own.  And some of those clothes would get a lot more wear on other people.  Perhaps it's time to adjust to a sparser wardrobe containing only quality items that actually fit well and that will really last, where possible from independent or ethical suppliers.  It certainly might be time for a clearout.

I have weirdly good recollection of where I got my clothes

Only one item (that khaki skirt again) am I not sure whether I bought it on sale or at full price.  All of the others I know.  Many of them I could even give you a ballpark figure for what I paid.  Which brings me to my next insight...

I very rarely pay full price for my clothes

Only two of the items on my list were acquired at full price.  And one of those was bought at TK Maxx, so it wasn't the manufacturer's full price.  The only full price item in my list that was bought at its original outlet is the flare jeans.  And when you are the dimensions I are, jeans are pesky creatures that very rarely show up to fit in the sales or second hand.

It's a lot easier for me to take on projects that affect only me

We were better at using up all or most of our delivered veg during Lent, but sometimes that meant neeps for dinner every night and you've got to be a willing participant to put up with that.  We are also very used to having a meat component in our day-to-day diet.  I have spent time previously being nearly-vegetarian and eating very little meat while on a budget, but it is much harder to impose these things on someone else.  The veg delivery is changing now with the seasons, so the neeps should run out soon.  Perhaps we'll miss them.

It is possible for neeps to be a tasty part of the winter diet

And the answer is roasting them with salt and pepper in chunks with other root vegetables.  They were't bad parboiled and fried off before going into a risotto either.  If they're going to be mashed, my preference is for there to be carrots and either parsnips or potatoes in there too, but if they have to be alone then a generous helping of butter and back pepper helps them go down.  My next experiment will be to put them into a cake in place of carrots.

Taking on a specific project for a defined period of time is beneficial

I am so easily overawed by the enormity of a task that I never start it.  If I had decided to 'evaluate my wardrobe' I wouldn't have known what to do.  But I have wound up thinking a lot about the items I chose for my Lent project (even if very little thought went into putting them on the list) and about other items that I haven't been 'allowed' to wear for the past six weeks.  So I might just re-evaluate my clothes and perhaps I'll make some changes, but I might just continue on in my whimsical and individual way, dressing the ways that I like to dress.

I haven't been all that good at blogging my adventures, but I have built up a stash of articles and I feel good about that.  Perhaps my next few should avoid the topics of clothes.  There's probably some mileage in the veggies though.

And perhaps I will take on other projects.  More worthy projects even.  That could be good.

Lent 2014 - Days 39-41

Last weekend catchup of Lent 2014.  It has fairly flown by.

I wore a great many things.  It was a busy weekend.  So it's another summary table:

But there is a picture of today:

Spot the sneaky afternoon Maltesers!

Today's clothes were all about being comfortable.  It had been a busy weekend and a late night and I had to return a hire car before work so I was only getting out of bed if I could do so in comfort.  Also skipped adding accessories.  It's a wonder I managed to eat breakfast through my sleepies.

This photograph does show the ridiculous length my hair has got to these days.  Plaited like that it still reaches my waistband (loose it reaches to about my hips), and there's a fair distance from the top of my head to my waist.  That's probably almost three feet of hair.  Ridiculous.

Lent 2014 - Day 38

Flat discipline

Pub food last night, pizza for a colleague's leaving do tonight, it's not a good week for eating simply and getting through vegbox veggies.

Lone discipline

Fuzzy, but glad it's Friday!

Wearing

Linen skirt (item 25):  It's a workhorse, this skirt.  I'll be cycling around town this afternoon running errands and there's no problem with that while wearing this.
Orange vest (item 18):  It's a basic and a staple but today it makes me feel like I'm joining in with Spring, which may have actually Sprung.
Striped jersey blazer (item 13):  This thing is becoming a total workhorse.  I wonder if there are spring-time variations available in other colours... and if it always does that weird thing up by my right* shoulder.

Footwear - oh the embarrassment of still not having polished these boots.
Accessories - little yellow enamel heart earrings to pick up the orange from the vest and my ampersand pendant for whimsy.  Nice and straightforward.

And I've got bare legs!  As is typical when switching to the occasional bare-legged day I have on trainer socks and ankle boots so my feets stay toasty.  And I'll be throwing some tights or something on before I leap on my bicycle, I don't need the wind whistling around my thighs just yet.

*I had to think about this for quite a long time, before I realised that a photograph of me taken in a mirror will mean that my right hand side is on the right.  I blame too many hours staring in confusion at X-rays during anatomy tutorials.

Lent 2014 - Day 37

Flat Discipline

Last night we ate baked potatoes with salad, tuna mayonnaise and cheese.  Tasty stuff.  Tonight friends who moved out of the country are in town so we are meeting them in the pub for tea.  Never mind, eh?

Lone discipline

Out of practice at this malarkey.

Wearing

Khaki skirt (item 29) - it's a practical, comfortable workhorse with jeans-styling, which means POCKETS!  This makes me happy.  The generously cut flared A-line does hang strangely though, doesn't it?
Floral shirt (item 16) - Still not my favourite colours or a pattern that feels particularly 'me' and now that I see the lumpy silhouette it gives I don't know if I can put up with those things in the name of comfort (which it has).  We shall have to see if I will ever actually enact my regular threat to take this to a charity shop.

Footwear:  Purple not-leather mary-janes.  I liked these shoes, with their sturdy mary-jane styling and tiny little heel so much in brown that I bought them in purple too!  My tan and red mary-janes were supposed to replace them but I can't quite give them up yet.  Sometimes you just need a purple shoe that's easy on the feet but respectable looking.  Even if they now look decidedly shoddy.
Hosiery: All my nude tights are in the wash.  It's only the white and purple flowers that are saving this from not feeling like a spring outfit.

Ho hum, off to the pub.

Lent 2014 - Day 23

Well, this is odd.  I can't seem to start a new paragraph.  Oh well, looks like today will be written all in one big long line.  Maybe I'll be able to edit the paragraphs in later.

Ah ha!  Adding a photograph seems to have fixed it.  I have no explanation.

Khaki skirt (item 29):  This skirt feels like it's been with me forever.  It's fairly casual, with its unfinished hem and jeans styling, but still I find myself sneaking it into work outfits like this one.  It flares more than it looks like too, so there's plenty of movement, which I like.
Peasant T-shirt (item 9):  Another casual item masquerading as work-appropriate.  Works for me.
Pinkstripe Blazer (item 24):  And the final item, which tops the whole thing off and leaves me looking so professional that my boss comments on how smart I'm looking.  I should get a picture of it that doesn't make me dizzy though.

This outfit makes me feel happy.  It feels like spring has sprung and I'm enjoying the fact that it has.  I suspect that this is because the pink and green echoes some of the trees that are coming into blossom.  It's also a nice and practical outfit - I have climbed trees in something similar.

Footwear:  Flat boots again, because they're comfortable and I wasn't sure how chilly it was going to be, walking out of my door this morning.
Accessories:  Garnet necklace - I think this was given to me by a friend for a birthday back in secondary school, or near the beginning of uni or something.  It's very 'me'; I do like garnets.
Pink heart earrings - now THIS is an outfit which these earrings make sense with.  They're almost exactly the same shade as the piping on my jacket.

So I'm comfortable.  And I won't have to get changed before my dance class tonight.  This is good, because Thursdays can be quick turn-arounds.

Lent 2014 - Day 22

Flat discipline

Stir-fry as planned last night, with the left-over sausages from Monday on the side.

Tonight everyone's in different places, so we're fending for ourselves.  I am contemplating a jacket potato with tuna mayonnaise once I get home from a lecture at work this evening.

Lone discipline

Bit of a repeat today, I'm afraid.  Hopefully that won't be the norm now that my list is basically set.

Normal-ish phone-holding achieved!

Wearing

Plum pocket skirt (item 2):  It's still doing fairly well, but some pilling is starting to become evident where my bag hangs against my hip.  And I forgot to put a slip on this morning, so it's sticking to my tights like nobody's business.

Cream jumper (item 1):  After several sunny but chilly days I have learnt my lesson and am feeling really rather cosy today.  But I so want it to be spring and just don't have the right clothes on my list for that.  Well, we shall see.  Perhaps it will be possible to tweak my colours using only accessories.  It's a challenge for the rest of Lent, certainly.

Footwear:  Tan Mary Janes.  I've climbed 8 storeys-worth of stairs in these so far today and no misadventures so far.  I'm not certain that the fit is exactly right but my feet aren't complaining today.

Accessories: purple scarf - this has been borrowed from my girlfriend (her mother gave us one each for christmas but mine is pink and wasn't anywhere to be seen this morning) and is so soft and thin, but large enough (and made from I-know-not-what) that it's cosy too.  In the winter I'm known for wearing scarves draped around like this, but perhaps more so in my student days when I spent many days studying in large draughty spaces.

Purple earrings - stolen from my mother who kept getting them caught in her clothing.  Not really the right kind of purple, but never mind.

Ring stack - cheap as the proverbial chips, this ring stack used to have different surface textures but the shiny ones have dulled and the textured one has buffed so now they all look the same.  And the plating is wearing through so the coppery metal beneath shows through.

Today I'm wearing different glasses.  And I've just noticed that one of the lenses is starting to make a break for freedom.  I prefer my usual pair for comfort but these are a bit more subtle (I think the impression they give in the photograph of slipping off my nose is because my head is tilted down looking at the phone screen to line up the shot).  Perhaps a wee post about my glasses-wearing is in order.  They might even be interesting enough to warrant such a thing!

Lent 2014 - Days 20 & 21

Flat discipline

There were salad leaves in last week's veg delivery.  We have eaten most of them now and they were peppery and delicious.

Last night's tea was yellow-sticker sausages and yet more roasted vegetable cubes.  I could live quite happily on roasted vegetable cubes, apart from the oil levels.

Tonight the plan is a stir-fry.  I may allow yesterday's final two sausages to creep their way into the mix.

Lone discipline

Work is busy, so no photographic proof, but right now it's all about comfort and temperature regulation.  Also, seem to have left phone somewhere.  No idea where.

Day 20

Wearing

Smocked jersey dress (item 12):  Oh yes, all about the comfies.
Striped jersey blazer (item 13):  Still a favourite.  Just has that edge of structure that you need when you basically propose to wear nightwear to work.

Accessories:  knitted rose-patterned tights for the warmies, no jewellery for the easies.
Footwear:  Red Mary Janes.  Smart shoes to make me feel grown up while wearing jammies to work.

Day 21

Wearing

Brown spotty dress (item 14):  Still comfortable, just a little more work.
Aubergine long cardigan (item 28):  Big and warm.  I can't remember how long I have had this beast, but it gets trotted out throughout the cooler seasons, or when I want to feel like I'm wearing a bathrobe but look like I made an effort and picked something dramatic.  The brown/aubergine combination is interesting and rather autumnal, but there you go.

Accessories:  Garnet celtic cross necklace, pink enamel heart studs.  These items do not go together.  I am wearing them regardless.
Footwear:  Knee-ish high brown boots.  'Nuff said.

And I've reached 29 items used.  Only one more to add and I feel like I ought to keep the spot in reserve in case of emergency or laundry failure.  It's an interesting list that I've put together, because I haven't really thought about it as a list, just listed the things I have happened to choose.  One or two items may end up biting me.  It seem sot be a fairly balanced list so far, comprising 5 dresses, 7 bottoms (skirts/trousers), 9 tops and 5 over-layers (7 if you count the 2 tops that do double duty), but I'm not sure how many outfits that means I have to choose from.  I suppose I could wear the owl tunic with the patterned leggings and the red cardigan, but I don't think  I would choose to do so.  There might be some benefit in considering all the possible combinations this list could give me though, I do get so easily bored with a limited clothing repertoire.

Lent 2014 - Day 17

Flat discipline

Mmm, more roast veggies!  This time with this week's meat in the form of pork loin steaks grilled with homemade applesauce and cheese.  This week's vegbox contained another neep and a white turnip.  I have no idea what to do with a white turnip, after a friend got confused and tried to mash it like a neep, ending up with a strange gloopy mush.  Ho hum, there's bound to be an answer, and it might well be roasting.

Tonight there will be a birthday-celebrating trip to Pizza Express.

Lone discipline

Wearing

Brown linen skirt (item 23):  This was a gift from a much skinnier friend so it sits rather high.  But that means that the stitched down pleats fill out at about the right point on my hips and the length isn't awkward.  It's a comfortable casual skirt and although it's faded has given years of use to me and its previous owner.
Peasant T-shirt (item 9):  It's simple and less fitted than much of my usual fayre, but the neckline gathering and button detailing (when it's not sitting annoyingly squint) do add a certain something.
Pinkstripe blazer (item 24):  Wow!  This blazer is nothing like as eye-watering in real life.  This one makes me happy and is a great springtime outer layer.  It does have the inevitable sleeve-length issue, but I don't think I'll ever be brave enough to unpick the cuffs and see if it's possible.  The lapel piping means that the outer could be finished with piping too, allowing the sleeves to gain an inch each, which I think would be about right in this case.

Footwear:  Due to a combination of not having any thin tights clean and it being a lovely sunny day, I needed footwear that would hide socks and turned yet again to these trusty boots.  If I'm cycling for errands later, I may switch to tights and then decide whether to change or not change to different shoes.
Accessories:  Stone cross necklace - picked up at a clothes swap.  Mirrors the tone of the boots.
Tribal mask earrings - brought back from South Africa for me by family.  Don't get out much.

It's only the second day of Spring, but I'm barelegged!  I don't know if this will last the day.  It's fine in the office, but the walk in was a bit brisk.  I should have worn earmuffs because it really  only was my ears that were uncomfortable, having my feet covered meant that although it was chilly around my knees it wasn't too cold.

Lent 2014 - Day 16

Back to your scheduled viewing...

Lone discipline

I'm getting more practiced at one-handed photo-operation, but the need to hold myself up halfway through the work day is rather worrying!

Wearing

Brown spotty dress (item 14):  It's a great staple, this one.  Still straining a bit at the top but soft and comfortable so I will give it a lot of a chance.
Red Cardigan (Item 4):  The photograph doesn't show it well, but this is a strangely shaped cardigan, being slim through the waist and over the hips but really wide in the shoulders so it sometimes slips off.


Footwear:  It's the slightly-short knee-high boots again.  Worn today because they are waterproof and it was raining when I walked to work.  I had been going to wear red shoes, but opted for protection rather than colour.  I feel I might be the sort of person to get enough wear out of a pair of red knee-high boots, though, so maybe I should keep my eye out.
Accessories:  Pearl and diamond drop necklace - this was given to me by a friend one birthday.  It's small and simple, but it fits nicely with the neckline of this dress and I like the way that the tone of the pearl echoes the soft cream of the polka dots on this dress.
Mother-of-pearl earrings - I bought these with a voucher given to me by a couple of friends for helping out with their wedding.

Interesting thought about the way I remember how I came by items.  This is particularly true of jewellery even though I don't own very many valuable pieces.  I have misplaced items over the years and that makes me sad - there was a lovely silver ring that my sister gave me one Christmas that disappeared a few years later that I remember in particular.  In fact, rings seem to be particularly prone to this, perhaps because I fiddle with them a lot.

Lent 2014 - Day 10

Friday!  It's been a busy week of extra-curricular activities and a new job, so I'm a bit frazzled and looking forward to a day off on Monday.

Flat discipline

Chicken and root vegetable curry last night.  Very tasty, used up a fair amount of vegbox veggies and there are enough leftovers for Sunday tea once we get back from this weekend's jaunt.

Lone discipline

Different work bathroom for variety.  Also !Spiderhands.

Wearing

Green corduroy trousers (item 17):  A truly wonderful pair of cords.  Nice and long in the rise, just the right length to wear with slight heels (36", in case you were wondering, from Long Tall Sally) and soft and comfortable.  They are that fairly recent slim bootcut and I generally like a bit more flare, but there's no denying they work nicely with today's boots.  These are my go-to trousers for casual but not mucky days.
Orange vest (item 18):  A basic vest that's on the big side of just right.  That's all I can really say about it.  I rediscovered it in my wardrobe last night and thought it was a good springtime option for today's outfit, where otherwise I would have worn white and been very nearly monochrome.  It's not as strong an orange as I usually gravitate towards, but I'm prepared to take on most shades of orange.
Checked longsleeve shirt (item 19):  Another item from that tall-specialist clothing company, bought at the same time as the cords and often paired with them.  Being brushed cotton it is nice and warm as a cold-weather under layer but also serves well as a warm-weather outer layer.

Footwear:  It's those boots again.  Still not polished though.
Accessories:  Ampersand necklace - I do like an ampersand.
I can't remember if I was wearing earrings.  Probably not.

This outfit was on the cusp of being too warm for a lovely sunny day, especially as I was cycling about rather than walking.  The uphill on the way to work was a bit of a struggle and it took me a while to cool down once I arrived, but the remainder of my journeys I took nice and slowly and they were not unpleasant.  I do need to get on my bicycle more, but I am wary of becoming a fair-weather cyclist.  Being a car part-owner has made me much more likely to cram activities into days rather than take the time to get to them on two wheels.  And I walk to work, because it takes about the same length of time, once you factor in the bicycle faffing at either end.  If I lived further I would cycle more often.

Lent 2014 - Day 9

Flat discipline

Veggie pizza last night.  Tasty stuff but no impact on the vegbox front.  There will be new vegetables next week, so hopefully tonight's root vegetable and chicken curry will help a bit.  Tomorrow I plan (if I can fit it in around some Very Important Baking) to parboil some diced veggies so they are ready to go for future roasting purposes.  If there was going to be time we would roast them before putting them in the curry tonight, so hopefully having ready-to-roast veggies to hand will help them creep into more meals.

Lone discipline

Back to work mirror photographs so I can catch up with myself!



Wearing

Plum skirt (item 2):  Still loving these pockets!  I'm trying not to overuse them so that the skirt will keep its shape and so far it's still doing well.  Hopefully it will wash well too.
Floral shirt (item 16):  A new item for today.  I do like a 'proper' shirt, and while this doesn't quite count, it does at least have a collar and buttons all the way down the front.  There are also elasticated panels at the waist, so the fit's pretty good and it has little sleeves so my great long arms aren't an issue.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a great fan of blue (which this shirt is), but the purple and white flowers along with their greenery break that up to the extent that I'm happy wearing it every now and again.
Striped jersey blazer (item 3):  Oh, this is going to be a great favourite.  Someone actually asked me as I walked down a corridor today whether I was 'doing something professional' because the jacket-shape had fooled them into thinking I was dressed up.  I've photographed it today buttoned up and with the sleeves uncuffed, just for variety.  Having looked at photographs of it a bit I feel like it could carry a brooch and I don't often wear brooches so I'll have to look out something suitable.  Yet another reason to invest in blazer-type items, the brooch-deployment opportunities.

Footwear:  Tan-ish heeled Mary Janes - yet more polishing required.  I really should get on that.  The slightly dusky tone of these shoes is hard to see in the photograph and I think it makes them hard to deploy, but I go on wearing them, so it seems to be working.
Accessories:  Iolite necklace - a gift from my parents after my GCSE exams, I believe.  And I think it was purchased in or near Corfe Castle in Dorset, but don't quote me on that.
Hematite earrings - I nearly went with a pair of purple-stone dangly earrings today but decided that these little hematite drops with their delicate wires and tiny little hearts worked better with the slightly dainty feel of the necklace

It's an interesting choice to add an item of clothing that I don't truly love to the selection for Lent, and we'll see if it comes back to bite me, but hopefully it will offer a chance to think about the value of the items in my wardrobe that aren't favourites.  And this shirt has served a purpose previously - I was wearing a very smart dress to attend an interview but didn't want it widely known that I was sloping off to that, so this shirt reduced it to just a fairly smart pencil skirt and I looked relatively normal all day.  We'll see if I can come up with some interesting ways to wear it before Easter and whether I grant it a stay of execution or send it on its way.

Lent 2014 - Day 8

Flat discipline

Vegetable stir-fry as planned last night.  I wasn't cooking this time, so the vegetable over-catering wasn't in evidence but that left space for noodles, so a win nonetheless.

Lone Discipline

Slightly bleary-eyed after teaching a dance class

Wearing

Brown spotty dress (item 14):  Yet another charity-shop find.  This dress doesn't have proper pockets, but the breast pockets are just the right size to pop my phone or ID card in to run a short errand.  Size-wise this is pretty good, but it does gape between the top buttons (there's a strategically-placed safety pin deployed to deal with that) and the empire waist seam sits just a little too high at the moment.  But it's soft and fun and a very 'me' item of clothing.  Also the shortest dress I'm comfortable wearing with only a single pair of tights.  Wierdly, I'm prepared to wear a slightly shorter skirt than this, but I think that's because bending forward in a dress causes more hemline movement.
Orange angora cardigan (item 15):  Man this is cozy.  It's probably on the cusp of becoming unseasonal, but one of my offices (don't ask!) has highly temperamental heating, so a bit of extra warmth to throw on once it's getting darker can be a god-send.  There's a tie-belt, but I tend to leave it knotted at the back to give a bit of shape.  Perhaps if I wear it again I will try it belted, but it just makes me feel like I'm wearing a dressing-gown, which isn't even appropriate on a casual Friday.

Footwear:  The brown leather boots are out again.  I'm still struggling with the length but it very nearly works, giving me a reasonable gap between the top of the boots and the hem of the dress.
Accessories:  Amber pendant - another gift from the paternal grandparents, this time one I chose myself.  It hangs on the chain from the celtic cross I wore on day 6, because it didn't come with a chain of its own.
 Amber drop earrings - A more recent gift, from Christmas 2012.
Hosiery:  I'm back to fleshtone tights.  This outfit looks more autumnal when I wear it with dark (or opaque orange) tights, the fleshtone tights lighten it up a bit for spring, so I'm good.

 This is a very 'me' outfit.  It's easy to wear, comfortable and goes well with my proportions.  It feels fun but it's smart enough for work.  It transitions seamlessly to a dance class where people need to be able to see my legs and feet.

Somehow this dress reminds me of the many charity shop items that have made their way into my wardrobe.  They make up 6 of my 16 items so far.  In the main they are dresses, skirts and tops, but that's par for the course when you're this tall.  I feel that with charity shops or clothes swaps you win twice (or maybe three times) - once for supporting charity, once for avoiding first-hand exploitative practices and once for the eco-points of reusing and recycling.  Of course, the downside is that there's a lot of work involved in finding items and if the fit is off you can't just try the next size up or down.  I get the feeling I compromise more on fit with these kind of items.

And I've still got 14 items to allocate.  We'll see how that goes.  I'm going to be adding two party dresses this weekend because Friday's dress will be in no fit state to wear on Saturday, so one of those might find itself in the casual Friday mix if I'm running low on inspiration.  Actually, 40 days on 30 items might not really be a challenge.  I'll have a think about reducing my selection further in order to improve the exercise.

Lent 2014 - Days 6 & 7

Started a new job yesterday, so I cheated a bit by (mostly) repeating my outfit for today.

Flat discipline

We had folks round for tea before a committee meeting yesterday and ate baked potatoes with various toppings.  I had tuna, so there goes my fish for this week (exercising an interesting definition of week to my own sneaky ends, but was healthier than the alternative cheese/baked beans options).  we served this up with the remaining diced vegetables roasted up for the occasion, so it was a win on the vegbox front to the tune of 5 potatoes (including the one I wound up with for lunch today) and several other vegetables.  There's a little bit of time this evening, so perhaps dicing and parboiling further veggies is in order.

Lone discipline

Complete with concentrating face and last weekend's festival wristband.

Wearing

Smocked jersey dress (item 12):  Soft and comfortable with an empire-line cut that I find really flattering (comes of being short-waisted and long in the rise).  This dress totally points out one of my proportional quirks though - it's two sizes smaller than I usually wear from this retailer, because I have a relatively narrow ribcage, especially when you consider the width of my shoulders and my hips.
Striped jersey blazer (item 3):  Yet more gentle jersey comfort.  And another under-a-tenner bargain.  From a cheap retailer so the shoulder pads (which I could probably take out due to the afore-mentioned broad shoulders) and facings require a bit of care to lay properly.  In the photograph above I've cuffed the sleeves as the manufacturer intended and that exposes a bit more wrist than I like all day.  These sleeves usually end up folded down and nearly long-enough or cuffed and then pushed up nearer my elbows so I look like I meant to show off my wrists/forearms rather than having great long gorilla arms.  The tricks height encourages us to...

Footwear:  Red heeled Mary Janes - another pair of shoes in need of a polish, I'm afraid.  I've written about my love of red shoes already and they really are a very close match for the colour of this dress
Accessories:  Giant pearls - yet another bargain.  Added to an online order to make it cross the free delivery threshold.  Really handy when I need a neutral statement piece, but strangely, they prevent airflow round my neck so I can't wear them to dance in for any length of time.
Celtic cross with garnet - the necklace I wore yesterday, a bit less flashy than today's and given to me by my paternal grandparents when I was baptised (aged 13 or so).  A surprisingly perfect choice when I consider that my grandmother usually had tastes so different from mine at that age.
Hosiery:  Sainsbury's Medium Support tights.  I love these tights.  They're comfortable, tend to hold up to repeated washings and wearings and really do give me a nice silhouette.  Yesterday's tights were more opaque and grayer.  Today's are better, but I was really after the slightly pale fleshtone that the Sainsbury's tights come in.  It feels like spring is arriving and it's time to return to lighter tights.  But I put my thumb through a pair yesterday, so I'm stuck until I shop.

This is all about the holy grail of being comfortable while looking put-together.  In those stakes dresses are absolutely the way forward.  I'm also nearly halfway through my allotted number of clothing items for the season, so more care may be required with my picks for the next week or so, I need to ensure I have suitable items for a couple of dances at the end of this week as well as enough dancing clothes and things to get me through my work-weeks.

Lent 2014 - Day 2

Flat discipline

So, day 1's tea was leftover veggie risotto with roasted beetroot (the only vegbox item, unfortunately) and it was very tasty.  Tonight the plan is to eat proscuttio tortelloni with vegbox veg and red pesto.  New veggies arrived last night, including a HUGE turnip.  We might be blessing a neep-loving friend with that one this week!

 

Lone discipline



Oh yes, by Easter I shall be a master of the work-bathroom-mirror selfie.

Wearing:

Lambswool jumper (item 1):  I can't remember whether this was a charity shop or clothing swap find, but either way it's a cool-weather staple.  The fit is good, the length is good, I like the interaction between the neckline and my collarbones.  Only slight downside is that the sleeves don't quite come to my wrists, but that's what I get for being broad-shouldered and long-armed.  It doesn't bother me in this jumper because the sleeves are fairly close-fitting.
Plum skirt (item 2):  This is fairly new but it went straight into rotation for work because POCKETS!  Also it's drapey and soft and being a midi-length does a nice 'just below the knee' on my great long legs.  It is mostly polyester, has a weird faux-leather waistband and was very cheap (reduced to £5 IIRC) so we shall see how it stands up to regular use.

Footwear:  Brown leather boots.  These cost me £40, which is bonkers for leather, so I suspect they may turn out to be poorly made.  They're very comfortable with enough room in the foot for my sizeable feet and snug in the calf (ah, the calves of a Scottish dancer) due to elastic inserts.  They are, unfortunately, really too short.  Having a 34"-35" inseam I have long legs.  Visually (I've never measured) I think proportionally more of this extra length is in my lower legs.  So my legs are still going out when boot shafts start to come in.  The shafts on these boots measure about 14" and I feel like the proportions would be better on me with a 15" or 16" shaft.  It's still not enough to make me buy custom boots though.
Accessories:  Just a necklace today.  A silver enamel powder compact that I inherited from my great aunt, strung on a leather cord.  As it ties in a bow behind my neck I've been trying and failing all morning to make it sit just below the neckline of the jumper and sure enough, post photo-taking I have finally managed that!

I feel good about this outfit.  I am comfortable and the right temperature for the office.  Nothing needs messing with or tweaking when I stand up.  I will need to change out of at least the jumper in order to go dancing this evening, but that's par for the course.

Lent 2014

So, last thing on Tuesday night, as I was leaving work to head for pancakes after tea, someone asked me what, if anything, I was doing for Lent this year.  Now, I grew up in an independent church environment where having liturgical seasons or a church calendar was somewhat frowned upon as being legalistic, so I didn't observe Lent as a child.  I was also a bit wary of the way people would give up chocolate or tea as it seemed rather tokenistic and about their achievement rather than discipline and contemplation (of course, this view might have been coloured by my love of chocolate).

But my colleague was talking about giving up plastic.  About being more aware of her footprint on the earth.  And we got into a discussion about how ubiquitous plastic is and how a Lenten discipline shouldn't inconvenience others if at all possible.  I like the idea of giving up disposables but wasn't in time to get my head around it for Lent this year, so I had to keep thinking.  And now I think I have a couple of Lenten disciplines that I will be engaging in.

In concert with my flatmate

We will eat more simply.  This will involve endeavouring to make use of all the produce in our fortnightly organic vegetable delivery (without too much moaning about the sheer quantity of cabbage and turnip/swede this involves) and try to eat meat only once a week, likewise fish.

Sundays are traditionally feast days when you get a day off your discipline and in the spirit of not inconveniencing others, we won't make a fuss when we are visiting our friends as is our habit of a Sunday.  Midweek dinners are usually made and eaten at home, so there's no issue there and we can have our meat/fish nights on the days when we expect company.

Lone discipline

I want to think about my consumption and have decided to do this specifically in regard to my wardrobe.  So I won't be buying any new clothes/shoes/accessories until Easter.  And I am going to keep a log of what I wear, attempting to keep myself to 30 items of clothing but trying not to just cycle the same outfits round and around.

Exclusions

Underwear and hosiery - nuff said
Costumes/uniforms - if someone else decides what I am wearing (or I decide for a group what we will be wearing) those items don't count
Activity-specific items - swimwear, dance shoes

Undecided categories

Footwear - I don't think there are that many pairs of footwear in my regular rotation, but there's something about not being strict enough with my guidelines that worries me, like this should be a real challenge or sacrifice.  However, for the sake of my feet (which, after all, didn't sign up for this) I think I will observe but not restrict my footwear choices.
Outerwear - I think this is mostly determined by the weather so shouldn't be counted.  I'll observe but not restrict as above.

Talismans... talismen?

Red Shoes MK IV

I have, in the past few years, developed a  habit of wearing red shoes to important events and interviews.  It probably started when I wore red shoes to my PhD interview and was woken the next morning by my flatmate exclaiming that there was a professor on the phone - I had got the place.  I subsequently wore red shoes to hand in my Masters thesis, to my viva and to receive the results.

Then came the Magical Shoes of Wonder.  One Christmas a group of my friends and siblings all got together and bought me a beautiful pair of red shoes, with heels and bows.  I was totally surprised.  I have never found it particularly easy to find shoes that fit (I'm right at the top of most manufacturers' size ranges and have wide feet to boot) but that pair fitted like a dream from day one.  They later told me that the friend with feet the closest in size to me had been sent into the shop to try on these shiny heels in her hiking socks!  The Magical Shoes of Wonder saw me through numerous presentations, my PhD Viva and graduation (I know the dress code is black and white, but they go with a red gown, it simply had to be done) and are still my most prized footwear.

These days, though, the red shoes above suffice for all but the most high-level requirements.  They also come out on a day-to-day basis.  I can stand all day in the Magical Shoes of Wonder but don't ask me to walk too far!

Now, I'm not a superstitious person.  I don't in any way believe that red shoes will change the outcome of any event I wear them to.  I think I wear them as a touchstone.  A reminder that, at the end of the day I am not the result of this interview or the reception this presentation gets.  At the end of the day I am the sort of person who wears red shoes.  The sort of person who can pull that off.  If I'm not the person for your job or you don't like my work, that's OK.  I have not misrepesented myself and all is well.

My shoes aren't my only talisman.  Others more specifically connect me to my family - the celtic cross necklance that my paternal grandparents gave me on my baptism, the ring that belonged to my great aunt, the perfume from my maternal grandparents.  That's important when you live five hundred miles away from your immediate family, half a world away from another branch of the family and have been separated by death from others.

How I Mash my Shoes

I'm at risk of becoming all about the dead people and that's not really me.  So here's a post about shoes.

I am hard on my shoes.  Always have been.  This may be something to do with having a difficult to find shoe size - once I find  a pair that fit well I wear them to death.  There was the pair of jodhpur boots bought in Australia that I wore from the age of eight until they were a size or two too small and I had worn a hole all the way through the sole, or the huge boy's leather schoolshoes that wound up as a soft heap of leather and a worn-through sole, the Mountain Horse boots I've now had for about 12 years, with their replacement footbeds and worn through lining that I still take up the occasional hill or the Birkenstocks I glued back together with epoxy last week to get me through another summer or two.

I walk places.  To and from work, around town, down to the beach.  And over enough time that wear shoes out.  But I noticed a few months after I bought my bicycle that a number of my pairs of shoes were gaining wear in a specific spot:

It's really obvious on the two pairs of mary janes to the left, but you can also see a dull patch on the 'snakeskin' heels and extensive scuffing on the boots.

I've somehow managed to repeatedly graze the ball of my foot with the crank of my bicycle pedals.  I'm guessing this is because my feet tend to turn in when I'm not thinking about it - cycling means I'm thinking about a lot of other things with a lot more urgency.  I haven't noticed other folk bemoaning the mashing of their shoes by errant bicycles, so maybe it's just me.