Burnt Orange and Denim

This getup was confirmed/inspired by Sally at Already Pretty. I'd had this combination (roughly) in mind for a while, and seeing her post decided me.

The skirt is an airy crumpled silk with a really interesting texture, and boy howdy, it is really orange.

The boots are from Naturalizer, and have all kinds of interesting stuff going on up close: Studs! Suede! Leather!

  

I'm also very happy to be finally wearing this calf hair Nine West belt that I bought in January. The interior is bright gold, and I'm a little sad it isn't reversible.

And to celebrate the complete fabulosity of last week's weather, here is a closeup of Spring. I pretty much had my face in the tree to take the picture. 

 

Weeding

Most of what is useful to me in my personal life, I learned on the job. For instance, don't just sprinkle commas into your paragraphs willy nilly (thanks, Eugenia Bryant!), and your collection will feel fresher and circulate more if you systematically weed out some items.

1. Condition. That Sandra Brown paperback is wildly popular - and it looks it. Throw out anything that is frayed, limp, stained or nonfunctional (broken zipper, missing snaps). There's a brand new edition of Texas! Chase available to purchase for your patrons.

2. Dated Style. Diva, Lola, Luna etc. (the crime novels by Delacorta), were fantastically popular in their day, but that day has passed. If you loved them, it makes it even harder to face that fact and take them off the shelf. That ladylike pink tweed jacket that you embraced when you were a new manager is starting to look a little 90's prim. In fact, don't you have a LOT of lady jackets? How many of them have shoulder pads, hmmm?

3. Fads and Duplicates. Maybe your library has the definitive macrame collection, or perhaps has four shelves of feng shui books, but that doesn't mean they're still needed or appropriate. If you have 19 of anything and you notice nobody else seems to be wearing that style, pick one or two that you just love and put the rest aside. If you have harem pants, shame on you.

I'll post a pic of the pink tweed jacket tomorrow. Carol liked it and voted to keep it. Heather liked it as well, and had some ideas about styling it. The snap below is just for fun. Denim Boden shirt, Athleta cord skirt, fabulous Miz Mooz boots. Riley was completely mystified as to why I kept leaping on and off the island and smiling at that clicky object.

What a big furry fellow!