Not at All Like a Wimbledon Judge

A trip to Shop & Save was in the cards today, so I chose walking shoes and worked from the ground up. These are Rieker's, mostly white with pale blue suede trim. I call them my croquet shoes because I bought them for a croquet tournament that I organized for the library six years ago.

Happy feet.

Rieker's are comfortable, but you have to embrace their weird, wacky style. I went round and round about buying these. "Do I look nursey?", I asked a friend. "Yes, a private nurse to a very wealthy invalid, but definitely a nurse."  I bought them anyway.

I added white RL jeans and a J. Jill floral top. 

The final touch was a pale blue Talbot's jacket. And here, I thought, it gets dicey. There's been some talk in the 'verse about MMFO - Makes Me Feel Old. That item in your closet that, because of its cut or color or style, makes you feel like you are celebrating your own Jubilee. With no royal barge or extra days off.

In my mind, I was adding and subtracting points. Add 10 points for white jeans, minus 10 points for white shoes, plus ten for cool earrings, plus ten because the jacket fits perfectly, minus ten points for being so matchy. The jacket has been on the fence for a while, because this is what I see in my head when I wear it:

Pretty Wimbledon Judge

But when I got to work I was complimented twice on the outfit. I also have an idea to liven this jacket up with a leopard scarf I just acquired. Yay! I get to keep it! I didn't really want to retire it.

And by the way - I ordered the Born boots in black. 
 
 

Bright Dress, Dark Jacket

I love the Kohl's dresses I've found on eBay. Love the stretchy polyester, love the flattering A-line, love the bright colors. The only thing I don't love is the feeling that I'm wearing something A. possibly made by nine-year-olds for ten cents an hour, and B. worn by nine billion American women.

I feel marginally safer with this one, because it was fairly expensive for Kohl's, being Dana Buchman, and also because this hot pink and black print surely would not appeal to all those imaginary gals.

Over it is a Studio 148 jacket that I love for its great fit, but which is a cat hair MAGNET. My Sticky Buddy (tm) came in handy this morning. You wouldn't think sateen would be so clingy.

I have on a bloodstone ring from eBay and a goth-y bracelet from Talbot's. I have a similar necklace, but it seemed a bit much with the leather and silver belt that came with the dress.

The perfect weather lured me out this weekend - to the ZOO! The Lincoln Park Zoo is the greatest place in the city, I think, even better than Millennium Park. I've been going there since I lived in a tiny efficiency in Lincoln Park in 1984. I've gone in all seasons (even caroling to the animals in December!), with Ben at all ages, and then and now by myself. The gardens are as wonderful as the birds and animals. Having a free zoo is a wonderful thing; having a respected, successful, clean, friendly and free zoo is positively a miracle.

This lady (and her sister) were my favorite on Saturday. They've only been in the zoo since February. One was happily shredding a cardboard box and the other was settling down for a nap, also in a cardboard box. Boxes all around!

Eurasian Lynx

Brown and Gold

Still thinking about colors. Today I'm wearing a brown Talbot's jacket, a gold Athleta corduroy skirt, brown textured tights from Target, a brown and green necklace from Kohl's and my trusty Golcs.

I must be rigorous whenever I pick up something brown and clutch it to my bosom. "The reason you like it," I tell myself, "is because you have five things like it at home." Off the top of my head, I have at least six brown jackets and sweaters, as many skirts, three pairs of pants and half a dozen tops. Conservatively.

Brown is my comfort color. Black has been a little too severe for me since I passed 40, and brown seems to be both dark (concealing!) and warm (flattering!) at the same time. Plus there are so many yummy shades. I love navy, it goes with many colors too, but in the end there's really one true neutral navy and everything else becomes a COLOR, and you have to start CONSIDERING it and what will work with it. And navy can easily make you look like a flight attendant. Navy and GREY makes you look like airport security. Brown has the UPS connection, but really only if you are wearing shorts.

The day started with the necklace.

It's still fairly cool outside, so I thought about tights, and from there it was a hop, skip and a jump to chocolatey happiness.

Purple and Ruffles

It's barely 50 degrees today - and rainy at that! So of course I wore my Born boots again. I am thinking about buying them in black. I have two pairs of tall black boots, and certainly don't need another pair. But. These are very well made, comfortable, soothing to my feet and back, and are so well finished inside that I can wear them without socks or tights. $90 off plus another 20% at Shoemall? Hmmm.

This is a favorite combo from last summer; floofy skirt, tee and little jacket (cotton or linen). Yesterday's version was a J. Jill jacket (via eBay), Boden skirt, purple Talbot's tee (with vertical ruffles to contrast with the skirt's horizontal ruffle action).

Detail of the skirt's raw edge ruffles.

I also wore my sparkly bracelet, handmade by my friend Carol and her two granddaughters.

Shiny!

And on the other wrist my pink Skagen watch (via eBay).

 

 

A "Good" Color

Whenever I wear my canteloupe linen jacket I get a compliment, usually on the lines of "Great color on you!" Yet orange is one of those colors that people think is hard to wear. I've never had my colors done, and I think maybe I'm a summer or summer/fall? I have blotchy rosy skin and light brown eyes, so winter is out, and most of the spring colors are too pale for me. Except pale pink which I have expounded on before. But orange LOVES me, and this is why I have at least five orange jackets and sweaters.

The weather went from the 90s to the 60s overnight (what a relief, I say), so I started with the Talbot's skirt, which has two layers of cotton and is fairly substantial. This was also my chance to wear my Born boots again, my feet being tired from wearing flimsy sandals all weekend. Then I more or less said eeny meeny miney moe to pick the jacket, hoping it would all work out.

 
The jacket isn't particularly flattering in cut, being kind of boxy, even a little mumsy. CONCLUSION: COLOR TRUMPS ALL.

Underneath I have a white tee with a slather of bugle beads, and a Talbot's bracelet that looks heavy but isn't, as the "stones" are all plastic. 

Talbot's, of course

Should I buy the matching necklace?

I discovered this week that this is my ONLY short-sleeved white top (lots of ivory and beige versions), and that I have NO short-sleeved black tops (lots of sleeveless shells). So I might have to use up that Lord and Taylor gift card in my wallet.


 

 

What I Wore for Graduation

We were so lucky Saturday morning. We had some cloud cover, a breeze, and the threatening storms stayed north of us. I still got a "ring of fire" sunburn following the line of my cardigan. I put on sunblock on my face and neck, but didn't quite go far enough.

In our faces, I see pride, relief, happiness, fatigue and a soupcon of sadness. I've long thought that because Ben chose to go to school near us, I got a four year reprieve from full-time empty nest syndrome.  He came by many weekends to do laundry and hang out, see a movie or go for sushi. His next move will likely be more final, and I'll have to find new friends with whom to eat sushi.

After the ceremony, he had to run back to his house and throw his stuff in boxes - they had to be out by that afternoon. Then we drove up to his Dad's house for an afternoon-long barbecue and reminiscence festival.

I can't even begin to sum up how I feel, except to say it was a BIG DEAL.

He really liked the DKNY suit, though. He said he felt like James Bond (the Daniel Craig version, of course).

 

Big, Big Day

Tomorrow is Ben's graduation. We have our fingers crossed that it won't rain, as the ceremony is outside.  Then we'll gather at his Dad's house to celebrate. Tonight he is packing up and getting ready to move out of his off-campus (by about ten yards) house. I celebrated at Nordstrom, spending hundreds of dollars on the start of a grownup wardrobe for him. A shopping spree is fun whether it's for yourself or not.

Four years went by very quickly for his Dad and me, but I remember all too clearly how college feels like a lifetime. Here's a glimpse into those four years.

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated his senior show.

Last summer he celebrated his birthday trying to make the Millennium Falcon fly with Darren. His dad got in on the act and they finally got it airborne.

He also got to meet the very famous (and very hospitable) Chicago artist Karl Wirsum.

In his third year he took a second bronze casting class.

This is the fifteen pound mask he made in his first bronze class. Everyone else made belt buckles. I'm just saying.

In his second year of college he went as Jesus for Halloween, which I found both high-larious and strangely convincing.

In 2010 we spent spring break in Florida, because Ben won a trip for four to Cocoa Beach and the Kennedy Space Center when we went to the premiere of Star Trek. One of the most fun vacations EVER.

We also sold our house in Skokie that year, and so this is the last picture I have of Ben and the cats on the deck.  *sigh*

But the four year journey began here, on the beautiful campus of Elmhurst College, with Ben entering his freshman year. We were all so excited. Ben kept saying, "It's not YOU going to college, Mom, remember?"

I'm so proud of him. He more than handled the transition to living on his own, organizing his classes and jobs and studying and making it look easy. He learned a lot, and talked to me about plays he was reading and his psych classes and the Fauves. He drew and painted and sculpted and took great photographs. He made some great art and some great friends, from football players to musical theater majors. He worked really hard, at the gallery and filming football games and practices in all weather. He played a lot of Angry Birds. He texted me at two in the morning (I didn't answer). He lived in three different dorms and in a house with a few friends.

Now, the world is his oyster. And he owns a DKNY suit.