Six outfits | July 12

Six outfits. Six. It’s actually been about 3 months since the last outfit update–April 25th to be exact. We left on May 9th for a four-week stay in China followed directly by a one-week stay in Korea. My plan was to take daily fun photos of outfits worn in the land of “I-can’t-believe-we-get-to-stay-here-this-long,” to write about a week’s worth of adventures, and then to post each of the 5 weeks we would be gone. ~sigh~ “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, gang aft agley” which is most often paraphrased [in English, anyway] as “The best laid plans of mice and men [and an exuberant traveler] often go awry.”  It’s from the poem, To a Mouse, by Robert Burns [read that line with a Scottish brogue and it will make a bit more sense]. The poet laments unintentionally destroying a little mouse burrow whilst poughing in the field. The saying pretty much means that even with plans carefully made and the best of intentions–things go wrong. [That concludes the literary lesson portion of this post.] It ended up being so blisteringly hot during our stay in China. The hottest day was 104 degrees of boiling–with the humidity index we’re talking about 114 degrees of not being able to think straight, barely able to move, please give me all the ice cream everything you have in your tiny little store, and no I don’t want tea. I mean, “No thank you, I don’t want tea.” And yes, we paid for all the ice cream everything in the tiny, little store.  It wasn’t a stick up, robbery thing. Mostly pleading–but not aloud. That would have taken too much energy.

Which may leave you wondering why the heat had anything to do with posting about an outfit a day. The thing is, we were instructed to pack for slightly cooler weather–so we did. We didn’t wear [and this is no exaggeration, my friends] 75% of what we brought. We washed the only things we could wear over and over and over. So–the outfit a day post would have been me wearing the exact same thing for about 4 weeks–which might have been entertaining on some level–but I wasn’t thinking of anything except finding a way to be cool.

Okay. Seven. Seven outfits.

#1–Pink and white polka dot perfection. Love it. The bow used to be at the waist–and I didn’t want it there, so it’s on the bodice now.

The shoes were purchased years before I acquired the dress–and they look great with it. Pink and red–sass-a-frass.

#2–A splendid sunflower jumper. I purchased it from a local boutique a couple of months ago. It’s fabulous and comfortable which is a winning combination. The shoes are my first orange colored anything purchase. I’ve decided that there are a couple of colors I won’t actually wear–but I’ll accessorize with them. Orange is one of those colors.

[This photo is brought to you by the lovely Amber–thank you.]

And when I say ‘accessorize’ I mean shoes, a bag or some bangles–not a scarf or a necklace [too close to my face].

That is all.

#3–It’s pretty much an “I can’t possibly care very much” kind of day when I’m posting photos like this. ~grin~ Swollen humidity/heat feet. No makeup because it melted off anyway. A shirt that I thought would be cool. Hair of loveiness. I look like I’m 7 months pregnant [it’s a combination of the chevron print, exhausted posture, and five pounds of  ‘can I please just cool off’]. And don’t even ask why I thought jeans would ever, ever work. My shoes are melted to the ground. I couldn’t move. “I died that day.” [Name that movie–and the character who said it.]

I’m kidding about the shoes being melted to the ground.

Everything else is true.

[The headwrap thingy saved the outfit from horrible colorlessness.]

#4–No amount of retouching could ever make this photo look great. The outfit works, though. It’s a simple wrap top–a tank underneath–a pair of slim-fit jeans–and a pop of coral in the shoes.

#5–I love a pencil skirt that goes with just about anything. This royal blue number is one of my favorites because of the fit as well as the length [for a bit of fun and frills, I sometimes add a grey extender that has a layer of tulle, one of lace, and the other of satin]. The lightweight sweater [my favorite kind] is a beautiful coral color [the photographer forgot to take the picture outside]. Gray flats finished up the look quite nicely. Oh–and the necklace is a mint green. [Again, with the photographer.]

#6–I love this mix of an ivory lace tank, jeans, a lightweight coral cardi [seriously–the lightweight part is fabulous], those perfectly comfortable shoes/sandals [height without the hobble], and that scarf. I love that scarf–an almost weightless fabric with a black background and simple white bird silhouettes. Beautiful. Goes with everything.

And gone.

~sigh~

We lost one thing–ONE thing–in five weeks [for which I am surprised and grateful] of traveling. Why-o-why couldn’t it have been Handsome Dude’s socks or–or two pairs of Handsome Dude’s socks?

Oh–and that’s a photo of me with my better half. Just about quite literally. ~grin~

On a side note here, does anyone else [anyone else] feel like they weigh 67 more pounds than they usually do when they’re in humidity? Maybe not 67–the number doesn’t matter–it’s just the feeling of carrying around three small children that won’t let go. One’s on your back. One’s sitting on your left foot holding onto your leg and the other one is on your right foot holding onto your leg. And–AND–you’re walking through shin-deep water with all of them hanging on like they are some kind of primate kindred spirits and you ask them to leave and then try to shake them off and then finally just sit down in whichever chair is in closest proximity in an enclosed and air-conditioned space? Anyone?

Just wondering.

#7–When you walk into a building and the floor is that color and the wall is that color it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing [or who is watching]–a photo must be taken. Voila.

The top is a wonderful cotton fabric with a print that can go with just about anything. With sleeves it would have been my go-to China-wear. Because I added a cardi [no matter how lightweight], it was a no-go instead of a go-to. Go figure. No layers is best. The pants are fun, but they were a one-day-wear because of the heat as well. And again with those shoe/sandals. Love them.

Tun-tun-tun-tah!

That is the fashion world as I know it.

For the few of you who have mentioned it before, please notice that my face is present in most of the photos. Only for y’all. Only.

I hope your closet is filled with colors you love and shoes that make you want to skip.

Or dance.

Oh. The answer to the movie question was: The Princess Bride–and Buttercup said it. ~smile~ Did you guess correctly?

Dance on.