Maxi-dress mumu

I wore this dress, which I call my maxi-dress mumu, to a friend's house last night. We were watching "The Thin Man," making pizzas and drinking martinis. When my fabulous host opened the door, she yelled at me "I said dress casually!" But I tell you what, to me, there is nothing more comfortable than a maxi-dress. I prefer lounging in what is essentially a giant sheet to lounging in jeans and a T-shirt.

Plus this hippie necklace goes with my hippie dress much more than it would with jeans and a T-shirt.

This dress is actually a bit addictive. During winter break, I wore it constantly (pictured above is one of the many days I wore this dress during a two-week period). Come summer, someone might have to stage an intervention.

Here's looking at you, kid

Alternate post title: Inspiration Bogart. 

It has been chilly, and I have been all up in this trench coat. Robert and I both found trench coats at a thrift store this summer. Then we bought them. Then we talked about how awesome we were because we both own trench coats. Then we walked our dog in the rain in our trench coats. One time, we both wore fedoras while walking the dog in the rain in our trench coats. I'm not saying it's okay, I'm just saying it happened.

 See that shadow in this picture? It's symbolic. These shoes are emotionally torn between keeping the woman they love in Casablanca or letting her go with her heroic husband. They ultimately let her go. They'll always have Paris. And gin. And that sassy policeman.

If I am talking gibberish to you, I suggest you watch "Casablanca." It's such a sad, awesome love story centered on two people who wear trench coats. Would "Casablanca" have been one of the best movies of all time if its stars were wearing hot pink sweatsuits? Unlikely. Trench coats totally helped make that film. They are really the most romantic of coats.

"Some Like it Hot"

"Some Like it Hot" is my very favorite Marilyn Monroe movie. She is so luminous and fun in this film. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis aren't so bad either in and out of their wigs and lipstick.

This one time, I matched my couch

I didn't realize my dress matched the color of my couch exactly until I looked at these pictures. Now, I'm going to pretend this was on purpose. I am super in control of my life. I think of these things. Obviously, a couch should match your lazy-day maxi-dress. Clearly. And so mine does.

You might have noticed, you've already seen this dress. See, the thing is, I wear my clothes more than once. You probably do too. I'm pretty sure I might wear this dress every Saturday and/or Sunday for the rest of my life. So if you're following this blog, perhaps you should make friends with this dress. Why wouldn't you? It's a very nice dress. It totally wants to be friends with you. Seriously. It's always talking about you and saying that you're just really very lovely. 

The reason I decided to take pictures of my look was actually my crazy hair. I have been obsessing over buns for months now, but I haven't actually been putting my hair into a bun. And then, one lazy day (today), I fell in love with my accidental messy bun. I think it looks great! It's definitely worth growing out my hair. Sunshine Dog agrees. She expresses this by climbing up on the arm of the couch and giving me a look that says "PET ME. Seriously. Pet Me."

Magical

There is something magical about a really long skirt. Am I right or am I right? When a skirt is so long it rests on my toes and flirts with the floor, well, I just get really happy. 

I bought this skirt at a thrift shop yesterday. When I saw it on the rack, I wasn't sure about the print, but when I tried it on, it was so comfortable and such a perfect length, I decided it was coming home with me. Now, I like the print. Flowers. Everyone likes flowers. They are a universally beautiful thing. What's not to like?

This is my new necklace. It is from Forever21. When I buy things from Forever21, I feel kind of silly because I am an adult woman and the store is geared toward 14-year-old girls, but what can I say? I like this necklace.

I never feel silly buying things from thrift stores. Buying second-hand clothing is the best thing ever. I love the hunt. I love the prices. I love taking something that might seem initially tacky or old fashioned and putting my own spin on it so it feels fabulous. I love the surprised looks I get when people ask me where I got my great dress/skirt/shoes/skirt and I reply "The Goodwill." Do you see my manic grin? That's a visual expression of how I feel about thrifting.

Straight-up schoolmarm

This is such a super-schoolmarm dress that it's almost shocking I wore it while on spring break. Look at that conservative hemline! Look at the bow! Straight-up schoolmarm. Instead of talking to school children about the glories of grammar when wearing this dress, I interviewed fit Lutherans for a faith story.

While I feel the dress screams schoolmarm, it also sort of mutters reporter. It has a 1940s His-Girl-Friday vibe. I just need a hat and a tailored jacket and perhaps Cary Grant yelling at me about a deadline. Highly styled hair would also help (totally never going to happen). Ooh! And red lipstick. And this photo should be black and white. Then it would be perfect.

(Dress is thrifted. Shoes are Target. Also: In my vocabulary, "schoolmarm" is kind of a synonym for "awesome.")

Things I like

I really like books, art and polka dots. You can tell that from this photo. 

And Sunshine. I like my dog Sunshine a lot too. And shoes. (And cupcakes and my husband and movies from the '60s and Willie Nelson, but I'm not sure you can tell those things from this photograph.)

I like shoes that make me taller. I'm 5'8" in real life. In this shoes I'm 5' more than 8".

I'm not sick anymore. I totally kicked that cold! I showed it what was what. I was all like "Take this zinc! And this Vitamin C! How do you like that punk?! Now I'm going to sit on the couch for two days watching Netflix Instant. That's right! Whatcha gonna do about it?" And the cold was all like "I am going to go away. That's what I'm going to do about it."

Life is better when it is filled with red shoes, books, art, polka dots and dogs. Life is better when you are not sniffling and coughing. True story.

Feeling blue

I had big plans for Easter. Spring Break started on Good Friday, and Robert and I were going to visit all sorts of relatives in a five-day span. I was really looking forward to it. I love my family. I love Robert's family. (Therefore I suppose I love "our" family. Being married is wacky!) Sadly, I got sick. AGAIN. 

I had a nice good chunk of non-sickness after my bout of bronchitis, but it ended with a no-nonsense cold. The majority of the relatives we were going to visit are elderly and ill, and when you're elderly and ill, you really don't want to be around someone with cold. So plans were canceled. I've spent a couple days on the couch. Am I feeling a bit blue? Yes. Did I decide to express this literally through my outfit? Yes. I wanted to see family, and I am so tired of being sick.

Luckily, on this lovely Easter Sunday, I am feeling better. There's an adorable, flowery sundress I've worn the past two Easters (thrifted, clearly), but it was too cold today to wear it so I went with a maxi dress and sweater (both thrifted last fall). I also wore my wedding shoes, which were Isaac Mizrahi for Target shoes I already owned. (I had a low-maintenance wedding. My main budgetary priority was our fabulous honeymoon in Ireland.)

This is really the comfiest of comfy outfits, which is a must when you're under the weather. I've been in the house the past two days being sick, and Robert and I have watched all of season one of "The Walking Dead." Eep! So good and so gross! Today, we're going to venture out to do exciting things like drink coffee and go grocery shopping. It's much more low-key than the big Easter dinner we were originally planning to attend. SIGH.

If you're going to feel blue, you might as well do it in something cozy and beautiful. I really dig the colors of this outfit and the pattern of the dress. Maxi dresses are pretty much the most comfortable things ever. Wearing one is like wearing a nightgown in public.

Sunshine has been by my side the whole weekend. She seemed to get pretty stressed out by "The Walking Dead." Seriously. That show is not playing around! I should really switch on something like "Easter Parade" next. Much lighter. Fewer dead things. I should also note that my cranky mood is dissipating with my cold. If you're working with kids for the first time in a long time, you're going to get sick! That's biology. And all this recent sickness has really made me start to value my general health, but that's a post for another time. A post  that might have something to do with kicking the sugar habit. Or not. Robert made cream puffs yesterday. They're kind of a-mah-zing.

Seriously delicious. You do not kick the sugar habit with cream puffs around. These were eaten when we were not watching "The Walking Dead." It is impossible to eat anything when watching that show. Even delectable puffs of cream.

Then Again

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Diane Keaton's memoir "Then Again" is a great read. Who knew Diane Keaton was a writer? The book is absolutely engaging. It's about Diane's life and loves (I so enjoy everything she writes about Woody Allen) and demons and hugely about her mother. A good portion of the book is actually excerpted from her mother's diaries. I would say the whole thing is less of a Hollywood memoir and more of a meditation on living.

Living can be hard, y'all. 

Diane Keaton gets to be Diane Keaton and yet she is plagued with insecurities and anxieties. At no point does fame or fortune or sleeping with Warren Beatty make everything in the world calm and wonderful. She's funny and self-aware and oftentimes struggling. She doesn't know how beautiful or charming she is. She doesn't ever really seem to find a sense of peace until she adopts her children (Side note: It is nice to read about how wonderful children are. Sometimes I feel like I only hear about how difficult having children can be and how they take over your life in a terrible way. Diane writes about how they took over her life in a fabulous way). Her mother deals with anxiety and depression, with marriage, with an empty nest, with a somewhat restless creative spirit and, at the end of her life, with Alzheimer's. 

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Reading this book made me surprisingly moody, but I highly suggest it. Before this, Diane Keaton was that fabulous style icon from Woody Allen movies who looked so great naked and 50-something in "Something's Got to Give." Now, I see her as a whole, real, complicated person and a talented writer as well. So: Read the book. Think about life. Consider her claim that Woody Allen has a great body.  

Red

 This is what I wore to visit my husband's very elegant European grandmother.

The cardigan and dress are thrifted. The cardigan is recently thrifted, but the dress has been around since late fall. This is the first time I'm wearing it for some reason. I guess I've decided it's more of a spring/summer dress than fall/winter dress.

If you were wondering what was in my hand it was Sunshine's leash. There she is sniffing around.

The cardigan was discarded quickly. It was cool for a second after the rain, but then temperatures rose again. I'm a little worried about summer. It's going to be a scorcher.

Here are my strawberry shoes. I call them my strawberry shoes because they are shoes with strawberries on them. 

I love this dress. I love the collar. I love the texture. I love the color. It is just a lovely dress in which to visit an elegant woman. When I came home, I changed into a "This Tee is Bananas" T-shirt because you need balance in your life.