Striped Rejuvination

This piece of green-striped rayon has been through several sartorial permutations.
I'm too hot and grumpy to search for a photo of it's first incarnation today. 
Maybe I'll add it later -- it was a strappy empire waist undergarment for an olive green poufy skirt that I wore with a red Chinese dragon print corset-style top. Or maybe I'll sketch it for you. Later. 

Next, I turned it into a tunic and wore it. A lot.

Oh look, that's when I had pansies next to the metal tub!
And the old favorite clog-style mules!
(I just grabbed the first photo that popped up).

It was starting to irritate me this summer. I want to wear as few garments as possible and the narrowness of where it hit on my arms was NOT GOOD.
Layering was not going well, it was too long:

So in one of my trying to get an outfit for the day frenzies, I ripped 7" off the hem:

Aaaaah. Better proportions. AND NOW I had fabric to use for sleeves!
Yay me!

You remember my new mission to put sleeves on everything, right? 
This is the third revamp in three months. Slow going -- at this rate, Repair Mountain will recede in maybe five years. Ha.

In addition, new shoes:

Mexican huraches purchased on Olvera St, downtown LA. $22, new! Super comfy!

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday.
Because hidden biceps and visible knees.

52 Pick-me-up: Indigo / Gratitude

••• 

I went to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve today.

It did not go as expected.

What does this have to do with this week's color/emotion prompt, Indigo / Gratitude? 
I'll get to that, don't worry. 

It was a beautiful morning, and I was looking for any excuse to procrastinate on finishing my taxes. 

ROAD TRIP!!!!! 

The drive up San Francisquito Canyon Road was lovely. 

I took a bunch of road photos (I'll post them on Flickr later) and entered the Antelope Valley with great anticipation. 

Then I got to the entry gate and discovered that I didn't have my wallet. 

OH NOOOOOOOOOO! 

That was not the worst part. Just wait.  

I took a selfie at the Reserve's entry on Lancaster Road, with it as a backdrop. 

Note the lack of poppies. [Chloe frames c/o Ditto]
Linking this up with Patti's Visible Monday.

I was on a mission to find poppies. 

CA Poppies. Done. 

Well, why not take some outfit shots and be a silly fashion blogger dressed inappropriately? 

Argh! You can't see my INDIGO pants!
You CAN see the DIY poncho that I made by cutting a hole in the middle of a throw blanket.
(As reported by Enid on Friday)

Alright, enough of that.

I was getting low on gas.

I contemplated the situation and decided to go home a longer, more well-traveled route.

Remember, I DIDN'T HAVE MY WALLET.

What I DID have was a change purse in my console for feeding parking meters.

(Thank you, Severo, for insisting that I have this).

$2.83 won't get me a gallon of gas. Trouble brews.

Also in my dash, I found a spare AAA card (they'll give you $5 of gas if stranded) and a jade amulet.
(The woman who gave it to me said jade gives "luck" to travelers. I needed all the luck I could get. I put it on).

I zeroed out the "mileage counter" to keep track of my miles.

Onward.

Fifteen miles later, the "very low on gas" light started blinking.

What did I do?

I stopped and took more outfit photos! 

Why not? It was a good field full of poppies! The best of the day!

Exiting the car, I found a bunch of burrs on my pants:

A good look, don't you think?It's known as a "3D" print.Now you can see the color of the pants.

Got the shot! Thank you wind!

I had cut the poncho's neckhole too big, so I cinched it in with a giant safety pin that I obtained in Austin, TX.
All that orangish field behind me is poppies. They were all closed because it was windy and cloudy.

It was 5 more miles to I-5, and 28 miles down (literally, so I was able to coast) the freeway I saw a bunch of roadside business. I parked to assess my situation. And scour the car for more change. 

Success!

I found the other change purse, it had some quarters in it!

I was now up to $4.30.

The Mobil station was charging $3.25/gal.

Could I find better?

I consulted the GasBuddy app.

Yes, a 7-11 across the freeway was listed at $2.99.

Even better, it was down to $2.74 when I got there.

That would get me 1.5 gallons.

I WILL MAKE IT HOME.

Thank you GasBuddy for finding me the best deal in town.

Thank you Prius for your great mileage.

Thank you amulet for your magical powers.

Thank you readers for indulging me!
Gratitude, it's a powerful thing.

Indigo / Gratitude -- link and tell!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy St TARDIS Tuesday

PURCHASED/ PURLOINED/ GIFTED/ 

I saw this StyleMint blue/black/green dress on someone in Go Chic or Go Home, my online Digital Closet community and HAD to have it. It's rather cheap cotton blend knit that is now starting to pill and I'll keep wearing it until I kill it.
You've seen it before, but never combined like this!

Jan, of Fort Smith Stylista, kindly gave me the Duro Olowu shirt because I raved about hers, you can see how I sketched her in it here. The shirt had been sadly languishing in my closet because the right sleeve was too tight due to my lymphedema. Solution? I cut off the sleeves!

Severo gave me the socks, from his February Sock Haul in Brooklyn. These came in a 3-pack that sold for $1.99. He now checks my feet every morning to see what socks I'm wearing.
He has a gig in Boston this weekend. Will he bring home some new socks for my collection?

Linking up with Maricel's TARDIS Tuesday.

52 Pick-me-up: Magnolia

GIFTED/ 

A flower-themed week again! This time, the Magnolia.

photo by Irene Grassi on Flickr 

Magnolias can be found in a range of colors, pinks through whites:

photo by liz west on Flickr 

Our street has white ones like this:

photo by omk_489 on Flickr 

Instead of wearing something pink and white, I'm going with some Magnolia branding!

THIS Magnolia!

Yes, I sketched a Magnolia cupcake on a box lid!
This is the same Magnolia made famous in Sex and the City.
The vanilla/vanilla are my favorites!
Mmmmmm. Now I crave one.

Severo gave me all these garments. I'm wearing the tee back-to-front so you can see the Magnolia in the graphic.

Hey! It's a Visible week! I'll be there, later today.

Feeling flowery? Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Hat Trick

PURCHASED/ PURLOINED/ GIFTED 

This week is all about hats. Judith, the Style Crone, hosts "Hat Attack" on the first of every month.
She asks us to "...display your hat, headwrap, headpiece, fascinator, hair flower, headband or other adornment for your head..." This time the linky parties shall align, despite the fact that Mercury is still in retrograde.

I'm featuring my collection of ribbon hats.
They are made in China, I think with leftovers from apparel manufacturers. I bought them all at the 99 Cent Depot in Culver City, for $1.99!

[Screen capture from my Tumblr]

Here's the first one that I bought:

The ribbon is printed with this: "get wrapped in the fabric of MIMCO...........for frolicking"
What does that mean?

I played "match the hat" with a tee and scarf:

And:

And:

And:

And:

This last look has further permutations yet to occur. When they happen, you'll be the first to know.

My personal ribbon hat stack:

That's a drawing by Cidney Hochman behind the hats, not that you can see it.

What's your hat trick? Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Layers

PURCHASED/ GIFTED/ 

Pile it on! Layers week on 52 Pick-me-up.

52 Pick-me-up: Hibiscus

PURCHASED/ GIFTED/ 

Another flower week on 52 Pick-me-up, this time featuring the hibiscus.

I found this shirt, which you've seen before.

You could also go for a hibiscus inspired color palette...

I'll be linking up with Patti's Visible Monday later today.

Your turn:

52 Pick-me-up: Grunge

CREATED/ PURCHASED/ 

It's Grunge week on 52 Pick-me-up. Take the way back machine to Seattle, late 80s/early 90s.
Or not.
Here's my interpretation, without a speck of flannel in the equation:

Green grunge!

 Have you any grunge in your closet? Please share!

A Walk in the Woods

CREATED/ PURCHASED/ PURLOINED/ GIFTED/ PRESS SAMPLE*/ 

I'm still at my mom's.
It's still gloomy weather.
I'm still wearing the quilted corduroy shirt:

*pink puffed necklace courtesy of Capwell & Co

If I took it off (brrrr) I'd blend right into these woods along my aunt's driveway.
That is, if I lay down like a mossy log:

baby trees!

My scarf has a secret...

ducks in the paisley!

Isn't it a hoot? quack?
Connie, of Snow in the Air, gave it to me when we met up on my first day of the road trip.
She gave me a bag with lots of goodies, the most important being a bottle of water.
Yes, I started a road trip INTO THE DESERT forgetting to pack water.
Doh! Connie came to the rescue! Thanks Connie!

Um, no lack of water here. It has rained for a week. Enough already. I've got ramps to collect.

Captured during the one hour of sun we were allotted on Saturday

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday. Take a gander!

52 Pick-me-up: Go Green

CREATED/ PURCHASED/ GIFTED/ PURLOINED/ 

It's almost St Patty's Paddy's Day, when everyone wears green. Let's be sheep and do it too. Baa!

Severo found this coat for me. It's too heavy to wear around town, but it's fun to pose on the back patio with it.

What's underneath:

Patucci made the necklace. It includes SUPERBALLS!

Labels of the vintage coat and scarf:

Did Leslie give me the scarf? Was it her mom's? Can't remember.

Don't risk getting pinched on St Patty's Day. Go green, then link and tell!

An InLinkz Link-up

52 Pick-me-up: Crazy Legs

CREATED/ PURCHASED/ GIFTED/ 

Loving everyone's libation looks from last week!

Ready for another creative way to get dressed? This week, I'm asking you to find your craziest socks (or legwear) and use those as your sartorial inspiration. You don't have to wear the socks with the outfit. I certainly didn't!

As you are (hopefully) aware, I have my share of crazy socks.
Severo kindly provides me with many, such as the hula girl sample above.

How did these socks inspire me?

The days have long passed that I would wear a bikini top (at some point I'll go into why, but not today). I took the cue of the brightly colored flowers in the bra for my top and something green for the bottom. Sadly, no flower pattern on my legs [note to self: design some flower power tights STAT] but I don't think I'd have chosen the argyle tights if not for this challenge. They work, in some weird way.
It wasn't until I was cropping the sock photo this morning that I realized the Hawaiian shirt used as a background would have played well with my ensemble:

Oh well, next time!

Closeup of the tee graphic:

Yesterday was Mardi Gras, I think this is an appropriate choice!

In April, Severo and I will be having our own rendezvous with beignets. We're booked for two nights in the Garden District (he found an amazingly inexpensive hotel that rates OK on TripAdvisor). Maybe the only stop of my On the Edge road trip that we're meeting up. (NOLA appealed to his gluttonous side).
Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Can't wait to see YOUR cazy socks. If you want to keep it BIG EASY (harhar), simply shoot a photo and stick it on some social media. Anything with a URL can be linked!
Link and tell, people!

An InLinkz Link-up

Short Over Long, Long Story Short

CREATED/ PURCHASED/ PURLOINED/ GIFTED/

Still trying to work out something Short over Long, for this week's 52 Pick-me-up challenge.
This combination includes the top that I tried to wear on Tuesday [Wednesday's post]. I gave it another go on Wednesday.

It got no further than this photo.

Here's what I actually wore to work:

I match the neighbor's tangerine tree!

Poor thing, it needs water. It has the tiniest tangerines -- they're about 3/4" in diameter.

seedy and sour!

Link-up is still live until 2/5, 5:30am PST.
Got something short over long?