Live Colorfully!

I've been to a bunch of music gigs, madly taking photos (when allowed), scribble sketching in the dark, and making a marked attempt to stand out from the sea of black.

I really hit rainbow gold when I ran into Nipper at Evie Sands and Amy Raasch at The Federal on Saturday.

photos by Ruth

I remember admiring Nipper as she pontificated in the Otis courtyard during lunch break, circa 1986.
She was an Illustration major. She sported amazing shredded fishnets.

Here are some patio selfies showcasing the double paisley effect:

Too dark, must change location

Kept it a wide crop -- I loved all the weird angles with my ladder "tripod", the annoying bed thing that Severo scavenged, the stabby ray of sunlight, and the hose head, which color coordinated so nicely.

I wore this exact same outfit twice. To the above mentioned show and to the Pettybreakers at The Coach House the night before. No outfit shots from that night. [Sad face].
However I DID capture this moment:

My hair matches my treat! (No, I don't mean Severo)

Severo's BFF Rafael now drums for the Pettybreakers and I insisted on this group selfie.

Scribble sketches (on Sketch Blog) and an "I'm with the band" (on Glutton Blog) posts coming eventually. One more gig tonight that I want to include!

Par-tay on!

Linking up with
Patti's Visible Monday
Catherines #iwillwearwhatilike
Shelbee's On the Edge of the Week

Hello 2019

Long time no "see".

These are my "Tiny Planets" for the work week. I make them with an app, using elements of my outfit. 

The app bends the photo into a circle.

I've been posting my outfits on Instagram.

Here's what I wore to work last week:

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Tuesday's tri color selections are: coffee brown, terrific teal, happy yellow! #COTDstyle All on the back of my shirt, though my "teal" is really green.

A post shared by anne m bray (@annembray) on Jan 8, 2019 at 1:06pm PST

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Plants and Animals #cotdstyle

A post shared by anne m bray (@annembray) on Jan 9, 2019 at 1:04pm PST

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Colors of the day (#COTDstyle) for Thursday are: pale gray and subdued lime! Both in my scarf.

A post shared by anne m bray (@annembray) on Jan 10, 2019 at 1:07pm PST

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Rain or Shine, I've been shooting Daily Trucks since August 2015! I had this dress printed by @redbubble so I would coordinate with my 2017 art exhibition at the reception. #cotdstyle See recent truck images at #dailytruck_amb

A post shared by anne m bray (@annembray) on Jan 11, 2019 at 1:39pm PST

As you can see, Friday's outfit was the favorite!

For this post, I learned how to embed IG posts.
So easy.
On Instagram, you go to "More, ie the triple dots" and choose "Embed".
You'll then get html code to paste into wherever.

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike

A Cloudy Day at the Beach, Hunting Island, SC

Last week Severo and I flew East to visit my mom on Fripp Island in South Carolina.
Despite my clumsy falling-and-spraining-my-knee episode, we had a great time.
[I think I have eaten my fill of shrimp for a few months!]

Here is our visit to Hunting Island, the next Island north of Fripp (which is a gated, private resort).
Hunting Island is one of the few South Carolina State Parks with beach access and camping.
It was hard hit by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and the park was closed for a long time, much to the consternation of all who like to visit. There are still a lot of fallen trees and riff-raff on the beach and throughout the island. Slowly, the state is getting it cleaned up, and rebuilding demolished structures.

Severo, me, Mom

Mom and Severo survey the beach.

Beach vista. The "foam" on the sand is soap suds. I don't know why.

Beach feet.

How to dress in an uncoordinated manner, plus cane.
A non-fashion comfort statement!

Driving around to the lagoon, rustic road!

At the lagoon, with tilting palms -- result of the hurricane.

Waterlogue (digital watercolor) of the lagoon.

The Hunting Island lighthouse, as seen through one of the display shed's windows.

The lighthouse, which one can climb for a $2 admission fee. We didn't.

Unintentional selfie outtake, as one does when everyone is 60+.
The tilted horizon adds to the whole effect.

Linking up with
Patti's Visible Monday
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Judith's (April) Hat Attack

A World of My Own

We interrupt our usual programming for some words from Severo:

Come one, come all!

Step into the famous East West Studios, where the likes of Frank Sinatra, the Rolling Stones, and both Elvises have trod.

Behold Studio 1's massive 80 channel Neve board, originally commissioned for recording Michael Jackson's Thriller album.

(no actual knobs were touched in the taking of this photo)

What is that swirl of activity behind me, outside the inner sanctum?

It's a CD release/ listening party for this guy:

Derrick Anderson!

His first solo CD, "A World Of My Own" is a sparkly collection of pop gems.

[non-affiliate link to Amazon]

Oh look, SpyGirl even showed up:

There were a few Friends of Derrick there:

[image stolen from Jim Laspesa]

Fantastic fun, it was a 90-00's LA Pop scene reunion.
Congratulations to Derrick and thank you Jim for hosting such a fabulous bash.

We'll let Derrick have the [almost] last word:

Linking up with
Patti's Visible Monday
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike
Shelbee's On the Edge of the Week

Summer Travel -- Packing Light

Last week I bombarded my Instagram with my week-long whirlwind adventure on the East Coast.

Fun times! 

I did not want to pay for inflight checked luggage, was traveling by various modes of transportation (plane, ferry, bus, subway, train), and needed to keep my load streamlined. I required a range of garments to take me from the city (Providence and Manhattan) to casual 4th of July activities (and inactivity) at my Mom's. Not to mention a Smithereens concert in the Hamptons. 

All packed and ready to go, with a Züca roll-aboard and Fabletics tote.
This is before I realized that I could use the tote's yoga mat straps to anchor my pillow.

For packing, I've been using an ever-changing Excel doc for years.

Both a hand-written list and my Excel chart. 

The Monday before I left, I came up with a perfect travel outfit:

I added black modal lounge pants and clogs and wore this on three (maybe four) days of my trip, including my day in Manhattan with Ally (see Ally's writeup here). Perfect fabrications for summer in the East (cotton, rayon modal) and the knits gave comfortable stretch.

The Züca roll-aboard comes with a set of six zippered pouches, which helps compartmentalize one's packing.
Here are the socks that I packed:

I only wore the two pairs in the foreground. The weather was too hot.

Another item that I didn't wear was what I call my "Paris" tunic,
so called because the print reminds me of a 50's French illustration style:

I just wasn't feeling it.

To be more efficient, I now save my packing charts and notate which garments did not get worn. This can save me from packing them again. With the above tunic, I remember thinking "If only this were 4" longer." I have more of the fabric, so it has been sent to the Sewing Mountain for rehab.

Linking up with My Refined Style
and
Patti's Visible Monday

Do you ever pack the same thing over and over and never wear it?

52 Pick-me-up: Amethyst / Forgiveness / Belonging

••• 

The 52 Pick-me-up prompts this week are: Amethyst / Forgiveness / Belonging 

I've been on an 80's nostalgia kick, triggered by seeing a performance by Stan Ridgway (Wall of Voodoo).
All week, Stan and WoV have been my soundtrack. 

We'll start today's post with an outfit including orange and Amethyst striped leggings from Tweeds. 

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday.
Can't overlook me in this outfit!
[5/9] also linking with Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike

Anyone remember Tweeds? It was an early "cool" mail-order company (vs. preppy L.L. Bean's, Land's End, etc).
I got these leggings in 1988 or 89. Hey! They're Vintage!
(Enid called them "antique". Enid is a brat.)

Here's a closer look, to get the full glory of the lower half of the pattern smash:

Turquoise laces c/o the nice girl at Fluevog on Abbot Kinney.
Pink/turquoise Keds snagged on Poshmark -- I love Poshmark!!!!

Amethyst-the-gemstone also gets the spotlight today.

I had amethysts in my wedding ring (HAD being the operative word -- the first cracked on day 2 of my honeymoon. Yes, it was an omen, I should have paid attention). I designed the ring and I wish the silversmith friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who made it had told me it was a bad design (he might have tried, can't remember). ALL the Amethysts are long gone (as is the wasbund). The silversmith also made a keeper ring that I now wear in my pinky.

Here are: the retired wedding ring, 

a new Amethyst stacking ring (again from Poshmark),
the keeper ring (it's a keeper!),
Spanish St. Lucy postcard,
additional artifacts from the DEF wasbund era in a Mexican matchbox.

I don't remember WHY I chose Amethysts for my wedding ring. I didn't research its spiritual qualities, I went with intuition. Which brings us to one of this week's emotional words: Forgiveness. I'm still working on that one re the wasbund.
Maybe when I'm 64?

Amethyst / Forgiveness / Belonging -- link and tell! (Anything purple)