Let's Enjoy Fall!

In keeping with my last post, I want to remind people to enjoy November and fall before throwing yourself full force into December and Christmas madness. I love the December Christmas feeling but I love Thanksgiving too. Sometimes I even think I like it better (shush, don't tell). Why? Because it has all the things I love about Christmas, food, family, fun and none of the pressure to have a perfect holiday that I sometimes feel about Christmas. So throw a log on your fire, admire your fall leaves, have another piece of pumpkin bread. Let's savor the season, not race through!

Holiday Pretties

Now, I'm not one to start decorating for Christmas even before Halloween. It's actually one of my pet peeves, don't get me started. Anyway, I do love Christmas tree decorations. It seems like we have a ton but the reason for that is that my mother gives each of my kids a beautiful ornament every year at Thanksgiving. The idea is that when they grow up and move away, they will have a "starter set" of ornaments with meaning. What I'll have is an empty tree. While we are several years away from this happening, I'm always on the look out for pretties all my own. I found these two beauties at Anthropology.

I missed out on the sailing ship snow globe ornament from last year but these are also super pretty. I can't wait to hang them on my tree, although I will be waiting until after Thanksgiving to do so!

This makes me crazy!

My daughter, she's 12, wants to be Joan of Arc for Halloween this year. This part, I love. She recently studied Joan of Arc at school and independently picked this as her costume choice. Now, my daughter is tall for 12 and has a developing body. She looks like a teenager, not a child. This past weekend we started looking at costumes. The picture below is representative of what we found.

Can I just say, WTF? Why are all women's costumes "sexy" something or other? Needless to say, we were horrified and went to the fabric store and I'll be making her something. But, if we wonder why girls don't appreciate their worth or feel inferior, look no farther!

Costume Idea!

It's fall and my kids are going back and forth on what to wear as a costume. I found this great idea on Pinterest. The original link is here. It was originally an idea for a girls tulle tutu but I love how it was done above for a witch costume. CMB is thinking about being a witch this year and this might just do the trick!

Schooling

CMB's horse is named Dancer. We bought him about 3 years ago when she outgrew the little pinto pony she had learned to ride on. He's about 15.3 hands and a registered quarter horse. For those who don't know, horses are measured in "hands" which are 4 inches each and they are measured from the withers (at the base of the neck) to the ground. Anyway, he's been pretty good and she's had 3 good hunt seasons on him. However, he developed some bad habits as CMB got more demanding and became a better rider. She also got busier when middle school started. Dancer lives on my parent's property about an hour from where we live. He started bucking people off, well, CMB and I specifically as we are the only 2 who ride him. He went to spend the summer with a trainer to see if some good old fashion discipline would help. CMB and I went to visit last weekend. He looks really good and she had a nice ride on him. Hopefully, things will improve when he comes home.

An Interesting Side Effect of the Capsule Wardrobe

I'm going to start right off by saying this isn't my closet. Although, I totally wish it was! I've posted in the past about trying to buy fewer, better clothes and stick to my defined style and colors. The interesting side effect is that you really don't want to buy stuff. I guess that's the point. I click around on web sites and flip through magazines but, if I already have the perfect navy turtleneck sweater, do I need 2 or 3 less than perfect ones? No. The hardest thing for me is re-training myself to look for clothes that really fit my style now that I have narrowed it down. I admit I love dresses and pencil skirts. There are times when I fill my on-line shopping cart or eBay watch list or dressing room with them. Then I look at them and remember, I can't wear heels at all anymore (severe arthritis in my ankle and big toe joint) and I think flats worn with pencil skirts and most dresses make me look dumpy. I know lots of people wear them and look great but I hate the way it looks on me. Same thing with button front blouses. In theory, I love the crisp look and style of a button front. In reality, I have narrow shoulders and they don't really fit right. Still, I long for them. It's been an interesting transition. My wallet thanks me and I love the ease of getting dressed and out the door in the morning so I plan to keep it up.

Not getting it done, J Crew

Ok, first off this is not a good picture but my computer is not performing well this morning. I just can't get over how, I guess the word is over, I am with J Crew. There was a time almost all my clothes came from there. I've thrown away the last several catalogues after a quick skim and a laugh. The super skinny models, the sloppy layered look, the messy hair and don't get me started on the dropped shoulder trend. All of this was visually off putting but the lack of lined dress pants, the increased costs and the declining quality are also a major factor. The last time I had the chance to walk into a brick and mortar store, I turned around and walked right back out. Really the final straw is the apparent demise of the School Boy Blazer, one of my staples. I wear a blazer almost every day in my business casual office. I have wool school boys for fall and winter and linen ones for spring and summer. I hate the popped collar on the Regent blazer and am not a fan of the Rhodes or Campbell either. The prices are higher and the fit isn't as good on me. I'm busy scouring ebay and snapping up school boys when I can. What do you think? Am I being to hard on the "Crew"?