Stop and Smell the Roses

‘Stop and smell the roses’ has become my mantra during these hectic days. I feel like life is a whirlwind and I am sitting in the middle of the chaos. I put my house up for sale and had a contract on it in two weeks. If all goes well, the closing will be the first week in August. Other than having planned my two week vacation for the first two weeks in August, having no place to live (although I might be headed to Lockport), and having to figure out what furniture to take and what to get rid of (I am going to downsize), I have nothing to worry about! I want to rent a townhouse on a limited budget which is not easy to do. I pray a lot and have great faith that all will work out so I am not panicking. But enough about me, let’s talk fashion.

In case you haven’t guessed, this blog is about roses in fashion. A lot of things are trending this year like neon colors and fringe. Other than a couple of workout T-shirts, I haven’t seen much in the way of neon colored clothes in the stores. I love fringe and have several pieces in my closets. In today’s blog I have combined both neon and fringe with rose patterns. Rose patterns seem to come in and out of fashion but appear to have become really popular after the “Beauty and the Beast” release in 2017. In fact, jeans with roses on them, either in the pattern or with an appliqué, have been very popular since then. You can find them embroidered on hats, jackets and purses. We associate the rose with love and who can forget the line in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

We tend to give roses to someone when we want to communicate we love them, when we want someone to know we are thinking about them or maybe to communicate we are sorry after an argument. However, there are some arguments that even a rose can’t fix. I am not sure who said it but I agree, when a woman starts laughing during an argument, she has flipped her psycho switch and is about to murder you. Flowers are not going to solve this problem! Roses have been a way to communicate to others for many centuries. The language of flowers first gained popularity in the mid-1800’s. The color of the rose has meaning such as white for spirituality and new starts, red for love and romance, yellow used to be sent (in 1800’s) to communicate jealousy and infidelity but in modern times it means friendship, cheer and good health, pink signifies grace, elegance and beauty, orange means enthusiasm, passion and achievement, peach means modesty, sincerity and gratitude while cream suggests charm and thoughtfulness.

When the flower delivery guy brings that bouquet to our door, we can’t help but smile. Comedian George Carlin once said about our love for flowers, “Flowers are one of the few things we buy, bring home, watch die and we don’t ask for our money back.” Not only do we love to see them on our tables but we like to see them as a pattern on our clothes unless you are my daughter. I often wonder if Jessica got any of my genes. Let me give you an example. At Christmas I decorate 6 rooms in my house from top to bottom with each room having a theme (ex., the family room is Santa’s workshop). My daughter’s idea of Christmas decorations consists of a green Gatorade bottle with mini Christmas lights stuffed into it. She would prefer to have a rock garden consisting of nothing but rocks so she doesn’t have to water any plants. She typically wears black and white outfits but might occasionally throw in a muted color. But I must say, we went out shopping the other day and she liked a dress that had flowers on it. Maybe I am wearing her down or the genes I passed on to her are finally kicking in!

Finding a garden picture to depict the theme of this blog was easy. I love roses until they get black spot (ugh!), but not all my varieties get the disease. Let me show you a picture of my favorite roses in the yard.

This is the entry way into my perennial garden. You have to pass under this rose covered arbor to get to the garden gate off to the right of the arbor. This picture was taken a few weeks ago. The arbor is usually a mass of pink flowers but, as many rose growers know, you occasionally have to do a heavy pruning and this was the year for these climbing roses but you get the idea. Like many rose plants, the flowers only last for a few weeks and the loss of the flowers is even greater once the Japanese Beetles come out around July 4th. I’ve given up trying to control nature so I have to accept that there will be some losses to insects and animals.

So let’s look through some rose colored glasses at a few of my favorite outfits for the summer months.

In the first picture I wanted to show you how I store my long necklaces (typically 18 inches or longer). I hang them on the 4 rods of a pant hanger which makes it real convenient. All I have to do is swing out each rod until I find the one I want. Altogether, I have 43 long necklaces.

I get so many compliments on this neon summer print dress. I know it is hard to tell but the whole dress is made up of rows of roses. The dress has white lines going down it in a random pattern. It has green roses (constant rejuvenation of spirit), orange roses (passion and enthusiasm), white roses (spirituality), pink roses (grace and elegance), yellow roses (cheer), salmon roses (desire and excitement) and black roses (sorrow). It is no wonder when I wear this dress I’m filled with mixed emotions! I am wearing it with a great pair of black, 2 inch heel heals that are open at the toe and back with cut-outs on the sides. I love these shoes because the upper part of the shoe is made of a stretch material and takes the shape of my foot.

The jewelry consists of 3 brass bangle bracelets with different patterns on them and a necklace with multiple brass strands and hundreds of tiny brass beads on the strands. The earrings are similar to the ones I wore in the last blog except these have green leaves and are triangular in shape. The ring is an orange topaz.

If you read blog #2 you know how much I love ponchos. I have several summer ponchos but this one is my favorite. I love the colors and the fringe! I wear a white sleeveless shirt underneath because any other color takes away from the beautiful flowers on the poncho. The roses are a combination of peach, salmon and rose-pink with other flowers of different color blues and green leaves. The stems are silver metallic strands going through the poncho. I paired it with peach cropped pants but you have so many choices as to the color of your pants when you wear this top. The sandals are so comfortable! They are Clarks and are in a peachy-pink color.

You already know how much I love antique jewelry. These earrings look like little butterflies with blue topaz on their heads and are clip-ons. The bracelet is costume jewelry but the blue stones match exactly. The bracelet and earrings are not a set but they look like they are just that. I matched it with rings that have peach coloring on one and a turquoise blue on the other. Both colors are in the poncho and both came from an antique store.

This top reminds me of days gone by when I used to love the peasant look. It has a connected sleeveless under shirt and the over shirt falls right at that “sweet spot” just below my belly to give the appearance of not having a large belly (how sweet it is!!). The small abstract designs on the top are a deep gray blue and there is navy and gray blue in the flower pattern so the top looks great with navy blue jeans.

I put a picture of my sandals with the jewelry because they got cut off in the picture and I think they are so cute. They are kind of a goldenrod coloring and match one of the colors in the flower pattern. The colors in the earrings are the exact colors in the flower pattern also. The cute little silver bracelet came from a fine jewelry store in South Haven and the center of the flower is gold. The flower is a charm and is interchangeable with other charms. My silver collar necklace has a flower slide that matches some of the rose colors in the flower pattern of my top. My watch has a navy blue band although it looks black in the picture.

Well, considering all that is going on in my life, like a lot of packing, I was surprised I got this blog out in time. I have managed to stay the same weight even though I love ice cream in the summer. I keep lying to myself by saying I have replaced my fat with muscle mass from working in the garden. It makes me feel better. Oh well, Like Elbert Hubbard (great philosopher) once said, “Don’t take life to seriously, you’ll never get out of it alive”. Wow, think about that one!

Well till next time, remember God loves you and so do I.