Plant-Based Fashion Diet

Hi to all my Gal Pals,

I am sorry to say this is going be one of those blogs where I complain about something related to aging since that is my life these days. As I got older I expected to have to get glasses in order to read, I expected to have to get a mammogram every year, I expected I would be able to access Medicare and I expected that I would probably feel achy throughout my joints when I got out of bed. Much to my surprise and quite unexpected are some of the perks of being a senior citizen like senior discount Wednesdays at Von Maur, senior discount passes to ride the Metra, senior travel deals including hotel and car rental, and senior exemption on property taxes. However, one of the things I did not expect and really pisses me off because I hate to be stereotyped is the increase in car insurance premiums. Like Aunty Acid says, “I have no words to describe this day. I do, however, have a lot of hand gestures”. Apparently, it is known to all (but me) that in your 60s and 70s the car insurance rates are likely to start climbing uphill because we are more accident-prone than those in their middle age. Furthermore, regardless of the degree of the accident, older drivers have suffered greater juries and perish at a higher rate than younger individuals. I feel like the insurance companies have already put me in my grave. It is very much like comedian George Burns once said, “I get up in the morning and read the obituary column. If my name’s not there, I eat breakfast.” Heaven forbid that I should perish and could no longer contribute to the wealth of the insurance companies! I guess it is like Aunty Acid so wisely said “It’s never too late to be what you want to be. Unless you want to be younger…then you’re screwed”. Well, I have said what I had to say and thank you for listening.

When I go to Michigan, I typically shop in South Haven, Saugatuck and Holland. We now have added Grand Haven to that list where the main hub for “Marushka” apparel is located. You might have seen some of their tops in the mail catalogues that come to your homes. Marushka was founded in 1971 by Richard Sweet who left teaching high school art to follow his dreams of designing and hand printing framed fabric wall art. Richard’s classic designs depicted the landscape, plants, and wildlife found along waterways and shorelines. The hand silk screened designs quickly drew a national and international following. The company currently maintains an archive of over 3000 original designs. In 1985, using the same techniques, the company began producing apparel and accessories under the name Michigan Rag Company and appeals to a broad range of ages. The 40+ year old company still continues Marushka’s commitment to designing and hand printing all the clothing and accessories it produces. They include long and short sleeved t-shirts, hooded and non-hooded sweatshirts, tunics and more. Not only are they beautiful but they are very affordable. I have noticed that if you buy Marushka from other outlets it is more expensive than buying directly from their store.

I always like to show you an aspect of landscape design that relates to the fashion design highlighted in the blog. Below is the cluster of Shasta daisies outside my dinning room window. I think it really highlights the repetition of a single plant in the Marushka designs.

This cluster of daisies measures approximately 4 feet by 4 feet and each stem measures approximately 3 feet in height. I see roses outside one of my dining room windows and these beauties outside another. There is something special about mass plantings.

OK, let the Marushka fashion show begin!

This is probably the most famous Marushka design. The top is a hemless, crewneck, drop sleeved, very light weight sweatshirt. This is my favorite Marushka top because it reminds me of the poppy garden my dad planted in our back yard when I was a kid. It is so light weight you can’t believe it is a sweatshirt. The hem of the sweatshirt is loose and falls at what I call the “sweet spot” because it hides the belly. What I love about these designs is that you can dress them up or dress them down. Here I have chosen to dress it up by wearing wide leg black pants (really trending right now) and patent leather shoes with slightly elevated heels.

I think these accessories are perfect with this outfit. The leather flower bracelet and clay earrings are not a set but they really help to highlight the poppy pattern in the top. With a crew neckline I typically don’t wear a necklace unless it falls at the base of my neck. Here I am wearing a silver chain with a tiny pearl and silver beads. I kept with the black-white-red theme going with the watch and rings.

You can see that I am drawn to the designs with repetition of a single stemmed flower. This is the same type of sweatshirt seen above except I am dressing it down. I paired it with my leather looking skinny pants and black leather shoes.

I love to mix patterns but it has to be done in a subtle way. Here I am wearing a polka dot watch because it reminds me of the seeds in the sunflowers but I am wearing yellow and white checks in my earrings which match the colors of the sunflower petals. I took the slide off the leather necklace and just wore the leather necklace to match the leather looking pants. A simple black bracelet and ring completes the outfit.

This is a great fall outfit. You can tell by now that I am drawn to this style of sweatshirt and I love the repetitive pattern of pumpkins. This green color is trending as is white for the fall. I really dressed it down with the sneakers but then dressed it up a little with a little bling in the jewelry.

I paired the outfit with mostly gold and white jewelry. I love the adjustable necklaces. The adjustable necklace here I wore as a choker and the little gold bar says “believe”. I layered it with my “chic” necklace that contains small rhinestone chips. My earring are white leaves with gold hoops and my bracelet it made of gold and white beads. Continuing the gold and white is my watch and one of my rings looks like gold and rhinestone leaves. The other ring looks like a flower and leaves containing small diamond and emerald gems.

OK, lets talk about my weight. The good news is that even though the doctor lowered the dosage of my thyroid meds, my metabolism is still running on the hyper level so I am still able to eat pretty much what I want without gaining weight. This is good because I am one of those people who order too much food for get-togethers and I just had a small birthday party for my daughter and son-in-law (Jessica and Jessie). I love comfort food so I served fried chicken, Mac-n-cheese, potato wedges, sour cream cucumber salad and bread -and-butter. I served 4 different types of ice cream and way too many cupcakes. So you know what I have been eating for the last 5 days. This is not exactly dietetic food but I only gained 2 pounds. The bad news is that once again my doctor is lowering my meds which will slow down my metabolism. I am hoping the trade-off is that I might be able to sleep for more than 5 hours a night. This means that exercise might be in my future because the holidays are right around the corner. You know by now how I feel about going to the gym. It’s like Aunty Acid says “My favorite exercise in the gym is lateral neck turns. I will walk on, shake my head, think ‘No way’ and walk out”. Amen to that!

Well, until next month, remember God loves you and so do I.