Birthday Aftermath

Hi to all my Gal Pals,

My birthday was in May but I just got around to doing some retail damage with my birthday gift cards hence the “aftermath”. The cake has a “56” on it because this is blog 56. I could let my readers assume I’m 56 but most of you know I am not. In reality 72 is the correct number. I am reminded of a quote from comedian Victor Borge (some of you will remember who that was) who said “I’m celebrating my 75th birthday, which is sort of embarrassing because I’m 85”. My little Matty will be celebrating his 8th birthday this month so I made sure he was in the picture. The clothes I bought with my birthday gift cards will be the focus of this blog’s fashions. I just want you to know that I donated clothes in my closet to make room for these new purchases. Do you realize that I have shown over 150 outfits from my closets? I believe I have a very eclectic style because I like to change it up. In fact “change” will be the focus of this months blog. So let’s get started with a complaint (isn’t that a surprise) about how society attaches ridiculous idioms to senior citizens. The ones that I really hate are “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and “Older people get set in their ways”. Based on past blogs you know how upset I get when senior citizens get stereotyped as if we are all the same. How mad do I get when I hear someone say one of these outdated idioms? I think Crabby Maxine can best describe my anger when she said “I was going to get one of those greeter jobs at the discount store until I found out that ‘Kiss My Ass’ still doesn’t count as a greeting”. Yep, that mad! First off, I am offended by the comparison to a dog. Secondly, (I can only speak from my perspective) that most of the retirees I know love learning new things and don’t mind change. In fact, they love having the time now to learn about new things. They have the time to travel to learn about new cultures, to engage in learning about new sports like pickle ball and to join clubs, like book clubs, where they get to learn about others and their opinions. When I hear the younger generation’s expectations that seniors cannot “change” their established pattern of opinions and behavior or must adhere to a rigid schedule, I think to myself, I knew of rigid people like this who were in their 20’s and 30’s. Maybe this was true of seniors from past generations but we have come a long way, baby! Watch out world and don’t get in our way because things have changed!

Changes can be good or changes can be bad but either way people tend to notice the change. If your friends are used to your hair being a certain way for a long time then you get it cut and styled in a different way, they will notice. If you behave in a way that is not consistent with what the people around you have come to expect, they will notice. Same with your clothes. If you have a particular style or color that you always wear, for example khaki colored cargo pants or always wearing gray sweat pants, people will notice if you wear a different color and style. I am not suggesting you change what you wear if this is what you are comfortable wearing but on those occasions where you want others to notice you, change it up. You will rarely find me in the same color or style. In fact, one of the reasons I started this blog was because when I was about to retire one of the women that I worked with said she was going to miss my fashion show meaning the clothes I wore to work. That is because each day was a surprise. I loved changing things up. The pieces I bought with my gift cards are completely different from each other and the rest of the clothes in my closets.

You are probably tired of seeing the area in front of my townhouse but I decorate it differently for each season and it is never the same from year to year. That is why my neighbors tell me how much they like how I decorate the space and can’t wait to see what I am doing next. Just like with women’s fashions, sometimes simple subtle changes in the environment are noticed.

This is my spring display with pansies, stock and Mandivillas. I decorated with a windmill, green picket fence, metal flowers, spring chicks, and different colored pots.

This is my summer display. I switched out the chicks for a bicycle with a flower basket attached in the front and back. I put out mostly terra cotta pots and added the bird planter. I also added the planter in front with a metal hummingbird and flower decoration coming out of it. I added a few metal flowers hanging on the fence and I planted an assortment of summer flowers. On my front porch I put a different outdoor painting on an easel to match the season. Just these subtle changes and my neighbors notice.

OK, let the fashion show begin.

What is new here are the wide leg pair of pants with the bouquets of small flowers that I got on sale at Chicos. The gauzy, yellow top has small embroidered flowers around the neckline, bottom hem and sleeves and looks so cute with the pants. There are at least 5 different colors in the pattern of the pants so I can make it look like a whole new outfit just by changing the color and style of the top and changing up the accessories. It looks good and is so comfortable. I chose my flat black sandals with the attached black flowers.

The bouquet of flowers in the pants seem very feminine to me so I chose simple pieces of jewelry. The coral choker necklace and matching earrings go perfectly with the lighter coral in the flowers as does the watch. The yellow and white bangle bracelets match the colors in the flowers and the white and gold ring look like the white flowers in the design. The green and gold ring matches the darker parts of the leaves.

This new top from Von Maur makes me think of a modern painting. Definitely a change from the last outfit. I like the straight black lines of the seam stitching that helps to define each section of the top and I think the large buttons really stand out. I love the collar and cut of this top! The high neckline negates the need for a necklace. The pants are the Jams I often talk about because they are so lightweight you barely know you are wearing pants. That is why I have them in so many colors. I paired it with one inch heeled black sandals that also have straight lines to match the ribbing in the top and seem to section off my feet in the style of the top.

Since the colors are bursting in the top, I prefer to wear basic black accessories. The black bangles, wooden ring and earrings match the shape of the buttons while the straight lines of the watch match the black ribbing. I added a little color with the blue-green stone of the other ring.

I love this short kimono style jacket from Von Maur! I think what I love the most about it is the mix of patterns. I love the bold flowers against the wide stripes. The only color the same in both is the dusty pink. I have a lot of black tops, each one in a different style, but the black top I have underneath the kimono is my favorite one. It is sleeveless with a loosely fitted bodice and then flairs at the waist to hide my bulging belly. I paired the tops with wide-leg summer black pants and two inch heeled sandals with an attached flower.

There is nothing more Asian than a kimono so I chose accessories that also have an Asian flair. The slide and matching earrings are shells that have both the taupe and dusty pink color in the wide stripes. The bracelet has a very subtle pink coloring to the beads. Because the bracelet is very simple, I wore a very simple silver metallic watch so my wrists were well balanced. The rust colored jasper stone of one ring matched the rust coloring of one of the thin stripes in the kimono. I think the off-white coloring of the pearl goes beautifully with the off-white wide stripe in the kimono.

You know how I said some change is good and some change is bad? Well my current weight leans toward the latter. I blame it on the consistent 90 degree and above heat. My first excuse is that because of the heat, my dog would only allow me a one mile walk instead of our normal two miles even though we walked at 6:00 am when it was a few degrees cooler. My second excuse is that I do not have a working sweat system so I tend to overheat quickly and get very sick so I hibernate in my air conditioned house. My third excuse is that I get terrible headaches going in and out of extreme temperatures so just going to the grocery store (which is usually freezing) sets me up for a terrible sinus problem so I hibernate. I really don’t like hibernating because I like to be out-and-about with my friends and I am very claustrophobic . When I know I am going to go into hibernating mode, I make sure I have enough food in the house. The problem is that I bought 2 large coffee cakes to keep me company. They weren’t much company since they were gone after 4 days. Due to so little exercise and lots of ingested calories I gained 5 pounds. “Woe is me” is an idiom that definitely applies here. It kinda reminds me of something Auntie Acid said “I just ran 5 miles and what a workout! I didn’t think that ice cream truck would ever stop!”. It is amazing what we will do with a little motivation! Right now I should be highly motivated to lose the weight but I am feeling more like Crabby Maxine who says “I think I am emotionally constipated because I haven’t given a crap all week”. Maybe next week I will be motivated (or not) to do something to shed these pounds. Sorry about all of Crabby Maxine’s anal references. She must be having a bad week and unfortunately she has no filter. I will speak to her about it.

So, until next month, remember God loves you and so do I. Happy 4th of July!