Month: January 2014

Wardrobe Architect: Designing and Building Thoughtful Attire. Week One. Making Style More Personal.

The Wardrobe Architect
Colette Patterns has a blog called the Coletterie where various things to do with sewing, fashion and the like are discussed.  This year they are launching the Wardrobe Architect, which is a way for us all to think carefully about the clothing we acquire.  Here’s a link to the introductory post.  Each week there is an activity which will build on the previous week’s activity.  
This week’s activity had a worksheet to complete.  Here are my answers.
History:
How has your personal history informed the way you dress?  When did your tastes crystalized?  How have they changed over the years, and why?
I like a neat and tidy look and I like comfortable clothes that are feminine.  I like dresses and skirts  and styles from the 50s.  I think this came about in high school/college when I felt the design choices from that era offered me more choices than my own era.
Philosophy:
How does your philosophy, spirituality or religion affect your aesthetics and buying habits?  Or what aspects of those things would you like to see reflected?
I like to make an effort to look nice and dress up when the occasion calls for it.
Culture:
How has your cultural background shaped the way you look?  How did the aesthetics and values you grew up with affect your tastes as you got older?
I don’t really feel like I have a culture. However, growing up “bigger” meaning I was always on the larger end of whatever clothing scale affected me.  For example, I was a 9 or 11 in junior sizes, I’ve been a 12 or 14 for most of my adult life.  Because of this, I often feel like there isn’t clothing for me, that clothes are designed for people much smaller (and now much, much smaller).  So I hate shopping for clothing because every time I can’t find something in my size or something ostensibly in my size doesn’t fit, I feel like a failure.  In some ways, thrift stores and second-hand shops are easier because there is just one of each item, so it either fits or it doesn’t and I don’t have to go back and find a bigger size or be frustrated that there are four more of the size 00 and six of the size two but none in the size that fit me.
Community
How are you influenced by the people around you including friends, family and other communities you’re involved in?
Portland is very laid back, but I also think there is a total clotheshorse aesthetic going on here that no one really acknowledges. It may not be the same high-fashion aesthetic of other cities, but people here have style.
Activities
How do your day-to-day activities influence your choices?
I need to be able to walk in my clothing which means no heels, comfortable shoes.  And I like my clothing to be comfortable, meaning I don’t want to step out of them the minute I get home.
Location
Does the place you live inform the way you dress?  How does climate factor in?
Dresses in the winter mean tights and I sometimes don’t want to deal so I will wear pants instead.  I need some good leggings that are not too long.
Body
In what ways does body image affect your choices in clothing?  What clothes make you feel good about the body you live in?  What clothes make you feel uncomfortable or alienated from your body?
too tight = alienated.  Things that fit just right are fabulous.  In general, I like my clothing to have some structure.  I currently have pants that can stretch every which way and I can’t stand them. I need regular objective feedback about my size that clothing that doesn’t stretch gives me.  If something has just been washed and is too tight, I need to step up the exercise and watch what I’m eating a bit more.

Postcard from Germany

In your Postcrossing profile you can say what you like and I mention that I collect quotes and ask people to send me their favorite.  So sometimes I get quotes written on the cards by the senders and sometimes people send me postcards with quotes on them.  This is from Anne who is a retired teacher and is collecting quotes from all over the world.  So we have that in common. She translates this as, “Each day is a new beginning.”

A Manhattan-off

My Cocktail Book author said, “sometimes you just have to sit down and do the taste test to find out if you are a Bourbon whisky Manhattan person or a rye whisky Manhattan person.”  A. and I accepted his challenge and did just that.  The result?  We are both Bourbon whisky Manhattan people. But we think maybe with lemon garnish instead of cherries, we might enjoy rye whisky Manhattans.  Further tests will ensue.

A stick-to-your-ribs soup.

The first time I made this soup I peered at the finished product and said, “Ugh.  Doesn’t look too great.”  Then I actually ate it and changed my tune. It’s incredibly flavorful, packed with umani flavors.  Some of the ingredients are not ingredients I have on hand on a regular basis, like the seaweed, but I’ve made this several times and it’s just what the doctor ordered on a freezing cold morning.  
To make it yourself, follow the link to Eating Well’s Tofu and Vegetable Stew.

2013 Mock Printz

I attended another great Mock Printz Workshop where we read and discuss great YA literature and try to guess what the Printz Committee will pick as the best YA book of the year.
Here was our schedule.

Here were my votes.
After a few rounds of voting we came up with the following winners:
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell with 113 votes
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, by Matthew Quick with 86 votes
Boxers/Saints by Gene Luen Yang with 71 votes.

Now we wait for the announcement on 1/27.

Goodbye to house.

I can’t say I’m sorry to see this house go as it has been boarded up since at least 2007, when I moved to the neighborhood.  Plus, once a gang of homeless people had a huge fight in the backyard while I was walking by and the bad vibes have never dissipated.

I felt compelled to make a record of its being though.  Poor house.  Too bad no one took care of you.
Any bets about what will replace it?  It’s sandwiched between a gas station/cheap tobacco store and a house that has a coffee shop.  I’m guessing it will be commercial rather than residential, but you never know.  Then again, it could just become a vacant lot.