Tasseled and Tousled

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Sometimes an outfit will come together in my mind and then it is quickly forgotten as something else comes up. But I could not get this one out of my head.

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So I put it on. And I was happy.

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I received these booties for Christmas (however did he know?). The booties are sold out at Anthropologie, but the brand is Fortress of Inca and they have similar booties available. They are more than what I paid, but I have seen their site do promotions, so I would watch for that if you want the booties. I wore mine for about ten hours on this day. And they were very comfortable.

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The dress was an awesome sale popback score. I was really worried that this dress would accentuate my hips in a negative way, but it surprisingly does not. It is a very forgiving dress. The only thing I would change would be the v-shaped pretty plaid pattern in the middle. If you stand a certain way, it looks like odd legs. But I can live with that.

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Heather from The Peacock Fairy previously wore her dress here. Can you believe she just had a baby? She looks fantastic! I didn’t get dressed for three months after each baby. She is very inspiring. Bonnie from Small Town Fashionista also rocked the dress early on. In fact, it was after seeing it on her that I added it to my wishlist.

It is a great dress for all body types. You might be able to find The Tasseled Maxi Dress on eBay or as a popback (it is all sold out, but Golden Tote has almost the exact same dress for $35 without the middle panel. I have never shopped there before, so I cannot comment on the site).

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Whew! Mundane details out of the way. Oh! I forgot about the necklace! And I forgot its name! It is from 2013. It has a gold stripe on the other side. I always wear it backwards because I like the pure dark fabric by itself better. The ring was the best deal last month. I had wanted it when it first came out, but never got it. My local store had it for $7.50. I wear it all of the time!

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Okay. Now the mundane details are hopefully out of the way. Who likes mundane details? Not me. And isn’t January full of them as we try to get our lives organized for the new year?

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Such as, I have been purging my closet. I made a pile that I will be donating and the next night at dinner, my daughter came to the table wearing the kimono I had put on top of the donation pile. It is a good thing that I am always slow and behind or she would have missed out!

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It was windy when we took these pictures. Somehow I ended up in positions that resembled ballerina poses as I tried to block the sun and keep my hair in place.

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I find this hilarious as I am the most klutzy person I know. My mother was a beautiful ballerina. I never had the knack. Or the grace. Or the fortitude. I took it for, gosh, seven years. I kept hearing about the blood involved with pointe shoes and that was it for me. It makes me dizzy just thinking about it. And nobody wants a dizzy ballerina. Besides I believe I would be a ditzy dizzy ballerina and that would be a double blow to the craft.

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Did you take a dance class as a child? Do you take it now? Is anyone else still reeling from the talk about the pointe shoes? I can feel the room spinning. I must put my head between my legs.

Don’t worry. If anyone asks I’ll just tell them it is a new dance move.

And they’ll totally not believe me.

P.S. I shared this on The Pleated Poppy and Reasons To Dress and Fashion Should Be Fun.

Craving: Ceramics Teacher

*This post was supposed to go up at midnight on Wednesday, but I just realized that Urban Outfitter’s promo ends today. I wanted to make sure you knew about it before it ended. So, this is Wednesday’s post a bit early.

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Sometimes, I just want to be someone else. My heart will always be bohemian, but there is a part of me that yearns for that modern clean look with a bit of an edge. Think the blog Bleubird. I once took a ceramics class. Quite honestly, I have absolutely no idea what we ever did in that class besides gossip. The whole year, I managed to complete exactly one project. It was a very small bowl shaped in a circle with my face. Odd. True. My mom loved it… Although not as much as she should have… For a piece that took me a year to make. Do you know how much gossiping I put aside to make that bowl? At least two hour’s worth. My life might have turned out much differently if I ever did learn who Jeremy was seen in the locker room with.

Just kidding.

I never knew a Jeremy.

Or did I?

Hmmmm. My head is filled with clay.

Anyhoo, the ceramics teacher would come to school every day dressed in the most amazing clothes. All natural neutral fibers. Layered. Nubby linens. Smooth cottons. Overalls. Fun jewelry (the necklace featured is from Miss Ribby on etsy. I have not purchased from her before today when I purchased one for myself and one to giveaway soon). She always had dried clay on her hands. Her hair was shoulder length and curly. She had the most beautiful laugh lines. And always the coolest cotton shoes on her feet. Honestly, I guess the style is not that much different than traditional bohemian. I mean, does it get much more bohemian than a ceramics teacher? It is just more streamlined.

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So, my February clothing wants are a bit different than normal. My love for embroidery and princess dresses shall never wane, but it is nice to have a different option. I am looking for loose breathable pieces for the warmer months ahead. There are so many great companies with such pieces. However, with natural linens usually comes a higher price tag. I typically cannot afford the stores that specialize in those clothes. I am fickle and only want to dabble in this style. Therefore I needed pieces that were inexpensive and interchangeable with my regular look. I turned to Urban Outfiiters and was happy with the shapes and prices that I discovered there.

With spring coming, I want cozy easy cotton feet. Urban Outfitters has $15 off $75 that ends tonight. Their cotton Mary Janes are 2 for $20. I ordered some for myself and my daughter. They run true to size and are surprisingly comfortable. I am not sure about their longevity but with the promotion, they are around $8 each, so I am not too worried. I will say the colors online are definitely not true to life. Mine are a much more muddied version, except for the teal with is a pretty bright color. They come in T-straps and cute plain ones. I ordered both. I have only received the T-straps so I cannot comment on the other ones yet.

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With easy cotton shoes, comes easy pieces. I also purchased this Denim Shirt Dress (with the discount). I hope it is long enough. It has not arrived yet so I am unsure as to what it will actually look like. I know for this look, I can pair it with cotton shoes or I could easily switch it up with fun boots and gladiator sandals and layered jewelry, if I wanted to go more classic bohemian.

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And this jumpsuit was $17 after their promotion. Oh. This could go terribly, terribly, terribly wrong. Urban Outfitters’ clothing runs small. I purchased a size L. I am kind of scared to receive this. I preferred it in black but it was not on sale. I plan on pairing it with my new favorite basic essential, Anthropologie’s Long Form V-Neck Tee. If you never see this romper on the blog, it is because I returned it… after I locked myself in the bathroom and cried while staring at my eighties style romper and my lumps that have sneakily accumulated in the decades since this style became popular. Jeremy never would have let this happen.

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If I had an unlimited budget, I also would have picked up The Linen Midi Dress (it states it is linen in its title but rayon in its description). I would get it in beige, cut more of the unfinished hem off and go make a different face bowl. I would like to say it would not have changed at all since the one I made twenty years ago. Hey! This is my clothing fantasy, I shall just pretend it is so. Who will ever know?

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And The Ecote Cocoon Dress in grey. It reminds me of the modern dance scene in “White Christmas.” I just imagine bright fun shoes with it and one of those painted ball necklaces.

Do you ever change your style up? Do you ever crave simplicity? I want all of the easy dresses. I just saw this striped dress and my Want Meter shot through the roof. That cannot be good for my meter or the roof.

Did you take an art or ceramics class? Did you make a face bowl? Do you know who Jeremy was with in the locker room? Again, did I even know a Jeremy? The name is sounding very familiar. Hmmmm. Maybe it was me. Nah. I was in ceramics class. Making a head bowl. Dreaming about the teacher’s clothes.

A Mountain Of A Mystery Maxi

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You know how I am always buying clothes… Wait. Let me finish. You know how I am always buying clothes… without knowing what their clothing name means?

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It happened again.

With the Nanda Maxi Dress (now sold out).

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I bought it because it had an amazing Suzani pattern on it. The colors. The flow. I loved everything about it.

Except the price. I finally picked it up for around 80% off.

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I paired it with my cardigan I picked up last year for $20 at Anthropologie.
I think the back of it is so pretty.

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Names. We were talking about names.

So, I typed in “Nanda” into Google. You will never guess what popped up.

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The first thing that popped up was an acronym. NANDA stood for “North America Nursing Diagnosis Association.”

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Um, I am pretty sure that is not the vision Anthropologie meant for people to have when naming their maxi dress. Besides, I imagine if they were going to name a dress after a nurse’s association, it would be white.

I increased my search.

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Anthropologie tends to name things after two things. Yep. Two things. Regions. And birds. I typed in “Nanda Region.” And I found it. It is a mountain in India called Nanda Devi. The highest mountain in India to be exact.

Of course it is.

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Do you look up the names of your clothes? Or is that just me? I like to think they are like meeting new friends and people. Once I know their name. Their real name. The meaning. I can figure out a little more about them. Give them a deeper character.

Give them a deeper meaning. Than just clothes.

Whoa! That’s a little too deep.

Let’s go back to keeping our heads in the clouds. I know a certain mountain that would be perfect for the task.

From India To Me

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I love to shop Etsy for one of a kind pieces. I especially love embroidered pieces. But I am not picky. I’ll know it when I see it.

And I saw it.

But it was sold out, so I contacted Lisa from Madame Hall on Etsy to see if she would be making any more of the dresses I had seen on her site in a size medium. She did not have any but she sent me a few pictures of this dress laying flat.

And, of course, I loved it.

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I bought it (with the help of a gift card from the sweetest lady ever. Thank you B!) and anxiously awaited its arrival.

It came in the coolest package about two weeks later. She sewed the package up with my address on the cloth. Inside of the initial package, the dress was wrapped in another gorgeous embroidered simple cloth bag. And she even sent me a beautiful embroidered scarf as a gift. Truly exceptional service. I would not hesitate to order from her again and to recommend her shop to others.

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I was not planning on pairing it with brown boots. In fact, I was going to wear it with my black fringed booties. But the snow would have ruined those. I did need to quickly grab a slip for underneath this because of the length. It is almost more of a tunic than a dress but because it is made from wool, I would only wear this with tights and leggings in the wintertime any way.

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The bright cheerful colors just make me so happy.

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I feel like this dress was meant to be mine. Or I was meant for it. It only needed to find me half way across the world. From India to me.

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Do you buy clothing items from Etsy? Do you ever feel a personal connection to an item of clothing? Does it speak to you?

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Mine does.

I’m not gonna tell you what it says.

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All right.

Just this once. I’ll spill the beans. Or beads as it were…

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With a shimmer. A glimmer. A whisper, it breathes, “OHHHHHH YEAAAAAAHHHHHH.”

Or maybe that’s just me.