Cute And Comfortable

While I am still not quite ready to inject my wardrobe with color, I did feel like adding a bit of contrast to the black mood I’ve been in since returning from my best friend, Kari’s, father’s funeral last weekend.  What better way than to pair super-comfy black Under Armour yoga pants I bought for exercise class with a smock top by Alfani in a fun black and white abstract print? 

The darling tunic, with its wide ruffled yoke and slanted front pockets, was in a box of clothes Kari’s mom sent me from Spokane last year after I’d lost 70 pounds and was sorely in need of (but could not afford) new clothes. Joyce had lots of apparel she no longer wore, and I was closer in size than her own daughter who is long and lean (Joyce and I are both very short). Consequently, I was the lucky recipient of several shipments of fabulous fashions from Joyce last summer, all of which were in pristine condition and almost all of which fit me perfectly.  Talk about win-win!  I felt like a kid in a candy store each time another “care package” from Washington state appeared on my doorstep.  

I was surprised at how well these two pieces went together once I got a look at the ensemble in the mirror.  Wanting to elongate my legs, I added cork-heeled sandals by City Streets.  The fancy yoke needed no necklace, but I did find a black crystal and white beaded bracelet and earrings from Fire & Ice Jewelers in my jewelry box, birthday gifts last fall from my dear friends Robert and Jan, which coordinated perfectly with my outfit.

You can just see the hind legs of the other baby behind Mom
as he prepares to bolt from the perceived danger of my car

There will be a time for color to return to my wardrobe.  At the moment I am still enveloped in sadness; my world feels dark and dreary. Interestingly, Mother Nature seems intent on lifting my spirits despite my forlorn deportment.  You recall that Tuesday I was cheered by baby barn swallows in a nest at the stable where I keep my horse. Well, Thursday as I returned home to Baltimore County from a day of research at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., I spied a doe and her two adorable fawns walking across a front lawn in a neighborhood not too far from mine.  As I slowed my car and grabbed my camera, one speckled baby took off running in the opposite direction.  But mother and the remaining tot allowed me to take their picture.  It’s as if the natural world is determined to show me that brighter days will come again. Those dappled youngsters certainly made me smile -- and that’s a start…
Cheers,
Lynell