Then Came Irene ...

I have a lot of black clothes. A lot. I don't know why that is — I don't think of myself as a dark and gloomy person, which is what I associate black clothes with (ever since I watched the "Fades to Black" episode of Roseanne, where Darlene stopped playing basketball and started wearing all black).

tank — (Cost Co)

skirt — Express (Express)

boots — Haley by Faded Glory (thrifted)

And I can't even claim that this affection for brown and black clothes is because bright colors don't look good on me. I found that out when I wore pink and blue here. It was probably because I just wanted to blend into the background and not stand out. These days, however, I am finding that it's not all that bad to be noticed, and it's actually kind of fun to get the hairy eyeballs.

So, here's a way to wear black and STAND OUT at the same time! The trick is to wear boots with a tank top — together, the two are completely and totally incongruous.

One caveat about this outfit ... I liked it, but I have to say that I'm worried that I'm too much of an old lady to wear it ... how depressing is that? Just when you're old enough to have some fun, you're too old to enjoy it.

This outfit is actually my entry for Megan and Keely's "Old Favorite" Remix Challenge, in which we were challenged to take a favorite piece of clothing and wear it somewhat differently than we had before.

My skirt is my "old favorite." It's a simple cotton blend, with a drawstring waist (which lets me slide it up and down on my hips to adjust the length). I've had this skirt for ages. In fact, I liked it so much when I got it that I went out and bought another one — just like it. Yeah. I actually have two of these skirts. It seems kind of silly when I think about it now.

I haven't been blogging that long, but I've still worn this skirt a number of times, in a number of ways, and in different seasons (winter, spring, and summer).


I had the best of intentions to finish Kayla's 21-Day Challenge, and then move on to Megan and Keely's Remix Challenge for this week. But what is it they say? "The best laid schemes of mice and men"? or is it "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" (and by the way, I had no idea that this quote is attributed to John Lennon)? maybe it's even "Life's a b*tch, and then you die." 

Or wait -- I've got it!

When it rains it pours! And I mean that literally.*

  
Regardless of the quote, first Irene and now Lee have wreaked havoc, to say the least, on my life and put a damper on my plans to do much of anything but go into crisis management mode. I had (and yes, HAD is now the operative word) this beautifully finished and carpeted basement. I have been getting ready to move, so I have been packing up things that I don't need and storing the boxes in my basement, because I thought they would be safe and out of the way. In the 15 or so years that I have lived in this house, I have never had a drop of water in the basement.

Well that was before Irene decided to make her ugly way up the coast and dumped over 10 inches of rain overnight (and this was on top of the 6 inches of rain we got in one day the week before).

Now, I have moldy walls ...

wet carpeting, and soaked and disintegrated boxes ...  (I'm sparing you the picture of my mountain of boxes that are now on my porch, getting even wetter ... )

And of course nothing is covered by insurance, because it's an act of God. or whatever. Honestly, I just wanted to cry, which I did a lot of. But I have also been hauling a helluva lot of boxes back up the d*mn steps, trying to salvage what I can, and get everything dried out. And that is a lost cause since Lee has decided to add insult to injury as he makes his s-l-o-o-o-w and ponderous way, dumping rain and more rain, on the waterlogged Northeast.

Between the rain, the extra work, the damage to my basement, and the expense that it will entail to repair said damage, my heart has just not been into dressing for the occasion, taking pictures, and blogging ... Hopefully, with this post, I'll be able to get back on track a bit.

*Everything in my house right now is damp. My clothes are damp. My bed is damp. My floors are damp. My papers are damp. My doors are so swollen from the rain that I can barely shut them.Yeah. I'm pretty miserable.

Head on over to Megan Mae Daily to check out how ladies are remixing their clothes. 

Sailor Sam

Day 5 of the 21-Day Challenge was to put a belt on it, and so I belted one out:

And the jailer man and Sailor Sam were searching every one

                                                                                     — Paul McCartney Band on the Run

This song came out in 1973, when I was a sophomore in high school — I didn't realize it was that old. My how time flies when you're having fun. Anyway, this line kept popping into my head when I wore this outfit, so I figured why fight it?

shirt — Lizwear by Liz Claiborne (thrifted)

dress — Ralph by Ralph Lauren (Marshalls)

boots — Haley by Faded Glory (thrifted)

This jumper has been hanging in my closet for years and years — the tags were even still on it! It's a ribbed sweater knit (you can't really tell from the picture), so I was probably uncomfortable with how curve hugging it was. It also seems so simple now, but I may not have thought to wear a belt before, and it really changes the look of the outfit.

Black belt or Red belt?  

My black-and-white striped shirt inspired my ear worm (I hope it's not contagious though). In retrospect, however, my shirt was probably more like the costume of a traditional mime than prison stripes or the Breton stripes that Coco Chanel popularized after a visit to the French Riviera in the 1930s.

It's probably no surprise that Marcel Marceau, the legendary mime actor, wore the striped top along with the other items of the mime costume, but what may come as a surprise is that the man who became world famous for silent performances was fluent in three languages. Born as Marcel Mangel in 1923 in Strasbourg, France, Marcel, and his older brother, adopted the name "Marceau" during the Nazi occupation of France. The two brothers were members of the French resistance and helped many children escape to freedom into Switzerland. Marcel started miming as way of keeping children quiet, as they were escaping.

I'm really enjoying these challenges.
It's like playing dress up in my own clothes. 

In addition to the 21-Day Challenge, I'm also linking up to Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style, because well — I thought that I was pretty visible in this outfit, especially with the red belt, and also because I have a bit of a silly pose.

Which color belt goes best?