End of the Line

This dress was an amazing score! $4.99 for a silk and angora sweater dress! Can you believe that?! On top of the amazing price, it was also a perfect fit. I didn't even bother trying it on — as soon as I saw it, I just scooped it right up! Have I told you before how much I love thrift stores?

dress — The Silk Collection (thrifted)

boots — Dansko (Dansko outlet)

I have been promising to finish up my story (I actually don't think that I'll ever really finish it — every day seems to bring something new!). I'll start tonight by saying that it's 9:00 pm on Monday night, and I just got on the train in Union Station. This is the last train of the night that goes all the way to my station. (If I don't make this train, I spend the WHOLE night in DC. Luckily that's about the only thing that hasn't happened to me yet.) I'm at the end of the line (the last stop), so I don't get off the train until around 11 pm, which means I won't get home until almost midnight. And that is a LONG day.

The ride is only about 90 minutes long in the morning (I say "only" with a wry grin — my idea of what is a short and long ride these days is somewhat skewed). But since it's the last train of the night, we stop at every single podunk station along the way (including mine). On top of that, I'm on the commuter train, which in this neck of the woods is the MARC train. The MTA (Maryland Transportation Authority) leases the rail line from Amtrak, so any time the Amtrak comes through, we have to get off the line and let it pass. That usually means that we have to sit and wait. And when the Amtrak comes through?! Holy crap! It goes by so fast, and it's so close, that you can feel it go by. The first time it happened, I literally jumped in my seat and screamed!

Tonight is one of those days that I am just exhausted. Overtired, in fact, to the point where I feel like crying and every annoyance seems to be magnified tenfold. I hate when I feel like that, because I lose all semblance of having patience. And invariably whenever I am this tired, some yahoo with a phone plops down next to me and has this long personal conversation in which I can hear EVERY SINGLE WORD! I am practically deaf,  (I have a hearing aid for one ear, and I need one for the other, and I say, "What?" almost nonstop when people are talking to me.) If I can hear you, you're speaking REALLY REALLY LOUD!. (And yes, I am using all capitals for a reason.)

Tonight was a case in point. The woman kitty corner from me yapped for over an hour until she got off. It wasn't just me who seemed to be frustrated tonight — I thought the guy sitting in front of her was going to rip her phone away before she finally ended up getting off. In the morning, they actually have quiet cars, where talking on your cell phone, or even having conversations, is not allowed, but when it's this late in the evening, there's not enough people for them to devote an entire car to having one be a quiet car. I think, too, that they think one isn't needed, because most people try to sleep on the way home.

(Not only was I at the end of the line tonight, I was at the end of my rope!) Am I alone in finding people who yap on a cell phone in public places annoying? I need to find some noise-cancelling headphones that aren't too big or bulky, because it's just not worth letting it get to me.

I'm linking to Patti at Not Dead Yet Style and her Visible Monday post. Why do I feel visible? The bright color ... the chunky necklace ... even it just being a sweater dress made me feel so very visible! And visible in a good way.

I'm also linking up to Tammy at Silverstyle for her Trending through the Decade: Accessories post. I used to wear such dainty rings and necklaces. No more. The older I get the bigger my accessories are.

Decisions

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Yes. I'm still here. 

I've been super busy with work and with my house and haven't had the time to post. My house is a money pit and a time suck. I spent an entire weekend last fall just digging a trench to bury an electric line. I was very, very proud of that trench, but it still wasn't my idea of a fun weekend.

When I'm not taking care of the house, I'm working side jobs so that I can earn money to maintain it (like paying the electrician to replace the electric line). Now that my kids are grown, there's no point in keeping the house any longer, and I can't wait to move!

Unfortunately, I tend to be a saver -- a collector of goodies (my parents used to say that if there were two of something, I started a collection). So my house is packed full of stuff, and I mean full. It's easy to get overwhelmed by all this stuff ...

Image from theberry.com

And no -- this is not my stuff! 

When I get overwhelmed, I have a hard time making decisions, and that includes deciding what to wear. More often than not, I'll end up pulling out the same old, same old ... and I just end up feeling like nothing ever changes. I've been trying to find some new and fun ways of wearing my "same old, same old" clothes to try and combat those feelings.

shirt -- Rafaella (Boscov's)

sweater -- Designers Original (thrifted)

skirt -- Carlisle (thrifted)

boots -- Dansko (outlet)

With that in mind, I turned to the news for a source of "fashion" inspiration. Today's outfit was inspired by Geraldine Ferraro, who passed away last Saturday at the age of 75.

In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro made history as the vice presidential nominee for the Democratic Party -- the first woman to run on the ticket of a major party. You don't have to agree with her politics (I did!) to recognize her achievement.

I'm wearing a skirt, because she typically wore skirts and dresses (as opposed to pant suits). The colors I selected -- red, white, and green -- are the colors in the Italian flag. In addition to being the first woman, she was also the first Italian American. She often said that that was a bigger obstacle than being a woman.

My green was more of a forest green, and I added a statement necklace. I know that statement necklaces were not in vogue in the 80s, but that's okay. My sweater actually had a matching tank that went with it -- I think these were called twin sets.

I don't remember much about the 1984 presidential campaign, but I do remember the nationally televised debate between Ferraro and the then Vice President George H.W. Bush, and her saying, "Let me say first of all that I almost resent, Vice President Bush, your patronizing attitude, that you have to teach me about foreign policy." I probably did let out a few whoops at that point! And does anybody else remember the Fritz and Tits slurs that were directed at the Mondale-Ferraro ticket?

Some other notable facts about Geraldine Ferraro: 

1. Was born on August 26, 1935. A scant 15 years earlier, women were given the right to vote.
2. Skipped three grades, and graduated high school at 16. 
3. Taught second grade in the New York Public Schools for five years. While teaching, she put herself through Fordham Law School at night. 
4. Kept her maiden name in honor of her mother, a seamstress, who supported the family after her father died. Ferraro means blacksmith in Italian, originally derived from the Latin ferrum meaning "iron."  
5. Was a stay-at-home mom for 13 years before joining the Queens County District Attorney's Office. 
6. Headed the Special Victims Bureau at the Queens County DA -- the real-life model for NBC's award-winning Law and Order SVU.
7. When asked to describe Ferraro, Barbara Bush was once quoted as saying “It rhymes with rich.” Bush later apologized. 

I had a lot of fun using Geraldine Ferraro as my inspiration. I also learned a lot about her. I'm not sure that I liked this outfit on me that much. I mean, I think that I looked okay, but it seems more like I reverted back to a style that I was comfortable with rather than trying something new. The way I put it together was new, but not the look. I did wear boots, which was something that I never ever used to wear, and I wore a statement necklace, which was new. I always used to wear small and dainty.

How do you think I did?