Sticking Together

All the Brown--Tuesday, 10/27/15

I had three inspiration photos for my outfit, and yet it still was somehow less than the sum of its parts.  Well, I can't blame these bloggers for that.

#1 features a teal top and dark brown pants with brown shoes--this was the outfit that was the primary inspiration for my outfit.

From myeverydaywear.blogspot.com

#2 is a mint blouse with a brown skirt and brown shoes.

From happinessatmidlife.com

#3 is kind of a twofer in itself as the blogger was recreating an advertisement photo herself.

From jseverydayfashion.com

I think my mistake was adding this (wrinkly) knit cardigan that for some reason did not want to play nicely with the (somewhat loose) knit top.  My whole top half kept getting stuck askew to the pants in a lumpy mass.  This was the least bunched up/wrinkly photo I took, and it's pretty screwed up.

Brown cotton pants (thrifted, Nine and Company), $0.29/wear+
Teal top (thrifted, Macy's), $2.00/wear
Brown flats by Frye, $9.75/wear
Brown t-shirt knit cardigan (thrifted, Rafaella), $2.50/wear
Mud brown/blue/beige necklace by RB

Outfit total: $14.04/wear

Usually two items made from t-shirt knit do OK together but not these two.  I suspect that the somewhat rough-textured cotton pants weren't helping the situation.  My top sort of wanted to stick to the pants anyway, making it hard to smooth the shirt fabric out.  I ended up treating my cardigan as outerwear--I wore it into work but didn't wear it once I was in the office.  That worked out OK (it was not too bad to deal with the top wanting to stick to the pants once the cardigan was no longer a factor).  So yay, outfit salvaged.  I was happy with this color combination, though, without reservations.

In other news...It definitely sucks to have to call in sick to work on the first day after a vacation, but I was having ear pain Sunday and Monday (such that I hardly slept Sunday night and was unable to even nap yesterday while I was home).  Today I talked to the doctor's office and my doctor has no available appointments until next Monday, so if I want to go in, I have to show up to the walk-in clinic that operates on a first come/first served basis.  Of course, my ear (and my head above the ear, which was also hurting) is now completely back to normal.  I haven't decided whether I will go in to the clinic tomorrow morning or not.  I guess it depends on how the rest of the night plays out.

We had a pretty good time for Robert's mom's wedding.  Our basic schedule was get into DFW Wednesday afternoon, pick up the car and drive the way the fuck out to his mom's rural estate in rush hour traffic (took forever), eat dinner at home with his mom/the prospective groom/his mom's sister (who Robert lived with for a while in Austin)/his girl cousin.  Then Thursday was pretty low key hanging out with the family and the dog (who is a cocker spaniel, a real sweetheart, though he is a sneezy pup!) until we met a bunch of bride and groom family for barbecue that night.  We also found that the previously purely evil kitten has grown into a Jerkyll and Hyde type of cat, who will seem to enjoy being petted until the moment she fucking attacks you.  As we got ready for bed in the larger guest bedroom, we watched her arm extending under the door, trying to slash anything she could reach (i.e., nothing).

Friday evening was the wedding at the B&B in Forth Worth.  Robert walked the bride down the aisle.  The groom's first wife's brother (!) was the minister, who came in all the way from NJ or something, and I was impressed that he brought the Adam's rib story kind of up-to-date (e.g., with the notion that being created from a rib represents that the wife is neither above nor below but on an equal level with the husband).  I got to catch up a bit with Robert's family and a few of his mom's friends that I have known for a long time, though I didn't get to talk to Robert's now-step-sister and her husband as much as I'd have liked.  (Well, we'll be seeing them every Christmas from now on, so I guess that's OK.)  The dinner was amazingly delicious and there was a lot of it.  I was just tipsy enough at the dinner table that when the guy next to Robert (his other now-step-sister's husband) said that he was a graduate of Memorial HS in Tulsa, I fist-bumped him.  But hey, it wasn't my fault!  My neighbor, a 71 year old man, started it--when he asked me where I grew up, he said he was born in Tulsa and put his fist out to bump me.

The room at the B&B was very nice and breakfast the next morning was almost too precious--a sausage patty, two triangular pieces of flatbread covered in scrambled eggs and cheese, and a mound of grits flavored wonderfully with green peppers (just a bit spicy so probably some jalapeno in there) arranged like an angel.  Then we left and drove up to Denton, where we spent Saturday hanging out with this crazy-awesome math grad student (and even a bit with her awesome math grad student roommate) and her lovely cat, who appeared highly gratified by the quality and quantity of petting and especially rump-scratching she received.  We came home Sunday (waking at 7:15 a.m. to arrive back at the apartment around 4:45 p.m., including a 1 hour delay at the airport).

It rained pretty much the entire time we were in Texas, but at least it did not affect our travel.  Robert's cousin and his pregnant wife (due at the end of February) from Boston got diverted to an air force base when first DFW then Love Field airports shut down due to the thunderstorm.

And now I'm home and itching to play a bit of Fallout before bed!