The World Through Rosie Colored Glasses: Love in the Time of Cholera (substitute with COVID)

Monday, January 25, 2021

Love in the Time of Cholera (substitute with COVID)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez got it right. Oh how I wish it were lovesickness and not COVID we were suffering from, like Marquez' hero.

Well, I have been absent for a while. Things got very hairy in SoCal, as you may have heard, but just this last week it seems like things are slowly improving. Let's hope that this trend continues.

I think that my outfit pictures start at January 7th. From December 24th until January 4th I was working from home. I was supposed to be on vacation because Doc had three weeks off, but the pandemic got in the way. I did not get dressed all fancy for any of those days. Doc transitioned to telemedicine and got his first vaccine shot, so that is a very good thing. And I have both shots, so 95% immunized.

On January 6th, I heard lots of honking from Brookhurst Avenue, the street that my office window overlooks. There was a Trump rally going on.

There was a line of cars almost a half mile long.

So this is what I have been wearing, starting on January 4th. These brocade slacks are from Ann Taylor. On top, I wore a black chiffon blouse that has ruffles, sequins and pleats. On top of that, a black knit vest with fur trim.

A lot going on. I wore garnet jewelry. Ignore the neck wrinkles - I was looking down, and usually edit my elephant neck out, but I missed this one. Instagram vs reality.

Here's a better look at those slacks, along with the Style and Co shoes that I just got back from the cobbler. He does such a good job that they look new, as usual.

On January 5th, I wore an outfit that I have worn in the past. These are checked slacks from Ideology, topped with a chiffon/jersey knit top. It has cold shoulders.

These costume beads are from INC - there are two strands twisted together.

Here's a look at the slacks, and new booties from Metropolitan that I ordered on line. I could not resist the crystal covered heels.

On January 6th, I wore another tried and true outfit. I usually wear this for work Holiday parties, but since we didn't have any, I wore it to work. The sweater is Ann Taylor, and it's black on black lurex with a giant black satin bow on the left shoulder.

The pants are lace printed, not real lace and they are from INC.

The next day, January 7th, I had a teleconference, so I wore a Kasper suit in a greenish-teal color. The coral sweater is from Loft, and I got it in Denver a long time ago.

To finish things off, my Metropolitan booties and a Gucci scarf that has both colors.

On January 8th, I wore brown INC slacks and a vintage sweater. It's bronze lurex with ombre bronze sequins all over the front.

This bronze brocade blazer is also vintage.

On January 11th, I wore a no name dress that I got at the neighbor's moving sale. Three of our neighbors are moving - one is having another baby, one got transferred for work, and I really don't know the others. I hope our new neighbors are as nice and quiet as the old ones.

I wore my Tahari boots. You will be able to see the details on this dress in a minute.

This is a necklace that Doc recently got for me from Southwestern Indian Foundation. He got three pieces for me, and I will show them to you as I wear them.

The dress has the keyhole neckline, lace epaulets and lace bands on the upper arms.

This next outfit is composed of items that I got at different times, but go well together. The slacks are from Ideology, the sweater is from Joseph A, and the jacket is from Cache.

This next outfit, from January 13th, combines a glittery peasant blouse from Style and Co with ivory vintage slacks.

I usually wear this top with more form fitting ivory slacks since it's blousy, but all my ivory pants are in a bag destined for the dry cleaners.

I messed up when downloading pictures, so my January 14th outfit will be at the end of my parade. But on Friday, January 15th, I wore this Carole Little dress that I got in Philadelphia the last time I was there.

I wore my black plastic faceted waterfall necklace with this dress. I have had this thing forever, and it just keeps going. My black suede shoes are from Halogen.

On January 18th, another vintage dress, this time in an abstract print that reminds me of animal print.

Tahari boots and black waterfall necklace for the win!!

This Candies dress was one of my last in-store purchases from before this darned pandemic hit. I remember the day clearly - it was the day Kobe died in the helicopter crash. So that would be January 26th, 2020. What a long year it has been - but I know that MANY people have had it worse than me.

My scarf is from a shop in Truckee, California, and my suede Mary Janes are Nine West, and I got them in Orlando.

I love this next vintage outfit, and I always get a lot of compliments. This St John knit blazer is fabulous, and only needs a pair of tailored navy slacks and a red velour turtleneck to finish it off.

On January 21st, I had a bit of a mishap while getting dressed. I wanted to wear a different skirt, but as I was pulling my boots up, I split the back slit. So a quick change was in order. This flippy knit skirt is more comfy anyway. I will eventually repair the other skirt.

A little action shot. I wore my Indian necklace again.

On January 22nd, I wore an olive jumpsuit that I got from EBay. I am careful to look at measurements when ordering online (especially if the vendor is not a name brand) because sizing can be wonky. This was a large. I am a small, and it definitely was not too big.

Underneath, I wore a gold lurex tank from St John, and on top, an olive safari jacket with gold lurex, from Cache.

I really liked this outfit, even though the olive colors were not identical.

Back to January 14th. I got this no name dress at the local Assistance League thrift shop. Doc wanted to go look for books, so along I went.

It's a glen plaid number with lots of unique draping and a tie front. One of the other shoppers asked me if I was really going to buy the dress. If I decided not to buy it, she wanted it. But obviously I did get it.

So that's the clothing extravaganza for January 2021. I have been cooking a lot. Here are a few of the more photo-worthy meals that I have made:

One of the books that Doc got was a book of deviled egg recipes. He did pretty good with the basic recipe, if I do say so.

Doc had never heard of avocado toast, so I made it one day. I used buttermilk bread, Kefir cheese, and made guacamole.

Then I topped it with fried eggs, salt and pepper and green onions. It was delish.

Speaking of delish, I have had this beautiful picture book for a while, and so I decided to try a couple of the recipes that Claude Monet served at his table.

First up, stuffed onions. I boiled them and then removed the inner part, leaving an onion shell.

The stuffing had the onion parts, sausage, parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, and celery.

Stuff them and then put more cheese on top before roasting.

Yummers.

And to go with them, a dish that Monet called baked chicken. I think that it was baked chicken on steroids.

You make a sauce of bacon, mushrooms, onions and wine and then pour that on the chicken and cook for a while longer.

Then you carve it and serve it - it was absolutely fantastic!!

So this next dish is kind of special. The grandkids were coming over to open their Christmas gifts on the front lawn, so I made Irish nachos. This was on January 2nd.

It starts with thin home made potato chips. Then I made a topping of bacon, onions, and peppers.

Layer it up in a baking dish.

For the last ten minutes of cooking time, a gob of Colby Jack cheese on top.

Serve with refried beans, avocado, sour cream, and salsa. It was devoured.

So what about those grandkids opening their gifts? Let's check it out !!

Here they are, at the end, with their giant haul. One of the items that I got for all three boys were these rubber chickens that you stretch and shoot. They were a huge hit. This is Joseph trying to shoot his chicken up in the sky.

Doc had found books for all of the grandkids throughout the year, and they always love getting new books.

I had them pose with their giant stockings, which were also a big hit. Here's Joseph:

Here's Calista:

She really had to dig to get all of her gifts out.

And here's Benjamin.

They loved everything!!

They were also very environmentally friendly, picking up all their trash. In the background, you can see orange cones and a bit of a mess. The city of Huntington Beach removed our giant pine tree due to disease, and we are getting an Eastern Redbud later this month.

While the kids were opening their gifts, a surprise happened up in the sky:

Happy 2021 !!!

And a huge hawk made his appearance as well. I believe that this was an omen of good luck.

Speaking of beautiful omens of good luck up in the sky:

We saw this beautiful rainbow as we were driving down Beach Boulevard, and had to pull over and get some pictures of it. This was the widest rainbow that I have ever seen.