As you know, there is always a lot of fashion going on around here, and this month was no exception. So saddle up, and let's go!!
On February 28th, I wore a shirtdress from Connected Apparel. It is a tan and brown print on a black background, so I used all three colors for my accessories. I wore black tights, tan suede booties, and a black and gold belt from White House Black Market.
Then we started the month of March. I was digging through my collection of sweater dresses since it was raining. I settled on this tricolor number from Mossimo. Boy, can you tell the difference between this budget brand and the luxury brand I wore later this month. The Mossimo dress was paper-thin. But it is still pretty cute. I wore navy tights and burgundy booties. My jewelry was a combination of sapphires, rubies, and garnets.
I wore a navy twill jacket from St John on top. It has gold stud trim.
Then I was off for a few days and didn't do much because it was raining still. But Doc did make some delicious bread pudding with raisinets on top.
Back to work on March 7th. I wore a teal turtleneck and knit pencil skirt from Nordstrom, along with this colorful ethnic vest that I got at a local boutique.
Since the vest is so colorful, I went with black and gold jewelry and my black Hermes belt.
On March 8th, I wore black leather slacks with a Fendi sweater. I kept the same jewelry as the day before. Not an exciting combo, but it always looks very elegant.
On March 9th, I wore a black Tahari suit that has an ivory pinstripe on the blazer. I wore an ivory sweater, and my new pink belt and scarf that you saw in my last post. I got a lot of compliments on this getup.
My Ipsy bag came - the theme was "Sealed with a Kiss." This was my February bag. I was a little disappointed because I don't use a lot of this stuff. There was a MAC lipstick, a Context concealer, a Beauty for Real highlighter and a contour blush. But my daughter in law Ashley loves MAC so I gave the lipstick to her.
Speaking of Ashley, I went through all my samples and found enough stuff that I probably won't use to give her three boxes of goodies But when I packed it up, it needed four boxes. I included cosmetic bags to keep it in, because I also have a ton of those.
There were a lot of bronzers and highlighters, a lot of pencils and liquid eyeliners, and a lot of primers and toners. There were also some lipliners and a couple of mascaras.
Since my grandson Preston made the honor roll, we got him some Star Wars DVDS, some candy, and two twenty-dollar bills rolled up and tied with ribbon. He is a very good student and makes the Honor Roll consistently.
My MIL, Mimi, also got presents - a mat that says "Simply Blessed" and a Welcome sign for her front door.
On March 11th, I wore a mod themed outfit - patterned slacks, a black turtleneck, and white booties. I wore a black leather jacket on top. The slacks were a hand me down from a coworker. They are very cute, but they kept slipping down, so I am going to donate them.
So where did I go in this outfit? Well, Preston had a competition at the Orange County Unified School District Headquarters. He and his partner Jeremy did a presentation on a sling used in WWI to save soldier's injured legs.
They had some great costumes and props.
Look at our Dough Boy!!
This is the room, and these are the judges.
After the performance, the boys answered questions posed to them by the judges. They initially won runner-up, but then the winners had to drop out, so they won!!! Unfortunately, Jeremy is unable to make it to the Sacramento portion of the competition, so they will settle for County Winners, which is quite a great accomplishment.
Preston is on a roll of good fortune. He has been in three martial arts competitions this month, and he has won all three!! He is such a wonderful kid.
After the competition, I dropped Doc off at a bookstore down in Costa Mesa, where the competition occurred. I went over to a giant Asian mall there.
They have a huge Daiso in the mall. I got some specialty Japanese products that I have been wanting.
On Monday, March 13th, I was off, so I met a friend down in Newport Beach. She wanted some pictures to put on a dating website, so we got some nice ones that overlooked the harbor.
I wore a comfy outfit consisting of grey velour leggings, a grey tiered T shirt, and an ivory waterfall cardigan from Old Navy.
I got my March Ipsy bag. I liked this one. Inside, from top to bottom:
1) Beautiniq Beauty Caffeine Eye Cream - my eyes are puffy in the morning, so I am sure I will try this.
2) Tarte Lash Treat Volumizing Mascara- my all-time favorite is Benefit Roller Lash, but this will be fine for vacations.
3) Yensa Beauty Skin on Skin BC Concealer
4) Hey Honey Make a Splg. Iash Intense Hydration Aqua Serum - always up for anti-aging products
5) Shaina B Miami Setting Brush
Pandi loves me. However, she doesn't love Vinni as much. Since Kenni's death, we have been bringing Vinni inside at night because we have had quite a few coyote attacks in our neighborhood. He stays all night, then goes out first thing in the morning. This morning, as I was in the bathroom, I heard Pandi crying and heard her nails tapping on the floor. Usually this means she has gotten either her collar or her dewclaw stuck on something. So I went out to help her. But all she wanted was for Vinni to go out into the backyard. He was sitting on the mat near the sliding door, and she was dancing around him, crying and yapping until I banished him outside. Then she was happy. Queen of her domain!!!!
Back to work on March 15th. I wore this beautiful satin dress from Mixit with some new grey boots. I wore colorful jewelry to complement this colorful outfit. I wore a grey leather jacket on top.
On March 16th, I wore my dark taupe leggings with a chiffon peasant style blouse in peach. It has embellished cuffs. My gold CK belt was a good finish. These leggings originally retailed for $100, but I got them at Nordstrom Rack for $13. They are definitely not worth $100. My Old Navy leggings are better.
That night I made homemade Spam musubi. They were ugly but tasted so good!! These pictures show the step by step process. The Spam is fried in a mixture of sugar, soy sauce, and oyster sauce.
The nori was wasabi flavored, and we dipped them in more wasabi.
On Saint Patrick's Day, the only green I wore was my Cache jacket. It is khaki green with gold lurex. My outfit underneath consisted of an Ann Taylor metallic skirt, and a gold lurex safari blouse from Equipment, and a bronze tank from St John.
I wore coordinating accessories and my CK belt. Unfortunately, I did not get pinched by any leprechauns.
On March 20th, I wore a tan sweater dress with another Palm Springs find - this very colorful slinky knit jacket. I wore a multi-colored glass necklace that I got on EBay with this outfit. The tan dress can be worn with any combo of accessories and the jacket has all the colors of the rainbow, so any jewelry can be worn with it.
March 21st was also cold and rainy. I wore a boiled wool sweater from Coldwater Creek that I don't get to wear very often living in So Cal. The rest of the getup was simple - black slacks and a red tank top. I did get to wear my red snakeskin booties, so that was a plus.
On March 22nd, I wore a very heavy weight sweater dress from DS Dresses. It is a luxury brand sold at Saks and this is the dress that made the Mossimo dress from a week or so before seem so cheaply made. It is thick and soft and has a beautiful flattering intarsia design.
On March 23rd, I wore black ponte slacks from Express with a plaid tunic from Shein that I got in Washington DC. I got the tassel necklace there as well. The tunic has pearl trim on the bell sleeves.
My money trees have suffered badly from the cold weather and lack of sunshine. I have pruned them back and now am moving them around so they can get maximum sunlight. They are slowly reviving. They do poorly every winter, but this year was particularly hard for them. Upon Googling, it appears that they may also be near the end of their lifespan.
Pandi likes to sit under the antique sewing machine because the heater register is right there. She warms her little face and behind in the chilly mornings.
On Friday, March 24th, I made a delicious lunch - New York steaks, Rice a Roni, and three bean salad. The dogs enjoyed the bones very much. I also made sauteed mushrooms as a topping.
Pandi loves me!!!
The window box on my She Shed loves the rain, unlike the money trees. It suffered during the Labor Day heat wave, but it is now reviving.
The back yard needed a portrait last Sunday the 26th, since it was a beautiful day, after a long stretch of rain and gloom.
I laid in the She Shed on my velvet fainting couch and read as I gazed outside at my pretty yard.
Vinni kept me company.
Back to work again on Monday, March 27th. The goal was to wear this pink blazer coat, so I wore ivory slacks and a pink paisley blouse from Express. Although the outfit looks baggy in these pictures. I got a lot of compliments, so I guess it looked fine in person.
On Tuesday, March 28th, I wore navy slacks with a Gucci print tunic blouse. The red top underneath is part of a cashmere sweater set from Neiman Marcus. I was comfy and felt stylish.
On Wednesday, March 29th, it rained hard again. I wore a tweed skirt with a lace trimmed hem, and an ivory bead embellished blouse from Badgely Mischka. My accessories were all brown, gold and copper. I didn't like the belt too much, so I will choose a different one next time.
I am off work for five days starting today. I went with Mimi to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. I wore a pink printed skirt from Banana Republic, and a satin top from Pleione. I also wore my ivory boots from Karen Alexander.
This is the bell tower front entrance to the courtyard, restaurant and museum. The Spanish Colonial Revival building was built in 1936. They have a permanent collection of more than 100,000 objects, featuring pre-Columbian, Mexican, Native American, Oceania, and California plein-air painting.
The land and money to build the museum was donated by Ada Elvira Bowers and Charles Bowers, citrus growers and land developers. It took from 1932 to 1936 to build. It is 24000 square feet.
They were having a special event to support prevention of child abuse, so the courtyard was all set up for that. We opted to eat elsewhere than their on-site restaurant, Tangata, due to the crowd.
Upon entering, you can view some paintings of Watusi cattle. They used to bring one Watusi cow to the OC Fair every year, and I always stopped by to see her. She was magnificent.
There are also two carvings of the Soul Boat, done by the Kina people of the San Blas Islands in Panama. They apparently had alligators for guards. The boats were used by shamans. Very little is known about these secretive vessels, and very few exist today.
Then we saw these very intricate 3D saddle sculptures made of marble with glistening mica flecks. I neglected to get the name of the artist, but I will find it all out the next time I go.
Then we entered a long hall that featured nine beautiful thangkas (pronounced tonka). These are scenes of deities and mandala paintings made by Buddhist monks in Tibet. Mineral and organic pigments are used on cotton or silk. There was a Tibetan god guarding them.
There was a tiger on the five deity thangkas, but none on the four mandala ones. This is an angry tiger. We did see a happy tiger.
This is an evil god. The deity scenes seemed to have a benevolent god and an evil god. Both had offerings presented to them. The evil gods were appeased, and the good ones were venerated.
This guy is so creepy that I would be trying to appease him.
This is a mandala. There was a video playing that illustrated the process of painting the thangkas. Two or three monks start from the center and paint their way out. The designs are incredibly intricate. This is a sight that should be seen in person.
This was all part of the permanent collection. The featured exhibit was titled "Guo Pei - Art of Couture." From this sign:
This presents the story of one of the world's most acclaimed couturiers, a Chinese woman who uses traditional Chinese techniques to make one-of-a-kind dresses for extremely special occasions. The customers were extremely wealthy pan-Asian women.
The first exhibit showed three dresses intended for younger women. The caption tells how Guo Pei wanted to make clothes since she was a child.
The next stage had Easter egg-colored dresses. The blue one had opal moonstones sewn all over it.
The yellow one had an ostrich feather skirt. These dresses were worn at private affairs.
This very Asian style tunic was made of ostrich feathers and heavy gold embroidery that used sequins, beads, metallic threads and gemstones.
This dress was one of my favorites. The silhouette was very flattering, and the fabric was incredible!! It looked exactly as you would imagine liquid silver to look.
There were several ornate dresses with the typical Asian silhouette. Most were heavily embellished.
This dress had this unbelievable train. This gold liquid-looking fabric poured from black velvet and ended in these long tassels.
This astonishing creation was inspired by Marie Antoinette. It was weird. It was worn at the Met Gala. This is a benefit for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and outlandish fashion is expected.
This was a very traditional Chinese dress that a mother would wear to a wedding.
Then there were some party dresses and some costumes for various functions.
The last display had this fantastical red dress. It was featured as the finale of Guo Pei's fashion show. Mimi noticed that women on the accompanying film were weeping at the sight of the dress.
There was a Guo Pei Barbie for sale. $150.00.
As you enter the California Bounty section of this beautiful museum, you pass some very ancient Mexican artifacts. We took special interest in these cute dogs that reminded us of Pandi.
Then we looked at the plein-air paintings. They were mostly done by one couple, William Joseph McCloskey, and his wife, Alberta Binford McCloskey. He excelled in portraiture, while she mastered realistic still lifes. Apparently, William was sad about his separation from Alberta, and he did his most poignant work at that time.
Alberta painted gorgeous realistic still life paintings of fruit and flowers. The museum displayed an impressionistic hydrangea picture next to one of Alberta's realistic versions. The chrysanthemum was my favorite picture in the whole gallery. The portrait of the little girl was another favorite.
This is the First California Bounty Hall. It displayed maps of the various ranchitos, haciendas, and farmlands of the original Mexican families who settled California in the 1800s.
Then we went to see my number one choice of the permanent exhibits : Gemstone carvings and the Masterworks of Harold Van Pelt.
This urn was made of petrified palm wood.
Look at this quartz crystal box and jasper pendant!!
The faceted quartz egg is my absolute favorite piece. Twenty carved gemstones spill out of a carved faceted quartz egg. It was the work of Harold Van Pelt.
This type of quartz is called reticulated quartz. It had either gold or silver inclusions that looked like tinsel. There were sculptures of a skull and a human foot made of this material.
This hand was made of chalcedony, since that was the closest mineral in color to actual human bones.
This quartz jar had a geode top of silver and gold, and this hummingbird inclusion was naturally formed.
The last piece is this agate scallop shell filled with strands of freshwater and baroque pearls.
We really enjoyed our visit. Mimi generously purchased a year's membership. She can take one of us for visits several times a year. I am looking forward to going back.
I finally got new running shoes. They feel like clouds of foam on my feet. I am very pleased, and I also love the color!! I never had pink ones before.
Well, that's all for now, but this is a long post. I already have material for my next post. Enjoy, and stay tuned !!
