Do I wake or sleep?

I know, it's been awhile.

Today is a festival of clashing--and yet ultimately working well together--fall colors. I was rummaging through my closet this morning, unexcited-about-but-resigned-to wearing pants. Then I noticed my patchwork-crochet skirt--this is one rockin' fashion statement. The front is made up of stop-sign-shaped crochet patches, each one in a different color--harvest gold, chocolate brown, orange, brighter yellows and lighter shades of gold, pale greens. The back is straight crochet in brown. The waist is a drawstring, trimmed in orange maribou. And of course the whole thing hugs my ass. It is an awesome skirt.

I was going to wear this with my chocolate brown sweater--I put it on and thought "yuck." The sweater completely deflated the naughtiness of the skirt. I poked through my sweaters and saw my lime-green '50s sweater--it's all fuzzy, with short sleeves and a very short waist. Surprise, it goes PERFECTLY with the skirt, and I'd always thought of this sweater as a spring garment (although it's a summer color, the material is too warm for summer--although of course you can pair lime green with black any time of the year--God, I love versatility). The two waistlines mesh especially well, because the skirt is meant to ride the hips, and the sweater stops just short of the hips. The chocolate brown sweater's waistline falls much longer than that, and hides the maribou. What is the point of a maribou-trimmed waistline if nobody sees it??? I mean, really.



I topped off the whole outfit with my chocolate brown hooker boots, Capezio tights, amber earring squares and a messy ponytail (and green and brown makeup, of course).

I just puttered around the apartment last night, taking care of a bunch of little things like cleaning Tatia's teeth (she was quite the drama grand duchess about it), trying on dresses for the Spotlight On affair this Saturday, watching all the extras on the Friday Night Lights DVD. The commentary was interesting; the director and the author of the original book did the commentary, and they happen to be cousins. They were both quite funny and articulate and very willing to poke fun at themselves. As I'd said before, the story really shuts out the girls' 2nd-class participation in the system--it hardly shows them at all, and the one girl you remember is the girl who boinks the QB at the party and then swans off. Interestingly both commentators would tease each other about how girl-crazy the other was--they both loved the boinker (who did a great job with the two scenes she had, as much as you could with such a crappy role), and they laughed about how the editor kept cutting to the Carter cheerleaders in the final game. Yeah, they're girl-crazy but they give the girls less-than-short-shrift in the movie. It would've been nice if they'd focused less on the short skirts and at least hinted at their actual story.

I also started to watch an old documentary series about Judaism and civilization (another Netflix DVD). Very interesting--I didn't know that Saul was the first Jewish king. Watched some Real World as well--haven't been able to watch much TV because of Midsummer, it's been nice just relaxing this week, although I've been sleeping through the alarm in the morning. Thank goodness my banker is out of the country this week.

So I decided on a darling little black dress for the Spotlight On dinner. It is very short--I modeled it for Doug via webcam and he wrote "holy jesus thats short." It's a tank dress--no cleavage up top, not tight, sleeveless, and a belted A-line skirt. Haven't decided yet what shoes to wear, because I'm still thinking about accessories. As they say, accessories make the woman.

Today I'm wearing all greens and yellows--a spring green tight tee-shirt (with no bra), a short (mid-thigh) spring green and yellow skirt with a cut-off hem, yellow sandals, my yellow Baby G watch, my chartreuse beaded mecklace and a splash of different color--my blue star earrings. Eyes lined in teal and blue, nude lipstick.

And no hose today. For one thing, I tanned on Tuesday night; for another, with this outfit, I can go without. It's fitting.

I seem to have dropped a size between the time I bought the skirt (early last week) and today. When I walked to work this morning, my skirt was slipping around my waist; I kept having to yank it back in place. I've been trying to eat better this week--trying (it's very difficult for me) to cut out refined sugar and eat more protein. I guess it's working--I don't particularly want to lose weight but I'd like to feel better about my diet. I eat a lot of crap. A lot of sugar and fat and alcohol. But last night, naked in Times Square, I felt pretty good about my body.

And just smile...

So lovely and warm today. I'm wearing an outfit that looks ahead to summer--tight, white cap-sleeved tee-shirt, no stockings, lightweight khaki skirt, and new caramel high-heeled sandals with a leopard print inside. I just got them on Tuesday--the perfect summer accessory because they match your tan and make your legs look longer.

Rarely in my life have I felt quite as WASPy as this, standing here in my full-length black velvet strapless gown with my grandmother's fur stole, my blonde hair pulled severely back from my face a la Gwyneth Paltrow at the 1999 Oscars, a triple strand choker of pearls around my neck.

The Sex and the City people should approve tomorrow.

WHAT is the deal with sizing in women's clothes? I ordered some pants from J. Crew, some cute chinos with flared legs. As my mantra is "Order in the Smallest Size Possible Because Everything is Too Damn Big" I ordered them in Zero Petite. They came on Friday, I tried them on and they were a little tight (although I must say, they hugged my ass quite nicely). I was going to exchange them via email, then I found out that J. Crew stores accept catalogue returns, so I went down today. I tried on the size 2--HUGE. I could've been pregnant in those. WTF? Now, these were a 2 Regular, not 2 Petite, but still--Petite means they're shorter, not smaller around the waist. *throws up hands in disgust* I give up. I decided to keep the zero and just diet.

I also had ordered a sweater--it was described as orange on the website but when I got it, it was more of a salmon color. Too pastelly, didn't pop out at you. So I exchanged it for a thin, merino wool turtleneck sweater that's a much brighter orange, a real citrusy, warm, delicious color. Veryveryvery happy with it.

I gotta work on this whole "delayed gratification" thing.

I was late to work today because I had to drop off something at the cleaner/tailor's. I was on 23rd Street on Saturday and stopped into the Homeless Works thrift store and bought a lime-green suede shirt/jacket. I had to get it--it's lime-green suede. And gorgeous. The thing is, it's a little dirty and needs to be taken in (as always). So, even though I was already running late this morning (as always), I stopped by to drop it off. Because I have to wear my beautiful new lime-green suede shirt as soon as possible. I don't want to wait one second longer than I must.

(The sad thing is, it won't be ready for at least a couple of weeks. Damn. *stamps foot* I want it now!!)