Member123

My color block maxi may be my night in Miami dress! I had some thoughts on actually wearing it out of Syracuse, but doing what I need to in order for it to feel right in November for the flight out. It's likely to be cold here. I may just put the outfit together for you guys, and see what you think.

Laurie, I hear you about this idea! I had the same idea for the flight I'm taking to Hawaii; I thought that it would be perfect to just get dressed in a maxi dress that would be tropical and beachy feeling. Then, I realized that I couldn't do that because I've GOT to wear my walking/travel/almost hiking type shoes because of my luggage packing situation. Unfortunately, a beautiful tropical maxi dress just doesn't look quite "right" with heavy duty walking shoes! LOL.

So, I'm having to change my direction and dress from the ground up. I will, however, take my maxi dress and those gold sandals that Anita bequeathed me and change as soon as possible once we arrive.

I hope your flight dressing is easier! Waiting patiently for your pictures. I'm hovering over CC today because Anita is on the road to Disney and the weekend is stretching in front of me....

Laurie,

It is so much fun reading about your planning for your cruise. I agree with Anita about the red dress; I think I posted on the other thread about wearing what you felt like. Sometimes, I think of us as just WARM ladies and ignore that you guys are over "here" and we are over "there" and I get the threads confused.

Anyway, I want to see your necklaces! I've been stumbling all over the internet lately and I saw an article about the best necklaces to go with different necklines. I just that... Laurie has that down.. and didn't bother to read the article because I'm not much of a necklace wearer. Maybe I'm not much of a bracelet wearer either. I don't know; those pieces just make me feel all "twitchy," or something. I love earrings; and I love rings... but necklaces and bracelets are a puzzle to me, how much they get in my way!

BUt.... Anita, those gold sandals have been so great! I wear them all the time. I was going to ask you if you thought that the toe-thing doesn't bother me with them because they're a 1/2-size bigger than I usually wear? Should I try another pair in that slightly bigger size? Or is it the construction around the heel? Because I can totally stand the toe ring in that sandal style and you KNOW how much I can't tolerate that ick between my toes!!! Weird.

and from my previous post, I think this is why we have started to rely so much upon our pictures.. and why the color parties that we did a while ago showed us such fantastic information.

I have a dirty little secret. I have never been able to use the Color Cards. I just have never developed the skill. I wish that I could.... but wishes don't make dreams come true. I just don't have the eye for it.

What I have been able to do... is to tell the effect that a particular color has on my skin tone... whether it "brightens" me or makes my skin appear to be more evenly toned and more golden than blotchy... if it diminishes the darker color under my eyes... if it makes some patchiness seem to smooth out... frankly, if it makes me look older or tired. (more tired). Anyway, I've been able to do that. So that's what I've been working with... and find that it works for me.

I thought that I'd be able to help with the color chips and I so WISH that I could get better about this... but I just... am about... to. give. up. on that idea. I think that I won't be able to get this methodology to work for me.

For example, I can't explain why the Otter works for me... but I've tried it again, and I know that it does. On its own, it looks like it has a yellow undertone, BUT I can get it to look like a gray undertone if I put it up against the Ralph Lauren brown wall that I have in the house. That Ralph Lauren wall is definitely a warm, golden brown... I searched high and low until I found it.

Puzzled. Frustrated. Pulling Out My Hair! Laughing. Cause at the end of the day, this is FUN.

Information taken from the Pantone site:

Sometimes colors affect each other in unexpected ways. For example, most colors, when placed next to their complements, produce vibrating, electric effects. Other colors, in the right combinations, seem quite different from what you'd expect.

The most striking color illusions are those where identical colors, when surrounded by different backgrounds, appear to be different from each other. In a related effect, different colors can appear to be the same color when surrounded by certain backgrounds.

When you look at a colored object, your brain determines its color in the context of the surrounding colors.

If we accept the fact that the color of our prints comes from the light, we start thinking a little more about the color of light. We know for example that paper and ink come in all different colors. White paper is not white paper – there are all sorts of shades of white paper. There are well-defined methods for measuring and describing this paper variable. We can measure the whiteness and/or brightness of paper. Even office copier paper has brightness measurements listed on the packaging. We see the same thing in ink. There is no such thing as cyan. Cyan on an inkjet printer varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Cyan printing ink can change from batch to batch and from vendor to vendor. Again there are well-defined means for measuring and quantifying the color of ink.

What about light? Light also comes in all different colors. Isaac Newton is credited with first discovering that white light is composed of all colors. Knowing how color behaves when we combine more than one color together, it makes sense to discover that some white light might have more red than other white light. Measurement of various light sources quickly shows that this is true.

Let’s assume the amount of red light is significantly different in one white light source compared to another. If we know that the color in our print comes from the light, then it follows that these different light sources will give us different colors of red on the same exact print. This in a nutshell is why light matters so much when viewing color prints. This concept applies to all color prints: photographic prints, inkjet prints, posters, signs, proofing, packaging print, publications and commercial print. The color is in the light.

So, if I'm analyzing this information correctly, then I would say that

1. If you look at a color by itself (oooh pretty!), you might think it's FIRE. Using Tangerine Tango as an example.

2. Place Tangerine Tango next to Tomato Puree. Hmmm, Tangerine Tango could be EARTH.

3. Place Tangerine Tango next to Formula One. Yep, Tangerine Tango is definitely FIRE.

4. Place Tangerine Tango next to Nectarine. Hmmm, Tangerine Tango could be EARTH.

Back and forth. Back and forth. And if you take Tangerine Tango outside in the natural light... outside in dappled shade... under the lighting in the bathroom... under the lighting from the nightstand lamp... well, it all changes.

I just don't know if I have the skill set to do this, frankly.

I've been making myself crazy with these color chips on and off all day. I realize that the afternoon light in my one room keeps moving in and out of the clouds...and I think this is affecting the photos. So I decided to just start making comparisons with my own two eyes and seeing what happens.

 

So for you FIRE ladies out there. Get your color cards and add the following chips and take a photo or two:

 

FIRE:

 

Nectarine

Tangerine Tango

Dewberry

Deep Periwinkle

Primrose Yellow

Apricot Ice

Peacock Blue

Pool Green

Turkish Tile

Macaw Green

Tender Shoots

 

I tell you what. I haven't taken a photo of my different color families yet. I just made haphazard piles of color chips and it seemed a bit easier to see when a color was off...

 

Anyway...that's my current FIRE pile, but I'd love to see a photo with the color cards for comparison. Kim I took a look at your photos...and the ones with the color cards where you can see the bright greens pretty ICE...they aren't Granny Apple Green, they are Neon. I'd be curious though to see which chip matchs Mom's one green dress best...

Just quoting Anita so I can get a list of her potential FIRE colors. So, this is what I did. I just sat in front of my bathroom mirror and stared at my face: eyes (kind of puffy this morning because I had some binge eating of chips last night... <last time before cruise I swear!>...) and I have a small irritated patch of dehydrated skin on my nose.. and just stared at my lips. Then, I pulled my hair away from my face and made sure that I wore a "for sure" FIRE top. Then, I just started putting the chips right underneath my chin and just staring at what happened to my skin tone...

And...

most of the chips were awful. Just awful.

There were only a few where I felt like my skin tone evened out; where my lips actually got color in them. My eyes ... well none of them really helped the look of my eyes today... but these chips did as well as my "for sure" FIRE top. So,

Peacock Blue *

Deep Green

Ambrosia

Jasmine Green

Pear Sorbet

Otter

I'm going to scroll up and put an asterisk by the ones in my list that are the same as Anita's List. Uh. Oh.

The only chip that looks even remotely similar (of the chips on my list) to my Color Cards is: Jasmine Green. And Jasmine Green is the closest color to my Gianni Binni green dress.

OK. The light has drastically changed in front of the mirror so I can't really go back and see why I didn't choose some of Anita's colors and why maybe she didn't choose the colors that I thought made a difference. Oh, I also need to check to see if I have all those color names because there were 3 empty slots in the display case at Lowes.

Whew. Will this ever become easy and stop making me crazy?

Kim! Thank you for reminding me. I didn't realize that I'd already registered on snapfish. I guess I was so excited to see Tanzania photos that I didn't really care at the time!

LOL. Your kitty is cute. Trying to be helpful?

Do you have to have a snapfish account to be able to see your album, Kim?

So frustrating to see 17 photos and not have access to them. Maybe it's about time for me to get one of those gmail or yahoo or whatever email accounts, I guess.

So, I went to Lowe's. I just spoke with Anita and asked her.... what IS it about plucking every single Pantone chip out of the display that makes you feel like you're doing something naughty?

Actually, they were out of 3 of the colors. I'll have to put them in numeric order and I'll let you guys know the ones that I am missing.

Now, I can play too! yeah!

OK. I'm going to have to go get my chips so I can play.

Someone posted a link to Lisa Eldridge and I just love her! She's a makeup artist to celebrities, but she's so very practical. She's beautiful and has a lovely, lilting English accent.

So, she posted a video on her long haul flight ritual, and I am going to do it! I don't care! I am going to do it!

<BTW, Laura, don't worry about what other people think or do! By golly, if you want to wear a dress on your Majesty cruise, you do it!>

Ummm, here's the link:

http://www.lisaeldridge.com/video/23653/my-beauty-regime-on-long-haul-flights/

I'm going to buy some melatonin because I've been thinking about trying that for years and Margaret just reminded me. And, I'm going to buy a scented eye mask, for sure!

I'm doing this. I'll let everyone know how it goes. :)

Laura!

The absolute worst thing about seeing those pants is that I actually thought....

GROOVY.

:cool:

Are you old enough to remember that you called things "groovy?" LOL.

Yes, I did find the cards. I brought home almost all of them because I was in a hurry and couldn't take time to go through and pick out what I thought were our colors. I've been away this week and am now just getting back to the cards. So far I think these would work. Blues- Princess Blue, maybe Blithe; Aquas- Bay, Beach Glass, Aqua Glass and Cockatoo,; Greens- Macaw Green and Tender Shoots; Yellow- Solar Power; Reds-Tangerine Tango and Tomato Puree; Apricot Ice, Nued and Echru. Not sure about Chili

What's your opinion. These sure changed colors after I got them home!

Happy belated, Linda! 43 years--that's a long time AND you're still celebrating it seems--way to go :)

 

I didn't get all the colors like you did, wish I would have. I think I'll go back and get all of them tomorrow. I did think "Citrus" looked FIRE'ish too. I LOVE "Beach Glass". this could be a fun conversation and a useful piece of info if we get various opinions on the colors. I'm anxious to see what Anita comes up with on EARTH colors.

 

Thanks for the nice compliments on the photo :) The sweater/vest is one of my favorite FIRE combos that I have. I love Chicago, such a fun and exciting place to visit but, I don't think I would want to live in a city that large and busy!

Orange/Red:

 

Citrus, Apricot ice, Nectarine, Tangerine Tango, Haute Red.

 

Blue/Green:

Ethereal Blue, Blithe, Princess Blue, Turkish Tile, Peacock Blue, Macaw Green

 

That's it.

So, consensus:

Blues/Greens: Princess Blue, Blithe, Macaw Green

Orange/Red: Tangerine Tango, Apricot Ice

We are probably safe with these, at least. I'll have to go to Lowe's and pick up the cards so I can play! Curious to see why Beach Glass didn't make the cut for Anita.

Kim, I think when you have a flight outfit that simply works... especially for the long hauls... absolutely!... fly, wash, repeat!.. Good. To. Go.

I would love to land on a flight outfit. I just have been through the most bizarre changes in weight fluctuations in the last few years. Actually, that's not true. My weight hasn't changed much at all, but my SIZING has changed dramatically; I've changed from a Chico's 1.5 to a Chico's 0; and a Cache 10 to a Cache 6. It just makes the pants so darn baggy; not a good look; and so challenging when you're on a plane because of what Debbie was talking about (ewww, by the way) and also that gap that happens when you bend over and the waistband pops out and you can see to China... <use your imagination.>

I took a look at the Dipper pants from Athleta; they have so many pants to choose from! I like my pants to have a bit higher fit in the belly button to waist spot. But, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be getting some form of Athleta pant/capri and calling it my flight outfit. Anita also told me (she does know me very well) that if I have something really comfortable, I'm probably going to grab it as a "first thing to wear to breakfast" on board the ship... so I need to give some thought to that, as well.

It's a dark, rainy day here. Perfect weather for dreaming of sunny vacation spots.

Oh, no... don't get me started on nail polish. :o I am a nail polish addict. Is there a meeting somewhere? Although I'm a self professed nail polish addict, I don't want to attend a meeting because I don't want to get better! I can sit at my computer screen for hours and hours just researching and looking at nail swatches. Have you found nail swatches? OMG. I LOVE NAIL SWATCHES!

OK. Nobody laugh. DH and I did a practice run on packing the bottom of the suitcases with shoes! He is taking 3 pair: 1 pair of "dress" shoes; 1 pair of "dressy casual" shoes; and the pair on his feet for the plane/shore excursions/gym. I think he may be taking some water shoes in his carryon. I got 6 pair of shoes into the two checked bags; that means that I have to take 2 pair in my carryon and wear my walking shoes on the plane. The only reason that I have to take an extra pair of flat sandals in my carryon is because I have to wear my walking shoes and I don't want to wear my plane outfit in Hawaii on the day we arrive. Isn't that funny?!? Geez.

I remember a show years ago with Suzanne Somers with one episode where her tiny, tiny suitcase weighed a ton. The reason? She packed an iron because her suitcase was so tiny that everything always came out wrinkled....

But I digress....

Do you think that our wardrobe sounds similar? Maybe the colors... but I think that we dress very differently. For one thing, I've never had to worry about my chest getting in the way of anything that I want to do. I read a thread on here where the woman couldn't buy dresses with side zippers because she couldn't reach them with the "girls" in the way! I just don't relate to any of those difficulties.

And, especially since my goiter surgery, I cannot STAND anything around my neck. Absolutely nothing can touch my neck or hang heavy around my neck. It's terrible! I think it's probably bordering on psychological... but... whatever... no scarves for me. Never. Ever.

I'm getting my packing act together. The shoes are definitely going. This is a long trip, but not really a difficult transportation one; for example, we don't have any small European taxis to worry about and no trains. Mainly just transport to/from airports, so no big deal. But, I think that we're going to make it with a checked bag and a carry on each. I will definitely take a look at the diaper bag idea!

So, nail polish. I so love some of the names. Here's my current wish list to grab; they're Deborah Lippmann polishes and they are: No More Drama, Laughin' to the Bank, Mermaid's Eyes. What I have that I love: Deborah Lippman On the Beach; Dior Saint-Tropez; OPI: A Good Mandarin is Hard to Find, Austintacious Turquoise, Call Me Gwenever, Didgeridoo Your Nails, Purple with a Purpose.

I have fallen in love with blues, purples, greens! Holy cow. LOVE. THEM. Coral is my play it safe color. Wow. I'm truly addicted. :o Oh, I forgot my new one: Teal the Cows Come Home! YES. I bought it for the NAME! LOL.

Oh, the app that I use is just a list app called ListPro. I love it; I've finally figured out some of its fancy features and I feel so organized with it... it's not as fancy as, say, StylishGirl, but I can't be bothered to take all those pictures. StylishGirl lets you take pictures of your various tops/bottoms/shoes/jewelry and then combine them into an outfit. It looked pretty cool, but the methodology was just too tedious for me. I like my simple little manual entries to make my lists of the outfits that I intend to wear... and which suitcase they'll be packed into. Divide and conquer! Name of the game!

Yeah! Conversation!

Debbie, do you ever read the thread here titled Cruising Caribbean Fashionista started by indiana71? She gives me such giggles; I just read that thread a bit here and there. Anyway, she's quite a packer; she has an entire cruise room that she uses to "stage" her outfits and she cruises quite a bit. WELL. A few cruises ago, I decided to try out her method and... boy... I sort of fell in love with it! I don't follow the items to-a-"T".. but what I do is analyze the different days; i.e., flight day, embarkation day, sea day(s), port day(s), formal day(s)... and then sort of mix and match my days.

I have an "app for that." Seriously, I love my IPOD Touch and don't know how I got along without it before I had it. Anyway, I do kind of get my days into a sort of rhythm, so that I split up the wearings of my various tops, etc. For example, I have 18 cruise nights on the upcoming trip; so I have 15 ensemble outfits planned, along with 3 formal nights. The 15 ensemble outfits are being made up out of the tops/bottoms in rotation, plus a few one-off skirts (that weigh almost nothing) to help with the variety. By putting in the skirts, I only have to wear each bottom 3x. kwim?

So, you're not a complete nut... or maybe there are just two of us in this world!

I have felt so much better after I got started with this packing list... and its subsequent analysis. It's not that I feel totally limited by the list, but when I follow it... well... that's just a decision that I don't have to make while I'm onboard. Does it help with packing lighter? Not really. And, it doesn't have to do with making ensemble outfits... what it has to do with is dividing up my wardrobe between our two checked bags. When you divide... really... it makes you take a few additional clothes in each bag; not many... but a few. For example, if I think that there are 3 formal nights, then I am inclined to put 2 formal outfits in each bag... which gives me 4 formal outfits... which is one more than I might really need. On an 18-night cruise, we might actually have 4 formal nights. If we end up having a problem with the arrival of one bag, then I might have to wear each formal outfit twice, or just one of them twice. It's just not THAT much more weight to pitch in one additional dress... and the logic proceeds from there, to just one more bottoms... to just a few more tops. Well, you see how it can mushroom.

And then there's the problem of the weather possibilities... and packing for that. I have quite a varied itinerary for this upcoming vacation. I'm at the countdown days where the PANIC sets in! :eek: It might be PANIC, or it might be EXCITEMENT. In any event, it's all absorbing, time consuming, last minute detail driven... exhausting... manic... SHOPPING!!! No, I'm kidding.

Although, I have been looking at some absolutely fabulously wonderful... wait for it... NAIL POLISH COLORS!

I'm making myself crazy. I'm going to go get a cup of tea, reread your post, and go check out the Vivienne Files... because I should be cleaning the kitchen.

Love you ladies! :D

Drat! Am I the only one that feels like chatting?!?

So, here's my latest conundrum. What would you do?!?

I have two pretty long plane flights coming up. The flight from Phoenix to Hawaii is 6 hours, pretty doable. But, the flight from Sydney to Hawaii is brushing up against 11 hours, definitely not looking forward. It's also an overnight flight... well, it's supposed to be a sleeping flight, but that is just an awful concept for me. I have such a hard time sleeping when I'm not laying down...

Anyway, here it comes. I've figured out that the best clothing to wear on the plane (since I can't really wear my PJs) is to wear a yoga pant, a non-underwire (athletic bra), comfy 3/4-sleeve tunic top. Hopefully, I'll be able to try to sleep in this outfit and arrive in a not-too-rumpled condition. Our flight leaves around 9:00pm and arrives at 8:30am THE SAME DAY. That's so freaky and weird. I think I've already mentioned that.

So, color ladies... of course I can't find anything that is remotely close to our palette! Not even remotely. I have found loads of yoga pants in EARTH colors and, of course, black. What would you do? In this instance, does comfort trump all other considerations? Kim, what did you wear on your flights to Africa? Were you comfortable? Are you wearing the same thing on your upcoming flights?

An inquiring mind wants to know....

And, where is everybody?

It's not that far away. We leave for our trip on the 3rd of October.

Considerations for this trip: (1) Flight days, there are 3 and one is a long-haul flight. We go from PHX to HNL, SYD to HNL, and then HNL to PHX. The consideration for the first leg is that I will be traveling early in the morning and arrive in Hawaii around noon; I'll be going from warm to warm. From Sydney to Hawaii is a long haul flight at night. The weird thing is that we leave on Saturday night and arrive on Saturday morning! Weirder than weird, actually. And then the last leg is another warm to warm transit and a who-cares-what-I-wear-home situation. My goal for the flights is to be comfortable, so I'm thinking yoga type clothing.

We have some land days: 2 days in Hawaii, 4 days in Sydney, 3 days in Hawaii (to help get over all the time zone changes). We have a LOT of sea days; all of our ports of call are intensely water related, so mainly swimsuit and coverup type of clothing required.

The conflict that I have is, of course, in trying to pack light and also to satisfy my desire to look stylish and have fun with my wardrobe. I've been doing a bunch of reading at the packing light sites and I've been reading the opinions of people on this forum about packing light. What is it about the light packers that gives them the tonal quality to their voice of being so darn stubborn in their approach to packing that they really come off as borderline offensive and rude? What is that all about on a Fashion Forum?!?

Anyway, I don't know if you ladies know that my daily life is pretty much non-imaginative when it comes to dressing in anything but work out clothes. So, going on a vacation is really uplifting for me! It's the time when I really outdo myself in my clothing and my makeup. If I didn't have that aspect to my vacation, I would really miss it! I love to get dressed up in the early evening and go to the cocktail hour(s) on board; I love to get dressed for the dining room. I just love that aspect of cruising.

And what is the biggest problem with getting dressed in the evening?!? That would be SHOES! OMG. Shoes just make the outfit sometimes. I love Laura's statement necklaces... on HER... those heavy necklaces around my neck just don't stay on my body... I can't stand the feel of them and the weight of them... I think that I use SHOES in the same way that Laura uses her statement necklaces: I've done that all my life. For my whole life. (GS comes to mind here).

I have managed to put together 15 evening outfits. Did I mention that the cruise is an 18-night cruise? I think we'll have 3 formal nights. Well, I'm only planning for 3 formal nights; let's put it that way. In my 15 outfit ensemble, I am doing it with basically 9 tops, 4 bottoms that are rotating; in other words, I will be wearing 1 top with 3 different bottoms... mix and match... THEN, I have some skirts that Anita made me ages ago and I'm taking 3 of those that go with the tops that are in rotation, but the skirts will only really pair with 1 of the tops and look fabulous. Make sense?

The colors are AMAZING! With the color palettes that we have, everything works with everything really; it's just that some work BETTER with some things than others. Here's my list:

Bottoms: animal print skirt, sand capri, khaki (tan) pants, a light warm navy print pant

Tops: coral, animal print, tangerine, turquoise, yellow, bright yellow halter, ivory, red, chocolate

Uh-oh. Here come the shoes. 5 PAIR! And, that doesn't count the ones that I'm going to have to pack that are for special circumstances: water shoes, walking shoes, Rykas for Zumba. I know what you're thinking... so just let me tell you that I can't use the Rykas in place of the walking or vice versa. Ugh.

The shoes! Turquoise suede sandals, gold gladiator sandals, multi-metallic (mostly gold) heels, bronze strappy heels, red heels.

Too much?!?

Hi, everyone,

So, I'm sitting here with a face that goes along with Anita's sweater!... but not by choice.

Have you heard about Sephora's Color-IQ Foundation matching service? Let me tell you how you can really, really screw up this device! In case you haven't heard, Sephora has partnered with Pantone and they've developed a sort of camera, hand-held device that is supposed to be placed on your skin in a few key locations... your jawline, your cheeks, your forehead. The device takes a bunch of pictures, not that you see just within the device's memory, and then proceeds to match up the pictures with a four-digit number. This four-digit number starts with the numbers from 1 (light) to 5 (darker, more saturated pigment) and then either the letter R (yes, for Red) or the letter Y (you guessed it! Yellow). If you are a really, really yellow person you'll have something like a 5Y and if you're just slightly pink, you'll have something like a 1R. Then, there's another two digits that are going to be numbers, ranging from 01 (porcelain) to 15 (deep mahogany or deep, Caribbean black type of skin).

You'd think that I'd be about a 1 or 2 YELLOW, Right? Nope. Got pegged as a 1R, which means that I'm a RED undertone... which, of course, means that I have COOL skin! :( Followed, by an 07 which means that I have more pigmentation in my skin! What?!? :(

So, the makeup artist proceeds to put this foundation "matchy" match on my face and tells me how wonderful I look! So, of course, I get a sample... well, I didn't want to hurt her feelings, did I?... AT LEAST I DIDN'T BUY IT! RIGHT, GIRLS?!? AT LEAST, I'M LEARNING A LITTLE BIT! :p

So, I came home and looked in the mirror and thought... I can't tell! But, I don't believe this is working for me. As the light has changed throughout the day here, my face is looked redder and redder and darker and darker... and now it totally looks like my face doesn't belong to me; in the sense that it's an absolutely different color than my chest.

Here's where I "went wrong." You ladies know that color from the cards that CJW called a Medium Warm Violet? Well, I was wearing an exercise top in that color. I absolutely think that is such an intense color that it was throwing the violet onto my face and altering the readout from that device. PLUS, the makeup artist took readings from my CHEST, CHEEKS, and FOREHEAD...so, of course, the violet was throwing quite a bit of color onto my chest.

Oh well.

I have to go wash my face. I may try this again... or maybe not.

o.my.gosh.

I'm just sitting here giggling.

Whew.

I needed that!

Debbie! Wow, if you and I could go shopping together, we'd have so much fun... because we'd end up going for a drink to drown our sorrows! :cool:

No kidding.

My sweet Grandma had a saying that just sums up my feelings sometimes. She said, "that makes me so mad, I just want to spit." :confused: What did that mean?!? But, it makes perfect sense when you are just that mad or that frustrated.

Anyway, it's a cycle. Sometimes I struggle with the whole body image and aging aspects of shopping. Especially the aging aspects... because as much as I don't want to admit it, there's a real difference in how clothing looks on a more <ahem> mature person than a younger one; there comes a time when you just can't pull off the look of a hem that is too short, among other issues.

Confession. I went to the store and tried on the pants! Even after I read Linda's words and knew she spoke truth! I still went... well, just to see. And, boy, what a shakeup. First, didn't fit well anyway. Second, wasn't at all flattering on me. Third, I was in a dang dressing room with those dang, stupid lights that make me look like death warmed over. I got so depressed! Ugh.

The biggest problem that I have in trying to find pants that fit is to find really nice skinny leg pants that have a higher waistband so that I don't get a muffin top created. Because of the additional 10 pounds of weight that I lost, I have some major skin sag issues that just gets displaced higher if I try to zip and close those darn pants that sit below your navel. It's so ugly and so darn depressing. And, I don't want to look matronly! And those higher waisted pants are so darn aging in their styling. For one thing, when you get a higher waist then you usually get a saggy butt and too much fabric in the thighs. Ugh.

So, the salesperson brought in a really beautiful tropical print dress... which I of course need because I'm sailing through the South Pacific Islands. And, maybe it was our colors?!? So, I tried it on... and, boy, wasn't that special! The tropical print had some beautiful flowers and... guess what?... one decided to bloom... just... there... yes, just over my pubic bone... such a GREAT look. :rolleyes: And, you know, once you see something like that... there's just no going back. She asked me how it fit and I told her the situation and she just didn't even argue! She said, "oops".... and back on the rack it went.

So, in the spirit of making myself feel better, I went to Teavana and bought some tea! Yes, I did! Well, I've been wanting some great tea for a while; who needs bottoms when they have TEA?!?

End of shopping.

Anyway, thank you for your words of wisdom; your WoWs. I know what you're saying. I'm so sorry that you continue to have problems with your wardrobe, Debbie. I do, too. Makes me want to spit. :D

Hi, all....

Ladies....

We have been doing this for a few years now. Does anyone still struggle with "falling off the wagon?" I do! In fact, I'm in a huge debate right now because I have a super challenging situation in my wardrobe. I have plenty of tops.. but no bottoms! This makes for a real puzzle in dressing!

I have one pair of sand-colored capris with gold that I love. BUT, they are really baggy on me now. And, I have a few skirts... but that's the extent of my FIRE bottoms wardrobe.

I am about ready to take the first step down the other side of the slippery slope. Look at these pants from Cache!

http://www.cache.com/detail/tropical-print-crop-pant/T1060A70214970/19

I think they are super cute! I think that they would look really good with some of my yellow tops. Maybe I'm not going to get them because of the reviews: they have to be dry-cleaned, and they wrinkle easy so not good for travel, and they have too much stretch in them so they lose shape during wear. BUT, I'm so desperate that I still haven't decided that I shouldn't. I guess I don't care that they have a white, white background and aren't my season. Whatever!

Does someone need to talk me off the ledge?

Thanks Anita for starting the new thread. I went over and posted the photos from our Lindblad trip.

 

It will be nice to have an area where all of us EARTH and FIRE ladies can chat. I lurk on the FIRE board and sometimes I want to chime in, but I don't want to hijack the thread. It will be nice to share all our travels, photos, and thoughts that are not directly fashion related.

 

I got an awesome silk (?) chiffon scarf for $10 today in Chinatown. It is off white with pale turquoise and brown, perfect for fall and back-to-school. Fortunately I don't start until Sept. 12!

First of all, you are welcome to post on the FIRE thread! Oh em Gee! You certainly didn't need a formal invitation! We talk about all sorts of things over there, and we've been really lonely lately!

Secondly, Margaret... you managed to post your pictures in the Floataway Lounge area. That's a pretty "interesting" area of this message board. Anita got a snarky comment on that particular post. She didn't really want to start a thread there but she became impatient waiting for the moderators to get a section started in the forum entitled FRIENDS OF CRUISE CRITIC. That's an interesting forum because it's like having a semi-private (by invitation only) type of party. Unlike other forums within cruise critic, you can only see that particular forum if you are a member of cruise critic (so hopefully we wouldn't be able to be searched and indexed by search engines on any posts at that location... or, if we were searched, then the person clicking on any link would be redirected to a sign-in page... not that that's any guarantee of privacy, but it's a little something, something).

Anyway, get to FRIENDS OF CRUISE CRITIC, and go to the listing that is almost at the end of that big list. I should have written down the whole name, but I know that it contains the word Pictodiary. Let me see if I can go over there and check it out real quick....ok, it's called Make Mine a Pictodiary. That is where we can have really good conversation about topics other than color & fashion, if we want to. It's a way of keeping us on topic in our threads here... and conform to the Fashion Forum topics of conversation.

I'm posting because Anita is having her last 3-day weekend before the start of school and is trying to stay off the computer this weekend. I just wanted to get the information about our forum on here! That area is pretty awesome because you can start various threads within it... right now Anita has started a thread about a Meet & Greet that the FIRE ladies are talking about. OH! We're trying to get together a trip / camping weekend for next summer! Come over and talk with us! And it would be a great area to talk about all of our vacation plans. Holiday parties... etc.

Everyone...

 

I've started a new thread over in the Floataway lounge. I'm reporting on our recent camping adventure over there. I thought it could be a good place for us to have our non-fashion discussions so that the Earth and Fire threads stay on topic.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=39258188&posted=1#post39258188

Hmmm, that lounge is a snarky place to be! I don't know if I like that particular party. It seems like some real weird energy hangs out over there. Did you invite Debbie to go see your sweet setup?

Hey, everybody,

Linda, I hope the red is a "keeper" cause I would love to see an updated photo of you. I think we all ran out of steam on our color parties... as fun as they were; they were a lot of work.

So..... thankfully (because I'm really excited) we managed to fit our Australia cruise into this year. We have quite a lovely time planned, leaving Oct 3rd to fly to Hawaii for a day. Boarding Celebrity Solstice in Oahu and going to Maui before taking a long TransPacific cruise... stopping in Bora Bora, Moorea, and Papeete... heading on to Auckland and Bay of Islands... ending in Sydney. We are staying in Sydney for a few days and then breaking up the long flight home by going back to Hawaii... acclimating for a few days... and ending up home. We will be gone pretty much the entire month of October.

I don't think anything will compare to Kim's safari; and I know everyone is looking forward to that return trip! And Debbie and Linda going to Alaska and that will be beautiful. I will do what I can to post an entertaining pictodiary (yes, Kim). I know that I have to do my part. If nothing else, I guess I could post my DH's behind... maybe not. Well, most decidedly not! LOL. I can guarantee that I'll be looking at behinds with more possibilities though; Kim, you really opened up my eyes to how charming behinds can be. No joke.

This cruise feels like it will be very tropical, maybe because of the stop in French Polynesia (which I've wanted to do for so long!). In any event, my wardrobe is really leaning heavily in the tropical direction. I'm not sure that ALL of the colors that I've located are FIRE; you know for some reason those tropical prints seem to tend cool to my eye. Anyway, we all know that the camera won't lie. I am also trying my hand at some more updated, modern makeup attempts. We'll see how I do.

How is everyone? Hopefully, you are having a great summer. You being collective, of course.

 

with 2 large turkey thighs. Takes 3+ hours in the crock pot on high. I removed the turkey and used a submersion blender on what was left in the crock pot. I shredded the turkey. I reserved a lot of the liquid but added enough to give that stewed effect. Not sure what to do with the liquid...but I'll think of something.

 

This was a great meal. Super tasty. And easy.

 

Again, hope everyone is having a great summer!!

The flavor profile in that liquid feels like it would lend itself to adding some amazing flavor to something like a Cauliflower Mash. Have you ever cooked that? I was trying to find techniques that would allow me to get more bone broth into your Dad, so I used bone broth in the method of making the mash, but I think that liquid would be absolutely wonderfully tasty.

You just separate the cauliflower into its florets; put them into a saucepan with the liquid and simmer until the florets are tender. You should only use enough liquid so that the florets are slightly submerged, but that the liquid will be able to be absorbed into the veg. You don't want soup! Take off heat and melt some parmesan cheese (if you want) into the mixture; just mash with the tines of a fork or masher; season to taste. This was a rave dish; we ate with salmon, but the flavor profile would have stood up to flavorful meat, as well.

Debbie,

I just saw in your signature that you are going to Alaska this month! When?!? Oh boy, Alaska pictures! Yeah!

In the spirit of Kim's pictures, maybe you can get some bear behinds; getting whale tails is really all you (mostly) ever get; but I wouldn't mind seeing some seal behinds... just saying.

OK. A comedienne I am not! Seriously, when is your trip? We need to go along with you in spirit!

Linda, where are you?

Kim, where are you?

Pam... oh right... I'm sitting right here! :D

Oh, you're going to laugh out loud, for real. I listened to Getting Nasty because of your comment that this might be a Kisha type song... well, no... it's LAURA, on a SUNDAY morning! Ha! I never really listened to the lyrics, but this is one of her fav songs and we must do it almost every Sunday class for the last few months, even. I do modify quite a bit in the song because I just can't do those knee jolting jumps, and I really don't have quite the rhythm or speed to do most of those pumps. But, it is a high energy song that I don't mind.

Of course, there's a line of difference between "don't mind" and "love!" Right? Last night was such a lovely Zumba time. Kisha brought back some oldies, but goodies... those songs that you just love everything about! Danza Kuduro, and a few songs from that time frame. Moving on to I'm Sexy AND I Know it! to If You're Sexy and You Know it!... which were just fun. And that song about the tea (looked it up, it's called Drop and Roll)..

Anyway, Just a fun, fun class. But, OMG, as I've mentioned before... I've got to get some more Zumba into my week. I'm just wrecking myself; terrible calf cramps last night! We're having extreme, extremely hot weather right now; I know that cramping can be attributed to dehydration. I'm really trying to drink water all day long, but maybe I just can't keep up with this heat!... don't know.

Bottom line. Great class last night. I wouldn't say that it was mostly Latin based rhythms, though. Just fun, fun songs and fun movements to them.