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OK, Kim, we would love to see pictures of New Orleans with you in it!

I just have to say... everyone....

having Blue Toes is fabulous fun! The polish color is "On the Beach" by Deborah Lippmann and it is.... so perfect! LOL.

One more day for the fingernails because of the handwashing of dishes. Here's the deal: I'm totally planning dinner tomorrow night based upon the lowest number of dishes (and pans) that will be generated by the preparation of the meal! I wonder if Food Network has ever decided to give a program to a Star who would prepare a meal based upon the number of dirty utensils? :p ha!

Hi, KIm! Miss you!

So, today is the day of nail polish on the toes. I'm going with everyone's opinion and putting on the "Blue" :D Because of convenience (and a broken dishwasher), I think I'll wait until tomorrow to do the fingernails, which I'm still debating blue or gold. Even though it sounds weird, I think I'll take nail polish with me and see if I feel like changing colors on board.

Kim you would love Bermuda so much. Just watch the time of year to go because this will be our second trip to Bermuda. In a mind-boggling abscence of logic, we scheduled this second trip to Bermuda at the same time of year.... wedding anniversary... as the first, and we're faced with the same dilemmas as the first. How dumb can 2 people be?!? We're heading into rainy weather... ditto... we're returning to NYC area on the weekend of the Puerto Rico Pride Parade!... ditto... so we got faced with high, high hotel rates on our weekend return and packing dilemma with clothes layers, etc.

Our first trip to Bermuda we did a very short 5-day cruise on Explorer. That trip had the most unusual experiences for us! We got invited to the Captain's Table! Still don't know why... but we were eating in Chops for our anniversary dinner and we were asked by the maitre 'd if we had flexible dining plans for the next evening. What? Anyway, engraved invitations delievered to the stateroom. OMG. That was quite an experience.

AND, for the first time EVER, we went to the MDR on embarkation day and visited our table assignment. We got erroneous information about our potential tablemates and asked to move tables (because we thought that we were the only non-family people at a large table for 10.. and they were celebrating a wedding...). I can't do this story justice in a short post, so I'll just tell you that (1) we visited the table on the first night, (2) they weren't a large family celebrating a wedding. They were a family of 4, and 2 other couples! from New Jersey!, (3) the ship moved us the next day and put someone else in our place AND (4) they gave us a table RIGHT NEXT TO THE ORIGINAL TABLE. It was a 4-top and we were the only ones there and the original tablemates hassled us throughout the entire meal. :o

Anyway, back to Kim liking Bermuda. There is a very long nature trail that you can't possibly do in one day (26 miles), a lot of history, and a lot of natural beauty. Definitely keep Bermuda on your bucket list, for sure.

I will definitely do a pictodiary. I think that my outfits for this trip are the most colorful, yet. We'll see how the pictures turn out! I'll do my best to post a fashion report.

If you gals get started on posting color pictures while I'm gone that would be wonderful to read on my return. I think one of the reasons that I lost a bit of steam on the posting was because of my weight loss and shrinking out of my clothes. I'm really being much, much pickier about the purchases of clothes. When I first got my colors done, I would see what I thought was MY COLOR and BUY IT... whether I needed whatever it was or NOT.. because it was MY COLOR... so I ended up with a lot of tops and no bottoms and no real outfits. Obviously, no accessories. So, my effort has been more finely tuned to an overall wardrobe effort instead, which means that I don't have quite the selection for pictures that I used to have. Thoughts? Anyone else (Debbie?) experiencing this same type of dilemma?

Cyberlove to all you ladies. We're headed to Bermuda in 2 days!

Yummmmy...mulled cider. I totally *get* your perspective on the blue nails. I'm not ready for that myself! Bet Anita could convince you :) Have a great trip! We leave for the E. Med and Greek Isles in 13 days!

I'm so NOT ready, but I really need this vacation.

Jane

How did I miss this?!? :eek:

I'm so THRILLED for you! Have you been to the Eastern Med and/or Greek Isles before?

I should have looked at your sig to see if you've sailed Celebrity before; I have been on two of the S-class ships: Solstice & Equinox. They are absolutely beautiful. Tip: Do NOT miss the dance called Stars & Stripes where the officers have a dance-off with some of the passengers. Such a great show. And the Silhouette is such a fabulous ship!

What do you still need to do to get ready? Are all the big items done and you just need to pay attention to the details... you know what they say... the devil is in the details!...

OK. So, I'm having a bit of a freak attack. Maybe it's just that I'm not used to the idea of blue nails, but I'm wondering if my blue toenails are really going to go with my wardrobe? I'm having second thoughts!

I just got finished putting my wardrobe packing list together. I'm going to have very, very colorful outfits. OMG. So colorful. Wait. Til. You. See.

But, I'm wondering if blue toenails will put all this color over the top... in a good way... or... in a not-so-good way! I'm almost thinking of going to the fall back position of :eek: coral!?!

I don't know. I haven't put on the polish, yet. In a weird way, I'm thinking of painting my toenails the more conservative color and just playing around with the polish on my fingernails. I think fingernails are easier to change and I'm actually thinking of changing my polish color during the cruise. I've never done that before! Always left with neutral nails and just didn't think about it during the cruise week... but I'm having so much FUN just thinking about the polish colors... but I'm also feeling a little timid.

(It doesn't help that DH is rolling his eyes: :p )

Hmmmm......

I think I'll go get a glass of wine and mull this over. OMG. If I were talking about cider, I would have made a pun! Get it... mull over?... I think I'm having the cruise ship giddiness setting in on me... realizing that I'm leaving in... 4 sleeps!!!.....

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend. Anita, I'm so glad you get to spend it with DH!

 

I find that beginning to get to know some of the Latin Zumba songs is really making me want to learn Spanish.

 

ALSO, I'm not sure how to explain this, but I think you all are the best ones to understand since cruising is what has gotten us to this thread....

 

Cruising and even the time spent planning a cruise is my Zen, happy, relaxed state. In the past couple of weeks we've spent more time planning our April 2013 cruise out of San Juan, and have been researching where to stay and what to do for our pre-cruise time. We've been there twice on port stops, and something about Old San Juan 'speaks' to me and DH. So researching our pre-cruise visit has been lots of fun.

Sorry for the chop job on the quote, but I was just wanting to talk to you a little bit about the Spanish/San Juan conversation. I really, really think that knowing just a little bit of the language of the country that you're visiting adds such enrichment to the experience of travel. I know that Anita shares this one memory as being a giggle and a highlight to our recent vacation, in Cozumel. We were at Nachi Cocum, which is a beach resort that provides such a wonderful experience (imo). But, the waiters there can be limited in their English and some people find them to be less attentive only because they are a bit reluctant to speak English, at times. I find that if you attempt to speak Spanish to them, they appreciate the effort and it breaks their feelings of being shy at their limited English... because, quite frankly, they know English WAY better than I know Spanish!

Anyway, we got some hot salsa delivered to us with our lunch and, boy, was it hot. So when the waiter came by (want to call him Jose, but don't know if that's correct), I pointed to the salsa and said, "muy caliente!" He laughed and Anita said "jalapeno?" and Jose responded, "no, habanero." So we all gasped which made Jose laugh out loud... it was just one of those travel moments that make the experience so great and wouldn't have happened if we hadn't tried to converse with Jose in Spanish.

I've got a bunch of other stories just like that one in various places: speaking German to a German couple in Venice, speaking Italian to an Italian in Rome, speaking French in Paris.... and by "speaking" I mean just saying a few words and phrases... but getting the job done! I know just enough to be dangerous! LOL. But I really do want to be fluent in a few different languages. That's one of my goals...

I just wanted to express my support at your idea of learning Spanish. And to say that I think that we're going to be able to move our vacation to a sailing, from San Juan, in June 2013... on the Jewel of the Seas. It will depend upon SIL's work schedule... anyway, anything you come up with in your research (and your current knowledge of San Juan) would be wonderful to hear!

So, to keep this about Zumba... hmmmm... I'm doing Zumba this week! LOL. :D

Ok, so since I'm going to be in the States in August,

I've started surfing the Web for clothes and came across this:

http://www.coldwatercreek.com/product-detail/60728/67329/summer-rain-wrap-dress.aspx?colorid=994&refLink=dresses.aspx

 

What say you wise ones?

Julie, I hunted all over Coldwater Creek yesterday and, unfortunately, that dress wasn't in the store collection. So, just expressing an opinion, from the website picture and the reviews, I would be hesitant to call this bright, clear print. The gray in the print is especially throwing me off. There are now 3 reviews (I don't remember if there were any reviews when you first posted), and the ladies are indicating that the dress has quite a variation in print placement. I think that prints are really hard to find for FIRE ladies because the designers all seem to do something that throws it off: whether because they think they have to include black or white or some subdued color to tie together and that color ends up around the neckline... whatever... although the dress is pretty, I think you're looking at it through your old lens filter... too muted for me, anyway.

So, I went to the salon yesterday and got my fierce back. Red is so very, very hard to maintain. As I've been coloring, it seems that the color is getting deeper and deeper and a bit darker. The salon stopped using Redken products so it's a Wella product on my hair. Curt only gave me Redken names... so I'm shooting in the dark. Unfortunately, Wella goes by a numbering system more than a name chart, so all I know is that I'm getting a 7/43... in looking it up the only description is Warm Red Gold. And, at one site, I found the name Celtic Red Series... so at least it's speaking to the Irish in me!

I have to pack way more than I want to for the upcoming trip because of the weather. The forecast is for rain in both NYC and in Bermuda, so I don't know what will happen with the wardrobe. I'm just trying to plan for all contingencies... and we know that means extra weight in the suitcase. <sigh> At least I don't have to move the suitcases from points A to B very often.... no train rides, etc.

I'm in the last week countdown which means that I'm doing all those things that have to wait until the last minute. OMG! I've been having so much fun shopping for nail polish colors. I'm going to have fun with that on this cruise and may just take some polish with me. Not only did I get the blue(s), but also a wonderful gold! The girl that I was talking to at Ulta told me that her new fave is a wonderful green, which I'd not even considered green. So I was in Sephora yesterday (looking in the same area as Coldwater Creek), and they had a grand display of nail colors: Sephora by OPI, which I'd never heard of. They have a huge display and have a nail chip in front of each color so you can stick in your index finger and see the color next to your skin. Brilliant! I saw several colors that I would like to play with... next time... I've already purchased my nail colors for this trip. But, wow, what fun... does anyone know if Sephora by OPI is as good as the mother brand?

Anyway, I'm pretty soon off to my next adventure... leaving this Friday. I'll take you guys along with me and definitely do a pictodiary. I just don't want to take a laptop with me and do one of those fabulous LIVE reports, although I've been tempted. There's just so much wonderful time aboard a ship that I know I'd stick my nose onto the computer screen and miss all the action, so I know better than to get involved with that. But aren't those wonderful to read? I love them; I even read some that I know I'll never take that particular cruise or ship! I promise that I'll post when I get back.

In the meantime, everyone stay healthy, safe, and happy. Blessings to our military families and may everyone appreciate the sacrifice(s), past and current, that our military has given to keep us safe, strong, and a democracy.

We're waiting to see Anita's toes!

 

Some Fridays I work in New Jersey, and I get to go to a MALL. So, I found some tank tops and I'll post pics when it stops raining here and I can get some good light.

 

I think I probably screwed up buying a sweater at Kohl's (on sale from $60 to $15) but it was the most beautiful dusky canteloupe color, I couldn't resist. It made my skin look beautifully peachy. Yesterday I tried it with an ivory shirt but it didn't look good. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear 'em. It will be impossible to match but hopefully I can find a soft print or something that will work. I really love it.

OT. Margaret, I'll be in New Jersey on Friday, the 1st of June. We're going to stay at the Hilton Newark Penn Station. We know what we're going to do on Saturday as far as being tourists and eating, BUT we don't have any plans for Friday night's dinner. We'll be arriving at EWR around 5:00pm-ish. Where would you suggest that we go? Keeping in mind that we will either need to walk there from the Hilton or take public transportation. Any info is so appreciated for grabbing something tasty and/or doing something fun!

P.S. I realize that "New Jersey" covers quite a bigger area than just Newark! But, I thought I'd ask someone at least more familiar with the area than I am. LOL.

Julie,

Forgive me... but my memory is failing me! Did you, at one point, think you were a Summer? Did you get analyzed as a Fire? You mentioned getting a Pear sweater from Macy's and I'm familiar with that color (not that long ago) so I guess I'm just not remembering your season correctly... :eek:

Coldwater Creek is a good excuse for me to get out of the house today so I'll take a little trip and see if I can see this dress, in person. I've almost stopped even going into Coldwater Creek because the whole store always seems muted to me, but sometimes there's a little something, something there. I can't tell from the website picture; I would probably place the dress in the muted category from the picture. So, I'll get back to you later this weekend, for sure.

Where are you going to be in the States?

Can I play with you ladies? My FIRE ladies are really busy right now and aren't talking too much. What's up with the blue nail polish? I love it! I haven't actually painted my nails with it, yet, but I'm getting ready to!

Here's my color... it's called On The Beach... :D

I think it looks bright... :p

Hi, ladies: it's been a while! :)

So, I'm getting ready for Bermuda and I'm really having a problem because the weather isn't cooperating! I don't know if it's going to be sunny or very rainy while we're there. And I don't know if New York City is going to be hot or cold! It's so HARD! AND, it's a real problem for pictures because I don't really have outer garments that are even remotely FIRE. So, when I take pictures, it may be very inappropriate to my environment... like raining but I'll be wearing a sleeveless top!... because I refuse to let myself be photographed in black! :eek:

Anyway, in the pursuit of things... I found this top on Chico's, if anyone needs a casual top. It's in our Cadmium Red, and right now it comes in a bunch of sizes, so maybe this is helpful information!

http://www.chicos.com/store/browse/product.jsp?maxRec=251&pageId=1&viewAll=&productId=570015829&prd=Cotton+Rib+Gianna+Top&subCatId=&color=&fromSearch=true&inSeam=&posId=3&catId=cat4809275&cat=&onSale=true&colorFamily=&maxPg=16&size=

It's $9.99, which is a decent price for Chico's Kim!

Miss you all. What is everyone doing?

So, Anita, here is one of Kisha's newest, funnest songs to do. I think she's made up her own choreo to this, but I recognize certain elements from the choreo in this video;

Anyone else doing this song? OMG... it's kind of fun, but the body roll thing is difficult for me to do. Any "hints" on how to do a body roll?

Margaret, Anita and I are absolutely bummin' about the whole nude charter thing. Yes, because of their "alternative" lifestyle, when the nudies take over a ship they must take over the whole ship. So, it's a full ship charter which means that anyone who has reservations will get bumped. I'm just waiting for the phone call to see what Royal Caribbean feels is an "appropriate" response to us not being able to have a Spring Break cruising vacation with family. My DH thinks there won't be much sympathy coming out of the cruise line because it's almost a year away and they won't feel any sort of "responsibility" for our vacation time being taken away. Unfortunately, because of schedules for work and school, the cruise we booked was really the only one that met all of our criteria for port-intensive days as well as Saturday to Saturday sailing dates. Like I said, I am bummin'. :(

Meanwhile...classes continue. I am going to be making the announcement of our up and coming move next week...not sure if I should make the announcement before or after class. Seems like a downer announcement either way...but before class, they can focus on the work out and leave with the happy buzz from the work out...but it might bum some people out before their work out...but after class...it could be a total buzz kill...which would you recommend? Anyone?

I vote for... after class. Definitely, after class.

Speaking from a personal experience with an instructor who had some bad news to tell us (her bad news was very personal and health related), bad news before class is a total, total bummer. And, the emotional feelings that get generated with hearing the bad news intensifies with exercise. At least, that is what happened to me. Even though I didn't feel like crying when she first announced her news, by the end of the class I was pretty weepy. So, I'm just saying... after class.

You could announce it after class in a calm manner informing them of an impending schedule change, something pretty low key. You could tell them that you need their support because your DH is already in the new position and you look forward to seeing them and getting energized. IMO.

Laurie, I know exactly what you mean! My DH came home from a mall shopping excursion and told me that he had seen a Ralph Lauren wrap dress that he thought I would love and he wanted me to go see it right away.. because he looked at the tag and the name of the color was Hot Coral. He thought I couldn't go wrong with that color name.

So, off I run to the mall and I look at that dress and, boy, was that a huge puzzle. So I thought I was "nuts" because how could a cool color be named a Hot name?!? But, I tried it on and it just didn't work. This dress was definitely not muted; not one bit. So I just couldn't make up my mind.

When I visited Anita, she and I saw that dress on one of our mall walks... she said, "I don't know WHAT that is trying to be!" I think it was a cool color with warm accents, because all the dress hardware was gold. Kind of like your EARTH dress with the silver neck hardware.

As IF we don't have enough issues trying to figure this out for us... the designers go and try to put together a dress that is a little bit of this and a little bit of that... and ultimately doesn't work for ANYone.

@Laurie: you are welcome over here anytime! I think we all love to read the other season thread... FIRE to EARTH.... EARTH to FIRE... because we have lovely people in our lives who are "from" the other palette... and it's just fun to see what is going on...

BTW, I don't know if I've ever said anything to you, personally, but I want to take a moment and just tell you how much I appreciate what you did when you posted the Original Seasons Thread! OMG, Laurie: because of that thread, my whole life was changed! At that time, CJW wasn't as busy as he currently is so he was spending so much time posting on that thread. I was a lurker on there for such a long time! Mainly because I super did NOT want to post pictures of me without makeup and with my hair pulled away from my face. BUT, because I eventually bit the bullet and posted those pictures, I got to have such a wonderful dialogue with CJW. And.... then...

because I had such a good result from that conversation, Anita got hooked on figuring out what season she would fit into! She and CJW ended up having a lot of email conversation because he launched his website right around that time. So, I can speak for Anita when I say that you also helped her tremendously....

THANK YOU! This color wardrobe theory shopping extravaganza has been quite a wonderful journey!

 

I'm doing new songs tomorrow...A LOT of new songs...what in the world?

 

I'm just doing one new song at Curves: Michael Tello's Ai se eu te pego...which is like, one of the most popular songs in the world right now...it's number one on the Latin charts in the US...It'll stick in your head...and it has an

.

 

Should be an interesting morning!

 

Hope everyone has a great Saturday!!

As long as you realize that you might see a LOT of eye rolling! LOL.

So, I went to the official dance video and thought the moves were really cute... ok.. maybe a "little" suggestive? So I went to a translator to find out what the Portuguese lyrics were actually talking about and found the translation to be:

Wow, wow

You're gonna kill me that way

Ah when I get my hands on you, (poor you)

Ah when I get my hands on you, (poor you)

which just made me laugh out loud IRL! :D What a funny little song! There are a few people that I could apply those lyrics to!... and one of them is a territorial Queen in my Tuesday night class! Who happened to come into my Thursday morning class, but for some weird reason in THAT class she decided to plant herself in the back row... which was just so very, very OK with me. I had quite a mental struggle with her on Tuesday because she planted herself so close to me that I could barely move, and every single time that I left my "position" to go get a drink of water, she closed up the space so that I almost had to squeeze back. She was definitely trying to get me to move, but the only place that was available with loads of room was underneath a ceiling fan that they just put to the highest speed and it just whips the air! Can't stand it! Gets hair caught in my lip gloss... ewwww... so-o-o-o, I just battled it out with her the whole entire class. Good grief.

BTW, I'm pretty sure the "get my hands on you" part isn't really talking about... well... my situation with a cartoonish strangling of my lovely class mate! I know that! But, to each his/her/their own way of interpreting the specific hands-on application of the song's sentiment! :cool:

... still laughing...

Linda, I'm so glad that Anita did this because I've been thinking about your aqua pics and wanting to take the time to talk with you. This morning, for some very ODD reason, I woke up with the crack of dawn and so that means that I'm sitting at my computer... way, way too early... drinking some coffee and wondering how I'm going to have the energy to get through this day!

Anyway... I agree with Anita. AND, I have a theory about the paler vs the darker colors. I think that we kind of forget that the reason that we wear our colors is because they, literally, reflect onto our skin... especially our face. I think that you are a low-contrast person; in other words, you have very light hair and porcelain skin (pretty!). Because of this, the paler colors... even though they are "right" for you and even out your skin tone, just don't make you look as ALIVE as the more saturated colors. Because the darker aquas are just that much more intense, they "throw" more color onto your face which helps with enriching the color of your lips and naturally contouring your face. That's what I "think" I "see" when I look at what happens to your features when I contrast the paler vs darker aqua.

I think that if you want to dress "romantically," that you would be lovely in the paler colors with the requirement that you would be needing to add the appropriate mascara and a pale lipstick... very soft and beautiful in its final effect. I think that if you want to 'Power" dress that you would be terrific in the more saturated, deeper color and then you would come across as Strong and Solid.

Are you ladies reading the newer thread asking about the whole "ice,air,fire,earth" thing? Here we go again! Maybe a new Seasons thread is emerging?!? And, are you reading Anita's Earth thread? I have high hopes for that smashing red dress! I think she looked gorgeous in it... in the store...with that darn store lighting... so we'll see when it arrives! High fives, I hope!

Kim what are you doing to prepare for Africa? Do you need to get visas? When are you going... again... exactly?!?...

Good afternoon everyone!

When Mom was here, I tried on an AMAZINGLY fun dress...in the store, the color was seriously ORANGE-RED...and it looked fabulous on...but I'd have to see it in natural light to be completely confident. But here is another dress that I wouldn't mind owning:

 

http://www.cache.com/detail/cherry-red-pointed-hem-dress/O5050J07704475/60

 

This dress SCREAMED to go dancing...the black shoes are HORRIBLE...and I am just so surprised at how this dress looks online...ANYWAY...I'm watching this dress for a SALE!;)

on SALE today! FYI! Don't know what size would be appropriate. What do you think? Does this dress NEED to go dancing in the Caribbean? Next year?

I'm with you. I have a totally unexpected day off from work (BONUS!) and I should be productive' date=' but I'd much rather read Cruise Critic. Now back to the topic... I really must figure out what I am. Is there a GREAT thread like this for every color 'option'?[/color']

Hello!

No. But there is a great thread for FIRE ladies at this post:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1280510

We have quite a bit of fun over there. As you may have figured out, but to point it out specifically, I am Anita's Mom. So that's why we have quite a bit of back and forth between the FIRE and EARTH threads. It's interesting that a FIRE Mom had an EARTH daughter, don't you think?

Apparently, the ICE and AIR ladies just don't have the same issues that we do in finding clothing :mad: OR they just aren't as chatty! :D Anyway, an after thread to the Seasons thread just never got started for those two seasons.

OMG.

So today I had (had!) every intention of doing those down and dirty, nitty gritty things that you always put off until forever.

Then, I decided that I would check out the Vivienne Files and see what was up... because I had checked them out so long ago and just wasn't in the right frame of mind to really pay attention and get anything from the postings... but NOW... she's PACKING... and showing how she's wearing her suitcase throughout her vacation.

Again, OMG...

I just blew my to-do list! This looks like such a fabulous source of inspiration!

You know, I can outline the path that I've taken on getting my closet to its current condition.

Step 1. CJW told me that I was a FIRE and I was loaded with Chico's Travelers outfits in black and white! Unbelievable. I'd spent the better part of a couple of years "collecting" those fabrics so I could do the typical black/white wardrobe packing for long European vacations. Now I can understand why I took such lousy pictures and got to the point where I just didn't want the camera pointed in my direction. The beginning of my transformation! Got rid of all the tops that were black/white and kept all the bottoms.

Step 2. Going shopping! Since I had a plethora of black bottoms (and we all KNOW that black goes with everything, right? :rolleyes:), I spent my time looking just looking for my colors. I didn't care what it was that I found! It just became... OMG; it's my COLOR! So, I ended up with a rainbow of tops (mostly from Chico's) and a bunch of black bottoms!

Step 3. I became more obsessed with doing a color coordination because I wanted to have more outfits, rather than just dressing like a rainbow. So, I hunted for neutral bottoms. Hit and misses.

Step 4. Zumba, baby! Starting shrinking out of my clothes and running into some serious clothing issues. Now I'm dressing mostly in exercise clothes and trying to find outfits for vacation wear. My last few cruises have all been warm weather, Caribbean cruises so I don't have that intense coordination effort of a European style vacation. So I tried to find some sundresses; some appropriate tops; some neutrals. But I haven't had an overall plan. It's been mainly a dress here and there... for formal nights... a great pair of pants that will team up with my tops... and trying to figure out accessories that will make the top/bottom pairing into an "outfit."

So, now, what I have in my closet are 3 pairs of pants that fit me (and make my butt look FIERCE). And still a bunch of tops from either Chico's or Cache. The tops are brilliant... beautiful... but not really coordinated. For example, I have a beautiful, bright yellow top in a color that only a FIRE can wear! And I have some other tops that I would put into that type of category... one off.. stand alone... what to do?

Anyway, here I am posting on Anita's thread... LOL... but I know that my FIRE sisters are over here as well, and this topic is something that we both kind of struggle with. So thank you for bringing up Vivienne again! I didn't really want to clean my kitchen anyway.....

 

I'm still trying to figure out this 'color thing' and where I fit in the spectrum. I am VERY drawn to this dress and the colors in it. Does this mean I'm whatever this color combo is? Are you instinctively drawn to the colors that best represent you?

I would chime in here and say... not really! In fact, even though I know my color palette, I still struggle with being drawn to an outfit or a pretty dress or a particular color that I think is beautiful.... completely out of my palette.

For example, I don't know if it's the nautical love in me... a cruiser, after all... but I love the look of a crisp, white capri with a nautical top in stripes of red or stripes of blue. This look just doesn't have the same jaunty feeling if the pants aren't that crisp white and contrast so remarkably with the depth of color in the top... to my eye.

I still love the look of black and gold together.. just beautiful.

So, I just have to love the way those outfits work for people who can wear them and understand that I don't want to look like a mannequin. kwim? Beautiful outfit, but washed out features and uneven skin tone!

I did talk myself into a pair of pretty white cargo/capri pants that have gorgeous gold accents. Thought they would be appropriate and acceptable and convinced my FIRE sisters (AND Anita!) that the purchase was remarkably logical. The capris also came in a color called Sand, which is a golden light tan. The pictures of that trip told an interesting story; the sand color worked!... and the white did NOT. Even in the bottoms. Moral of the story: Anita now has those white pants so she can do an experiment and see how they look after being tea-stained. Oh well.

When I first started trying to wear my colors, it was a struggle to feel like the color wasn't TOO bright. Now, it's a struggle to feel like the color isn't TOO muted! There is a huge learning curve to all of this, not the least of which is learning to educate your eye so that you see what IS rather than what you WISH. That's why the camera is such a wonderful, objective tool. IMO.

I also tried to make tops "work" by trying to pair with outergarments and/or accessories to BRIGHTEN up the color... didn't work. The problem is that the neckline color makes such a strong impression on your skin that it absolutely defeats all attempts to alter its influence(s). I have a gorgeous formal outfit that is black... it's fun to wear... and I still LOVE it. But, sadly... the only thing that I can do when I wear that outfit is to realize that I won't be looking my very BEST and I need to really pay attention to my eye makeup so that I can compensate... a little bit... for what the color is doing TO me instead of FOR me.

I've only been doing this for a couple of years. I've learned quite a lot... but feel like I have quite a bit more knowledge to gain.

Hi, ladies.

So, I'm almost back into my routine after leaving for our family celebratory cruise, spending a lot of time with family afterwards (and a LOT of TIME at Zumba classes because I kept up with Anita's schedule... holy sweating, batman...)... coming back home and trying to get everything back in order from a very dusty house and overgrown yard... unpacking... AND...

thinking about our anniversary cruise to Bermuda in a little over a month!

I think that I'm pretty mellow in most of my Zumba classes... which are all very popular and very, very crowded in a gym setting. There's just ONE THING that I can't stand! I guess that I've decided to let it "get" to me! I love Anita's song selections and she really puts a lot of effort into her playlist for every class that she does. I have one instructor who has decided that she LOVES this awful, nasty song that I canNOT stand! It has something to do with alien love... and probes... and some sort of nonsense. I think it's a popular song, but I just don't want to end my Zumba class stretching or slowing down to all that nasty lyric noise. So I just decided that if she played that song, I was going to protest by LEAVING... which I DID yesterday. So I only had a 50-minute class yesterday!... whatever... can you believe that I'm considering changing my schedule because of ONE SONG! Well, the truth is that I have a lot of choices in my Zumba instructors.. locations, etc... so you betcha... I'm considering it!

Anyway, what I really have to share...

I stepped on the scale this morning, and I'm within 1 lb of my weight in the 1980's! GASP! This is the weight that I was, consistently, before goiter surgery... before menopause... as an active, young woman juggling a job, college classes, husband, beautiful DD, and a wonderful golden lab! I was so busy and I had a roaring metabolism! Could eat anything! Now, I'm not so busy... being retired and all that brings... have to work not to have a total sedentary life... able to afford the TIME to TRAVEL and eat, eat, eat cruise food a couple of times a year! So, I'm pretty blown away that I'm weighing what I'm weighing lately... I just had the thought that I should take measurements to see how close this body weight is to the distribution that I had back then as well. I'm such an obsessive person that I actually have measurements from that long ago! LOL.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Hi, everybody.

Wasn't I lazy, letting Anita do all the work in posting our pictodiary?!? :D

Believe it or not, I'm really busy getting ready for our next cruise! This is an unusual year as we normally do try to cruise a couple of times a year, but we usually spread them out with about 5 to 6 months between cruises. Well, this year we had Anita's b-day celebration... and on the heels of that we are celebrating our anniversary. So we decided that we would do a simple cruise and we booked onto the Celebrity Summit going to Bermuda on 3rd of June. We've never done a cruise itinerary like the Summit's before. Literally, we will board the ship... have a few sea days, arrive in Bermuda and sit at the port for 3 days, then have a few sea days in transit back to Bayonne!

So I don't know if my wardrobe will be much different for Bermuda than it was for the recent Caribbean cruise.

And then the big question becomes: should I do a pictodiary? Even though you will probably be seeing the same clothes?!? Will that be beyond boring?

It won't hurt my feelings if you think you've seen enough of my current wardrobe....

which I have to say! Doing the analysis of the pictures that we did before the cruise was so extremely helpful! And it's probably the reason(s) why I had so much green and blue and aqua to wear! LOL. So thank you ladies for all your help.

I'm so far behind on my chores... pruning... the yard for a change instead of my closet :eek: ... and that awful time of year when taxe$ raise their ugly spiteful heads... much like the weeds that I have to also get out of my yard...

ANYWAY...

Miss chatting with you all. Come back and catch me up with what is going on....:D

Oh, chickas, you are too cute!!!! It's so obvious the fun you all are having. Good for you :D

 

Anita, the yellow hoodie looks great on you. I really like that color with your EARTHY self. Pam, I love you in our FIRE aquas, great color.

 

I love the formal dresses you both have on! The blue is SMASHING on you, Pam. On the "what color shoes" question...I guess I would go with gold shoes for a more formal look and maybe a warm nude for a little less formal but still dressy look??? I'm not much of a shoe person and never go out on a limb with them--too chicken. How do you wear those one shoulder dresses? Do you feel like you're missing something? I've never had one on. I lead such a sheltered life, don't I? Anita, the brown is just lovely on you. I like the empire'ish waist too. It usually is kind to the "girls", don't you think ;) The red shoes are really a fantastic touch to the more common look of brown. SCORE!

 

Your pictodiary is soooo much fun. I just love it.

 

Next installment, please.....

Hi, Kim! Thank you!

I am a total shoe person, and I've been so very frustrated for the last few years with shoe purchases. For one thing, I have to be very careful of the heel height because my hips will complain very, very loudly if I get a heel that is too high and wear it for too long. So, that becomes a real issue with today's outrageously high nose-bleed heel heights! So, when I have to take into consideration, not only that but also the appropriate color, I find myself searching and searching and searching... and then being so frustrated if I find what WOULD BE the perfect shoe and it just isn't comfortable. Because I am very, very past the concept that beauty equals discomfort!

I love the one-shoulder comfort factor. It doesn't make you feel like anything is missing, at all. It's just a really comfortable wear because there really isn't anything binding on the one side, and you're just happy and free! My one issue with the one-shoulder concept (well, with any of the sleeveless tops) is this idea that my arms aren't as toned as I'd like them to be. Plus, with the Zumba (as we all know), I have some loose skin because of the fat loss and... there you go... the dreaded droopy arms! But I'm unwilling to give up my sleeveless tops... just yet. Plus, tropical cruising just cries for the sleeveless, strapless, more skin showing looks... and I'm just more about that than the idea that my arms could be better. Except that I have some toning arm exercises on my bucket list... we'll see.

The MOST important garment that I have on is one (well, a few) that you don't see! With that dress, I have a strapless bra from Soma that is remarkable with its ability to stay in place! It has the silicon edging that makes it so sticky to your skin so no worries about movement, at all. PLUS, Anita (she's such a great shopper!) found the best shapewear. It's from a manufacturer called TC, and it's the line called "Just Enough." Truly does wonders for the silhouette, and I loved that "just enough" smoothing and support.

Also, just because I'm talking about foundation garments, I'm going to jump ahead and talk about the Natori bra that Anita also found! It was perfect for the more plunging neckline of the wrap dress that I found for the next formal evening. When I discussed the plunging neckline with a salesperson, she told me that the area between the cups of a bra is called the "bridge." I did not know that bras had names for the different areas.. beyond "cups" and "band!" Anyway, when you have a plunging neckline and you want to have a no-show bra, then you need to find a bra that has a small bridge. So, Anita found a great one that was wonderful with the wrap dress.

This is the first time that I've paid much attention to my foundation garments. I think because I've got some issue with the looser skin from the weight loss (unexpected) and I'm going through those mental struggles with "looks." KWIM? Anita tells me that I'm too focused on the areas that I don't like, but that's just hard not to do, isn't it? Anyway, I just have to say that the foundation garments purchases were one of the BEST additions to my wardrobe this cruise!

Kim!

Hi!

How I wish that Anita and I could take all of you ladies along this cruise with us! Since we can't do that, then of course we'll be taking pictures and sharing them with you all. Too fun!

I'm in the middle of packing. The shopping effort for this particular cruise was way more involved with foundation garments than anything else. Because I've been out in the stores, (OMG!) I've seen such spectacular coral and aqua and tangerine and blue colors! My DH actually said that a FIRE girl just can't have too much coral. He saw a Ralph Lauren dress in a color called Hot Coral and thought it would be perfect for me. I ran down to the mall to take a quick look, but I wasn't sure about it... at all. Even though it was named Hot Coral, it looked way cool to me. And even a little muted! I tried to figure out if silver or gold looked better with it, and I actually think that pewter looked the best. So I'm thinking cool and muted and with a name like that! No wonder it's so hard to buy color over the internet!

Anyway, this cruise has been a long time in the planning and I can't believe that we're actually heading off to the airport tomorrow! Yeah! Finally!

We will definitely be thinking of everyone and hopefully will take some good pictures to share.

Kasi,

The only hint that I can give you concerning Zumba songs is to try to remember some sort of repetitive phrase that is in the music so that you can put that either into a search engine or into youtube. That's the only way that I've been able to find some of the popular songs. If you ever hear the word "Zumba" in the song, then more than likely the song comes from the Zumba music available to instructors only. Anita can tell you more about that.

So here's a funny visual for you! On one of my cruises, I put my headphones on and did Zumba on my balcony! My balcony neighbors decided to come onto their balcony at some time during my routine. I bet they thought I was a crazy woman, just a-dancin' away on my balcony! I have no idea how it sounded with me stomping away out there. I didn't remember all the moves to any of the songs, but I just moved with the music in the same way that we do in class and it made me feel great!

I know that Carnival aka Princess (and maybe Costa) has embraced Zumba on board their ships. I think that they are rolling out Zumba classes on the Princess line, as a first step. So you might be having Zumba head your way at some point in the future. Royal Caribbean aka Celebrity are hanging back because they don't want to get involved with the licensing, so they're experimenting with the popularity of Latin rhythm classes. It was very funny to go to a salsa class on board a Royal Caribbean ship, recently. It was led by one of the dancers. When he came into the room, he asked if anyone knew salsa and nobody raised their hand. So he showed us a basic salsa move and we all followed very easily. He made some comment and several people shouted out "Zumba!" He laughed. At the end of the class, he said we were the BEST salsa students EVER! Not the same as a Zumba class session, but a lot of fun.

So, I'm down to the last 2 days before I leave for the airport to go to Anita's house to wait for Sunday! Cruise day! Today is full of making sure the wardrobe is completely taken care of. I know! I'm down to the wire here! Tomorrow is just a pampering day, medicure and pedicure. Cleaning out the frig, etc.

Have a happy sailing Kasi!