Weekend

Another hot winter day here. The weather people have been threatening us with rain but no such luck. All my coats and jackets still hanging in the closet. But at least I can wear my cardigans. Here is what I wore today.


Wide-leg jeans: Cavalli
Black hooded top: from Corfu, Greece
Leopard cardi: Mango
Boots: Antelope
Huge tiger-pattern ring: purchased for 25 shekels (about 6 bucks) some 15 years ago
Sunglasses: Aldo

Now that I look at it, not the best choice of top with these jeans. Too tight, too short.

Our "village" in the background. And a bunch of broken breeze blocks.

when your ideas cross the border

If you ignore the mess behind me and if you are indulgent with this first essay of self portraying, you'll get an idea of what it is. I was so happy to get rid of these bloody boots at the end of the day. Vive les basquettes! Who the hell invented this torture? And for what? I'll tell you, the only time a lady stopped me on the street to ask where I get my wonderful boots from was when I had street baskets of some orthopedic french company on. She probably thought I was walking around wearing socks...

A Day in the Life

My Kid likes to take pictures. Last weekend he took about 400 photos, mostly of the sleeping dog and cats. I had to edit the "collection", deleting all things out of focus and endless repeats of Boomer snoring on the couch. While I was doing that, I decided to put together some pics that he took last Saturday while on a trip to Ashdod with my parents. This will give you an idea of where we live and what it looks like.

First they went to the beach. In the summer it would be packed with tourists and locals. But not in November (though tourists from colder countries would consider this beach and swimming weather).



There, an old couple enjoying the sun. And a container ship (Ashdod port is Israel's main cargo port, it's huge).

This is Moroccan culture center. Inside there's a bunch of shops, couple of restaurants. Looks pretty.

A close-up of a weird looking building. To me it's something you might see in "Blade runner" only in the sunlight, not the rain.

This picture Kid took from the car. Typical Ashdod street in a residential area on a Saturday. Nobody around except some children. Lots of parked cars.

After the beach they went to "Tiv Taam" - the largest chain of non-kosher stores in the country. Used to be that you could buy "exotic" things like coconut milk and brown sauce (that's HP sauce) only here. Which is not the case anymore. They have a large selection of booze. Their prices are not cheap but we still like to go there. This is probably the only food store open on Saturday and it gets quite packed.

Nice display of fruit and veg.

And again. It's the season of persimmons.

Living in Canada and Greece I always fondly remembered how cheap fruit and veg were in Israel. I remember leaving a shop in Corfu with a baggie of vegetables - couple of apples, a bunch of parsley, some tomatoes and cukes, possibly an avocado - and it cost me 18 euros!!!! I was in shock. Since then prices in Israel have gone up, but I can still pay 10 euros and drag 2 - 3 full bags home. Good stuff.

That's it for our mini-tour. Back to clothes tomorrow.

Scary Truth

Blogging is fabulous. We take photos of our outfits, posing to highlight our best features, so that we like what we see on the computer screen. And it's great. It makes us feel better about ourselves, am I right? I have a bunch of "favorites" in the group called "Daily outfits" which I check everyday and admire your pictures and chosen attire.

I do the same thing. Since I started this blog not so long ago, I started putting more thought in what I want to wear because I'll be presenting it to the whole world or the few who actually visit this page - thank you ladies (I doubt that I have male audience).

So today I decided to tell you the truth. I'll show you what I really look like in the mornings when I walk the dog. I kept the sunglasses on, for obvious reasons.

Comfy camo trackpants: Opera
Blue top: Marks and Spencer
100 year old brown velour (o horror!) hoodie: Maxi
Beat up and dirty sneakers: New Balance


There you go. I confessed and now I feel better. I can go back to dressing up.

Another Old Jacket

Finally the weather lets me wear jackets! Sometimes I wonder why I live in the Middle East if I love wearing boots and jackets so much. The winter here lasts maybe 4 months. And the summer 8 months. We don't have neither autumn nor spring (maybe a week each). But such is life and I'll try to make the most of the winter this year.

This is another old jacket from Canada. I got it from my MIL. I used to wear it a lot to work in Vancouver, mostly pairing it with something gray. Here I did exactly the same.

Pink vintage jacket: ??? No label, black T-shirt with gold flower on the side: Cherokee (supermarket brand), gray pants: Poster Collection, bag: Nine West, black oxfords: Nine West.

This is the closest I can get to wearing skinny pants.


As I was leaving the house I thought that maybe this outfit would look better with a scarf. But it was too late.

I think I'll continue taking pictures at the elevator and Zara. Until I get caught. I don't think it's illegal, but it would be embarrassing.

A close up of the oxfords. I like wearing them with tights and dresses as well. They are quite comfortable. I find Nine West shoes comfy in general.

Today I work from home. It's raining outside, it would be nice to curl up under a warm blanket, but I have a date with Gary Busey. Don't worry, not a real date, that would be scary. I'm translating an old movie with him and Kim Cattrall. She's a brunette in this film. And just as pretty.

Alternative use of the Zara shop mirrors

Do you ever swap clothes with your Mom? I do sometimes. The other day she asked me if I wanted a couple of button-downs, one sleeveless, the other one with sleeves. Who am I to say no?
So I was thinking how to wear them, because they are a quite loose-fitting (read one size too big). And so far I came up with this.

Picture taken at the elevator. I think it has the best lighting.

Sleeveless shirt: Josepine Chaus
Jacket: Issue (bought in Vancouver in 1994 and forgotten deep in the closet for the last 10 years. Resurrected due to the "boyfriend" trend). I rolled up the sleeves, if you can see that.
Jeans: Golbary
Bag: Nine West
Booties: Episode
Green flower and scarf. Flower is just for show, but the scarf is there for a reason. Wanna guess? Right, to keep the neck of the blouse clean. I know, I'm sorry.
Zebra bracelet and an oversize ring

Here I took my picture in the Zara store. The weird expression on my face - I'm making sure that nobody is looking.


Here is a close-up of my booties. They are black suede with patent stripes. I love them, these are my 10-hour shoes.


After work I drove to a consignment shop in a nearby town. My friend and I took some clothes over there. Funny, all the stuff I thought they'd take - they didn't. And they took the things I didn't think they would.
There was some stuff in the shop that I liked, but due to the ree-e-eally slow work this month I decided not to spend any money, plus I don't need any more junk. My friend though... Among other things she got a nice chair and a small carved marble table. And we went home happy. Her with her purchases and me because I didn't spend any money. It's a great feeling, I should do this more often.

Scenes of Paris by Jeanne

And here is the temple of love this morning. The light was very gentle and the parc incredibly hospitable.

Automn colours in the parc. It's spring in here About +17°. And the colours are marvelous.

Language evolution

Last night I watched couple of minutes of "Airplane-2" on TV. It was filmed in 1982 and I saw it lots of times. What struck me as interesting was this phrase:

"Get me the captain, pronto!"

We used to hear "pronto" on TV quite often.

But we don't hear it anymore (unless it's an Italian movie). So how would this phrase sound today?

"Get me the captain, stat!"

Thank you, ER, for "updating the lingo".

(picture from www.imdb.com)

Whose harem is this?

Over the last year there's been a lot of discussions about harem pants. Some like them, others think that women who wear them should be shot. I tend to wait till I see enough of them to form my own opinion. I have a slim friend, she owns two pair, one in black jersey and the other one is taupe linen. I liked these pants on her but wasn't sure if they'd suit my figure. And then one day I walked into a store that carries "normal" sizes (as opposed to xxxx-small) and tried them on. I was sold. They looked more like a skirt with leggings than a "diaper-bag". I bought them and wore them a lot. With slim-fitting tops, with a belt and without, with heels and flats. They are extremely comfortable and let me tell you, it's a great alternative to track or yoga pants. I wore them on the plane to Turkey, felt great and didn't look too bad either.

Here is my Sunday work outfit.

Harem pants: Crazy Line

Brown sleeveless turtleneck: Marco Polo

Cotton, rayon and linen blend cardi: Casey and Max (thrifted)

Necklace: Crazy Line

Leopart flats: Zara

Here is the closeup of the flats and a bit of the pant showing:

Another version, going shopping yesterday. Black pants, black v-neck tee, watch pendant, pink jacket from Zara and black Michael Kors flats. And a shot of my new haircut. Thank you, Armo!

Wedding stuff

Last night I went to a wedding. A girl from work got married. I've never ever seen her with make-up on, so I was curious - "A" in a wedding dress, possibly heels, and make-up? Yes, she had a white dress on (surprise!) and white low wedge sandals that she changed later for ballet slippers to dance. Make-up was minimal, a tiny bit of eyeliner and mascara. She was the happiest bride! Dancing with friends, not fussing too much about her hair being all over the place. I enjoyed seeing this new to me side of her.

I love people watching on events like this. Like to see what they are wearing of course. Most of the women guests wore black, lots of black lacy tights, tunics, short dresses (on ladies well over 40!) and long dresses too. Some were dressed in jeans and clunky shoes, mostly young girls. Boots, heels and flats.


I of course wore 4.5 inch heels.



I bought these Carlos Santana Iconic pumps off ebay about a year ago (after seeing them on Budget Chic blog) but never got a chance to wear them. Wearing such a heel for the first time and to a wedding required some preventive measures. Soft cushion inserts plus two band-aids per foot. I survived the night and even danced in them, but next time I'll use fatter inserts as the shoes stretched a bit. I took flats with me, left them in the car just in case, but didn't have to change after all.


Another thing I left in the car was this "Jump" trench that I've been dying to wear already!

It's double-breasted which I don't normally wear, but I haven't been able to find any single-breasted trenchcoats, seen nothing worthy in the shops, and didn't want to risk buying online. Returns from Israel can be tricky. I had to go up one size. Smaller size looked better fitted but if I buttoned it up, I couldn't move my arms.

Before I started reading fashion blogs, I always wore pants when going out, usually black. But now I enjoy wearing dresses. For the wedding I chose this thin jersey dress with draping in the front. First of all, it wasn't black. Second - you could have your dinner and not worry too much about your tummy sticking out - the draping takes care of that. The label on the dress says "Oben". The thin patent belt came with the dress. I tried a wider belt here but it didn't look right. The sleeves have same patent belts on them and flare out. All in all flattering. Especially as I put on a full-body "spanx"-type suit underneath.

It's hard to show true colors in the photos, so I took a picture this morning in the natural light of the "stuff" as Sheila calls it. You can see the pattern of the dress as well as my faux grey pearls and a flower ring from a local "boutique".

Where is Autumn?

How do you like this November weather? Most countries would call it the heat of summer.

This is what I wore to get a manicure. I'm going to a colleague's wedding on Thursday. Already have the outfit picked out.

Turquoise pencil skirt: Crazy Line

Top: Ice Cube

Flats: Michael Kors

Bag: Charter Club

Sunglasses on head: Aldo

And here are my manicured nails against the background of a sleeping kitty.

Lavender Day

We had another khamsin on Sunday, hot and dry. This weather is crazy, you never know how to dress. The office is cool, outside is an oven. I decided to go with wide-leg jeans, a simple white T-shirt and add a splash of color with a scarf and a bag:



Jeans: Roberto Cavalli
T-shirt: Zara
Bag and scarf: purchased in "Bordo" shop that has since then closed down (good for my wallet, but what a pity!)
Same color cardigan in the bag - for the office (had to take the scarf off - it was too much).

Snooker and Skanky face-off as usual. He has grown so much, they're almost the same size already!

The shoes are by Caligula, they are a million years old, my 24-hour shoes. Perfect with bootcut or wide-leg jeans.
Here is a photo taken at the elevator. You can see the colors better. I love this bag and scarf. When I first saw them, the scarf was tied to the handle of this bag - so I bought them together and wear as a set.

I found that my cellphone takes better pictures than the camera. But now you can see the mess in my walk-in closet.

InStyle help

About a year ago I started a scrapbook with my favorite looks from InStyle. Later I started adding to it printed out photographs of blogger outfits that I liked. Some of the looks became my "staples". Here is one of them, from InStyle April 2008:

Of course, I don't have Keit Moss' figure, so I had to adapt the look. Here I tried it with cropped jeans of similar color:

But it didn't look right. So I changed into longer straight-leg jeans.

It's not the same outfit and the look is slightly different, but that's the idea, isn't it?

Jeans: DJ, black sleeveless turtleneck: Marco Polo, jacket: Yumi Mazao, scarf: Crazy Line, silver belt: Bordo, flats: Hush Puppies.

Finally raining

I didn't post for a couple of days. One reason is my back. On Friday morning I was helping Kid with his shoe-laces, bent down and when I tried to straighten up that was it. So I wore an elastic belt for 4 days, and though it helps me move around, it definitely doesn't give me an hourglass figure. So no pictures.

The last 2 days it was raining like crazy. A welcome change after the summer, as shortlived as it's going to be. The forecast for the weekend is "hotter than usual for this time of year". Translation - another khamsin. So I'm not putting away my summer clothing yet. But today I had to frantically dig in the closet to get at least one pair of boots out. These are my first boots to wear this season.

The company name is Sako-Or. The laces are purely decorative, there is a zipper on the inside. They are insanely comfortable. I took them to Paris with me 1.5 years ago and walked all around Monmartre, up and down the stairs, around the arrondisement for hours in them. Here, I'll show you.

That day it was raining too.

Today's outfit was black and gray. I bought 2 tunics this season (both of them gray but different shades) to wear with leggings and boots. This one is from Zara. Black and clear beads necklace, boots and an old trench to run through the rain.

You know, I like myself better on the Paris photo. I wonder why...

Blog inspiration

Several days ago Sher at Fashion After Forty wore this sweet outfit. I really liked it and then I thought - hey, I have similar stuff in my wardrobe! So here is my version. The oufit was nice, though the quality of pictures - not so much.

Skirt: Mango (twin sister of this one)

Leopart cardi: Mango

Black tank top: Mango

Flats: Michael Kors

Bag: Tignanello

Belt: Bordo

Silver accents instead of gold, mainly because I didn't have a gold color belt. And the shoes have little silver accents on them.

The bag is red, not orange. But then you have an orange cushion there, see?