Strawberry 🍓 Season

Right around the same time I got my bunch-of-grapes jewelry set, I also purchased one with a strawberry theme. The strawberries have proven much harder to wear because of their color—I think I've only worn them once, and apparently it wasn't in a very memorable outfit, because I can't remember what it was. Yesterday, I set out to change all that.

Another thing in my closet that's hard to wear because of its color is my square-dance skirt. I've built a couple interesting ensembles around it, but there's only so much you can do with a red, black, and white full skirt (one of which is run over it constantly with your wheeled office chair!) so I think I might sell it after today's wear. Being featured 4 times in my blog over the course of a year is quite an accomplishment (perhaps excelled only by my skirt for 5 seasons!), so I'm pretty sure this skirt can retire with pride. Fortunately, the one color that it goes with really well is red, lending it perfectly to be the base upon which to plant my strawberry jewelry!

For my top, I wore a black short-sleeved sweater, which I hoped would be comfortable if the weather actually warmed up in the afternoon (it was 55° out when I left home in the morning), and a black blazer to keep me comfortable in case it didn't.

Sadly, it didn't keep me comfortable. But here's its story.

I've been trying to get a new black blazer for years now. The first one I ever owned (purchased for about 6 dollars at a thrift store, last seen in early 2015) was always a size too big and had that awkward short fit that was popular pre-2005. Around 2015, I decided I really needed to get with the times and find myself a long-line blazer, which I did in the form of the one I wore for Valentine's Day 2016 (also purchased at a thrift store). But after I'd had that one for a while, I decided that it, too, was too large. A black blazer is timeless, I told myself. I could afford to invest in a quality one that's actually my size. So when I found one at the Express Outlets this winter, I purchased it even though its price was almost in the triple digits!

And after that, I never wore it. I never wore it and never wore it, and every time I tried it as a topper for an outfit, I found the shape wasn't right and I put it back in the closet. Around springtime, I realized it was much too heavy to be comfortable for most occasions. Fortunately (I guess), they've done that thing where they turn off the heat in our office just to make me miserable all spring, so this is probably the one time of year when a heavy jacket won't be too warm for comfort. Unfortunately, when I wore it today, I discovered it is also too stiff for comfort. I feel like I'm wearing a straitjacket! I can't spend all day at a keyboard when the sleeves of my top are trying to hold my arms back! And besides all that, my hands were still cold! About 11 am, I lost the blazer and turned on my space heater instead. I'm thinking I may just have to relegate this expensive jacket to outdoor-wear, meetings, and formal occasions only. But until then, at least it had one morning in the sun...or rather, the gloom and rain.

The weather yesterday was just atrocious—starting off cold and rainy, with thunderstorms expected in the evening. When I planned this outfit during a hot spell a week ago, I envisioned wearing it with a pair of sandals, or maybe some black flats if it were a bit cooler out. But when the day came, I traded in my dainty shoes for some ankle-high lace-up boots.