April 10, 2010
I promised pretty colors…
Our heroine is looking for flowers… She’s packing for a long weekend, basing her choices on this palette that she’s chosen:
Thinking about flowers, and admiring photographs of flowers, were a part of what kept her happy and content during the quarantine. But now, they’re going to walk a ton, outdoors, and admire nature.
Now that they’re free to travel again, they’ve found the perfect destination – a mansion house with extensive gardens! Miles and miles of gardens…
Small silk scarf – Emily Carter; earrings – The Pink Reef; pink waffle fabric tee – J.Crew; watch – Tissot; bracelet – BIKO; navy cardigan – L.L.Bean; suitcase – Juicy Couture; cross body bag – Nooki Design; socks – Anna Sui; pants – L.L.Bean; espadrilles – Talbots
She’s less conservative than she has been in the past. Once upon a time, she would have a solid navy suitcase, and wear solid navy shoes for the drive. But now, she’s more relaxed, and understands that having some fun with these things is a small celebration of life and whimsy!
Since walking is their primary plan, she is indeed packing 3 pairs of shoes. Her feet are a critical part of the success of this trip:
pink sleeveless top – Chaus; bracelet – Mamba; porcelain flower earrings – Poporcelain; gold earrings – Ottoman Hands; sunglasses – Ray-Ban; navy floral top – J.Crew; packable hat – Eric Javits; yellow tee – Eileen Fisher; navy shorts – L.L.Bean; white shorts – Lands’ End; dress – Lands’ End; navy espadrilles – Clarks; white sandals – Lands’ End; navy sandals – Taryn Rose
Of course they will go out to eat – they’re staying at a small inn, that’s supposed to have a really good pub with excellent food. But they’re not getting dressed up…
She left her travel wardrobe hang in the spare bedroom for days before they left – it felt like a flower garden to her:
She does understand that there’s a wee chance that she’s going to have to wear pants for the entire weekend! But she’s willing to risk it. After everything that has happened in the last 6 months, a change in weather is NOT a problem!
And she has all kinds of possible outfits that she can assemble from the 9 garments that she will have with her:
I’m not sure when I will be able to be outdoors again, but I do know that one of the first things I’m going to do is take out my phone and take some pictures of the first spring flowers. (assuming that I am out while it’s still spring!)
What do you miss the most, if you’re under a stay at home policy right now?
love,
Janice
p.s. Three years ago, we were busy looking at the possibilities of French 5-Piece Wardrobes (what a SILLY term…) in blush, French blue, and red. I’m still of a mind to assemble 5 pieces of pink and wear them here at home!
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Casual, but pretty and feminine. What a beautiful scarf!
This is so pretty. I miss being able to give my children/grandchildren/great grandchildren a hug. Screen time with them is not the same. ?
What a wonderfully cheerful wardrobe! I feel like every outfit is designed to make us smile.
I love the idea of a packable hat, I bought a sunhat last year and while I love it and it was much needed, it isn’t the easiest item to pack.
I realize this is probably not the most common take on this, but… I’m autistic, and while I *hate* that so many people are suffering (whether physically, financially, or psychologically), the lockdown has made me realized how much “regular life” completely exhausts me. I am being much more productive than I ever was without the constant feeling of overwhelm.
After the lockdown gets lifted, I am going to be much more patient with myself for not going at the same pace of everyone else. And I’m going to give my cat (who’s at my parents’) a lot of belly rubs :)
How are your pink experiments going?
What a perfectly lovely way to start the day. I am fortunate enough to live in a house, and my back yard with all the purple, pink, and white hyacinths blooming right now gives me immeasurable pleasure.I love the navy daisy shirt. BTW, J. Crew has a gorgeous watermelon striped skirt – the photo absolutely does not do it justice. I only got onto J. Crew because of a post of yours several days (weeks?) ago where you used one of their striped shirts – which I also bought :) Thanks Janice!
as a P.S. am I crazy? or didn’t you do a post about wearing navy and black together? I am totally unable to find it. Thanks
Nope – I’ve never done one because I have a really bad blind spot about being able to put those 2 colors together. Check with tishjett.com or unefemme.net, I think they may have addressed this. I keep thinking and thinking about how to do it, and I’m still struggling…
hugs,
Janice
Janice,
What a joy filled colorful post !
Just yesterday I did a “ confessional “ on Facebook of what I am missing, which isn’t much, as I am an introvert and very happy to self entertain during this temporary hiatus. However, there are some things that I hope get restored within my life soon . They are—-
EATING OUT — I think that I have cooked more breakfasts and dinners in the past month than I have in all of our marriage ! I enjoy cooking, but not when it is endless with no breaks !
Grocery shopping — yes, I enjoy that !
Going to our plant nursery and selecting new plants and gardening supplies
Attending church
Traveling
Shopping in a store
Shopping online — hope funds return soon !
We live in a residential community , so I do see people walking by and can wave a friendly hello
Spending time with my 96 year old mother, taking her out for lunch and supplies
Just living in my pre virus world with all of its freedoms — I realize now how happily spoiled that I was and how much that I took for granted !
Meanwhile, I have food, clothing , shelter, electricity , running water, cell phone, TV, the internet , many books that are still unread, and a loving husband. Plus— thus far we are virus free ! I am blessed !
I wish Janice and her Belovedest and all of her readers a very Blessed Easter !
Hello all! I am sitting watching snow storm in eastern Canada and love the idea of flowers. Yesterday I walked my small gardens and saw flowering bulbs ever hopeful coming through the mulch and now covered with 4 inches of snow.(insert sigh here)
This capsule reminds me that Spring will arrive, snow will melt and flowers will bloom. And hopefully the world can find some new version of normal where we can be with family again.
The colors here are just so, so pretty …
… which sort of brings me to my very humble suggestion. As well as tales of women newly free to travel, perhaps you could tell us about some women who are currently contemplating a black/gray/taupe wardrobe of edgy, urban business wear, elegant evening clothes, and the clothes they wore painting the kitchen, with a lifestyle that suddenly comprises work-at-home, Zoom, and laying out a very elaborate vegetable garden.
This was my exact thought. I have found myself utilizing a narrow wardrobe during these times. When I retired four years ago, I gravitated to a more focussed wardrobe since most of my time was spent at home. My husband has health issues so we never travel anyway and usually only go to town once or twice a week. I would love to explore some stay at home and sill look and feel lovely clothes.
As for what I miss, we are blessed to live on a 120 acre farm with a creek in our back yard and nature all around us. We have enjoyed the various flowers that have been blooming and the beginnings of our veggie garden. I miss hugs from my sons, daughters-in-law and granddaughters and real in the same room visits with them and other family members. I miss church, communion and weekly fellowship with our congregation. We always have a family reunion at Easter time. I’m hoping we can still do that at some later date.
Wow – spring has burst forth. Here in my corner of the UK, we’re enjoying another day of brilliant blue sunshine with a cloudless sky. Early this morning, we went for a dawn stroll round the lake and nature reserve at the bottom of our road. Gorgeous.
The navy and pink travelling outfit is perfect, though I would wear silver jewellery with it. How do you find such amazing luggage? A suitcase in all my colours…. and paisley shoes…. (sigh).
Just before all the shops closed, I bought a lovely ditsy print blouse – navy background, pink and blue flowers with bright green leaves. Perfect with this colour scheme.
With the temperature predicted to rise to 25C this weekend, now is the time to wear it.
Happy Easter everyone ?
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It has been a lovely spring in East Tennessee, and I’m blessed to live in a neighborhood where walking is ok, keeping social distance. I’ve been photographing flowers and trees to record their fleeting beauty. Aren’t we fortunate to have cameras in our phones?
I miss many of the same things mentioned in above comments, and also seeing my “ladies who lunch” friends. Missed traveling on school spring break, especially as we stayed home at Christmas. I hope we can travel this summer.
This wardrobe is beautiful!
I’m so glad that you like this wardrobe! I miss my lunch friends, and flowers, and fresh air… It actually snowed last night, in Chicago, for about 5 minutes. It was so… weird! Since I’m not going out, I don’t know what it did to the emerging flowers.
hugs,
Janice
So happy to see these bright, beautiful colors this morning! Love this cheerful color scheme.
Oh this is beautiful! Spring time personified. My favourite dark neutral for spring and summer is Navy and my favourite accent is pink. I love that yellow, that green and crisp white. I’d be fascinated to see what this lady has in her closet at home. So cheerful and happy.
Looking at the accent colours puts me in mind of a strawberry, vanilla and mint ice cream sundae with lemon shortbread…..
These colors make me happy, so cheerful!
So pretty and stylist, with just the right touch of whimsy! Thank you so much for all of your posts, Janice, I love reading and re-reading them. I miss not having friends and family over for dinner, but lers count our blessings, one of which is reading your blog. Happy Easter and stay healthy!
Just wanted to say … I’m so grateful for you and your daily gift to us! I’m appreciative of the work and creativity you put into these. SO inspiring!!! May Peace be with you over this holiday week.
Thanks to all of you who’ve shared a little of your Covid-quarantine experiences. And, Janice, that is an exquisite collection, but then I’m a tiny bit biased because I love and wear all of those colors. For some reason, I just can’t “feel” black in the summer months. So, navy is such a great choice. I can envision that lovely print dress with a denim jacket in these early spring days…if only I had a place to wear it! We saw denim jackets with pretty floral dresses all over Paris last summer (even when it was kind of hot!) As for our isolation. In my city, they’re predicting the next two weeks to be the most precarious so far as the cases begin to climb from exposures about 2 weeks ago. We are well stocked and we have a neighborhood spread out enough that we can safely take a daily walk, which we do. Spring is on the rise as more trees are leafing out and more blossoms emerge every day. The beautiful shades of the purple, pink, yellow and white hyacinths are lovely as are the soft pink and purple/pink tulip magnolias. We have pink blossoming trees, white blossoming trees and many varieties of daffodils…and beautiful wind flowers! It’s lovely-and satisfying for one who loves color. It helps that I have yards and yards of beautiful quilting cotton to make pretty masks for family, friends and neighbors. Stay safe everyone. I hope Passover was lovely for all who observe, that Easter is lovely and upcoming Ramadan (April -May) for all who find meaning in those observances. Forgive my cultural ignorance if I’ve left out other important holidays! Love to all.
Yes! I was mentally adding a denim jacket and a pair of white jeans or slacks. So pretty! – nancyo
This is absolutely beautiful! I would wear everything in this wardrobe, only replacing the shorts with Capris or longer shorts covering my knees ?. Your daily post is one of the highlights of my day during the lockdown. Thanks so much!!
With this capsule prompting thoughts of spring in mind I thought I would share this (even at the risk of sounding a little strange). I found this birdsong video unexpectedly comforting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8-dOm7-WEI
I found it when I was trying to identify a bird that sings ourside my apartment but that I have never seen. I conclude that it is a Great Tit, but I may be wrong. Now tihnking that when the restrictions are lifted, I should get a bird feeder for my balcony.
I love, love, love these colours and clothes. I could live in these clothes all spring and summer on the west coast. I think a lovely pink or yellow willowy cardigan would be nice addition with the dress (or other pieces) and if in the same colour as either of the 2 tops, makes a nice set. I’d also like to have a pair of pants/capri’s in white, and/or maybe pink.
Thank you Janice, your posts are a breathe of fresh air and a promise of better times to come.
Hugs to you
I was really thinking about adding some pink, but I couldn’t find a cardigan that really blew my hair back, so yellow was the 2nd choice! But you’re in my head, in the best way possible…
hugs,
Janice
Hello Janice and everyone:
Thank you for this beautiful combination of colors. I miss sitting in church and singing together, traveling in planes, trains and automobiles and not worrying about the air next to me, and going –out– to dinner. But I think at the end of all this I will miss the stillness , the clearer air and water, and seeing my husband during the day.
Beautiful wardrobe! I’m not usually drawn to modern art but this painting is wonderful! Thank you for choosing all types of art for these postings! I’ve never been much of a pink person but as I age I have been drawn to some of the blush tones. Oddly, I do love all tones of pink in nature! It has been spring here in Arkansas for the last month. Our dogwood tree and peony bushes are blooming and my shrub roses are starting to bud.We are having lots of rain and WIDE temperature changes. Heater on one day air conditioner the next! We were supposed to leave next week for a spring vacation to the Charlotte, SC area. I am so disappointed that we can not go. Hopefully this fall we will all be able to travel again! My husband is in the high risk category so we are being careful. I miss hugging my kids and grand kids so much! I miss restaurants and I would actually prefer working at my office. It is just easier than working at home for me. Stay safe and well!
Ah, how I envy you the dogwood and peony! I love the smell of peonies…
I’ve grown to appreciate modern art more as I work on The Vivienne Files – the combinations of colors that catch my eye and spark my imagination are interesting to observe (standing outside my brain and watching what goes on inside!) and to imagine the process of painting… It fascinates me!
hugs,
Janice
Lovely ensembles. So cheerful and happy. A treat for the eyes and the soul.
No going away or eating out at any small inns here in Michigan.
I don’t miss much of the world outside. We were just about to head to our place in Florida. I do miss that. My heart and my thoughts are with those who are suffering and those on the front lines.