Ciblek Mania

When I was a kid my parents would get us up for church on Sunday mornings and all I could think of was, 'get me hence to Sunday school for the stories' - my favorite of which was Joseph and and the coat of many colors his father Jacob made especially for him (even then it was all about the fashion).  

I remember being in town in the dead heat of summer with my mom (small  prairie towns near our farm) and asking if she could make me a coat like Joseph's.  In my mind I saw a brightly knitted zigzag (missoni before my time, anyone?) coat that came all the way to the ground...purples, reds, pinks, yellows and greens.  I can still envision it now.  I think she responded with something like, "ask grandma" because my grandma was a crocheter extraordinaire and we were besties.  For some reason I never asked her but would, from time to time, wrap myself in the brilliant colored afghan blanket she had made me pretending I had a coat just like Joseph.  And the dream of that coat lived on, tucked away in a corner of my mind, for years.  It reared it's head when Dolly Parton sang 'Coat of Many Colors' (even though my I claimed my ears bled I loved it), and later when a friend surprised me with tickets to see Donny Osmond perform in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for my birthday.

About a month ago a Free People sweater caught my eye...The Technicolor Dreamcoat.  My heart sped up at the title and I gave it a click.  There it was!  My dream had come to life some 20 years later!!  Unable to take it anymore, a couple weeks ago I stopped into Free People and tried it on...then last week when Shopbop had their sales codes I scooped it up!  And last night I slept with it next to me on my bed.  It is everything I ever imagined and more.

Let me begin by saying I hope the picture debacle has been resolved.  I'm scared to even mention it.

This weekend was filled with task-type activities: 

•  Vacuuming - check
•  Laundry - check
•  Sorting the mail - half check
• Eating a chocolate bar - check. 

Basically things you don't necessarily feel  like doing (except the chocolate bar, of course), but are so relieved when they're actually done even if it only lasts for 5 minutes.  In between Friday afternoon, (when we escaped for Mexican food and margaritas in 90 degree weather along with a gaggle of other Californians who were pretending it was summer), and Sunday morning's time change the temperature dropped about 30 degrees.  By the time I rolled out of bed yesterday morning it was downright chilly and the sky was filled with grey. Before mother nature could change her mind, I hauled out one of last year's favorite finds that never got a go-round (read: crying shame).  Seeing capes make a grand re-entrance has made me very happy.  It's a coat that's not really a coat - and oftentimes that's all we need here in SoCal! Any capes in your future?

I've got a confession to make:  I am absolutely uninspired by my wardrobe at present.  Whenever I think about an outfit post I enter the closet, become depressed, turn and walk out.  The solution is not buying more things to make an outfit.  Of that I am certain.  It doesn't take much to walk through Saks, Barneys or Bloomingdales (*or insert any retailer here*), buy a bunch of labels and put an outfit together - let's face it - it's label land.  It's just that, well, all of that has suddenly become very bland to me.  I think I'm having an existential closet crisis. 

Last week, after staring at Olivia Palermo's $1200 $895 (red alert friends!  I just got a note regarding price reduction!) Daryl K leather pants (Daryl K are you out there?  Carrie loves your pants and is a total hypocrite after her above statement, but still means every word) I decided that I, too, must find my way into something similar.  This led, of course, to a significantly less expensive pair at H&M - which I love nonetheless.  It took everything in me not to throw then on with a fave Tank Farm T, but I wasn't going to a metal concert or a biker bar.  Maybe next time.