Natori Feather Strapless Bra

Yes, here I am: talking about unmentionables again. Ahem. I know I am not alone in loathing strapless bras, but sometimes they’re awfully useful. Scratch that; I pretty much uniformly hate all bras, and sometimes the strapless kind offer a bit of extra convenience when dealing with an unusual neckline. Natori bras are the least annoying, so I have been wearing them exclusively for the past 18 months. When I recently decided that it was time to reinvest in a new strapless bra, I naturally looked there first. As our Nordstrom Rack still hasn’t opened yet (side-eye, since it’s been advertised as “coming soon” since 2016), I did my looking on Amazon. And I lucked into finding my size in a neutral beige colour for under $60 (it’s this Natori Feathers Strapless bra). Not a bad deal.

When I say “my size”, I actually mean one band size down and one cup size up from my preferred size. I can wear 36B or 34C largely interchangeably, though I prefer the former in regular bras because I find it digs into my ribcage less. However, I chose the 34C in the strapless version because I wanted to be sure that it would stay up. I think that was the right choice. I haven’t worn it out in the “wild” yet, but it felt good while I was trying it on.

[Edited to add: our Nordstrom Rack just opened about a week ago. I haven’t decided how much I like it, but I did spot some Natori bras, so that’s a bonus.]

Triple Claw Ear Jacket

The credit for finding this gem goes to IG-er (and new blogger) M Gets Dressed. I admired this earring jacket on her Instagram page, and promptly ordered my own. Note: this does not come as a set, so if you want one for each ear, you will have to buy two. I purchased one to begin with, just to see what the quality was like in person. I was not disappointed; the jacket is made from stainless steel, not silver, but it looks more expensive that it is. I was also concerned about potential allergic reactions, but did not have any. [Note: I do not have known metal allergies, but my ears can become sensitive to costume jewelry at times.] I am debating getting a second one now, because I’m kinda old skool about wearing matching earrings.

Unrelated sidenote: if you’re into capsules and wardrobe analytics, you really should check out M’s blog. She goes into a lot of detail, and her posts are incredibly thoughtful and well-written.

Leggs Nylons

I used to be quite loyal to the Calvin Klein CK brand of nylons, which I could find at Winners for about $8 a pair. I stopped wearing nylons this summer, but even before, the CKs were getting increasingly hard to find. With winter on its way, I had to come up with an alternative. I’d had good luck with the L’eggs nylon socks (10 pack for $7CAD) I bought last year on Amazon, which I always wear with trousers. (I find that nylons socks/knee highs are less slippery/fidgety than those little shoe sock thingies, and help to cut down on foot odour.) So I decided to give their regular pantyhose (ugh, that word) a try as well. I got the L’eggs Women’s Energy 3 Pack Control Top Sheer Toe Panty Hose in “Nude”, which is a pretty good match for my pasty skin tone. The 3 pack cost about $17CAD, which is a great deal. So far, so good. They’re sheer but seem quite sturdy, and the control top doesn’t feel like it wants to strangle my inner organs. I’m pretty sure I ordered the Q size (second largest), but somehow ended up with the Q+ (the largest). Other than being a little bit long — not so much that they sag, at all — it’s fine. For reference, I am usually a size 4-6, and 5’7 (though I have a borderline petite-size inseam). Most of the reviews suggest sizing up, and I concur. I will probably go with the Q next time, but I’m happy with the Q+ too.

Paint by Sticker Books

I like to look on Amazon for book and craft ideas for my kids, which is how I came across the new version of the colouring book craze: paint by sticker books. They work precisely as you might imagine: instead of colouring the areas per numbered directions, you apply the appropriate numbered sticker. I got a bug version for my kids, and also tried an adult version with vintage travel posters. The sticker books weren’t a huge hit with my kids, but I have to say that I quite liked mine. To be honest, part of the reason why I got it was because I wanted to see if I could hack the templates for my embroidery. I haven’t tried it yet, but I think it’s doable.

October just flew by, didn’t it? We have been lucky to get a taste of real fall for a change – cool but mostly dry, and best of all, no more snow. Somehow, I can’t really account for this month; I was busy, but I don’t feel like I have much to show for it. I keep wanting to stop and take a moment to enjoy this season, but the days just keep slipping through my fingers. It’s nice when the weekends seem to come so quickly (though they also go just as fast) but there is a part of me that worries about all the time flying away from me. Is it just a sign that I’m getting older.

Hmm, maybe let’s leave that as a rhetorical question.

As promised, this month’s outfits make a nice little collection:

A lot of muted colours, admittedly, but it’s what feels comfortable these days. With that said, I know that the pendulum can – and probably will – swing again as I (hopefully) continue to grow and evolve. The biggest lesson I’ve been learning these last few years is that nothing is static. Nothing should be static. Life is dynamic; it’s a constant state of change. So I’m trying to be smart about how I edit my wardrobe to suit my current needs in a way that won’t leave future Adina completely bereft of options. Who are we kidding? I’m never not going to have things to wear. Unless the thrift shops close down …

For fun, I did a composite of the past 4 months (starting from the top row, July, August, September, and October respectively).

I see more cohesiveness developing, and certain silhouettes emerging as new favourites. Nothing remarkably out of the ordinary, but at the same time, a marked departure from, say, 2016. To wit:

Way different, right? And I know … most people prefer the old stuff. Which is cool. All fine and good. It is a little weird when they make a point of informing me of that fact but OK, thanks, Janet. I don’t know what to do with that information which is one of those aspects of blogging I’ve never really figured out.

I will leave you with this public service announcement: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is currently streaming on Netflix, and it is delightful. If you are looking for some visual “comfort food”, I highly recommend you check it out.

This scene, by the way, is the precise moment at which I realized that my dream man is a sensitive, literature-loving pig farmer with a penchant for strategically ripped fisherman’s sweaters. Better late than never.

Given my love of thrifting and crafty endeavors (as long as they’re easy), I am quite late to the upcycled-thrift-store-art-project party. Thanks to a fellow thrifter on Instagram, I have now arrived at said party and I am HERE FOR IT. This is the inspo photo that got me hooked:

I love the whimsy and it’s no secret that I am obsessed with colour; the more sedate my wardrobe becomes (which feels right), the more I want to surround myself with colour in every other area of my life (which also feels right). This sort of “art project” is right up my alley; naturally, I decided to tackle one myself.

The first step was finding the right art piece at the thrift store. It’s a sign of how thrift-spoiled I have become that I actually experienced some impatience with this part of the process; it seemed like it was taking a really long time, but in reality, we are talking about 3 weeks, tops. And I found the perfect piece:

You can kinda gauge the proportions of it from the surrounding bookshelves – this thing is huge. It’s a repro of a painting by (as best as I can tell) Arno Lemke, probably from the 70s or 80s. It’s totally kitschy, but at the same time, not displeasing to the eye. And it cost a whopping $7.50 at Goodwill. The best part, though? My husband didn’t immediately nix it. In fact, he was surprisingly receptive to my idea for upcycling it:

We had a good talk about the various other things we could do with it – decoupage a Godzilla or Super Mario in the middle of the lake, add a rainbow effect like the top inspo photo, transpose a sticker drawing from my “paint by sticker” book, graffiti it up, etc. – but ultimately came back to the colour block idea. My husband like the “mystery” of the solid block of paint and I liked … well, the simplicity of it all.

The next step was picking a paint colour. I toyed with several options (pink lilac, dark teal, eggplant), but ended up selecting the first choice: a muted, green-tinged blue. The specific paint we got was Sherwin Williams Blue Tourmaline; a sample sized pot set us back about $7 (including tax). The quantity was more than ample; after 3 coats, I have enough left over for another 3-4 similar projects. The other supplies (masking tape and paint brushes) we had around the house, so they didn’t cost anything extra.

Here’s a peek at the process:

As I mentioned above, I did 3 coats of paint in total, over the course of about 6 hours, which was sufficient to achieve perfect opacity. [Lesson learned from subsequent project: the wood frame here was untreated so it took the paint well with no sanding, primer, etc. A treated frame would probably need some extra prep work or more coats of paint.] The paint dried very fast, and had no discernible smell; I worked inside the house the whole time. Because the original piece was a repro (on a flat surface), I did zero prep work on the surface and frame before I started painting. The trickiest bit was applying the masking tape in a straight line, and peeling it off without taking the paint with it. I did have my husband project managing the whole way (he can’t help it), but it was pretty easy from beginning to end.

Here’s the finished product:

We have found it a great home, but the wall will need a bit of extra prep, so we haven’t hung it yet. In the meantime, I also tried another version of the same project:

I loved this repro too much to cover any of it (plus, this frame came with a glass cover) but I wasn’t thrilled with the blah frame so decided to jazz it up. Like so:

This took a bit of extra work – 6 coats of paint instead of 3 (and still plenty of leofover paint in the sample pot, FYI) – but I love it.

Counting these as a success, I have been emboldened to try something different:

Too ambitious? It remains to be seen …