Ye Olde Socks

Two Days of Outfits

2012-02-17T13:45:00.000+02:00

Hi, the queen of fuzzy pictures is here again.

Allow me to start with Thursday. This is my favorite sweater of the year. It looks great with black skinnies and heels, but today I decided to wear it with my oatmeal jeans tucked into boots. No heels because I had a doctor's appointment in the middle of work shift, so I had to run over there and back while my friend at work covered for me.

I think that the pink lipstick goes well with my new phone cover. It's "Speak Louder" by MAC.

I kept the brown bag to match my leopard print trench. And in that shopping bag is a white windbreaker that I found in the Jump store for about 15 bucks. I just couldn't pass up a deal like that.

I wore this ring that I love. It used to have a huge rectangular citrine stone but then I dropped it on a tile floor and the stone broke. I took the ring to the lady I get my bracelets from, and she found this crystal and gave my ring the new life. Thank you, Ilana!

Today is Friday and I was going to spend the day working on my translation and then do some grocery shopping. But my Kid broke his glasses (that he got only three weeks ago) so I had to take them to the shop in Rehovot.

I took the pictures after I came back. It was so windy outside that my hair almost flew off. We are expecting a storm later on. So I can blame my looking disheveled on the weather.

My jeans miraculously matched my grey booties. I like it. It creates an illusion of longer legs. Or not. But these booties were good for running around Rehovot. I took the bus as there is no parking along the main street.

These are my stacking rings from Aldo. I didn't really have to wear all of them at once but why not. You can find some interesting accessories in Aldo, and they're not expensive.

I'm glad I went to Rehovot because it gave me a chance to finish a certain little project. But that's a story for the next post.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Borrowing from Myself

2012-02-16T09:36:00.002+02:00

Yesterday while getting dressed I kept thinking that I've seen this outfit somewhere else... And then I remembered. I wore it just over a year ago and even posted photos on this blog. Here is the link. It's almost identical except last time I wore a black turtleneck with a different necklace.

My day was crazy and I didn't even get a chance for a break. Left the office for 5 minutes to get a good cup of coffee (as opposed to instant coffee that we have) and a chocolate souffle for my sinking energy levels.

Took the pictures in the evening at home hence the tired face.

And I had to do some more work in the evening - had an urgent translation for a certain comedy that will be aired here on Saturday. So my work day lasted about 15 hours combined.

It's 9:30 on Thursday morning here, I'm off to work in an hour. And after that - the weekend. We are planning a trip to Ma'ale Adumim on Saturday which is near Jerusalem. The weather people threatened us with show. We'll see.

Golden Chains

2012-02-14T22:50:00.004+02:00

First of all, I just watched the Polyvore Live fashion show with the most unusual models - fashion bloggers. I "know" some of those ladies through their blogs: Brooklyn Blonde, Cheetah is the New Black, Sandras Closet. I felt like those were my friends on the catwalk. Well done, girls!!!

Now, I've been dying to wear my new blonde boots out of the house. Today was the day. I combined them with the similar color jeans, black shirt and a golden chain. And a 50 shekel bill for some reason (that's under my thumb).

Went into Zara for my daily shot and these beauties greeted me at the door.

Can't say that this angle is doing me any favors. Looking straight on in the mirror, my midsection seemed a bit narrower. Maybe it's just my "digital projected image of myself" or how did they put it in the Matrix?

Anyway, the shoe sale is still going strong but I've pretty much got everything I need and more. Which didn't prevent me from perusing the t-shirt rack where I found two cute tops for about USD 15 each. I brought them home and shamefully stuck them into the far end of the closet. Till spring.

As I was wearing a big link chain, I kept my bracelet small and simple-ish. It's from the same artisan fair (which I managed to avoid today), from the same seller actually that I bought two of my other chain bracelets as well.

And now for my second-hand store find from yesterday. I hurried to take these pants to be hemmed today so that I could model them for the whole world to see.

Behold my Roberto Cavalli pants!

Oops, a bit fuzzy. Here is a better shot. Golden pants with chains all over them! The T-rex on the wall is suitably impressed. My husband approves too.

A shot of the legs with the shoes in a different lighting, the pants look a bit more subdued. Or do they really?

They were new with tags and a hologram. And the most amazing part is on that tag. Size M. What the hell?

It says "made in Italy" which is another pleasant surprise. Usually it says "made in Turkey" (like my other two pairs of Cavalli jeans). The pants looked a bit beat up like they spent some time in a sale bin... I don't know and I don't care, I like them, I find the vertical chains slimming and I'm going to wear them.

Tomorrow is my 11 hour workday. Must say, I'm not that excited about it. Why do I have to go to work?

Oh yeah, to pay for all those things I enjoy so much (mind you, I paid for those pants by selling off my old stuff. How's that for justification?)

Green Rock

2012-02-13T14:32:00.001+02:00

I usually work 12 to 7 pm on Sundays but yesterday I worked in the morning. Had to attend a lecture on the effects of dog training courses on autistic kids. Which is hugely positive by the way.

To avoid unnecessary rushing in the morning I just put on a dress, boots and my beloved purple trench.

It was my plain black dress with anything but plain sleeves.

Zara was crowded so I had to click fast to avoid embarrassing detection.

After that I went to H&M where I found a deserted corner. Love the color of those cobalt jeans by the way.

As my dress and boots were black and grey, I went for bright accessories. Namely this huge green rock on my finger.

I love big ass rings. I don't normally wear green things but I bought this ring for it's color.

I finally changed the cover on my cellphone. It's pink (no big surprise there).

A close up to show off the new phone cover and a sleeve.

A shot of my scarf, it says Chanel but we're not going to believe it. It was another bright accessory that went with the trench. I love those chains. Talking about chains, I visited my fave second-hand store today. Had some substantial credit from my things that got sold. Bought another thing with chains on it with the store credit. This item needs some minor alterations and then I'll proudly parade it on the blog.

Tomorrow is the artisan fair day at the mall. God help me!

Thursday Silver

2012-02-11T00:11:00.001+02:00

It's the weekend, and I am finally posting Thursday photos. I totally forgot about these Nine West booties I had sitting at the back of the shoe closet. Does it mean that I have too many shoes? Probably. Wearing them gave me a perfect chance to throw on my silver jacket. So true that a good outfit sometimes starts with a great pair of shoes.

I bought this cardigan because is reminded me of Chanel jackets.

More shots of the same, this time with a stripey scarf.

I wasn't sure which purse would go with all that. Was a bit tired of the shiny black one.
So I went for the Steve Madden denim bag a-la-Mulberry Alexa purchased during last season sale. It's light and roomy, I can fit a pair of booties in it if I have to.

According to InStyle mag, you can wear denim accessories if it's the only denim thing you're wearing. My jeans were black, so I decided to go for it.

Have you seen the new Zara collection? I snapped a couple of pictures in the store. Look at these mint colored jackets, colorful and flowery tops. I love it.

I thought that this dress looked familiar. Of course, it was featured on the Atlantic-Pacific blog just a couple of days ago.

The jacket on the right is much lighter IRL, it's peachy.

The lace skirt is so sweet and all this pink! It's a beautiful collection.

And now for the nails experiment. The first to chip was You Don't Know Jacques - see the tiniest chip on my index finger? But Chanel got a bit duller with wear (middle finger). The main thing is that three days later the difference in color is much less noticeable. Maybe I finish the OPI bottle first and then go for Particuliere. I understand it's part of the permanent collection now. No reason to hurry.

Chanel new collection will be in stores on Monday. I really like the April and May nail polish colors. But I'm trying to embrace Frugal February (see Faux Fuschia's blog). Last week I broke down only once and bought another pair of shoes. Where? Zara. Why? Because they "came back" at even more reduced price. I'm talking about these babies.

I think that my shoe closet is overstocked now and new arrivals should be banned. Till the next Zara sale. I'll try to live through the next week without any clothes/footwear purchases. Please send your supportive thoughts my way.

Coco Black and White

2012-02-08T21:46:00.002+02:00

Hey hey, it's a fuzzy pictures day! And the first picture is not so much of me but of that lovely trench with leather accents from the new collection in Zara. Have you seen the new collection? White shift dresses with pearl detail on the shoulders, powder pink and mint colored jackets, flowery pastel blouses. What is the popular saying? I DIE!!!

As to my getup today, I love this skirt. The weave is quite large and threads keep catching on things. But it's nice with a black turtleneck and my Coco necklace from Red Phoenix Emporium that I've had it for almost two years and don't wear enough.

Tried to take a better picture of the necklace, but the fuzz strikes again! Must be my shaky hands after 11 hours at work.

I haven't changed the phone cover yet. Checked out a couple of kiosks at the mall today, but all they had was Hello Kitty or neon green. Not for me.

Back to Work

2012-02-07T22:04:00.001+02:00

Oh well, I'm done doing this.

Even though I was not 100% OK yet, I fixed my hair, did the makeup and put on my favorite trench.

And then I found the light switch in the elevator. Actually, I like the darker image better.

Work was crazy, and I didn't get to go out in search of large shop mirrors. So I had to take pictures at home. I wore my new neutral pussy-bow blouse (who came up with the name? Seriously, I don't know) and leopard-print jeans. And comfy boots. Still sick, remember?

I was on a hunt for a neutral blouse like this one for ages. Finally found it in a Discreet store. It's an Israeli chain and on the label of this blouse it says "made in Israel". So I'm supporting the local trade, choosing "blue and white" and get to look and feel great at the same time. Yes, I think I looked great even though you can't see it in the photos. I blame the photographer and the lighting in the room.

This color is very flattering in my opinion. I'll be wearing this blouse again. And again. Until it gets scorching hot (probably in May).

Here is another attempt at styling the blouse that I photographed earlier. With red jeans and a big-ass snake belt.

I experimented with my nail polishes yesterday. I have a bit of Particuliere left in the bottle. And about a month ago I got a bottle of You Don't Know Jacques by OPI which is supposed to be the "substitute" for the cult Chanel color. So I painted my nails with both of them. What did I discover?
Jacques is darker than Particuliere, it goes on much thinner and sheerer. My nails are uneven, they have ridges. So while I needed two coats of Chanel, it took three coats of OPI to cover the whole thing. Which made the polish even darker. This is a shot against the background of my leopard jeans by the way.

Here are the two colors against a light background. Photographed at the office under "daylight" lamps.

What's the verdict? I like both colors. I'll go and buy another bottle of Particuliere when it's convenient. But first I'd like to see which one is going to chip faster.

To be continued.

I'm Sick

2012-02-06T17:58:00.002+02:00

"Have you stirred the sugar?"

(typed in google "pictures + sick cat" and got this one)

This has been me for the last 4 days. Mostly coughing like hell. Now my stomach muscles hurt. No amount of exercise has ever made my stomach muscles this sore. Cough = knife in the guts. But I"ll be back at work tomorrow.

A Walking Ad

2012-02-03T09:37:00.002+02:00

That's what I was yesterday. A walking ad for Zara. Coat, jeans, top and belt (not shown).

I liked the jeans with my black Zara booties but picked a lower heel in the end. Here is a trial photo of the boots that didn't happen. I have a cold, so a bit of comfort was required.

The sale is still going strong. I asked the girls when it'll be over as my wallet is crying big tears of empty. They told me to hold on and be strong, just another couple of weeks.

I'm going to replace the cover on my phone. I'm getting tired of it clashing with the photos, it's just too much.

This is my first weak attempt at the "arm party". My ancient watch-bracelet that used to be two-tone. It kept clinking all day long. We'll see if I can get used to it.

And now, the sin of the day. I saw these booties on Wednesday and tried them on. Very high heel for me but so comfortable. They were on sale for NIS 379 (about 110 US). I left them on the shelf to think about it some more. But the temptation of having blonde boots was too much to bear and I returned to the store on Thursday. The boots were still there and the price had been reduced overnight to NIS 299 (about 85 bucks). Bonus! I love the zipper detail in the back. So in tune with the last season collection in Zara - everything had exposed zippers.

These booties will be good for "bookending". Even though Angie is talking about bookending black trousers, the same principle applies with footwear. There we go, a perfect justification for yet another purchase.

I've realised with horror that for the last month or so I bought something almost every day. I can blame the sales or my lack of will power, but this has got to stop! Faux Fuchsia announced the arrival of Frugal February, maybe I'll be a joiner and do the same thing. I'm not saying "never", but come on, really? Every day?

So I'm going to try and keep a lid on my spending. I'm not talking about necessities and things for my Kid. I'm talking shoes, bags, clothes and accessories. And baby steps. Try doing it for a week and see what happens. I'll live, I'm sure.

The weekend is here. I have some work to finish by Sunday, translating a somewhat depressing British TV-show about a young woman losing her husband in a tragic accident. She decides to investigate the mysterious circumstances of his death, blah-blah-blah.

By the way, we just got a new TV channel full of HBO shows. I'm addicted to the "Walking Dead" (second season over here) and "The Killing". Looking at rainy Seattle brings back Vancouver memories. Ah, West Coast! I do miss you. I'd give anything right now for a walk through Stanley Park. Well, maybe not anything. Not my new blonde booties!

Covering All Angles

2012-02-02T08:46:00.001+02:00

I returned to H&M for that skirt. It took me about a week, but I came back for it. And grabbed the opportunity to take my pictures in the store dressing room.

Yesterday was a gray and rainy day, streets turned into rivers, and as I walked to the bus after work, broken umbrellas were everywhere. So I dressed accordingly, gray and black dress, black boots. And my Lady Danger lipstick to brighten the whole thing up.

This is me trying on that skirt. Easy enough in a dress.

I ended up buying size M which surprised me. It's a bit shorter than large which is good, but otherwise the same.

I've got a bit of a cold, kept waking up at night because I couldn't breathe through the nose.
It really sucked.

Home and Work

2012-01-31T18:26:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I mentioned that it was my day off. Some grocery shopping, some TV. I watched "Supernatural" and "Warehouse 13" that I recorded previous evening. When I'm home (alone) I love having breakfast while watching one of my favorite shows. It was quite chilly so I put on my fat sweater and colorful jeans.

These are the jeans in the daylight.

And then I had to run to a local store in the rain. Didn't feel like dragging an umbrella with me and came up with this solution. The jacket is 100 years old, it's mostly used to walk the dog in the rain because it has the best hood ever. And here is the proof.

But what a difference a day makes. Today I had to go to work. So I did my hair, put my face on and dressed up a bit. It was a denim on denim day. With some leopard print thrown in.

My new brown booties finally made it out of the house. The weather was sunny and nice. After work I didn't even put my coat on, it was that warm.

Came home and asked my husband: "Do I look nice?"
"Yes", he said.
"Cool", I said. "Then I'm going upstairs to change into my house clothes. Which means "dog and cat hair resistant". Last look in the mirror.

I'm not going to photograph the outfit I'm wearing now. But it's the same type of a fat sweater and house-jeans. Which is OK. Some evenings I come home from work and change straight into my pajamas.

I'm off to read "Lassie comes home" with the Kid (in Hebrew!)

Pink Lipstick and Scarf

2012-01-30T09:15:00.000+02:00

I've decided to try and remember to wear my scarves. I have a hanger full of them (it's hanging at the back of the closet under the fan) but I never seem to find a right one to wear, especially if I'm late and have to decide quickly. Another problem was to figure out how to tie one on. That is, until I watched Une Femme's youtube tutorials. Here is one of them, "Two Twists on a Classic". You're not just going to get some great ideas, but the music is enjoyable as well. Thank you, Une Femme!

I used the second knot idea. Of course, it'd be great if you could see the scarf behind my phone! It's blocking my neck area in all the photos! Duh!

I matched the lipstick to the scarf. It's Speak Louder by MAC. Nice bright pink.

Took a couple of pictures in the H&M dressing room. I tried on their polka dot skirt, you can see it hanging there. I didn't buy it, haven't made up my mind yet.

I love this dress because of the rushing in the stomach region. You still have to stand up straight and suck it in but the dress is so forgiving that you can breathe normally. I'm joking of course.

I don't wear my dresses and skirts as often as I'd like. I should print this sentence out and hang it in my closet. Next to the scarves reminder.

Thursday Lady Danger

2012-01-28T12:16:00.000+02:00

Thursday was such a long day for me. I had to go to my Kid's school in the morning and after that to work. That's two different towns. I knew I'd have to run around so I dressed comfortably. Wore my trench coat as well but the photo didn't turn out.

Do you see that snake print scarf on the right side? So tempting. But pricey because it's from the Zara new collection.

The trip to the MAC store was the highlight of the day. I bought my mascara (Studio Fix Boldblack Lash) and loose powder. And then decided to try on Lady Danger. And bought it too. This is me later in the day, and the lipstick stayed put and looked just as bright as when I first put it on. And it matched my pants perfectly. I was never a fan of matte lipsticks, tried some years ago and didn't like it. I guess, the formulas have changed, because my lips felt good all day and didn't get too dry. The SA suggested that I buy the primer. Maybe I will next time I'm there.

Normally I'd wear heels with this kind of outfit, but with all the walking I had to do, I wore my manly shoes. Are they brogues? According to the internet, they are brogue oxfords. I think.

They are by Moretti, extremely comfortable, my favorite color and an unexpected silhouette for me. I felt a bit funny wearing them with shorter slim pants.

It's weekend, we're home, and my 5 minutes at the computer are over. The Kid is kicking me out in order to play his "Jurassic Park Operation Genesis" game. Gotta go.

Oh, I totally forgot to give the inspiration credit to the January InStyle magazine.

I love a good idea, especially when I have the ingredients to do something similar.

Updated to add: I just realized who I remind myself of when wearing this kind of shoes and pants. Howard from The Big Bang Theory! Oh my God!

Gray Day

2012-01-25T22:44:00.000+02:00

Today was all about my gray booties by Christian Siriano for Payless. Cheap, cheerful and probably the most comfortable heels I own. Or up there with the most comfortable.

The first attempt at photographing myself was at Zara of course, by the discount shoe section. People were so busy throwing shoes around that nobody gave a hoot about some strange chick intensely looking at herself in the mirror.

This is my usual Zara spot. Next to a leopard scarf that went so well with my tunic. Yes, that's a Zara shopping bag in my hand. The end of season sale is still going on and I found a nice top and a belt that will probably appear in my photos tomorrow.

A tunic close-up. I love the zipper details. There is another zipper at the collar but it's hiding under my hair.

A look down at the booties. Suede-like material, the boots fit like a glove.

Obviously I was alone at the office when I took these pictures. Otherwise it would be just plain weird.

And now to the jewelry. See that knuckle-ring? It's another score\find from the Tuesday artisan fair. I was surprised to find out that it doesn't bother me at all during the day.

It's very lightweight and the rings are adjustable. And my nail polish is Graphite by Chanel.

I spent 11 hours at work today. The girl I worked with today had to leave early. So I was alone from noon till seven. Managed to get quite a lot done. Tomorrow is Thursday which is going to be a busy day for me. Let's hope it doesn't rain because I'll be running around all morning. I have a serious meeting in the morning and then a visit to the MAC store to pick up my fave mascara, loose powder and maybe a lipstick. I haven't decided whether to get Lady Danger or something pink. We'll see.

Instant Stylist Inspiration

2012-01-24T22:34:00.001+02:00

Last time I blogged, I did a couple of posts featuring outfits inspired by other bloggers or fashion magazines. Guess I can call it a tradition because this is the second inspiration post in a row. This is how it works. I see a picture in a mag or online and think - hang on, I have same/similar things in my closet, why don't I try and recreate it. Or I save a photo for future reference and then find items in shops (or my Mom's closet) that I can use.

Here is a photo from January InStyle. I saw it and immediately thought of my coral jacket I only got to wear twice before winter. Pearls - check. Shirt - check. Mine is lavender, not blue. But I don't have to copy the outfit 100 percent, let the shirt be lavender, the jacket coral, pile on more pearls and use a different bag. I don't have a blue clutch but it's OK. I'll live.

Anyway, here is my version, as photographed in H&M store. I see now, after uploading and enlarging the photos, that I'm a bit wrinkled, but I'd been sitting at my desk for 7 hours before that, while the clothes on the magazine page have been carefully laid out and arranged. What am I saying? No need to try and be absolutely perfect. That's what I'm saying I guess.

Snooker helped me take photos at home. By the way, I started with the shirt tucked in, but it just didn't look right on me.

My lipstick is MAC Viva Glam Cindy Lauper.

I love this jacket, the color is so bright. And I love my pearls. It's three "ropes" all worn together, doubled and tripled.

I could have worn leopard print shoes but hey, it is winter, so I wore my Nine West booties. They are fuzzy and cute, and I'm still getting used to them. Wore them with thicker socks today, it was much more comfortable than with thin nylon socks.

The booties have a hidden platform so the heel is not as high as it seems. Mind you, walking home from the bus on the uneven sidewalk I almost wiped out. Luckily there were no people around and my image is safe.

So what can I say at the end of the day?

Did my outfit turned out exactly as the InStyle one? Not really.

Did I feel good and confident all day? I sure did.

What would I do differently next time? Try wearing different jeans so I could tuck my shirt in. Or get a wrinkle-proof shirt. Get someone else to take my pictures to get a better angle and perspective.

There is always room for improvement.

Change of Plans

2012-01-23T08:55:00.000+02:00

I had it all planned for Sunday. I was going to build an outfit around those new brown booties I got from Zara last Thursday. Got dressed and then it started raining. Quick change, I this is what I came up with. Dark blue skinnies, leather boots and a purple sweater. Here is a headless shot.

Slightly better view of the sweather. If I stretch that thing hanging off my neck, I look like a dilophosaurus, that pesky little dinosaur that killed Newman in the first Jurassic Park movie.

Took a picture from the only tiny and pathetic window we have at the office. You can't see anything when it's dark outside, but this is noon. All gray, wet and miserable.

Update on the second pair of Zara booties, the ones I didn't get. I was planning to try them on with an insert and thicker socks, but when I arrived at the shop they were not there. The SA told me that someone bought them over the weekend. My reaction? Thank God! I didn't need another pair of high heels of questionable comfort level. But I didn't leave Zara empty handed. Got a pair of red skinnies and a top. I'm as predictable as the Israeli summer...

Brooklyn Inspiration

2012-01-20T09:40:00.002+02:00

First of all, I never acknowledged it, but I HAVE EIGHT FOLLOWERS!!!

I know, people have thousand(s) followers, big deal. But it's a big deal for me.

Thank you, ladies!

As to the title of my post, here is an explanation. I found a fashion blog called Brooklyn Blonde and I really like Helena's style. Of course, the only thing we have in common is the hair color and our Russian roots. She is half my age, twice as tall, half of my clothing size, I can go on. Browsing through Helena's photos I came upon this simple and elegant outfit. "Winter white" trousers, black turtleneck, black leather jacket, red purse. I saved it in my "inspiration" file and moved on.

About a week ago I wondered into H&M store and what did I see on the sale rack? Same or similar pants at a great price! Of course I snatched them. And I could finally wear them yesterday as it was sunny and nice. Here I am at the very same H&M store, sneaking a picture of myself. I had to do it sideways because the nook with the mirror is very small. But nobody could see me do it.

Ventured into Zara for a better shot.

This is an old sweater, I love it and I love the stars on it. Should have bought it in cream color too (it was available in my size). Oh well, the usual hindsight and regrets.

Halfway through my workday I looked outside - and it was raining! Luckily I remembered that some time ago I brought my old navy blue trousers to work, meaning to take them in for some repairs. So I came in to work in cream pants and left looking like this. Better have the rain and puddles water splash on dark blue fabric.

As I mentioned, I went into Zara to take a picture. And to check out the discount shoes shelf. And I found two pairs of shoes in my size. Took the pictures and then tried them on.
These lovely snake-toe-capped booties were not super comfortable, my foot slid forward a bit. I could try them on with an insert or half-insert next time I'm in the store. Plus I couldn't understand if they looked good on me with wide pants on. I'm planning to wear some skinnies on Monday and try them on again. That is, if they wait for me. Having a smaller size is a plus (I'm anything between 6 and 7). So I left these beauties on the shelf.

But these guys went home with me. Super comfortable, stylish, and I don't have this shade of brown in my shoe-closet. Isn't that a standard justification?

They are half-suede and shouldn't be worn in the rain. Oh well, I can wait. Weather permitting, I'll try to stretch the bootie-wearing season till April. Pretty please!

Kitty Cuteness

2012-01-19T09:30:00.002+02:00

For all of you cat lovers out there, doesn't this photo radiate warmth and cosiness?

This is Snooker's favorite sleeping spot. When the laptop is open he sleeps behind it. Now he's on it.

And now he is chewing on cables! Help!

Double Turtleneck

2012-01-19T09:15:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I wore my leopard trench. It's quite thin but I missed it and didn't care about the cold. It took some work to make it look presentable in my opinion. First of all, it had two rows of black buttons. Why? I removed the outer row and took the coat to a seamstress to lower the belt loops. They were placed too high for me. I was going to replace the black buttons with beige ones but couldn't find any. I will some day. But for now, I'm happy with my pretty coat.

Wore two sweaters under the coat. The outer sweater is angora, it shed pink fuzz all day, which landed on my blue jeans. It gave me something else to do at work...

I found this ring at Mango. It's a cat eating my finger. That's what I tell people when they ask what it is. I love it.

Took my head-shot in order to show you my double turtleneck (thank God, not a double chin).

Went to visit my friends at the Nine West shop. They are having 40% off all the shoes till the end of the week. I wanted to get a certain pair of boots but they didn't fit my calves! And they had an elastic insert! Shame on you, Nine West!!! Mind you, Nine West are better than some other companies. At least, they have elastic inserts.

This brings me up to date. Last working day of the week for me. What should I wear?

Stupid Week

2012-01-19T08:54:00.003+02:00

I'm having a hectic week for some reason. Meaning not accomplishing much and going to bed at 10:30 completely tired. Maybe I should call it a stupid week, I don't know. I missed the Golden Globes, thanks to all the bloggers who wrote about it and posted their fave photos, at least I'm more or less ready for Joan Rivers' analysis which should be broadcast here this weekend.

Tuesday was a cold day. I went with a simple turtleneck and wore a camisole under it for warmth. Tucked it into my "funny waist" pants (the leopard belt came with the pants). Big golden hoops and that was it. For now.

When my darling Paris cousin saw this furry Zara vest, she told me that everyone in Paris wears them over their jackets. So I decided to test-run the idea. Furry vest over leather jacket. Slightly slippery but oh so warm!

And of course, after a while bare black turtleneck started to feel too dark and boring to me. So I bought this necklace for about 7 bucks to brighten it up. A large chain like this one has been on my list for a while. I'm thinking to get this one and this one from HRH Collection, but not just yet (plus they are sold out on her site). This el-cheapo chain will have to do for now.

I took the earrings off.

A colleague gave me a ride home which was extremely fortunate. It was raining like crazy again. Who wants to be running around in the rain dressed like this?

Pardon the "hard face". I would never make the cut on America's Next Top Model. Or any country Top Model.

A close up of my Nine West booties. They are very comfortable (and I am picky).

It's too bad our winters are so short. Not enough time to wear all my fave winter boots and coats and things. Why did I ever leave Vancouver?

New Boots

2012-01-16T09:09:00.000+02:00

The weather is still cold, so I pulled out my winter coat found in my favorite consignment store. By the looks of the fabric it must be from the seventies (but I'm not an expert). It's slightly fuzzy and warm. Add a scarf and you're all set.

I was almost all black on the outside, but my dress was a rich teal color. I love to pair it with red(dish) lipstick. The lipstick color is much brighter in real life but dead fluorescent lighting washes it out.

No rain, so I could wear my new suede boots from Zara. These ones.

Just plain black boots, if looking straight on.

But much more interesting if you turn sideways.

Some lady asked me how could I spend all day in high heels. But these heels are not that high and the boots are extremely comfortable. The day I got them, I wore them out of the shop and straight to work, then walked to the bus stop where I stood waiting for good 20 minutes. And my feet were happy.

And now for something completely different.
Last Friday it was raining non-stop, but the dog still had to go out to do his business. So we improvised. Found an old plastic sheet (from when the Kid was a baby), tied two strings to it at the neck and the chest, and Boomer had a stylish raincoat. Plastic side up, terry-towel side down. Nice and warm.

It took Boomer some time to figure out how to "go" while wearing a raincoat, but being a smart dog he figured it out. Bonus - no wet dog on the couch!

It's Raining It's Pouring...

2012-01-13T09:56:00.000+02:00

After running in the rain with a plastic bag over my head I decided to prepare myself for the elements. I wore big bad boots, a leather jacket and took an umbrella to work. And it didn't rain.

But the boots were a big plus when I had to run and catch the bus in the evening. And I left the umbrella at the office for a rainy day.

I like the detail on the collar. It's a turtleneck but it's not tight.

Taking these photos I realized that I was wearing exactly the same outfit in Paris in 2008. Different boots and jacket, but underneath is the same sweater (take my word for it) and these same pants. Here I am with my cousin. And that is Sorbonne in the background. What a great trip it was!

Back in Israel, here I am on the bus. It's a 25 min ride, so I fiddled with my phone trying to take a decent picture of myself. This is my best take. The sunglasses are from Aldo, I really like their sunnies, inexpensive and good quality. I like to have lots of different frames and at that price point Aldo is a clear winner for me.

Wore my "goes-with-everything-gold" ring. It's a bit large, fits better in the summer when fingers are slightly fatter. Sometimes I move it to the middle finger when it gets too loose.

Bought this little gem yesterday from my friend's shop, a useful little thing. It's for shortening long necklaces and chains.

For example, take this long strand of pearls, hook the ring through both ends and clasp it. As my explanations are not that helpful, the photos should be more descriptive and useful.

I'm writing this post on Friday morning. It's pissing down outside, it's windy and cold. I just managed to walk Boomer and come home, made a cup of tea and the skies opened. All my plans to go grocery shopping are on hold, I'll just run over to the corner shop and buy what I need for the weekend.

It doesn't look that bad here but trust me, it's totally uninviting. Just like my mozzie net covered in raindrops.

My Kid got a new (for him) computer game - GTA San Andreas - so it's a computerless weekend for me, he won't let us near it after he comes back from school. By the way, if anyone has a good working copy of "Jurassic Park Tresspasser" and wants to get rid of it, please let me know :)

Worthy of a Pirate

2012-01-12T09:09:00.001+02:00

It was a pink and brown day yesterday. Felt nice, warm and cuddly all day. This dress is like pj's and the wide soft belt hides everything you'd like to hide (VPL for example).

I figured out that you can have your photos appear extra-large. Which, by the way, doesn't make them any less fuzzy.

No photos taken in shops today, I tried but nothing came out even vaguely right. So this is me after 11 hour work day and running to the bus in the rain. I didn't have an umbrella and had to improvise. Huge shopping bag was converted into a rain-hood-cover-up, the purse was safely packed in another plastic bag, the jewelry removed and hidden. My feet got a bit wet, no big deal.

By the way, my legs are OK, I'm just wearing patterned tights.

As to the title of this post, this was my jewelry today. The photo is upside down and I can't turn it around for some reason, but you can see the size of it! I love it, and the earrings too. I've been wearing them all last week.

By the way, this is my favorite neutral nail polish - Tickle my France-y by OPI.

The inscription on the ring is totally bogus, don't try to read it. After all it was only about 12 bucks at the artisan fair. That's why I had to hide it from the rain, it would probably just fall apart.

Last working day of the week for me! Yay!

I should dress a bit more sensibly today as the forecast is gloomy - rain, storm, wind, what else. I'm definitely taking an umbrella to work.

Colorblock

2012-01-10T20:03:00.002+02:00

Today it's all about the bag. My new chocolate beauty. It's the reason why I wore my colorblock dress and the suede brown coat. And the sunglasses fit the color scheme perfectly.

Taking my own picture while on a bus is not that difficult. My android has a "reverse camera" function. Here is the result of this morning "session".

But taking my own photos with the "normal" camera function is still a challenge. I want to be able to do it one-handed but it's not that easy.

If I hold the phone vertically I can touch the button with my thumb. Maybe I'll just do that from now on.

Wore my sleeveless dress with a black turtleneck underneath. Not a bad idea. When I bought the dress I couldn't decide which size to get. In the end I went with size 3 and I'm glad I did. I wouldn't be able to wear size 2 with the sweater.

Here is the dress without the coat on.

I got this bag in the Max Moretti shop. They sell shoes, bags and accessories. The leather is so smooth and soft I could just hug this bag all day. It's made in India which is a plus for me, I've had great leather bags made in India before.

Tomorrow I'll be carrying this bag as well, so expect to see more warm colors.

Purple Day

2012-01-09T10:08:00.001+02:00

I got this purple trench last year and I love it, trying to wear it as often as possible. So last Friday I got an unexpected bonus. I found a matching dress in my friend's shop. I've never matched a dress to a coat before but why not?

For some reason, most of my photos are crooked. I'll have to work on that.

The first one was taken in H&M store.

And in Zara of course. See the red price tags? The end of season sales are going strong.

A glimpse of the dress without the coat.

And here I am, ready to face the elements. It's been cold here lately (cold for us that is), so button up and wrap yourselves in a scarf.

My messy closet. But at least nobody walked in on me, even the cat.

I like that the dress is rushed a bit in the front.

Here is a slightly better view.

Last year I found this little gem in a consignment store next town over. It's a vintage Ferragamo.

It's from this store (for those who can read it...)

So yesterday I took six purses over there for consignment and found this bag. I don't know whether it's vintage or not, leather or not (probably not). It says "Beauty Made in Italy" on the inside tag. The purse is in a pretty good condition, I had to clean and polish it a bit, that's all. Now I have a perfect cream colored bag for all my summer dresses. Perfect.

Came home from work and everything was tranquil and nice, the animals were well-behaved for a change.

And to all a good night!

Golden Pants

2012-01-06T15:51:00.000+02:00

Going for a monochromatic look and it was fun. These are the golden pants I was talking about, they are quite tight. I never used to wear skinny or skinny-ish pants before. Then I got used to the idea and now I like how I look in them (which doesn't always photograph very nicely but what the hell).

I figured I had the right to take pictures in the Zara store today because I was wearing their boots and scarf. Plus that corner I sneak into is usually quiet and the women are busy looking at the clothes, not at me.

The low-hanging mirror requires a certain degree of acrobatics with the camera.

On my way out I was waiting for the elevator and saw my reflection in the glass door. I looked so very slim and mysterious that I just had to capture it.

Pardon the construction debris, the mall has been under renovations for the last year, they expanded their retail space adding H&M and Payless (to which I already gave my money a couple of times and lots of other shops (that I haven't visited yet).

Mustard Gold

2012-01-05T09:05:00.000+02:00

This was definitely the color of the season. I was looking for mustard color pants but all I found were the golden ones and they will appear in the next post. But in the meantime here is my mustard top with some dark blue skinnies.

Please pardon the pink croc-slippers, they are hideous but oh so comfortable and they don't fall off your feet when you're going up the stairs. They never go out of the house of course!

Goofy face as I was trying to take a picture one-handed. This android camera is not very convenient for that. Good thing my nails are short or I'd be screwed.

Now, which shop is that? Looks like Zara.
One can learn a lot from fashion blogs. For example, the partial tuck or half-tuck. I'd have never thought of even trying it if I didn't see it on blogs. And now I do that all the time.

My black trench that I bought one size too big and it bothered me. This year I finally caved in and had it taken in at the waist. Looks totally different now, has much more flair (and it flares out at the bottom).

Wishing everybody a nice warm cosy weekend!

Two Day Delay

2012-01-05T08:37:00.001+02:00

For me this week passed really quickly. I took these pictures on Tuesday and only posting them on Thursday after two day delay. Tuesday was all about the accessories. My Nine West loafers and clutch and H&M fuchsia scarf that I just couldn't pass. It grabbed me as I walked by.

It is much pinkier in real life and it has perfume bottles all over it.

Here I am in the Nine West store, sneaking a photo while the SA is in the storage room. I don't tell people about my blog just because I'm not the best and the most consistent blogger in the world, so I hide and pretend to intensely look at my phone while clicking away.

Same thing in Zara. That's a nice blazer behind me, I have to go back and try it on.

Elevator shots are still doable. I never realized that my Android cover would clash so much with all my photos. But there is a reason why I have such a loud cover on it. Three people at the office own the exactly same model of Samsung Galaxy, the phones are identical, and after my phone almost went to someone else's home I bought this leopard-camouflage thing.

My tree is still up. Snooker and Boomer regularly have a go at it, ripping sparkly bits off and spreading them around the house. I'll take it down in a week after traditional Russian Old New Year (has to do with changing calendars in the beginning of last century). It's on the 13th of January.

By the way, tomorrow is Orthodox Christmas. We never celebrated it in Russia but nowadays it's all over their TV channels. So Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

Happy 2012!!!

2012-01-02T22:43:00.005+02:00

Hello world!

I've been introducing myself in comments as "Tanya, the failed blogger". And it's true. I feel relieved having found a definition of what I've been doing - failing at blogging, and miserably at that. In my defence I can only say that it's been quite a horrible year. I'm not going into details, it's a happy occasion to be back after all.

I hope and I wish you all a great 2012! Let it be better than 2011! Please!

But let me share with you those good and positive things that happened to me. In this post I'll show you what was good for my soul.

Am I going to be a better blogger this time? Who knows. Maybe I should change the name of the blog from Yeoldesocks to Average Life All Around. Or something to that effect.

We'll see!

Sergeant Stripes

2011-05-14T23:45:00.001+03:00

No, I'm not the most consistent blogger in the blogosphere...

Another month has gone by and I haven't posted anything. Of course, I could blame it on "The Wire" that is finally done and I've had about a week to recover, clean the house like it should be cleaned, order a new fridge, order a new computer...

My war with the fridge is finally over. It was supposed to be a No Frost experience. Instead for the last 3 - 4 years I had to defrost it every 6 months, then every 3 months, then every month. It sucked, people! So last Friday I broke down and paid for a spanking new Sharp fridge with 7 year-warranty on the motor. Delivery is scheduled for the coming Wednesday. So what did my old fridge do? It got pissed off and stopped working. Good thing my parents live downstairs and I just moved all my food to their fridge.

Can't wait for Wednesday!

I leave you with my stripey outfit I wore sometime this month.
I got a lot of compliments on the scarf from our elderly customers.

It was one of those non-elegant days.

Three Ways Inspiration

2011-05-14T23:40:00.004+03:00

The Blogger hiccup kicked me out of circulation for another 4 days of so. Of course, my posts are short and simple, and there's not much material there to retype. But when you spend hours on end working on your computer, once you finished work the last thing you want to do is spend more time on the annoying slow ancient PC (it's about 6 years old, a real pensioner).

So here is my last Thursday thing. Inspired by InStyle magazine. It's from their "Three Ways" feature. I opened the mag and immediately thought: Cool, I already have this tunic! No need to spend extra.

Here is what they wrote about Look # 1: White skinny jeans make a lean counterpoint. Ground the look with earth-toned accessories, such as a beaded necklace and woven sandals.

I don't own any woven sandals but brownish flats seemed like a good choice, especially because I had to do some running around that day.

So here is my version:

I got this top last spring for peanuts (about 16 bucks). I would never think to pair it with white. Thank you, InStyle, for the idea.

I got this bracelet at the artisan fair (I hope that's what you call it) at the shopping mall where I work. Every Tuesday I have to close my eyes as I ran to the car. Temptations on every corner.

Diagonal elevator shot to show off my new haircut. It's a bit fuzzy from the humidity as I just walked in from the heat. I find that Frizz-Ease works the best for my hair but have you seen the price of it lately? I mean, in Israel? It's NIS 99 (like 26 USD!!!) I remember the drugstore product prices in Canada and feel like weeping.

Next on my list is something yellow. Maybe I'll start with a bright sunny scarf, I don't know.

Thanks, Blogger!

2011-05-13T21:43:00.001+03:00

I wrote a new post last night. Nothing overly special, but I put some effort into it. You know.

AND THE BLOGGER ATE IT!!!!!

And I can't redo it now because I have to work!

UGH!

My Lady Dragons

2011-05-08T22:21:00.005+03:00

Funny, I wanted to name this post "Great minds think alike" but this title was already taken by WendyB for her Sunday blog post. But Wendy was talking about vintage checkered sunglasses. And I would like to talk about something completely different, that is Vivienne Westwood Anglomania + Melissa Hart Lady Dragon shoes. And I didn't just steal the idea from Pearl who wrote about the very same shoes in her Saturday post. Because this is what I bought and wore last Thursday.

Look, I'm a proud owner of the Lady Dragons in black!

I saw them in a shop called Factory 54 which carries all kinds of stuff, designer "leftovers" so to speak, at slightly reduced prices among other things. I saw the shoes, I thought about them for about a week, and then decided that I had to have them.

So Thursday, when I start work at 12:00, I stopped at the shop on the way to the office. The shoes were still there, I tried them on, bought them and changed in the car (couldn't walk out of the shop in them as I had to take off all kinds of stickers first).

I knew I was going to buy them, so I built my outfit to match the future shoes. And it worked I think.

Of course, nothing is perfect, and the shoes are a tad too big, maybe half a size or so. But I can work with that.

They have little bows as you can see. And such a comfortable heel. Though I might have to play around with clear inserts just to make them fit a bit better (so my foot sits farther back). Or not.

The sitting on the table shot, as usual. Here you can see my turquoise necklace, a birthday gift from BFF.

One more pic of the shoes. Swoon! They'll go with so many things!

And some eye-candy saved for last. It's my birthday Tignanello purse. It's less pink and more fuchsia in real life, like in the first picture.

See how little we need to be happy! At least for a day.

Total Rip Off

2011-05-03T08:35:00.004+03:00

Lots of fashion bloggers write about getting inspired by fashion mags and other bloggers. I wrote about it too and tried to recreate the outfits I liked the best. Other times I see something I liked, say pair of shoes, and go to ebay in hopes of buying exactly same thing. It happened a couple of times. But here I'd like to present "and now for something completely different" case. Which is what you do while suffering from total lack of imagination.

A sale in the shop also helps.

Here is a page from the "Jump" catalog.
Interesting skirt, lightweight flowy blouse.
So what's a girl to do?

Easy! Just buy both items on sale (two for the price of one) and wear them together!

My blouse has white buttons which I prefer. And it required a camisole underneath, which I already had. Throw in some heels and you're done.

Pearls seemed to be the obvious jewelry choice for this outfit. Oh so breezy and light!

Goofy face included.

These are my extreme pointy shoes from some years ago. The color matched the skirt, and they are super comfortable.

I got this shirt from the same catalog. But the model is wearing it with tight white shorts. So I'll have to think of something else to wear.

Do you ever copy shopping catalogs in full?

Colt .45

2011-04-20T14:11:00.003+03:00

Hi everybody. Another year passed and I've changed the caliber. From .44 Magnum to Colt .45

Yes, I've turned 45 and it's hard to believe... Or not so hard. They say that you are as old as you feel. In that case I'm about 30 - 35 maybe. I'm not going to break into deep philosophical thought, who needs it? Instead I'll show you the dress I got from the lovely Pearl of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom and ShopStreetStyle. Remember I told you about the leopard print vintage dress? Well, it arrived and just in time for my birthday.

Of course, I was going to wear it somewhere nice and take brilliant pictures and post about it. But my workload is still crazy, so if I don't do it now, who knows when it's going to happen! I took the unglamorous photos in my cluttered walk-in closet, lighting is poor, facial expressions are slightly off, but the dress is gorgeous and it fits perfectly!

I wore my brown shoes - the safest choice. Pearl styled it with red shoes which would be a great option for going out. I still have to experiment and I will.

It's a wrap dress, so it can be easily adjusted for the best fit. I know now that UK size 14 is size 12 American - a useful bit of info for future online shopping.

Boy, am I glad this picture is so fuzzy! What's going on with my lips?

I'm trying WendyB's pose again.

And sucking in my stomach while I'm at it.

Here is a desperate attempt to find a more pleasant backdrop which would be my lemon tree. But the tree is slightly worn out after the winter and the balcony wall needs paint, and the dog looks kinda bored. Oh well, I tried.

Other than the dress I got lots of skincare, a couple of nice chiffon tunics and a pink Tignanello purse that I'll have to show off on this blog. Birthdays are fun!

What To Do On A Weekend

2011-04-06T20:00:00.005+03:00

So I just returned to my blog again after a long break and what? More translation work came my way. Second season of "The Wire" landed on my head like a ton of bricks. This time the deadlines were unreal so I shared the load with another translator. Four more episodes to go. In the meantime, I wanted to post these since last Saturday which turned out to be a Caturday because we went to a cat show in Ashdod. Nothing huge, just a gym full of interesting looking creatures. The quality of the photos is not that great, mostly because you couldn't just stick you head into the cages to get a clearer shot. I loved this little beauty in her giraffe print bed. Most of the cats were sleeping or almost asleep. This one had it's eyes open just long enough.

I have no idea what breeds they were. I just wanted to see some kitties.

(This is not my finger. I had pink not chipped nail polish on my nails!)

There you go. A sleeper.

This guy was huge. He looked like a guy to me, but I might be wrong.

Serious dude.

I believe this one is a sphynx. Very active and not sleepy at all. Look at all the prizes!!!

And back to snoozing again.

The best looking cat in the country waited for his present at home. Snooker loved his new toy that I bought at the show. He loved it so much that I haven't been able to find it for a couple of days now. He stashed it somewhere. Probably at the same place where he hid the cover from the TV remote battery compartment. It's a very secret place.

And this is what I was wearing that day. I bought the pants for several reasons. Last month's InStyle, Sheila's blog (from her leopard week) and WendyB's "bloggers caught red-legged" saga. So I've joined the club. It's the second wearing of the tomato legs. I'm still working on what to wear on the top, which shoes, to cuff or not to cuff etc.

I'm trying Wendy's trademark pose in flat shoes.

Have You Met Pearl?

2011-03-24T16:14:00.003+02:00

I'm talking about a gorgeous fashion blogger Pearl of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom.

I read her blog every day.

Pearl is a real expert and not just in fashion but vintage fashion as well. You should pop over there and see

her amazing collection of dresses and shoes (and bags and...)

But this is not the only reason to visit Pearl's blog. She has opened an "online vintage shop with a blog style twist" and here is the link

http://www.shopstreetstyle.com/

I opened the page, read the insightful post, scrolled down to her collection and immediately found a gem. Don't try to buy the leopard wrap dress, it's mine!!!

And an added bonus is - Pearl has announced a fab giveaway - a £20 gift voucher for her vintage shop.

It's worth signing up for Twitter and Facebook just for this.

Another Two Months...

2011-03-23T11:48:00.003+02:00

About two months have passed since my last post, that is. I was so busy with work and other things in my life that I just thought "short break will do me good". And now, here we are, it's end of March already.

Spring is very short in Israel. Pretty soon we'll be wearing summer clothes and complain about the heat. And there's nothing I can do about it. One nice thing about the Spring is that we get to see this beauty, and it's just 20 minutes walk from the house. Almond trees in bloom.

Look!

Rows and rows of pinkish white clouds.

Flowers are so pretty.

I just missed a bee in this one.

Kid found a caterpillar and put it on a tree... Lunch!

Boomer enjoying a day out in the sun.

You can see the first green leaves coming out.

It was a beautiful day, but very-very windy. Good thing husband came with the car to pick us up. We felt as if the wind tried to blow us off the road!

I took these pictures couple of weeks ago. Now all the flowers are gone and there are almonds in their place, still soft and fuzzy.

Just now, when I'm typing this "I'm back" post, I got a message that I'm getting more work coming this way. It's great but the deadlines are crazy. Will negotiate. Wish me luck.

Another Purple Day

2011-01-25T16:01:00.003+02:00

In the yesterday's post I wrote about blogs inspiration. I posted some pictures of my purple shoes... which inspired today's outfit. Mind you, I just wore the same purple dress. And purple trench. And the amethyst ring.

I got this trench couple of weeks ago and it's my third time wearing it. It was 70% off which was more than nice. It's quite thin even for Israeli winter, but the day was warm and sunny. This is my morning shot in the elevator, they finally reinstalled the mirror, thank you very much.

After work I went to Zara to check out their end of season stuff. I tried on a dress but didn't buy it. Instead I tried to take my photos which was a bit awkward. This is me trying to look nonchalant. Oh, I'm just checking my messages!

Then the corner cleared up and I took this one. Check out the party dresses on the left! I touched the fabric - they are so stiff they could probably walk on their own!

At work it's the usual mess. Our server gave up the ghost, it's in the lab since yesterday, and we couldn't open the programs we work on. No access to the customers files, no necessary forms, nothing. So all the stuff had to be done manually which means we'll have to key it in later. And the pile is growing... So it was a stupid day. But it's over now, at least for me, and I don't have to go back till Thursday noon.

Tomorrow I'll be working at home, translating a cool police show. It has a great opening song by the Blind Boys of Alabama. I even downloaded it on my cell as a ringtone. I especially like the words "you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole". Everyone has their own devil that has to be kept in the hole. Good luck to us all with that.

I Got an Award!!!

2011-01-24T16:16:00.012+02:00

Stylish Lotus from Red Phoenix Emporium nominated me for an award!!
Thank you so much, Lotus.

I'm supposed to tell you 7 things about me. Let's see...

1. I'm a shopaholic and I'm constantly trying to kick the habit. It doesn't help that my office happens to be located at the shopping mall. It takes me ages to get to the car after work. Right now hubby's been out of work for a long time and money's tight. So I close my eyes and run for it... Remember that movie "Confessions of a shopaholic"? It made me want to shop like crazy.

2. I used to smoke but I quit. Apparently it was much easier to quit smoking than buying stuff.

3. I love animal prints! I have 3 pairs of shoes and 2 pairs of boots - leopard, snake you name it. And a bag. When I heard that leopard print was "the new black" I was happy. Look, that's what I'm wearing today!

4. I love winter and really dislike summer. It used to be the other way around, but living in Israel killed the summers for me. Give me boots, jackets, trench coats any day. Summer here lasts pretty much 9 months. Funny, in Russia I dreamt of moving to the warmer climate, live by the sea, enjoy the weather. Now I live 20 min away from the sea (by car) and I go maybe twice a year.

Here is a photo of a boot. I wore them yesterday with fishnets. It's been ages since I wore fishnets!

5. I traveled quite a bit and lived all over the globe (I call it living even if it's for a couple of months. You have your routine, your habits, your hangouts - local way of life). Which city would I pick?

Paris is my favourite. I grew up in Saint Petersburg, Russia and Paris reminded me of my hometown. Only much better. Runner up - Berlin. And Vancouver BC just because it's so beautiful.

This is moi in Paris in 2008. Photographed by my lovely cousin. Love all that hustle and bustle (and the pic is taken on a Sunday!)

6. I'm very easily influenced by other people fashionwise. Bloggers' world has been a huge inspiration for me. I look at your photos and suddenly it hits me - I have this! I can wear it like that! Or the worst case scenario - I see something in a shop that reminds me of a blogger's outfit and... See number 1.

Best example - these shoes by Carlos Santana.

I saw them on BudgetChic blog and just had to have them!!! It was probably 2 years ago or more. I wore them once to a wedding. OK, they were 25 bucks plus shipping (ebay). Cost per wear? Astronomical. Still love them though. Mmmmm, purple!
Another photo from that wedding outfit, just to see the color.

7. I love my TV. What are my faves at the moment? The Mentalist, Castle, White Collar (waiting for 2nd season here), True Blood, Supernatural. I used to watch CSI a lot but then we changed the cable company and I lost it. I also watch Covert Affairs, Lie to Me, Closer. I loved Dexter.

My second job is directly connected to the TV shows. I translate films and series from English to Russian, working mostly with subtitles now. I watched and translated so many of the crime shows. The other day we watched "Law Abiding Citizen" and I could predict almost everything that happened in the movie.

I would do translations only if they paid better. This job is the best for me. You work from home, no phones, no clients, just deadlines that I can almost always handle. I think this job gives me a lot and teaches me lots of things. You can't have it all I guess.

Well, these are my "secrets". Thanks for listening.

2011-01-19T08:40:00.002+02:00

Time is really flying! I decided to take some time off for the holidays and it seems to have expanded.
New Year's was fun especially as it happened on the weekend. We had a quiet celebration at home, my aunt and uncle came over, some food, some champagne - and 12:30 I was in bed!
Here is my dress. I bought it for the last New Year's but got sick and ended up wearing something comfy and snuggly. This year I gave it a go. It's a perfect length and the sleeves are it's special feature. They are a bit wide to be doing anything useful in the kitchen, for example. But otherwise the dress is flattering and I think even this photo confirms it. Of course it would look better with heels but who wears heels in their own home? Especially if you keep running up and down the stairs.

This year we didn't go nuts with gifts, but I did receive something nice and even wore it to work for my 11-hour day. Guess what it is!

The UGG-like boots! Yes, I committed the ultimate crime of wearing them in the first place and for wearing them to work... But they are so warm and fuzzy!

The best thing about them is their price. Get ready... 50 shekels!!! It's about 13 bucks. I wear them in "the village" shopping or walking the dog. I wear them at home as slippers. My feet are happy and toasty. Thank you, Chinese people, for making this possible!

It's been a while since I posted my "Cat of the day" photo. Today it's a small series of pictures. First of all, let me show you the drinking rules of the house. Of course, dog and cat have their respective water bowls. But one of them decided to change the rules.

Look, this is how it's supposed to be.

Now, what's wrong with this picture?

Oh well, at least they have the same germs now.

Here is Snooker the Great.

Remarkable athlete and a basketball star wannabe.

With X-ray vision.

He must have eaten a Christmas light or two that day.

How Was Your Christmas?

2010-12-27T08:56:00.003+02:00

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful time.

We had our own little celebration at home. The Kid "ordered" Christmas dinner - roast chicken and rice. He is lucky, he gets presents twice - for Christmas and for New Year's. He is always waiting for the holidays with great anticipation. Too bad Christmas day and January 1st are normal working days. This year holidays are on the weekends which is an added bonus.

My pre-Christmas week was not what I expected. I was going to go shopping, prepare all kinds of tasty treats, blah-blah-blah. Didn't happen. My work mate's son got really sick, pneumonia and some stomach virus. So she didn't come to work all week. Guess who had to work for two! Eight till seven 3 days in a row and then 2 normal days till five. Non-stop phone calls, customer service, paperwork, nightmare.

Anyway, her kid is fine now, and we're back to normal. But now my husband lost his job. Good thing this year is almost over and I'll drink copious amounts on the 31st just to say "good riddance".

I'm posting 2 outfits just to brighten up this post.

This one is from last Thursday. Turquoise jumper and some pearls to mark the end of the working week.

The jumper has puffy shoulders and small buttons running down the sleeves.

And this is what I wore yesterday. Not as colorful but with stripes. I've had this Zara dress for a couple of years. Wore a trench over it outside and a work shirt indoors.

Close up of my stripey scarf and a coral "stick" necklace.

Here's dreaming about better life :)

Christmas Less Than a Week Away

2010-12-18T18:22:00.005+02:00

This year holidays snuck up on me. I've been working a bit more than usual and suddenly realized that I haven't completed my Christmas shopping! Oh horror!

At least we decorated the house (finally). I didn't put up the tree before as I was afraid that someone white and fuzzy could kill it before the official festivities. There he is, pretending to be asleep. Part of the decor.

Because of Snooker the bottom of the tree is pretty bare. Why can't he be as well behaved as the Dog?

My tree-topper, Santa's head. A gift from a dear friend in Canada. Thank you, Val!

Some more special ornaments. The angel.

And Santa with reindeer on a hot-air balloon.

The stairs to the office and the bedroom. I bought this thing (what is it? A garland?) for my Kid's very first Christmas, he was 6 months old. So the garland is 11 years old and still looks good.

As we don't have a fireplace, this is the next best place for Christmas stocking. In the meantime it's stuffed with paper, but it's going to change next weekend.

This house is also gift from Husband's friend in Canada. Thank you, Dave! He made it himself. WeI brought it to Israel and enjoy it every year.

Here is Snooker again. I couldn't help it, he looks so cute. Especially in this setting.

Around this time of year I especially miss Canada. I loved all the Christmas craze, the music at the malls, the mad rush of the Boxing day sales. Oh well, at least I have my own little Christmas in this country.

Staying Pointy

2010-12-16T09:50:00.005+02:00

In my previous post I mentioned pointy and round-toe boots. So to prove my point (ha-ha) I wore these booties the very next day. They are really pointy. The heel is not too high, so I could walk to the bus in them after 6 hour day (mind you, mostly sitting at the desk).

The rhinestone thingy is shiny and pretty, too bad it's always hiding under pants.

The total look was black and dark grey. Straight pants, simple turtleneck, grey jacket that flairs out a bit on the bottom.

I felt really slim and elegant. Heels helped of course.

That day I painted my lips with bright red lipstick. It's Christian Dior "Celebrity red". Nice name for it. It's really strong and glossy, I love it but don't use it too often. I'm more used to dark pinks (like Chanel "Mademoiselle") or corals (MAC Cindy). Or beige. Or something. But not red. So this was a brave day for me.

This is my necklace. It's actually kind of a rope, you just wrap it around your neck like a scarf.

This is what it looks like. I like it, the only drawback is that it catches individual hairs and pulls them. Putting it over a turtleneck helped a bit.

So you might have noticed that I've started taking the bus to work. Hubby got a new job and needs the car now. It's not so bad when I work in Rehovot, but if I have to go to Ashdod office, the bus ride is 45 min one way. I have to take something with me to munch on because I get car-sick, I usually take a banana, it has the most lasting positive effect (i.e. no queasy feeling). But now I get to walk around a bit more. With the car you just drive to your building, park it and you're done. This way I get to see the people and "air myself out" so to speak. Which is nice. I might even break out my leather gloves for the evening bus-wait, and I haven't worn gloves in 10 years! Yeah for gloves!

Is It Camel?

2010-12-15T12:05:00.003+02:00

On Tuesday there was no chance to go into the kiddie room and take my own pictures. So I went back to Zara and snapped a couple.

Tuesday was "camel day" to celebrate the head-to-toe camel trend. This is the best I could do, meaning blue jeans and pewter boots. Actually I bought this sweater under the influence of internet - someone posted a Chloe's all beige ensemble on her blog. Result - money spent. I'm so easily manipulated.

Beige sweater with brown suede - what is it? A trench? I'll call it a trench. It has a great leopard lining but it doesn't show... Next time.

See my bag? It's almost the same shape as LV Speedy and judging by the photos I saw, it doesn't keep it's shape just as Speedy doesn't...

This is me posing at home. Sideways, to look slimmer. I think it worked.

The sweater has some "ropes" attached to it. Not a good idea to get hooked on something while wearing it.

Looking at my winter shoes and boots I realized that almost all of them are pointy-toed. Two pairs of my boots are round-toed and this is one of them.

But I'm not about to run to the stores and overload my credit cards. I'm going to wear pointy-toes as if nothing happened! Maybe I didn't get the memo. Did you?

Storm, Day Three

2010-12-13T18:24:00.002+02:00

Just a quick post to catch up. Today I wore my "stormboots", they were a bit more useful in the rainy stormy weather. Added black leggings and a long sweater-tunic and I was set.

I love the color of this sweater, it makes me look brighter somehow, my eyes become more blue than grey. Of course nobody can see my eyes in this dumbass photo. But you can see my kabbalah rings!

I've been at this office since 8 am and it's almost 7 pm. Exhausted is the word!

Here they are, my heavy duty boots. They make it so easy to run for the bus at the end of the day.

Seriously, people got knocked down by this wind yesterday! A woman was practically thrown onto the road and got hit by a car because of it. I'm glad it's over.

Flower Pants

2010-12-13T17:25:00.002+02:00

There is something seriously wrong with the weather this year. First we had the hottest summer in God knows how long. Then the hottest driest autumn ever. Then we had the fire. And now the storm. It started Saturday and is supposed to finish today. Maybe it's over, I don't know, I'm still at the office. Anyway, Saturday was just windy and dusty. All the windows were closed but you got dust and sand in the house anyway. On Sunday it was super windy and sometimes rainy. After the rain my umbrella had dusty streaks on it. And today it was just pouring rain all day. The wind in Ashdod (closest to us seaside city) reached the speed of 120 km/h. Some people got hurt.

This is what I wore on Sunday. Gray and pink, classic combination. Only there is nothing classic about these jeans. But I like them anyway.

Looking at the photos I'm thinking that the top should have been a little longer. I'll try it next time.

This was my jacket. Now I have to clean it from dust.

And the best footwear to run away from the rain. I sure know how to pick them.

To complement the color scheme I grabbed my pink umbrella with black trim and black and pink paper shopping bag for stuff I had to carry. One thing for sure - in the gloomy weather I wouldn't get hit by a car - you could see me miles away.

What to wear

2010-12-11T20:48:00.003+02:00

This week I worked every day. I'm sure it sounds crazy to most of the folks out there, because they do work every day. But I used to work just two days a week, then three. Last month I managed to add another half a day (about 5 hours) to my schedule. And now my last day at home is gone. It's temporary, until one of the colleagues comes back from sick leave. I don't mind the addition to the paycheck but...

Anyway, this is what I wore on Tuesday, my newly added 5-hour day. Horizontal stripes! I didn't have the opportunity to take some pictures at work, so did it at home after I came back.

Mmm, fuzzy picture. But you can see my pearls a bit better. And slightly puffy sleeves.

This is the best dress length for me, I think. Just down to the knees.

And the next day I went blue and yellow. Or indigo and mustard.

The jeans have gold stitching that matches perfectly the color of the sweater. Isn't it something? My comfy heeled mules made it easy to walk from and to the bus.

Another shot of yellow and golden stitching.

And a splash of purple. I saw this combination in the catalog of the shop I bought the sweater and the jeans from. The girl on the poster had a purple scarf around her neck. I couldn't find a "stand-alone" photo to post here, but this is my take. I found this scarf at a second-hand store. Bonus - it has little yellow flowers. Too matchy? Maybe. Especially with the amethyst ring.

This week is supposed to be cold. Forgive me, people from countries with real winter. I wasn't mocking you, I promise! For Israel plus 5 centigrade is almost freezing temp. So what will I wear? We'll see.

Hobo Boots

2010-12-07T19:04:00.014+02:00

I went outside of my comfort zone and bought myself some new boots. I think this is what the internet calls "homeless chic". They look like I've had them for about 20 years, trudging through the mud and running after freight trains... You know.

The biggest plus was their price. They are not leather, so they were cheap as chips. I had my doubts, that is sweaty feet and stuff. But I've worn them 3 times already and they are perfect. Comfortable and not sweaty at all, I wore them for my 11-hour work day and was happy as a bug.

This week the weather finally turned wintery and we had our first rain. So what happened? I wasn't ready. I have nice jackets, a beautiful new Zara trench, some stylish pieces that I could wear. So what did I wear? This old thing purchased in Vancouver 15 years ago. It's light as a feather and wrinkly to begin with, so you can roll it up and stick it in the bag if you have to (I didn't have to, it was cold).

Here is one outfit with the aforementioned boots. With the cardigan.

And without the cardigan.

And now for a bit of humor. Went to a department store the other day and found these T-shirts. Looked closely and saw something interesting.

Had to look again. No mistake there.

And then found another one.

Nice, eh?

But here something really nice I saw in a magazine called Mama-Info. Sweet sweet babies.

Doesn't it make you feel all warm and squishy inside?

Fire

2010-12-03T19:48:00.007+02:00

You've probably heard on the news of the national disaster in Israel, the fire on mount Carmel and around it. Our "Little Switzerland", beautiful forests are gone, perished in the fire. Huge nature reserve, artists' villages among other things you can or rather could find in the area. The fire keeps spreading in spite of all the effort. More than 40 people dead.

I'm grateful to the international community, all the countries that sent people, equipment, materials to help us out.

Please pray for us.

Photos from the sites: www.haaretz.co.il, www.ynet.co.il, www.walla.co.il

Childhood Obsessions

2010-12-01T22:16:00.004+02:00

A week passed by and I didn't post. I took these photos last Thursday and Friday. But I had to work on Friday which I usually don't, and it took all the wind out of my sails. Saturday was spent doing nothing except a bit of clean up and watching "Angels and Demons" which I liked. Surprise! I didn't like "Da Vinci Code" that much.

This is what I wore last Thursday. Forgive the lip biting on the photo, I was concentrating on positioning the camera, sucking in my stomach and all that stuff.

My skinny-ish jeans, a plain white wife-beater, floral jacket and red suede wedges. Rings and blue topaz earrings (too delicate to be seen).

Here, my mouth is relaxed. And so is the stomach.

I like the 3/4 sleeves and the flower pattern of the jacket. It's light enough for the weather.

Close-up of the fabric. Goes well with jeans, don't you think?

Couple of shots from Friday. I was going for the monochromatic look... First thing I did in the early morning - spilled some chocolate pudding on the scarf and pants. Washed the scarf with dishwashing liquid right away, rubbed the stain on the pants with alcohol (which left an even larger stain all around the chocolate stain...)

Wore my Aldo giraffe print pumps. They became comfortable after thorough 24-hour stretching session at the cobbler's.

After work on Friday I popped into the Nine West shop (should stop doing that, really) and bought myself a treat. Donley suede military inspired lace up booties. Blah-blah-blah, they offered a 200 NIS discount. Discounts like that are not to be ignored. I realize that when you convert it to USD you only get about 50 bucks or maybe 54 depending on exchange rate. But here you can feed your family for almost a week on that money (provided that they don't eat much of course). Anyway, it's all excuses, but the booties are super comfortable, I wore them to work the other day, took a bus there and back, walked from the bus and back on uneven pavement - and I lived to tell the world about it. Now if only I could find a decent picture of the booties! Never mind, I'll take one myself.

But the title of this post is not shoes, it's Childhood Obsessions. Let me introduce you to one of my little obsessions. Ever since I was about 10 I loved... pens. I could walk into a stationery shop and stand by the pens display for hours. I would also change my handwriting from time to time, copying my friends styles.

I stopped experimenting with the handwriting years ago, but I still love my pens. Here is one of them, a purple Monteverde. Behold the magnificence (is this a Faux Fuchsia-ism? I think so. Credit!)

Isn't it pretty? Nice and fat and heavy. I drag it to work with me and cringe if someone borrows it even for a second. Yes, I'm greedy like that.

Another fave of mine is this Swarovski pen. I bought it at the airport one night, while picking up my friend. You can't take me anywhere (and leave me alone for a minute). Out of all the things the Swarovski stand had to offer I chose a pen.

But of course! It has crystals inside! And I found the replacement refills for it here! Mini-Cross refills. Got ya!

While lots of people use PDAs and all kinds of other techno-gizmos to write down their appointments, I prefer the good old pen and paper. Here is my organizer or diary. My husband calls it my brain. I think he might be right. So does it mean that I have a pretty brain? With roses and stuff?

Trust me, I don't have roses on my brain. I have... shoes! That's right!

Pink Rock

2010-11-25T08:28:00.012+02:00

Oh boy! I can finally wear my jackets! I started this past Monday. I decided that if winter doesn't want to arrive I'm going to coax it by way of dressing winterly. Does that make sense? I think it does, as evenings got much colder and I even pulled the winter blankets out of the storage. I left them frying in the sun on the balcony...

This is my gray suit jacket. It had a skirt partner but it was too short and didn't fit right, so it went into the donation bin. I'd love to replace the buttons but don't know exactly what buttons I'd like. Until I see something suitable.

Gray goes well with pink, so I grabbed my huge pink rock necklace. Luckily it's not as heavy as it seems. The pink rock demanded dark background, so I wore my v-neck t-shirt backwards. The jacket stayed on all day and nobody noticed.

Looks like I'm the only one who ever cleans this silly mirror! Come on people!

Got me a new nail polish. Orly "pixie dust". Weird color and weird formula. But I like it. It's exactly the same color as my faded "home" jeans. But it also matched the jacket. I should give Orly a try, I washed dishes several time and the polish stays on!

It looks more blue in this photo than in real life.

I used to have blue nail polish years ago (in my thirties when the trend first hit the malls). Who knew it would be back!

Comfy loafers for an 11-hour working day.

I matched them to the bag. This bag is older than my Kid. Some 8 years ago I got tired of it and gave it to my Mom. Last year she got tired of it and returned the bag to me.

I took this picture yesterday in the elevator. Imagine my surprize when I came to work today, entered the elevator and what! The mirror is gone.

Shoes and the bag together. Not a 100% match but close enough.

And now for the jewelry. My pink rock (trying to ignore the weird brown buttons).

Why does the silver look like gold in this picture? And the rock looks red. Must be the lighting, duh.

My vintage ring. Is a ring from the 80-s considered vintage? It's alexandrite, it changes color. It's greenish in the natural light and purple in electric. Sometimes it's in between. I love it. My parents gave it to me when I was in school. That was so long ago.

This ring is not vintage. And the crystals are not exactly these colors. They are champagne and pink. Damn lighting again. I wear it on my index finger inspired by the November InStyle issue, they had a lot of rocks in there. Including a Wendy Brandes ring.

This ring is smaller than Wendy's Clemence ring and it's silver, but the idea is there somewhere.

Of Pearls and Dogs

2010-11-23T08:42:00.009+02:00

This week my long working day was moved from Monday to Wednesday, so I had a chance to visit my Kid's dog training course. It's on Monday nights and usually Husband takes him there. I'm so happy I finally got to see that.

But first - what I wore to work on Sunday.
I've seen other bloggers wear dresses with jeans and never thought I'd go for that. But this gray tunic "made me do it". I wore it last season like this with tights and a belt (pardon hand and paw-prints on the mirror...). But now I decided to wear it with my almost skinny black pants and heels and this is how it turned out.

Add knotted pearls and a big-ass ring and you're all set.

This is the first time I wore my new Nine West heels that I bought about 6 months ago. I'll have to take them to the cobblers for stretching.

If you're interested in my pearls-knotting technique, watch this video from youlookfab. Angie's knot is very simple but I'd never have thought of it on my own.

I tried to embed the video but it didn't work. So here's the link.

And now to the dogs. The training course is organized by a non-profit called Dogs for People. The website is here.

They arrive on site with a small truck full of dogs and some equipment. Most of the dogs are small. My kid started with a small dog too but then they allowed him to bring Boomer along. Here they are getting ready. Look at Boomer's eyes!

That little brown dog kept attacking Boomer! She was going ballistic, nervous little thing. Luckily Boomer doesn't eat small dogs. He fights with big males but likes/ignores pinchers and chihuahuas and such.

They were doing "slalom". Here the instructor helps my boys.

Most of the kids don't have dogs of their own. I hope this helps them understand and love dogs more. Look at these two!

Next photo is training the dogs to "stay". Boomer was pretty good at it but very soon he got tired or lazy and just plopped down on the pavement. You didn't have to persuade him not to move. Other kids with hyper dogs had harder time.

We came home, I took Boomer for a walk and after that he collapsed on the couch and started snoring right away. An eventful evening for a house dog. Snooker kept sniffing him, wanted to know where he'd been. What fun!

Ruffles Here I Come

2010-11-19T13:17:00.005+02:00

Don't you just love it when people compliment you on your dress! It's always nice to hear.
So I took a bunch of photos yesterday, in the mirror and with self-timer. And... I had to delete most of them.

Anyway, here is the dress, I already posted my photo wearing it last year. Different heels this time plus my red purse, pearls and a brooch.

I broke my self-imposed shopping ban yesterday and bought my first ruffle cardigan. It's a pretty purple color and it has a belt that I'll either tie in the back or replace with a belt of my own. It was 30% off so I'm not that upset.

I also got this tartan scarf. I'll wear it with jeans if this winter ever comes our way. I'm telling you it's ridiculous! Almost end of November and 30 degree heat! That's 86 F!!! We are exhausted. Anyway, the scarf.

I pulled out of the storage some of my booties, but the tall boots are still sitting in boxes. No need for them to get dusty. My shoe closet is not that large so twice a year I switch my winter and summer "collections". Same with clothes.

And now for the Cat of the Day.

This is the empty toilet tissue packaging, I put it down by the stairs, went to put some shoes on, came back and... the packaging wasn't empty anymore. So instead of going to the bins I went around the house asking who wants a bag of cat. Snooker was rather amused, he loved the ride.

Have a great weekend everyone!

What to Wear

2010-11-17T07:50:00.008+02:00

This week has been a little annoying at work. A managerial visit, hysterical people on the phone and an inept branch manager will do that to you.

And this Sunday outfit was a total failure. The top is clinging in all the wrong places, good thing I had to wear a shirt over it. Well, at least the color of the clogs matched the shirt perfectly.

Monday was a bit more successful (but no less annoying). I wore a dress by Jonathan Martin. It's so comfy, I felt like I was in my nightie. The only issue was the length. When I sit down in this dress it creeps up too high. I just had to hide my legs inder the desk.

Gray faux pearls and some silver bracelets finished the look.

This bag is quite old and it's not leather, I got rid of almost all non-leather bags as the quality was not so good. But I kept some of them including this one. It's roomy and handy and it traipsed all over Paris with me 2 years ago.

The weather still is not cool enough for a jacket or a cardigan. Even in the evening when I had to catch a bus home.

The only thing I took with me is a pair of flats. Good thing I did. I had to run a little bit to catch my bus and I couldn't have done it wearing these heels.

And now for the Cat of the Day shot.

It's Snooker in my kitchen. He was totally asleep until I pulled out my camera. He looked up but didn't move the hanging leg.

The dog is driving me crazy this week. He obviously ate something he shouldn't have and now his stomach is upset, he drags me outside at odd hours. Yesterday he woke me up at 5 a.m. Gotta go boil a ton of rice and feed him.

Jewels

2010-11-12T22:13:00.001+02:00

Some time ago I purchased this top. Another one of my blog inspiration cases. This one is Faux Fuchsia's fault, she loves bejeweled necklines and I just grabbed the opportunity to channel her. That day I forgot my camera at home and had to use the cellphone.

Note to self and my colleagues: wipe the kiddie handprints off the mirror.

Here is a closeup of the jewels. There are some blue ones in the mix which ties the top with the blue jeans. I think. Boy, it's a lot of exposed skin! But I couldn't put on a necklace, that would be overkill.

It was a long day at the office and all this week I've been coughing like crazy. So I came home (by bus! Husband needed the car) and decided to unwind with a glass of martini, I mean vermouth with a slice of lemon and some ice cubes. I like it without any mixers, I'm weird that way.

The boy fell asleep on the couch watching Family Guy again. Snooker snuggled up.

Isn't that cute? I took two almost identical photos of them and I'm posting both, that's how cute it is!

After we dragged the boy's butt to bed, Snooker changed his position slightly.

Behold the cat shot of the day!

I'm off to bed with a hot little pillow on my chest. You know those heating pads you microwave for 3 minutes? Great medical invention. They also help if you have the chills - put one between your feet and hug the other one, and you are set.

Romancing the Red

2010-11-10T07:54:00.010+02:00

Forgetting your disk on key with photos at home results in serious lapses in blogging. It's Wednesday and I'm just getting around to post last Thursday outfit! I must admit, I wasn't feeling 100% with coughing and all, and laziness kicked in as well.

I'll start with the shoes close-up. These are Aldos, not quite my usual style, and I'm still not sure what to wear them with. So I decided to wear them with rolled up pants. The shoes are very comfortable in spite of the heel.

I rolled up the pants to show off the white straps. Wasn't sure about it but Husband said it looked good. He has a good eye for proportions and I trust his judgement. Hey, after 16 years of marriage he deserves it.

I saw this t-shirt in a shop paired with a black cropped tuxedo jacket. It had a rock-n-roll vibe and I grabbed it (I already had the tux from another shop). But even though it's November, the weather is too hot for a jacket. At least I could wear long pants again.

And now for the Sunday outfit. My beloved dress that I wore last on my birthday.

Fashion stylists say that you should wear color accessories "in threes", so here I've got red shoes, read bag and red watch. And the heart pendant necklace that I've had for years. I saw "Romancing the Stone" again, and in it Michael Douglas character gives Kathleen Turner a similar necklace. So I dusted it off and wore it for 3 days straight. Felt nostalgic and all.

I used to love that movie and still do. Not because I'm such a hopeless romantic, but because I loved backpacking in the jungle.

Here are my shoes (hardly suitable for backpacking).

And the watch. The strap is reversible, it's navy on the other side, but I prefer red. Another thing I like about it is not too much bling. I don't like too many diamonds on a watch. This one has just the right amount. It's a classic "sport elegant" style watch - an Israeli term. Would you call it preppy? Maybe.

There we go. Caught up a little.

Lace Paradox

2010-11-05T16:23:00.002+02:00

I look for inspiration in blogs and fashion mags. InStyle puts outfits together, I look at them and suddenly it hits me - I have similar stuff in my wardrobe! The same with fashion blogs. Of course, it can be a treacherous path. I see something I like and it makes me want to go shopping. Such was the case with this top. I saw Fashionista Next Door in lace and gray jeans a while back. I'd love to link to that outfit post but it'll take me hours to find it. I have gray jeans, but over the summer I put on a bit of weight and they cut in giving me an ample muffin top. So I put on these gray pants instead. Nice to have a choice.

But I had to go shopping for the top and found it in one of my fave shops "Jump" for a ridiculous price, about 15 bucks.

Then I went shopping for a camisole. It turned out to be much more difficult. I brought home a snow-white microfiber cami only to find out it was too stark-white. And then I remembered that I already had a camisole the same cream-color as the lace! Duh! Always check your closet before you go shopping! Lesson learned... I hope.

Anyway, I bought the top in the middle of the summer and it was too hot to wear it. I had to wait all this time.

I went a size up from the usual, so this top is quite forgiving. And I love the gathered sleeves.

And now to the impulse purchases of the week. I couldn't resist getting Paradoxal by Chanel. The close up reveals some smudges... It's a very unusual color. Purple and gray at the same time. Perfect for winter, even though the temps are still in the thirties. Damn the heat!

The other impulse purchase was the ring. I got it in the second-hand store. The three bands are free-spinning which I keep doing all the time.

All in all I didn't do too bad this week. Meaning I didn't spend too much. There was a third purchase - MAC loose powder, but Mom and I decided to split a box. I just spooned half of the powder into the empty container I had left. We wear the same shade and this amount will last us for over a year. There you go, economy in action.

Dinosaur Story

2010-11-04T16:32:00.007+02:00

My son loves dinosaurs. One of the drawers inder his bed is chock full of them. He has dino books and encyclopaedias in three languages. He knows all the types and names and stuff. His all-time fave movie is the Imax "T-rex Back to the Cretaceous".

Yesterday Kid's school organized a field-trip to the Ashdod museum. When he came home I asked him what they saw at the museum. "Old jars" he said. And then he said that he wants to open a museum in his own bedroom. And went to work. He drew, he cut, he stapled. He didn't even go walk Boomer with me. When he was done he called me into his room.

And there on the wall I saw the coolest dinosaur skeleton ever!!!

He cellotaped the skeleton to the wall and the tail was too long, so it went on to the wardrobe wall.

Those who watched "Jurassic Park" will instantly recognize the claw. It's a velociraptor. Maybe it's not 100% scientifically correct but I don't care!

Snooker had to get into the picture, of course.

I think my kid has a talent. I don't know what he can do with it yet, but he still has time to figure it out. And in the meantime I'll keep buying a pack of printer paper a month for his projects.

Pink in October

2010-11-04T16:12:00.004+02:00

I wanted to mention the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign - Wear pink in October. Of course, it's already November, and I am late as usual. But I swear, I wore pink on the last day of October, Sunday the 31st. Sunday is the first working day of the week and pink was just what I needed to cure those Sunday blues. Plus the weather was OK that day and one could get away with 3/4 sleeves and synthetic fabric.

I wore a fuchsia tank top underneath to counteract the sheerness. Nobody wants to see your bra at work.

This was the perfect chance to wear my pink shoes once again. They look a bit bombastic in the photos. But in real life I got a bunch of compliments from girls at work.

When I saw them in a shop window I had to have a closer look. They had one pink and one black pair. The black ones looked boring. And the pink ones were in my size! The only thing that bothers me here is the zipper. It's too fat and obvious. Oh well, who cares. The color is outrageous. Plus the comfort factor. I wear them to work even on Mondays for 12 hours straight (OK i'm sitting most of the time but still).

Who would have thought that 12-hour-shoes could have such high heels!

More Cat

2010-11-03T08:05:00.007+02:00

This morning I filled up the dog-food bucket and left the empty sack by the stairs to take out later. Two seconds later Snooker tried to get inside. What is it with cats and empty bags? Of course I was too slow to whip out my camera. All I got was this innocent "I wasn't even here" look.

But the camera was out of the bag, so I decided to try out the "kids and pets" setting. It takes pictures without delay. I think it worked though the photos were a bit fuzzy.

Here is my Snow White. I love it that he's absolutely white, just some pink bits on the nose, ears and paws.

This is his "What are you bugging me for" face.

And here he got tired of me and the flash.

His face reminded me of the t-shirt I wore to work last Thursday. I don't wear t-shirts much, especially with cute pictures on them, but when I saw this one in a shop I just couldn't help myself.

I'll start with the close-up.

Don't you just love this fat cat?

And this is what the whole thing looked like. That is my work-shirt on the bench. We are supposed to wear a white shirt with a name tag. So I can wear whatever I want, it'll get covered up anyway.

These clogs turned out to be my best purchase of the season. They are perfect for pretty much any type and length of pants and go with skirts too. And they are very comfortable. I wore them twice just last week.

I started reorganizing my closet and putting away summer stuff. It's still hot in the daytime, but I started wearing jeans to walk the dog in the evening. Finally!!!

Guilty Pleasures from MAC

2010-11-01T14:45:00.000+02:00

Some time ago I received an invitation from MAC to come and see the new Fabulous Felines collection that only now "reached our shores". I wanted to pounce on it right away but it took some planning. I work in Rehovot and the nearest MAC store is in Ashdod. Last week I finally made it. I dressed accordingly, there were all kinds of different feline prints on my dress.

The SA Maureen looks a bit like Maryanne from True Blood (the blood-thirsty maenad). She suggested to try the Luxe Leopard quad and I really like the result. In the end I pulled out my credit card and this is what I dragged home with me.

Luxe Leopard quad, paint pot in Painterly, blending brush and the little angled blush brush. I really needed a new blush brush. All this time I was using MAC blush brush # 2 which doesn't exist anymore, I bought it in Canada in 1997!

A close up of the eye shadows.

And here is my wrinkly eye with the artwork. I loved the shadows, they go on smoothly, blend and layer well and overall look was much better than on this photo (in my opinion anyway).

I've been a MAC convert ever since I discovered them in Canada. Took them years to get to Israel. They started with 2 shops in more upscale cities - Ramat Aviv and Tel Aviv, so I used to go all the way to Tel Aviv just to buy a lipglass or two. Now Ashdod store is just 30 min away and I'm happy.

Big City Lights

2010-10-29T08:47:00.000+02:00

This week I had to work in our Ashdod branch for one of the girls who is moving house and asked me to substitute. (I normally work in Rehovot, if you're familiar with our geography). I like that office, love the change and the fact that I feel like a guest (or a housewife in someone else's kitchen). Work turns into play, no major decisions, no big responsibility.

I wore all black again. But with silver accents this time. Photo taken in my walk-in closet, it's messy but functional. I finally bought a wall-mounted fan to get more floor space (lifting that ancient thing to sweep under it was a real pain).

Look, I'm all matchy-matchy with the pants and the flats!

After work I didn't go down to the parking garage but decided to go outside and check out the progress of construction of the new square. I was pleasantly surprised. It looked really nice with all the lighting and new restaurants. This is "Black Bar'n'Burger". Will have to go there one night.

A passage way between two buildings. Doesn't look like much in the daytime, but now with lights reflections on the tiles it looked nice.

The construction is still going on, but it has moved way up. That's going to be a tall one.

A shot of a shopping mall taken from the car (I stopped at the red light). An ugly building, but inside they have the MAC boutique which I visited the very next day, more on that later. Pardon my dirty windshield.

And this is my town. It's 8 pm and the streets are almost empty. I guess we live in a bedroom community. It's not an upscale town by any stretch. Looks better in the dark as well, you can't see lots of things that spoil the view...

Living in a dirty and unkempt town is a problem. We have raised this questions numerous times with the municipality, some things have been done. I'm afraid it's the mentality, paraphrasing Mad TV show that we used to watch in Canada years ago, this is a "lowered expectations" place. Two years ago I spent 10 days in Paris and coming back was a real shocker for me. Oh well, trying to be happy with what I've got.

Fox Tail

2010-10-28T17:48:00.010+02:00

This week I've been dressing for comfort. The shopping mall where I work decided to charge us for parking. I decided that I go there to work and make money, not throw it away on stupid things (I have enough "smart" purchases on my list, thank you!) It all started this week, so I've been parking on the neighboring streets and walking to work which included jumping over things and wading through gravel and sand. Hence no heels.

I took these pictures on Tuesday, and on Tuesdays I work from 8 am till 7 pm. It's a lo-o-o-ong day. But I was very comfortable in my skinny jeans and the oh so fashionable camel color tunic.

This tunic has a built in scarf. You can take it off but why would you? I think it's the best part.

And now I'm going to show you my childish side. What is this hanging off the bag? Is it Snooker's little brother? He certainly thinks it is and I have to hide it inside the bag when at home.

Everyone on the fashion internet was boasting vintage rabbit feet and fox tails, so I had to follow suit. I went on ebay. Everyone wanted to sell me A REAL FOX TAIL! I'm not a PETA activist, but sporting a real fox tail seemed a bit nasty to me. Overkill so to speak. In the end I managed to find this faux-fox-tail. Look, it even has cute little face and ears!

Here is a shot of my bag and a shoe (also an ebay find, Elie Tahari, comfortable 24-hour shoes). They match the bag perfectlywhich is a total accident.

Working 11-hour days you need something sweet to pick you up. At least I do. I try not to overdo the sweets, but this sweet cheese and apple tart was calling my name. Add a nice cup of latte and you're set for the day. Pardon the table setting. I was alone at the office and didn't fancy washing up. But I used a real spoon!

After such a long day I return home absolutely brain-dead. Hundreds of phone calls will do that to a girl. By the way, I don't like talking on the phone. How did I end up with this job where people are constantly calling for appointments?

And who greeted me at home? Scooby Do!!!!

This is a TV shot from "Scooby Do and the Samurai Sword". Kid can watch it 15 times a day. We have it recorded on Yes Max (local equivalent of Tivo or something like that). I love Shaggy and Scooby. "No mind is easy for us, our minds are always empty". Zoiks!

Oh The Silliness

2010-10-25T15:12:00.007+02:00

Cats are fun. They are cuddly, sweet, nasty, playful, fluffy, demonic, smart, dumb... You get my drift. Look at this guy for example. He showed up at my doorstep about a year ago, asked to come inside, purred and licked my fingers. Since then he managed to enslave all of us and scare the crap out of 88 lbs dog. Snooker is the King of the Castle. Look at him lounging about posing for the camera.

The other day I heard his miaow and went to see what's going on. I finally looked up and what did I see?

This is the view from our balcony. The balcony is on the 3rd floor (I'm calling the ground floor first). So the roof would be the fourth. I'm standing under the newly constructed pergola that you can't see. Snooker is checking out the gutter where pigeons like to sit.

Then I heard a loud "boom". He landed on the pergola roof. Ran around there for some time. The husband left a gap between the roof edge and the wall for the hot air to escape. The main roof overhangs a bit so we're protected from the rain. The pergola is made of painted metal sheets.

After that Snooker went to the farthest outward corner of the pergola, twisted his body in an unthinkable way and jumped on the balcony floor. I didn't take that picture because I was hyperventilating and panicking that I was about to go scrape his body from the asphalt below.

I can just hope that he won't do it in the rain, the metal sheets would be slippery.

And what was Boomer doing all this time? Here is a glimpse from the "gallery" floor.

You can always rely on the dog to do the right thing.

Is this going to be a cat and dog blog? More material stuff next time.

The Coolest Find

2010-10-25T15:03:00.009+02:00

Sometimes I feel like dressing in head-to-toe black. It helps me feel put together. Plus the weather cooled down just enough to wear a scarf (my neck was hot but I survived). I have lots of scarves but don't wear them enough.

Took my picture in the usual room at work, played with the camera to get a full length shot and in the process discovered that I'm much happier with the picture if I cut off my head. Headless photos are the way to go.

These are my bow-ballerinas. Bought them on sale at Max Moretti, wore them a couple of times, ran out of band-aids and took the shoes to be stretched. What a difference for just 5 bucks!

On the way home I stopped at the second-hand store in town. Shopping there is not exactly thrifting, the prices can be high, but they have some interesting stuff. My friend always buys dishes, cutlery and pictures. I, on the other hand, always check out clothes and accessories. And this time I struck gold. Look what was waiting for me in the shop!

A brand new leather purse by Ferragamo! With the packing tissue paper still inside. Apparently an English lady that lives in Israel received it as a gift (nice!) but it was not her style. Lucky me!

The bag is quite slim but I filled it up with my stuff in the store and it kept it's shape and still looked elegant.

I came home and bragged to my husband. He asked how much. I confessed. So he goes: "It's an investment. You'll have this purse till the day you die and you can even get buried with it if you want". I love his sense of humor!

So I took another picture of the bag amongst other pretty things. Then I put a dust-bag over it and hid it in the closet. That's where lots of things end up...

Hello Again!

2010-10-25T12:38:00.010+02:00

Hi, it's me again.

Just coming out of hibernation that started at the end of April. Why did I stop writing? Lost inspiration, did not enjoy looking at my own pictures anymore, etc etc...

I missed blogging though. Seeing something unusual at work or in the street I often thought "It would be fun to write about it". But I never did. Guess I've always been "a reader, not a writer". But I kept reading my favourite blogs every day, so I know what you all been up to!!!

What happened during my hiatus? In more or less chronological order:

-I lost some weight... and then promptly gained it back.

-I had to bid farewell to my kitty Skanky - she started peeing all over my mother's furniture ( it came down to choosing between Mom and Cat, and the choice was obvious). We found Skanky a new home in a moshav nearby (the guy has a garden and said that she is welcome to pee wherever she wants outside).

-This has been the HOTTEST summer ever. October is almost over and still it's HOT HOT HOT.

Boomer spent the summer doing this:

And Snooker was not far behind:

All fashion sense pretty much went out the window. The skimpier the better. Some people had A\C 24 hours a day. I'm not that rich so we had fans. Lots of fans. One of them broke. I better stop now, it's a very sensitive subject for me (HATE HEAT. HATE SWEAT. Want to move to the North Pole. Or back to Canada!!!)

Anyway, happy to be here again. Will post some outfit photos soon. As fab FF once said, this is not a blog about world peace, people!

Why I didn't post for 2 weeks

2010-04-29T17:10:00.004+03:00

Looks like I've missed 2 weeks of blogging. Awful. Let's see, first my cousin came to visit from Paris. We hang out, not as much as I would wanted but she stayed with her folks and it's an hour drive. But we managed. There was lots of food involved, like smelly French cheeses. I'll post some pictures when she sends them to me.

Another excuse - I've gained about 4 kg and nothing fits. I blame it on steroids (again). All my jeans are too tight except for the horse-riding ones. I feel so heavy and bloated and I don't know what to wear.

And my final excuse - the computer died. I'm on work computer now. That's why there are no photos. Yet.

By the way, did you see the new necklace by Faux Fuchsia and Red Phoenix Emporium? I think it's gorgeous.

White birds, black snakes

2010-04-18T22:57:00.010+03:00

Kid and I had a very busy weekend. After visiting family on Friday (Paris cousin, hi!!!), we had a full day on Saturday. First he was invited to a classmate's birthday party in a park where I managed to take a picture of this gorgeous guy:

I've never seen albino peacocks before. He had a white girlfriend too. Boy, were they loud!

And Saturday evening we went to the cat theater. It's from Moscow, they are quite famous. Founded in 1990 by Yuri Kuklachev who basically proved that cats can be "trained". But he doesn't really train them. He watches them and sees what each cat is capable of, what it likes to do. Now Yuri's son Dimitri continues the tradition. It's a clown show with cats doing all kinds of tricks, it's really sweet and fun to watch. We go see them everytime they come to Israel.

It was back to work on Sunday, with the usual elevator shot. New camera does a much better job than my cellphone. I'm in focus again!

Glam shot in the supermarket just to show you that I was matchy-matchy. The shoes somehow matched the t-shirt.

And now I would like to introduce the new member of my huge rings collection (the collection is not huge but the rings are). Meet Da Snake.

This was an impulse buy. As soon as this little guy got onto my finger, he just didn't want to go away. Does it ever happen to you?

Da Snake looked good with my Red Phoenix necklace. I love this necklace! You can wear it so many different ways. Today I hid the camelia under my hair. It's like having a new necklace every time.

How do you like this volcano cloud? My cousin managed to slip under it just in time. Now she is worried about going back home. Hopefully the cloud will be gone soon. My other friend has to fly to St. Petersburg Russia today, she went to the airport not knowing for sure what's going to happen.

Blue roses

2010-04-15T08:26:00.007+03:00

Let me start the day with the news.

Dog doesn't look too happy. Probably annoyed that our PM didn't attend the summit...

And now for something completely different.
Here is a t-shirt I got for my birthday. Love the color.

Of course, I had to find matching accessories. Synthetic opals, very fashionable in Israel about 10 years ago. I have a matching necklace and 3 pairs of earrings too!

The sleeves are cute too.

After work we went to the ranch, Kid had a lesson and I had a smooch-session with the horses. I bring them a bag of carrots or apples everytime I go there. As soon as they see me they perk up. They probably think that Carrot is my middle name.

Here I am with Jojo.

And this is Blondie. He is my horse, we meet every Friday. I keep apologizing to him for gaining some weight.

The black dog's name is Socks, she loves carrots too. All the dogs at the ranch who didn't like carrots before love them now. I guess I spoiled them all.

It was really windy hence my Conan hair. Blondie looks much more put together. He's really sweet. Mind you, there were two of them in there and when the other horse tried to come in for a scratch, Blondie chased him away. This horse is always ready for a hug, he puts his head on your shoulder and freezes.

OK I'll stop now.

.44 Magnum

2010-04-12T10:46:00.015+03:00

This is how Mr. Tanya called me yesterday. My .44 Magnum. Because yesterday I turned 44. So strange. I often read in Russian novels: "middle aged woman in her late thirties" and so on. But I don't feel middle-aged (and what is middle-aged anyway?).

Mind you, after such a crazy day I had at work, anybody can age in minutes. Non-stop phone calls can do this to you. Plus hot dry wind, humidity below 50 (we're used to 70) and sand in the air, everything was yellow. But we had a nice evening at home and celebrated with my parents.

Here you can see what my hubby gave me. Sometime ago I told him that I'd like a new camera and gave him some options. I showed him what the other bloggers use. And received this cute pink Canon IXUS 95 IS. I love it.

This is my "particuliere" dress, because it matches the nail polish. Even more than on the photo. And my fingers are red for some reason. Must be the fluorescent lighting. Yuck.

This is my balcony again. Boomer is yawning, he's bored. See the dusty air? People with asthma were advised not to go outside.

Another look at the necklace... And what is that white dot on my eye?

No Russian celebration is complete without caviar. And for my husband it's not a meal without Tabasco sauce. Here they are together, and Tabasco is extra hot!

While I was going nuts at work, my Mom cooked wonderful spaghetti sauce.
And these lovely roses were from my son.

I haven't worn the other gifts yet (clothes of course). That's later.

Give a Dog a Hammer...

2010-04-08T21:57:00.011+03:00

I had to go for my hospital eye check-up today. It usually involves 3 - 4 hours of sitting and waiting. First you wait to receive eye-drops, then you wait for the specialist to actually see you and tell you to come back in another month.

So I wore my new skinny jeans. Took a lot of pictures in the mirror and this is what I came up with. I really need to work on my poses. Because I swear, in real life this outfit looked much better!!!

A close-up of the cyclops in the blouse...

After I returned home I changed the top, putting on my Zara "tattoo" t-shirt with a tail. And some loafers.

My summer bag, all golden and sparkly.

With pucci-esque lining (don't look at the label).

My parents bought a small table today. It came in a flatpack. This is my Dad putting it together.

Naturally, Snooker had to come and help.

Then Boomer had to come and help.

So three of them worked together for some time...

And then the boys sent Dad away and finished the job on their own.

End of story :)

Skinny wannabee

2010-04-07T21:37:00.006+03:00

Guess what was the "centerpiece" of my outfit today?

You're right, the Coco necklace again. This time I wore it with a white twinset/black detail. Matchy-matchy. But I wore red shoes! You can't see them of course.

Here is another crooked picture, I was trying to capture the necklace. Am I obsessed?

I used to take my photos in the elevator with my previous Nokia phone-camera and it worked really well. But now, with Sony-Eriksson, I can't do it anymore. It fusses too much, auto-focus is a real pain. I still have the Nokia but the phone part of it is not working, and I'm not going to carry two phones with me just to photograph myself in the elevator, for Pete's sake!

Here is the blurry elevator pic. Black pencil skirt, as you can see. It's a bit tight right now, I really need to do something about it!

I wore my old ring today. The stone is opalite. The internet says that it's also moonstone but I don't think it is. I haven't worn it for a long time but today it fit just right.

We have a fashion-chain here called Crazy Line (or should I say "Fashion House"?) They make clothes for real women. I don't like all of their stuff, but at the same time I have a lot of Crazy clothes in my wardrobe. What do I mean when I say "real women"? In my slightly slimmer days their size Small was a bit roomy on me. Not anymore.

Anyway, they sent me their new catalog and what do I see? Skinny jeans! Now, I'm one of those women that look like an ice-cream cone in skinnies, including ample muffin-top, thanks to the super-low-rise style. And my thighs look like sausages to me. But I was curious and went to the shop anyway on my lunch-break.

These lunch-breaks will kill me, I either overeat or shop!

I tried them on and... bought them. The rise is normal, the pant-legs are slim but not sausage-tight. And the price was OK plus I got the membership-discount.

Here is a photo from their website www.crazyline.co.il:

The model is tall and skinny, of course. I can never look like that. My legs lack at least half a meter to be that long! But I can wear the jeans with longer tops and tunics instead of leggings, which is way more forgiving. I think. And Lord knows, I have enough high heels to pull off something similar. I'm planning to wear them tomorrow and I'll take some pics.

The Coco Necklace

2010-04-06T22:21:00.006+03:00

Finally, the day when I wore my Coco necklace for the first time. I ordered it from the Red Phoenix Emporium and it arrived within 10 days. That's faster than ebay stuff from the US!
Here it is (forgive the fuzzy cell-phone picture).

I've been going through my wardrobe, trying to figure out how to wear the necklace, and then I decided not to complicate my life. Because ideally I'd have to replace everything. Like today on my lunch-break I wondered through the shops at the mall looking for tops and dresses of good fabrics. But what did I see? Lots of t-shirt fabrics and button-down cotton things. This is what's available. No silk, no decent chiffon (some chiffon but cheap looking). It's OK for the hot sweltering days, but come on!

Anyway, today I paired the necklace with an OK-quality stretchy top and black pants.

I didn't take a full length photo just because today was all about the necklace. I'm in love!

Lights on

2010-04-05T22:02:00.004+03:00

Today was the last day of Passover holidays. Back to work tomorrow. We were home today. Thought about driving to the beach (not for swimming, just for wandering about), but my guys refused to move.

I fussed about with the balcony some more and this is what I came up with. Took two old candles and stuck them into the wire-net covering the lemon-tree pot (the net is there to prevent my older kitty from digging and doing the dirty stuff. That's how she killed two plants already). In the daytime it looks kinda naff but in the dark, when you light them, it looks OK.

And here is a shot of the table with some more candles. Yes, I like candles, can you tell?

Tried to photograph it with flash on but it doesn't look right. Even the flowers are purple instead of pink.

See that wine glass? There's wine in it! Even though the steroids are not quite washed out of me yet, I can allow myself a drinkie now and then. I'm rehearsing for my birthday next week.

Passover flowers

2010-04-04T21:12:00.008+03:00

A week went by and I didn't write a single post... Not good. Every night I was going to do it and then promptly fell asleep on the couch. Over and over again. Spring sleepiness, that's what it is.

To recap last week, the outfit I liked best was this dark green twinset which is almost 11 years old (I bought it when Jack was a baby). It still looks good and fits well which is a surprise - the twinset hasn't changed but my body has. I wore it with my wide-leg jeans and black pointy-toed mules. I'm stuck when it comes to choosing shoes to wear with these jeans, I always come back to these mules. Here is a photo. Any ideas?

I put on my faux pearls - necklace, earrings and ring. All of them were SUPER cheap. The ring was the most expensive item - about 12 bucks.

I don't know what I'm looking at. There is nothing on that wall except a clock.

The nail polish here is MAC "Rich, dark, delicious". MAC makes the best nail polish in my opinion. It dries in seconds, you can wash dishes almost right away, and it stays and stays forever. Love it and recommend it.

Finally, a photo of the necklace I got last week, silver and black, paired with a big-ass ring. I haven't worn the second necklace, so no pictures yet.

I wanted to get some flowers for the house for a while now, but then I kept imagining my vases flying off the tables following the routine cat-fight. That kept me from going to the store. But today the love of flowers won and this is what I got.

Lovely roses in a transparent Ikea vase.

Carnations in a jug. I love jugs. When we lived in Corfu I acquired a small collection of jugs. I don't really have any place to display them, so I rotate them as vases. This is my strawberry jug. And a berry candle from Ikea. (They opened an Ikea in my area, 20 min drive. Expect to see more and more Ikea stuff as we go along).

The last arrangement. Blue vase with orange flowers. It lives in the bathroom. I managed to snap a picture before Snooker had a go at it. He stole a twig of baby's breath and wrestled it, leaving little flower bits on the bathroom rug.

I've been trying to photograph my cats for the side-bar (Boomer's picture is already there, he loves to pose). No such luck. I should have taken a pic of Snooker as he slapped the lit berry candle, splashing red wax all over the table and himself. Pink-spotted cat. He spent 20 min cleaning himself. Dum-dum.

Oh, I just have to share the news. A copy-cat that I am, I ordered the Coco necklace from Red Phoenix Emporium after seeing Faux Fuchsia wear it over and over, and it's finally here! It's just as beautiful as I expected and I can't wait to wear it. This week I haven't left the "village" and I didn't want to wear it to the fields walking Boomer. But when I go back to work I'll be able to be real Visionary, Challenging the Paradigm and Channelling FF ( nonsensical fashion words borrowed from FF's blog).

Right, I'm off to paint my nails now.

Added later:

I finally opened my new OPI nail polish and I must say that OPI is just as good as MAC, only the price is much better. It dried just as quickly, we'll see how long it holds, but so far I'm sold. And the color range is much-much wider. I love it.

Happy Passover

2010-03-29T22:32:00.004+03:00

Happy Passover to everyone who celebrates!

We just had The Dinner. I can't call it Seder because we didn't follow any of the rules. But my Mom made the Gefilte fish and something called "floimen tsimes" and other stuff, and it was wonderful. Dad asked before dinner whether he should "put the bread together with the matza". That shows you how religious or even observant we are.

I took pictures of my outfits yesterday and today - and I don't think they are post-worthy. They were, as some bloggers call it, "Meh". But I had a sweet necklace on today, so I'll take a pic of it tomorrow and show you.

Kid's been sick for a couple of days, stuffy nose and hacking cough. I had to break out the syrup and the inhalation machine again. He had fever for one day only, but he's generally weak and his breathing is so raspy that it scares me. I guess it can explain the lack of dressing inspiration for me. Hope he's OK by Thursday because we're planning to go riding together, just me, him and his instructor.

Good news, today I took my last steroid pill (or rather quarter of it)! And even had some wine at dinner. Now I just have to wait for my cheeks and underchin to deflate, and maybe the waistline will follow. I gained a couple of kg and I blame it on steroids! (Love of butter has nothing to do with it, people!)

And why is it that I can't see anybody's pictures on their blogs?? What is it, Pessah special?

Quartet in Context

2010-03-27T22:53:00.006+03:00

I've had a really lazy weekend. Horseriding got cancelled because of the rain. I cooked one lazy dinner and baked a really lazy cake. That's it. Plus Summer Savings Time finally happened in Israel, and we got all confused. Somehow even the dog slept in today for which I'm eternally grateful.

The weekend was spent in comfy clothing, not worthy of photography. But on Thursday night my Mom and I went to the theater. We saw the first production of a Russian theater "Context" from Ashdod, "Quartet" is a play by Ron Harwood about ageing opera singers. I didn't expect to enjoy it so much! Brilliant acting, great atmosphere. One thing I noticed, the audience was predominantly elderly. I saw one really young girl (maybe 19), couple of women my age and the rest were pretty much pensioners. The fate of immigrants' culture I guess.

So I got a chance to wear my favorite zippered dress. I love it to bits but don't get to wear it much. Cost per wear so far has been astronomical. Who cares.

Turned out that my light grey coat is just the right length for the dress. Pardon the fuzzy picture.

Just added black Nine West oxfords with the brass thingies that go with the zippers, a muted gold bag, a large ring and plain gold hoops, and I was good to go. Fat birdie had to stay home.

A close up of the bag, the ring and my MAC Rich, dark, delicious nail polish.

The bag is by Kathy Van Zeeland, so naturally it has a huge crown logo on the pocket. I just wear it with the crown facing my body, so nobody can see it. It's too much.

Next week is Passover. I get to work less than usual and get paid normal. Gotta love the holidays.

Hot Chili Peppers

2010-03-24T15:15:00.003+02:00

I blowdried my hair today. Then I tried to take a close-up picture to show you, but all of them came out awful. So I took this photo from a distance. Pardon the broom and dustpan in the background, I forgot about them.

Just jeans and a t-shirt today. I did some grocery shopping and visited my friend's shop. Had a nice chat. These jeans are grey, I don't know why they look blue in this photo.

Last night I cooked a nice chili con carne. It's one of my favorite dishes. I think we all have some dishes that we cook when we don't know what to cook. Am I right? For me it's an Indian curry (Bombay curry with coconut milk or Madras curry without), spag bog (that's bolognese) and chili. All of them spicy hot.

Here is the pot of chili on the stove. In the beginning I used to follow the recipe quite religiously, but with the years started to improvise and substitute what I don't have with what's available. Of course, some things you just can't do without. Then you send your husband to the store. I'm busy cooking for you, darling! Off you go!

It was so hard finding chili powder here!!! I tried to get it online but US sites selling tex-mex spices didn't want to ship to Israel. So when I found it in a small supermarket (I'm sure it was there by accident), I bought 5 jars! It's better to have expired and slightly stale chili powder than nothing at all.

Some spices are just not available here. My lovely cousin is coming to visit from Paris in about 3 weeks. So what do I ask her to bring? Cayenne pepper, bouquet garni and herbes de Provence! And nothing from Sephora which we don't have here either :(

Talking about cayenne and chili - have you seen the movie The Mistress of Spices with Ayshwarya Rai? Isn't she exquisitely beautiful?

Financials

2010-03-23T14:57:00.007+02:00

Such an exciting day! First I had to go to the bank and after that pleasant experience I drove to the income tax place and sorted out my income tax coordination?? It's when you have more than one job and they decide how much you can earn before they rob you blind. If I'm calling it wrong, somebody please tell me the correct term. I do this every year and it usually takes a couple of hours waiting in line. But this year I showed up in March instead of January and guess what! It pays to be late! Took me about 20 minutes. Thank you, tax people!

This is what I wore to work yesterday. Nothing interesting, plus I went matchy-matchy with the shoes, bag (forgot to take a picture) and the pashmina.

The shoes were the best part of the outfit. All the rest got wrinkled really fast. Including my hair. I'm not really happy with the way it's looking now. But I'll have to suffer and wait for it to grow longer, then I'll see what can be done. Here are the shoes.

And this is my fave citrine ring. I love it to bits. And a strange reflection in my Particuliere covered nail...

That was yesterday. Today I parked at the mall in order to go to the tax people. Of course, I couldn't just come back to the car and drive off home. I had to do a mall-sweep. I exercised restraint and only bought one thing from Zara. Can you tell that I like horses?

It's like that dress with a huge gorilla face on it, only looser, cheaper and the picture is not 3D. A totally different dress, I mean. Look what's on the back of the dress. A bigger horse.

I looked at some ballet flats as well, but to my bank account's delight I didn't find any that I absolutely loved. The search continues...

Back to Work

2010-03-21T20:40:00.012+02:00

So, went to work today. Here I am, back on the kiddie table, posing. True to myself, dressed all in black. Felt "safer" this way.

Salad of accessories - big ass flower ring, Eiffel tower pendant, zebra bracelet and faux pearl earrings that I bought in Vancouver some time around 1995. I forgot I had them and some time ago found them along with another pair.

Here is a close-up of my fat steroids cheeks. 2 weeks left!!! 10 mg and then 5 mg and then I'm done!

You can see my Particuliere nail polish here.

But here is a bigger picture, with the ring. I love this color. Girls at work loved it too.

Ever since I got sick I haven't worn any of my heels. In the beginning it was fever, then half-blindedness, I was afraid to fall over. And now I just have to get used to heels all over again. Two and a half months in flats... These Michael Kors flats are my favorites!

On a slightly more personal note I decided to show you another piece of my balcony. This is where I can sit and contemplate my lemon tree. The table cloth reminds me of a Paris cafe.

This Paris cafe, for some reason. Even though they did not have any table cloths. Don't laugh, it's my memory! It was a beautiful day, I sat there, just like the girl with the scarf. It's not far from the Bastille metro station. See that building in the background? Hang on, I'll find the close-up.

See the blanket in the window? There was a "femme de menage" cleaning that apartment. The weather was beautiful, birds were chirping... OK, where was I?

And here is the view from my balcony. Talk about contrast! Sorry to shock you like that. After a Paris cafe-scene you are looking at the most un-glamorous and un-charming town in Israel. This is to the left...

And this is to the right.

Pretty much the main street of the town. Cross it, walk for 2 minutes (slowly) and you will hit the fields. Where I go with the dog. I grew up in St.Petersburg which in them days had 6 million people. But now, if I go to a city like Tel Aviv, with problem parking and lots of people, and then I come back here, I feel at home and breath a sigh of relief. But I would go live in Paris in a heartbeat.

Spring Ramblings

2010-03-20T09:26:00.003+02:00

The winter is over and I'm a bit sad. First of all, I missed pretty much all of it and didn't get to wear what I wanted to wear. Dresses, coats, jackets. I know, it's not the most important thing in the world, but over here summer lasts 8-9 months, when you're too hot to wear anything, and the poor winter is stuck in the corner. Plus this year the weather was really warm. Is the global warming catching up with us? I personally don't believe in this hype, but who knows.

Anyway, to mark the beginning of spring, I painted my nails pink. Here is a picture. Pardon some tip wear, but this photo was taken almost a week after I painted them, and that's without any top coats!

Next on my list would be to wear Chanel Particuliere. Oh yes, I have joined the exclusive club. The color of wet cement, as Faux Fuchsia so eloquently put it, awaits me. The husband, being a builder, is excited for me too (not).

I've ordered some more pink nailpolishes on ebay. For some reason it was easier for me to look at OPI colors, read their names and pick out some fab colors than actually buying what's available here. I went to a shop, stood by the shelf with hundreds of colors and couldn't pick ANYTHING! What's wrong with me?

Sunday I'm going back to the Office. And it's good, because I'm getting cabin fever. Starting April 21, I'll be working 4 days a week instead of 2. It's good too, because my second job has dried up a bit. This girl needs to make some more money stat!

I'm leaving you with a photo of my beloved lemon tree. It's actually bearing fruit! These lemons are so fragrant, if you cut one up and put it in the fridge, the smell envelopes you as soon as you open it. Mind you, I must not open the fridge so much, I've gained some weight and I blame the steroids!!! (Not getting off my lazy ass to exercise is not the reason, though I went back to horseriding, so there).

Here is my baby-lemon.

Have a great weekend, everyone!