In MY Day

We went to the memorial Mass for our friend Howard Hupe yesterday.  I don't remember the last time I went to Mass, so I wasn't aware that the air conditioning in the church had broken down and Mass was temporarily being held in the school gymnasium.

We filed in past the coffin and the widow and I gave her a big hug.  She is such a sweetheart and such a good actress she said she was concentrating on keeping her emotions in check and, in truth, though there were lots of tears on a lots of people, I did not see her cry, though she looked as though her life had been shattered.

Her three children gave wonderful eulogies about their father.

When I first entered the gymnasium, I was fighting tears.  But I didn't want to lose it so I spent a good part of the Mass looking at the people around me in the huge crowd and not concentrating on the Mass.  Bad me, but as I looked around at the women I realized how some fashion has changed significantly from when I was a young woman.

The first thing that got me to thinking such un-religious thoughts was seeing several woman with the now seemingly ubiquitous cut-out sleeves.

You see cut-out sleeves like this everywhere thee days. (I won't discuss the waist size of these women which is about the size of my upper arm)

	That got me thinking about the first Oscar broadcast where I saw someone wearing a gown with the off the shoulder look.  Now it's everywhere.  In fact it's unusual to see someone wearing a dress with two sleeves.
I'm sure high heels have been around forever, but I see them everywhere now.  I don't understand how anybody can walk in those things.  My feet hurt if I try to walk in anything as tall as an inch.
	It seems that more and more shoes have some version of these multi straps.  Some are as fancy as boots with straps all the way up the thigh.  I don't remember when I started seeing them, but now they are everywhere.

Not being a fashionista, I am unaware when styles change and I just suddenly realize that sweat pants, t-shirt and Birkinstocks aren't exactly trendy.

The other thought I had to keep myself from crying during the lovely Mass was wondering when they started ordaining Doogie Howsers.  

But I didn't cry.  Much.

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

Topic #5
Ideal outfit for Christmas/NYE festivities

When I started this Holiday Blog Challenge, I said that there would be some topics on which I would have little to say.

Behold! We have come to one of those topics!

I guess it's time to find my Santa sweatshirt. I can't remember how many years ago I bought it. It shows Santa peeking into a window at a dog sleeping inside. The paint has long since cracked on it and has the funny smell of something that has sat in a closet for too long. But it has been my Christmas outfit for probably 10 years. That and black paints. Sometimes sweat pants, sometimes velour, sometimes something else, but always black.

I brought out the sweatshirt today and will wear it to any social gathering to which we might be invited from now until Christmas and I will probably wear it on Christmas day. (I also made the Santa figure my profile picture on Facebook.)

I can't remember the last time I shopped for something to wear at Christmas time. I have probably saved Walt thousands of dollars with this one cheap sweatshirt, because it works and I'll look like shit anyway, so why spend money on new clothes?

I might wear something else for New Year's Eve. I don't have a special New Year's Eve outfit, but I do have one or two "good" shirts which do not have "t" as part of their description and they work just fine. They get good use going to stage shows, when I make an effort to dress up.

I was never fashion conscious, but I fear I have totally lost whatever remnant of that gene I ever had. Odd, because my mother is a fashion plate and always looks like a million bucks, even though she buys all her clothes at the thrift shop at which she volunteers for Hospice of Marin.

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I had such a wonderful time today. It started with attempting to give blood, but since I had just received part 2 of my hepatitis vaccine, they told me I had to wait 2 weeks before I was eligible to donate, so I made an appointment for 2 weeks from now.

After I left, I went to my friend Joan's house. We were getting together with Nancy, the third prong of the triumverate. We used to get together regularly during the Bush Administration to let off steam. When Obama took office, we didn't feel the need as much and got out of the habit, but with all that is going on in the country at the moment we were way overdue for a coffee klatch.

I don't often get the chance to rant, especially with like-minded people, so this was like a breath of fresh air. We discussed everything from the Occupy demonstrations to the Pacific gyre to the Republican slate of presidential candidates, to books we are reading to ideas for celebrating 101 year old Herbert Bauer's 102nd birthday later this month, and lots of things in between. We even watched Jon Stewart's report on the $7.7 trillion the fed has loaned to banks that they just kinda forgot to tell Congress about. Everyone was suitably outraged.

I just had the best time and came home feeling heard, understood, and all that comes with the camaraderie of allies.

And just downright good women to boot!

(Plus it's always nice to be the youngest in a group these days--it happens so seldom!)

Saving the Alligators

Clearly, I know nothing about fashion. I just found out that this ugly, utilitarian bag

is the famous "Hermes Kelly bag," which retails for over $30,000, if you can get on the waiting list to have an opportunity to buy one. (Apparently each bag takes two alligators to make.) I'm not going to fork over $30,000 for a too-small, ugly bag that costs more than my first house! Even if Grace Kelly did make it famous!

I do need a new bag, though. I have one of those ergonomic bags that is shaped like a kidney and is supposed to improve your posture or something like that. I've had the bag for probably more than 20 years (it's my second one, so I've probably had this type of bag for most of my married life). It had a rubber pad on the shoulder when I bought it, which is supposed to keep it from slipping off my shoulder, but the pad came off about 10 years ago and I've been just repositioning the bag on my shoulder every few minutes ever since then.

When I was at the doctor's recently, I plopped the bag down on the scale just out of curiosity. It weighed 15 lbs. And that was without the two cameras, camera bag, and iPod that are usually in it.

My mother has a "purse wardrobe," a bag to match every outfit. That sort of mentality does not compute. It's like having a "shoe wardrobe." I wear Birkinstocks in the summer and loafers in the winter and sometimes mix them up, but that's about it. I've hated shoes since I was a kid (my mother reminds me) and see nothing fun about shoe shopping or changing shoes every time I change my t-shirt.

There was a time when I thought that a back-pack kind of bag might be more comfortable to wear, so I went out and bought a nice looking back pack. Then I discovered that when you look like one of the hippos in Fantasia you just look ridiculous with a little purse-like back pack perched between your shoulder blades. Marta has the same bag and it looks great on her. Owell. I am not built for fashion.

Periodically, I am intrigued by the Buxton organizer, which I see advertised on TV. It promises to turn all the junk in my purse into something as organized as a file cabinet, with a space for everything and everything in its space. (I have't seen the "used tissue" pocket, but I'm sure it's there.) They say you can find things with your eyes closed, because you know where each section is.

The thing that gets me about their ad is that they promise to turn all of the "heavy clutter" into an organized, easy-to-carry bag. They dump everything out of a bag that looks embarrassingly like mine and presto-chango, you have this nice slim, easy-to-carry bag that presumably weighs less that the whole of its parts.

How do you take exactly the same amount of stuff and make it weigh lighter just by putting it in a bag in a more organized fashion? That's the thing that keeps me from shelling out $15 (plus postage) for the Buxton organizer.

When I look at the photo, it certainly doesn't look like there would be pockets for two cameras and/or an iPod. So I'll probably, sooner or later, go back to getting another ugly kidney-shaped ergonomic bag.

It would be nice to have a small bag ... or no bag ... to carry, but I can't seem to get away from these humongous things. I seem to need to carry half of the things I own, and at least one or maybe two books, in case I finish the first book during the five minutes I'm standing in line at the supermarket. It's hard enough to find one model of bag to bond with, much less shop for a "purse wardrobe."

But I think that I'll pass on the Kelly bag this year. I hope the alligators are grateful.