Not a whole lot going on here. I’ve been laying low after work, taking it easy.

FIRST, I want to apologize if I’ve been responding to comments slowly. I will get to them all, I promise. I’ve just been spending a little more time away from the computer recently. I love all your comments. This blog for me has become like journaling…but with the loveliest audience of friends! I’ve also not been getting to all my favorite blogs lately, to read and comment on. I’m doing the best I can right now (looks down and kicks toe in dirt).

I did get this little doojingy this week. Yeah. I guess I’ve mentioned Junarose a time or two.

You guys might only be aware of the FAVORITE dress, and the new, much-searched-for dress…but there have been other Junaroses in my life…

I did make it out to an arty evening with a friend. There was cheese and crackers so it was good. And red wine with cream soda, which is totally a thing.

This week’s Gwynnie Bee item. It’s very cute but way too big in the shoulder/armhole area. I would have to wear something over it and the only thing I had that would have gone with it is an autumnal olive green duster cardigan (actually in the top left of the Junarose collage above) and it’s just too warm for that now. So back it went, unworn.

I’ve actually been considering letting go of Gwynnie Bee. I go back and forth. I still think it’s a great service and if money were no object I would keep it, but it is (an object. money.). I’ve used the service for over 4 years now. And the expense used to seem justifiable because my wardrobe was so small and it gave me 4 different things to wear each month – one a week – without adding to the bulk of my closet. But now I’m finding I’m buying (and keeping, ha) one thing a month in addition to Gwynnie Bee. It has certainly been a help with the blog because it always gives me something new and different to style for a post when you guys have already seen every single thing I own, combined with every other single thing I own. I don’t know. Just something I’ve been thinking about. I’ve been thinking about giving Nordstrom’s Trunk Club a try. Hmm.

THIS is what I’ve been looking for in the way of a white linen blouse. YES!!! Obvi it needs steaming, but it’s JUST what I’ve wanted. It’s large enough I can wear it buttoned…but I really got it to wear open over summer dresses like a light jacket…or tied up loosely at the waist over a dress or jeans and tee. Just a nice, simple, pure white, 100% linen blouse. Thank you, J Jill, for making my linen dreams come true.

This is a shirt I’ve been coveting since seeing it on Maddy Gutierrez (along with just about everything else she wears, ha). It’s by Anthropologie brand Cloth & Stone and I’d had it in saved in my ShopTagr for several months as it had been sold out in all plus sizes since I’d first seen it on Maddy. I’d really wanted a summery Tencel “denim” shirt…and when I got the notification that they’d gotten like two back in, in my size, I was up and at the computer at like 3:30am ordering it, ha.

But…when I tried it on, I was not 100% sold on it. It’s a little snug through the belly. You can just see the slight pulling between the second and third buttons up from the bottom. It’s not terrible, but it doesn’t skim along my body the way I like. Now, the plan was not really to wear it all buttoned up anyway, so…it may not matter. For the time being it’s hanging in my closet while I deliberate. I need to try it on again, in the way I would actually be wearing it. I’m also not crazy about the faux fading down the front. It just feels like arrows to my boobs, ha ha. I don’t know, it’s just a thing. So, we’ll see. I used AfterPay and want to make a decision before I have to make another payment.

It’s not a great picture but this doggo was so cute at the light.

I’m still looking for a summer bag. SO. Remember the pink and red bag that kept going out of stock before I could buy it? Well, it came back in stock AND went on sale, like 40% off, and I bought it. And it’s been sitting on the top shelf of my closet for like a month. Maybe more. I LOVE it. But. I don’t know that it feels like me. Or really goes with my wardrobe. If I haven’t reached for it in a month, that’s not a good sign. I think I should return it and get something I will use, like a cute rattan summer bag. Or a cognac colored bag to go with my cognac slides and espadrilles. I love that combo in the summer with black or denim or white. Or army green (wait for it…).

So I was in TJ Maxx the other day, looking for a linen dress I’d seen on a blogger but that was not on their website (grr), and I took a stroll through the purse aisle.

I’m aware that this is taupe not cognac, but taupe also seems like a useful color for summer with all my light blues. And while I liked this bag, and I do like a wider strap than I have now, this strap was very wide. And very short.

I do like woven leather but this “cognac” was a little closer to “diarrhea.” Plus, with 3 separate compartments, it was a little bulky.

One of the darling rattan circle bags that so many bloggers had last year and I so coveted…but when I bought one the strap was so short and no (Jodie), I wasn’t going to mess around with replacing it (ha ha). So I returned it. This strap was not any longer, but the bag was half what I’d paid for the one last year so I gave it another go. But it gets another no. There’s a straw bag I have my eye on at a shop in Brooklyn, that would be THE Straw Bag. If I can just find that website again!

And lastly, this Michael Kors bag, which was probably my favorite, even though I am not a fan of heavy branding on things (this had his name stamped all over the front of the bag). But what made me pass on it today was the black strap that seemed more fall/winter than spring/summer to me.

I do say no to a LOT of things, but I always have my reasons.

NO!!! Ha. This poor thing. When I saw it on the Woman Within site, while looking for a non-elastic waist version of the orange floral dress from last week (or the week before?), I thought it looked like the army green version of my beloved Old Navy light blue tencel nightgown dress, and wouldn’t it be wonderful with cognac slides and a cognac bag and a straw hat and just how adorable would I be??

And then I put it on. And NO. It’s just a big boxy column of green. And yes it could be shortened but that wasn’t going to put any swing in the “skirt” portion of the dress and it would still just be a boxy column. I know I like waistless/shapeless, but not at the expense of movement. This did not have that. I think the arm holes were an issue, too. I forget. I’ve tried on So. Many. Things recently, they’re all starting to blur together.

Excuse my little blue slipper socks, my feet have been cold ever since chemo. They ache with cold.

Friday was the New York Bike to the Beach fund/awareness-raising 100-mile ride from Manhattan to Westhampton beach (aka The Best Work Day of the Year). A colleague and I man one of the last rest stops where we hand out bananas, donuts, power bars, water, band-aids, sunscreen, etc., to the amazing riders. They’re appreciative, we’re appreciative. It’s a good day.

Fish door.

Uhm. What else? I passed on a Super Fun Thing with Friends yesterday cuz I just couldn’t. Instead, I stayed home and read a book on the sofa and it was glorious. And now it is late Sunday afternoon and tomorrow is back to work. Nothing good or bad planned for this week.

I’ve been trying to decide what to do with Month in Review. It’s one of the least viewed posts each month, so…I’m trying to think of something better to share. I was thinking more of a May Favorites, but really, that’s what Month in Review was! Maybe I could just add something each week to Week in Review: favorite blogger outfit, favorite book/movie/thing I bought, etc. And skip an entire monthly post dedicated to favorites. What do you think of that?

This feels like a very long post to me so I will end it here. You’re welcome.