Coffee with Cream
Eternal Voyageur writes:
BTW the camel colour made me think of requesting you to do a piece on creams, beiges and off-whites someday. I always struggle to connect name to colour, let alone decide which ones are flattering and which are not.
Here’s the problem: when I started looking up the color names (cream, ecru, beige, ivory, and so on), they all basically had the same definition - pale grayish yellow. That’s helpful! (You could hear the sarcasm in that, couldn’t you?) While I cannot promise is to give you names by which you can be certain you & others will be thinking of the same color, I do have some suggestions on how to select those which are flattering.
First, look for the undertone. While technically an off-white can be a super-light tint of any color, most of them tend to separate into those which are in essence a brown (like coffee with extra cream added) or those which are yellow.
Personally, I find the yellows hard to wear. I recommend them with yellow-blonde hair. For me, I like coffee.
There are also very light taupes, which make a good substitute for white or khaki trousers.
The other thing I would add is, even if you look okay in more than one range of off-whites, to stick to one in your wardrobe, thereby increasing your chances for serendipity. Believe it or not, the bermudas I picked up for a buck this week match the safari jacket my mom gave me for Christmas. What are the chances of that?
I hope this is helpful. Any insights or follow-up questions?
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Tops to Wear with Turquoise Jewelry
I own a million pieces of turquoise jewelry, I love the stone. I however never know the type of clothing especially the tops to wear. My hair is ruby midnight with purple under tones. My eyes are dark blue and my skin naturally has a yellow undertone. When I changed my hair to this dark color friends and family said it looked beautiful on me and made my eyes really stand out. I figured this is the best place to ask this question because I read such great advise to the above question. Thank You to all of you who answered (Judi)
(Ruby midnight = rich auburn black)
My best advice is to wear solid tops in deep, intense colors: black, midnight or royal blue, purple. With dark blue eyes, blues - including turquoise - are natural.
I think what I’m suggesting is that the turquoise is naturally going to harmonize with and flatter your eye color, and a top in a dark color, when combined with the dark hair, will frame the face. It’s going to be a dramatic look!
Alternatively, turquoise is appearing in lots of great prints these days. Depending on your personal style idiom, either a funky kind of ethnic look or a more simply elegant backdrop seem natural to me with turquoise jewelry.
A third option with turquoise is to use its complement, which is orange or brown. White is my favorite hot-weather black substitute. And metallics always look elegant with turquoise.
Okay, readers, Judi was asking for your advice. What tops do you suggest with turquoise jewelry?
Just for fun, here’s some pictures of looks that might work:
Incidentally, while in Italy, we saw LOTS of cute metallic sporty shoes.
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Updating My Schedule
It’s true confession time: blogging has flooded my life. It has exceeded it’s boundaries, that is, overflowing into areas where it doesn’t belong and adding to the stress.
Of course, it’s not all bad. I love the people. I love the conversation about what to wear. And I love the creative outlet. But even my personal wardrobe has suffered as of late, due to just not taking time for non-computer related activities. My life, I’m afraid, has become two-dimensional.
Homeschooling moms are familiar with the schedule-building process and for quite some time I’ve known I needed to build me a new one. Now that I’m home, unpacked for the most part, and have my taxes mailed out, here’s the updated schedule I’m trying out (as with the old one, it’s built on 1 1/2 hour increments):
7 - 8:30: Seek God’s direction for daily living through Bible reading, prayer, and journaling.
8:30 - 10: Varies by day. Monday I go to Value Village, Friday is set aside for MOPS activities.
10 - 11:30: Laundry & Studio Time (Mon- Thurs).
11:30 - 1: Errands/exercise.
1 - 2:30: Computer time.
2:30 - 4: Putter outside and be available to help daughters.
4 - 5:30: Food preparation.
5:30 - 7: Family dinner, including clean-up, of course.
7 - 8:30 Varies by day: church activities or family projects at home .
8:30 - 10 Those last few things …
One of my favorite things about this blog has always been getting reader input. This topic, personal as it is, is no exception. What tips and techniques have worked for you to keep blogging in its place in your life?
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The Mall in Trieste
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Travel Tips: Jet Lag
I’m home. Leaving Trieste Tuesday morning (April the 8th) around 6:30 am and arriving in Spokane Tuesday evening around 9:30 pm combined with the 9 hour time difference had us traveling for 24 hours straight, the vast majority of which was daylight!
On the return trip I wore the same comfy black slacks and slip-on flats, but I paired them with a very light cotton button-up shirt over a tank and a cashmere cardigan which I was able to take off and roll up and store in my carry-on if need be. It was just the thing.
Concerning jet lag, I have very little experience in the finer points of adjusting. Going to Italy didn’t prove to be any kind of problem (the espresso?), but I’m told coming this direction is much worse. I tried unsuccessfully yesterday afternoon to take a nap and found I was fine until about 8 pm (I think the daylight makes far more difference than I realized). Tonight I will try to go to bed when it gets dark.
What other tips do you have to offer?
More pics coming soon. 
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Pop Quiz: Touring Venice
Arriving by train in Venice on a gorgeous spring day, I quickly became aware of the differences in how people relate in a tourist city versus in Trieste. In Venice, most of the service personnel in the street spoke to us in English. In Trieste, hearing English spoken tends to draw curious stares; in one store, when the proprietress figured out that I don’t speak Italian she actually rolled her eyes. he hee! 
Okay, so here’s my question: Which of the “pack accessories” hanging on my body marks me out as American?
And here’s a bonus picture, a rare view of the back of my hair. 
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Homesickness
I think I’m Italian. That is, there are alot of things about the life and culture here that I prefer, not the least of which is their style. But I digress. The real reason for this post is just personal. I’m having a great time, but today I started to get homesick.
No doubt it would be worse if my daughter hadn’t been able to come with me. No doubt it would be better if I hadn’t accidentally hit the capslock key when I was trying to log in to facebook, persisting too many times, and ended up getting locked out. I’m not certain I will be able to conquer that beast before I get back to Spokane.
Facebook friends, if you see this “note”, pop on over to the blog (betweenmypeers.com) and say ‘hi’!
So, what is this melancholy we call homesickness? How do you experience it?
