Ahhhhh. Tropical flowers. Warm sun. Sandy beach. Spring break.
X Scratch that last one. X This week used to be UMF's first spring break week. Yes, we had two. Yes, we were spoiled like that. Yes, we knew it. Then, bam, the system took away one of our spring breaks. So, on this day last year, I was reaching the end of a wonderful week in the Dominican Republic, and on this day this year, I am sitting on my couch under a blanket and sipping hot chocolate to keep warm. <Insert sound of crying here.>
That said, blubbering aside, I did get to enjoy one warm day this past week. For some odd reason, Mother Nature decided to give Maine a day in the mid-60s. Unfortunately, I spent the entire day indoors teaching. Yup, from 8:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. I did not step foot outside. Tragic, right?!
Well, I found a way to bring some of that spring break spirit and unseasonably warm Maine feeling into my wardrobe on that day. I wore a floral bomber jacket, a striped tank top, and some skinny pants. See!
My jacket actually shocked people--funny, I know--who were like, Oh, you're wearing a floral jacket. You have flowers on your jacket. It is February. Is that allowed?? :D I was like, Heck, yeah. It's not freezing on this one day, and I am imagining that I am on a tropical island, so, there!
Let me stop for a moment to give you some tropical attire advice, my friends.
Be careful about going full on floral, especially a floral that has a dark background, as my jacket does.
It would be perhaps a bit too much to wear an entirely floral outfit. You need just a little bit of floral for it to be most effective.
Notice that I paired the floral jacket with a striped shirt. This allowed me to take away some of the attention of the floral so that it was there but as a kind of accent piece. Plus, the black and white stripes complemented the black background and white touches in the jacket.
One more thing: it would have been unwise to wear this jacket with black pants. Way too serious. Way too 70s. Way too grandma. The mauve pants complemented the pinks in the jacket, but didn't go too matchy-matchy.
I bet you're wondering about that necklace, right?!
Well, it's a one-of-a-kind necklace made by Derek Katzenbach, my former Farmington neighbor. The stone is a light green tourmaline (which is like the state gemstone or something). Many years ago, my husband asked Derek to design a piece for my birthday. Here's a close up of the pendant:
I have worn this pendant many times, but it never looked so good as it did with this floral jacket!
OK, now you're wondering what shoes I wore, right?! Of course you are!
I wore my bronze booties! I also wore my peekaboo cat socks. The stripes are actually the same color as the pants. How did I get so lucky?! My sis-in-law gave me a whole set of these awesome socks for xmas! :)
Now you see how I survived my Wednesday NOT on a tropical island. I brought a bit of the island feel to my outfit. I wore some cat socks. I cried. Nah, I didn't cry. I just whimpered.
Carry on!
