Cool calm and collected

I don't make promises I can't keep and I don't make New Years resolutions for the same reason.  I have however, decided that 2015 is the year of "rationalisation".  Essentially I will be weeding out stuff I don't want by looking at it critically and asking myself, "do I really need this?"  Is X a life-time keeper or something which I can give away, or sell, or throw away, or recycle.  

So now I am holiday, I thought it was time to go through lots of old photos and decide if I really need to keep 10 versions of the same sunset etc.  This also means downloading photos from phones etc and putting photos in a folder.  Then I find a photo or two which I have not shown you before.  Behold - the casual weekend look:

In winter, in the weekends I spend lot of time in a denim skirt I got from Savemart.  Its really dark and has a light band around the hem.  Oh and a silly little pocket which is too far down to reach.  Anyway, it goes with just about everything.  Here I am wearing it a totally optioned outfit, including the tights too, I see I am wearing some expensive Italian ones which I found for $3 in an op shop).

Also in winter, I take my daughter to netball which is played in a freezing cold stadium.  One day a few vintage cars in the car park and when we entered the stadium several were parked in doors - in preparation for a car show.  This one is my favourite - its a Buick 8 and has the most amazing paint effect I have ever seen.  I told the owner that Stephen King wrote a novel called "From a Buick 8" and thats how I recognised his car and its a really scary story.  The owner thought I was a freak.

I am not sure what this outfit really says about me, other than I am cold.  I am wearing a gorgeous vintage long skirt I found in the Hospice Shop.  Its a kind of diagonal pattern and bright colours, machine knitted I think.  Very hard to see sadly.  I am rugged up with a scarf and a hat, and thick socks and boots too, as it is very cold in the stadium if you are standing and watching netball. 

More recently, Friday 16th Jan to be exact, as especially joyful for me as it was the end of work and the start of a 2 week holiday.  So in recognition of this auspicious day I wore a crisp cotton dress which I found at Toffs.  I felt cool calm and collected all day, despite several colleagues asking me to do things at the last minute before I went on leave.  This dress is very well made with immaculate hems and seams and all overlocked.  No tag though and the style is a mix of 70s (the collar) and 40s (??)(the shaped bustline) so I think its a recent home-made reproduction of a vintage pattern.  

I think this was made for my twin as it is almost a perfect fit.  The sleeves are just the right length too, so often I find that sleeves are too long (even if they are short) and I have to make them shorter.  Also, many shirt dresses I buy are polyester, and surprisingly its been too hot to wear polyester in Dunedin recently, so I was very glad to wear cotton.  Lastly, I love the pattern, it is so fresh and crisp - orange and blue with a touch of pink and green.  

So do you have an outfit that makes you feel cool calm and collected?  I'd love to hear all about it.

Bye for now, Penny-Rose