Wardrobe Staples

I was skeptical of being too committed to one style in my twenties. Preppy? Bohemian? Vintage? Sporty (Ginger Spice, Scary Spice?)  Moving back and forth between the northern Rockies and Virginia as much as I did, I had a schizophrenic wardrobe either of utilitarian stay-warm play-outside gear or cocktail dresses for various fancy East Coast weddings.

I realized that the split-personality wardrobe thing wasn't going to work when I showed up in Richmond for my cousin's baby shower and my mother was so horrified that I was wearing jeans (they were really dressy jeans!.....in Jackson Hole), that she sent me to J. McLoughlin with her credit card literally to buy fancy pants. Call it my Garth Brooks moment.

I read an article in Real Simple that convinced me to start building a wardrobe of a few classic pieces that would work anywhere. I started out with one really good white dress shirt and a black cashmere turtleneck. I still have both, but life with toddlers is a guaranteed mess and I am lazy about hand washing, so less cashmere of late.  Incidentally, "I have on a nice sweater!" is a very good way to get out of changing a dirty diaper.

  
Parisian Chic by Ines de la Fressange convinced me to add a few other timeless pieces: a Burberry-styled trench coat (although mine is J. Crew Factory), a Saint James sailor tee and black Wayfarers.

But winter in Montana is a sartorial challenge, forcing me back to the utilitarian, despite my undying love of cropped skinny pants and flats.

So here's my winter uniform:

Aside: I am completely in love with my Patagonia down sweater (the jacket).  It is low profile, warm and has subtle darts so I don't look like the Michelin Man.  The Mountain Man thinks it's really cool that it stuffs into its own interior pocket.

If a dress or skirt is required (although nothing in Montana is really required per se) it's something like this:

My 22 year-old self would probably roll her eyes at how very conventional my style has become, but my 32 year-old self can get dressed in five minutes in the semi-dark and know that it's going to work! And that, as they say, is priceless.

If You're Going to San Francisco

 

Be sure to wear some half-chewed teething biscuit in your hair.  Welcome to traveling with a tot, right? Seriously, we had such a great time on our quick trip to the West Coast over the weekend.  We saw old friends...

Explored Land's End...

and Dolores Park....

[i can be a little obsessive about sunscreen]

And then for Mother's Day (which is seriously better than your birthday! I mean, perfect strangers all over that city wished me a happy Mother's Day as we walked around), the MM came up with the most amazing surprise.  I was completely speechless (which is really saying a lot).  He led us all the way to the far end of the Noe Valley neighborhood to this little shop:

which he found because I'd landed on their website via A Cup of Jo and happened to pin this dress to my Pinterest board:

which he saw and liked, so he traced it back to the website, realized they had a shop in SF, called ahead and asked them to hold two sizes and had it all paid for. I had completely forgotten about the dress and hadn't even made the connection that the shop was based in SF, so the whole thing was super special and made me feel like an awfully loved mama. I love you, Mountain Man! And you too, little man:

Mail Order Goodness

I think one of the first items that I ever ordered from J.Crew about 16 years ago involved me filling out the little sheet that used to come in the center of the catalog, tucking in a hand-written check (paid for with some hard-earned babysitting cash) and literally mailing in my order.  Remember that?!? So anyway these two items aren't really mail order since I ordered them over the interwebs, but they arrived in the mail this week and were the sartorial bright spots in another week notable only for the continued lack of sleep and lingering head cold symptoms. 

On that note, we are going to transition Ford to his crib in his room this weekend.  For a few months there he was sleeping like a cherubic little rock star in his co-sleeper beside me, waking once to nurse and making it until 7am.  Then 4 months old hit and I think he figured out that it's way nicer to snuggle with his mama and snack all night long.  Needless to say, this has not been working out so well for me and he sleeps more fitfully too.  According to Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, we can let him cry for up to an hour without going to him at this stage (5 months on Sunday), so it's time to pull the plug on co-sleeping.  If I don't get 4-5 consecutive hours of sleep soon, they're going take away my license.  Or they should. 

Anyway, new clothes:

Emersonmade tweed jacket. Beautifully structured, yet really soft and comfy.  Love, love.

J.Crew wildcat cardigan. From my little bro for Christmas.  I gave him a sweater too, so that was fun while J. Crew had that big sweater sale last week. Wore it with my black Minnie pants and a black shirt yesterday and felt very Audrey. 'Cept my ankles were cold.