I'm sorry to be so scarce lately. It has been a pretty brutal summer/fall but I'm finding it a little easier to breathe these days.... John's uncle finally went home from the hospital after two months (motorcycle accident). It was so rough seeing him in the ICU and going through the painful process of recovery. I was in the room twice when his heart stopped... Our five weeks of out of town guests (including three good sized dogs) ended, and while we miss them, it is nice to have things back to normal. I just took a trip out to northern CA to visit my ailing grandmother. She is doing much better, thankfully, but it was a week full of emotions and long buried memories surfacing. John got a new job in April that has had the most difficult schedule and learning curve, leading to a lot of stress and exhaustion. Today he found out that he got the position that he just put in for, which will allow for much more structure and a normal life. Whew.

In other news, I went on a diet with my boss and lost 27 pounds so a whole new wardrobe is in order - don't you hate it when you *have* to go shopping?! I have caught the gilet fever from Angie and others on the forum! My new grey CAbi gilet came in the mail yesterday so I haven't been able to take the time to figure out how to wear it well. Today was the first attempt. I felt reasonably good, but I do think that I can do better. Our weather is so hot that I chose a sleeveless top (and I did get warm enough to take the outer layer off for a while, so the outfit had to hold up on its own). I wanted a dark column of color underneath, but I couldn't find black top and bottoms that matched well enough (one always looked too faded) so I went with a print. When the weather turns cooler I want to try my off white booties - I loved how Angie did that! I also want to try white jeans and a light colored (or white) top, as well as a longer sleeved top. Anyway, here is attempt #1 and I am looking forward to more experimentation.