Thanks for your feedback on my recent wardrobe threads! I had two occasions to "see and be seen" so far this week and I wanted to report back on WIW and some thoughts.

The first event was a dinner at a local restaurant for my DD and the other Student Athletes of the Month from the district high schools. She wanted me to wear my new sparkly sweater. My first reaction was to "save" the forum's favorite outfit, and dress it down with boots and faded jeans, but at the last minute I thought, who knows if I'll even get another occasion to wear this at all?! I wore this combination with my long khaki trench. I was worried about ketchup from the booth getting on my cream jacket, lol! It was fun, I was overdressed (of course) but happy. At least you could tell I was a parent--well with my grey hair that's pretty obvious. It's popular for the moms around here to want to look as young as (read: dress exactly like) their teen. That's not the kind of youthfulness I'm after. (Pics 1&2)

The next morning, DD had an academic awards assembly at school, where she was to receive a bar for her academic letter. As she was leaving for school, I promised her I'd be there at 9:05 am only later realizing that DH had our car parked at the airport! After fooling around on YLF for a few hours I looked at the clock and saw that I only had 15 minutes to get to the school. Yikes! No time to bum a ride so I decided ride my bike. I threw on this FFBO, brushed my teeth and hair and slapped on a little make-up. I hesitated when I got to the coat part. My blazer wouldn't offer enough warmth at the neck (it was sunny but very chilly), I'd never ridden my bike in my long trench, and it was not the time to experiment, so that left my short Celine jacket. I buttoned it up to the top, added my scarf for warmth and inserted foam earplugs to keep from getting the Mother Of All Ear Aches. (Pics 3&4)

Riding my bike in this outfit was really fun! The ballet flats worked even better than my trainers because the little heel kept my foot from slipping off the pedal. I got some looks though! Cyclists in this area generally fall into one of two groups, the indigent poor or serious athletes all decked out in their gear. My bicycle and I fit neither so I guess I stood out.

I rode my bike right up to the door of the Performing Arts Center and a nice teacher let my bring it inside and lock it up to a railing. When I got home, I realized that I got some bicycle grease on the cuff of my cream coat! I wasn't too freaked out because I have a wonderful organic dry cleaner that I knew could get it out, but I had just gotten it cleaned last week, and I know too much cleaning will wear it out faster. So I remembered reading about how they gave "flour baths" to their woolen suits in the days before dry cleaning. I rubbed a little flour into the cuff really well and let it sit for a few minutes to absorb the grease. Then I found a clean brush and briskly brushed it out of the fibers and low and behold, it took almost every bit of the grease out! Later I tried to see which cuff had been soiled and I couldn't tell them apart. Disaster averted!

While writing this, it's brought to mind the recent threads on invisibility/visibility and getting attention from men. I don't think I responded to either of those two posts because I had to think about it some more. I feel, even though I'm of a certain age, have grey hair, and wear neutrals that I'm pretty conspicuous for my locale. I often feel others looking at me in line, in stores, men of different ages included, but also little girls and other women. With the men, I don't feel it's a sexual attention, but just a matter of curiosity. As if the subconscious mind is trying to categorize me and is having difficulty because I don't easily fit into a common group. I'm not a professional woman (I'm wearing jeans), I'm not dressed like all the other moms in skimpy tops, yoga pants, full hair and make-up with fake nails. I'm not dressed like the grey haired women that live in the Del Webb communities around here (golfing, tennis, hiking gear or other "active adult" attire), so maybe people are just trying to figure me out.

Bonus shots of white jeans and cream top for Marley. Do I have the right accessories to ever make this work? I sort of doubt it, and that's okay. I have enough outfits I can make with each piece. (Pic 5-7) ETA, I wrote this before I loaded the pictures, and it looks better than I originally thought it would.

I'm nipping out for a walk while there's daylight, back in a bit. Thanks for responding to anything you feel like, if at all. I appreciate your feedback; it helps me so much.

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