January - YouLookFab Forum

I’ve been a bit scarce lately, but life has been busy. My dressing has been very casual — in large part due to the unexpected construction going on in our house after the electrical fire. Our contractor joked, “Hey, didn’t we just finish up here??” So we’ve been living with sawdust and noise and general chaos of my office and the guest room stuff all being moved into other spaces. So I default to hoodies and boyfriend jeans for doing the work of cleaning out and moving. When I get out, it’s mainly for walks and Pilates class, so I’m wearing my gear a lot too. We also had a brief tropical vacation (pic 2), for which I packed too much, LOL.

So… other than vacation and my grungies for cleaning and moving, I’ve been living in denim and sweaters (ie pic below). I’ve welcomed a few social events as opportunities to dress up just a little bit, but haven’t thought to take photos.

My only purchase since before Christmas has been my new long green puffer (pic 3), which has become an immediate workhorse. It goes almost everywhere! I ordered a couple of charcoal grey tops to try, but neither one was quite what I want, so I’m shelving that search for now.

I have very little desire to shop for my wardrobe right now. My shopping energy is going into furnishing my newly renovated office (pic 4, taken while new hardwood floors were being installed), and some new blinds and other things for the guest room. We will be traveling for a full month this spring, and I’ll be leaning heavily on my camping gear during that time, so I’m definitely not interested in spring purchases. Looking forward towards summer, I would like to find a summer dress that is a solid color (not black) in a breezy cool style for me, after not really finding one last year. I have print dresses but solid color ones elude me. I’ll probably be due for one new pair of sandals to refresh that collection too, but that’s down the road.

On the whole, I’m content with my wardrobe and have plenty of options when I go to dress for any day’s activities. So for now, I’m quite boring, and in keep on keeping on mode.

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10 months ago

Helena

Veteran

You look fab in all these photos Janet! The January energy seems to be strong this year, with so many people sort of literally and figuratively keeping it simple and/or going inward for the month (with the clothes to match!). With everything on your plate, I think it's a testament to your solid wardrobe that you have what you need and fashion can take a back seat while you get on with other priorities (and look great doing so!)

cjh

(website)

That does sound busy, but glad the home repair is going quickly. You look confident and strong, prepared to tackle the every day challenges and activities. A good wardrobe base is so helpful in those kinds of busy circumstances.

Runcarla

Busy month indeed! Your outfit in #1 (jeans+turtleneck sweater) has been my January uniform.

Angie

Fashion Stylist

Good to see you, Janet! Good luck with the office renovation, and that's energy well spent. Hectic fire, yet fab remodel on the horizon. You win!

Knew the new puffer would be a workhorse! Looking KILLER in it! Loving it with the pretty cream scarf and hat. Fun to see boots over jeans again too.

What a beautiful pic of you and Jamie

We will be in a similar place soon!

https://youlookfab.com/welookf.....-nostalgia

I don't think I will shop until our remodel is done.

RobinF

That is my weekend default. Sweaters and jeans for the win!

rachylou

You’re looking cute!

Suz

Looking great whether the weather is warm or cool! Love the juxtaposition and adore your shag type hair. So fab. Your office is shaping up nicely as well.

Jaime

You look wonderful! The casual outfit of jeans and a sweater really suits you beautifully and the photo of you and Jamie is the best advertisement for a tropical vacation I have seen. Puffer was such a good choice. Good luck with the repair work - I know it is a drag

Lee

Active Member

An electrical fire sounds properly terrifying to me. What happened, if you don’t mind sharing?

Your outfits look cute and comfy and I absolutely love the wood flooring.

Brooklyn

Good to see you! And you look just as fabulous as ever.

Janet

Thanks, all!

Lee, the fire started in the crawl space under my office, where our HVAC unit lives. It originated from a junction box for the HVAC that had some less-than-optimal wiring from when the house was built 35 years ago. Guess the inspectors whiffed that, the way they did the inadequate support for the deck off our bedroom too (which we redesigned and replaced 15 years ago).

I was finishing a cup of coffee one morning a week before Christmas and heard a popping sound and smelled something burning. My first thought was that it smelled like when a hair dryer motor goes up, and that we have a brand new dryer! But when I went to the bedroom, my husband was still in bed, so I knew something was very wrong. By then the house was filling with smoke.

Jamie realized that the floor of my office and the downstairs hallway felt hot, and ran to the crawl space but by then the arc had turned to flames. I shut off the power and called 911, rushing the dogs outside. The fire department arrived very quickly and put out the fire in short order, with damage only to the floor, wall, and one of the joists under the house. Plus a dead furnace and air conditioning unit. Somehow we managed to not have any personal items damaged, and the smoke smell has largely dissipated, thanks to the fact that we had to tear all the carpet out of that level of the house (new hardwood floors are now installed throughout).

Electrical fires and post-and-beam wood houses can be a deadly combination, so we were very lucky we were at home and awake. The smoke detector alarm didn’t even sound until the fire department was here, due to the smoke being so concentrated in the crawl space. We now have redundant smoke detectors in every room — and the crawl space.

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Holy freaking smokes, that is terrifying. I live in a house built around then too and it definitely has some sub par stuff. I’m glad you’re ok and didn’t lose your furkids, belongings or your home!

Karie

I’m so glad that you, hubs, and the fur babies are OK! Very scary indeed.
Your new puffer is a beautiful color, and sweaters and jeans are also my constant go-to this time of year.
We also just got back from a tropical vacation which I always seem to overpack for. I think part of the problem is it’s just so cold here I can’t imagine myself wearing warmer clothes, so I toss in extra layers and end up not wearing them.

Thanks, everyone!

Angie, I’m excited for you that your projects are getting started — I know it’s been a LONG time in the making! I love that yellow on you too.

Karie, packing for vacation is so funny in this house. I pack days before (sometimes even more if it’s a big, long trip!), and hubs throws things in a bag an hour before we leave the house. He always forgets something. This time it was a swimsuit, LOL.

My overpacking was just including too many options because I wasn’t sure of the mood I’d be in or the vibe I wanted. It didn’t cool off at night there so no layers were needed — I just took too many options for wearing to dinner, etc. Everything is so casual now.

Lana

Your outfits are never boring!

Jonesy

Yikes, how utterly terrifying! Yes, thank goodness you were awake and everyone was unharmed, and there wasn't too much damage.

Your beach pic is everything! Also, I have to retract my earlier, nitpicky reservations about that coat :), because it's really fabulous on you! Glad it's been a workhorse for you.

Sal

You look great in all these looks - what a time of highs and lows.

Pleased the fire rebuild is progressing well. That was a curveball.

I really like these winter looks here. The cool boots in the first and the puffer are the stars around well fitted quality essentials.

lyn67

OMG, you really had a terrifying experiment with the fire-hope everything will turn out and look more fab than before-seems like you earned that tropical vacation-you look so happy!:-)

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