Can you tell I'm thrilled to have a cold, snowy winter again at last? I actually wore this outfit before yesterday's gingerbread one, on the day after the big snowstorm. Greys & blues felt like another interpretation of the winter landscape, and I'd been wanting to wear a sash again, so I put together this easy look (this uniform is one of my FFBOs): wool cardi & skirt for warmth, silk blouse & sash for a hint of ballet romance. And cosy alpaca socks because my feet get cold so easily. (My inherent RATE-ness of course shows through with the unevenly slouched heights of the socks.) Funnily enough, this outfit is composed of all 'mall brands' (although I thrifted them): the skirt is Banana Republic, the cardi is J Crew, the blouse is Tahari, and the coat is Benetton. It's interesting that it's possible to get a vintage feeling outfit without any vintage clothes! Or maybe this doesn't look vintage to you guys. The lower neckline reminds me of the 18th century, which I've been more interested in since reading a few books about the period. Wait for me to start wearing kerchiefs tucked into my blouses, hehe.

For outdoors, I thought my red coat would make a nice contrast to the piles of snow, so I basically wore it for others' enjoyment. Which sounds silly written out, but perhaps I made the people trying to dig their cars out smile for a split second at least! I wanted to try out my new-to-me snowboots; after all of your helpful advice I ended up ordering Sorels & Tevas to try on. The Sorels (I think they were Cate the Great?) rubbed my *calf* raw just walking around my house, and my hip joints were not at all interested in walking in something that heavy, while the Tevas felt like heaven on my feet, they were so light & cushiony. Sadly, they'd sent black instead of the taupe I'd ordered & didn't have any of the taupe left in my size. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise; I hopped on to ebay & found a pair for only $40! Yay! Anyway, I'm very pleased with the warmth & grip & comfort of these boots so far, although we'll see how that supposedly weatherproof light suede looks at the end of the season. I must admit that on my walk to the woods, I stepped in a few drifts taller than the boots, so I might still have a wardrobe hole for truly knee high snowboots. Or I suppose I could get some gaiters. Or just pay more attention to where I'm stepping. Luckily the scrunched socks let me just brush the snow off instead of it falling into the boot & melting, which would have been awful. To bookend the taupe I put on my new very light sheepy grey hat and to keep my fingers warm I added my newly knit gloves, that are scrunched in these photos, but have a little leaves growing out of the wrist ribbing, which pleases me. Of course I knit them in grey, so that they'd go with all of my coats until I can get around to knitting more!

All feedback, criticism, etc. is always welcome & appreciated.