It's been pouring cats and dogs here in L.A. Which I'm glad for, because we desperately need the rain. But I also hate it, because this cold, wet weather makes the arthritis in my upper back and foot become almost unbearably painful and every other joint in my body hurt. The good news is it never lasts more than a few days. So Advil and I become best friends and I grin and bear it.

So yesterday was all about staying as warm and dry as possible.

I really don't care for the rain boots I'm wearing. They give me ginormous flower pot legs and the horizontal striping cuts off my leg line. But hey, my feet were dry and toasty all day.

I don't have a lot in the way of rain boots... and one of the three pairs I do own (that I love!) I have to get rid of because they bother the arthritis in my left foot terribly (which is too bad because they look like a pair of mod, wedge heel go-go boots in a fab shade of blue).

My other pair of rain boots I also love. They're a motorcycle style with crazy Romero Britto pop art pattern on them. Alas, they aren't lined. So if it's too chilly and rainy they don't always do the best job keeping my feet warm enough even if they do stay dry.

That left these MukLuk rain boots. I bought them when I lived in Seattle purely for function (I only lasted a year in Seattle. I discovered within a month of moving there just how bad my body responded to that kind of weather --to the point where I literally could not stay living in that environment. Which is too bad. I loved the city itself. Just couldn't take the weather.)

Anyway, the Mukluks were the foundation item I wanted to build a warm, comfy and dry outfit around. So I found something similar on Polyvore and tried to build an inspiration set around them.

Trying not to be gloomy girl (and stay very warm so my body didn't stiffen up too much) I opted to break out the heavyweight cashmere and wool Lips scarf. Then I took the opportunity to take my closet orphan (from last week's challenge) Philip Lim Cropped ruffle-back peacoat out for another spin based on the set I envisioned.

I ended up swapping the red gloves for brown because the additional pop of red, when I put it on, crossed too far into matchy-matchy land, imho.

The outfit dances dangerously close to the line of looking too cutesy for my age. In the end I didn't care because functionally it was perfect (I was warm and dry).

Brown Newsboy Hat: Nine West
Earrings: antique cameo studs (via estate buyout)
Brown cashmere V-Neck sweater: TSE (via ebay)
Red skinny cords: Blank NYC (via Zappos)
Bag: Via Spiga (via TJ Maxx)
Scarf: Sonia Rykiel (via ebay)
Brown leather gloves: vintage (thrifted)
Rain Boots: MukLuks (via OnlineShoes.com)
Cropped peacoat: 3.1 Philip Lim (via designer consignment)