Hermes Cafe Bon Temps~Good Times Cafe

[eagle1002us]

The Japanese shopping site Rakuten has as their tag line "shopping as entertainment." That's fine as long as the essentials are paid for first, but if all a person thinks about is their credit card debt then there is a problem. The habitual bag and clothing flippers seen on tPF have fallen into that trap. I don't mean to be a downer, but debt is a huge problem in society

Thanks for making this important point, gracekelly. It makes me feel better about not having been in the boutique since maybe February this year. Selling works fine initially but I have found I let some HS go that really should have been keepers. So I haven't sold for quite some time.

 

[gracekelly]

Thanks for making this important point, gracekelly. It makes me feel better about not having been in the boutique since maybe February this year. Selling works fine initially but I have found I let some HS go that really should have been keepers. So I haven't sold for quite some time.

Funny you say that about letting the wrong things go. I had a couple of Chanel jackets for sale and Hermes bags. I decided to keep and alter the jackets and make them more fitted and to my current liking. I couldn't possibly replace either given what I paid for them at today's prices. The Hermes I kept for the same reasons. i decided that I am not a charity and I don't have to give it away. Things that can't be dealt with like the shoes received the heave ho. I do have an excellent shoe stretcher and i was able to make some shoes wearable, but only because if was a matter of half a size. When it came down to a whole size, they had to go. I also find that sometimes looking at bloggers or magazines gives me ideas on how to formulate new outfits from what I have. I think i fall into a rut sometimes and have to think outside the box to get new looks that make a garment more interesting to me.

 

[Mindi B]

There really is no "should" when it comes to donations. Of course you aren't a charity, gk. For me, when I realistically assess my belongings, I know that some items just won't be used, ever, and it makes me feel marginally better about having bought them in the first place if I can imagine them bringing someone else pleasure. But I too have had items altered and retailored to be more workable for me, and this is also much smarter than automatically purging or replacing an item. And I bet all of us have had that moment when you see a street style photo or a "new" silhouette in an ad and think, "Darn, I had that exact thing but I gave it away last year!"

 

[chaneljewel]

I've never regretted giving away an article of clothing as the ones I purge are truly not wearable for me any longer. I think it feels good to clear away items that are never being worn. With that said, I'm becoming pickier about what I purchase now.

 

[Genie27]

Help!! What does one wear to a work-related outing to an afternoon Major League Baseball game held at an outdoor stadium?

It's for a work-related event, but in a very business casual industry - the men all seem to wear jeans and corporate logoed knit shirts. Bleh. The women dress up a bit more, but we are still talking BR / Vince / Hugo Boss at the most.

It's too hot to wear jeans, I don't have any baseball Ts (it's not my home team, or my home stadium) - I was thinking shorts + tshirt + comfy sandals? I have to pack light, and there are already 3 sets of day + evening events to dress.

 

[gracekelly]

. I think your idea of shorts etc is perfect or Cotton skirt and tee/blouse and sandals. You should wear some type of hat too. Sunscreen! Sun glasses. Baseball mitt is optional

 

[gracekelly]

There really is no "should" when it comes to donations. Of course you aren't a charity, gk. For me, when I realistically assess my belongings, I know that some items just won't be used, ever, and it makes me feel marginally better about having bought them in the first place if I can imagine them bringing someone else pleasure. But I too have had items altered and retailored to be more workable for me, and this is also much smarter than automatically purging or replacing an item. And I bet all of us have had that moment when you see a street style photo or a "new" silhouette in an ad and think, "Darn, I had that exact thing but I gave it away last year!"

I know, but they always find a way to tweak it so it never comes back exactly the same. Sometimes it isn't that much so if you still have it, you can wear it. In my give away shoe pile, I had a pair of very high wedge slides that are dead ringers for something they are showing this year. I almost kept them, but remembered that the last time I wore them, I nearly fell over!

 

[Mindi B]

You are so right, gk, and I've noticed that, too. There will be some minor but essential difference in cut, detail, fabrication, what-have-you, so that an original whatever is clearly not a newly-purchased whatever. Evil marketing masterminds.
But your observation does sometimes help me when I am annoyed with myself for not holding onto something. The lost lamented thingamie would almost certainly have given away its vintage provenance in some way.

 

[gracekelly]

You are so right, gk, and I've noticed that, too. There will be some minor but essential difference in cut, detail, fabrication, what-have-you, so that an original whatever is clearly not a newly-purchased whatever. Evil marketing masterminds.
But your observation does sometimes help me when I am annoyed with myself for not holding onto something. The lost lamented thingamie would almost certainly have given away its vintage provenance in some way.

That vintage aspect only bothers peeps in our age group. The younger generation thinks vintage is very cool lol! So wear it and be cool!

 

[Mindi B]

That's because young peeps can get away with anything. On a twenty-something, vintage IS cool. On me, vintage is. . . chronologically appropriate. A twenties flapper dress? Mindi is shopping her closet.

 

[eagle1002us]

What kind of popcorn? Do you make it the old-fashioned way or microwave? I know air-popped is better for me but it tastes like styrofoam to me. (Not that I've eaten styrofoam.) I've read that people do really well managing weight with high-bulk, filling foods like that. It is a great idea.

So true about the color wheel. I wonder how that translates regarding colors near the face.

I eat ready-made popcorn that comes at the grocery store and it's called, "Skinny Pop." Supposedly it's 39 cal./cup. I don't know if that's good or bad for popcorn; I just know that there's a chance the amount I stuff self with is slightly less calories than a Hershey bar. I have never tried air-popped, we have a small kitchen and never bothered replacing the microwave but that might be an incentive to. (I do respect your saying it's like styrofoam, I wouldn't want to eat that either).

 

[eagle1002us]

Benjamin Moore Clear skies at 75 percent strength. I was selecting colors when it was about 100 degrees out and I wanted something that made me feel cool.

I didn't see that article. What is AD? Weird thing about polished garage floors. At one point in my career I worked in the twin towers in Century City LA. The entire 10 story underground parking garage was buffed nightly by a crew. It gleamed and tires squeaked on it because it was so clean and shiny. That parking garage was my favorite thing about that building and quite honestly was my favorite thing about that job.

You worked in LA? So did I, high school, college, and working. The Century City area was rather newly built up in the 60s/early 70s, it was a nice area to work in. I worked in the Civic Center, saving up to go full time to college.

 

[chicinthecity777]

That vintage aspect only bothers peeps in our age group. The younger generation thinks vintage is very cool lol! So wear it and be cool!

That's because young peeps can get away with anything. On a twenty-something, vintage IS cool. On me, vintage is. . . chronologically appropriate. A twenties flapper dress? Mindi is shopping her closet.

You ladies are cracking me up! I am sure you wear yours beautifully!

 

[eagle1002us]

@FizzyWater -- Fizz, I had a whole response to something you said only it got attached to your post (embedded with your post) that I was quoting. I don't think my response showed up as it should so here it is:

Fizzy, I think it's fun to nudge the gray weather along by wearing lavender! I remember how pretty the lilacs blooming in the cool gray rainy springs of Buffalo were, when I lived there as a kid.
Thank you for remembering my teal fixation! I was deep into dark blue teal during May and June. That's b/c I had sewn up 3 pieces in a dark teal taffeta, had an HS, my Prussian Bleu kelly, and a couple of necklaces in dark teal and that meant I was totally into OCD happiness. (My philosophy is that it is fun to be really really matchy).

By early July I was starting to get mentally exhausted by the dark teal fixation so I moved on to Chinese blue, a color I haven't glommed on to for 20 years, but still remember fondly. There is an HS called Bicycles which is an airy pattern featuring a woman in an 1890s bike; the blue border was what I considered a Chinese blue.
If anybody has a precise definition of Chinese blue, I would appreciate it.

One summer I wore nothing but black to work. I'm not goth, but maybe I was a bit steampunk since I also wore Victorian silver jewelry and the black was airy and lightweight, sheer sleeves in a black blouse trimmed with lace, an ankle-length black skirt, etc. (Nobody said said a word about the continuous black but it was fun to feel very Miss Havisham -- except she wore white). What exactly does the term steampuck mean?

There's been a pale lavender gray that's been around for the last year or so, have you seen that? It's a silvery lavender color, half palest lavender and half pearl gray. Very pretty. I have some fabric to sew up in that color.

I am starting to get fixated on mauve, preferable a brownish-pinky mauve. The thing about getting fixated by colors is that I then have to acquire the accessories and outfit components that match exactly. It's like a treasure hunt to go shopping with an exact color in mind. However, I believe mauve is coming back into style because navy is also and the two go together in an interesting way.
Fizz, here's a p.s. to what I said about matching exactly: I was at the Kennedy Center yesterday at the tail run of Cabaret, and there were a lot of people. Got several compliments on my yellow outfit (with HS) and then one person said, "How did you get the colors to match so exactly?" If we weren't filing out of the theater at the end of the show I would have hugged her.

 

[eagle1002us]

Funny you say that about letting the wrong things go. I had a couple of Chanel jackets for sale and Hermes bags. I decided to keep and alter the jackets and make them more fitted and to my current liking. I couldn't possibly replace either given what I paid for them at today's prices. The Hermes I kept for the same reasons. i decided that I am not a charity and I don't have to give it away. Things that can't be dealt with like the shoes received the heave ho. I do have an excellent shoe stretcher and i was able to make some shoes wearable, but only because if was a matter of half a size. When it came down to a whole size, they had to go. I also find that sometimes looking at bloggers or magazines gives me ideas on how to formulate new outfits from what I have. I think i fall into a rut sometimes and have to think outside the box to get new looks that make a garment more interesting to me.

ITA, GK.
I keep scrapbooks of editorial pieces from US, UK and Paris fashion magazines just for inspiration. I download stuff from the web and of course tpf for the same reason. I do purge stuff from the scrapbooks b/c they're like any fashion report, they can get dated (i.e, what was I thinking?). But these reports are so useful for the way lengths and colors change back and forth, and how colors are combined. Don't "give away" your kellys, I was doing that with the HS I've sold and so quit selling. I've put energy into trying new combos of [seemingly outdated] scarves and clothing to (as Tim Gunn says on Project Runway) make it work!

I need to acquire a shoe stretcher for the same reason, to go up half a size. Can you recommend one?

Thank you @Croisette7 for posting these monochromatic teal ensembles, they are lovely and I'm printing them out.