That’s so interesting what you wrote about your husband’s feelings about putting money into houses and the possible connection to his past experiences of being uprooted. (Incidentally, we traveled to Germany and Austria in December and I did some historical reading about the Austrians at that time — the pre-WWII story there is so tragic.) Houses may not feel like a secure place for him.

We have choir now so I will think more about what you said and write more later.

That particular paragraph struck me because in some ways we were the opposite, in that we didn’t necessarily want our house to “match” what was expected from our professional and socio-economic niche, but my spouse particularly was opposed to putting money into houses. I suspect this is some deep seated remnant from being uprooted many times as a child (refugee from Austria pre WWII) exacerbated by the uprooting and disruption caused by the disintegration of his first marriage and loss of his children. So we both invested more in personal appearance, although I think it was more of a putting on of a persona we wished to present to the world, a shaping of expectations and a hiding of the self rather than an expression of self.

Now, as I move into my mid 50′s I am less interested in the projecting aspect of clothing and the idea of self-expression both creatively and the aspects of creating a personal uniform, a basic comfort zone with creative play that can be engaged or not as mood dictates.

Isn’t the Cartier watch beautiful? I love it so much every time I look at it.

I love being able to express creativity through clothing. Colored tights are my favorite!! :)

That’s funny you feel daunted by home decor and furnishings. In our case, I think it helps that we can follow the era of the house — 1926. We love stuff from that era anyway, but it also happens to go well with the house, so it’s easy for us to look for things we love from that time or in the style of that time.

Thanks for your support!

xoxo

I do like warm colors :-)

On my 1st trip to Paris, armed with an intro from Bazaar, I went to a fashion showing at Nina Ricci. Have to laugh now when I think about it. I’m sure they took one look at me in my travel drip and dry dress and thought what the heck is SHE doing here?

Gallerie Lafayette was more my style.

Your house and patio look so inviting in your photos. I also like that coral on you. Warm colors seem to suit you.

Thank you for the boat neckline tip — yes that’s right I think — I will try it and see if it works.

I’m a recovering Pipi Longstocking, so yes, there was very little jewelry, and certainly not a string of real pearls. In my family, that sort of classy adornment was for snooty types. I think my mother had few pieces of fine jewelry, but she mostly wore costume jewelry. She did have quite the shoe collection.Whenever I saw it I couldn’t help thinking of Imelda Marcos, but you know, good for her taking pleasure in beautiful shoes.

The story of Mom and me and our fashion struggles is part of my own fashion story. More reflections on that in a future post.

I love it that girls growing up in the South were expected to have a little class and wear pearls. It’s too bad that these traditions are disappearing.

I love well-seasoned cast-iron skillets, wouldn’t dream of toasting my cumin seeds in anything else.

I am so glad you had the experience of living in France. You ought to write about it :-)