My Blueberry Plant Has Flowers!

This entire post is to tell you that my blueberry plant has flowers. Which is truly remarkable since it's sitting on a not-particularly-sunny kitchen windowsill and nobody watered it the entire time I was on vacation in France because I forgot to ask someone to do it for me.

Blurry picture of my blueberry plant.

Inventory Of My Clothes

Friends, I may have taken a mini-break to go to France and celebrate housemate birthdays but I'm still on my wardrobe-overhaul kick. Which means that now you will hear more about my personal fashion. Or rather, my quest to have a personal fashion.

My last post about my wardrobe had me getting rid of hole-y socks and a-frames, and contemplating whether I should tone down my overly bright collection of underwear. This post is about the clothing that I am keeping. Hopefully this will help me figure out the wardrobe gaps. Trust me, there are many. In terms of colors, one look makes it obvious that I am a recovering goth. I need to introduce more color into my wardrobe, preferably color that falls into my light summer palette. Also some of this stuff needs to be adapted. I need to hem my jeans, doctor up the pea coat, tailor a few of the button downs, swap out the buttons on my vest, and patch holes in the armpits of a couple of the fun t-shirts.

I'm decently set with casual clothing, though some more pants would be good. Perhaps some cords or colorful chinos? I'm trying to move away from t-shirts and hoodies as my standard and into something more sharp so I've been wearing the more "casual" dress shirts and sweaters as everyday clothing. My fun t-shirts are for gardening and for work since my jobs are physical so I can't dress up. But I'd like to keep them strictly for that and not wear them around as much as I currently do since they aren't in the image I want to project. Here's what I've got for casual clothing:

Various solid colored t-shirts.

Fun t-shirts: black shirt that says "t-shirt noir mystérieux,"
red shirt that says "knot today" and has knot-tying diagrams,
blue shirt with superman logo featuring a unicorn torso.

More fun t-shirts: beige shirt that says "it takes balls to be a fairy,"
red shirt with bicycle icon that says "ride me,"
orange shirt that says "I would cuddle you so hard." 

Body positive t-shirts: grey shirt with avocado saying "I'm good fat!"
and another grey shirt that says "chubby guys cuddle better."

Hoodies.

Black beater that says "I don't sweat I sparkle," black fishnet shirt. 

Pants: brown cargos, dark grey dress pants, khakis, charcoal pinstripe dress pants

One place where I'm obviously lacking is in dressier clothing. My suit needs a jacket, which fortunately is something that I'm sure I can find as a separate since it's still being sold in stores. I also don't own a blazer or sports coat. Ideally, I'd like to have several sports coats in different colors. My button down collection could use some beefing up, particularly since I don't even have solid white or light blue ones which are supposedly wardrobe staples. Also some of the new button downs should be the kind with cufflinks since people have given me cufflinks as presents and I can't wear them because none of my shirts require cufflinks and I'm too lazy to adapt them (maybe someday). And of course beefing up my shirt collection means my tie collection will probably need to be revamped to keep up…

Short sleeved button-downs.

Long sleeved button-downs.

Sweaters. 

Reversible vest: dark blue and tiny blue checks.

Ties. 

As far as shoes go, I have no brown dress shoes and maybe I should get some. Also, I'd like something dressier than a sneaker and less fancy than a dress shoe. Bucks? Dress sneakers? Chelsea boots?Chukka boots? Do they even make vegan versions of any of these? I know other people wear boat shoes and loafers but I can't bring myself to do that since I think that look may be too richy rich for me. Here's what I have right now:

Shoes: super old tan colored Timbs (also my only non-vegan shoes),
steel toe black combat boots, shiny black boots, shiny maroon boots,
black brogues, comfy black running shoes, plain old black sneakers,
black high top sneakers, pink converse-esque sneakers.

Other accessories? I'd really like a pocket watch, which is superfluous but awesome enough to be worth it anyway. I'd like some belts, but finding vegan belts made for fat guys is a huge pain since apparently vegan belt makers think all vegans are skinny? I'd also like a briefcase, but it's not easy to find a vegan briefcase. In a perfect world, said briefcase would also be easy to attach to my bike - like a pannier-bag-cum-briefcase. Also I'd like more caps and scarves, and possibly some more attractive looking gloves - fingerless gloves maybe? I'm sure I'll wind up with more bling without trying, since I like sparkly things and I sometimes get jewelry as presents because my friends are awesome. Here are all my current accessories:

Scarves.

Hats.

Four pairs of gloves: top two are for biking.

Sparkly leg warmers, two kerchiefs, two pairs of suspenders,
and a doo rag I no longer need because I no longer have hair.

Bracelets: black link bracelet with the Lord's prayer,
bicycle charm on a fake leather band. 

Red honeycomb/bee cufflinks from an ex-boyfriend.

Teardrop-shaped pearly cufflinks with pink jewel borders from a friend. 

Swiss army knife cufflinks that actually unfold.

Silver colored tie clip.

For outerwear, I'm pretty happy with what I have. Sometimes I think I want a raincoat but I doubt I'd actually wear one. It was necessary when I was a dog walker, but now that I'm not out all day in the rain an umbrella is generally good enough. In terms of fun outerwear, I do occasionally consider getting a bomber jacket and a jeans jacket. Maybe someday when I have money to waste. At which point I will also get snow pants.

Not pictured but maybe I will take photos today or tomorrow and stick them here: necklaces, earrings, jeans, belts, coats, and dress clothes.

Birthday Party Recap

Friends, the party went well. It was Mario and Hello Kitty themed, and the birthday kids wore themed masks. The rest of us had fake mustaches and hair bows to choose from so that we could also be in theme. There were various toy/game stations, lots of kids and parents present, pizza from a local company that does both vegan and gluten free options, and one of the housemates had the foresight to make a grownups-only room where introverts like me could hide when we needed a break from the chaos. I am not going to post pictures of the party because there were lots of other people's children there. But! I can show you pre-party pictures.

Hello Kitty sign that says "Happy Birthday."

Primo, Terzo, and Secondo in their masks.

I couldn't decide between mustache and bow so I wore both.

Preparing For Primo and Terzo's Birthday Party

Today is the birthday party for my kid housemates. I'm writing from work, where I'm clad in this getup because I have a lingering cold and Texas, my morning client, is immunocompromised:

Me in a face mask and gloves.

Yesterday I discovered that we had a glut of kiwis so I made something bizarre for dinner. Kiwi pesto:

Plate with salad, a kiwi cut into the shape of a flower, and pasta with kiwi pesto. 

The kids all liked it. I think the adults were less sure. The flower on the side is a kiwi. Thank you youtube for the kiwi-flower-making instructions! I also made three cakes for the party:

Vanilla cake with kiwi frosting shaped like Hello Kitty.

Lemon cake with vanilla frosting shaped like
Mario from Super Mario Brothers.

Gluten-free vegan chocolate cakes with vanilla frosting
shaped like playstation controllers.

The Hello Kitty cake is for Terzo, the Mario cake is for Primo, and the Playstation cakes are for Secondo. The party is just for Primo and Terzo because Secondo didn't want a party, but we needed a gluten-free vegan cake anyway so I decided Secondo should have a cake too. Can you guess the party theme?

A Picture Post

In lieu of a real update, since I'm hurtling towards finals and have no time, I give you pictures of the fun things I've been up to since returning from France:

Finding cool seashells!

Walking along beautiful beaches in RI!

Climbing on play structures intended for children!

Pet-sitting Coconut, the most adorable dog ever!

Making this gingerbread house with my kid housemates!

Not pictured: STUDYING!!!! Also working, suffering from a cold, and stressing about bills. Also I didn't put any pictures of my friend Bruno who went to the beach with me since I haven't had a chance to ask him for permission yet.