April 24, 2020
Last week, they went to the farmhouse to see if they would like to stay there for the long-term. They realized pretty much as soon as they pulled into the drive that they did, indeed, want to stay out of town!
When they thought that they were only going to stay for a few days, she chose her travel capsule wardrobe based on her favorite painting:
She was still wearing her travel outfit when they decided to go back into town and pack up all of their food, their computers, and more clothes. It’s only 5 miles, so it won’t be a long trip!
Scarf – The Met Store; amethyst stud earrings – Michael Krainer; lavender top – Lands’ End; raincoat – L.L.Bean; crossbody bag – Longchamp; suitcase – Tumi; denim pants – L.L.Bean; watch – Shinola; amethyst bracelet – Kadek Hendra; boots – Hunter
Before they drove back, she dashed upstairs and dumped out her tote bag onto the bed. This was she had initially packed:
lavender sweatshirt cardigan – Lands’ End; earrings – Buana; bracelet – Kendra Scott; “Iridescent Watery Purple” nail polish – Anna Sui; linen cotton sweater – Lands’ End; sunglasses – Rebecca Minkoff; white and striped tees – Lands’ End; floral dress – Lands’ End: denim skirt – J.Crew; chino crop pants – Lands’ End; navy water shoes – Lands’ End; navy ballet flats – Trotters
They talked about packing, on the way back into town. What food in the refrigerator should they bring? They need to get a couple of boxes so that they can move as much of their food as possible, and they have to be certain that they have ALL of the computer gear possible…
Even though their home in town isn’t far, they don’t want to be going back and forth – that kind of violates the whole idea of self-isolation!
Our heroine knows that most of the laundry is done; she will bring the dirty laundry with her to take care of at the farmhouse. The towels, the sheets, dish cloths… But what will she pack for herself?
First, she knows that she will want sandals, and another pair of cropped pants. And some TEAL!
Heart earrings – Aoy; teal tunic sweater – Lands’ End; tee – L.L.Bean; white canvas cropped pants – L.L.Bean; sandals – Splendid
Sigh… she stands in her closet door for a second. Reversible dress? Heck yes! And a couple of yellow pieces, to cheer up the days…
Her other teal top seems obvious. A pair of shorts makes sense since we’re easing into the end of April and that means warm weather might be soon!
She loves her sparkly Keds – maybe she needs to wear them more often? A cheery yellow and teal necklace certainly belongs with this wardrobe! And her favorite scarf… It’s not really a scarf destination, but she likes to have it handy. Maybe just to look at and enjoy…
Yellow and teal tank tops – Lands’ End; necklace – Catherine Offei Kwapong; yellow cardigan – Lands’ End; reversible dress – Lands’ End; scarf – GISY; shorts – L.L.Bean; glitter sneakers – Keds
She packs in a flash, and heads back downstairs to make certain that there’s not a stray dish of tuna salad in the back of the refrigerator…
When they get back to the farmhouse, the first priority is stowing all of that food! And then starting a load of laundry – these sheets can go RIGHT onto their bed upstairs!
Finally, she has a few moments to go back upstairs and arrange her new spring and summer wardrobe:
She generally isn’t the woman who plans her outfits days in advance, but as she hangs things up, she does give a bit of thought to what she has, and what she can do with it!
The afternoon has warmed up considerably, and a breeze has begun to rustle things about. Maybe she should hang those sheets outdoors to dry?
love,
Janice
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oh my gosh, what a beautiful wardrobe. Thank you for the early morning eye candy
You will laugh but this is almost exactly my real-life experience. I’ve only been back into town once to pick up things I overlooked in my first quick packing when I had no idea how long we’d be staying! I’m in Florida, so round two included more shorts/skirts and lightweight tops. I added more colorful tops to brighten things up a bit. I’ve kind of abandoned the idea of the “third piece” to complete my outfits since no one is really going to see it, but I do add a scarf or jewelry for my Zoom calls!
Yeah..my 30+ years of scarf collecting fills one drawer…and I run and grab one when a Zoom call is coming up!
I’m so glad that I’m not the only one with a drawer full of scarves. My drawer is 3 foot wide. In fact, it can only hold half my scarf collection or is it a hoard. I circulate them every six months and do edit them. Perhaps someone should invent a collective plural for scarves!
Such beautiful colours! I love this wardrobe.
Love this even more now with the addition of teal. And that reversible LE dress is cute!
I did not expect to enjoy this wardrobe so much (yellow and teal? yellow and lavender?) and indeed, I absolutely cannot wear yellow, though I enjoy it on others, but I love this wardrobe. Such a nice variety of casual to rather elegant, I think she needs a nice navy wrap dress for an unexpected elegant evening or television interview, but otherwise all set.
As an avid, longtime reader, I live for your posts to start my morning. At home, I’m either watching tv, reading, baking or housecleaning. I’ve been wearing some fun or fancy jewelry and scarves, my favourite travel pants around the house, a lightweight cardigan and various tops, with my comfy Skechers as house shoes. Morning indoor exercise requires just shorts and a tank top. For our daily walks, I switch out to jeans (warmer), hiking shoes, hat, sweater and jacket and mask or buff. With our recent warmer weather, I can work out in the yard and wear work jeans, waterproof clogs, button seersucker shirt with collar for sun protection and a sun hat with gardening gloves. None of this works for me with white pants or skirts or dresses. If I lived in a much warmer climate this would all make more sense for me. I’m wondering what activities this heroine is doing when she’s not walking the neighborhood or sitting in the house. It’s funny to think I can change outfits three or four times a day and still be isolated. PS What great finds the scarf and teal/yellow necklace are! They fit in perfectly.
This heroine must be working hard at Home to keep our economy and her family’s economy going strong. I was thoughtless to forget how many of you are not older retired people like myself. My hat is off to all of you struggling to keep the rest of us afloat. Thank you.
Belovedest hits the computer before 7 a.m. most days; I believe that he might single-handedly be keeping the entire stock market functioning correctly…
hugs,
Janice
‘Working hours’ are out of the window. Who sets 9 to 5 anyway? My boss has shown herself to be an early bird sending emails at 7.30am. Problem is that I find myself getting up later. So she doesn’t get a reply until 11am!
But when your boss gets that 7pm email, she’ll be impressed!
Gorgeous painting, gorgeous wardrobe! 😍 Everything is so light and pretty. It all blends harmoniously.
I see that you’ve included the linen jumper in both Lavender and Teal. I just wish the UK site had it in Lavender as well as the Teal. It’s great when you find a style of garment you like and it suits you. I have the same style Marks and Spencer fine knit cardigan in many different shades.
And as much as I love the colour yellow, it doesn’t suit my complexion any more. So I’ll just have to wear pink – again!
Co-signed, Beth. The pullover sweaters are also calling my name (oh boy, available in my size and on sale)…and the glittery Keds (if they were more golden than silver, I would not be able to resist)!
I would also select pink in place of yellow (though I was surprised to like the yellow/teal combination more than I would have expected), add a silver statement necklace and a pair of pastel patterned Skecher-type shoes, and then give this entire wardrobe to my mom (pale, 70, silver hair) while I wait for my hair to start graying.
I wasn’t sure about yellow and lavender for tops/cardigans because they don’t go together IMO but I still easily generated 14 outfits that were all different from what Janice showed us. This well demonstrates the idea that accent colors don’t all need to go together to still have a mix and match wardrobe.
Also, so glad to learn that our heroine’s country house is only 5 minutes from town; this helps allay concerns that their relocation could strain the rural medical system 😉
You might try phoning Lands’ End – at least here in the US they are among the most lovely of people with whom to do business. It’s a long shot, but what the heck…
(when you’re isolated, you can find reasons to phone almost anybody!)
hugs,
Janice
Janice,
Yellow and teal ! Why have I never thought of this as my two accents ? I think I’ll pull back out of storage the teal pieces that I had packed away for Autumn wear ! I like getting maximum wear out of the colors that I do have and am always looking for different “ pairings’. Though not necessarily to be worn together, although they could be, but to be used within a capsule as my two or three complementary ( warm and cool and light and dark) accent colors . While I like the lavender as a third accent, for my coloring I’d have to use periwinkle ( I think — will have to see what is hiding in my storage bins and try them on ) ! Great food for thought and options post !
I wear monochrome teal for walks in the woods. It’s the darkest green I wear and helps me blend in so I don’t frighten the wildlife. My husband wears olive and brown and can become invisible in the trees!
Gorgeous colors in this painting- a wonderful choice of inspiration for a spring wardrobe.
Just want you to know – the lavender jacket and the lavender cotton/linen tunic in your first post are most decidedly NOT the same color. The tunic really leans mauve rather than lavender. Yes, I ordered both based on your post and yes, I am keeping both! They’re lovely pieces, just not together.
Lovely wardrobe!
While I can’t wear yellow I’m really enjoying these pops of sunshine in your posts.
I’m swooning over this one! The colors! And that necklace!
Just pondering that if I had a lovely house in the country just five miles away, I’d live in it permanently. Then isolation would be a pleasure. Since the lockdown, we have become very conscious of the birds singing loudly all the time (I live next to a local nature reserve – a blessing). They no longer have to compete with traffic noise from the motorway. We are on a flight path as well but now there are hardly any flights.
Such pretty colors! This is a great wardrobe for isolation, vacation, or working from home! I work in a very casual office and could wear many of these pieces to work too. I am not really liking working from home but trying to do what’s best for my husband and our family. Love your stories Janice! Thank You!!
This is a beautiful wardrobe. I love that floral dress.
I have a white and blue toile skirt (husband calls it the dinner plate skirt) that I only wear with a navy T-shirt. I’d love to wear it more often, but can’t figure out how…
Well, my first, obvious though is something white – a sleeveless blouse, or a lightweight sweater?
But don’t rule out wearing a completely different color with your skirt; yellow, green, pink? Pretty much anything will go beautifully with navy and white…
hugs,
Janice
Beth t: a whoosh of scarves?