orange Archives

Pink, Orange and White for Summer? Start With a Swimsuit – Floral Strawberry Watercolor Suit by L.L.Bean x Summersalt

January 31, 2025

I don't believe I've ever before been SO happy to see January end...

You asked for another swimsuit, and I hasten to satisfy. This was a specific request, and I can see why!

Honestly, isn't "Summersalt" the best brand name for swimwear?

My first instinct - I think it would be so for a lot of us - was bright colors. But then when I really spent some time with the image of the swimsuit, I found myself more and more drawn to the soft pink, and the lighter shades of orange..

But let's start with white - always right for hot weather and being near the water:

Next I knew we had to find some soft pink. While the cardigan might seem sort of dressy, I thought that (1) it was worth showing to you, because ... View the Post

Want to Expand a Core Summer Wardrobe? Start with Art! Untitled (Red) 1956 by Mark Rothko

May 15, 2024

Sometimes, you don't have any explanation for what you love... Our heroine felt completely smitten when she saw this:

She already has her core summer wardrobe in hand, with navy and white, and coral accents.... but these colors. OH THESE COLORS!

I feel this way about shades of purple, so I'm sympathetic...

She takes a good look at her current summer wardrobe, because you don't want to just fly off in all directions without any thought at all...

And then, she shops! This might look like a ton of stuff to add to your summer wardrobe, but I have a hunch that if many of us collected everything together that we buy between early May and the end of August, it's as much as this or more!

I know that I can ... View the Post

March 2024 Start with a Bracelet – Sunny Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

March 29, 2024

She's pretty happy... she needs an entirely new warm weather wardrobe!

And she's starting with this as her inspiration:

She knew all along that she wanted navy and bone to be her neutrals, and when she saw these bracelets, she realized that orange would be an AMAZING accent color.... You don't see it every day!

She's a sensible woman - she started with her neutral colors, making certain that she included shorts, a pair of pants, and a skirt...

Here's where the fun started - sort of! Orange isn't the easiest color in the world to find! But she managed...

yes, I'm working with this computer ON MY LAP in a room at a skilled nursing facility... I owe Alison at Fierce Lynx Designs a big apology, ... View the Post

Five Accent Colors with Five Neutrals

October 12, 2022

Ah, the last 5 Pantone colors from New York Fashion Week! Just to make things interesting, I brought along five different neutral color "clusters" to test-drive with these VERY varied colors...

To me, this peachy color cried out for some camel...

And I think these are perfect together!

For about the ten thousandth time, if you look good in yellow - WEAR IT! It's not easy to wear for some of us, and it's such a great accent...

I'm picturing this heroine living somewhere that's warm most of the year, so her favorite neutral is white:

I think this is lovely - the top outfit, on a rainy day, with the right coat and umbrella, would cheer up everyone you saw!

I'm tempted to wear ... View the Post

July 2022 Start with a Bracelet: The Heritage Lynx Bracelets

July 29, 2022 Her Great-Grandmother... gardened, and harvested edible wild plants and flowers. Our heroine has all of the notebooks that she kept from her garden and from the forests on her property...

Now, she travels to teach any group of people who want to learn what she learned from her great-grandmother! This long weekend, she's headed up into the far north to a small school that specializes in traditional crafts and folklore...

The weather will probably be cool...

Generally speaking, these events are VERY casual, but she's learned that it is wise to have a skirt with her, just in case!

And she likes to pack shorts, no matter how cool the weather will be. There's just nothing like hiking in the forest, wearing ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Slav Epic by Alfons Mucha

May 4, 2022

Wear Your Colors She always took it to heart - auburn hair, ivory skin, lots of golden freckles...

So when she was invited to her friend's country home for the weekend, packing was easy! These weekends are basically a lot of eating, a lot of laughing, and a LOT of napping...

After dropping by her office for a few hours, she catches the bus; she will have to walk a bit when she arrives, but she will be nice and hungry when she gets there... Dinner is always late on Friday nights!

Many of the friends assembled there will sleep late - although there are always a couple of ambitious people who get up before dawn to go hiking!

Brunch will last for HOURS... followed by naps for most of them. If you're not ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Louis C. Tiffany Peonies Neckerchief

February 4, 2022

After I showed you this neckerchief last Monday, the 31st, more than a few of you asked me to expand upon it's lovely colors...

I have just the heroine for this color palette! Mature Plant Salvage Nobody really understands what her landscaping company does, until they really need her help!

Like the University that added a number of classroom/research buildings to their campus ALL AT ONCE, and now have a bare eyesore of land, interspersed with lovely structures...

"It will be beautiful in 100 years, when everything grows up around it and softens the edges..."

Well, that's NOT what she sees! She sees places to put trees that she saved from a condo development site on the north side. Corners of ... View the Post

September 2021 Start with a Bracelet: The Cozy Lynx Bracelets

September 24, 2021

Finally.... She's going to go up to the cabin, and she's NOT LEAVING until the fireplace works properly...

She's saved money through the pandemic for just such a project, and it occurred to her (in the middle of the night, as such things will) that this would be the best investment she could make.

Winter in the cabin. Without frostbite. Without frozen water in the mornings.... sigh....

She knows that she will need warm clothes for this trip - there won't be any heat at first, and the people working on the fireplace will be in and out.

Her first thought is to pack her usual denim and shades of grey; then she looks at her favorite bracelets, and tweaks her palette just a bit!

She picks out her ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Tiger in the Grass by Echo

December 16, 2020 Channeling her Inner Tiger This is her new favorite scarf:

She loves the colors, and the image of the tiger...

The tiger is going to be VERY important to her during the next couple of days; she's going to have to be quite... tough? Assertive? Imposing?

Suffice to say that she might encounter some acrimony, and she's going to have to stand up for herself!

She's only going to be there 2 days, possibly 3. But during that time, she is going to use all of the tools and resources available to her to represent herself as strong, capable, and decisive!

The night before she leaves, she grabs her tiger scarf and assembles a travel capsule wardrobe that is perfect with it. Sometimes she's more the ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Butterfly Wings from Echo

September 7 2020 Pollinators! Yes, people who study pollinators have conferences - EVERYBODY who studies almost anything has a conference most years! And she's going to this one...

Her travel capsule wardrobe is going to be based on this beauty:

Most of her colleagues study bees - and rightly so - but her specialty is butterflies! And so she's going to wear her scarf often, building a wardrobe around these colors:

For no good reason she can think of, she's going to wear her white jeans to get there. She's not worried... She's more thrilled with her new blazer, and matching earrings:

Weather reports for her destination are all OVER the place, so she's going to take her black shirt with her, so she can wear it under ... View the Post

How to Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Bracelet – August 2020

August 21, 2020 Ultimate Job Security...

She's a little bit steamed right now; she doesn't want to travel, but that ONE office that always has issues with their computer network... is having... you guessed it.... ISSUES WITH THEIR COMPUTER NETWORK.

She tried to talk them through the fix. She drew pictures. She wrote checklists. She photographed the computers in THEIR office and put little notes on the photograph to show them what to do.

Not happening.

So she's headed there... against her best judgment and preferences. And she's seeing red...

(okay, maybe it's orange!)

She loves her new bracelet - the knot charm reminds her of the linking and integration that she loves so much in computer networking. So she's using ... View the Post

How to Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Bracelet – July 2020

July 17, 2020

This bracelet just screams sun and sea...

They keep inviting her to come up to their house for the weekend - there's enough room for her to have a bedroom/bathroom all to herself...

She's welcome to eat at a distance, too. Basically, they want to give her a safe break!

Sigh.... she can rent a car and drive up, rather than take the shuttle bus. Maybe this will work?

She thinks about what to pack - not much, for sure!

Her summer palette is bright, cheerful, and quintessentially summery:

She knows that it gets cool up there in the evenings, and she's going to need a sweater when she gets on the ferry...

She doesn't really plan to swim; she just wants to walk on the rocky beaches. ... View the Post