It's amazing how much of a mess was near my desk - a quick post.

 

If I'm guilty of vices other than gluttony, I'd say that my next one might be sloth.  Laziness is a hidden trait that can be attributed to me, as I don't like to work.  This doesn't mean that I won't work hard.  I just avoid hard work whenever I can.

Over the past few months, I have allowed messes to accumulate in the corners of my apartment, and I decided to attack one for a few hours (with a lot of breaks).  It's amazing what one can accomplish when one breaks work down into manageable chunks.  (I guess that my experience of being a project manager helps me in this regard.)

Sooner or later, I will get everything organized in my apartment.  Until then, expect me to talk about my mess now and then.

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This weekend, the weather is supposed to be bad.  So, when I go out as Marian, I'll be wearing a dress over leggings, mimicking the kind of garments a cisgender woman would be wearing in inclement weather.  I've found that the leggings I've bought from Universal Standard are of a much higher quality than what I have bought from Woman Within.  So, I'll try to up my garment game in the future by buying garments from brands I know have the quality level I want.

Why do I mention garment quality?   Simple.  I'm finding that well made athleisure garments tend to be more forgiving of odd shaped people when they are worn.  Not once did I have to pull up Universal's leggings during a day of wearing (except when taking bio-breaks, of course).  I can't say this about the leggings I have bought from WW or Walmart.

There will always be some garments I'll buy at cheaper outlets.  But now that I have developed a sense of my own feminine style, I can afford to buy clothes that I expect will last, instead of clothes I know will end up in a donation bag after a few wearings.

Another long, hot weekend was started early.

 

RQS and I discussed coming up early this weekend.  Although the "Lobster Truck" would be elsewhere, I was able to entice her to come up a day early with oysters - 12 Oysters for $12 at Whole Foods on Fridays between 2 and 5 pm.  So we made plans for her to meet me at Grand Central Terminal after I went to Universal Standard's Sample Sale.

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I got dressed in a comfortable dress on Thursday,  then left my house around noon, proceeding to Manhattan on the 12:42 pm train.  When the train got into Grand Central around 1:45 pm, we got delayed because the train couldn't make it al the way into the station, and had to discharge passengers through the first two cars of the train.  I was totally exhausted by the time I made it to Universal Standard.  (The heat both under and above ground was gruesome, and I was a little dehydrated by this point.)  So, after stopping for some air conditioned comfort, I went upstairs to do some shopping.

Once I was upstairs, I was greeted by a staffer who has seen me at several of the sample sales.  Then, I proceeded to browse the racks to find things I might be interested in.  As much as most of the stuff wasn't worth my interest, I found two items of worth: A blue sleeveless dress (that I wasn't sure that I should buy) and a pair of leggings that I could always wear when the weather gets cooler.  $75 later, I was out of there with garments that would normally sell for over $175 ($40 for the dress and $35 for the leggings)

Leaving the store, I decided to take the East Side local to Brooklyn Bridge, then back uptown to Grand Central.  This way, I could be assured to have a seat in an air conditioned car on its way uptown.  (The last thing I want to do is stand on a subway car being delayed due to problems ahead of us.)  While on my way, I found that RQS was 45 minutes behind me, so I knew I'd have to wait for her at Grand Central.

Around 3:30 pm, I arrived at Grand Central and waited for RQS to arrive, then we took the train back to Croton.  Since there was nothing ready for us to cook, we picked up some food at Trader Joe's and had dinner a little later.

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Friday came, and the focus of the day was to have oysters at Whole Foods.  So, I donned the blue dress I bought the day before, and we drove to Chappaqua.  RQS thought we were going to White Plains, and I wanted to see what it was like on the former Reader's Digest campus.  We got there at 2:30 pm, and the supply of oysters was already starting to run out.  $24 later, we were eating oysters normally selling for twice the price - and they were yummy!  If scheduling works out, we may make this a semi-regular part of our routine.

Once done with our meal, it was off to the jewelers to have a few links taken out of her watch band.  And then, we drove to Cold Spring for Ice Cream before returning home for the night.

Another Short Post

 

I don't have much to say today, save that I was fighting to stay awake after my third cup of coffee wore off.  Somehow, it's either my costume jewelry or my outfits that are getting positive comments from women, and I'm glad to receive them.  My sense of style is maturing, and I'm glad to be out there in the world.

With this being said, I decided to go through some storage containers to look for some dresses I received in Universal Standard's yearly Mystery Box sale.  I figure that I'll wear one of them to work in the morning (with a pair of leggings).  But if I don't like what I see, I'll switch to one of the dresses I've already worn with leggings, and enjoy the rest of the day.

Right now, I figure that I can safely wear dresses as over long tunics and fit in.  This is not the kind of place where women wear dresses in the winter - except, maybe, the way I'll be wearing them for a few weeks.  After that, it's back to trouser like garments again, with tunic tops above.

Thankfully, I'll be back in dresses for my next cruise....