The Mystery Box has arrived!

 

I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment today.  However, the doctor took off for vacation, and I never received a call to change my appointment.  Yet, I enjoyed being able to sleep late and relax.

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The Mystery Box I ordered from Universal Standard finally came in the mail.  As usual, there were some out of season items in the shipment - there were two items with turtlenecks.  However, there were 3 dresses I could wear now, two of them likely to stay in my wardrobe. Given that I am not a cisgender woman, I have to be careful in how I dress.  I don't want to be seen as a man in a dress.  I would rather be seen as a homely woman in that same dress.  So I am careful to choose dresses that draw attention to parts of the body I like, and hide parts of the body that I don't like.

I'm not sure if I'll wear either of the two wrap dresses from the box that often.  But I will consider it IF I wear a statement necklace.  It took me a while to figure out how to work one of the belt ties, and it will be an ongoing pain each time I wear either of these dresses.  (FYI: The belt from the left side of the dress goes through a hole on the right side of the dress, so that one can tie the two sides together for a safe fit.  Given that I don't have a woman's hips, I'm not sure whether I wasted my money.  But the wrap dresses from the "Dresses" shipment look much better than the shirt dress I received in the "Miscellaneous Items" shipment.

Do I feel that I wasted some money?  Yes.  But, as usual, there is usually enough in the box to make the gamble worth the money I spend on the box.  And I think the same holds true for this shipment....

Mystery Boxes - a short note.

 

The other day, I broke down and bought 2 "Mystery Boxes" from Universal Standard.  Sometime in the near future, I will receive 2 dresses and 3 other unknown pieces of clothing.  And I can't wait to see what's in those boxes.

I mention the boxes, as RQS also receives Universal Standard's catalogs in the mail.  Today, I sent her a link to an 'on-sale' dress that might look good on her.  It's inexpensive enough that she may just buy it and have the hem length tailored to her needs.  It's strange to be telling someone I've dated what might look good on her.  Yet, RQS and I feel comfortable enough talking about Marian that I can do just this.

Of course, RQS hasn't seen me in-person in Marian Mode.  Although she's comfortable with me in the abstract, the reality of seeing me in-person this way may upset her.  But we've gone this far without her running away.  So, keep your fingers crossed for me....

It's hard to believe that I haven't done any serious shopping in a while.

Recently, the above dress was displayed as part of an ad from Karina Dresses on my Facebook feed.  Given that this company is based in the USA and makes its garments in the USA, I had to take a closer look at their web site.  

Karina calls its products as the "Original Easy Dress".  Given that they have a decent selection of dresses each with multiple patterns on sale, it's worth my effort to get to know this brand a little more.  And, given that their one store is located about 90 minutes from me, it's just as much of an effort for me to visit their store as it would be to visit Universal Standard's store before it closed due to the pandemic.

Yet, with all the shopping options out there, nothing seems to say "Buy Me!"  I'm at the stage of wardrobe building where I want to carefully fill in wardrobe gaps, and not buy things for the excitement of receiving something new off the UPS truck.  I'm also at the stage in life where I should seriously get my act together and lose some weight before my health starts to deteriorate.  So, assuming that I start losing weight, I will need to refresh my wardrobe while I shrink - it doesn't make sense to buy things I don't need and won't be able to use for the long term.

I hope that once I start losing weight, that I can use the above image as a model for how I want to look.  Yes, I will need to have some plastic surgery, as my former cruise partner needed after her weight loss. But I will look so much better after having done all of this.
 

 

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....

Opening up a mystery box or two

 

I like the above picture of me.  In it, I almost look like a pretty old grandmother - and that pleases me. Yesterday, I received my mystery boxes from Universal Standard and got 7 items.  The 6 pictures below are the items I will likely wear.

 

(Mine is in Merlot)

The three dresses I received are all good for Fall/Winter wear, and I plan to try them out when the weather gets cooler.  Although the two items below will be good for summer, I am not sure if the shorts may be appropriate for wearing outside.  I will check with Vicki before wearing them.

 

(Mine is in Merlot)

From what you can see in the above pictures, was it worth $200 to get these quality garments?  It was a gamble I might not take again, but I'll answer that question later in the year.  My friends in Texas game me the thumbs up on the boxes, so I think I may have been lucky....

The mystery box has arrived

 

A couple of months ago, I placed an order with Universal Standard for two "Mystery Boxes."  One box was for Athleisure Wear, and the other was for Dresses. The two "boxes" came in a single delivery, and there was not a thing I could wear   ...at this time of year.

The Athleisure box had 4 items:

• V-Neck Short Sleeve T-Shirt (Black/White Striped)
• Shorts (Navy Blue)
• Sweatshirt (Merlot)
  
• Bandeau Top (Gray)      ----    There is no way I'll wear this, so it goes in the donation pile.
  

The Dresses box had 3 items:

• Shirt Dress (Merlot)
• Turtleneck Dress (Dark Green)
• Sweatshirt Dress (Navy Blue)

I think for buying a pig in a poke, I may have gotten my money's worth.  But would I do it again?  Maybe.  But I'll think about gambling a little more carefully next time.  Right now, I'm not in the mood to try on the dresses to see how they look.  But I will do so soon, take some pictures, and post them for my readers to comment on.