It feels like I’ve been shopping more than usual lately. I’m getting to know what I need in my wardrobe for this new place, weather, and stage in my life; I held back for a while, but now I’m just going for it. No time to waste.

I’ve been wearing my alpaca blend Eileen Fisher, aka “Mr. Rogers” cardigan a little too much lately (nearly everyday); I thought I better give it a break for a while, and decided to search for some new indoor-friendly outerwear to add to the rotation. I already own two very thin cardigans, but they are not warm enough for the frigid indoor temps, so I knew I needed something with some weight. I liked this one from J. Crew.

When I picked it up, I decided it was time to drop off the old cardigan at the dry cleaners to freshen up and de-pill. I’m a little nervous about what the dry cleaners will do to it. Do they need to treat alpaca differently from other knits? I told the guy it was alpaca, but this did not seem to register as special in any way to him, just a blank stare and “it’ll be ready on Monday”. Fingers crossed they don’t destroy it. I’ve had bad luck with dry cleaners, as long time readers might recall, like the time they spilled bleach on my APC coat, and the time the tailor at the dry cleaners threw away the original hem on my Jesse Kamm pants (which we managed to salvage later).

Last year, I tried on a similar style cardigan from J crew that was longer; it was more like a coat than a blazer. I didn’t buy it because it seemed a bit excessive for weather in LA. I was hesitant to buy this one because I know I’m not a “blazer person”, even though sometimes I want to be one, but this is barely a blazer. It feels relaxed and more like a cardigan I convinced myself, so hopefully this means I’ll actually wear it.

I donated my old Everlane form sandals to Goodwill because they had stretched out quite a bit and were torn up at the soles. I stopped wearing them. I doubt they will actually re-sell at Goodwill though. I replaced those sandals with these ones by Vince. I love the style, it feels very southwestern. They feel sort of delicate though; the outsoles are made of leather, they would very easily scratch up after extended walks on pavement; I want to preserve them by only wearing them at home or for short walks with the dog.

In other news, I bought a snake print jumpsuit… Who am I?! It’s a bit crazy but the print is surprisingly tasteful. Just like a good cheetah print, snake print can feel very neutral too if you’re selective about it. I’m going to save it for weddings or a night out, but might venture into throwing this sweater-blazer over top and wearing it to work too.

And finally, my Black and Decker clothing iron died, after 5 short years of light use. I noticed it wasn’t taking wrinkles out of my clothes anymore, even after going over the same area 10x. It hardly produced any steam, and was leaking excessive amounts of water. I own a handheld steamer, which gets the job done for my blouses, but I need both an iron and a steamer. I need the iron mainly to press creases back into my pants. I went into a rabbit hole of trying to find “the best” clothing iron. Gosh, shopping in the internet era can drive a person mad. I ended up choosing the iron manufacturer that Martha Stewart recommends: Rowenta. After two hours of ridiculous research, I realized that I “needed” to have an iron capable of producing huge puffs of steam and went for the steamiest iron of all time: The Rowenta Steamforce (here’s a QVC demo vid for those extra curious). It’s probably 3x more than what an iron should cost a person, but ironing clothes is such a chore as it is, I felt it was worth the extra cost, to make this weekly chore a little more pleasant.

As for recent experience-based consumption, I watched the movie Booksmart. It was funny. I really enjoyed it. It’s a modern teenage coming of age story, centering around two teenage female protagonists. It’s technically a teen movie, but feels like it was secretly written for elder millennial women, like me, who were really into shows about female friendships, like Gilmore Girls, and more recently Broad City. But it’s universally liked too, the BF definitely enjoyed it, if you’re in need of a good date night movie rec.