I’ve never actually worn this outfit in real life. About one year ago, I tried on this Eileen Fisher jumper dress when it was full price (>200 bucks), bought it, brought it home, and decided it wasn’t a good idea, and returned it the next day. Three months passed, and I found the same dress on sale for less than $100 on the internet and bought it, satisfied that I snagged a good deal. I quickly realized that I didn’t have any good tops for this jumper. It didn’t look right over my usual crew neck long sleeves. For some reason, it only seemed to look right with turtlenecks. I have a couple white mock neck tops, but the white was too stark of a contrast against the navy.

Then one day I randomly strolled past the Cuyana store in Venice (I didn’t even know they had a brick and mortar store before this), and found this black pima cotton turtleneck. While in Cuyana, I touched almost every piece of clothing and handbag in the store to get a sense of the quality. Everything indeed felt high quality, especially their hand bags.

A few more months passed, and I still have not worn this outfit. What I didn’t anticipate when I bought the dress was how cold my office would be every day. As a result, I haven’t wanted to wear anything other than pants. Back in New York, where it was frequently cold, I routinely wore winter leggings under my dresses, that were tucked neatly into socks and boots, such that no skin was showing. Well, in LA, it’s never so cold as to require socks or boots. This creates a bit of a sartorial dilemma. I want to wear leggings under my dress to stay warm, but it’s not quite cold enough to wear socks. I usually wear mules and flats at work. Leggings would leave my ankles bare and out there. Something about that look– leggings with bare ankles, and flats– feels juvenile, and unprofessional. Tights (leggings that cover the feet) would seem like the logical solution, but I absolutely hate wearing tights because they are usually made of slippery materials that cause my feet to slip back and forth in my shoes. What I’ll probably have to do is break the office rules and sneak in a space heater under my desk, fire hazard be damned. That should unleash 50% of my wardrobe that has laid dormant due to indoor weather conditions.

I thought I’d wear this black turtleneck more, but the association with Elizabeth Holmes kind of killed it for me. Oh well.

But anyway, I decided to try this outfit on today after getting it back from the tailor, who took 2 inches off the hem. It looks a lot better at this length, just slightly above the knee. The original length was a bit too matronly and overwhelming.

In other news, we all survived the earthquakes that hit Southern California. LA is a good 150 miles away from the epicenter of the quake, so the quakes felt like very mild swaying back and forth, not strong enough to knock anything over. It did give me flashbacks of the Northridge earthquake back in 1994. I recall being shaken awake by that one when I was 9 years old. That one felt much stronger and I remember feeling so scared that my knees were literally shaking long after the ground had stopped shaking.

What’s more frightening are the numerous aftershocks that come after a big quake, that happen every couple hours after the initial shock. It’s unnerving not knowing if the shaking will progress into an even bigger quake than the original. This recent earthquake was a good reminder to make sure our apartment is arranged safely, keeping tall heavy objects away from the bed or around our escape route. I moved all the glass jars and cans in our pantry to the lowest shelf and moved all the lightweight stuff to the top shelves.

In other news | A minority of my readers are interested in the music I listen to and recommend around here, which is often strange and creepy I’ll admit. There was a bit of a dry spell for music. I haven’t been impressed by much these days. Sharon Van Etten might have been the last one? But this week I’ve been binge listening to Dilly Dally. They aren’t new. Their last album came out in 2018, but they definitely went under the radar, even in the indie music scene. If you’re into early 90’s rock, the Pixies and shoegaze, you’ll like Dilly Dally. Kate Monk’s vocals are raw, un-pretty, compelling; she’ll bring you back to 90’s angst but manages to feel modern and relevant while doing so.