Visible Monday - Memorial Day

First, I would like to say "Thank You" to all current and former members of our military for their service to our Country and each of us. Thank you as well to their families.

My outfit for today contains stars and stripes to honor the day. It certainly made me feel visible in my red, white, and blue.

Top: Eloquii
Jeans: NYDJ
Scarf: Carla's Love It Boutique
Sandals: Think! Julia
Silly Dog: Harry

Bracelet: Leighelena

The above picture doesn't do the bracelet justice. It is absolutely beautiful. It's a gold hologram stingray that positively shines in the sunlight. This bracelet was created by an Austin, Texas based artist, Leigh Elena Navarro, who creates beautiful handcrafted jewelry from leather, exotic skins, and enamel. Her jewelry is sold in more than 600 stores and is also available online. I am not affiliated with this business in any way and I purchased the bracelet myself. I just love her creations and like supporting creative artists. If you would like to see more of her jewelry, please visit Leighelena .

Please join Patti of Not Dead Yet Style for  Visible Monday to find women who create their own unique style to inspire us.

Not the best, but it is an outfit

I am really sorry that I haven't been posting outfit photos. My husband has not been getting up early enough to get photos. He has also had to work overtime, so I don't want to push the issue. Anyway, here is an outfit. It did not turn out the way I wanted it to. The scarf had slipped around and down and didn't look the way I wanted. Sometimes it just happens that way.



I hope that on this holiday weekend I can get several outfit photos taken. 

Top: Chico's
Jeans: Lane Bryant
Scarf: Etsy
Sandals: Think Julia

Since I had this picture taken, I have had my hair cut. I tried a new stylist, and we will have to work together to get it just right. The cut looks great on day one after a shampoo, but the second day it is hard to style. I am sure we can work on it to get it where it needs to be. Part of the problem is that I have so many different lengths in it due to growing it out from a very short cut. 

Scarf and Bracelet

For those of you who like Mr. Harry, here is a picture I took. It is hard to capture him rolling around in the yard, so the photo is not perfect, but it is cute and I just had to share it. Dogs get an amazing amount of joy from such simple things. Of course, it does make him dirty but he doesn't care.

Happy Parry

I hope you all have a very happy Wednesday!

Visible Monday - I'm back for a Mingle

I have so missed participating in Visible Monday and Monday Mingle. It feels like it has been forever since I participated, but it has only been two weeks. 


My knee is still healing and I am being very careful to make sure not to hit it on anything. I hope to start back with some cycling exercise this week. 


My outfit is inspired from a feature in the April InStyle magazine on wearing Railroad stripe fabrics. I have had my railroad stripe jacket for quite a long time and I have always liked it as an easy layering piece. According to InStyle, you can mix railroad stripes "with other prints large and small--but not against other stripes." I decided to mix it with an eyelet top and my red jeans.


If you have ever wondered why this fabric is called railroad stripes here is a bit of information about it. The general consensus is that a railroad engineer wanted a cap to wear during work and asked his wife to make him one. She used the the only fabric she had available which was blue and white striped pillow ticking. So, what is pillow ticking? It is a heavy-weight fabric, which was often blue and white stripe, that was used to make feather pillows. The weave kept feathers from coming out of the pillow and poking the unsuspecting sleeper. So the engineer's wife used pillow ticking to make the cap which became synonymous with Railroad engineers. My Grandfather worked for the railroad building and repairing box cars for most of his life. I remember him wearing the traditional cap and overalls every day for work. 

Jacket: CJ Banks
Top: Chico's
Jeans: NYDJ
Sandals: Think! Julia

Bracelet on Left: Vintage necklace worn as bracelet
On right from top: Michele Watch, Dillard's Bracelet,
Forever21
Necklace: purchased from local jewelry store.

You may also notice that I did a bit of work on my hair color. I added a Manic Panic Platinum Blond toner to it but it is still not what I want it to be. I plan on adding a Wella toner to it this week to see if it gets to be more what I want. It still has a lot of yellow and orange tones that I don't like. I do like it much more than what it was before I tried my first toner. I really want a silvery gray color. That probably seems a bit weird for a boomer blogger to want gray hair, but I have always thought all over gray hair is gorgeous. Unfortunately, my hair is not all silver, it is a mixture of mousey brown and silver which is not a pretty look. So, I am resorting to color to create the look I want. 


I want to send a heartfelt thank you to all who sent me good wishes and prayers for a swift recovery. It truly is harder to recover as one gets older, but I believe I am getting a bit better every day. Your support during my recovery meant so much to me. 


Please visit the beautiful women on  Monday Mingle  and  Visible Monday  who are sharing their stylish outfits with us all. Happy Monday everyone!

BB Creams - the latest craze on the beauty scene

Until I have some outfits to post, I thought I would share this information that I have been researching for a few days. My knee is improving every day. While keeping it iced, I spent some time on the computer doing something I hope was constructive!


It is so timely that Tamera of Menopausal Supermodel posted about trying the new Garnier BB cream. I have been doing some research on them after I stumbled on a YouTube video about them while researching how to get platinum blond hair. Isn't it funny how you can start out looking for one thing and end up on something totally different? Before I get into more information about them, let me say that what I am writing is what I have found in doing research on them. I hope I am not giving you any incorrect information, but it is possible.

What are BB creams anyway?

BB stands for Blemish Balm, although in the US they are often referred to as Beauty Balm's. The originated in Germany where it was used by dermatologists to help patients recovering from laser procedures and surgery. The use exploded in Asian countries after some Korean actresses revealed that they used them. (Evidently, Asian women are no different than American women in being influenced by celebrities.) They have been available in Korea and Japan for several years but have only become popular recently in the US. A number of companies are now producing them for sale in the US. Garnier, Clinique, Estee Lauder, Dior, Boscia, Dr Jart+, and Stila are some of the many companies now selling them within the US. Some of the more popular Asian cosmetic companies producing them are Missha, BRTC. Hanskin, Skin79, SkinFood, and Dr Jart+. 

What is different about BB Creams?

BB creams are reputed to be a combination product supposed to be a moisturizer, primer, foundation and sunscreen. From the reviews that I have read and video's that I have listened to, most users love them.  Some users wear only the BB cream and others use it as a base for their foundation. It does seem as though you do have to try a number of them to find the one that is just right for your own skin type. 


 I found an excellent source of reviews and information about BB creams here. You can spend hours watching You Tube videos on the products and reading different reviews by beauty bloggers.  


I have yet to try them, but I do have a couple on order: Lioele Triple the Solution and BRTC Gold Caviar. Once I get them and try them I will do a review on how they work or don't work for me. l am particularly interested in the high SPS that is supposed to be a part of this product. I don't know about you, but I am awful about putting on sunscreen on a daily basis. Worse than awful because I rarely put any on unless we are going to be at a swimming pool which happens about once a decade. 


I have plans to go to Sephora tomorrow to check out the Dr Jart+ products. I love that you can sample the products there before purchasing. 


Tamera of Menopausal Supermodel has tried the Garnier BB cream and gave it a good review. Has anyone else tried one of these creams? If so, which ones and do you like it? I will be interested in seeing if they live up to the hype of being such a wonderful product.

Quick update

Thank you all so much for all the good wishes on my recovery. It really meant a lot to me to have so many sweet comments!


Yesterday I went to the Doctor for my post operation follow-up.  They told me I was doing really well for having had the surgery only ten days ago. I have more flexibility at this point in my recovery than most people and I think that is due to the yoga classes (which ironically is where I got the knee injury.) My knee still hurts but not as much as it did early on. I am hoping to get back to exercising later this week. I am sure it will be slow going for a while. 


I have sure missed posting outfits. Quite honestly, I did not get dressed much at all last week. I stayed in my nightclothes as it was easier to get to the cooling pack which was ace bandaged to my leg. Yesterday I wore my yoga pants so that the Dr. could examine my knee easily. Most of my jeans are slim legs and don't pull up over my knee very well. If I am lucky, maybe I can get my DH to take an outfit photo today. 


Again, thank you all for the comments and emails I have received.  I feel so lucky to be a part of this wonderful blogging community!