Another Birthday and Thanks to all for your good wishes!

Thank you Betsy for the birthday wishes.   I've always been honest about my age and what I really look like.   I got a call from Denise and my sister and a friend I used to work with in Northern VA and lots of e-mails.    We met our son and his GF for a nice birthday dinner yesterday evening.    Thanks to all of you for your sweet wishes and insightful comments.    Hoping all of you have a safe and enjoyable memorial day weekend with friends and family. 

Today was warm and DH had an appointment for a minor ailment in the afternoon, so we had lunch before and then while I waited for him, I spent the time at a high end consignment store in the same shopping center south of town.  TDF Stella McCartney, Prada,  Lilith, Armani apparel, shoes, handbags ..  all the good stuff.    I had an interesting conversation with Leslie,  who had worked for a high end apparel line in NYC before marrying into an Asheville family, and moving here.   It's so much fun talking to someone with good taste who understands fabrics, quality and construction details.  I wore this cotton Tosca Dress I made in January with a black jersey camisole underneath.   She loved it and it was perfect for the day.  I'm still wearing it this evening.

The Ballerina hybrid musk roses are blooming

I've learned that you have to take control of your own health and future because nobody else will.   Our attitude,  faith and hope is most important in dealing with whatever we are struggling with.    I will get through this.    If any of you get the Good Housekeeping Magazine, there's an interview with Michael J. Fox in the June issue.    He talks about his family and dealing with Parkinson's.     That interview was so inspirational to me and really hit home.   When such things happen your priorities change or alter.    Some people already have their priorities straight but others .....   Stuff is just stuff,  it's people who matter and how we behave and support one another.    This statement he made (top of page 2) really hit home:

MJF: One of the great things about Parkinson's, in a superficial way, is it relieved me of vanity. I don't worry about what I look like, because it's literally out of my hands. But on a deeper level, it gives you a real humility, because you have to deal every day with the fact that you compromise, to a certain extent...so then you explore what that compromise is and "How am I compromised?" And for everything I can't do, I find that there's another ability that's been developed or another avenue that I've gone down.

I never considered myself a vain person.   Actually I was always too busy to be vain.   I could be dressed, put on a little make-up and be out the door in 15 minutes.   I always had a tight schedule when I worked so I planned and could pull together mix and match business appropriate coordinates that were ready to just fold into a suitcase to go anywhere from Japan to Panama to some AFB in the middle of the country.   With as little effort as possible I made it a point to look nice when going out, and I still do.

The difference today is that with these neurological problems everything takes longer to do and you get tired faster.   One of the reasons I got my hair cut short was that I just wanted to be able to wash and go without the need to style, even though that only took five minutes just to put a round brush through to smooth and style.     I try to remember to put a little powder on so I'm not so shiny but eye make-up  -- who cares,  besides some of it irritates my eyes after only a couple of hours.     So here's what 59 year old me wore last Sunday (I'm hanging onto my walker that you can't see - uh oh there's that vanity LOL).   This outfit is from a couple of the designers who teamed up with Target.    I took both easy pack and care pieces on our trip to Italy back in September 2008.    The dress is cotton/modal with bias stripes meeting in center front and center back seams with a contrast band at the bottom.   The versatile cotton eyelet duster was actually marketed as a bathing suit cover-up and has snap tape to close.     I like to wear it as a layering piece and roll up the sleeves depending on the weather.   Both of these styles would be easy to copy using basic patterns.   The duster is basically the Sewing Workshop Now Shirt without the collar.    The dress has a tiny cap sleeve and is the same in the back with a higher neckline.