Sunshine and blue skies

Sunshine and bright blue skies make me giddy. They make me want to spend all day outside, and they put me in the best mood in the world. Conversely, this means that overcast skies really bum me out. I probably need one of those lamps that mimic sunlight, because for about half the year I feel "meh" as opposed to great. This is why I'm drawn to bright colors - my closet is full of them and my walls are covered with them. If I can't have the real thing, then I'll settle for a pick-me-up from my clothes. This outfit was from last Saturday, the nicest day of the year so far, and I felt so good about it that I had to wear bright colors to celebrate.

I can't believe I had put these shoes in the garage sale pile a few years ago. Luckily, they never made it to a real garage sale, and I found them a few months ago and scolded myself for wanting to get rid of them in the first place. Then I returned them to their rightful place on my shoe shelf in the closet. I pulled out the original white ribbons and put in some red ones of my own. I foresee a happy future of swapping out colored ribbons to go with different outfits, and I don't think I'm going to part with these shoes again until they fall apart.

Top: Gap

Skirt: thrifted from Crossroads Trading Co.

Belt: thrifted from aunt

Shoes: Ann Taylor Loft

Earrings: thrifted from aunt

Bracelet: gift, from Italy

 
I wore this outfit when we went to the Starlight Parade in downtown Portland on Saturday evening with some friends. The Starlight Parade is one of the many things I love about Portland. It starts just before nightfall and goes until after dark, and it's always full of fun and quirky entertainment like bellydancers, square dancing on truck beds, unicycling children, and people dressed in Star Wars costumes. There were about 250,000 people who attended, so as you can imagine downtown was absolutely packed. Thankfully we live half a mile from the parade route, and were able to walk there and back instead of drive.