Making a long story longer...

 It all started with this picture.  A friend pinned it on Pinterest, and although I don't spend much time on that site, I was on at the right time and saw this, falling in love with the color combo. I never got this out of my mind. A blue and gold outfit was in my future. 

I don't wear heels like this for more than a few minutes, and I already own a couple of pairs of gold shoes.  What I really needed, considering the six-month winter we've had, was more boots.  I started looking for royal blue boots.  I found a nice pair of suede boots with a short, chunky heel.  My knees got happy.  Soon after I ordered them, I came across a vintage gold sleeveless top at a thrift store.  I really liked it and envisioned this outfit with a royal blue skirt and boots, with my gold top.  I could not find a skirt, so I finally went to JoAnn Fabrics and looked in the remant bin.  Voila!  Two yards of a nice weight, royal blue polyester which could not have been more perfect.  

I haven't sewn in a long time.  This skirt proves it.  The top was ill-fitting and in dire need of darts.  As an extreme "apple" shape girl, I need help with shaping.  Still I took the pictures.  It was an epic fail, and I'm not afraid to admit it.  

The smile is totally fake. I couldn't wait to get this horrid thing off.

I do love the thrifted ($2) vintage gold clutch, and the earrings turned "scatter pins", since my ears aren't pierced.

See?  Aren't they pretty??

The next part of the story is this dress, and many others I've seen like it.  

I love the stripes going in all kinds of directions.  It looks great on the model and I pinned it for my niece because she has a similar body type.  All last summer the striped maxi and denim jacket look was one that I wanted to try, but I never had the components.  Jean jackets are really tough for me, as is any jacket really.  The extreme apple, super short waist and aversion to anything "stiff", especially around my neck means that the whole concept of a jean jacket goes against my grain.  But you know how it is with fashion sometimes...we just take the pain.  

Still smarting from the failed blue and gold attempt, I chucked the skirt, put the top away for another day and a cardigan, and stared at my beautiful blue boots.  My daughter was more than happy to break them in for me, and I have to admit that her yellow cords and royal blue sweater looked awesome with the boots.  I didn't take a picture--too jealous.  A few weeks later I happened upon this little spot while waiting for my son at soccer practice.  Gotta keep busy, right?  

Way off my normal route.  Good thing I like driving!

So while there I found two of my most elusive finds.  A black and white maxi dress and a jean jacket!  The dress is Lane Bryant, which means it's plus size, and the jacket is unstructured, soft, and short-sleeved.  I'm not a huge fan of long sleeves either, and usually push them up if I can. I grabbed both and sang my way to the counter. (They play great music in Goodwill, btw.)

There was my Sunday outfit, hanging right in front of me when I got up this morning. I tried a few pairs of shoes, but the dress was just too long. I even hitched it up a bit with a silver brooch at the waistline, because I really wasn't in the mood for tripping up the steps to the choir stand. I took a few sideways glances at those boots and...YES! Definitely! And that almost ends the story of how I got dressed today. Riveting.

As luck would have it, my niece had the black and white striped bangle lying around when I stopped over there today.  HAD.  TO.  HAVE.  IT.  Even if it's only on loan.  The other bracelets were already in my collection.  And THAT ends the story.  

The comfort and color of these boots is everything right now.  I feel like a total "Glamour Do".  Even with my first failed attempt at rocking them, I think I did a good thing.  No Glamour Do is complete without a Glamour "Don't" to compare it to.  Of course the goal is always to do it better the second time.  In my case, much, much better.