NATURALLY ZEE - Fitness & Natl Hair Journey

My mother passed away a few months ago. It's our first holiday season without her. She is truly missed by me, my father and son. We've ALWAYS been together during the holiday season. Every year we knew the holiday season was approaching soon  starting with my mother's birthday - September 19th, then my parents' wedding anniversary, Oct 10th, then my dad's birthday, Oct 20th, then lastly my birthday, Nov 26th; with Thanksgiving landing on, before or after my birthda. Considering it is the first holiday season without her, we (being myself, my father and brother) decided to travel "home" to Portland, Oregon for the holidays. I was born there and most of our immediately family still lives there. My dad and brother arriving at my apartment

 paisley blouse by eighty sixty thrifted from Buffalo Exchange I was not sure how to wear this blouse - IN or OUT. With my blog title you may have thought I was considering if the paisley pattern was IN or OUT, which did cross my mind. But I don't care if it's the trend or not. I buy clothes based on if I like them or not. There are a lot of styles currently in fashion that I just can't wear because of my big legs and butt. Anyway, I wore this to work yesterday and wasn't sure how to style it, so half the day I wore it in and half the day I wore it out.

This weekend I took photos of MY PEACE of JEWELRY earrings at the beach on my self-made WO-MANNEQUIN head-n-bust bust.

I'm sorry! I am 5'10" tall. I would be 6'5" tall if I wore these shoes. The heel is 5"! I like the look of the shoes but I am tired of seeing them on EVERY blog as theeee SHOE. Do these girls really wear these shoes? Are they able to avoid breaking their ankles in cracks in the sidewalk? Are they able to avoid twisting their ankles stepping down into the street? Are they able to run for a taxi? Run for anything? These are all rhetorical questions. I scour the fashion blogs everyday and I see woman after woman wearing these Jeffrey Campbell shoes and I have to be honest it's getting pretty monotonous. They are cute but I'm done.  Photo via solestruck  Rant for the day

One of the nice things about being a hands-on jewelry designer, you can re-design a piece. For instance, I decided to re-design this necklace. I did not feel the design. It was hard to pair with anything.

 I found this jacket by Double Zero at Buffalo Exchange, which is a second hand store that I love, love love. Browsing through the store, my eye went straight to this jacket. I don't wear stuff like this, but there was something about this jacket! I've had it for about a year, letting it hang in my closet. Finally, I got the nerve to wear it last week. In fact I wore it twice! The jacket is a modern take on Victorian tailoring with darts, pleats and folds dominating throughout and puffy sleeves, puffy shoulders with an accentuated waist. 

Fern from RockSpirit Designs in Virginia purchased one of my WO-MANNEQUINs   back in September. She was sweet enough to update me since receiving it. Below are her comments and photo of her booth. My WO-MANNEQUIN is on the right side, kind of hidden. But I swear it's there! Oh well, at least she thought about me. It made my Monday. "Hi Zee! I LOVE my WO Mannequin!! I may need another! What a terrific concept. Recycled paper bags into beauty. You are amazing! Fern"

Now is the perfect time to wear suede pants. It's cool outside, but not raining, so you can't damage the fabric with wet marks.