Wardrobe totals and other numbers

Last year on January 24, I said that someday I would total my entire wardrobe, all seasons.  Living in a 4 season climate means I never 'see' the whole thing. since I only use a part of it at any given time.

 I didn't realize it yesterday but it was a year later [exactly] and I did that very thing. Here are some numbers/totals sliced up a few different ways.

Clothing and footwear - 91
  
This number does not include winter coats or accessories or handbags . It does not include lingerie, tights, socks or sleepwear. It does not include my ballgown capsule which includes my wedding gown. What happens if I include it all?  

Entire Wardrobe -- 207

Wardrobe is a funny word which actually means' a collection of clothing' [items worn to cover the body] so I probably shouldn't have my handbags in there. Gloves count but belts don't?  Footwear is clothing?  I wasn't finding the semantics helpful so I stopped.

I did count up my jewelry -- 85 pieces with and additional 12+ pieces that need mending or are sentimental inheritances I ignore. It's easy for me to not pay too much attention to it as long as it all fits in its container.

I love numbers but I don't find these numbers all that interesting. What did interest me is that I did find stuff that needed to go to a new home. Sometimes that home was the trash can. I found a pair of shoes I forgot I possessed which I moved along.  I got rid of a pair of black pumps that never felt right but I am sure will be perfect for someone else. I am amazed at the slush that can creep in to a tight wardrobe.

Then I crunched some numbers I found very interesting:

57% of clothing, accessories, footwear, outerwear, handbags, sleepwear was bought secondhand.
23% of the same was gifted to me, both secondhand and new stuff in here.
34% of the same was bought new by me
5%  of the same is 'other'. Inherited, so old I can't remember, you know, 'other'.

[math alert] There is overlap between the first two categories.

I am very interested in increasing the percentage of thrift buys going forward but I am not sure how to do this. I also noticed that if I use the undergarment inclusive total the percentage of 'new' climbs to 46%. This represents the one area where I do not thrift shop.

All in all I am glad I finally looked at some 4 season totals. I have found a lot to ponder going forward about what is important to me as regards my purchasing, shopping habits and needs.

Autumn Anniversaries

This week is an important one to me. My church wedding anniversary is on October 6th and my Canadian wedding anniversary is today on the 12th.

Most years I remember our anniversaries on the blog by celebrating some aspect of my relationship or memories but this year it feels as if over half of the country is helping us celebrate.

In fact the article I linked to above is not up to date, Idaho and North Carolina started marriages yesterday. In total ten states. Ten! Ten more states where same sex couples can get married and it all happened this week. 

When my wife asked me if I wanted anything for our anniversary this year I told her not to bother. It's been a wonderful week and I feel so blessed. I hope the joy keeps going out in ever-widening circles.

Specifics of Winter 2014 - 333

A few people asked me for the specifics of my list and I realized how much I enjoy the lists of others so it seems good to put mine out here.

What is not on this list
Tights, long underwear or undergarments of any kind, snow boots [though you bet I have them], outdoor exercise clothing. Light weight tops for dancing. These are utilitarian items that get me through the winter but I don't count them as my wardrobe. I don't track accessories.

What is on this list
Trousers for single digit [and below] days, trousers and skirts for when it is double digits, dressy evening separates. Footwear I use indoors and not for dancing.

Trousers: [8]
Wool pinstripe lined
Brown wool lined
Olive wool
Cream lined
Spruce cords
Aubergine cords
Brown cords
Brown velvet

Skirts: [2] =10
Green corduroy
Brown velvet

Sweaters: [6] =16
Wine silk scoop neck
Red cashmere cardigan
Black silk V neck
Brown cardigan
Rust merino V neck
Olive V neck

Tops: [7] = 23 [all long or 3/4 sleeves]
Black lace button down
Blue/purple Paisley shirt
Brown/cream striped button down
Olive lace T shirt
Merlot velvet tank
Brown V neck T
Plum V neck T

Jackets/Blazers: [5] =28
Olive boucle
Grey jersey
Wine velvet
Brown/black tweed
Teal/bronze brocade

Boots/Shoes: [5] = 33
Green boots
Brown boots
Chestnut loafers
Black slip-ons
Herringbone shoes

This is the way I do project 333 right now January through March. Your list will be entirely different. We all have such specific needs in our lives it makes sense to me that lists would vary widely. 

If the weather changes a lot by the end of February I will start a new cycle at the beginning of March. For me the seasonal aspect is what regulates everything. When I travel to Palm Springs this winter I may need to go to a different seasonal capsule in order to pack.

One of these days I will count all of my out of season items as well. I would like to know my totals. It may be that I have a skewed vision of my wardrobe since I have such strict seasonal capsules and never view it as a whole. But that's a project for another day.

Shepherd's Pie?

There is no lamb in this dish, so is it cottage pie?  But there is venison in it....so maybe Hunter's Pie?  Hunter's Pie sounds like it is already a thing. A thing I am too tired to google right now.

In the past I never really liked Shepherd/cottage pie as I never really liked mashed potatoes. It wasn't until I started mashing cauliflower with butter and cream that shepherd's pie became a cozy favorite for me. I keep the peas on the side so they don't get mushy. 

This dish could be made in many different ways and still be yummy but here is the way I made it this week.

Hunter's Pie

Filling:

ingredients
2 lbs ground meat [mix of venison and grass-fed beef]
1/2 onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 jar, about 9 oz, of crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
1 T coconut flour
pinch of thyme and rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

method
Brown meat in large skillet.
When meat is almost done and fat has been released, add onion, celery and herbs to center of pan.
Cook all together until celery and onions are soft, stir occasionally.
Sprinkle coconut flour on top and stir.
Add wine and tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add salt and pepper as needed.

Topping:

ingredients
Topping:
1 head of cauliflower, cored and chopped
2T butter
2-3T cream
pinch of nutmeg and paprika
salt and pepper to taste
handful of shredded hard cheese [such as Parmesan]

method
Steam cauliflower until tender.
Process cauliflower in food processor with butter, cream and spices until smooth and spreadable.

Create and Bake Pie:

Spoon filling into 13x9 pan
Spread layer of mashed cauliflower on top and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Good served with peas and squash on the side along with a glass of the wine you used.

Winter '14 and project 333

A huge project has been completed and I have the inclination for blogging on an overwhelming number of topics. It hard to choose one so I grabbed the one on top.

I always enjoy doing "project 333" but when the weather is mutable I can find it very difficult. This past autumn was hard as the weather was quite unpredictable. This is not a problem now thanks to the current wintery weather which puts clear limits on what can be worn or not.  Also it practically urges one to wear velvet and I love that urge.

So I have my list of clothing, it's being tweaked a bit but I am at 30 pieces right now. As usual [for me] I am not counting outerwear or boots or exercise clothing or accessories.

Making my 333 list is routine but I did notice something new. Only six pieces [20%] on my list were bought new, the other 25 pieces were purchased at thrift or consignment stores.  I'm a bit stunned by that. I knew my thrifting over the years had been honed but wow - I am good at it. This is inspiring me to learn more new things about my buying habits in 2014.

So I have decided to track my personal purchases this year. I hope to tease out why I buy things, when I buy them and maybe how I make room for them. I'll also be noting if I bought something new or second-hand. We'll see how it goes.
 

Popping at Travail

There isn't much time left but if you can - go to Umami,  Travail's pop up restaurant.  It closes in a week.  Which will be a sad day but that's all the more reason to buy those tickets now.

There you will have some of the best food of your year, perhaps of your decade.

I trust the chefs at Umami/Travail so completely that I will try anything they put in front of me because I know the chances are that I will love it. This is a night I will eat grains, soy or anything else. Though I still don't like the taste of sweets so I don't end up eating them.  Not many people will have the room for them anyway.

Here is what we had last Thursday night:

Glazed chicken wings, pork spareribs, steamed bun with pork [shared], octopus croquette, shirataki noodle salad, duck medley [pate, prosciutto & sausage] roasted brussel sprouts with bacon and cranberries, bulgogi, chicken dumplings, shrimp dumplings, ham hock dumplings,  ramen with fresh noodles [shared], congee with pepper puree and cauliflower [shared] followed by [if you can stand it - dessert] key lime on spoon, pumpkin bread pudding and chocolate creme with banana soft serve ice cream.

The winners for me: bulgogi, octopus and chicken dumpling
The only 'loser': ham hock dumpling [but my wife loved it]

It's all you can eat. They'll bring you more of what you love. [feel free to laugh]

We found it all we could do to taste every yummy dish which left us stuffed to the gills, no to the crowns of our heads. There were no seconds for us.

It was a fabulous meal. Here's hoping it's the start of a better time.

hmm, that was certainly awful

November 2013 was awful. Not the month as much as my relationship to it. It was the month that contained my dog's diagnosis of inoperable bone cancer and death.

It seems no matter how many sweet end moments I had the over all effect is... it sucked. So time to draw the veil over that month and get on with December.

I was going to jump right in but I am think it deserves its own post.