One Step Away from Turquoise Jewelry

I bought these shoes today to eradicate the flats that dominate my summer sock-less shoe wardrobe. Keen shoes, according to Wikipedia,

were invented to develop a sandal that could also protect the toes—they feature a signature thick black bumper covering the toes. They found a ready market in sailing and other outdoor and water activities. KEEN Footwear now offers shoes for many outdoor activities as well as casual shoes.

These shoes, like much of the granola-y clothing and accessories I secretly love, seem to bring me one step closer to being the kind of twenty-eight year old that dresses like a fifty-six year old Anthropology Professor from the University of New Mexico. Don't act like you don't know exactly what I'm talking about.

After these delightful shoes (which support my arches quite nicely, thank you very much), I went full-on granola and made a stop at Columbia Sportswear Company Outlet. It's my friend Dana's fault that I even went in there, and amazingly enough, they had more Women's size clothing than ever before. I bought some capri pants, a hoodie, a linen shirt, and a long-sleeved t-shirt. All within a very appropriate and granola color palette and all very age-appropriate. 

Dana and I also had a conversation about age-appropriate clothing. At first, I was very resistant to the notion age-appropriate clothing, because nothing that I do is really age-appropriate, but with more dialogue with several different people, I've really been convinced that there is something to be said for dressing your age. While people like Mimi Bobeck are fun in VERY small amounts, there's a reason that characters like Mimi (a woman that dresses as though she has the fashion proclivities of a six year old on pixy stick bender) are inserted into sitcoms for comedic fodder. Gina gave a really great example of Betsey Johnson (feh!). At some point (probably way before Betsey Johnson thinks), it is not longer cute/wacky/fun/silly/avant garde/funky/chic/whatever other adjective you can think of to dress like you're eighteen: actually, it looks like you might have a mental illness.

To be able to strike the balance between edgy and appropriate is my ultimate goal, while still keeping my own age in mind: not one day older or one day younger.