The Duck Stops Here

  You know I've owned this cardigan for months and only realized there was a duck on it this week? Alternate titles for this blog post include Duck & Cover, What the Actual Duck, and Augh This Ducking Cardigan.

  I just thought it was a cool asymmetrical pattern! I was not incorrect, but my pattern recognition skills clearly need work.

Migrating Mallard cardigan: Rosie Neira (thrifted)

Belt: eBay (available here)

Jeans: ZARA basic (thrifted)

Sleigh Boots: Report (thrifted)

Excellent Photoshopping over ugly flowerpot: ME

  Gets better: I grew up on a lake. I've been feeding mallards like this my whole life.

  While the Internet has been going on about pumpkin spice boots cooler weather fall blah blah, I have been enjoying San Francisco summer, and desperately gripping the warm, sunny weather with my little blacksmith hands. All the talk got me thinking, though: I have been doing this "outfits" thing for less than a year, now. I have no idea what is going to be Aya style (stAyale?) for fall. What do I even own?

  So I tried this outfit, which I think was kind of based on this idea from Once Upon a Zipper, a website for a consignment store in Nashville, Tennessee. I like the looks the employees put together!

...Then I overheated after an hour and changed. :D This cardigan is warm!

  This cardigan is also the closest to "animal print" I've got. If animal prints are your thing, you should check out How I Wear My: Animal Print at Everything Just So and The Rich Life (on a budget) tomorrow.

  's right, not a zebra, giraffe, or orangutan in my closet, just the occasional dragon and this duck. I have a bustier with what might be blue leopard. Maybe. Evidently I do not do animal prints. Or neon. Or patterns. Or pumps. Or flats. Or capris. Or bright colors. Or open-toed boots. Or wedges with that weird straw/dock rope material looped around the sides. Or anything yellow. I am, however, trying out cardigans and sweaters after a mere 27-year hiatus. I'm sure my adventurous personal style is an inspiration to all.

  How long does a shirt have to be before it's considered a 'tunic'? Thought this one might, but now I think it stops too short and just points directly at my crotch. Too much skinny-jean-squeezed-thigh showing. Clearly this will take some work. But in the meantime, I'm going to be in sundresses and my one pair of embarrassingly holey denim shorts for as long as I can.

  What do you not do in your own wardrobe? Anything you've tried after a long time that you never thought you would?