Sunday blogging: Retail therapy: the jacket
A couple of years ago I treated myself to a nice Coach jacket similar to this one. It turned out to be a really good purchase, and very practical. The jacket's shell's imprevious to rain, you can wear it in cool weather and it's suprisingly warm enough to wear over a sweater when the temperature's in the 40s. It fits close to the body, so it has a slimming effect, and after a couple of years' wear still looks nice. It is, however, a Fall item. The dark brown color looks out of place once Spring has sprung.

Being an optimist, I consider that Spring has sprung even when you wouldn't know it by looking outside. Right now it's grey, with rain, with temperatures in the upper 30s that the Weather Channel box on this blog's right sidebar says "feels like 34oF". Still, the spirit of Spring is in my mind, at least.

As you can probably ascertain from looking at this blog, I'm interested in the weather. I'm also interested in clothes, but up to a certain extent. I want clothes that look updated and fit well but that can endure for years of wear, particularly if it's a coat or a jacket. The ultimate purchase of this type is my red Burberry raincoat, of which I wrote about last year. So, believing that I needed a nice practical Spring jacket to update the wardobe, I started looking. I had in mind a nice bright color.

Men reading this far (I suspect a few or more would have already scrolled down to yesterday's post as soon as they saw the "retail therapy" subject line) would be thinking that their (female) meaningful others' closets have been updated more often than the CNN newstape. The Husband, for one, would agree on that. He might be right. Still, look for a jacket I did.

Coach didn't have any quilted jackets for Spring. Burberry has a nice one, and the magenta color's good for my winter pallor. Still, a light-color jacket that sets you back $335 and needs dry-cleaning was way over the budget. For years I've aimed to purchase clothes that can be washed at home, since I know life is messy and I'm cheap. L. L. Bean has a washable jacket for $90 but how does it fit? Land's End has one that would probably fit nicely, for $59.50, but comes only in pastels.

Well, yesterday I found what I was looking for. A nice, emerald-green quilted jacket for $59, on a mannequin on the sidewalk right in front of a Palmer Square store.

Sometimes you stumble right into what you were looking for. It fit perfectly. The Manolo would approve. As soon as the weather warms up by 3o, I'll wear it.

Blogging about serious matters will resume tomorrow.