Under the heat dome

Lest you think that I just invented the term "heat dome," please rest assured that I am not that clever. It's something that's been coined and in use for awhile now, and I just happen to be experiencing it in person right now.

I feel like I talk about the weather too much on this blog, but to hell with it, it's been brutal. For the past two weeks, the temperature hasn't been under 95, and for a majority of that time the heat index (temperature plus humidity/etc) has made it feel like 110 degrees or more. For reference, the other night I went jogging at 7:45 p.m. and the heat index was still 113. Over the course of 4 miles (and <> 28 minutes), I lost almost 3 pounds. No kidding, I weighed myself before and after.

Needless to say, I've been doing my best to stay cool. This involves lots of light colors and lots of light fabrics. Here is a fairly typical example of my wardrobe lately:


On this particular day, it was a short-sleeved pink linen shirt from Lands' End (thrifted for $2) paired with some Ralph Lauren seersucker pants (also thrifted, for $4) and a great striped d-ring belt that I just snagged last week.


Down below, I wore a pair of Generic Surplus boat shoes, another fairly recent pickup that I got from Gilt Groupe. Normally I eschew even their "discount" prices and rarely find anything that even fits me, but in this case ($29 - $25 credit + $6 shipping = $10), I simply couldn't pass up the navy boats.

The heat shows no sign of stopping, so I'm going to keep on using it as an excuse to break out some light-hearted color combinations. If I'm sweating, I might as well have fun doing so.

A hint of things to come?

Although I've run across some nicer winter items lately, a couple thrift finds from today make me think that we're on the verge of getting out of this winter funk. If not, then these items are certainly teases.



First up is a pair of Louis Raphael seersucker pants. I've been holding out for a pair in my size since last summer, and I finally ran across this nice 100% cotton pair in a 36/34 (the waist seems a bit smaller than the listed size, but that's fine by me). I know I could have just bought a pair new, but that's not really my style. Besides, these were $4, and look like they haven't been worn (although they're going to need a good steam before I break them out).



The second find (for $1) was this slick square-end tie with the department store hanger tag still on it. It's kind of a shiny woven thing that would probably work just fine during these cool months, but the blue is going to be cracking electric when the sun comes out and it finally starts to warm up.

I can feel it. Can't you?