A comment I wrote for Cam's Blog

Ok so Cam at A Woman's Place wrote a blog post on her guidelines for choosing dresses and skirts. (Click her for a direct link to that post) While I was commenting I realized it was a SUPER LONG comment so I decided to also post it here on my Blog. Hope you enjoy.


Skirt Length
Just my opinion on shirt/ dress length.  I like skirts that are actually to my ankles (why ?  Because they make me look thinner)   Ok I’m going to say it.  I’ve got some major curves and they aren’t all in the right places.  Anything that is above about mid-calf (almost as a rule) makes me look shorter and like my hips are about to explode.

Fit
 I like semi-slim or A-line skirts.  This choice is often dependent on the fabric and the season.  Summer more A-lines and winter more semi-slim and straight. (not stead fast rule just an observation of my  trend.)    I have no kids to deal with and once again Semi-slim (not pencil skirts look best on me).   I want to hint that I have some kind of shape but I don’t want you to see my shape like an outline. (No tight butt tuck or hip to thigh cling for me)

Fabric
In the summer I want something flowing and kind of flirty. Winter I want thick and structured.  In the summer I ALWAYS seem to wear a legged corset or old fashion pantaloons (Keeps my thighs from chapping when they rub together and helps to remain modest even if my dress creeps up a bit or you can kind of see thought the fabric).

Top side
I tend to wear a skirt and top because dresses are hard for me to find due to my size 12 top and size 16 to 18 bottom.  . (I have a fairly large bust for the size of my waist).  I’m kind of a strangely shaped hour glass.  When I have a V-neck top  I wear my cami-secrets (my husband calls it my boob bib), and if that’s not appropriate to wear because of the neckline  (like a scoop or a square) I find if I pair it with a sweater it seems to be better.  The two dresses I do own and wear out of the house have fairly high neck lines but are almost always worn with a sweater,

Questions you might be asking your self.
Does she always wear a skirt/ dress?  It really depends.  I seem to flow in and out of wearing skirts.  Right now I wear a lot more jeans than I used to.  I find I wear more jeans in the summer (strangely) but I find that my choice of whether or not to wear skirts is really dependent on if I can wear sandals.  Since I live in Houston and their are only about 6 weeks of "cold" days where sandals are not practical during the winter I wear them year round.  Location also seems to dictate my skirt wearing, For example I was in Colorado last week.  I'm from the flat lands and I quickly discovered that the majority of my sandals had 2 to 4 inch platform heals.  In my opinion I can't walk up and down hills in sandals so I didn't wear the skirts I packed,  Now I'm in Minnesota and I think I might break out those sandals so skirts are once again an option. I always wear skirts to mass because it just feels right.

Why does she care about her skirts so much?

It's because they make me feel more feminine.  I like to feel like a lady and skirts help me to do that.  They also force me to act more to like a woman. My mother always told me you're going to act the way you dress and people are going to treat you the way you are dressed.  So if you're going to dress like "a woman of the night" other people are going to treat you that way.  If you dress like a business man by wearing a pant suit your coworkers are going to treat you like one.  If you wear a skirt you act like and possibly others around you will treat you like a woman.  Personally I like men opening doors and pulling out chairs for me and I find men tend to do those things more often when I'm wearing a skirt,  It's almost like by wearing a skirt they feel like you are giving them permission to treat you like a lady instead of like just another man.

Two weeks of Creations

I've been very crafty in the past two weeks.  I've been honing my sewing skills with making burp cloths and matching teething necklaces.  I am now moving on to making baby butt ruffles. 

My baby girl set

My first butt ruffles 

Burp cloths and teething necklace

Personalized gift 

I also made a really good chicken Marsala.  I didn't know how it would turn out so I didn't take pictures as I went and it was so good that I didn't take pictures before we ate.  All I can show you is my left over sauce. I quadrupled the sauce because last time I made it we ran out of sauce.  I am including the recipe. (just so you know I'm making more chicken tomorrow so we can have left overs. because it was SOOOO yummy. 

Ok so since my looks so icky there I'll steal some off of the Allrecipe.com site. It's from the same recipe I just added stuff as can be seen in my modification section. 

Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour for coating
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded 1/4 inch thick
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup Sweet Marsala wine (pick a good one not a cooking quality) 
• 1/4 cup cooking sherry (drinking quality) 

Directions

1. In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Coat chicken pieces in flour mixture.
2. In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan, and lightly brown three minutes on one side and two on the other. Turn over chicken pieces, and add mushrooms. Pour in wine and sherry. Cover skillet; simmer chicken 10 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink and juices run clear.

My improvements 

-  Season chicken before putting in flour with black pepper (I used fresh ground), dash of ground red pepper, Italian seasoning, pinch of salt, dash of parsley.  Whatever you have left in the way of seasoning and be added to the above amounts in flour. 

- Take the chicken out after browning it and set aside so the breading doesn't get mushy.  (just make sure it's cooked through but if you pound it I promise it will be cooked) 

- At least triple the sauce if your having it over pasta.

-Thicken with corn starch water slurry if eating over pasta so it coats your noodles

- Add fat free half and half at the end (or regular if you don't mind the calories) 

- I put I can't believe it's not butter to add flavor at the end.  (use about a table spoon) 

If you make it let me know how yours turned out.