Focus Focus Focus

I've officially resigned myself to the fact that I've broken virtually all of my new years resolutions except the first one and maybe five.

Make up is an odd thing and it's hard to make sensible decisions when I'm still in the experimental stage. I'm still working on getting it to stay and to not look like a melting mannequin with acne by the end of the day.

Not buying clothes has actually become quite easy considering that it's not quite an active New Year's Resolution - I've gone about 130 days without buying any new clothes. While it was impulse control at first, now I find myself a little bored with it. I almost feel like taking on a 1/2 years resolution at the end of June. Among more interesting things, since I'm not buying any clothes this year, I have to make an effort to fit into the clothes I have. I didn't realize that I was in some twisted way resolving to maintain a certain figure and, subsequently, a diet.

That rant's done. When it comes to the quarterly project, I've concluded that it's hard to resolve to be inspired. It doesn't have to be artsy inspiration, just something that warrants the title "project." I'm currently in the process of making a wooden table top from oak planks. It's pretty cool, I don't know if I'm in the mood to chance the paint scheme of my desk though. It might be more work than I have time for.

Future posts? I'll do my best to try not to disappear for the next 3 weeks.

Resolution relapse and redemption

I bought a skirt last week.


and now for the kicker: I returned it the next day. I didn't know why I felt the urge to just go in a clothing store and try on something just for fun. That's not how the world works. All I do know was that after having bought the skirt, I felt so bad that I had to return it the next day, I didn't even take it out of the tissue that it was wrapped in.

It is a nice skirt, don't get me wrong. It looked good on me, but that led me to a revelation: lots of things look good on me. It's the anti-problem problem. Since lots of things look good on me, it's easy to buy clothes relentlessly without ever wearing them. After having bought this skirt, I raced home and pulled out every black skirt I owned. Yes, they all looked good, but more so, the gave off the same overall effects that this skirt gave off. The skirt was not worth breaking a new years resolution over. When I returned it, it turned out that both of the sales staff owned the skirt and the other one was wearing it behind the counter. You know...I hate repeat performances when it comes to clothing. The returning made me feel even better.

So, it takes about 2 years to get a good new years resolution down. The first year to to find out that you can keep a small resolution while the second year, the approach is a guilt trip when you feel like breaking your resolutions because you know by that time that you can keep resolutions and anything else you say or do is just an excuse. The big resolutions finally matter.

There's a skirt I want

...there's always going to be a skirt I want. It doesn't even matter that this is an online exclusive and that Anthropologie is out of my size. For about 15 minutes, there was an overwhelming urge to just go to the store to see if someone had bought it online and returned it for fitting bad. Still, it's a pass. With work, and my resolution, the urges to go out an buy clothes are not as strong as they use to be. Also, combining that with the fact that there are a lot of skirts in my closet that I both want and have not worn doesn't make the case for this skirt any better knowing that there's a large chance that it will just join the collection.

Wearing skirts seems to take training, much like using a purse, or wearing heels. I have about 1/3 of my lady training down. Now I just need to make occasions to wear skirts...just like I make occasions to wear lipstick.

44 days without buying any new clothes. It feels like it was just yesterday that it was 23 days.

Rabbit Year

I think I would've preferred the irony of the Rabbit year being next year with it being a leap year and all. Happy Lunar New Year!

I hear that the Year of the Rabbit isn't good for the Ox, but the beauty of horoscopes is that if you don't like one, you can always just click on another google search result.

I know that I haven't been keeping up with my blog as much as I would've liked. I have a feeling if I do, it's going to be that "on average" I keep up with this blog to a point where I blogged once a week. It's not as though I don't think about it. It's just that I feel like I don't have the time for it. That's the issue though, I FEEL like I don't have the time, when actually, I do. I feel I want to do better.

Anyway, I'm finding my resolution of not buying any clothes getting rather difficult. Not because I have any huge urges to buy clothes, but more because:

and

I ripped my favorite work pants. They didn't even rip on the seam. I don't know if it was foreshadowing because when they ripped, I was sitting down to eat a bacon bowl. If that wasn't enough, my sister's cat peed on my favorite tweed blazer. Mother Nature has forsaken me. My resolution has now become a test to see if I can literally persevere through literal wears and tears. Here I go.

One day at a time

In the spirit of trying to maintain my blog without resorting to half-assed posts, here I go.

So far in honor of my resolution of not buying any clothes (among other resolutions), I've gone a good 17 days without any new clothes. I feel as if I'm going into this resolution rather confidently. Knowing that I'm not going to buy any clothing has drastically decreased my interest in outlet malls save those that contain Cosmetic Company Stores or MAC stores.

I think nature is working against me, guess what came in the mail over a span of two days?


Seriously. As if I didn't already get 5-6 emails a day telling me the exact same thing. It's kind of easy to see how I got into clothes in the first place. Catalog bombardment definitely contributed to my consumerism. Now I just feel disgusted at the waste of paper.

2011 is going to be a bit of a minimalist year. For me, it's not about new fashion as much as it is examining my past decisions while wondering "What was I thinking?" Interesting year. Very interesting year.

And a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Again I have to tell myself I haven't abandoned this blog. I've neglected it pretty horribly, but I haven't abandoned it. I do think about it a lot. This happens to be the blog where I talk the most about my life. Life's been busy. Another year has past and there's always the opportunity to develop good habits under the guise of a New Years Resolution. I find that it's good to have more than one resolution because then the odds of you keeping at least a few of them become higher. For example:

(from last year)

1. I refuse to buy pens this year.
2. I will not buy anymore t-shirts.
3. I will not buy a purse this year unless it is a staple piece.
4. I will not go out and buy new underwear just because I've put off doing my laundry for
months.

- I was definitely able to keep #1 and #4, I think I did end up breaking #2 but I don't remember when. Oddly enough, I might not have broken #3 because it's really hard to find a good bag out there. I'm just going to say I did break that resolution even though I'm not sure.


I'd been getting into tote bags a little bit and this bag kept looking at me. It has eyes, you know. After seeing this bag constantly at Target this past summer, I picked it up and it turned out to be my most overused bag. I suppose using purses requires training, totes are a good gateway into purse usage. I suppose my cat bag can be considered a staple.

Overall, I didn't do to shabby this year.

Resolutions for 2011:

1. I will not buy ANY new clothes.
- I have a feeling a pair of hot fuchsia Barbie heels are going to cross my path many times this year.
- Any clothes I get rid of will be either donated to Goodwill or sold on eBay

2. I will blog once a week.

3. I will make the time to dance at least twice a week.

4. I will finish a project each quarter (if not even more often than that)

5. I will try to make more sensible make up choices.

I know that the last one is a bit subjective, but...

seriously...who knows the next time one of my sisters is going to get married? I need to redeem myself for the rainbow eyes at the wedding. While I liked the job I did, I think it looks cool, for a wedding? I must've been feeling crazy that day...truthfully, I was. There was no worse time to really get into wacky colored make up than the wedding. Ugh.

So there we go, enough resolutions to break and enough to keep.

New Years Resolutions: I Won't Do

1. I refuse to buy pens this year.
2. I will not buy anymore t-shirts.
3. I will not buy a purse this year unless it is a staple piece.

Before I construe statement 3 to my failure, I will define that staple piece is a black and/or brown purse of good quality that carries high evening and everyday appeal. I know that this purse already exists and it is a Betsey Johnson purse with bow detailing. Knowing this, I should really just block every other purse out of my mind. Accept no substitutions.

4. I will not go out and buy new underwear just because I've put off doing my laundry for months.