Not a whole lot going on but I just wanted to let you ladies and gentlemen know that this newbie is hanging in there!

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This is KILLING me. Do I replace? Do I sacrifice and go without? Just where does damaged clothing due to a toxic spill fit into this whole gig? Isn’t the whole point to sacrifice?!?

I am very committed to this whole she-bang and have not cheated or even thought of cheating (so far).

So, I haven’t decided what to do. (I should mention that when I signed up, I opted to include shoes in my sacrifice. Seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But I’m not so sure anymore.)

Part of me is seeking blessings and approvals from you all, but part of me needs to just figure it out on my own. Just where do I stand on giving myself permission to “cheat” because of this loss I feel for something as materialistic as clothing? Or am I making too much out of this?

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Closer look at the lace work.

Read the rest of the entry at bridal gear

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I did make out with a great accessory buy, however — a skinny red-orange belt, which I’ve worn every day since I bought it in different ways.  Over a cardigan, with wide-leg trousers, over a tunic-y blouse.  For only $10, I know this accessory will help spruce up many outfits in my closet and give them new life over this next year.

Do you have a favorite accessory that just “makes” an outfit?

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But the outcome of the equation is that one can survive a season with but one sweater.  I will have the entire summer to seek out the missing box.

I’m doing better–it’s been a long time since I cruised E-bay or Zappo’s or various other on-line sources.  I cannot quite give up looking at catalogues but I resist.  I am increasingly stunned by my own virtue and wonder just who was that person who “needed” scarves by Hermes (and then did not want to spoil them so never wore them!)

I hope everyone else is thriving.

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update: view the other photos here

I am sad to report that the latest fashion-denial of shopping this year has been broken by a friend’s simple request to attend a wedding with appropriate attire (ie. a lace dress).

I haven’t reported much news lately, we celebrated the two-weeks Olympics Party a few weeks ago here in our little city of Vancouver BC.. and the only items purchased were a pair of red maple leafs mittens (everything else was ridiculously overpriced in comparison). And fortunately, the weather has been balmy, spring-like with no snow on the forecast so there were plenty of opportunities to revive old staples in the closet and mash-up winter/spring gear such as floral prints over long sleeves, thin cardigans over sweaters, and etc.

However, due to the recent explosion of engagement parties, bridal showers and other affianced friends over the past half year (really, we’re only 22.. what’s the rush???) I’ve started looking over my wardrobe for formal colors, exaggerated jewelry and minimal accessories in hand-purses and fairy cluster hairbobs.

After much searching at the local shopping centres, thrift stores and vintage shops I surprisingly found the perfect dress at an out-of-the-way Winners location. The dress itself is a mid-thigh length sheer lace slip with no sleeves, and cunning little designs at the upper chest, with two flounces draped at the bottom while underneath, as a separate item, is a white slip, made of more study and less see-through material

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Recession, you say? How has recession influenced my life, and thus also my apparel diet? The life part – well, that would take too much time to tell; but as for the diet is concerned…I have, truth be told, never been much of an economist, but it didn’t take me much to add two and two together, and pinpoint the influences it has had on my dieting experience so far. It may not have been the cause of it (strangely enough, when I started the diet, I saw my financial issues as only a ‘temporary setback’), but in a way it has made it short-term sustainable, given the fact that I have not only been determined not to shop for clothes recently – I was also disabled from doing so, because recession means less jobs, and less jobs means no job for me at the moment, and that also comes down to no dresses and shoes, not even to mention the bags!

But truth be told, there has also been a long-term, positive influence of the recession created. Sure, at the moment I cannot buy things, even if I would want to, which I don’t. But precisely the fact that I can’t do something, or that I shouldn’t and would probably feel a bit guilty for spending the money, scarcer than usual, on things I necessarily don’t need if I did, also made me realize something for sure – I totally CAN live like this. And if one day living like this would become a matter of not choice, but need, a result of a set of circumstances that I am barely capable of doing anything about, I would not necessarily be unhappy about it – as I always suspected I would. True, a part of me will always crave for a nice apartment, some designer furniture (not as a show-off, but because I do get impressed by concepts sometimes – and while I am no expert on design or art, I do fall in love with, for instance, the Campana brothers’ work over and over again, and would love to own a piece of such a great world of ideas someday for sure!) and the ability to afford gorgeous little things – but the feeling of emptiness, even sadness that I thought might appear when looking at the latest Bernhard Willhelm dresses or Ann  Demeulemeester boots (and those too are really great pieces of contemporary design, not just simple ‘clothes’, but real concepts) that I can not or will not be able to afford, is just not there. It isn’t. And that feels surprisingly great, and is a good sign – I might be even less a victim of the habit of shopping than I thought!

P.S. All the real tests have been passed successfully: still receiving online announcements about fav stores getting re-stocks of gorgeous things, but I just don’t care; checked out the Asos offer of dresses the other day, and among literally a thousand dresses, only one caught my attention, and I gave up on that one quite easily too. There is only one test left, the cheap one: going to H&M this weekend; and if I survive without consequences (or only with a pair of shoes, since I really am low on those – tho I would rather avoid that too), I shall be very happy.

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Anyway, I have been able to start a bit of a downward trend in the weight the last few months. I don’t know exactly what the numbers are because the scale scares me. I go by what fits. All I know is that 4 years ago I was in sizes 8-10 and for about the past year I have been pushing a 14 and not happy at all about “more of me”.

Anyway, I have been trying to be more careful about portions and type of food consumed. Still not great about the exercise, but the food part is coming along. I have noticed the size I’ve grown into in the last year has been feeling looser lately.

So, this morning I risked my ego and pulled out a pair of hardly worn jeans from thinner days and tried them on.

They FIT!!!! I could zip them without having to lay flat on the floor and button them without it popping open. I can’t tell you how excited I am over this!!!! I have a whole SECTION of my closet in this size and will look forward to being able to visit some old friends.

I still have a ways to go. ( A long way…) But this small surprise today is real inspiration. If I can get back into my former size, I could probably do TGAAD for at least another year.

I have several big events coming up, all to do with my baby’s high school graduation and the thought of being able to maybe wear some of my pretty dresses is making me positively giddy!

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At first I was completely resistant to the idea of any new clothing. “Absolutely NO handbags, NO accessories, and definitely NO shoes,” I exclaimed in manifesto. But realizing my sole pair of sneakers were on their last leg (pun totally intended), I wrote them into my personal apparel diet rule-book: “One pair of shoes may come in if another goes out”.

Of course, I really didn’t understand the state of affairs in my closet in January the same way I do now. I’ve never been a shoe or bag hoarder. In fact, at this moment I possess three pairs of heels, a pair of flat knee-high boots, and my dying Converse. Upon making this realization, I felt like a bewildered animal who just noticed she hasn’t saved enough food to make it through the winter and realized if I was going to make it through the year, through the rain and snow, I was going to need to buy shoes.

Now I’ve gone and made my purchases, and though it may have taken me more than a month (and a little more money than I would like to spend) to find the perfect pair of walking shoes, I’ve learned a couple new facts in the process. Flat-soled shoes, along with courier bags, are not clothing, they’re school supplies, and taking time to focus on quality is going to carry me a lot further than being a cheapskate in denial. In fact, if I’m going to walk my campus and neighborhood through the seasons without the shoes wearing away from my very feet, I’m going to have to acknowledge my needs when they arise without resorting to self-deprivation.

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