The Stress-Free Closet

My dresser cabinet has been exploding with disorganized clothes for the past few weeks now.  I mentally tell myself I’m going to deal with it soon, but there is always something else to do (especially when I don’t feel like cleaning).  After starting to read City Chic: The Modern Girl’s Guide to Living Large on Less, I could feel my cleaning juices growing in inspiration.  I’ve just started reading bits and peices of this book, so I don’t know if I can whole-heatedly recommend it (I already know the author and I have different worldviews, but her tips on saving money can be happily applied).

If you’re like me, you’re always wondering what that item of clothing it is that you are missing.  You can’t quite put your finger on it, but your outfit combinations drive you crazy.  Something feels frustratingly lacking.  I determined to figure this out.  I took Nina Willdorf’s list from the book and got at it.  My husband came home to find me tackling the ever disorganized shelves.  I explained to him my new evaluation method.  Below are her tips of what is helpful to have in your closet.  Anything lacking is the area you should start to tackle first while shopping- instead of shopping on a whim and wasting your money (oh, don’t we all know that feeling!)

Jeans: 2 to 4 pairs

Pants: 5 pairs summer, 5 pairs winter

Skirts: 5 in a variety of lengths…

Dresses: 4 to 6

Blouses: 6 to 10

Nice T-shirts: 10

Tanks: 10

Long sleeved shirts: 6 to 8

Sweaters: 10

Shoes: as many as you can afford [I hate shoe shopping so this one I changed to: as few as I need to have to coordinate with all outfits.  And I hate to say it, but we can't count flip-flops!]

It became very apparent that my irritation with my closet, especially when getting ready for teaching in the mornings, has to do with my lack of skirts and dress pants.  I’m a jeans or a dress girl.  I really hate shopping for the bottom half anyhow because it’s a challenge with my body shape and may require….dramatic music please…alterations.  But I told myself that the deed must be done.  If my top and bottom half are going to match, then I have to make sure my closet is balanced.

So I gathered up the clothes I never wear (I applied the old rule that if I hadn’t worn it in a year, then I probably never will) and now they are bound for the consignment store.  We have a store nearby that buys gently used clothes.  That’s helpful when you’re young and on a small budget…and need to fill in the gaps in your closet!

Of course this list doesn’t work for everyone’s lifestyle, but I found it a helpful place to start.  The shelves in my dresser are much happier looking now.

Bringing Classy Back

(Royal Ascot)

After my friend Jessica mentioned the Kentucky Derby on her facebook status, I was very curious to check out the hats– you know, the infamous, wide brimmed, crazy hats.  (This blog is merely a reflection on the fashion, not of the race– for or against).  I hate to say it, but I was disappointed–and it wasn’t with the hats!  While there were some classy dressers, they really were few and far between.  Most of the images were glaring examples of how we as a culture are obsessed with agelessness, eternal tanning, and breast implants, instead of graciousness and classiness.   Ladies, we have some work to do…

Instead of this (Kentucky Derby today):

We need to trade it in for this (Royal Ascot):

If we’re ever going to bring classy back in this culture, it has to start with you and me making a conscious choice to bring classy back with our demeanor and dress- crazy hats and all!

(To see more classy images, check out Royal Ascot (top photo).  Middle photo from kentuckyderby.com, and bottom photo from nytimes.com)

Curious about how they keep it classy at the Royal Ascot?  Check out this BBC link- very fascinating!

Beauty: The Delight and the Deceit

The world seems charmed again with classiness due to the Royal wedding last weekend.  We could all agree that anyone who was not in love with Kate Middleton’s dress was probably crazy.  Any time I see a classy-dressed woman, it always gets me thinking about beauty and style and how they connect.

I find style fascinating.  I’m not much of an admirer of trends, although some are fun for awhile.  But I love it when a woman has her own style.  You can tell that her style wasn’t created yesterday, but has taken time.  Style means choosing the most exact expression of certain qualities– grace, fun, elegance, etc…  Beauty is often dependent on our personality, but there are certain aspects of beauty that most of us agree upon (a rose, for example).

But it is easy to take beauty and style and elevate it to an idol.  Beauty and style should be a reflection of God’s creation, not an expression of exalting ourselves.  That is a difficult reality to achieve.  Satan has caught on pretty fast that we are easily charmed and deceived by beauty.  You may notice it taking over your heart when your desire is for male’s to affirm your beauty, and for females to be jealous of your beauty.

We often struggle with this in our lives (well, at least I do) because the beauty of the gospel does not first adorn our hearts.  So many of our questions for “balance” in life would answer themselves if we delighted in Jesus.  When everything in our life falls under His grace, beauty is redeemed back into what it should be– a reflection of the beauty of Christ and an expression of our ability to create, as our Creator has made us.  For women, our desire for beauty is ever present.  We must continually go to God and ask Him to make the beauty of the gospel our great admiration.  Our hearts will then rightly reflect that beauty in our style, homes, and surroundings.

I Just Had To…

I know, I know.  It’s Royal Wedding craze everywhere!  Just wanted to add on the blog-sphere: Let’s hear it for a classy dress and a classy looking lady!

(See pictures like this one on foxnews.com)

The Wedding Pressure

I recently heard that the average wedding costs around $20,000.   Josh (my fiance) and I were recently asked if it is true that it is nearly impossible to plan a wedding under $12,000.  We both looked at each other.  Yep.  In this culture, everything will cost you your right arm and birth certificate.  Yet, nearly impossible does not mean absolutely impossible.

It can be discouraging to see how expensive wedding essentials have become within the past 5 years since my sister was married.  But I’d say that is not actually the problem.  It is possible to plan a wedding under $12,000.  It is tough from the standpoint of the going rate, but what is really tough is the pressure from society to throw a shindig that will be memorable (or unmemorable– one wedding had a 20,000 alcohol tab which was used up in the first 30 minutes…I highly doubt people remembered where they had been when they awoke the next morning).  Media portrays weddings today as grandiose and aristocratic.  And we are silly enough to follow along with it.  We are afraid of our wedding not being what people expect.

What is really silly, however, is the fact that we can get so caught up in other people’s ideals.  There are some brides who aren’t afraid to go against the grain and throw a simply beautiful wedding (I loved my friend’s wedding invite, which read: An Old-Fashioned Potluck Picnic to Immediately Follow the ceremony– so fun!!!)  Isn’t it the marriage, after all, that we really all gather to celebrate, and not the paycheck, the luxury, or the expense of the wedding dress?

When we allow the pressure from society to infiltrate our wedding, we are allowing the true reason for the marriage to be pushed further and further out of view.  I am not encouraging ugly weddings!  I’ve enjoyed coming up with fun ideas for lazy summer themed decorations.  But I think marriages would be much more God-focused if we get back to the beauty of the marriage and a little less Vera Wang.

Where Have all the Hepburns Gone?

It is a rare day I finish a book in nearly two sittings.  I typically read for a bit, go do something else, and then come back to a book.  Jordan Christy’s book was so dead-on and addicting I could barely put it down– or stop laughing!  This book is a little shining gem among so many useless books on the shelf.  Most books and magazines for women revolve around dressing to look sexy, enjoying trashy humor, and how-to’s for caking on the makeup or tanning yourself.  I was refreshed to find the exact opposite in Christy’s book.

Christy points out that the too short skirts and the 5 inch stilletos at the clubs are not delivering to women the desired result.  Neither is pursing men.  Instead of gaining more respect, women are actually demeaning themselves into fluff-headed bimbos.  Christy is right that we need to bring classy back and have some self-respect.  Our words, actions, and interactions are how people view us and can affect culture and society: either for better or for worse.

Downside to this book?  Christy’s worldview is more from a self-respect perspective.  Having self-respect is good (you were made in the image of God), but there has to be something ultimately greater than ourselves to keep our focus.  While we do admire classy women like Audrey Hepburn, class in and of itself only has an earthly legacy which fades.  It is in ultimately doing all for the glory of Christ that we have an eternal legacy.

I would highly recommend for Christian women to read this book, however.  Why?   Christy’s book was a good reminder to me not to fold to cultural pressure, revealing how tacky pop culture really is today.  We can be easily blinded to going along even with a “Christian” culture around us, not examining what we actually look like to others.  While there are other good Christian books to remind us of this, I found it enlightening to read a secular book that even has a problem with our culture.  My only recommendation is to watch out for the success focus and feminist comments.  Otherwise, read this book for a good laugh and a refreshing reminder of how to be classy and fun!

Tis the Season…

…for sunshine, lemonade, SPF 15, and a good book!

But sometimes it can be pretty depressing to look for a swimsuit that does not look like it’s sized for your 10 year old sister.  So here are some websites that may give a shimmer of hope–enjoy!

The above swimsuit photo is Rey Swimwear

Layers Clothing

Lime Ricki

Shade Clothing

Lands’ End

L.L. Bean

dELiAs

The British Way

I have returned from my travels on the other side of the world.  I must confess, ideas I had about Europe were actualized quite differently while really there!  Things looked different than I expected.  People acted differently.  Things usually aren’t what we imagine, really.

But it was a great trip.  We hopped around to four different countries.  One of the many things I learned while overseas was that people are pretty much all the same, even if we speak different languages.  We laugh at the same things.  We’re amazed by the same things.  We find many of the same things beautiful. 

I did intend to post a fashion blog this week.  I’m still working on figuring things out with the 1,000 pictures I took while over there…but as soon as I do, I thought it might be fun to look at fashion in a few spots around the world.  I enjoyed seeing it while there, and thought you might, too.

Because summer is pretty much here, fashion season has shifted.  We’re pulling out the short sleeved shirts and summery dresses.  Summer billboards were abundant over in Europe, just like they are over here.  Many think we have too much advertising over here, which is true in my opinion.  But Europe is much the same.  Paris has the billboards of half dressed (sometimes less- pornography is more out in the open over there) models, over done makeup, excessively expensive clothing.  London did, too.  But London really intrigued me.

The metro in London had plenty of those ads on the walls, but once I was out in the big city, I began to realize that many women ignored the billboards.  London women have a very distinct style.  Generally, I stuck out like a sore thumb because of my brighter colored clothing.  They like nuetrals and blacks.  They wear tall boots that look like they are going horseback riding, sometimes with jeans, sometimes with skirts.  They were not excessively tanned.  Their faces were not overdone with makeup like the ads, nor were their teeth unusually white.  They just seemed to be.  They weren’t any less happy than American women.  In fact, they may have been more happy. 

Of course, this was all from observation.  England, like America, is far from perfect.  But I was charmed by their love of simplicity, their disinterest in striving to be the most beautiful, the most skinny, the most…[fill in the blank].  They were fashionable and lovely, but not competitive.  They were intelligent, not yelling or trying to draw attention. 

It was refreshing.  Inspiring, really.

 

(Picture above is in Stratford, England)

A Gift that Helps

Sometimes it is difficult to shop for a birthday for someone.  You want the present to actually mean something, and not just be another set of earrings in the jewelry box.

Well, I stumbled across a wonderful organization called Jubilee Campaign.  They are, “A nonprofit organization seeking to help the persecuted church and children at risk around the world.”  I had not really checked out the website until recently, when I remembered that I had bookmarked their page around Christmas time because of beautiful bracelets they were offering.  When I returned to look more into the jewelry, I read, “Jubilee Campaign partners with Bombay Teen Challenge in Mumbai, India, to remove children from the cycles of the sex trade and provide shelter for street kids who are infected or orphaned by HIV. This jewelry and leather goods are made by the mothers of these children. They, too, have been freed from their lives in the brothels of Mumbai. Now rescued, these ladies design jewelry, a work enhancing their God-given dignity instead of degrading it. Rescued young people have gainful employment and are pointed to Jesus Christ’s love for them.”

So if you are looking for an unusual, meaningful present to give to a friend or family member, consider the Jubilee Campaign out of Fairfax, Va.  The page said the Jewelry were a Christmas offer, but I emailed and was told that they were still being offered!  Check out the beautiful work, here.

(P.s. if you order a $5 leather bracelet, and want it to look like the picture above, ask if they have all ribbon on the front.  Some are all leather and are quite trendy, but they do not all look like the picture on the webpage, so it is important to be specific.)

Your Favorite Beauty

When I was a little girl, I used to like to rearrange my room every few months.  I would move things around from the dresser to a shelf, or from the shelf to my headboard on my bed.  I wanted things to look pretty, but through middle school I continued collecting some lovely things and some junk.  When I was in late middle school I realized I had so many random things that the McDonald’s Happymeal collectibles and the jewelry boxes just didn’t look quite right together.

The turning point in my chaos was when I found some dried roses in the downstairs basement.   The previous owner had a more vintage style, and apparently she liked to dry roses.  She must have forgotten them, and left them in the shadows.  I really liked them, and started drying some of my own in the same way she had.

Over time, I began to throw out my random collected things, and think about what style I found beautiful.  I liked a southern living country style, but it really did not fit right.  Modern was always intriguing, but something was missing for me.  There were many styles that were all lovely in their own way, but I began to realize that the beauty we surround ourselves with reflects us.  I had, however, always loved old things.  I loved old architecture, I loved old books, and I loved vintage style jewelry.

There is something delightful about walking into a room and suddenly knowing a little more about that person because of the way they have decorated.  There is nothing vain about pondering how to make things more lovely.  I think we can often feel like we should not give any effort to beautifying our surroundings or appearance because it might take time.  We feel unspiritual, perhaps.  But our God created beauty, and has given us the ability to reflect being created in His image by making beauty.

And making beauty is a continual process.  When I go shopping for something I need–let’s say something as small as a calendar– I have to consider whether it matches.  My surroundings are not always uniform to a vintage style- it has some folk/vintage mix, and finding some things that are somewhere in that category is a lot of the fun!  I personally do nor prefer it to look like a designer set it up for me.  People are so different, and I like those little individual things around that make things distinct.

So what style are you drawn toward- not just what you ‘like,’ but what do you find yourself really enjoying?  What clothing types reflect that style (For example, I like a romantic style, so I love dangling earrings)?  What pictures could we hang up to define the style even more?  What colors relate to that style (I have a lot of reds)?   Thinking this through has saved me some time and money when I really consider if something reflects what I preferentially find the most beautiful.  And when we are considering all this about ourselves, we need to continue to enjoy other people’s preferences of beauty!  Remember, it is just a personal preference (being the beauty police is snobbish at best…)  Delight in how different God has made each of us to reflect His creativity!

There is nothing that says style has to be perfect, because it reflects you, not vogue magazine!  Therefore, we do not need to feel overwhelmed.  We can have fun in it!  Don’t know where to start?  Check out The Empowered Tradionalist (link at the bottom of Eve) for questions to help you better define your style.