project manager associate robot alien from space

This green button here activates my project management booster.

luster

The shoes I am wearing today I bought for a wedding this summer (see previous post: http://practicalandperfect.blogspot.com/2013/09/bridesmaid-power-activated.html).  They had to be metallic and so I picked these (rather expensive) bronze flats where I sort of used the excuse of being a bridesmaid in order to purchase.  I am finding them helpful when I have to grab a pair of shoes but I am at a loss as to what color looks best – they seem to go with most everything.  Generally I would say that you have to be very very careful with metallic shoes (old woman!), but these seem to be working for me.

And, I saw this graffiti poster on my walk to the gym the other day.  I just like how hopeful and yet defeated the little guy looks.  Exactly.

Supposedly once you go black, you never go back

Well here I am wearing black pants.  Like the promise I made to myself NEVER AGAIN get a perm, I am wearing black pants.  I am finding it a 50% bad idea whereas white pants are a 100% bad idea.  I had a mall gift certificate and I found several items at Eddie Bauer including a pair of nice black dress pants.  They already have fuzz and the inevitable cat hair on them but they look sharp with my random-Asian-polyester top that I have had for years.  Dressing up is sometimes hard to do.

knock your socks off

When weather changes and is cool and officially fall, I convert my love of being barefoot in my shoes to always wearing wool socks.  Especially knee-high ones.  I become skeptical of flip-flops.  I am wary of sandals and even flats.  Here is why: I can talk myself into going to work, leaving our bright and warm house, going out in the dark, foggy and statistically wet morning, by putting on warm socks.  That is one of the keys to winter happiness.  I am sure that another key has something to do with scarves.  These are smartwool socks and I literally could own hundreds of these and I would want more.

I have owned these socks for years and they are starting to age and thin.  I have not come to terms with what I will do when they get holey and unfixable.  I will probably cut them up and make legwarmers.  I will not be able to throw them away.  This goes back to my young childhood where my mom would decide a sock had enough and she would gleefully rip up a sock and throw it away – regardless if she had my permission!  I remember promising myself that when I was an adult, I would never do that.  And, I have not thrown away a sock since.  Hubby and I do share some active wool socks and he has been known to thin the herd, ripping up an old hiking sock on my behalf.  But, these are not my cute knee-high socks, my fun striped socks that I continually have to smash into my sock drawer in order to get it closed.

she's crafty

I tend to languish over style magazines every once in a while (purchased when I fly, or passed on to me).  Elle, Glamour, InStyle – the thicker the better.  I typically devour the pictures (colors! craziness! cost!) and then feel a bit crappy about myself afterwards (lack of beauty, glamour and money).   I rarely find something so amazing that I start doing research on how one could buy it.  But in the last several months, I have fallen for these Celine bracelets and necklaces.  But who has $600 (bracelet) or $800 (necklace) to spend on such frivolousness?

So I made some.  And spent about $8.00.  I will be the first to announce that the metal work is not ideal, but the stone is great and gives the look I was craving.  The bead is “lava rock” and the metal is some memory wire.  I put in a rudimentary clasp and viola, I saved $1392.  Crafty!

enough!

It is one thing to go to a store when you want to buy something.  But when your email inbox is full of enticing deals or the world wide web is calling your name to window shop, it is never a great situation.  Recently I cleared out and unsubscribed to Old Navy, Gap, Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Mod Cloth, LOFT, and Zulily.

Let me tell you about the awesomeness of Zulily.  It is a daily email (and there is an app!) that brilliantly delivers a window shopping experience of good deals and a variety of things – dresses, bags, jackets, shoes.  It is more geared toward moms that are too busy to shop or cannot get out to stores easily.  I generally enjoyed going through the deals each day – as a break from work/reality.  I have purchased an owl shirt, a Halloween costume item, and now a bag and a pair of shoes (still to arrive).  All good deals, of course.

(Here is my new computer bag for work – a cute non-leather bag of turquoise color.  Amazing, right?)

I had to unsubscribe (and delete the app) from Zulily because I am too good (skills!) at finding things I adore even if I really do not need them.  I may start with the good intention of looking for a work dress or pair of dress shoes, but then I get distracted by other items I did not know I needed until I saw them.

The question begs – is this a problem.  I say yes and no.  It is a problem if:
·         You cannot afford the items you are buying
·         If you never use the items you buy
·         Or, if you are not regularly going through items that you are not using

But for me, I started to wonder, is it healthy?  I am trying to actively bring in happiness these days as I deal with grief and sadness, and stress of a newish job.  Is shopping for new shiny things bringing in this happiness?  I do get a lot of pleasure out of new clothes, costumes, shoes and bags.  And, I have a good perspective on things since they are just stuff and not really important.  That being said, I am taking a break from the online browsing/shopping for a bit and am going to stick with my Goodwill sprees. And random Zappos investigations.  And...

tiny elephant