The Torture

Howdo and welcome to blog #11. Still gloriously, hair-kinkingly humid and hot here in Queensland Australia on this Tuesday, 19 January 2010 (not 100% sure what the automated date function is up to, as it seems to still be off by a day or two. Maybe it's too hot to keep up with the actual date?). Yesterday it was so still, murky and hot that I had to take off my earrings to gain extra ventillation. Now, that's what I call HOT - when the accessories go, you know you've reached a new level of hotness.

I have included a "cold" photo in this posting for my friends in the Northern Hemisphere (hallo up there!). These are photos of Julie and I on Mt Wellington, Hobart (Tasmania, Australia, The World) from a few years ago. Jules gets mentioned about every third blog posting and is Dan's daughter; she lovingly refers to me as her step-monster which I find endearing, and quite beautiful in its own way. Anyway, Jules is also doing the 12 month Shop My Closet challenge and her experiences are somewhat different to mine. One reason being because she has Temptation Everywhere. She works in Sydney's CBD you see. Uh-huh, you get it now, right?

This is a little 'diary entry' (of sorts) that Jules wrote to me and with her full permission and blessing (I have it in writing!), I'm going to include it in its totality. Even the punctuation (!) and formatting (such as CAPITALISING) is included as originally written. The pathos speaks for itself.

From the tortured one.

"OMG, working in the CBD is TORTURE.... a walk to the coffee shop is fraught with danger... my coffee shop is in the Strand Arcade and sales are everywhere... I even bought a jacket (!), took it home, looked at it for a day, and TOOK IT BACK! I try things on and say, "Thank you, I'll think about it" then go to the chemist and spend $100! I'm seriously going nuts here! January Sales really bite the big one for a month 1 challenge!

Even the expensive shops that I have avoided since becoming a mortgagee are suddenly visible again! I tried on a BOSS jacket, I haven't been near BOSS for 2 years but I was DRAWN in, a blue/grey silk 80%-off BOSS jacket, there was only one and it was MY SIZE... it was too gorgeous for words, my butt looked small... I had heart palpitations as I scampered out!

Bettina Liano has just come out with Curvy jeans for large sizes, NOW, can you believe it... I covet her jeans and I haven't been able to fit into them for the last couple of years and now CURVY JEANS FOR LARGE SIZES and I went in AND THEY FIT and my BUTT looked frigging fantastic....

On the flip side I've worn more items from my wardrobe in more alternate ways than ever before and I even got out the unpicker and got ride of the flaps on the back pockets that were making my butt look big (reading this back, I am a little hung up on my butt) instead of selling/throwing them and getting something new... my existing clothes look less like "consumables" in my eyes and more "solid" if that makes sense. Things that usually would have been culled because they weren't quite right are being scrutinised for tailoring options!

AND I realised one of my tactics used to be to wear things I don't really like, see my reflection somewhere and be compelled to buy something/anything that would improve how I looked... one of my constant challenges used to be how did I wear it out of the change room so they could remove the security tag with me still in it! I even used to hand clothes I came in wearing to the assistant and ask them to throw them out for me! What a consumer! What an incredible waste! NOW I am trying to look nice before I leave in the morning and actually like what I see reflected!

I am getting a little creative too and am reminded of a time when I was young and so desperately wanted a Denim Jacket I began scavenging strips of jeans and hand sewing them onto one of Dad's old t-shirts... this challenge is really evolving my thought patterns! I had no idea it would be sooooo enlightening, interesting and insightful! THANK YOU JILL!"

Wow. I know I've got a bit of a Dorothy Parker smart mouth thing going on here, but - hand on heart - this was sensational; it made me laugh, gave me a lump in the throat, jolted my brain and warmed my soul. Right?