Okay, I thought I was just going to log in and just write about a success and go to bed, however it sounds like I am going to write a little bit more. So, I just read about two dieters that quit and boy can that be discouraging for us newbies. I want to something I just learned tonight in my addictions class for all us that are new to the diet. Relapse is to be expected when you are trying to kick the habit. Understand I am not saying that you should expect to fail but that we are going to it just means that we need to recognize that it can happen and we need to recognize the triggers and come up with ways to deal with the urge to buy that new dres. Believe me I so badly wanted to stop on my way home from class and buy myself something new because I had stayed up most of the night writing a paper and usually when I accomplish a task that gets me one step closer to my goal, I want to myself something new to wear.
I was like Pavlov’s dog salivating because the paper was done and I was thinking I’m one less paper away from my Master’s Degree and I deserve a little sumthin sumthin from one of my favorite clothing stores. Then I reminded myself, I am on a diet!

So, as I was driving home tonight and feeling tempted to stop at the mall, I decided to identify my triggers and one of them is that DSW, the mall and Marshall’s are all on my way home from class. It made me realize that I need a new route and that I definitely needed to come up with a different type of reward system.

I know I’m new to the diet but I also want to encourage other newbies like myself because it helps me to stay on track.

I am not expecting to relapse but I know it’s a possibility. Because I am so committed to this diet I am paying attention to the triggers and I am realizing and learning that there is a whole group of supportive people on this site that will help to get me back on track.

Maybe at some point they (the two who left) will come back. Is that possible Sally? Can they rejoin?

Thank You for the welcome! I am very close to celebrating my 1-week anniversary! As we say in the Army, HOOAH!

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OK, in the past week I have heard from two women who have asked to be removed from the diet.  “No longer on the bandwagon they say.”  Boy, I sure do want to know what that means.  What does that look like?  Shopping frenzy? Pulling an online shopping all-nighter?  Daily meetings with the UPS guy?

Many of you have admitted to falling off the diet wagon which is brave (shit I fell off when I discovered I was pantless at the gym and it took me two weeks to confess).  Some of you have come forward spilling your guts and begging forgiveness while others have couched their foibles in a more matter-of-fact way.   Regardless—it’s all open kimono around here.  The truth is what makes this whole effort interesting and authentic.  Right?    

That’s why I was surprised and sorry to hear that these two women completely threw in the towel, wiped their hands and said “abstain no more.”  I want to know what made them decide to give it all up?  Was it a sexy night gown?  A kelly green, lulu lemon hoodie?  Or was it simply a classic white t-shirt.    Whatever the case I need to know… we need to know.  This is what makes this diet compelling.  The buttons that get pushed in our lives that scream…”buy it?”   It’s like the chocolate bar that begins speaking from the pantry in tongues….”eat me, eat me!.”  You know the one.   I understand the concept of simply pretending this diet idea never happened.  It has crossed my mind a few times in the past several months. But after years of talking myself into the perfect t-shirt, pair of jeans, white blouse…you fill in the blank, I want to understand this thing we call “retail therapy.” 

Anyway, if any of you have thrown in the towel for good I hope you will tell the rest of us that you have done so and why.  What was the tipping point that made you give up, give in or simply hand over your debit card.  This is the stuff of sociologists.  Come clean if you can!  And for the rest of you, keep on keepin’ on. 

 Sally, your fearless leader.

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Ok girls, and one guy.  We do have one guy now, though we are yet to hear from him on the blog.  Anyway, back to my point.  Last week I posted the poll over there to your right.  It’s sort of a trite, yes/no kind of a poll.  I was in a hurry and was getting tired of the old department store versus boutique poll and thought it was time for some poll freshen-ing up.  And the: Is it easy?or Is it hard? poll was the best I could do that day.   When I published the question I was feeling proud and sassy, as if I could go a lifetime without buying anything new.   Well today is another story.  To say “who’s idea was this anyway,” would be saying it lightly.  It’s more like who’s!@#$%^&*()_ing idea was this anyway?   You see we have had record breaking sunshine in Seattle and temperatures hovering around 58 degrees.  It’s like Mother’s Day in February which is giving me some insight into my very limited warm weather wardrobe.  What pray tell will I wear when the real mother’s day gets here?   At least in the winter you can layer a great coat over a bad outfit. Not so in warm weather.  Can you say painter’s smock?  Perhaps I’ll pick up the paintbrush again. 

So back to the poll.  Last week this diet business was easy….this week?  Un frickin’ bearable.  I want something bright, snappy and new.  The good news is…tomorrow I will likely feel differently.  Hang in there girls, and our one guy! 

Sincerly, your fearless leader

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I own an Etsy shop where I sell items made from recycled clothes and fabrics and often peruse the site to share with other sellers, check out what’s new and get inspiration. I was delighted that one of the guest speakers in the virtual chat one evening were the ladies from The Uniform Project. I hadn’t previously heard of the project, but I listened into the chat and was delighted to learn that it involved wearing the same plain black dress for 365 days a year. The idea was to use accesories to change the outfit; what a great inspiration!  Here is some information about the project from their website:

The Idea

Starting May 2009, I have pledged to wear one dress for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Here’s how it works: There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day I will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accouterments, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies. Think of it as wearing a daily uniform with enough creative license to make it look like I just crawled out of the Marquis de Sade’s boudoir.

The Uniform Project is also a year-long fundraiser for the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots movement that is revolutionizing education in India. At the end of the year, all contributions will go toward Akanksha’s School Project to fund uniforms and other educational expenses for children living in Indian slums.

So, if you are feeling a little bored and feel there is nothing to wear in your closet, take some cues from The Uniform Project, get inspired and mix it up!

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I love, love, love clothing swap’s! Fortunately for me, my friends who own the bar in my neighborhood biannually agree to open up for the ladies to conduct a “squaw swap” and what a great one we had this past Sunday. While the turnout wasn’t large, the group of ladies (about 10) had enough clothes, shoes, accesories, and housewares to really make it fun. We swapped stories of our favorite items while enjoying a glass of wine or a Guiness and poked through each other’s cast-offs.  We made goofy costumes, we were amused at another ladies delight over our silly hand-me-downs and we had a blast. Guilt-free shopping is always fun. I am in between sizes so I swapped out for a few new items in both smaller and larger sizes so I’ll be sure to have space to move up and down over the next few months. I got clothes that fit perfect, some that I can refashion or alter and some that I plan to simply cut apart for the fabric and figure it out later. My favorite find was a brown cashmere knit poncho, like an all-business snuggie; I love it. I also found a beautiful Banana Republic blazer, sweaters galore and an awesome cowgirl shirt.  It was fun, it was refreshing and I can’t wait to do it again!  If you live in the Baltimore City area and are intersted in future clothing swaps, you can follow my personal blog or twitter feed for updates, or sign up for the Parkside’s newsletter where they’ll send you emails of their upcoming events, including clothing swaps. The more ladies we get, the more choices we’ll have so bring your used clothes and get ready to have have a liberating, guilt-free, swapping party!

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I was recently introduced via e-mail through a friend of a friend’s best friend (that’s how things work these days) who wrote a book called A Year without “Made in China”: One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy.  The author’s name is: Sara Bongiorni. 

Boy, you thinking giving up apparel for a year is difficult… wow, my hats off to Sara and her family of four.  They basically couldn’t buy anything for a year.  Her book is great, and eye opening.  I was lucky enough to make a connection with her and do my own little online interview (see the tab above for the full interview).  I highly recommend the book!  You can buy it on amazon at: http://tinyurl.com/ylzlbd9.

You can hear an NPR interview with her online at: http://tinyurl.com/2zee46 or see a video interview with her online at http://tinyurl.com/yklmnat.

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Today I was amazed when I tallied up our formidable and burgeoning group of dieters (weight watchers look out).  As of today the headcount is 70. O.K., maybe not big enough to be a political party but impressive enough to be a mini-movement.  A little overview of what our group looks like in demographic language.

We are women, though I have had a few inquiries from men none have been brave enough to join.  We range in age from 19 to 60. We are a creative, curious, sometimes hilarious and educated lot.  Many of us are self employed, business owners, creative thinkers, writers, producers, executives, lawyers, PHDs, mothers, wives, stepmothers, recessionistas, fashionistas, snowboarders, yogis, students, grandmothers, knitters, sewers and social mavens.  Some of us have recently lost our jobs while others are looking to change careers. Our shared interest?  We are all collectively reevaluating our habits, shopping habits in particular.

Some of us are motivated to curb our carbon footprint while others are more motivated to curb spending. Some are sick and tired of consumption in general while others are concerned about consumption and the environment.  Many of us want to share our trials and tribulations on the blog while others prefer to hang back and observe.   We hail from seventeen states in the U.S. Canada and the UK.  Specifically we are from: Washington, California, Florida, Texas, Ohio, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois, North Carolina, Idaho, Maryland, Indiana, Colorado, Virginia, Canada and England.

Twenty of us started the diet on Sept. 1^st and twenty joined in the last week.  The rest have joined at some point between October 1^st and Dec. 28^th.

Bottom line….this is a remarkable group of people who have come together to make a change.  So girls….keep on keepin’ on!

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In an effort to stay on track and avert the pangs that I feel every time I receive an email notification of some crazy sale, clearance or closeout I have made an effort to unsubscribe to each an every email fitting that bill this week.  I hadn’t reailized how many times a day I was bombarded with these messages to “Buy Now!”, but I know that as I receive fewer of these emails I am beginning to feel better already.  Instead, I’ve subscribed to some refashion blogs and newsletters as well as some fashion/couture websites. This helps me to feel like I’m still in the loop, but forces me to think about how I can rework what I already have in my closet instead of rushing to buy something online. My favorite is the daily dose of fashion voyeurism that I get from “The Cut: New York Magazine’s Fashion Blog”. I still get my fill of fashion goodness and its almost as good as dark chocolate.

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What are you wishing for for Christmas?

My husband told me yesterday he “went off the tracks” on my Christmas gift.  “You will love it but you don’t even know you want it,” he bragged.  I think that’s a bad sign. I have visions of a fancy new technological mega ram bam thank you ma’am kind of something-or-other under the Christmas tree.   This is the same guy who practically ruined my computer by upgrading it to the point that I couldn’t even log-in because of the tight security system.  “There are dangerous viruses out there,” he warned.  “I just wanted to protect you.”  

His new brainstorm seems to have nothing to do with the hints I have been dropping all fall.  “When Christmas rolls around remember…I want clothes.”  Subtle I know.   How could he have misinterpreted that to mean I wanted something I didn’t know I wanted?  Hmmm. 

The other day the UPS guy brought a package to our porch.  My husband made a fuss about intercepting it.  He likes to do this, it’s kind of a game for him.  “Hey don’t look at the box, turn your head,” that kinda thing.  Well of course I peeked.  If he hadn’t fallen all over himself on the way to the door I might not have noticed.   

The box, from Amazon, was about 8 x 10 and one inch thick.  So, unless he’s bought me some thong bikini underwear there are no new clothes from my husband in my future.  In fact, on reflection the box looked like it contained a computing device.  Argggghhhh.  And I was so hoping for a wardrobe pick-me-up.  Oh well, maybe my seven year old will come through with a school logo sweat shirt.

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You have most likely heard by now that I caved.  Here’s my mea culpa.

I have always been a fan of designer duds.  Given my Calvinist background and my reluctance to spend the equivalent of my mortgage on an outfit, I have abstained from the couture department at Neimans and Saks and opted instead for the knock offs found a few floors down. 

My Style? I like a good Chanel outfit complete with pearls or a Tiffany something-or-other.  Much to my sister Sally’s annoyance, I have admired Sarah Palin’s wardrobe out loud (post shopping splurge of course) and continue to look to Nancy Reagan, circa 1985, as a seminal fashion icon.  So when I was invited to “shop until I dropped” at the swanky, upscale, hoity-toity, designer brand employee store at prices exceeding 50% off of the manufacturer’s cost, what was I to do?  It was a dream come true.  Upon getting the invitation I was a bit nervous, dieting and all.  I told myself that I could shop for others, after all Christmas was coming.  Plus I wanted to see how deep the discounts really were. 

Naturally, after a few minutes of browsing the racks of amazing apparel, I found myself in the oversized dressing room (people who spend a lot of money need a lot of room).  Anyway, I was standing in my Natori bra and underwear smack dab in front of the mirror when I had the life changing conversation with myself. “Are you going to let a sociological experiment that your sister cooked up ruin your once in a lifetime couture moment?”  The answer came to me loud and clear. “Hell no! You go girl!”  And that’s how it happened.  Can you blame me?  (Sally refers to this as the apple moment).

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I love a little thought provoking deprivation (I do a complete cleanse now and again), I think it builds character and brings me closer to my ancestors who struggled through the Civil War and the Great Depression.  But this time deprivation got in the way of an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. 

If it helps, I was reluctant to write about falling off the wagon because I didn’t want to spark a revolution.  Don’t you girls get any grand ideas.  And if I may, I would like to impart some inspirational advice…do as I say and not as I do. 

Do I feel better, happier, and sexier now that I have an armful of very high quality expensive couture apparel hanging in my closet?  I’ll tell you what, I feel smart because I bought an entire wardrobe for a fraction of my mortgage (if I had paid full retail it would have been double my mortgage and a car payment).  But money and intelligence aside I know I will have all these items for a lifetime. In fact I don’t think I’ll need to buy another anything for the rest of my life—or until the swanky swanks invite me back.

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