Category: Life

bookmark_borderExperimental Post: not to be repeated…

Posted on by Christine Elias

I spent the last two weekends away from home and so I had a lot to catch up on this weekend. (Not that I am complaining — both weekends were extremely fun.)

My goals for this weekend:

  1. Clean up my closet. It’s too early for the season switch-over, but I had a lot of things that needed go instead of being stored for next season. Status: my closet is much more streamlined, but I need a new suit. My pantsuit is a bit too big. I kept it (for now) just in case I need to go somewhere Chucks can’t take me.
  2. Take a look in my storage locker. Status: There’s (still) a lot of stuff there I don’t need (enough wire shelving for a small shop, for example) but I did identify a few things that can go. Now I just need to make a plan for their actual — as opposed to merely planned — exit.
  3. Do my laundry. Status: this seems to take me longer than most people. I know why, but I am set in my ways.
  4. Tidy up.
  5. Grocery shopping.
  6. Finish up my reading.

And with that, the most boring blog post of all time comes to a close. Perhaps writing about what I do with my time is an experiment I won’t continue. So don’t expect any posts about what I made for dinner. (Yeah, gazpacho.)

bookmark_borderFall wardrobe planning: It’s not too early…

Posted on by Christine Elias

I tend to buy fairly classic clothing in multiples. For example, I have 5 blue shirts — 3 are lightish blue and 2 are a less lightish blue (oh, rebel me!) — 3 white shirts and one light reddish shirt, plus a few other colours I rarely wear — maroon, teal, midnight blue — but felt compelled to purchase for some reason.

But, as of today, I don’t have a solid black shirt, a brown shirt, a pink shirt or a blue and white striped shirt. (In addition to a bunch of other items that I have not wore in a year or so.) These are important shirts in my wardrobe planning and I feel bereft. The reason: I cleaned out my closet and donated a bunch of stuff to Goodwill.

I lost a fair bit of weight about 5 or 6 years ago and did a pretty big purge then. (And a pretty big shop, too!) But over the last few years I have gone down a further size or two in tops — but not pants, oddly enough. I’ve still wore many of the tops last season, but they are just too big and I decided it was time to take a good look at what actually fit properly.

The “good look” resulted in a much more spacious closet.

But now I am stressing about finding new shirts that meet my (very rigid) criteria. My usual suspects: Lands End, Eddie Bauer and LL Bean don’t seem to have the shirts I like in the colours I require. Well, there is a black shirt at Eddie Bauer that looks okay, but it has white buttons. I don’t enjoy that much contrast in a shirt. (I know, I know — I don’t seem this rigid in real life — and I am not — but I am indeed this difficult in matters sartorial.)

I fear now I may have to brave the shops. I rarely venture beyond The Bay in my shopping in real life — as opposed to online, where I do about 80 per cent of my clothes shopping. But The Bay isn’t Eatons (oh, how I miss you Eatons)…and The Bay seems to never have my size in anything I want. (Nothing more soul-destroying than finding something you love in all the sizes except yours…)

Talbots seems to have some shirts that might work. Yeah, I know, Talbots. I’ve also had some success with Brooks Brothers lately. I think this means something….what, I don’t want to think about any more than necessary.