Week 6, Day 6 Outfit: Black BR cardigan, BR Pink polka-dotted shell, Ann Taylor Loft khakis, black leather flats (not sure of the brand, bought them at DSW)
Week 6, Day 7 Outfit: Black BR puff-sleeved wool shirt, Express Jeans, BR Pink polka-dotted sash (good thing I didn't wear this with Day 6's outfit - it'd look like I was hit by a pink polka-dotted truck), Lovely People black patent leather pumps
This weekend is the BGSU I/O's annual recruitment weekend where prospective graduate students come to experience the program and meet the current graduate students and faculty (and their significant others). Having been a grad student myself, and now tethered to the program through my marriage to Mike, it's interesting to reflect on the fact that about 10 years ago, I too was going through this process. Now, I am definitely beginning to feel my age as students who seemed so young to me are graduating and getting academic or applied jobs. I have the hardest time explaining to the prospective students who I am and why I know so much about BG's grad school program - because my identity is "Mike's wife" - a wife that used to be his student (I'll allow a moment for the gasp and eyebrow raising from those of you who did not know how Mike and I met).
Since I don't see the graduate students all that often, this weekend is a chance for me to reconnect with them and catch up. Some of them are aware of and following this blog, others did not realize I was embarking on this challenge. The male students of course reacted with "what's so hard about not shopping for 365 days?" while their female significant others found it interesting that I might have enough clothes to last me an entire year without repeating anything. Speaking of which, I have kind of snuck in the black top that I wore yesterday on other days where another outfit took center stage. So, I am finally having to retire this shirt to my bin of "worn" and may not be wearing it again for a year.
Yesterday morning, I had breakfast with some fellow yogi's and we chatted briefly about my blog and how often each of us shop for clothes. Lisa, who I have accompanied on a few shopping trips (where I ultimately ended up buying twice as much as she did), was surprised at how many clothes I have from Banana Republic. Lisa's statement was in some ways a re-confirmation of why I am doing this challenge...to approach some kind of shopping norm that I used to be 2 or 3 standard deviations away from (there's a fun term for you stats nerds). Who knows what will happen by the time this challenge is over...will I be more conscious of how often I go out and spend? Will I have found other more meaningful ways of spending my time? I have to admit that the thrill of clothes shopping has transferred a bit over into home goods shopping. After breakfast yesterday, I got really excited about going to Pier 1 to buy a few things for the home to jazz up what we refer to as our wine room. It's kind of like a recoverying alcoholic turning to smoking or a ex-smoker turning to eating. Yikes! - I hope I won't have to resort to also ruling out other forms of shopping.
On Thursday night, I started gathering up all the hangers that have been bared and got a strange sense of satisfaction with how much of an empty gap those hangers created in my closet...so, almost 7 weeks into this challenge, I can finally say that churning through my closet a day at a time is finally making a dent. However, there is another closet upstairs with warmer weather reserves that will likely soon be making its way down in the next month or so...summer is coming!
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