Gus, Layla, Andrew, Grace, Austin, and fashion

They all woke up at about 6am this morning. Gus needed to go outside and do his business, and so did Layla. Andrew needed a new pull-up (I woke up to him sing-songing "Mommyyyyy, I went poopooooooo"), and Grace and Austin wanted breakfast. Zombie Mom does these things in auto-pilot, so I shooed dogs out of the back door, changed a pull-up, and told the older two to wait another half hour for breakfast, but that they could play quietly. Andrew came out of his room and turned in to Monster Man, chasing poor Gus around the house while Gus depserately looked for a place to hide from the midget-sized evil. Grace and Austin decided not to wait for breakfast and made themselves bowls of cereal, which did not make a huge mess, much to me relief. So the morning went off with a bang, about 2 hours before I wanted it to start. Afternoon nap, you are calling my name!

Now on to my other endeavor. I have been the CEO of a very frugal household for a good long while, and before that my husband and I were not making enough money together to get nice clothes. So...... I haven't owned any nice new clothes since high school, almost 10 years ago. I have completely lost touch with fashion. Completely. My regular wardrobe consists of worn blouses that are at least 3 years old, dumpy T-shirts, and sweats or jeans that are at least 2 years old. Come to think of it, I never really had a relationship with fashion. I wore sweats and old jeans to school with T-shirts and discount store tops.

I need an upgrade, badly. On everything. My clothes, my hair, my shoes (some of which have also survived from my high school days...... eww), my jewelry.

So I set out last night to find out what I might actually like now, and what would look good on me. There is so much to learn! Doing advanced accounting, business operations, and statistics courses in college..... that was far easier than trying to figure out my best styles. Seriously. Color palette? Shape-flattering tops and bottoms? What to mix and match? How to accesorize? The best colors for your hair/face shape? Plus I need to shop modest (LDS) so that throws a lot of new fashion choices out of the window. But there is hope! I FOUND STUFF I ACTUALLY LIKE! It's online, so now I have to figure out my sizes, order a few things, try them on, send them back for better sizes, and then decided on what lines fit me best (personality and body-wise). I browsed for at least 3 hours last night, trying to figure out what I want/need. I really like Shade Clothing, Funky Frum, Down East, and the Daytrip line sold at Buckle.

Now to figure out cuts and colors of shirts, and style of pants/shorts. Long shorts are obviously what I need. Bermuda shorts are a must, it doesn't really matter what fabric it is, as long as they don't make my butt look dumpy or non-existant. I need some classic rise or high rise flair jeans with a slightly relaxed fit. I have bought at Buckle in the past, and I had the mid-rise. Not high enough for all the bending and stooping I do during the day. I like my hiney to stay in my pants, thank you very much.

I have golden colored blonde hair, and my skin is pale with a rose hue to it. I can tan, but it takes effort and caution, or I burn instantly. I am hyper-colored, if you touch my skin it will turn white and then a red spot will appear and stay there for at least half an hour. So the color part is one of the trickiest things to figure out. Will bright colors show my redness in my skin? Will pale colors wash out my face and hair? Will dark colors be too hot this Summer? I am also hourglass shaped, with a 38 inch chest (between size C and D) and a 28.5 inch waist (and a little baby pooch below, of course), and 37.5 inch hips. I hate that so many cute shirts show cleavage on me or are not quite long enough on me to go below the top of my pants. I am 5 ft. 6.5 inches, so I need longer shirts to accomodate my bust and my slightly longer torso. Not fun, not fun, not fun.

Now I know why those women on What Not To Wear went through such a roller coaster of emotion when they were on the show. I am about to go through a lower-budget version of the same thing! I need support, Heaven help me!

The first matter of business is to deal with my unmanageable hair. My frizzy, curly/wavy combo hair. I have seen a stylist at a local salon a few times, and I am going to go see her next week with the gift card my mom and sister gave me for taking my nephew/mom's boyfriend's dog this weekend. I will have to break down and actually take her advice, buy those products that will help me manage my hair, and allow her to do something different with my hair!

I have been playing with a free makeover software online, and I might do some low lights, a few high lights, and layer my hair some more. Then I will actually have to buckle down and style my hair instead of throwing it in to a ponytail every day to take kids to school, exercise, run errands, do yard work, and then do school work. I will actually have to look STYLISH. My husband admitted to me yesterday that I have gotten really comfy in my dumpy clothes and no makeup/crazy hair phase. I am lucky he loves me so much and admires me so much. But I am happy he was honest with me. I do miss nice jeans and cute tops. I want that back..... and cute hair, and new shoes.

It's time to do it!