I See You

I'm being stalked. Wherever I go. There they are.  I'm stalked by a nonentity. My online life follows me like a shadow. Whenever I'm on my computer-which is pretty much always-  there they are.  'You've looked at us'  they're saying and 'we are not letting you forget it'  You've got carts and we want to subtly remind you that there is a decision to be made. This is what I think as I see from the corner of my eye. Sites with pictures of where I've been pop up. Initial reaction  'Say What?' (long ago) would almost unnerve me. Who are you and how do you know what I'm up to?  Uncle Sam is everywhere and knows everything. Maybe  I  thought I could stay home,  not make a peep and be incognito.  I'm not even sure I actually went that far. I just went online and got lost in one world or another.  Didn't think I left a paper trail.  Well, they see. They know. And they are not giving up. One might as well invite them in and just give them your wallet.  They seem to know what I like and often remind me that  'in the same vein'  they have more. If I liked this. 'What about that?' Endless.  A leads to B leads to C.  

I'm glad someone is  out there  reminding me that I have stuff in bags all over the internet world waiting for me to make a decision. Ok, hate decisions. Can barely make them. Waiting for me to spend the money.  Hate that too. There never seems to be enough. 

But I'm  expanding horizons. The internet does. Why not me?   I'm using internet shopping as therapy.  Learning to make decisions and practicing the art of letting go. In therapy that would be called 'great work'  In life an 'ah ha' moment. In reality I'm either going to  look fly in my new purchases or not. Either way I've made a decision and let go. A win win. So I'm sticking to my stalkers. They help more than they can know.

 I'm both excited and guilty about my new purchases. The therapy side of this situation says we need to work on something here. I'm ready. I need to enjoy this stuff guilt free. 

Cleaning out the Closets.... again

Not to long ago I spent the better part of a Sunday afternoon ago cleaning out my closet. It was not even my closet I was going to focus on. That project would have to wait at least for a rainy day. Today it would be the  handbags I have in them. I have so many they actually should be housed in their very own space not crammed and tucked into wherever I can find room.  And that was indeed the  inspiration for this cleaning: Making room. If only I could clear out, give some away,even have a small sale for friends I'd have room to see the stuff in this closet and really use them I thought. 

So with a sincere endeavor I pulled bags out  of dark corners and dug for those on the highest shelves. Dusted off those I hadn't seen in forever and took inventory of it all. What did I want? What could I really use?  What  I could  absolutely  not live without? I used these questions to  guide me.

Unfortunately not much progress was made. For every bag there was a story or a potential one yet to happen . On they went in my head.  I remember this cute one. Or this would come in handy rushing to yoga on a rainy day (already an oxymoron if ever there was one) or the great bait: This would look divine in the spring, winter summer or....

A friend of mine had a similar experience recently. Between sips of wine we laughed at her retelling of her attempt at closet cleaning. Classic stories about reasons for her inability to part with her possessions. Many mini movies in their own right. Funny enough I remember thinking is she kidding. I would be so much more ruthless if that were me. 

Well, it is me. And my stories are sisters to hers. And I too talked myself out of so little change. I must be a Taurus. I am. But she isn't. Likely excuse. It's not change that we girls don't like I got to thinking. It's the idea that we love our stuff. And the possibility that one day I can look fabulous running in the rain to my yoga class is happiness to me. 

Always be ready. I'll blame it on the girl scouts. Although that doesn't much help my closet and making space. That being said ,  I've found quite a few things I love and started using again. Thrilled to do so. Cleaning out does that. Accountability is what I call it. And it does put the kibosh on shopping  awhile. But not for long. 

So I'll think of something when the time comes again. Mini storage perhaps?  Oh that'll help. Same time next year.

What's in your Bag

I'm a virtual shopper. Browsing the net and creating shopping carts is often part of how I spend an evening at home. Ok, maybe a lot of how. I call it multi-tasking. By now part of my DNA I'm sure. I'm not totally convinced  I would buy  sofas,  chairs, art work or mattress online.  Some things are meant to be seen and tested in real time sat on, walked around, visually  measured in inches and feet. But than there are those the strike a cord in the heart.  Just like that its' love. For those moments the internet created carts. Bags where true love can be gathered and kept.

Some sites I've learned hold your cart forever and some for a few hours only. Painful lesson. Here today.  Gone today. Sites seduce you.Especially when something is in your size. Shoes, for instance, always seem to have a precarious future. Strike while the iron is hot least you should loose it. The color, the size all convincing you,"Yup. Get it in that bag or cart just in case" I don't always buy but I do keep active carts. "Hope springs eternal" I say.

Right now I have carts filled with everything from a Cuisinart Mixer to wallpaper found on One Kings Lane. How can one not surf the net when you're bombarded daily with emails offering the world at large?  It's both tempting and hilarious shopping in either anticipation of a purchase or the hope of a future one. Whether the purchase or purchases makes  it to your front door or one goes back on the site to put it in the cart again isn't even always the goal or  the end of the world. It could  sometimes feel like that. The fun is we get to create worlds in worlds. Each bag holds potential. I think we get a chance to float with happiness for a while crushing on those Jimmy Choo shoes or eyes dreamy just thinking of that gorgeous wallpaper for the powder room -which I don't even have-  But in our minds for a monemt or two, for day or a week we live in that world. That bag, that cart, creates a persona we enjoy.

My potential  persona these days holds  Pilcro jeans from Anthropologie. Had never heard of them. But love them now.  Rachel Comey shoes and Margaret Howell tops from La Garconne. If I could dress form a site that one would be on the top of my list. I have comfy lounge pants from Gillian O'Malley at Target. I've worn them before and they're the best. And dearest to my pounding heart Ferragamo Vara  pumps from both Gilt and Saks Fifth Avenue. I love those classic mid heel they reissued a few years ago so much I secured them on a few sites, including the Ferragamo site itself.  Have to have them. Can't wait to play out the droll Edie Beale or cool secretary look. When I see those Vara pumps that's what comes to mind. 

Hope springs eternal. Carts hold dreams. Bags hold futures that keep dreams going. What's in your bag?

Doing Damage

I do damage in my dreams. So happy most of it is done there. Otherwise it would  be hell. Or I would be in major debt which for a shopper like me would be the same.

In my dreams -daydreams count- I shop with passion. Its two of everything. And then some. It's instant gratification. Total happiness. Each purchase is the one that will change everything and make life sublime.  'I'll never need anything ever again'  How many times did I say that. But it never fails. It does. For awhile until the next time, of course.  It's somewhat like prayer or chicken soup. Cures whatever ails you. Brings comfort to the soul.

Recently it was a hatbox -so adorable- such a great addition to that one corner in that room that needs it- eyed in a vinatge store on vacation . Or it's the one millioneth gorgeous bag I have to have because it would look so amazing with everything. Bags are my weakness. They're in most of my dreams. I dream big and shop hopefully not as big. But the damage is kept mostly in dreamland. But happy dreams make a happy life. At least a well dressed one. And they are free.

Swaying to the Swag

Maybe JCrew started it. Or maybe the grunge movement had pinned the look. But the mixing of prints is in. And most of the time it looks great almost in the same way the fade cut on one side of the head while the other stays longer looks great.  Never thought it was something I would like but always surprised how much I do. I have always been a prints fan. The mixing of one with another is what is really bringing fun and style back into it. There seems to be a swagger in the look.  A let me sway and sashay feel pins itself to the garments. A sort of perfect nonchalance.

The statement held its own really well all Spring and Summer with prints clashing softly against each other in both soft and strong colors. Strips were also thrown in the mix giving it all a fluidity. Dreamy summers in dreamy prints have given way to its own Fall interpretation. The prints are bolder but still warm and soft. Laura Ashley and Liberty Prints knew what they were doing. Prints like gingham are one of the 'Then. Now. Forever' of fashion. You can hardly ever go wrong.  And we are lucky that for now they are ours for the picking. They are still here for Fall/Winter helping us create our very own secret garden of looks. Otherwise, being a prints lover, vintage shopping would have been  my best option. Unfortunately we know how very few and far between those have become. Extinct may be the best way to describe  that. But let me stay a bit longer in my pretty pretty prints world.  I'll leave lack of vintage for a later post.