so with this recent shopping extravaganza, came yet another purge. i have clothes from back in the day when they were stylish THE FIRST TIME. i have come to accept that i will never be a size 4 again. or a 6. or an 8. etc. so i grabbed a fistful of bags and started filling them....anything that was a size 8 or under - in the bag no questions or hestitation allowed. anything size 10 got tried on, and then juried for age appropriateness, judged by style in general, and had to pass the time test: when was the last time i actually wore it? and when was i likely to ever wear it again? only clothes that passed those rigorous standards got hung up neatly in the closet. see, the last few days, i have spent on a mission...almost epiphanous & evangelical. it started out simple enough - i needed a dress to wear to a "gala dinner" at a mountaintop villa in St. Thomas. husband won a sales contest with his company and we're off for a free week at the Ritz Carlton, with a dinner at this villa. (just so you don't think we do this sort of thing on a regular basis - it's all free from his company, okay?) But what the heck do you wear to that sort of dinner? i have dressy corporate Christmas party dresses, and some work-type dresses (loaded with dust), but nothing tropically gala dinner-ish. so my hunt began. in snow-covered Central New York not-the-fashion-capital stores. my search brought me to Skaneateles nearby. a skirt in a shop window caught my eye, so i stepped into the boutique. i'd been in this store before and was not impressed - mostly dowager style stuff. i was greeted at the door by Jake, with a tennis ball in his mouth...Jake is a Cairn Terrier with the most beautiful chocolate eyes and a wag that wins. so long story short, and $600 later, i had The Perfect Dress....and much more. (the dress was NOT $600....i left heavily laden). these bags went into the trunk of the car next to the others from the mall store. sorry. i'm uncharacteristically (sp?) onguard in these little Skaneateles shops...the area being known for it's celebrity summer folk, and snotty attitude clerks. well, this clerk and i just got down to it. we discussed how the female body changes so much throughout the years (especially 50+) and how to dress for it...not to look 20 years old, but to look & feel your best in clothes appropriate for 50+. (when you feel younger than 50 sounds, but have realized you ARE NOT). she took me to a new world, she did. i feel very What-Not-To-Wear savvy, without having the TV humiliation of the 360-degree mirror. i'm not one to spend excessively on clothes...i only office-work 3 days a week, and as long as i show up - they're happy. dressing for an office is appreciated, but attendance is foremost. but i always had a fashion-lapse in the casual clothes dept...i'd always feel like a dork going to the kids' games/events wearing unfitting & unflattering clothes. or an art event. or anything not requiring jeans & Timberland boots. it's hard to explain - not that i felt i had to "compete" with the other women there, but wanting to feel comfortable (physically) in my clothes and not look like i just jumped out of the dumpster (which i usually just had!). and a lot of it was about feeling worthy enough to be able to spend on myself - being a woman and having a few of those "oh no you take the last piece of pie, i'm not hungry" programs still embedded). so i now have a closet full of clothes that flatter my figure - go figure- and don't look like 17-year old Jenny's or 70-year old mom's. which brought up all sorts of thoughts in my pretty little head about women's relationships and clothing being the "book cover" that tells if she's "one of us" and social status and all sorts of things that 1st impression weigh. very interesting if you think about it. i know that when i pull my hair back in a ponytail, wear my glasses, jeans and a tshirt, i get treated differently in stores than if i've actually blown-dry my hair, took time for contacts & makeup (rarely) and worn a nice top, even with the same jeans. people will look me in the eye more, smile at me more, wait on me faster. is it the 1st impression? or do i feel differently about myself and project a different vibe that makes them want to avoid me? hmmm. so anyway, back to the shallower waters....i found a pair of jeans that are KILLER! i have The Hardest Time finding jeans...too long...too tight..to gappy in the back...need a crochet hook to remove them from the nether regions. these jeans are KILLER! made by Not Your Daughter's Jeans company. SOMEONE was thinking! more expensive than your average Levi or Lee, but fit like a dream and you buy a size smaller - yes smaller- than usual....see the label at the top. they say "clothes make the man," and i think i now know what they mean. i really felt so much better inside, knowing that my Inside was now reflected Outside as well. and, AND, i got a haircut. y'all know how i've been spoiling for a honkin' mullet, right? well, this is a modified-PTA approved mullet. a little longer where it usually is short, and a little more blended in the layer dept, but should i get a hankering - i can gel this thing to within an inch of it's life and BAM - mullet. so fun! so all in all, this week i reinvented myself back to the beginning...back to who i've become and was and will be. the inside is now outside and there is a nice harmony about the whole thing. ahhh. now about the 5 pairs of shoes.......