Perfection is the Enemy

As my birthday gift I starred in my own version of "what not to wear". So this is my 6 month check in to see how it's affected me...

There were no cameras and no studio audience, and Jill Lawrence (http://www.jillofalltradesdc.com/) was a million times nicer than Stacy and Clinton. I (cause Jill's hands never tossed away my clothes)... I removed 9 linear feet worth of clothes that looked less than stellar on me (not that I looked bad, it was the clothes, they weren't for me). I swear I was buying clothes for a 6'2" version of me and I'm a mere 5'5"... So I passed them on to those who can look fabulous in them.


When we finished I had about 7 black blazers / suit jackets, only about 35 cardigan sweaters (a bunch that looked identical), a gazzillon solid color tshirts and very little work appropriate clothing. If I was a gym teacher or a stay at home mom of a toddler, I would have had the perfect wardrobe.

Where are the photos from October 2011, you may ask... Well, I had this perfect idea to blog about it and even started a draft. And I wanted it to be a perfect blog article with perfect links and perfect photos (from a real camera) maybe perfect video... See how perfection was my enemy. Instead of the good enough solution which would have provided a great "After" at that time and a great "Before" now.

So this is a "good enough" written blog article which I wrote during bits of down time on my iPhone. Waiting in line, watching baseball, bits of time... It's amazing what you can do with bits of time. Sounds like I need to do more handwork so I can sew in my bits of time.

Working with Jill was great, she has an eye for knowing what fits different bodies. So I learned enough that I've been making better choices and maintaining my closet. And she is pragmatic, we used mostly what I had structurally in my closet, I added the "Super Slider" conversion that allowed me to use the original mesh shelves and add a continuous rod. Spent $65 bucks in supplies and I did it myself! The white drawer unit is on wheels so it allows me to pull it into center of room, drop clean clothes on it so I can hang them up one at a time.

32lbs slimmer and 4 or 5 sizes smaller I almost don't have any of the same clothes left. And there is color! You will not find one black blazer (or black top) now its Navy Blue, and I ONLY have 18 cardigans now and as my sister would say "some in more modern silhouettes."

My sister said I needed a style intervention. Oh of course she told me that after, but I probably wouldn't have listen before, I was too busy being in denial... I had a bad case of the frumps, which can lead to the grumps and make you feel like you are in the dumps. The frumps are long gone!


You can see that my shoes are not all black. When we first set up the shoe rack as a "tall" (I had it before in 2 sections) I finally realized how many of virtually the same shoe I owned - black comfy kinda frumpy. But at my heaviest my feet were complaining a lot and I thought it was shoes that were hurting me not my weight. Now I wear "Cute shoes"... party time! These shoes are going into purgatory - I need to put an expiration date on the box, cause I'm just not ready to donate these but they aren't being regularly worn.

So what lessons am learning? Having an organized closet makes my Closetmaid system look as good as the fancy closets - maybe better cause it's in my house and it's real. So it's not having the best and shiniest tools, but being able to access them and see what you have. And like all good things it's a habit and requires maintenance.

Lessons
1- it's not having want you want, but wanting what you have.
2- maintain is the name of the game
3- time is my most precious asset, by making tasks simpler allows me more time for art.
4- stop trying to be perfect, go for good enough and then you can make it better (if you are compelled). But don't be paralyzed by perfection.
5- don't sweat the small stuff!

Well here goes. Good enough !