The uncoolest thing to say, "I have NOTHING to wear!"

First things first, when you find yourself in the position when you have NOTHING to wear, here is the emergency list of what I would suggest you get ...

1) Get yourself a cute t-shirt

2) Get a skirt - either denim or black

3) Get some sparkly shoes
4) Get a cute cardigan or shrug for mid-season coverage

This at least buys you some time to get other things to add to wardrobe....  


However, can I challenge you to actually check what you already have?


Check if you have the following hanging in your closet:


- a really nice cardigan or knit that goes with jeans or a cute skirt?
- a great jacket - like a trench or something that could be retro with some new buttons or a brooch?
- some groovy scarves you have had scrunched up in the back of that drawer that holds your knee high stockings?
- a crisp white or black shirt that can be ironed into pristine condition for a change from t-shirts?
- some cool pairs of jeans? They can be wide leg, straight leg, skinny leg - just make sure that they fit well and accentuate your good bits... Finding good jeans is H.A.R.D. (esp on a tight budget or with a big bottom, or in my case - both of these things....)

I hope you find some treasures lurking in your wardrobes that can add some nice features for this season's look.... 

The Rules of Shopping

I again state that I do not position myself as being 'cool' or any kind of fashion icon. However, I do love to shop and have become quite good at looking okay on a reasonably undetermined but by no means extravagant budget.  So.... here are some rules to remember when you are confronted with the bright lights and dizzying array of fashion....


1) When shopping, don't go looking for just one item  - trying to find a white v-neck t-shirt with butterfly sleeves is really hard. Have two or three things you are after and browse for those.


2) Some shopping trips will result in no purchases - DO NOT buy something for the sake of buying something, you must be completely happy with each item


3) Look through bargain racks in the brands you like, and even in the brands you don't know well - you just never know....


4) If an item is on sale, the right cut and you can wear the colour with at least 2 of the items in your wardrobe snap it up!


5) Spend time in the Op Shops, but remember it is only a bargain if you can wear the item with a variety of things in your wardrobe


Need more tips?


You may like this post or this one....

Why oh Why am I doing this?

I literally typed the following into 'Google':  'Why do people blog'?  As you would expect, a H.U.G.E list of articles came up. I have since come across articles giving some fabulous advice, funny things to do, quirky things to do, inspirational things to do and absolutely outrageous things to do, it was quite educational.


For those of you who know me and/or have followed my diatribes on Facebook over the past few weeks, you will know that I have been trying to rejuvinate my blog. What a comical disaster of errors this has been. I have searched high and low for a new funky background, I have 'Skitched' and spliced, Picasa'd and Googled, I have deleted and added, changed fonts, swished colours, chosen and un-chosen templates, and even updated my blog roll. I now have a new look and a new focus and I have been all gung-ho to .....


Oh pfft... What the heck am I doing here?  Why on earth would anyone care about what I have to say? Who is reading this anyway?


I know that this sounds a bit weird and a bit self-loathing, but I have had to basically decide whether this blog thing is for me. I mean I could leave my little ripple in the blogosphere and take up cross stitching cat decals on socks and be done with it. Then a Crafty friend reminded me of why I started this blog. I love to write.  No, no, I know YOU love to write too.... But I L.O.V.E. to write.


At night when I wake up, I am in the middle of thinking through story plots, or I am thinking how I can improve a recipe format, or I am remembering something that made me really mad and a letter I could therefore justifiably write (I have a very interesting 'Draft' section in my email account), I am coming up with anonymous letters to people in my street to get their cats desexed, their lawns mown or letting them know that if I stand on the very tippy corner of my bath and lean 32 degrees, I can see into their shower. I love to write. About anything.


So... writing is my first passion when it comes to my blog. But my other passions fit into my blog too - which is handy. I am passionate about 'cool' - ridiculous, right? Not cool for the sake of being cool, but cool as in maintaining a good attitude, keeping good peeps around me, experiencing new things and constantly learning learning learning. I am anti-settling. I am not ready to settle into my hair-cut, shoe style, jeans cut or my 'look'. I am not ready to say I am too old for things (I will not be listening to Beiber and wearing jeggings by the way, don't worry). I am passionate about continuing to discover myself and life even though I have kids and a mortgage (or two).


Therefore, (I wanted to start this paragraph with, 'So', but the previous one was....) within the html of this blog you will find things on fashion, shopping, my somewhat quirky homelife (just wait until you meet 'Fern'), my feeble attempts at crafty things and sewing, and I am going to add cool things about my kids. I was not going to blog about my kids because EVERYONE blogs about their kids, but, you know what? My kids are really cool, and we do really cool things together. Therefore, they get space on my blog.


But you will hopefully find my first love, writing. I give myself little topics to research and write about and things to think about all the time, which send imaginative sparks shooting through my brain.  Topics coming up in my Drafts are the history of Birkenstocks, lists of what you need to get your cool back if you have lost it, rules for shopping, the difference between 'Style' and 'Cool' and the list goes on and on and on and on....


Cool....

Things worth paying for...

There are some things that I think are worth spending money on... This is piggy backing off my reading about Style - there are not many books on Cool... I think the line is very blurry between the two.

1) Shoes - we aren't getting any younger folks - let's be kind to these two little miracles. Bunyins, corns, callouses etc  are not cool.
2) Jeans - from humble beginnings as workers' clothes, they are now a staple in any cool person's wardrobe. Due to how much they are worn, buy ones that are the right fit and length - when in doubt - go long...
3) Coats/Jackets - these are not one season items, make your money work for a few years not a season.
4) Decent bras - keep those puppies tamed girls! Nothing more uncool than puppies on the loose, especially under a t-shirt. Also remember, one of the top identifiers of a 'Bogan' is dark underwear under a light shirt, also the number of Torana parts stored under your bed - you have been warned.
5) Sunscreen - UV rays are ageing us every day. The thinnest skin on our bodies (requiring lots of attention) is our lips, under our eyes and our decolletage, use SPF 30+ everyday. That is right - EVERYDAY - rain, hail, shine, fog, or dust storm.