Shoes, Clothes and all manner of attire

You'd think getting the dress would be the most difficult of wedding wardrobe needs. Indeed not, by my experience. I am, at this moment, sitting in a living room filled with over $4000 (totally to 12 pairs or so) worth of shoes from Zappos, Shoe.com and some other website, wondering which will be 1) the most useful in the future, 2) the most fun, 3) the most well priced for the amount of use, and 4) the most comfortable. This is, of course, absolutely absurd and hilarious because the only function they will serve on my wedding day is to make me tall enough so my dress doesn't drag on the ground and get me from place to place with relative ease. Nobody will be able to see them. And yet, here I am, something blue, something red, something gold, something silver, something sequined...... Oh my.

I got to thinking about clothes today and the significance in what you wear (not just on a wedding day, but in every day) and all it communicates about a person. I was actually thinking about this because I was feeling a wee bit uncomfortable in my own clothes -- not because they didn't fit right and not because they didn't look good. I was sufficiently satisfied with my clothes on both accounts. No, no, it was for quite different reasons.

You see, I was working today, but I wasn't the most productive (I'll be honest, I had an incredibly hard time focusing. My boss probably got a good 3 hours out my 8 that were worth paying me for.). As I went out on my lunch break to meet with the reception caterers, (this was about midday when I'd accomplished almost nothing), I felt like I was a bunch of pomp and circumstance.

Why would I feel bad? Because I know my clothes. They are, as I am a bit of a bargain shopper and a brand & fit snob, pretty nice and, at full price (though I usually get clothes on sale) almost always out of my price range and certainly out of my income bracket. But I get them anyway. And normally I don't mind this. In fact I very much approve and enjoy this. I feel that, especially in regards to my career and how I should present myself, it's a proper and well-fitted presentation. But not today. Today I felt like I didn't deserve to wear the clothes. I just felt like an overdresses, spoiled, entitled brat. Admittedly, as I thought this, I also thought of that sacreligious bit in Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail, when God is talking to them through the parted clouds, telling them to stop groveling and how he hates it when people grovel and to stop apologizing, blah, blah, blah. I laugh at the absurdity of my guilty conscience on occasion. But it doesn't change the fact that I still feel a little guilty.

Anyhow, back to the topic at hand. I was really crappy at taking care of business today. Thus, I didn't feel comfortable in my nice work clothes. However, different clothes are different in this regard. On my wedding day, I imagine I'll feel quite the part and up for wearing the wedding dress. But not on any other day, I think.Then I think of evening gowns --- evening gowns are just a lovely thing because all you have to do to feel up for and appropriate to one of those is to get done up and have somewhere nice to go. Sometimes not even that. But career attire -- you really got to have things together to wear it well. They're a tricky thing, clothes. Sometimes outsides really do match the insides. Of coures, I suppose some people don't have to match their clothes. Like those people who don't really care or pay attention to their clothes -- though I just can't imagine... How interesting. How do they do it? And then you have Hollywood. It's almost entirely pomp and circumstance there (in my humbe opinion). In any case, no matter whether other people do it or not, I like to match inside and out. Or at least to think that I do. :)

The Weekly Word: "Slacker"

So, as my dear sweet co-blogger will tell you, I slacked a bit last week...I didn't post the weekly word, and it was my turn. And then I think, what is a slacker?

So, alas, I googled slacker, and first up....wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia, the term "slacker" was most commonly used during the WWI and WWII era to explain men who were avoiding the draft, but that isn't me....hmmm. Next, they give a short concise evolutionary definition, applicable to modern times "A typical slacker is characterized by a static, unenthusiastic air manifesting in an apparent lack of effort."

OUCH!!! I sure hope that isn't me.

Alas, I turn to the urban dictionary for respite. With their new voting system, urban dictionary puts a whole new meaning to community dictionary. The most popular definition presented is

"Someone who puts off doing things to the last minute, and when the last minutes comes, decides it wasn't all that important anyways and forgets about it" I don't know how I feel about that definition, but it is better than the other one. Still a bit assumptive in characteristic, yet pessimistic in outcome. Oftentimes I think a slacker does it in the end, just a bit late. Lastly, I come to the Freedictionary.com. "One who shirks work or responsibility." I like it, short, sweet, not overlybroad, yet vague enough to be applicable to the majority of commonly associated occurences. In my terms, what is a slacker? Someone that says they will do something and then doesn't. Perhaps it is just someone that works on a different time frame from the rest of us. Or maybe it is a genius so engrossed in other thought, that it appears as if they are doing nothing, but in reality, are one more "slacking" moment from uncovering the mysteries of the universe........ok, ok, yes, that is a far stretch. And if I wasn't a slacker, I would probably type okay, instead of ok. Regardless, slackers are our best friends, our worst enemas, and our enviable compatriots. We love hanging out with them, because they are the only ones that have the time to hang out, while the rest of us A-type personalities are off being anti-social and trying to conquer the world. Everything is the worst enema...can you have a good enema?....wait, don't answer that. And lastly, we envy their ability to shirk responsibility, make time for the more enjoyable things in life, and somehow have a far more relaxed, yet wholistic approach to daily life. True they may be goalless, needy, and empty wastes of space, but we still want to be like them. So, touche, I wish I was a slacker, but until then, I'll just have to blog about it.

Being Comfortable with Being a Slacker

Most days, I feel a need to improve myself. I feel a need to work hard. I feel a need to eat healthy, work towards my goals, and seek after my destiny.

Then, some days, I'm just plain tired. I get tired of worrying, I get tired of planning, I get tired of being diligent. Doesn't just the word, "diligent" sound tired to you? Just the thought of it could be enough to make one tired. Being prudent and careful... you're just GONNA get tired. Sometimes, a person needs to relax. And know it's ok to relax. They need a kind of a nap, in more than just the literal sleeping sense of the word. Such is today and yesterday for me. I think I ate 5 rice crispy treats yesterday for lunch (LARGE, home-made rice crispy treats... mmm). And today, 3 of those chocolate-peanut butter eggs accompanied my breakfast. I had no plan to deviate from a healthy eating schedule. And I still don't think I'm overeating and gorging, so I don't feel REALLY bad. Just a little mischievious. :)

The glitch is, I have a 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks, and this is REALLY not the time to pack on a couple extra pounds, as it will just be more for me to cart along on the 13.whatever-it-is mile journey. But one doesn't plan when they need a nap. And I need a nap. So, I am taking one.