“Dressing up doesn’t have to be all sequins, diamonds and pearls to feel fabulous; dressing up can be for any day of the week. Dressing up could translate as making an effort and taking an interest in how we present ourselves. Dressing up not only makes us feel good about ourselves, but also for others around us.”

                                                  VICKI ARCHER

I recently read this on VICKI ARCHER’s BLOG and it REALLY HIT HOME for me.

I have had the same thoughts for years……………especially the part about “others around us!”

I have a habit of purchasing items that I doNOT have a specific place to wear them too.I always ask MYSELF where will I wear this……….

My answer is ALWAYS the SAME………….the GROCERY STORE!

Do you know HOW many PEOPLE I make HAPPY by pushing my trolly up and down the aisles of SAFEWAY?

That JOY that comes across their faces almost ALWAYS spills out into a COMPLIMENT to me!

Which in turn makes me HAPPY that I have made them HAPPY!

CAN YOU IMAGINE if we were ALL HAPPY;

Every DAY doing the errands and chores that make us THRIVE.

Let’s think of our DAY as a CANVAS.

WE the PEOPLE are the ART WORK!

Let BEAUTY and CREATIVITY float about US!

We would LOOK FORWARD to our outings MORE if WE knew we would be ENTERTAINED!

Every DAY is a PERFORMANCE of LIFE.

So, why NOT dress for that PERFORMANCE and make yourself feel better as well as others that encounter YOU!

 

 

I find if I put some ENERGY into what I am wearing I FEEL BETTER through out THE DAY.

Just last weekend I put on old pants NOT FLATTERING and a t-shirt even MORE NOT FLATTERING because I was staying home doing the MUNDANE.

MY day was NOT that GOOD.

I didNOT feel GOOD ABOUT myself even if I was not bumping into PEOPLE.

Yesterday, I ran into an old customer at the GAS STATION.I had left the HOUSE in pants again that were not flattering and NO MAKE UP!I was not planning on leaving the HOUSE but an EMERGENCY SPRANG UP………….

Her first words to me were “NO RED LIPSTICK?!”

SHE NOTICED.

Then again SHE is an ARTIST in REAL LIFE!

Her eye is trained to SEE color.

It does MAKE a DIFFERENCE!

 

My favorite part of the DAY is getting READY.

I never over think I just PULL………..the first thing I think about is it going to be HOT or COLD today?

I then dress accordingly.

I always START with my facial routines.

Cleansing,Tonic and Serum.

I am ALWAYS AMAZED after you cleanse the dirt that still comes off when you use your TONIC!

Then I let the SERUM SIT while I get THY BOD DRESSED.

I DONOT HAVE A LARGE CLOSET.

I think MOST OF YOU WOULD BE ASTONISHED.

I know at MY AGE 56 I am suppose to be SCALING BACK!!!!!!

I know this because I had a shop where women of MY AGE now would come to BROWSE and I would hear it OVER and OVER again.

“I need to downsize.”

“I need to see what I have in my closet!”

“I do not wear HALF of what I own.”

I had an ANTIQUE/VINTAGE shop and somehow CLOTHES always came up in CONVERSATION!

I would LOVE to SEE what I have and be able to MOVE that hanger back and fourth with EASE!

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN IN THIS DECADE!

I have now taken over MY SONS’s closet……..

It holds the VELVET OPERA COATS that I will NEVER part with unless I get a GRAND – DAUGHTER or a very FLAMBOYANT GRAND – SON.

It also holds some of MY MOTHER’s pieces that have A memory for ME.

Then there is the ESCADA!

The GOLD and WHITE ESCADA!

I worked for NORDSTROM’s in the 80’s in the DESIGNER COLLECTION we received clothing at COST!

Yes, my paycheck went right back into THAT STORE!

P L U S.

I have NOT STOPPED SHOPPING.

MY NEWEST dilemma is where to PUT the rather LARGE BANGLES and NECK ENHANCER’s I seem to be accumulating at SPEED!

Perhaps the GARDEN SHED could become MY next display cabinet?

WISH ME LUCK ON THAT ONE AS THE ITALIAN CONSIDERS THE SHED AS HIS DOMAIN!

ALL PHOTOS

by KATHMARIE . PHOTOGRAPGHY in SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA

AT the PHILLIPS ESTATE.

WE were guests earlier this year and this wasNOT A PLANNED SHOOT.

It was a RIGHT AFTER LUNCH let’s DO IT kinda of SHOOT!

I LOVED WHAT SHE DID.

THE BEST PART

is

SHE is ONLY

14.

DO YOU ENJOY getting DRESSED for the DAY?

DO YOU ENJOY getting COMPLIMENTS?

DO YOU GIVE COMPLIMENTS if you SPY someone who makes your HEART BEAT a little FASTER?

I like making EYE CONTACT and chatting a bit with complete STRANGERS.

I think WE need MORE of that.

SOON we will all be HUNCHED over APES AGAIN pounding our chests saying why is this PHONE NOT WORKING!

Most of us are MISSING the BEAUTY around US.

OR

Snapping a photo on our phone to LOOK at LATER.

I’m GUILTY TOO!

AS Another GREAT BLOGGER SAYS………

IT’s YOUR comments that make this BLOG worth READING!

I AM

THRILLED

YOU ARE HERE!

YOUR CONTESSA,

XO