Age Appropriate Fashion: Who says?



So once again I found myself getting bored with my ongoing task of proofreading, wandering over to my unread issue of More Magazine.  A headline on the cover caught my eye:

What to Wear

at 30, 40, 50

The Yes, No, Maybe, Never

Fashion Guide



 

According to More Magazine's fashion editor, women in their 50's should "not" wear ripped jeans.  Granted it was not indicated as a definite "never," but in any event, the word "no" was clearly indicated.  No reason given.  No accompanying guidelines, exceptions or conditions. 

Just plain and simple.

 

No

Well, More Magazine Fashion Editor, this 50-Something diva respectfully disagrees.

 



 

 

And I guess I'll just have to (proudly) be a fashion rogue.

 

My bargain purchases this week—

love those seasonal sales!



 

 

Plum-n-black animal print RL dress

and Nine West neutral pumps

Yay Me!

 

 

 



Afternoon ADD Alert

I'm supposed to be proofreading transcripts.  We have no court today, and it's the perfect opportunity to get some proofreading done.  The transcripts are due on an appeal by March 4th (oh, I'll make the deadline) and I shouldn't be dragging my feet...

But.

I'm bored.

My mind won't stay focused on the task at hand.  It keeps wandering in a million different directions...

I WANT TO GO WINDOW SHOPPING.

I WANT TO  SEARCH FOR NUTRITIOUS RECIPES.

I WANT TO  READ OLD WEIGHT LOSS JOURNAL ENTRIES TO GATHER INSPIRATION AND REVIEW FORGOTTEN LESSONS OF “GOOD BEHAVIOR.”

I WANT TO  SEARCH FOR NEW MP3 SONGS TO DOWNLOAD.

I WANT TO  PAINT MY NAILS A DIFFERENT COLOR.

I WANT TO  READ MY NEW MORE MAGAZINE.

I WANT TO  TAKE A WALK DOWN THE BOULEVARD WITH THE WIND IN MY FACE AND WATCH BARGES CREEPING UP AND DOWN THE RIVER.

I WANT TO  VISIT MY FAVORITE COFFEE SHOP DOWNTOWN AND SIT IN THE CORNER AND DO A LITTLE PEOPLE WATCHING.

I WANT TO  BROWSE DECORATING WEBSITES FOR INSPIRATION ON NEW PROJECTS TO TRY AT HOME.

I WANT TO  READ OLD LETTERS, CARDS AND EMAILS THAT I'VE SAVED FROM FRIENDS … AND SMILE.

I WANT TO  PLAN A GETAWAY (THAT I CAN’T AFFORD).

I WANT TO  GO HAVE A FACIAL…AND A MASSAGE…AND A PEDICURE (GUILTY PLEASURES THAT ALSO COST MONEY).

I WANT TO  WRITE TO VICTORIA’S SECRET CUSTOMER SERVICE AND COMPLAIN – again -- ABOUT THEIR DISCONTINUING MY VERY FAVORITE FRAGRANCE -- BEAUTY RUSH’S PLUM DROP. 

I WANT TO  HAVE DIMENSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS DONE TO MY HAIR .

I WANT TO  CALL UP AN OLD FRIEND AND TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING AND NOTHING AT ALL.

I WANT TO  REARRANGE MY OFFICE.

I WANT TO  READ BLOGS ... AND WRITE IN MY OWN.

I JUST WANT

TO

INDULGE ADVENTUROUSLY!

bUT i GOTTA PROOFREAD.

GET BACK TO WORK, T.

DUTY CALLS.

We're Not That Different

 

“I laugh

I love

I hope

I try

I hurt

I need

I fear

I cry

And I know you do the same things too,

So we’re not really that different,

me and you.”

Colin Raye

The F Word

The Stuttering Kitten

A teacher is explaining biology to her 4th grade students. "Human Beings are the only animals that stutter",  she says.

A little girl raises her hand. "I had a kitty-cat who stuttered", she volunteered.

The teacher, knowing how precious some of these stories could become, asked the girl to describe the incident.

"Well", she began, "I was in the back yard with my kitty and the  Rottweiler who lives next door got a running start and before we knew it,  he jumped over the fence into our yard!

"That must've been scary",  said the teacher.

"It sure was",  said the little girl. 

"My kitty went 'Fffff, Fffff, Fffff'... and before he could say "Fuck," the Rottweiler ate him!"

 

The letter F possesses negative vibes.  Take February, for example.  February has NOT been a good month for me.  Once again this year, I've fought moodiness and depression, no doubt brought on by the season and a list of age-related hormonal imbalances and FALLOUT.  To offset the gloom and doom, I have made bad FOOD choices, which have ended up being only temporary "facelift" to my depression, resulting in FAILED weight loss attempts, as well as compromising my hard-earned level of FITNESS.  All resulting in an ongoing vicious circle. 

February.  A month of failures.  Or, another way of saying it:  A month of fuck-ups.

The F word.

But I've been at this long enough to know that FAILURE is not FINAL unless you allow it to be.  In fact, failure can be constructive to long-term success if construed in a more productive perspective.
To concede to failure is a surrender.  A forfeit to fear.  It's quitting. 

And I am not a good quitter.  I may fail.  And I may fail a lot.  But I don't -- and won't -- quit.

I log on most days to ThinkExist to see whose birthdays they honor on their website.  February 26 happens to be Johnny Cash's birthday.  My middle son always liked Johnny Cash.  Not being a country fan by ANY stretch of the imagination, I can't say I share in that enthusiasm.  But I do respect the man for all that he accomplished in his lifetime, for many of the things he wrote and sang about, stood for, embraced. 

Reading his quote on "failure" today while visiting the ThinkExist website, it reminded me how important it is to make the most out of my failures these past weeks. 

Will I allow those failures continue to rob me of precious emotional and physical energy that I need to will myself back onto the right track of success?  If I think on "yesterday" long enough, that's exactly what I'm setting myself up for.  More failure. 

Let it go, T.  Fuck it.  Let it go.  You can't unring a bell.  What matters is today.  And the only way to make today more successful than yesterday is to pour every ounce of positive energy into turning this around.  Emotionally, physically, mentally.  My failures of yesterday are my opportunities to begin again today.

F may have stood for failure yesterday.  Today it stands for
flame
fire 
focus

Happy Birthday, Johnny Cash. 
And thank you for your words of wisdom which will live on and on in the lives of others.



The Man in the Arena

After having recently read bits and pieces from a book about Theodore Roosevelt, I was surprised to learn of his rigorous battles with ongoing adversity, loss and depression, and, more importantly, his insatiable quest to conquer that despair.  Captivated by his pure grit, I find myself fascinated to learn more about the "man in the arena" and what life lessons he had to share with those who came after him.  A man of substance.

"Roosevelt emerged from that summer determined to survive any loss. And loss would come. Following his father's death, Roosevelt had a string of successes, He graduated from Harvard with honors, married Alice Lee -- a pretty blonde who he was certain would never have him, 'but,' he insisted, 'I am going to have her!' -- and, at twenty-three, was elected New York State's youngest assemblyman. In 1884, however, when he was only twenty-five years old, Roosevelt was called home by an ominous telegram. When he arrived, he found that the two most important women in his life -- his mother and his young wife -- were dying, At 3:00 a.m. on February 14, Valentine's Day, Martha Roosevelt, still a vibrant, dark-haired Southern belle at forty six, died of typhoid fever. Eleven hours later, her daughter-in-law, Alice Lee Roosevelt, who had given birth to Theodore's first child just two days before, succumbed to Bright's disease, a kidney disorder. That night, in his diary, Roosevelt marked the date with a large black 'X' and a single anguished entry: 'The light has gone out of my life.'

"Desperate to conquer his despair, Roosevelt resorted to the only therapy he knew: physical hardship and danger... he boarded a train for the Dakota Badlands, where he hoped to find the kind of hard existence that might keep his body and mind too busy to ache for Alice [his wife]. Roosevelt rarely spoke about that terrible night or about his first wife -- even to their daughter, who was named for the mother she would never know. He was a different man when he finally returned east for good two years later. He was filled with vigor and perspective after mastering an entirely unfamiliar world of danger on the American frontier -- and defeating, by sheer energy and physical exertion, the grief that had threatened to overwhelm him." 

~ Candice Millard, The River of Doubt: Theordore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

American Presidents.com



In the Air Tonight

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”

Lao Tzu

It’s that time again

Friday night…live…and unplugged

My absolute favorite song

that Phil Collins

ever recorded.

Yep...

I hear it.  i feel it.

I so feel it.

How can you not?

My Cinematic Saturday

A cinematic account 
of a cold winter Saturday

in February

 in the life of T