November Garden Update & 30x30 Thoughts
This'll be my last garden update for 2013! Can you believe we only have two months left in the year?
We had a few overnight frosts last week, so everything was looking cool when I took this photo around 6:30 in the morning. (Pretty soon it'll be time for hot chocolate for breakfast!)
Mr. G and I trimmed all the Black-Eyed Susan stems right before Halloween (they grow into the path and we didn't want any issues with trick-or-treaters) so they're resting in the garden now until the spring. Then we'll put some in the compost and some out in the woods house to decompose.
And the 30x30 update. Just to refresh your memory, this was a challenge I'd read about on RA's blog back in October, and I decided to join in. The basic premise is to pick 30 things to wear (clothing and shoes) for an entire month. You can read her thoughts for October here. Here's what I decided to wear:
This challenge turned out to be extremely difficult for me - and I'll be honest, I pretty much gave up by the third week.
There were a couple of issues - the first one being the weather. Fall's always a tricky time to dress comfortably because of the temperature swings, but I figured I could just use the three sweaters I'd included for keep warm in the morning and then take them off as the day wore on. However, at work I moved to a new space in June, and it's AWFUL! Ever since the cool weather hit, it's averaging about 63º (that's 17.2º C) throughout the day and a light sweater was not cutting it. I switched to a cotton layer, topped with a heavy sweater and corduroy or wool pants and finally felt warm this past week.
The next issue is so shallow I feel bad admitting it, but I was self-conscious. I felt the whole point of this challenge was to get creative and realize how much of your wardrobe was superfluous . . I was too busy worrying that someone would notice I'd worn the same pair of pants three times in one week.
But some positive enlightenment did come out of this challenge. It made me take notice of how often I dress in line with my mood. I wore a bright coral sweater when I feeling cheery, black pants and a gray and black shirt one rainy day, etc.
So bottom line is: Could I live with far less clothing? Yes! Do I want to? Not particularly.
How's the temperature at your office? :)
We had a few overnight frosts last week, so everything was looking cool when I took this photo around 6:30 in the morning. (Pretty soon it'll be time for hot chocolate for breakfast!)
And the 30x30 update. Just to refresh your memory, this was a challenge I'd read about on RA's blog back in October, and I decided to join in. The basic premise is to pick 30 things to wear (clothing and shoes) for an entire month. You can read her thoughts for October here. Here's what I decided to wear:
There were a couple of issues - the first one being the weather. Fall's always a tricky time to dress comfortably because of the temperature swings, but I figured I could just use the three sweaters I'd included for keep warm in the morning and then take them off as the day wore on. However, at work I moved to a new space in June, and it's AWFUL! Ever since the cool weather hit, it's averaging about 63º (that's 17.2º C) throughout the day and a light sweater was not cutting it. I switched to a cotton layer, topped with a heavy sweater and corduroy or wool pants and finally felt warm this past week.
The next issue is so shallow I feel bad admitting it, but I was self-conscious. I felt the whole point of this challenge was to get creative and realize how much of your wardrobe was superfluous . . I was too busy worrying that someone would notice I'd worn the same pair of pants three times in one week.
But some positive enlightenment did come out of this challenge. It made me take notice of how often I dress in line with my mood. I wore a bright coral sweater when I feeling cheery, black pants and a gray and black shirt one rainy day, etc.
So bottom line is: Could I live with far less clothing? Yes! Do I want to? Not particularly.
How's the temperature at your office? :)
I love your comments on the 30x30 challenge! I don't have a great amount of clothes for work and I do wear the same things a lot, but I am also conscious of whether I'm seen wearing the same thing at 2 or 3 meetings in a week. I think that co-workers do look to cheer each other up by talking about their new clothes, accessories, haircuts, etc. I don't want to feed into that all the time, but I'm not immune to it. My office is always freezing, and it seems like a permanent situation. No matter what I wear, I end up with a huge thick sweater over the top! Like you, I could make do with far less clothes but I just don't want to. My only promise is not to be wasteful by buying short-term trends.
ReplyDeleteThank you - it makes me feel so much better to know I'm not alone in worrying someone will notice my clothing repeats! I also love when a coworker comments on my outfit or haircut. It really brightens my day. :)
DeleteYou're not alone - though with my two last shopping trips, I do feel like I have a few more clothes than I truly 'need'. Thankfully I wear a uniform, and if we're confessing here, I wear the same pants all week. They don't really get dirty. And I wear the tops two days running unless it was a super hot/dirty day. So no one knows, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a cultural thing about rewearing stuff - I noticed living in France they'd wear things two days in a row, with no real shame! The Aussies/Americans in that teacher's class were aghast. I think bottoms/pants etc are easier to rewear, especially if they are somewhat non descript. Which I think is why you need more tops than pants.
And like Dar, I agree with you, I could minimialise my wardrobe more, but I haven't yet taken part in a 333 or 30x30 challenge, plainly cause I don't want to!
I agree, it must be a cultural thing. I rarely see women at my work repeat a top during a whole month! It shouldn't bother me to rewear things - but I'm conscious of it, and try to go a fortnight before repeating a shirt.
DeletePants are definitely easier, I'll wear the same black pants once or twice a week, but during the challenge, I felt weird wearing the corduroys or gray pants more than once a week. I think this will be my first and last clothing challenge ;)
weather flux is tricky. and in my case weight flux. over a decade I've swung among size 8 and 16. and I have clothes from the 80s so it adds up to a lot of outfits. could I get by on few? sure. we travelled for 6 weeks with 3 shirts, jacket, scarf and 2 pairs of pants, 3 pairs of socks. one being dried, one worn.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! I've never traveled that light.
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