a spin-off TGIT style

Greetings, Thursday Lovers and Weekend Enthusiasts alike, If this post was the show Happy Days, then this post right here is Joanie loves Chachi.  Was anyone else down with Nick at Nite TV Land?  Well, if you weren’t just know that I love the Fonz and I am sure you would, too.  All 70s-sitcoms-set-in-the-50s references aside, here is the spin off of “betwixt”.  

And for the record, I hope for more success than Joanie loves Chachi.  

A while back, I was having the blues.  Like the dark blues.  Navy blues, to be precise.  I was getting ready for work and it was cold and it was gray in the great outdoors.  My first instinct was to reach for the fuzziest, coziest, and of course, frumpiest gray sweater in my wardrobe.  This sucker is so soft, it is so warm, and sadly, it is the color of wet ashes. But. as i reached for old gray, i had an epiphany that will be sure to blow the roof off of the minds of any member of my family.  I would even call it divine intervention of sorts.  Maybe this won’t seem very epiphany like to many a folk out there, but if you know me, you know this was nothing short of DI (Divine Intervention).

The old wheels started a turnin’ and i began to think that perhaps putting on something the color of the bottom of an elephants foot will not help in turning my navy blues into an aqua marine.  Maybe, just maybe, dressing in some color and actually putting some thought and time into my outfit will help to lift the spirits. It might allow me to expel a twinkle of creative energy and give me a little something to be glad about when i happened to capture a glimpse of yours truly in a mirror during the day (a common occurrence because the house of the kids i nanny for is mirrorpalooza)

And you want to know something funny? It did.  Miracle of miracles. It made me feel a teensy bit better to know i had on an outfit that i was proud to be wearing (in public).  And y’all (you know who you are ahem Christina ahem Sean) can take your jaws off the floor now. And if any other member of my family could please be a peach and not say “I told you so” that would be swell.  Because maybe they have told me so...one or two (hundred) times.  

It’s not as if i haven’t always enjoyed a beautiful dress for a special occasion and all of the delightful girlish preparations inherent therein.  Because i really do love that part of being a girl.  In fact, in the realm of lala land, I am a dress designer/maker.  Chiffon is my fabric of choice.  It floats oh so perfectly on the lightest breath of wind and it subtly whispers loveliness, femininity, and grace.  Akin to a Weeping Willow swaying in the breeze on a Spring afternoon.  Delicious, I tell you.

It’s just that I have felt so all over the place, that it has been difficult to decide on how I want to present myself via my wardrobe.  To focus, if you will, on a cohesive look that helps express the inner workings of yours truly. I’ve tried to pretend clothes don’t matter, but I have been wrong in this.

Of course, i must quote my best book friend, Anne Shirley:  

“You ought to have a red dress, Katherine.”
“I’ve always hated red...Anyway, I can’t be bothered with clothes.”
“Heaven grant me patience! Clothes are very important,” said Anne severely

I agree with Anne.  They are important.  Because, like a lot of things, clothes are not just clothes. It’s true they serve a very practical, functional purpose.  But humans are never just satisfied with the practical and the functional, are we?  We need food. Yes.  But we don’t just eat food.  We eat pizza, and we eat barbeque, and cinnamon rolls and oreo ice cream cakes (it might be obvious at this point that I have the refined palate of a 5 year old).  We want more from food than just nourishment.  We want what we like.  What tastes best to us.

i miss you so, dear Sandy's

Same with clothes.  We don’t just want covering and warmth.  We want to look pretty/handsome.  We want what we like.  We want it to communicate something about ourselves that people who never speak to us but do see us will perhaps wonder about, or guess about us.  

What would people guess about me had i worn the ash colored sweater?  Well, perhaps no one would care enough to guess anything...but what if they did? i would posit they would not consider me anything that i really would like to be considered: loving, unique, creative, colorful, funky, caring, interesting, into boogie-ing on the dance floor.  I don’t think these words would issue forth from the sweater, though i would like them to describe the sweater-wearer.  

And no, life is not about appearances and what other people think of you.  There certainly needs to be balance and moderation in our attention to clothes and material things in general.  I am all about the bargain shopping, and not being excessive, and being prudent and a good steward with what you have. And no, clothes do not make the person.  My dad said it well “The dress does not make the woman, the woman makes the dress”.  An absolutely gorgeous dress could be worn by two completely different women, and one might wear it with confidence, grace, and poise, and enhance the beauty of the dress a hundred fold; while the other could wear it appearing insecure and downtrodden, and the dress would lose its’ allure completely.

And I am here to say that I accept the fact that sometimes I will spend the day in an over-sized sweatshirt, flannel pajama pants, and huge purple slippers. Those days will be the winter days of doom that will force me to burrow into warmth, regardless of level of attractiveness.  Or just a Saturday that I feel like being cozy... But let’s face it, we are humans, and we like things to be beautiful.  And we do judge books by covers a lot of the time.  And what we wear and how we adorn ourselves before we leave the house does matter,  because it does say something about us, whether we like it or not.  

What do i want to say?  Simply this: Life is beautiful and good and worth living even with all of the difficulties and pain.  And even in hard times, i want to be a light in the darkness.  i don’t want to match the dreary gray sky or old wet ashes.  i want to match the sunshine

and the rainbows

and the ocean

and flowers and the stars. So come, come talk to me and i will tell you what my clothes have already hinted at: What a Beautiful Creator we have.  i want harmony between outside of me and inside of me.  i always have, but i’m seeing ways that i can help make that happen.  Like everything in life, it takes doing.  Not just wanting.  Willing and trying and failing and falling and getting up and trying again.  and again.  and again.  Baby steps, baby.  Unsure, shaky as heck, stumbly, bumbly baby steps.  

Isn’t it interesting how we continually change in our lives.  Thank God we do.  i would not have thought these things a year ago.  Maybe even 6 months ago.  But homegirl is thinking them now. and believing them.  

and shout out to China for sitting with me during the painstaking process of shopping. Without you, dear Christina, I would have given up. You are one stylin' chick, and the best big sister a girl could ask for. She has swag, and her glasses prove it.

It is a New Year.  Time to dress for the life I want.  Happy 2012 again, fellow sojourners.

 I hope you have a smooth take off into that wild blue yonder God desires for all of our lives-filled with more beauty and joy and love than we could have ever dreamed for ourselves. 

Plus, it’s TGIT, y’all! Dress like you are PUMPED for the weekend. So pumped, that it leaked over into Thursday, and you are hear to spread the news.  Get er’ done.  

now this is a TGIT face

Have a blessed, Christ-filled Weekend!