1st of July

So I enjoy "Style Blogs"...these are a genre (or more often, a subset within) of blog where a person takes photos of the outfits they wear each day. They usually tell you where they got each of the articles of clothing they are wearing, their shoes, and accessories. They also usually comment on their haristyle and give tutorials when warranted.
At first, I was uncomfortable with these kinds of blogs -- mostly because it seemed so narcissistic. And I would say that most of these people are at least 15 years younger than me and usually don't have children -- which DOES NOT automatically make a person narcissistic, but it is easier to be so in those situations. I think doing such a thing could also be a way to understand your own relationship with clothing or style. It can also help other people get ideas of how to dress or NOT to dress. As for being 15 years older than most of these women, I often feel like I am 15 years behind everyone for everything -- getting married, having children, trying to figure out how to wear clothes, shoes, do my hair, cook, live in community with others, etc. As I prepare myself for Thea Belle turning one at the end of this summer, I am thinking of how much I prayed for a daughter for years before she was born and then again, intensely, when I discovered I was pregnant for the fourth time. I've written before about how deep the desire was to have a daughter and yet, how scared I have been about so many things related to being a woman, related to being a mother of a girl who will quickly one day be a woman herself. One aspect of that is my own weakness, ignorance, fear, and desire to dress in an interesting and lovely way, to "do" my hair, to have fun with how I dress. I want to give that to Thea. I want her to love being a girl -- all the deep, important inside parts of being a girl AND all the deep, important (in different ways) outside parts of being a girl. I don't want it to be her idol, of course, not to rule and drive her, but to be able to enjoy it, to play with it, to have fun with this part of being corporeal and living in a physical world. God did this on purpose and it means something. It's a gift. It's important what we do with it. Anway, so one night last week I was talking to Brad about these things and how much I am fascinated by these style blogs and how funny it would be to see what midwest, stay-at-home mom's in their late 30's would wear each day. And Brad says, "You should do that for a month." And I said, "But I wear like 10 things over and over and the same pair of Birkenstocks all summer. And my hair is in a continual ponytail." "Well, that's a style. And it would be funny." I thought for about 2 seconds, and decided it was brilliant. I think I will learn quite a bit about myself, and be shamed in the right ways, and have a better idea of what to keep and how to change and grow. So here it goes. Day one.

So my approach is going to be to actually wear what I really wear day to day. I'm trying not to tweak my normal wardrobe habits too much for this experiment. If I veer off, I'll note it for you (or myself, really). Okay: Shirt -- Urban Outfitters; Skirt -- Old Navy jeans made into a skirt (hippie style); Hair -- trusty ponytail; and shoes?...

I wrote a lengthy ode and explanation of my Birkenstocks but am having all sorts of problems with Blogger this weekend (thus being two days behind in post my outfit-a-day). Everything I've been writing for the last 20 minutes is lost, so I will just say: I bought my first pair of Birks my freshman year of college back in 1992. I have owned 3 pairs since then and could have made that only 2 if I'd taken better care of the cork on my second pair. I get the bottoms re-soled about every 3 years. They are ugly-ish but so comfortable and durable. I own three pairs of sandals: These, my dress pair (which will soon show up in a post), and an old pair of leather Reef flip-flops useful for short walks or dirty jobs when bare feet won't do. I don't really need anything else, but would love a red pair of Saltwater sandals like these (I found on the blog Cup of Jo):