What I'm Into January 2014

Linking up with Leigh Kramer's What I'm Into series again. I love this series because it encourages me to remember the highlights of my life the past month, try new things thus making new highlights to write about, and I get to read what many others have found and done, expanding my community, even if only a little bit.

The start of the new year was a somber and contemplative one for me, and January has been a challenge. This month I've been in South Carolina for six months, but everything is still fairly new and most things are yet undiscovered. Friends and family are far away, and I didn't feel much like celebrating on New Year's Eve. New Year's Day greeted me as the something inbetween.

My parents drove into town for a pleasant visit (and we missed getting a picture? hm). It was strange how the move has changed things, and how my family is the same yet also different after so many months of life. I wonder how they thought I had changed? I also talked on the phone with my brother in Oklahoma for his birthday, the first I've been really and truly away for. I wished I could have been there to put up the birthday banner for him.

I'm still taking steps to be who I am and be seen for that. This month I got a pixie haircut and took steps to declutter and simply my closet to make that part of life less stressful. It's easier to like what I see in the mirror now. But I'm still filled with doubt about my choices in general and I struggle to trust my instincts. I want to adopt everyone else's passions as my own and enjoy the same intensity, but as that doesn't work for long (if at all) I'm still determining my passion(s) and my cause, and how I will go about pursuing them.

And that leads me to the most important book I read this month. I finished The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Power of the Enneagram, finally learning, after weeks of uncertainty and doubt, that I am a 9. It's a combination of relief and agony to have that label clear things up. When I read the chapter describing 9s, it was like the author had seen into my soul--I felt all the things described in those pages, and I would have cried if I hadn't been reading in a public place--and then dissected it. Ouch. Of course "there isn't a strong individual self in the 9, and that's the challenge--learning to develop one" - page 163. Of course that's me. (insert self-depreciating scream of rage here. oh, wait, I might have something...)

"9s struggle to have a strong and consistent sense of self." - p 159 Sigh. It's true. Yay, me.
Now that I know, I'm trying to learn, trying to grow, trying to be more assertive and be me, not someone else. But man, that is the challenge.
(...I was going to write a separate post about discovering my Enneagram type, but I think that covers it pretty well.)

Over the New Year's break I read the greatly enjoyable The Runaway King, the second book in the Ascendance Trilogy. I wrote about the first one here. Like the first one, I read the second book in just a few days. I wrote a brief review on Goodreads. The third book in the trilogy, The Shadow Throne, comes out next month! Can't wait.

I have discovered the hilarity, awkwardness, and joy that is the show FRIENDS. How did I miss this? As it's not on Netflix, I'm glad my library has it, because I'm getting in the queue. (...I've been watching a lot of British shows over the last several months. Yes, Sherlock is a big culprit. As is Doctor Who.) I think I enjoy it much more now than I would have when it was on because of how I have changed and because I'm now the same age as the characters.

Also, thanks to the library, this month I learned how to suspend my holds until certain dates, so I'm timing the movies I get so that I can actually watch them before they're due back. I should have a Bollywood romance coming available just in time for Valentime's Day! I consider this the perfect way to celebrate another year of singleness. With some tea or wine, of course.

I watched Bride and Prejudice, and it was amazing. I posted this on Facebook when it was over:

It made me wonder about the impact and reach our creativity can have, now and into the distant future. It makes me hopeful.

I tried some anime shows on Hulu, RideBack and Kino's Journey. Both interesting, for different reasons. Neither quite along the lines of what I usually watch (or read). I finished RideBack. Kino's Journey might be a bit more intense than I prefer, so I haven't watched more than a few episodes so far, but I like the concept. I also watched the first episode of Game of Thrones. Not sure what I think of it, but I was curious and wanted to see for myself what many others have been talking about.

I joined a local writing group. They meet every weekend, but I'll probably only try to join in once a month. I didn't read anything I brought, but we had a fun writing exercise where we had to include five different items in a scene and try to answer the question, Who owns these things? My heard pounded so hard when I read, I had to slow down to breathe, but when I finished, the room was silent. Then the leader said, "Wow. Welcome to the group!" I can tell you, as a self-doubting writer that was what I needed to hear.

My friend Jaimie Krycho released the first in her trilogy Bloodlines of Epheria on the Kindle, and I happily bought my copy. She originally published the story on her website, and I always looked forward to each installment. She had me loving the characters, wanting the powers, and worried about what would happen. Now I'm gonna reread Lorin's--I mean Sifani's--adventure (though I understand it is a little changed from the original?) and eagerly await the next book in the trilogy.

I had the pleasure of joining The Red Couch's book discussion on Jesus Feminist. (Mostly I read, and still am reading, the comments of others.) That book gave me much to ponder and The Red Couch and She Loves magazine inspire me to see a wider world than I can currently walk abroad.

I also signed up for the We Heart Books virtual book exchange. I've been paired up, and it's time to shop!

The other day I happened upon the song "I Lived" by OneRepublic. I love the brief interview on the song here. Adding this one to the list of inpires-me-to-move-become-and-live songs. It's pretty much been on repeat the last, what, three days.


As I was working on this post, my sister-in-law came in and asked if I wanted a chocolate cheesecake beater to lick. This month started rough, but it's ending fabulously.


So, what have you been into?

My Latest Fashion, Part Two

Home sick today, so tell my boss I'm sleeping (because I was and am about to be again), but I also wanted to share how my wardrobe is now more manageable. As I'm tired and my head is getting fuzzy again, I'll keep this brief.

So, sometime before moving last summer, I heard about the Dressing Your Truth online class. I'd long been frustrated with the full-closet-and-I have-nothing-to-wear syndrome, so I signed up. With the class I learned about movement energy, and which energy I tend to express most, and what to look for in clothes that will compliment my natural energy.

Sooo many hangers. Bye bye!

I tried to follow through, but I had timed it badly with moving, and moving had a higher priority than reworking my fashion, especially as that was a deadline that wouldn't budge. So, I tried paring down my wardrobe, keeping only the pieces that suited my type (or that I really loved anyway), and I made some notable progress, but when push came to shove, I ended up packing just about every single thing in the closet.

Fast forward several months, and I'd grown quite tired of shifting hangers around, trying to find the clothes I liked, wanted, and needed. So I'd began reading up on how to do a minimal wardrobe, or capsule wardrobe, something I'd thought would be a good idea for me for a long, long time. So when my last three day weekend came around, I decided it was time. (Right after I got my hair cut. And on that note, it's amazing how clothes can look and feel different with a new 'do. Taking care of both on the same weekend was a good choice.)

I did a fair bit of looking around online. Pinterest was actually one of my first stops in addition to a Google search. There's quite a bit out there on the topic. The blogs I found to be most helpful can be found here, here, and here. Most sites and links I found focus on a goal of 30-40 items (some had a goal of fewer, but the most important point in all of them was to work with yourself and what you want), and some mention having different capsule wardrobes for different seasons.

I looked for lists of must-haves and instructions on how to pare things down, then I just went for it. The "rules" were my guidelines but not requirements. I just started with finding what I truly loved the best, and got rid of what I knew I didn't but had until now felt obligated to keep. I divided things into type (shirt, dress, skirt, jacket, pants), and tried most everything on unless I knew I'd want to keep it. My mantra as I tried on piece after piece, determining if I liked the look and feel and if it would go with anything else, or as I pulled something I knew I didn't want off a hanger was, "I don't owe _____." I didn't owe any person who may have gifted me the garment. I didn't owe any sentimentality of what once was. And I certainly didn't owe the clothing itself (though I often felt as if I did!). What I did owe, what I did want, was my own peace and not to be owned by my closet. That kept me going.

Ta da!
...I'm getting a sense of naturally preferred color scheme/tone here.

I didn't take any before pictures, because I was focused and in the moment, and hadn't thought I'd be blogging about it and oh a comparison for effect would be good. Ah well. Just ooo and ahh and trust me when I say this is impressive.

I'm not quite done as there are some garments not pictured that I haven't decided what to do with yet, I'm pretty sure I ought to thin down how many jackets I have, and I haven't looked at most of what's in my chest of drawers, but the current count of hangers in my closet for shirts, skirts, dresses, and pants? 37. (And 5 sweaters, which I did go through, but they go in the drawers.)

The in-progress end result is several bags stuffed full of perfectly good clothes that other people can enjoy, and I can see what I own at a glance, and quickly figure out ways that most pieces will go with others, for an easier to enjoy wardrobe than I remember ever having before.

I'll keep working on it. There are still some things I think I want to pare down more or replace. But I got the bulk of it done, and getting dressed in the morning has been a whole lot easier not having to play the clothing version of Tetris every day.

Have you ever attempted a capsule wardrobe? Did you succeed?


Now I'm back to bed. The Teddy Grahams are calling and my eyelids are falling.