I'm thirsty too and have buyer's remorse

 Seeing as how I can't actually acknowledge yet that I'm one year older than 31 now, I prefer to refer to my age as my husband calls it "Thirsty too".

With the new number, I figure it's time to refocus a little and get back to blogging about all aspects of life. The sales are over which means no more senseless spending on "great bargains" because no matter how good the savings are, after a while it starts to add up. My blog has become a bit of a fashion-focused pin board and I'm a little ashamed that I've been so influenced by all these big name bloggers who have a new pair of designer shoes every day and passing all their time promoting shopping. Really I think that these expectations are unrealistic and watching them flaunt their million dollar shoe collections only makes me feel completely unworthy. I can never compete with that so why hold the expectation on myself? It's not like I'm being stalked by the paparazzi. I blame Dallas. That´s right, my hometown ranks as #5 in the U.S. for the biggest ¨Shopoholic¨ city. It´s no coincidence that so many of today´s most fashionable ladies are from there. http://fashionista.com/2011/11/here-are-the-top-ten-shopaholic-cities-in-the-us-the-results-are-going-to-surprise-you/

We had a debate in french class today and the subject was Publicity. I chose to argue against it and there were so many more reasons to be annoyed by advertising than I thought of originally. For example,  I recently purchased an American Elle magazine and paid 5.5 Euros (about 8 dollars)  for it. After thumbing through it on the plane I handed it to my husband to see what he thought about the current fashions. The first thing he said was I'm already on page 38 and there has been nothing but ads. It's true, where is the meat and potatoes these days? We used to read magazines because they were informative and interesting not just a space for companies to seduce their target audience.

There is so much more to me and to life than that. I'm tired of my e-mail inbox being flooded with companies offering their tantalizing products every day. So I say enough is enough and it's back to the real world where I like to talk about cooking, traveling and my French and Spanish experiences. Let's not forget the reason I started my fashion blogging in the first place, my love of designing and sewing clothes for myself and friends. I started my own clothing website over a month ago which I've yet to release because I want to continue building the collection first. Somewhere along the way, I got burned out and distracted and now it's time to regain control. I felt more accomplished when I wore a dress and could tell everyone that I made it myself. It's not the prettiest thing that I own, but it's the most valuable thing to me because I made it. I just read this article about hat designer Robyn Coles and her first collection, she says:
My career change came last year when I felt that I wanted to make my own creative contribution to the world of fashion. It is so rewarding to make something with your own hands and scary to be on the other side of the fence with regards to fashion selection.
http://fashionista.com/2012/02/milliner-robyn-coles-showed-her-first-hat-collection-on-naked-models-nsfw/

(I´m modeling a reversible cape I made for my sister-in-law.)

There will always be a new line of clothing at my favorite stores, there will always be a fashion editor who tells me that I have to have a $300 pair of sneakers or a high-end bag if you want to make it through the day alive. Forget that, there is no one with enough money or closet space that could keep up with all the fast-changing trends that are going around these days. I used to not care about what brands people were wearing, what happened to me? The trends that need to be followed are the ones that make us and the people around us feel good. A new outfit my make us feel good about ourselves for a couple of hours but does it really make your husband or your best friend love you more?  I know how my husband would answer.

Starting today I resolve to start venturing out again, trying new things like a tap class or cooking course. I'll even go so far as to promise the following:

Enough with the stores, enough with the shoes, I'm going to swear here publicly that until April 1st no more needless purchases starting right now.