Prêt-à-Porter, Fiesta Style!

Welcome to my closet! Come in, come in. There’s not much room, but maybe if we rotate a bit, I can get you all in here.

Chocolate strawberries anyone? How about some mozzarella sticks? Oh and just take your pick of wine or Diet Coke (Blech, if I do say so myself). If we run out, I’ll just send Mr. Right out for more. He’s really good like that.

Comfy? Good. Now let me share a bit about myself with you so that you can understand my closet a bit more.

I cannot express to you enough my loathing of shopping for clothes. Well, loathe is too strenuous of a word, but the idea surrounding “loathe” fits.

Dislike
Have an aversion to
Find it a huge waste of time

Yeah all those fit. There have been 4 times that I’ve actually enjoyed shopping for apparel.

1. The first time was with my mom back in 1987. One day, she walked up to me and said, “Let’s head to the mall together and hit the sales.” I don’t ever recall her asking to do this before – just us girls, one on one. (Sure we shopped before, but this was a big deal, like one woman to another.) I went and had a great time with my mom. I think I liked it mostly because I was actually with her, talking, laughing and getting her unstuck from dress that thought it was Venom. Oh, and we had Milano’s Pizza, the best pizza bar none. That was memorable too.




2. Next was the time when I moved to Nebraska to be with Mr. Right. He said that my clothes, my good Southern clothes- thankyouverymuch, wouldn’t be good enough for a single winter day, even if I wore them all at the same time. I told him that I had sweaters and he laughed. In my face. It was a good thing that I loved him! Alas, he was so right. I froze my patoot off until I had a real coat and clothes to go under them. Plus, I felt like Pretty Woman, without all the sex and Polo. (Virgin, remember? And Nebraska! No Polo player worth his weight in salt would go to Nebraska for the game. Sheesh…)




3. Then there was shopping for my wedding dress. I did it with Mr. Right and my mom. Yes, Mr. Right helped to pick out my wedding dress. Hey, I figured that if I’m going to blow that much money on a dress, I might as well pick one that he liked too. It turned out to be the fourth dress I tried. AND it was on sale. Bonus! (I still tried on other dresses because hello! Wedding dresses! You don’t get to try those on every day…)




4. Lastly, there was the day I took The Girl out of school to shop at the Junior League store. That was a blast! We both left with some “new” things to add to our closet. More importantly, we left with a memory that still makes us both smile.
   

Four times out of 36 years of living is quite pitiful. I recognize this fact. But I am the way I am. I don’t like all the fuss and bother of trying on new clothes, and really when I think about the money it can cost, it just sets my heart racing. ($40 for jeans! $100 for a new coat! $150 for shoes! Ack!)

If it were up to me, I’d run around naked as a jaybird. But then again, I’d be in a loony bin. Not nearly as much fun as being crazy on a blog. So I do have some clothes to show you after all. You’re welcome.

Mind you, I’m a working woman. I mean that I work outside of the home as well as taking care of the home. I have to wear “appropriate attire” in the office. So here goes…

In this array of clothes, you’ll find Ann Taylor and Banana Republic Suits, Gap, Express, Wet Seal, Liz Claiborne, Talbot’s, 5th Avenue… and others that I can’t even remember. Can I just share with you how much I really like well-made clothes? Well, I do. I just don't like going to get them...

Sometimes I wear these when the boss is gone. Tee hee!

By the time I’m home, I just want to chuck these clothes and head straight for the jammie pants. So I do.




But when I’m ready for a play date with Mr. Right or time out with a friend, you can find me in some comfy clothes like these:













Now, knowing that I don’t want to go and shop and that I cringe at the thought of spending a ton on clothes, you might ask how I own some things that take time to find.

Here is where Big Mama might want to avert her eyes. I’m pretty sure she won’t answer the phone any more when I call if she knows this about me.

She gone? Good. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Come closer because I can’t let everyone know…

I got all of the above on ebay (and more that I didn't show you - there were 74 pieces all together) for less than $150… including postage. That works out to $2 per piece! Fortunately for me, the sellers did all the hard work of putting it together. Now I don’t have to wonder if A goes with Q or if I have anything that will go with that shirt. It’s all done for me. Remarkably, every single thing fits perfectly - even the jeans - and is in style. Woo hoo! If you realize anything about me now, it’s that I don’t have much of a fashion sense which is alright with me because that just leaves me more time and energy for the fun stuff like reading and eating. You can send Big Mama back in now.

And that concludes the tour of Shalee’s closet. Hope you’ll be able to come back later when I tell you about shopping at another place that will probably have Big Mama breathing hard with disbelief. I know that she’s already trying to figure out how to convince me that the world cannot run without a love for a great pair of flip flops.

Enough of this clothes stuff! Let’s head down to the kitchen and I’ll show the insides of the fridge that has some killer apple pie, brownies and cheesecake. Oh and as always, there’s some kickin’ coffee to go with it. Then we'll talk about how I got my shoes...