Fashion | BulgingButtons

March 11, 2014
by BulgingButtons 7 Comments

Five Days of Fix Ups

No beach vacation this time, but check out that pedicure!

I’m on Spring Break this week. Woo Hoo! Five glorious days away from the routine of school. Five days of relative peace and quiet. Five days without meetings or discipline issues or grading papers. Five days to rest, relax, and recharge. Five days to build up my reserves in order to face the dreaded final push before testing.

I decided that during these five days I would purposefully take care of myself. I would handle the neglected tasks that help me to look and feel my best. I would take care of the business of taking care of me.

Yesterday I started with a haircut. It was long overdue, and I walked out of the salon feeling ten pounds lighter and five years younger. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but I was happy with the cut and I do feel better looking in the mirror.

On my list for the week is an appointment to have routine lab work done (not fun, but vital for my health), a appointment to have my teeth cleaned, and a pedicure. Throw in some time with girlfriends, a movie date with my son, and a day out with my mother and son together, and I have a busy week.

I’m glad the whole week isn’t filled with the chores of life, like taking the dog to the vet and groomers, and getting new tires. Those items are on the docket this week too, but they don’t dominate it, since I have these other things planned.

It’s a full week, but I don’t feel at all stressed. Each day I have one thing planned that will move me closer to the goal of looking and feeling great. What better way to spend a week off than that?

March 4, 2014
by BulgingButtons 5 Comments

Goodbye Zebra Mules

I should have said goodbye years ago, but I just wasn’t ready. In fact I sort of forgot about them. Oh sure, I saw them in my closet everyday, but they were just sort of there. I wasn’t wearing them. They were too snazzy, the heels too high.

I remember when I got them. I fell in love instantly. They were the most ridiculously impractical shoes you could imagine. Faux zebra skin mules with silvery faux snakeskin trim. They sound hideous. They were fabulous.

I remember when I first laid eyes on them. I didn’t need zebra print mules, I mean, who really does? But I had to have them. They were too wonderful to pass up, and they were reasonably priced. Sold!

I wore them from time to time, and every time I got compliments on them. Of course, as sort of a novelty item, they didn’t come out of my closet often.

At some point they just kind of gave out. They gave me several years of service, but the weight I expected them to bear was too much. One of them split from the sole along the side. I told myself a shoemaker could fix it, but I never got around to taking them in. I put them aside, but held on to them. Someday, I would have them fixed. Someday.

Tonight I tried on my new dress. Wow. It looked fantastic and I felt like a million bucks, but I needed shoes. There they were! The old zebra mules called to me. They would be the perfect compliment to the dress. I slipped them on and they looked fantastic, except they felt weird. Oh yeah, the side was split. Damn.

Time to face facts. I will never take those shoes to be repaired. Their time has passed. They served their purpose. Tonight I said goodbye to them. They were fabulous shoes and I loved them, but now I have room in the closet for a new pair. Hopefully I can find a pair just as fantastic.

March 3, 2014
by BulgingButtons 12 Comments

Do You Wear Spanx?

I guess I really was in a good mood on Saturday while I was shopping with my mother. I must have been, because this particular question didn’t elicit the response in me that it might have at any other time.

Let me set the stage. I was in a lovely fitting room in a lovely department store. I was wearing a dress with a fantastic cut made from a gorgeous fabric. It was a dress designed to show off curves, and it did.

The problem is that I have curves in the wrong places. They talk about “apple” and “pear” shaped figures, but I’m more of a honeydew. I carry a lot of weight around my waist, and I’m about as big front to back as I am side to side.

So there I was in this really pretty dress, deciding how I felt about it, when mom comes up with, “do you wear Spanx?”

I laughed and told her that Spanx wasn’t going to make any difference for me. She went on to tell me how wonderful they were. Like I said, I must have been in a good mood, because not a word of sarcasm crossed my lips.

I could have told her that wearing Spanx for me, if they even came in my size (which I sincerely doubt), would be like placing a band-aid over stab wound. It would be like bailing out a ship with a teaspoon. It would be like building the great pyramids with lego bricks. It would be like harnessing up mice to pull a chariot. It would be like writing a novel using rubber stamps for each letter. It would be like digging a canal with a toothpick. Need I go on?

As always, I’m sure she meant well, but Spanx? Really? Oh well, I guess hope springs eternal.