When it comes to clothes (and shoes!), how much is Enough?

Thanks to my TV gig, and a wardrobe that was getting embarrassingly shabby, I’ve added to my clothing collection significantly this spring. I reorganized my closet the other day, and for the first time in a long while, I felt like I had plenty of clothes and probably only need one additional pair of sandals this year to fill my shoe needs.

Then, I read this post today on one of my new favorite sites (thanks! Geralin), Unclutterer, and realized perhaps I still have too much? Am I really wearing all that I have? Do I follow my own “if you haven’t worn it in a year, let it go” rule? Not to mention my “one in, one out” rule? I decided to create a list of must-haves for summer in NC and see how I’m doing:

* Black t-shirts (v-neck, round neck, short sleeve and tanks)–at least 5 or 6. Replace as they get dingy and gray.

* Funky t-shirts with print and patterns (to cover inevitable sweat stains from 95 degree days and 100% humidity)–3 or 4

* Black yoga pants (cropped and long)–3 or 4

* Various tank tops for working out (or looking as if I might work out)–3-4

* White blouse (fun and funky, kind of dressy, short sleeve and long sleeve)–3 or 4

* Jeans (comfy jeans, hot mama jeans, and “I ate and drank too much this weekend” jeans with forgiving stretch) — 4

* Shorts (as few as possible, only necessary to have one pair for hot days at a random park where you’re unlikely to see anyone you know)

* Cute, knee length skirts (as many as possible since I’m not wearing shorts! Some dressy, but mostly casual)–5 or 6

* One amazing summer suit that makes you feel like a professional rock star (I bought two this year due to TV gig and a few more speaking engagements. But I don’t regret either one).

* Solid cardigans in favorite colors for cool nights (not that we get many of them from May to September)–2 or 3

* Fun, somewhat dressy khakis that look great with strappy, platform sandals

* Cute sundress that’s dressy enough for a wedding

* Bathing suit that doesn’t make you feel like a total frump-mom (for the record, if I didn’t have kids who enjoy the pool, I wouldn’t be caught dead in a bathing suit. To quote Anne Lamott, I have cellulite that would make Jesus weep. But alas, I’ll show the cottage cheese for the sake of my kids)–2 or 3

* Cute jammies with camisol top for lounging on those days when you don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to get the kids to school.

* Strappy, platform sandals in brown, black (still looking for these!) and tan. Flip flops in various colors. Summer mesh tennis shoes for hikes, bike rides and days at the park.

Okay, so perhaps I have a little more than this in my closet. I’m finished with my spring shopping spree and aiming to get back on the simplification train. I think it’s time to make one more run through my closet and drawers. Surely I can dig out a few 1990’s treasures in need of a new home!

Good Eats

It’s Farmer’s Market season around here, which makes me think of fresh, local food. Thankfully, we have no shortage of amazing local eateries in and around Chapel Hill. I was just reading Mr. Sugar’s take on the Farm to Fork event last night. I think I drooled a little at the thought of Ben Barker’s pulled pork barbecue. I checked out the new “Glass Half Full” in Carrboro last night with my friend Alison and enjoyed every morsel (the pommes frites were finger lickin’ good, along with every other plate we tried) — I’m eager to go back with Carter soon. And I just received an invitation to an upcoming Chatham County event that promises to have some tasty treats:

Come on out June 10th to The Plant in Pittsboro @ 5:00 and enjoy a slow foods dinner prepared by April McGregor, formerly with the Lantern Restaurant in Chapel Hill and Todd Dumke formerly of Crossroads Restaurant at the Carolina Inn.

Eating foods grown in Chatham County keeps our agricultural land productive, our farmers active and our economy strong. Come join us to enjoy this bounty, support our neighbors and meet your Farmers!! Funds raised go to the Pittsboro Farmer’s Market!

Send your check to:
The Abundance Foundation PO BOX 1113 Pittsboro, NC 27312
(Adults: $25, Kids: $10) before June 5th. (limited to 75 people)
Questions? tami@blast.com or 919-444-9300

All this talk of local food prepared the way God intended reminds me to carve out some Saturday morning time and get myself over to the Carrboro Farmer’s Market. It’s almost time for tomatoes!

Down in the Dump

I’ve spent a little time at the Orange County dump in my day–mostly taking recycling or hazardous waste materials like paint, lawn chemicals and batteries that can’t just go in the trash. Today, I stood on the back of a pickup bed and hurled trash (truly, it was all trash–nothing recyclable or otherwise usable) into a “pit” and watched a bulldozer churn it up and bury it. I left feeling more than a little depressed, realizing there is no way we can continue to consume stuff at the rate that we do and still have land left to live on.

Putting my trash out at the curb and having a sanitation worker pick it up weekly allows me to be fairly removed from our waste and where it goes. I’ve never given a whole lot of thought to the things we pitch every week and what happens to it. We make every attempt to reduce our garbage — we recycle everything that we can curbside and then drive our cardboard to a recycling facility. We also compost so our food waste doesn’t go to the dump. Plus, we live in the woods so we can toss unwanted food over the deck and feel certain that some critter will eat it before dawn. But we still create 2-3 bags of garbage every week…and today I got a glimpse of what happens to it.

I was reading some of the stats on our solid waste department website (just because that’s the kind of nerd that I’ve become), and in 2004-2005 our county buried 56,000+ tons of waste. And that’s a county with the highest recycling rate in the state of North Carolina! There is no way that our current rate of consumption is sustainable.

In addition to feeling down in the dumps at the dump, all day long I smelled something burning and assumed there was a fire somewhere out in the county. Turns out I was smelling fires burning in drought ravaged FL and GA–all the way in North Carolina. You know the world is in trouble when people in FL start wishing for hurricane season to begin!

The LBD Project

My friend Mary Beth just sent me this site and I love it. A woman in Seattle made a brown dress, and wore it every single day for a year. This was her attempt to “reject the economic system that pushes over-consumption, and the bill of goods that has been sold, especially to women, about what makes a person good, attractive and interesting.” Alex Martin, the designer and “performer” in this non-consumer experiment, spent less than $20 on clothes over the course of the year. Alex has now committed to making all of her own clothes using recycled materials for the next year. I admire her ability to keep on truckin’…I’ve clearly folded like a cheap (well…maybe not so cheap!) tent in my feeble attempts to hop back off the consumer train. Check her site out and let me know what you think!

Trying to live a life that is “Not So Big”

I’ve been a big fan of Sarah Susanka’s books (The Not So Big House, Creating the Not So Big House, Outside the Not So Big House, etc.) for some time. Today, I caught part of her interview with The State of Things host Frank Stasio. I’m eager to read her new book coming out this month entitled “The Not So Big Life.”

According to her interview and blog, the book discusses ways to live your entire life (not just build your house) in a Not So Big way…a true step towards sustainability.

The Not So Big Life, as you’ll discover when you explore the website or read the book, is just as tide-turning a concept as The Not So Big House, containing a similar message but one that’s applied to how we live our lives rather than how we design our houses. Just as I’ve described the need in house design for quality of place over quantity of space, in this new book about living, I describe the need for quality of life over quantity of activity. We are, after all, human beings, not human doings.

I could use a little sustainability right now given my shopping sprees and newfound desire to renovate 1/3 of our home RIGHT. NOW. Not to mention my crazed, unbalanced schedule. Sarah Susanka may be serving up just what the doctor ordered!

Happy Birthday, to me

Today, Cinco de Mayo, I turned 37. Despite the rain and cool, not so springy temperatures in North Carolina, it turned out to be a glorious day of time with the kids, time spent by myself buying and planting herbs and flowers, a rain drenched soccer game for my daughter, and a surprise shopping spree. I purchased yet another TV outfit (by now I’ve totally outspent my earnings from Fine Living)–a gorgeous blue linen suit that I had been fantasizing about for over a month now. I’ve unleashed some kind of shopping-for-clothes Perri that seems unstoppable! But I love the suit and considered it a birthday/mother’s day gift to myself. Carter gave me an iPod Nano which I’m also crazy about. It came complete with photos of the kids set to some groovin’ tunes. And the kids showered me with kisses, home made cards and some delicious cupcakes from Whole Foods.

In the past, I’ve had all kinds of outrageous expectations on my birthday that could never be fulfilled. Today, thanks to our insanely busy, sad and stressful April, I decided to just “be” and enjoy whatever the day brought. And it was one of my best birthdays ever.