I don't think that I appreciate things

It's the curse of living in a prosperous place, in a prosperous time.  Yes, I know that we recently had a recession, but this is how my morning went today:

I am working from home today, a luxury that I get because I have a laptop and the internet.
Because I am working from home, I get to sleep in when I would normally be commuting.
I work in my PJ's until I feel like getting dressed.

When I get up, I make myself an exquisite cup of coffee.  The beans are imported from some 3rd world country, where, as the bag assures me, my purchase of beans helps support the local economy.
Then I curse because we are out of Raisin Bran, and I make myself two pieces of cinnamon toast.  I do this every six months or so as an easy, and probably terrible for me, breakfast.

So far, everything in my day has included luxury.  I had coffee, great coffee.  I had sugar on a whim.  I got to sleep in.

While I was having my breakfast, I was thinking about how absurd it is that there have been times where sugar and coffee were luxury items; That kids had cake on their birthdays, not just out of tradition, but because it was one of the few times that they got sugar at all.  Those times were long before I was born.

I don't appreciate much at all.  I have a beautiful house, with a beautiful yard (that I spend time working on as a hobby, not out of necessity), but my house could be bigger and it would be nice to hire a maid service.  I eat whatever I want whenever I want, and I hate it when I am out of something, even though all I have to do is run down the street and pick up literally anything I want.  I choose to go hungry sometimes out of vanity, because I have so much that the risk of getting fat is greater than the risk  of malnourishment.

I want to appreciate my coffee, my sugar, my house, and my other possessions, but I don't know how.  I have so much, and I can get so much, that it is hard to give many things value at all.

I value the people in my life.  I value the plants that I work hard to grow.  I value the sun.  I value experiences and knowledge.  These are good things, but it is the fact that I cannot buy them, that they can be unexpected, and that they require work that makes me appreciate them.  I just wish that I could appreciate more.

Quitting Unreasonable Habits

I am slowly finding it easier to not be a brand whore.  It is a similar phenomena to when I quit smoking.  Yes, I know, shame on me for ever starting.  When I moved up to Seattle cigarettes were about thirty percent more expensive than they were in Oregon.  Then the taxes began creeping up, causing cigarettes to reach insane prices.  My favorite brand was around $8 a pack.  Finally, a law was passed that smoking had to be outside and away from doors.  I weighed the pros and cons.  Pros: cigarettes gave me extra breaks at work, were a good stress reliever and a great conversation starter.  Cons: They were bad for me, expensive, made me stink, and caused me to be frequently cold (because I had to be outside so often).  Cigarettes lost, and I quit.

I was shopping at Nordstrom yesterday and it dawned on me that the wealth disparity must have really grown over the past two years. My boyfriend and I make a combined income that marks us as upper middle class, but we are not well off.  Things are expensive!  I noticed that clothes were either $50 to $100 or they were in $300 and up.  Brands that I used to like have doubled in price.  This is making it easier to quit.  If I want a decent life, I can't afford to buy the things that I used to.

Does this sound too much like whining?  I'm sorry, that is not my intention.  My intention is simply to state that when things become unreasonable, I give them up because they are not worth it.

What now?

I don't know.  I refuse to give up quality.  I refuse to buy a bunch of crap or things that will fall apart.  I'm still working out the details of what life after brand whoring will be.  I feel like this blog has been very repetitive.  Don't fear!  I will have pictures to post soon.  At this point, not brand whoring means that I must make my own stuff.  That is the only way that I have found to not sacrifice quality or buy things from sweat shops.

It has been awhile

It has been quite awhile since I posted.  I told myself that I was going to be really good about writing regularly, but then there is this list of things that I do.

Remodeling my home: Right now we are working on the basement.  Heat ducting this weekend.
Working for an advertising startup.
Training monkeys.  Cool, right?
Getting my garden ready for Spring between rain showers.

I have been pretty good about living brand free because I don't have time to do much shopping.  However, I have to admit that I did a little brand whoring.  I purchased a pair of 7 for all mankind jeans from the Nordstrom Rack.

So here is my string of excuses:
They are made in the USA, so the $100 I spent, is really not that much.
I am too poor for a lot of the indie brands which are $200 or more.
They look good and fit well which is good for my self esteem.
Cheap jeans come from countries where I don't approve of the manufacturing processes.

I could come up with more excuses, but it doesn't really matter.  In the next few months I am going to be posting products that are made (or mostly made) in the USA.  I am not really wholly on that bandwagon, but it is my belief that companies who do manufacturing here tend to be smaller.  I think that smaller companies are probably less corrupt because they have less hands in the pot.  Also, smaller companies that I have not heard of yet, are not doing a very good job brainwashing me for their brand, so I will seek them out.

Besides that, I have a few handmade goods to post.  I am finishing the purse that I started ages ago, and I am sewing two dresses.  Also, I just finished a lovely pair of gloves for a friend of mine.

For the love of oxfords

I love oxfords: Flats, heals, laces, ribbons.  Any way you serve them, I love oxfords. I fully plan on getting a few pairs this year.  There was a picture in Burda style last year where a model wore a pair of studded black and white oxfords.  I searched high and low for a pair, but could not find them.  My solution?  Get a pair of plain ones and pimp them myself.  I do worry that adding studs to shoes will lead to leakage, but that is the sacrifice I will make if I have to.

I also really like some of the oxfords that nordstrom is carrying for the summer with cutouts.  I am not sure what they would be practical for, but I am sure that I will figure it out as summer approaches.

 

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My search for jeans continues

I have been searching the world for the perfect pair of non-brandi jeans.  I am a bit disheartened to learn that it will be difficult not to spend upwards of $200 to get a pair of jeans mainstream brand free.  I have found some interesting things though.  I never thought of using pennies as buttons like these from Hartford Denim Company

How cool are those?

I also discovered a place called indiDenim that allows you to custom design your own jeans according to your own measurements.  They even ask you questions about how jeans usually fit, such as if they are too tight at the waist or if they gap.  You choose weight of fabric, color, stitching, even decorative details.  I think that it sounds pretty cool, but I am still skeptical.  The hunt for the perfect pair of jeans has everything to do with how they make my butt look.  I am afraid to buy a pair of jeans without this knowledge.  Even if they have all my stats, will they do my butt justice?  

The search continues...

Is it still considered brand whoring if:

So now I am a few weeks into my commitment, and I have a few dilemmas that I need to work out.

Is it still considered brand whoring if:
1. It is vintage.  Does vintage Versace still count as Versace?
2. I get it at a consignment shop or 2nd use shop.  If I get my citizens at Buffalo Exchange?
3. I make it from a brand name pattern.  If I sew a dress from a Vogue pattern, am I still a brand whore?

Number 3 is my dilemma today.  I am going to Hawaii in 2 months and I need some sundresses.  We didn't get much sun in Seattle last year, so I did not have a reason to buy summer clothes.  I have a Vogue pattern that I want to make a dress from, but I am wondering if it is still my being a brand whore.  I am going to go with no, on the basis that when completed it will be label free.

Here is the dress in question:

Bellbottoms are back!

I really hated the skinny jeans movement.  I opted for slim fit.  I am slim, but I am not twelve.  One of my favorite fashion porn sites is netaporter.com.  Do you have any idea how excited I was to learn that bells are back?  What I love about this style is that it is flattering on almost everyone.  I didn't just hate the skinny jeans movement because I didn't want to wear them.  I also hated it because it wasn't flattering on women with curves.  Guess what?  Women have curves.  I know "curvy" has been used to describe women with a little extra weight.  I don't use it like that.  I am curvy because I have an hourglass figure, but 125 pounds does not make me fat.  Curves are fantastic.  Bellbottoms accentuate curves and complement them.

All that ranting leads to this: I now have to find a pair of bellbottoms or flares that are not name brand.  I get a little faint thinking about it.  This means that I have to go through the torture of trying on jeans because I don't know what will fit.  Historically I can grab any size 27 citizen or J brand and I know that it will fit.  I can't do that now.  What will I do?  Fear...