Mumbling Madly

The Latest:
1.) Wasted time on my new favorite website: Overstock.com. They have an extremely healthy selection of sunglasses. After four years of Colorado living, I’ve developed UV sun damage on one of my eyeballs…depressing. Since this diagnosis a year ago, I’m a strong advocate of good sunglasses, and the Smith brand has been a personal fav since the sweet days of our Summit County lifestyle when Josh splurged and bought me a $70 pair at a sunglass shoppe in Breckenridge. Two years later the little girl I was mentoring pretended my leg was a firearm and our combined weight crushed the glasses which were in my purse. After some brief experimentation with cheaper brands, an expensive pair I lost on my honeymoon, and occasionally risking the damage and going without, these Smith sunglasses are now tucked away in my purse thanks to Overstock.com. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I will eventually be one of those old ladies who sports those gigantic, visor-like, plastic monstrosities that blocks out any and all UV rays…but until than I’m enjoying my new sunglasses with syle and grace.
2.) I did not, in fact, purchase the patant leather clogs. I didn’t because I was seriously concerned about the wear and tear of patant leather. Although my sister pointed out that they would have been vegan, I’m more concerned about the eventual look of these shoes after wearing them obsessively. In the mean time I’ve been browsing the Dansko Outlet. I’m not too good for flawed shoes, especially when their prices stay below $75. It seems that this time of the year I typically start craving a new pair of shoes. Last year I broke down and bought a black pair of lace-up Sanita clogs (a sister of the Dansko brand), and I love them. Why is Mara so obsessed with shoes? Well, part of this is pure inheritance, my father has an extensive collection of shoes himself. The other part is that I have big feet (a size 10) and cool shoes in my size are sometimes hard to come by. My Dad wears a size 15 to 16, and he equally appreciates footwear the way I do.
3.) I’m mentally watching what I eat. I got into food journaling the way most women do: I watched an Oprah special on it. Now, sometimes for kicks, I like to write down what I’ve eaten during the day. For example:
a. Breakfast: Organic, honey, 8-grain cereal and 1% milk with banana.
b. Lunch: Four pieces of soybean sushi from nearby Safeway and Mango Odwalla fruit shake.
c. Dinner: Wheat pasta with tomato sauce and spinach….no dessert yet but I’m thinking about it.
Now before you start rolling your eyes, let me remind you, this is a particularly GOOD eating day. Yesterday for dinner I had (white) pasta, two cookies, and several, teeth-sticking, caramel chews. And my philosophy has typically been eat a good dinner and ruin it all for a good dessert. So far this has worked for me…and I try not to get too obsessive. Perhaps I’ve just been sucked in by the latest media frenzy over obesity. Or maybe seeing myself cavorting around in a nude leotard for the Winter’s Tale made me feel a bit ill. At any rate, I’m trying to get back on track with a “healthy lifestyle” ruined occasionally with copious amounts of white sugar. (I love sugar!)
4.) I’m still obsessed with the fashion label, Gsus, (which I’ve learned is pronounced like Jee-zus). It’s interesting trying to decide what I’m now too old for and what I can still get away with. For instance: The whole mini-skirt craze that hit the fashion malls this last summer. I was perfectly happy, two years ago, when knee length skirts were all the rage. Than I saw the mini-skirts and my stomach flip-flopped. Last time minis were in, I mean REALLY in, was…let’s see 7th grade…than they came back briefly in the mid-90s. ..so it’s been a little while. (I guess, technically, the black mini has NEVER gone out of style). I could have jumped on the bandwagon this last summer, but I was lazy, and never bothered. Part of it is quite simply my profession: It’s hard to fit pointe shoes when wearing a skirt. I’ve had to actually apologize to girls over the fact that I was constantly flashing them my underwear. I avoided this by wearing longer skirts or practical capri pants all summer. I rarely “go out” these days, so Club Mini-Skirt never happened. If we move into a city, I hope to God my clubbing days will return and I can once again confidentally brandish a short skirt. Clubbing in F.C. is so sad, filled with drunk college kids, Mexican guys, and Soccer Moms. I tried it once, got groped one too many times, and never went back. If I could regain my Dance Dance Machine life I could POSSIBLY get away with this fabulous, Gsus top:

I guess what this whole American Obestity Epidemic has taught me is: It doesn’t matter, chubby people are still wearing crop tops. So maybe, I need to just chill out about this whole body image, am-I-too-old-for-mini-skirts, aging gracefully thing and just enjoy myself while I can…preferably with this Gsus hoodie: