Indulgence

Every so often I like to have a good work through all my clothes and accessories to see if I can throw out any of my vast collection. Even though the reason I'm doing this on the surface is to try and get rid of any junk I don't wear any more, and in doing so make my boyfriend happier, the thing that gets me excited is the thought of finding something at the back of my wardrobe or the bottom of my hat boxes that I've completely forgotten about but still absolutely love. This usually happens with an old t shirt or a hat I can restyle for the new season. But I love love love it when I find an old handbag or some jewellery mixed up in my many jewellery boxes that is now so on trend I'm glad I never chose to throw it out. Moral of the story... though your boyfriend might like it, don't throw anything out unless it doesn't fit you or you completely hate it. You ever know when fashions will return and you'll be able to dig it out all over again. And even if you do throw things out, give them to charity or recycle them because though your personal tastes may have changed, you just might make someone's day with your donation.

Looking at my shoes. Now this will probably sound totally strange to most people, but every now and then I like to get out all my gorgeous shoes and remind myself of what I have in my wardrobes. I always find that you go through spells with the weather and the seasons of being able to wear certain shoes and in the process, those you can't wear get forgotten temporarily. It's always nice to go through your collection and remind yourself of the little bits of shoe heaven you have hidden away for next summer. On line with shoes, when I'm having a really difficult outfit choosing day, I sometimes like to find my favourite pair of shoes and match an outfit to them. Not that this makes my life any easier! Most of my shoes are so different that I only have one or two outfits that are appropriate to wear with them, and if I'm looking for work, most of these won't do either. But when your stressing over outfits, it's nice to have a gorgeous pair of shoes to wear that instantly make you feel happy.

Leafing through my shelves and shelves of Elle and Vogue magazines. When I left university, I started subscribing to Elle magazine and ever since have not been able to throw any away. I have bookshelves and boxes filled with them because to me, they're pretty important and I always love to go back and look through the old ones. I especially like going through every one I get and bending down the corners of the pages of looks I adore. It's pretty interesting going back a couple of years and seeing what fashions I was in to. Sometimes I don't know what I was thinking! 
I've always had the view that books are precious and should be looked after. I always finish every book I read with two exceptions my whole life. One was The Hobbit which my teacher tried to force me to read in year 6 of primary school, and the other was The Dice Man which just got a little bit too creepy for my liking. But overall, I never leave pages unread and for me, this opinion extends to copies of Vogue and Elle too. They're fashion bibles in to which an enormous amount of work is put each month and so should be treated with the respect they deserve. I read other fashion magazines, but to try to keep every issue of them too would just get a bit too much and probably take over the house! From all these other magazines that I read, I always pull out the pages of fashions and garments I love and organise them in to colour palettes to put in to scrap books for each season. Although if I'm honest, I'm a little behind at the moment. It doesn't take long to rip the pages out but it takes a while to cut them and stick them all in the books! So I think I have about 2 seasons worth of images. Next time I ever have some free time on my hands, I might need to catch up on that one.


Just a few things I love to do when I have the time. They keep me in touch with my love for fashion and allow me to indulge that obsession just a little. And if nothing else, they force me to spend some time relaxing and de-stressing, away from my normal daily life.


Go on, indulge your fashion obsessions. It's healthy, I promise...


Lots of love,