After much careful thought, for my New Year's Resolution I've decided that I am going to try to live my life as if I'm a character in 'Sex and the City'. I know it sounds ridiculous, I know I sound insane but please, bear with me. It makes absolute sense.
F and I did a marathon 'Sex and the City' session over the Christmas. We watched both films including dvd extras (and yes I know that the films aren't as good as the series but anyway...). Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha have fun when they're not obsessing over men. They have fantastic jobs and houses and lead ultra-glamorous lives. I know it's fantasy, I know that it's totally unrealistic but I think there are two main points that we can take on board. The first point I would like to mention here is obviously the fashion.
One day last year I looked at myself in the mirror just before leaving the house for work. I was wearing trousers that were too short (and five years old), bobbly socks, and Primark pumps that had seen better days. I looked an absolute state. I vowed at that point that I had to smarten up. No more Primark knitwear or footwear of any kind, no more too-short trousers and nothing with holes in. Somehow, I had taken my eye off the ball and ended up looking like a scarecrow. I didn't have time to change and so spent the rest of the day feeling extremely self conscious, mentally comparing myself to the other well-dressed teachers in my department. It was a real wake up call and since that moment I have smartened up a bit. I threw away the trousers and now have some that are the right length.
It's funny though that someone who reads the fashion pages of 'Grazia' so religiously every week finds dressing herself on an everyday basis so hard. I have a wardrobe full of clothes and yet I never have anything to wear. I read an article in The Sunday Times last year in which the author had decided that every night, she would decide what she would wear the next day and lay out her clothes, including accessories, carefully considering colours etc. I'm going to do this too. It will save me time in the mornings and ensure that I never again leave the house looking like a character from 'Worzel Gummidge'. So that's the first part of my first resolution – imagine that I'm a character out of 'Sex and the City' and dress accordingly although obviously, it will be a toned down version. After all, I can hardly imagine myself wearing a J'adore Dior T-shirt and purple puffy floor length skirt to school. But there will be no more bobbly jumpers and no more badly fitting items scavenged from my sister's wardrobe. At the end of last term, I had also taken to wearing a ratty old Berghaus fleece to work that I got given at a swap shop. From now on, I will save this offending item for lazy Sundays on the couch when I don't plan on leaving the house. Or for the next mountain I trek up of course...that will be never then...
This resolution also includes hair and make up. I will take more time over these in the morning. I will not go to work with my hair looking like rats tails ever again. I might even straighten it..... no, on second thoughts that is going a bit far. But I might try to do more interesting things with my hair. And I'm going to accessorize! With jewellery rather than with my work ID badge and my old woolly scarf. Chipped, tatty nails will also be a no no for me in 2011 as will stubbly eyebrows. I vow that I am going to try and look well turned out this coming year... and for the rest of my life.... eek!
I know that this will be hard to achieve. I live in rural England and Carrie Bradshaw lives in New York City. She, not having a full time job, has more time (and money as she's a well paid columnist) to spend on grooming than me. I teach teenagers for a living and therefore have to be dressed conservatively for work. She writes a column about sex and therefore can wear anything she wants (hence the J'adore T shirt and puffy purple skirt, the green satin skirt with a white bunny tail and that fabulous dress patterned with news print). She wears heels at every opportunity (Manolos, naturally) whilst I'm still getting to grips with being able to walk in heels and think I'm sophisticated because I have recently started wearing platform boots to work. Plus the fact that obviously she is a fictional character and I'm not. I had kind of forgotten that.
However, I can be more organized about what I wear. I have already re-arranged my wardrobe and now know exactly where everything is. My wardrobe is nowhere near as big or as well appointed as Carrie's but I can try can't I? I do also have my own Stanford in the form of my flatmate B who gives me fabulous fashion advice.
Some people tend to write off 'Sex and the City' as shallow and concerned only with clothes. Firstly, it's about so much more than that and secondly, I don't think there is anything wrong with looking nice. I know that I for one could definitely do with smartening up my act. Watching it has inspired me to dress better and take more care over my appearance. I have realised that I have absolutely no excuse for going into work looking like a bag lady and I aim to ensure that I never go to work channelling scarecrow chic ever again.
The next part of the resolution is that I'm going to spend more time having fun with my friends. Carrie and her friends seem to be permanently out having dinner and drinks, shopping, drinking wine or simply strutting down the street looking fabulous. J and I have already planned a night out on Saturday and I am getting dressed up (and I fully plan to strut - in heels!). I may even wear a dress! I am going to insist that we have cocktails and then go dancing. I wrote about the importance of friendship in a previous post and in 2011 I vow that I will spend more time with those girls that I love. I might even suggest that we do something on a week night – all too often I spend Monday to Thursday evenings exhausted watching bad TV whilst worrying about the work I haven't managed to get through that day and simultaneously feeling guilty for not having done it. Not any more – in 2011 I will be a social butterfly, with something interesting on the agenda almost every night. Except the nights when I write this blog, obviously...
I think that's a pretty good resolution, after all I have more chance of sticking to a regime that's fun rather than the usual detox sado-masochistic bullshit that we seem to subject ourselves to every January. So much of life is unpleasant – I think we should try to make it more glamorous, more beautiful, more fun. Less about work and worry and more about pleasure. After all, we don't get paid any more for stressing about our jobs, do we? I mean I've never heard of anyone getting a bonus for lying awake at night worrying about how their Year 11s are going to get their target grades.
Anyway, I'm off to dig out my ball gown and heels. I'm just popping down to the shop for some milk and I want to look my best. Well, why not? On second thoughts though, I might just wear my fleece over the top. Ease myself in gently....
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